We read all 2,677 pages of impeachment inquiry testimony released to date. Here's what's clear.

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/09/politics/impeachment-transcript-takeaways/index.html

To President Donald Trump, the whole flap with Ukraine is over a "perfect" phone call.

"It's based on a single phone call of congratulations to the President of Ukraine, which they fraudulently mischaracterized to sound absolutely horrible," Trump said a few weeks ago of his July 25 call with the Ukrainian President cited by a whistleblower complaint.

Did Trump Offer Russia Help With Wildfires, But Not California?

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-russia-wildfires-california/

U.S. President Donald Trump offered Vladimir Putin U.S. help with Siberian wildfires and also threatened to withdraw federal emergency funding to California.

Rating

True

BREAKING & HEARTBREAKING NEWS: Army Targeting FORTY PERCENT of National Religious Girls

Nov. 7, 19.

Parshas Lech Lecha, 5780

By Binyomin Feinberg, Contributor to The Jewish Press*

feinbergbinyomin@gmail.com

* The perspectives and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the ownership or management of The Jewish Press.

~~~~~~~~~~~

To check for updates throughout the week please visit ("Updates for Cheshvan" at: )

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11EUa2a_8OwXs7T1vMfek3MehHfC2Rd9mWt6NetNxLm0/edit?usp=sharing

~~~~~~~~~~

The IDF is targetting 40% of the graduates of National Religious girls' High Schools for the military draft, within just three years. However, they can easily be stopped with proper exposure.

The military reporter for Maariv (Nov.5) reveals that the military seeks to recruit 40% of religious girls in Mam'lachti Dati schools by the end of 2022 CE. According to the IDF, the number of religious girls now being drafted is 2,500 per year.This includes about 27 percent of girls from National Religious schools, of the relevant age.

The IDF modus operandi for recruiting girls is akin to the that of enlisting boys - employing slick marketing techniques and appealing enticements, incrementally increasing enlistment. They start with the weakest girls, and step up gradually, with each group being targeted by the appropriate approach. And, as with recruitment of boys, the military initially argued that recruiting is intended for dropouts and the like.

Even in regard to girls, the army openly reveals their intent to enlist religious girls, with the implication that, contrary to the (somewhat distant) past, the army has set itself a goal to recruit Torah-observant girls who are legally exempt. While the military focuses on entrapment of the weaker girls, concurrently it selectively targets individual stronger girls, gradually, to foment a "new normal," in preparation for the next stage.

Rabbinical court removes children from mother after she 'signs them up for mixed-gender swimming classes'

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/rabbinical-jewish-court-mother-children-removed-observant-swimming-lessons-israel-a9174901.html

A rabbinical court in Israel has taken two children from the care of their mother after claims she was not properly complying with observant Jewish practices.

The court in the city of Haifa has granted the father custody despite the fact he has formerly been convicted of violent crimes.

The mother has been barred from seeing her children and is now only allowed to see them in a specific facility.

She told Israeli newspaper Haaretz getting her divorce was dependant on signing a contract which linked child custody to following an observant way of life.

Republicans again shift their defense of Trump over impeachment inquiry barrage

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/06/politics/gop-strategy-on-impeachment/index.html

Republicans are struggling to find a unified defense as they shift their ever-changing arguments about why President Donald Trump's actions are not impeachable, amid damaging testimony from senior diplomats that Trump sought to condition US military aid to Ukraine on opening investigations into his political rivals.

What once was a frequently repeated mantra -- there was no quid pro quo -- has now morphed into a multi-pronged and sometimes disjointed defense, with Republicans each taking the job into their own hands, hoping to fight back against the allegations raised daily with the release of new transcripts.

