The Constitutional Question at the Heart of Trump's Impeachment

https://time.com/5768470/donald-trump-impeachment-trial-constitution/

In other words, Trump’s lawyers argue, his pressure on Ukraine fell within the presidency’s foreign policy-making powers, whether he was doing it to root out corruption, as Trump has claimed, or for political advantage, as Democrats allege. “Abuse of power, even if proved, is not an impeachable offense,” Trump’s lawyer Alan Dershowitz, who will be presenting constitutional arguments at the trial, said Friday on MSNBC.

House Democrats flatly reject this reading of the Constitution. “Abuse of power was a principal concern of the Framers,” according to a Democratic staffer working on impeachment, noting that impeachment articles voted out of the House Judiciary Committee in 1974 against President Richard Nixon charged him with abuse of power. “Abuse of power was no vague or weak notion to the Framers. It had a very specific meaning: the use of official power to obtain an improper personal benefit, while ignoring or injuring the national interest… The President does not need to commit a crime for there to be an impeachable offense.”

 But fortunately for Trump, no Congress in our country’s history ever thought to explicitly outlaw using the power of the presidency to help win re-election. Starting Tuesday, Senators will have to decide whether, in the end, that’s all that matters.

Trump’s impeachment lawyer makes huge mistake while defending him on air

Elderly Long Beach woman at center of legal battle over life support dies

 https://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/life-support-death-long-beach-1.40716125

The longtime New York City public school math teacher had signed a living will in 1999 requesting to be taken off life support if she became seriously ill. Her oldest son, Edward Lester, 62, of Long Beach, claimed she had changed her mind and shared a video with the New York Post before Capetola issued the gag order he claims shows her mouthing the words, “I want to live.”

Kyle Lester, 58, of Dix Hills, claimed in court papers that his older brother Edward Lester wanted to keep their mother alive with a ventilator and feeding tube against her wishes so he could continue to collect her $5,400 a month in Social Security and pension payments, an allegation Edward Lester vehemently denied.

Breaking: Arline Lester dies by forced euthanasia LI, NY

 Arline Lester dies by forced euthanasia

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Breaking update   This is an update on a case we brought to you last week about Arline Lester, the 91-year-old woman from Long Island, New York, whose son recorded a video of her pleading for her life. Arline died yesterday after being heavily sedated and removed from her ventilator and feeding tube. Her forced euthanasia took place behind a shroud of secrecy and shocking judicial overreach in a state that’s pushing to legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia this year. Please read this important update from our president, Gualberto Garcia Jones, Esq. We are deeply saddened and angered by these events and ask that you continue to pray for all involved. Read what happened in Arline's case

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Alternative Law:’ Constitutional Scholar On The Dershowitz Defense Of Trump | All In | MSNBC

https://forward.com/news/438056/brooklyn-native-and-alleged-sex-abuser-gershon-kranczer-arrested-in-israel/

Israel arrests alleged sex abuser Gershon Kranczer 10 years after he fled there

An American rabbi who fled to Israel ten years ago after being accused of sexually abusing female relatives was arrested by Israeli police on Sunday, according to Israel’s Justice Ministry.

Jewish Community Watch, a watchdog organization that tries to combat child sexual abuse within the Orthodox Jewish community, identified that man as Rabbi Gershon Kranczer, a former principal of a Brooklyn yeshiva. An American law enforcement official who has direct knowledge of this case also independently confirmed Kranczer’s identity to the Forward.

Lilat, Ziva https://savehischildren.blogspot.com/2020/01/hate-crimes-vs-religious-bas-cohen

BS"D

https://savehischildren.blogspot.com/2020/01/hate-crimes-vs-religious-bas-cohen.html

Hate Crimes Vs. A Religious Bas-Cohen

Update: Jan. 16, '20

By Binyomin Feinberg,

FeinbergBinyomin@gmail.com

~~~~~~~~~~~

To check for updates, on first view of this article, as well as throughout the week,  please visit Updates for month of Teves '80:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LDLjvECWQExYoGjqIrbZtWALp6MpkHq22ihNz2BLuYM/edit?usp=sharing


~~~~~~~~~ 

We reported on a religious young woman, Lital bas Miriam Cohen of Tel Aviv, 26, incarcerated on Monday for her steadfast refusal to sacrifice her religious principles and her personal purity by enlisting in the Israeli Army.

She is now being persecuted in jail for her fidelity to Torah Law, denied even a sheet to sleep on, contact with an attorney entering the jail to speak to her and bring her items from home, and in other ways. They are clearly trying to break her. They're also apparently seeking to extend her incarceration without appropriate due process.

