The Ilhan Omar anti-Semitism controversy, explained

 https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/3/6/18251639/ilhan-omar-israel-anti-semitism-jews

 It’s true that Omar’s comments on Israel keep falling into well-worn anti-Semitic tropes — and her defenders often prove too willing to paper this over and dismiss criticism from even progressive Jews as “smears.”

It’s also the case that Republican officials frequently call on anti-Semitic tropes and say worse about other minority groups without nearly so much bipartisan condemnation. Pushing for a House vote on anti-Semitism really did feel like unfairly singling out Omar — and whitewashing the GOP’s record in the process. That’s why progressives rallied to Omar’s defense, and why the Democratic leadership has been forced to reconsider its initial resolution.

 Omar deleted the original tweet and said she “unequivocally” apologized. And for a few weeks, that seemed to settle the matter. But then, at the panel with Tlaib last Wednesday, Omar tried to address her anti-Semitism problem again. And that’s when things went south.

 “At the event last week, Rep. Omar reiterated the remorse she feels for her comments last month—and the pain she knows they caused. As she said in her apology, we must distinguish between criticism of a particular faith and fair critiques of lobbying groups,” Slevin said. “She has consistently spoken out about the undue influence of lobbying groups for foreign interests of all kinds and her comments were about just that. To suggest otherwise is an inaccurate reading of her remarks.”

Jerry Nadler Uses Clip Of Graham From Clinton Impeachment To Make Case For High Crimes | NBC News

Graham calling for Clinton impeachment in 1999: High crime 'doesn't even have to be a crime'

Trump's speech is probably defensible in every court — except, perhaps, the Senate

 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-s-speech-probably-defensible-every-court-except-perhaps-senate-n1254258

Even if there is proof that Trump "intended" to cause violence with his speech, and even if there is proof that the violence he intended to cause was the storming of the Capitol, there could be an issue of whether the violence was "imminent" enough to be criminal.

Some will conclude that words like "fight" and "strength" gave the crowd the detailed instructions to violently enter the Capitol. The Senate can still convict even if reasonable minds can differ over those factual conclusions. A criminal jury must be unanimous.

A criminal jury is bound by the reasonable doubt standard. The Senate is not. It is bound by the two-thirds supermajority vote standard — and not much else.

‘We will never concede’: How Donald Trump incited an attack on America

 https://fortune.com/2021/01/07/trump-speech-capitol-attack-riots-pence-we-will-never-concede-maga-rally/

Many top political figures are converging on a stunning consensus: President Donald Trump personally incited a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, leaving four dead and an indelible scar on American democracy. Those assessments are coming not just from Trump’s political opponents, but also from members of his own party and even former members of his administration.

They include Gen. James Mattis, Trump’s first secretary of defense, who said last night that the “effort to subjugate American democracy by mob rule…was fomented by Mr. Trump.” Gen. Joseph Dunford, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Trump, also laid blame on the President. Republican Sen. Mitt Romney directly blamed Trump for last night’s events, and Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois this morning called for the invocation of the 25th Amendment, which gives the Vice President and the cabinet the power to remove an unfit President.

Trump’s statements leading up to and during the storming of the Capitol building, however, did not include explicit calls for a violent attack on America’s democratic institutions. Instead, those laying blame on Trump are pointing in part to rhetoric that agitated his followers with conspiratorial lies and instilled a sense of imminent doom—while relying on them to make the final decision to act. This is a version of the “stochastic terrorism” tactics common to authoritarian leaders around the world.

 

Capitol riots: Did Trump's words at rally incite violence?

 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55640437

 Thousands gathered at a "Save America" rally organised to challenge the election result and they listened as Mr Trump spoke to them near the White House.

In a 70-minute address, he exhorted them to march on Congress where politicians had met to certify Democrat Joe Biden's win. The attack began moments after he took the applause.

Those words have now played a central part in his second impeachment, which happened after a day of debate in Congress.

So what did he say? Here are five key quotes, followed by some legal analysis from Professor Garrett Epps of the University of Baltimore.