Breaking the Very Laws They Make

Nov. 6, '19

By Binyomin Feinberg, Contributor to The Jewish Press*

feinbergbinyomin@gmail.com

* The perspectives and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the ownership or management of The Jewish Press.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Please check for updates - today and throughout the week - by visiting:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11EUa2a_8OwXs7T1vMfek3MehHfC2Rd9mWt6NetNxLm0/edit?usp=sharing

~~~~~~~~~~

The Government Circumventing Their Own Laws:

In Jewish Law it's prohibited for a girl or woman to serve in the military, particularly given its rampant immorality, and due to the exploitive nature of the military environment. Due to pressure from Orthodox Jewish leaders across the spectrum in the early days of the State of Israel, the government had compromised by allowing girls exemptions if they would send in certification of their religiosity. In recent years, the government has gotten far stricter in providing religious exemptions. One systemic problem is that,

against their own legal requirements, the Army often refuses to send girls confirmation of their religious exemptions. According to Israeli regulations, once a girl sends in her religious certification - "Tatzhir Dat" ("TD" herein), she must be sent her exemption certification within a short time. However, many girls don't see any such exemption documentation. One way the government has of getting around that legal requirement is to simply "not receive" the TD. This is reportedly a common phenomenon for religious girls seeking exemptions. (One eyewitness even saw an Israeli Postal worker dispose of an entire bag of Religious Certification documents, mailed in by an untold number of girls seeking to secure their religious exemptions.) This type of kleptocratic activity rivals what you'd expect to find in corrupt countries that operate without the luxury of the rule of law. But, for many religious girls, it's a reality. Even the postal receipt doesn't guarantee that the government approved and processed her religious exemption. Not receiving the TD is one of the pretexts the government has been using to pressure girls into enlisting, or showing up at the Draft Offices, to be subjected to all sorts of pressure to enlist. Public pressure does work. It's important to publicize these types of phenomenon to combat them. To be continued, BE"H.

Government Agency Says All States Should Require Bicyclists to Wear Helmets

https://time.com/5719424/cycling-helmets/

The recommendation was among several issued by the National Transportation Safety Board after a hearing Tuesday on bicycle safety. The agency says 857 bicyclists died in crashes with motor vehicles in the U.S. last year, a 6.3% increase over 2017. Bicycle deaths rose even though total road deaths fell 2.4%.

Gordon Sondland Revises Impeachment Testimony to Acknowledge Ukraine Quid Pro Quo

https://time.com/5719007/gordon-sondland-revises-testimony-ukraine-quid-pro-quo/

In a striking reversal, a top diplomat revised his testimony in the House impeachment inquiry to acknowledge that U.S. military aid to Ukraine was being withheld until the foreign ally promised to investigate corruption as President Donald Trump wanted.

The three-page update from U.S. Ambassador Gordon Sondland, tucked beneath hundreds of pages of sworn testimony released Tuesday, provides new insight into Trump’s push for Ukraine to investigate Democrats and Joe Biden in what the Democrats call a quid pro quo at the center of the House inquiry.

Specifically, Sondland said he now recalls telling a top aide to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on the sidelines of a Warsaw meeting with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, that military aid to the country “would likely not occur” until Ukraine had provided a public anti-corruption statement “as we have been discussing for many weeks.”

Jewish group slams Democrats' calls to condition aid to Israel

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/271177

An umbrella group of more than 50 Jewish organizations from across the ideological spectrum condemned calls by Democratic presidential candidates to condition military aid to Israel on its approach to reaching a final status agreement with the Palestinian Authority.

“We are deeply troubled by recent statements that would place conditions, limitations, or restrictions on the U.S. security assistance provided to Israel, so vital for the defense and security of the country, the protection of essential U.S. interests, and stability in the region,” Arthur Stark, chairman, and Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman/CEO, of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations said in a statement issued Friday. “This approach would harm American objectives in the Middle East and would undermine the ability of our key ally to defend itself against the threats it faces on all its borders.”

Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, along with Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, recently have indicated a willingness to use American aid to force policy changes by Israel, including halting settlement construction. The United States gives Israel $3.8 billion annually in military assistance.

“

Voting for the Dems threatens to embolden the Antireligious Attacks on Religious Education וויכטיגע ידיעה על סכנת בחירת נציגים משחיתים די דעמוקראטיק פארטי אין די בחירות היום באמעריקא‎

BS"D

Nov.5, 19

Warning:

Voting for the Democratic candidates threatens to embolden the Anti-religious Attacks against Religious Education.

DO NOT BE FOOLED, AND DO NOT BE A FOOL:

PRACTICALLY EVERY ROCKLAND COUNTY ELECTION SEES THE SAME PROPAGANDA URGING VOTING "STRAIGHT" (sic) down DEMOCRATIC LINE (euphemism: "Row A"). It is only the pretexts and rationalizations that vary.

In Rockland County:

Vote for (Judge) Thomas Walsh for DA, but NOT on the Democratic Line.

Do not even vote for ANY °INDIVIDUAL° Democratic candidate - unless you know for a fact that that specific candidate is necessary to vote for.

We recommend voting for Richard Freehold for State Supreme Court, and a protest vote for all other Judges (write in William Barr (current US Attorney General)).

We also recommend following the lead of prolife Catholics in writing in Dennis Lynch for Sheriff.

~~~~

The concerns herein stand in addition to the known prohibitions against voting for anti-Torah candidates.

By blindly following misguided advice, and voting for Democratic Establishment props - in the midst of the greatest threat to menace the Jewish community - i.e. the assault of the anti-religious Democratic Party Establishment against Religious Education (currently in the form of proposed NYS Educational Equivalency Regulations) - we commit communal suicide, G-d forbid -- by emboldening our enemies to ensure the NYS Board of Regents votes for the aforementioned Educational Equivalency Regulations, as early as next month. By showing how we can be duped by a few activists into voting for the candidates preferred by antireligious Democrats, we remove fear from those who seek to attack our religious Education. And we provide fuel to those who seek to rally many of our non-Jewish neighbors against Orthodox Jews as blindly following corrupt leadership.

And to those who insist on following corrupt leadership: You have yourselves to blame for whipping up the already burning flames of Jew-hatred in Rockland County. And you provide the animus to embolden those who don't like Orthodox Jews to rally behind anti-Education crusaders like Mike Diederich.

