Litany of Defeat: Trump Defends Rising Costs of "Strategically Brilliant" Mideast Retreat

https://time.com/5702769/litany-of-defeat-trump-defends-rising-costs-of-strategically-brilliant-mideast-retreat/

Trump said it was “a good thing” that Russian forces had begun supporting the Kurds. On Tuesday, Russians were already sleeping in bunks at bases that American troops had spent years building and provisioning only to abandon them in haste just hours earlier. Trump’s former counter-ISIS envoy Brett McGurk wrote on Twitter that U.S. forces were “executing [an] emergency ‘break glass’ evacuation procedure reserved for an extreme worst-case scenario.” The result, says Hagel is a big win for Russian president Vladimir Putin. “Russia comes out the big winner in the Middle East,” Hagel said. “Putin n

129 REPUBLICANS REBUKE TRUMP AS HOUSE VOTES TO CONDEMN PRESIDENT'S SYRIA TROOP WITHDRAWAL

Trump claimed that as U.S. soldiers are extracted from Syria amid Turkey's military offensive, "our soldiers are not in harm's way."

"The Kurds are much safer now. They know how to fight," he said. "Like I said, they're not angels... but they fought with us."

The president continued: "They have a problem with Turkey. They have a problem at a border. It's not our border... They've got a lot of sand over there. There's a lot of sand that they can play with."

However, a senior Department of Defense official told Newsweek that Trump's assertion that U.S. soldiers were not in harm's way was not true.

New York trial court declares "Get Law" unconstitutional- Despite Recent Ruling, "Second Get Law" Is Constitutional

/https://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/despite-recent-ruling-second-get-law-is-constitutional/2017/08/04/

The Jewish Press- August 4, 2017

Confronted with a request to apply the colloquially dubbed “Second Get Law” (DRL 236B6(o)) in a matrimonial matter, Judge Bartlett, an Orange County, New York judge, reviewed the statute and declared that she found it unconstitutional as applied to the case at hand, and possibly unconstitutional on its face. Judge Bartlett is the first judge to do so since the law was passed in 1992.

Trump Levels Sanctions on Turkey in Attempt to Contain the Chaos Wreaked By His Syria Withdrawal

https://time.com/5699970/trump-sanctions-turkey-syria/

President Donald Trump announced Monday his intention to level economic sanctions, hike tariffs and halt trade negotiations with Turkey as a result of its military incursion against U.S.-aligned Kurdish forces in northern Syria.

“I will soon be issuing an Executive Order authorizing the imposition of sanctions against current and former officials of the Government of Turkey and any persons contributing to Turkey’s destabilizing actions in northeast Syria. Likewise, the steel tariffs will be increased back up to 50 percent, the level prior to reduction in May,” Trump said in a statement. “The United States will also immediately stop negotiations, being led by the Department of Commerce, with respect to a $100 billion trade deal with Turkey.”

GOP REP. LIZ CHENEY TELLS FOX NEWS TURKEY INVADED SYRIA BECAUSE DEMOCRATS LAUNCHED IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY AGAINST TRUMP

https://www.newsweek.com/gop-liz-cheney-fox-news-turkey-invaded-syria-because-democrats-impeachment-inquiry-trump-1465003

Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney claimed in an interview with Fox News on Monday morning that Democrats are to blame for Turkey's invasion of Syria because they launched an impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump, despite the fact that the president withdrew U.S. forces from the Middle Eastern nation to give the Turkish forces the greenlight to enter.

"I also want to say that the impeachment proceedings that are going on and what the Democrats are doing themselves to try to weaken this president is part of this," Cheney, who represents Wyoming and is the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, argued.

"It was not an accident that the Turks chose this moment to roll across the border," she claimed. "And I think the Democrats have got to pay very careful attention to the damage that they're doing with the impeachment proceedings."

TRUMP AND ERDOGAN 'JUST GOT PLAYED' BY PUTIN SAYS TERRORISM EXPERT, AS KURDS IN SYRIA STRIKE DEAL WITH RUSSIA AND BASHAR AL-ASSAD

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-erdogan-just-got-played-vladimir-putin-says-terrorism-expert-michael-smith-1465008

A foreign policy and terrorism expert believes President Donald Trump and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, "just got played" by Russian President Vladimir Putin, after Turkey was permitted to launch its current attack into northeastern Syria.