Please stay tuned, we hope to post more updates throughout the week.

Please daven and learn for Lital bas Miriam, intelligently circulate this information, and protest any "frum" media venues who opt to intentionally silence this story.

###

UPDATE on Ziva bas Mazal

16 Jan. '20

By Binyomin Feinberg,

FeinbergBinyomin@gmail.com

~~~~
A Follow up on this most recent post: 

https://daattorah.blogspot.com/2020/01/religious-persecution-of-ethiopian-girl.html

We've reported on Ziva bas Mazal in the past (e.g. https://daattorah.blogspot.com/2019/10/racial-profiling-or-pure-antireligious.html

https://daattorah.blogspot.com/2019/10/making-racism-great-again.html ).

The Army chooses their victims judiciously, and apparently treats them with similarly thoughtful consideration.

°  Ziva is currently suffering as a female, who is being persecuted with the overt intent to compel her to violate her personal modesty by enlisting in the notoriously exploitive and immoral Army.

°  She is enduring what is nothing less than religious persecution, for her fidelity to the Torah prohibition against enlistment in the Army.

°  She's enduring blatant mistreatment that appears more frequently in the cases involving those within the naturally less-advantaged Ethiopian community. (Some elitist, antireligious Ashkenazi bigots consider it their duty to integrate black Jewish girls into the military melting pot.)


°   Additionally, the elitists in Maitav evidently feel it imperative that the entire family participate in this social-engineering draft process. Ziva's elderly parents, particularly her acutely infirm father, are being subjected to all of the pain of witnessing this ongoing, illegal charade against their daughter.

More soon BE"H.

Hate Crimes Vs. A Religious Girls In Israeli Military Prison

BS"D

Hate Crimes Vs. A Religious Bas-Cohen

https://savehischildren.blogspot.com/2020/01/hate-crimes-vs-religious-bas-cohen.html

Update: Jan. 16, '20

By Binyomin Feinberg,

FeinbergBinyomin@gmail.com

~~~~~~~~~~~

To check for updates, on first view of this article, as well as throughout the week,  please visit Updates for month of Teves '80:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LDLjvECWQExYoGjqIrbZtWALp6MpkHq22ihNz2BLuYM/edit?usp=sharing


~~~~~~~~~ 

We reported on a religious young woman, Lital bas Miriam Cohen of Tel Aviv, 26, incarcerated on Monday for her steadfast refusal to sacrifice her religious principles and her personal purity by enlisting in the Israeli Army (https://daattorah.blogspot.com/2020/01/bascohen-resists-hegmonist-draft.html).

She is now being persecuted in jail for her fidelity to Torah Law, denied even a sheet to sleep on, contact with an attorney entering the jail to speak to her and bring her items from home, and in other ways. They are clearly trying to break her. They're also apparently seeking to extend her incarceration without appropriate due process.

Please stay tuned, we hope to post more updates throughout the week.

Please daven and learn for Lital bas Miriam, intelligently circulate this information, and protest any "frum" media venues who opt to intentionally silence this story.

###

UPDATE on Ziva bas Mazal

16 Jan. '20

By Binyomin Feinberg,

FeinbergBinyomin@gmail.com

~~~~
A Follow up on this most recent post: 

https://daattorah.blogspot.com/2020/01/religious-persecution-of-ethiopian-girl.html

We've reported on Ziva bas Mazal in the past (e.g. https://daattorah.blogspot.com/2019/10/racial-profiling-or-pure-antireligious.html

https://daattorah.blogspot.com/2019/10/making-racism-great-again.html ).

The Army chooses their victims judiciously, and apparently treats them with similarly thoughtful consideration.

°  Ziva is currently suffering as a female, who is being persecuted with the overt intent to compel her to violate her personal modesty by enlisting in the notoriously exploitive and immoral Army.

°  She is enduring what is nothing less than religious persecution, for her fidelity to the Torah prohibition against enlistment in the Army.

°  She's enduring blatant mistreatment that appears more frequently in the cases involving those within the naturally less-advantaged Ethiopian community. (Some elitist, antireligious Ashkenazi bigots consider it their duty to integrate black Jewish girls into the military melting pot.)


°   Additionally, the elitists in Maitav evidently feel it imperative that the entire family participate in this social-engineering draft process. Ziva's elderly parents, particularly her acutely infirm father, are being subjected to all of the pain of witnessing this ongoing, illegal charade against their daughter.

More soon BE"H.

Devin Nunes Now Remembers Talking to Giuliani Associate Lev Parnas After Previously Saying He Couldn't Recall His Name

https://www.newsweek.com/devin-nunes-remembers-talking-lev-parnas-1482480

Speaking with Martha MacCallum on Fox News in the wake of the Parnas interview, Nunes said the businessman was "someone who doesn't tell the truth," and brought up his indictment on campaign finance charges.