Rabbi Noson Shmuel Leiter,

Executive Director,

Help Rescue Our Children

TorahJewsForDecency@gmail.com

845.642.1679

וויכטיגע ידיעה על סכנת בחירת נציגים משחיתים - די דעמוקראטיק פארטי - אין די בחירות היום באמעריקא

-------- Original message --------

From: על החינוך ארה''ב

Date:11/05/2019 12:39 PM (GMT-05:00)

To:

Subject: [01-11] וויכטיגע ידיעה על סכנת בחירת נציגים משחיתים די דעמוקראטיק פארטי אין די בחירות היום באמעריקא

HEALTH CHARITY CONCERT CANCELED AFTER REFUSING TO INCLUDE FEMALE ARTISTS

https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Culture/Health-charity-concert-canceled-after-refusing-to-include-female-artists-606872

The tribute concert planned for celebrated Israeli singer and music artist Shlomo Artzi has been canceled by the organization planning it because of demands to include female singers.

The proceeds of the event were to be donated to the Ezra LeMarpe medical support organization NGO which is managed by Rabbi Avraham Elimelech Firer, who was supposed to attend the event.

Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem Hagit Moshe denounced the decision as “one of the darkest hours of feminism in Israel,” and said that the furore over the concert had “turned the welcome idea of women’s independence into a spade designed to destroy the wall of unity and mutual respect of the Jewish people.”

The religiously hardline National Union Party, part of the Bayit Yehudi Knesset faction, also denounced the decision, saying “liberal terrorism has won.”

“The cancellation of the tribute concert to the amazing benevolent work of Rabbi Firer is a low point in Israeli society,” said the party, which is headed by Transportation Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

“All citizens of the country should feel ashamed at the humiliation of a great doer of charitable work, who has saved hundreds of thousands of lives without discrimination, and whose only sin was the lifestyle of a religious person who acts in accordance with Jewish law.”

AMERICA IS IN 'SERIOUSLY DARK TIMES' WHEN TRUMP CLAIMS THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH UKRAINE QUID PRO QUO: EX-WHITE HOUSE ETHICS CHIEF

https://www.newsweek.com/america-seriously-dark-times-when-trump-claims-theres-nothing-wrong-ukraine-quid-pro-quo-1469512

Ahead of another week of closed-door depositions on the Hill, the president launched fresh attacks on the probe into his July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, which he has dismissed as another "witch hunt."

The president's Sunday evening tirade branded the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Adam Schiff, "a corrupt politician." Trump speculated that Schiff might amend records of closed-door testimony to incriminate him and "suit the Dems purposes."

Trump suggested that Republicans involved in the hearings "should give their own transcripts of the interviews to contrast with Schiff's manipulated propaganda," adding that Schiff is "a proven liar, leaker & freak who is really the one who should be impeached!"

The president then said that any suggestion of a proposed quid pro quo with Zelenskiy "doesn't matter" and claimed "there is nothing wrong with that, it is not an impeachable event."

Fact-checking Eric Trump's claim The Trump Organization has no business ties overseas

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/03/politics/trump-kids-international-deals-fact-check/index.html

President Donald Trump's business is back in the spotlight. Less than a week after the President reversed course on his plan to host next year's G-7 at his Trump National Doral Miami in Florida, reports surfaced that his company plans to sell its DC Hotel, which has been the subject of several lawsuits alleging the President is profiting from it in violation of the Constitution.

Trump's defense is that he says he's put his business "stuff" in a trust and that his family runs it. As of 2018, the President held more than $130 million in foreign assets in this trust, according to an analysis compiled by Open Secrets.

As a trustee, Trump's eldest son Donald Trump Jr., who is also executive vice president of The Trump Organization, is responsible for looking after the beneficiary (the President) and the business's bottom line. This arrangement has raised concerns that Trump and his family could use the presidency to profit personally.

Since the 2016 election, Trump and his family members have defended the decision, claiming there is nothing improper about their business operations.

The recent controversy surrounding former Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter and his international business ties has added a new layer to conversations about the ethics around business done by the families of powerful politicians while they're in office. It's also spurred the President's family to attempt to defend their own holdings.

In a recent Fox News interview, Eric, discussing Hunter's dealings, noted that "the difference between us and Hunter is when my father became commander-in-chief of this country, we got out of all international business, right?"

Not quite. Jordan Libowitz, communications director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a non-profit government watchdog group, told CNN that Eric's claim was the "worst lie I've heard in a while."

Judge Andrew Napolitano: Proof of Trump’s impeachable offenses plain to see

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/judge-andrew-napolitano-hiding-plain-sight

With the process soon to be as Republicans have demanded, and with the proof of impeachable offenses plain to see, to what will the president's allies resort as a defense? They will claim that that the federal crimes of soliciting campaign assistance from foreign governments and bribery aren't impeachable offenses and that Trump was misunderstood because he exaggerates all the time and often doesn't mean what he says.

And then the American public will decide if all this is skim milk or cream.