The offensive, labeled Operation Spring Peace by the Turks, was launched on Wednesday after a phone call between Trump and Erdogan the previous Sunday. Trump announced the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria's border with Turkey soon after the phone call.

Following the withdrawal, Trump was accused of betraying the region's Kurdish population and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)—a force that was instrumental in quashing the influence of militants from the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) in the region.

Pelosi Didn’t Raid Social Security for Impeachment Inquiry

https://www.factcheck.org/2019/10/pelosi-didnt-raid-social-security-for-impeachment-inquiry/

Quick Take

A viral, made-up story sowed confusion among social media users over whether House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has diverted Social Security money to the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. She didn’t.

Full Story

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has not taken money away from Social Security in order to fund the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.

That hoax is the product of America’s Last Line of Defense, a self-described “satirical” publication whose viral headlines across a network of websites often deceive social media users. Its story was published Oct. 4 on one its websites, potatriotsunite.com, with the headline, “Pelosi Diverts $2.4 Billion From Social Security To Cover Impeachment Costs.”

Observant users who clicked through to the full story might have noticed the many tags littered throughout the page indicating its fictitious nature: A banner at the top of the website, for example, reads, “Potatriots unite for satire, ridicule and mockery.”

Trump has delivered what Russia wants in Syria — at zero cost — and 'Putin likely can't believe his luck'

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-russia-free-hand-syria-putin-cant-believe-luck-2019-10?r=US&IR=T

Russian President Vladimir "Putin likely can't believe his luck" at US President Donald Trump's withdrawal of US troops from the Kurdish region on the border of Syria and Turkey, a Western military official from the anti-ISIS coalition told Insider.

Donald Trump ad misleads about Joe Biden, Ukraine and the prosecutor

https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2019/oct/11/donald-trump/trump-ad-misleads-about-biden-ukraine-and-prosecut/

A campaign ad from President Donald Trump claims it has "facts" about the Bidens and Ukraine, but instead mashes ideas together to create a highly misleading 30-second tale.

"Fact: Joe Biden pressured Ukraine to fire its prosecutor," the narrator says, and then cuts to a clip of a Biden statement: "if the prosecutor is not fired you’re not getting the money. Well son of a bitch, he got fired."

The ad then continues:

"Fact: the prosecutor said he was forced out for leading a corruption probe into Hunter Biden's company. Fact: Democrats want to impeach President Trump for discussing this investigation with Ukraine's President. Fact: Donald Trump won but Democrats want to overturn the election."

The ad distorts the known facts about Ukraine prosecutor general Viktor Shokin and Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings, where Biden’s son Hunter Biden served on the board.

The Trump campaign announced the TV ad on Oct. 9. It has also been visible on social media.

Key takeaways:

• Biden did want Shokin fired, but western leaders had widely criticized the prosecutor general as corrupt and ineffective. Biden was leading a widespread consensus in asking for removal.

• A former Ukrainian official said the investigation into Burisma was dormant under Shokin.

• Democrats launched an impeachment inquiry for Trump’s statements suggesting he wanted Ukraine to investigate a political rival in exchange for political favors.

"Joe Biden pressured Ukraine to fire its prosecutor."

Biden did call for Ukraine to fire Shokin, but the ad fails to note that there were widespread calls for his ouster.

Biden assumed a lead role in U.S. diplomacy toward Ukraine after a popular revolution in early 2014 that led to pro-Russia President Viktor Yanukovych fleeing the country. Shokin became top prosecutor in 2015, after Yanukovych went into exile. A frustrated Biden in Dec. 2015 threatened to withhold $1 billion unless Shokin was fired, in hopes that a new prosecutor would do more to enforce the law. According to Biden, it worked.

The Trump campaign ad includes a clip of Biden’s partial reports at a Jan. 23, 2018, event sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations. Biden spoke about getting a commitment from then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and from then-Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

"I looked at them and said, ‘I’m leaving in six hours," Biden recounted. "If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money.’ Well, son of a b----. He got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time."

"Fact: the prosecutor said he was forced out for leading a corruption probe into Hunter Biden's company."

There is evidence that many Western leaders and institutions, as well as Ukrainian anti-corruption activists, viewed Shokin as corrupt and ineffective for failing to prosecute anybody of significance, and for protecting members of Yanukovych’s and Poroshenko’s circles.

When Shokin was fired in the spring of 2016, press reports explicitly linked his ouster to corruption.