Reminded that he previously said he didn't "recall" a phone call with the Giuliani associate, the GOP representative said: "If you recall, that was brand new when it came out, when I was on your show. I just didn't know the name. This name Parnas.

The White House Broke The Law By Freezing Ukraine Aid, Watchdog Says

https://time.com/5766471/watchdog-white-house-illegal-aid-freeze/
 

Administration officials on Thursday were quick to point out that GAO is an arm of Congress and the administration is not bound by any of its findings. A senior administration official on Thursday called GAO’s decision “a pretty clear overreach as they attempt to insert themselves into the media’s controversy of the day.”

“We disagree with GAO’s opinion,” OMB Spokesperson Rachel Semmel said in a statement to TIME. “OMB uses its apportionment authority to ensure taxpayer dollars are properly spent consistent with the President’s priorities and with the law.”

But recently released internal government emails, as well as transcripts of closed-door depositions and interviews with TIME, show that both Pentagon and OMB officials became increasingly concerned that what they were being asked to do could violate this very law. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 requires the executive branch to spend money as appropriated by Congress.

Under that law, the President “has narrow, limited authority to withhold appropriations,” GAO General Counsel Thomas Armstrong said in a statement on Thursday.

The White House budget office told GAO that it withheld the funds to ensure that they were not spent “in a manner that could conflict with the President’s foreign policy.” The law does not permit OMB to withhold funds for policy reasons,” Armstrong concluded.

GAO says Trump administration broke law by withholding Ukraine aid

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/gao-says-trump-admin-broke-law-ukraine

 The Government Accountability Office issued a legal opinion on Thursday saying that President Trump's administration broke the law by withholding defense aid to Ukraine -- the issue at the heart of the president's impeachment trial.

That money — $214 million which had been allocated to the Department of Defense for security assistance — was appropriated by Congress and therefore the administration did not have the right to hold the money just back because it disagreed with its allocation, the opinion from the nonpartisan government watchdog said.

"Faithful execution of the law does not permit the President to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law," the opinion said. "OMB withheld funds for a policy reason ... not a programmatic delay. Therefore, we conclude that the OMB violated the ICA [Impoundment Control Act]."

The OMB made clear Thursday, however, that it disagreed with the GAO report.

Lev Parnas Claims Yovanovitch Was Targeted to Get Her Out of Possible Biden Probe, Says Hyde Was 'Drunk the Whole Time

https://www.newsweek.com/lev-parnas-claims-yovanovitch-was-targeted-get-her-out-possible-biden-probe-says-hyde-was-drunk-1482462

 Former Rudy Giuliani business associate Lev Parnas told MSNBC'S Rachel Maddow Wednesday night that former Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch was removed from her position because she was in the way of an investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden, which was started at the direct behest of President Donald Trump.

"That was the only motivation," Parnas said. "There was no other motivation."

Helping Parnas monitor Yovanovitch's movements was Republican Robert Hyde, a Trump supporter who is currently running for Congress in Connecticut. Hyde's name was found in text messages to Parnas discussing Yovanovitch.

"I don't even know how to explain [Hyde]," Parnas said. "He's a weird character."

 

Robert Hyde Says He Was Only 'Playing' in Texts About Surveillance of Marie Yovanovitch

https://www.newsweek.com/robert-hyde-only-playing-texts-about-marie-yovanovitch-surveillance-1482511

GOP congressional candidate Robert Hyde has denied being involved in surveillance of former U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, saying he was "playing" in texts to Lev Parnas released by House Democrats on Tuesday.

The Connecticut Republican told Eric Bolling on Sinclair TV last night that messages he sent to Rudy Giuliani's indicted associate discussing surveillance of Yovanovitch were "just colorful," and said he was a "little landscaper from f****** Connecticut" when pressed on whether he had spied on the then-ambassador.

Hyde also denied being a "close associate" of Parnas, claiming he barely knew the businessman.

Documents released on Tuesday suggested the supporter of President Donald Trump texted Parnas with supposed notes on Yovanovitch, her whereabouts and what she was doing.

"She's talked to three people. Her phone is off. Computer is off," one message from March 2019 read. According to the documents, another pair of messages said: "Update she will not be moved special security unit upgraded force on the compound people are already aware of the situation my contacts are asking what is the next step because they cannot keep going to check people will start to ask questions.

 

FULL Morning Joe 6AM 1/16/20 | MSNBC Breaking News Jan 16, 2020