Did Sons of Top Democrats Do Business in Ukraine As Part of Clinton-Linked Conspiracy?

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/sons-top-democrats-ukraine-clinton/

Rating

Mostly False

About this rating 

What's True

Hunter Biden sat on the board of Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma from 2014 to 2019. The Wall Street Journal reported in 2015 that Ukrainians had donated more than citizens of any other country to the Clinton Foundation between 1999 and 2014.

What's False

However, we found no evidence that either Hunter or Joe Biden engaged in any wrongdoing in relation to Burisma or Ukraine, or that any of Mitt Romney's sons worked for energy companies linked to Ukraine. John Kerry's stepson never conducted any business in Ukraine, and the association between Ukraine and a Paul Pelosi Jr.-linked energy company is bogus. We also found no evidence exists of any connection between donations to the Clinton Foundation and any of the aforementioned activities.

Trump has been clobbered by the courts -- and there may be more ahead

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/12/politics/trump-courts-immigration-tax-returns/index.html

The third branch of government last week began to exact a revenge on the President. And there's likely to be more bad news for Donald Trump from the federal courts system as the US House's impeachment inquiry progresses.

Seven separate federal courts dealt major blows to Trump, on everything from his immigration policy to attempts to get his tax returns. The biggest bludgeon came from the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, that esteemed bench that regularly handles separation of powers questions. The Circuit sided 2-1 with the House over its subpoena for eight years of Trump's accounting records.

Why 2 Arrested Rudy Giuliani Associates Are Key For Impeachment Inquiry | Velshi & Ruhle | MSNBC

Why Shep Smith finally walked out of Fox News for good

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/11/media/fox-news-shepard-smith/index.html

Last month Shep Smith decided that he had simply had enough.

With President Trump actively distorting the truth and many of his own colleagues helping him do it, the Fox News star prided himself on anchoring a newscast that countered the network's pro-Trump opinion shows.

The way Smith saw it, he was making sure that accurate information was getting on Fox's air.

"I wonder," he told a Time magazine reporter last year, "if I stopped delivering the facts, what would go in its place in this place that is most watched, most listened, most viewed, most trusted? I don't know."

But he reached a breaking point. Sometime in September, according to a well-placed source, he went to Fox News management and asked to be let out of his long-term contract. Tensions with the opinion shows were getting to be too much.

Rav Yaakov - when is moshiach coming

אמת ליעקב דברים פרק לב פסוק לו

(לו) כי ידין ה' עמו גו' ואפס עצור ועזוב.

הנה בסנהדרין [דף צ"ז ע"א] ילפינן מהכא שאין בן דוד בא עד שיתייאשו מן הגאולה כביכול אין סומך ועוזר לישראל, ועיי"ש. והנה מאמר חז"ל זה טעון ביאור, וכי תנאי הוא שחס ושלום ישתכח עיקר א' מהשלש עשרה עיקרים, והלא הרמב"ם מנה תקות הגאולה בין העיקרים. אבל הכוונה בזה הוא שכל זמן שכלל ישראל מצפה לגאולה שתבוא באופן טבעי, והיינו שירחמו עלינו אומות העולם ויתנו לנו איזה מקום לבנות לנו מולדת וכדומה, ודאי לא תבוא הגאולה, כי חסד לאומים חטאת ובאמת שנואים אנחנו מכל יושבי תבל, ורק אם נתייאש לגמרי מאשליות כאלו ונבין כי אין לנו לישען אלא על אבינו שבשמים אז יבוא בן דוד ויגאלנו גאולה אמיתית, והבן.

וזה גם הטעם במה שאמר הקדוש ברוך הוא למשה לילך לפרעה ולדרוש ממנו כי יוציא את בני ישראל ממצרים, ומיד לאחר זה הכביד פרעה את עולו עליהם עד כי לא שמעו אל משה מקוצר רוח ומעבודה קשה, והיינו שרצה הקדוש ברוך הוא שיבינו בני ישראל כי לא פרעה הוא המשחררם וכאילו בטובו וחסדו תלוי הדבר, אלא אדרבה - לאחר שראו שמשה ביקש מפרעה לשחררם והוא סירב באמרו מי ד' אשר אשמע בקולו, מיד נתייאשו בני ישראל מלצפות שאמנם תבוא הגאולה באופן טבעי ושוב לא תלו תקוותם בפרעה, ולכן מיד אחר זה באה הגאולה האמיתית, ודו"ק.