'We are lost:' Fox News suffers ratings slump while staffers fret about post-Trump future

 https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/02/media/fox-news-future-reliable-sources/index.html

 Here's how The Daily Beast's team described Fox's "nosedive" on Tuesday: "Signaling a seismic shift in the media landscape as defeated former president Donald Trump hibernates in strangely silent exile at Mar-a-Lago, Fox News' two-decade-long winning streak came to an abrupt end Tuesday while rivals CNN and MSNBC claimed the No. 1 and No. 2 rankings, respectively, in all of cable television. Fox News' embarrassing third-place showing is the continuation of a downward trend in which the right-leaning outlet lost 2020's fourth quarter to CNN and alienated Trump-supporting loyal viewers by calling Arizona early for Joe Biden during its election-night coverage."

Trump's legal team argues Senate can't convict him, his speech protected by 1st Amendment

 https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/02/politics/democratic-impeachment-filing/index.html

 "The First Amendment protects private citizens from the government; it does not protect government officials from accountability for their own abuses in office," they wrote.

Daniel Rosenthal=Gropen Orthodox

Daniel Rosenthal = Woken Orthodox"

Rosenthal Is Multi-Sponsor of Streetwalker bill A3355, Expected For a Vote in the N.Y. Legislature THIS week.

20 Shvat, Yisro 5781 °° Feb. 2, '21

by Binyomin Feinberg

Our sages exhort us: "Gadol HaMachti'oh Min HaHorg'oh."  A New York State bill, A3355, legalizing street-walking (specifically designed for transgenders) is expected to be voted on this week in Albany, any day now.  Please call your N.Y. state legislators ASAP to oppose this and any similar legislation, in any way possible, including speaking out against it on the floor.

https://nyassembly.gov/leg/?default_fld=&leg_video=&bn=A03355&term=2021&Summary=Y&Actions=Y&Committee%26nbspVotes=Y&Floor%26nbspVotes=Y&Memo=Y&Text=Y&LFIN=Y&Chamber%26nbspVideo%2FTranscript=Y

(Senate version: )

NY State Senate Bill  S1351
https://www.nysenate.gov//legislation/bills/2021/S1351

Williamsburg, Riverdale and Five Towns state senators voted for it in committee last week (Jan. 25), a clear result of the dereliction of many communal leaders on this family of issues.

~~~

This corrosive legislation is sponsored by a variety of leftists, including "Open Orthodox" Assemblyman Daniel Rosenthal of Queens.

Multi-Sponsor Daniel Rosenthal has a long history of voting with those who wage war against G-d Almighty. A few sample bills should suffice here:

1.  Daniel Rosenthal voted for a bill that would require every single person who works with seniors to get an LGBT propaganda education. This is identical to the Open Orthodox agenda:

https://nyassembly.gov/leg/?default_fld=&leg_video=&bn=A07593&term=2019&Summary=Y&Actions=Y&Committee%26nbspVotes=Y&Floor%26nbspVotes=Y&Memo=Y&Text=Y&LFIN=Y&Chamber%26nbspVideo%2FTranscript=Y

~~~

2.  In his voting for ninth month abortion he is similarly channeling the Open Orthodox agenda:

https://nyassembly.gov/leg/?default_fld=&leg_video=&bn=S00240&term=2019&Summary=Y&Actions=Y&Committee%26nbspVotes=Y&Floor%26nbspVotes=Y&Memo=Y&Text=Y&LFIN=Y&Chamber%26nbspVideo%2FTranscript=Y 

~~~

3. If Yisocher Katz allows a transgender (a woman who purports to be a man) into Chovevy - and that is Open Orthodoxy -- then how much more so ("kal vichomer") is forcing every Yeshiva, Bais Yaakov, and religious school in the state to do -  Open Orthodoxy on steroids (or "Woken Orthodoxy"). Daniel Rosenthal voted for just such a bill, and the bill's sponsor explicitly stated so on the floor:

https://nyassembly.gov/leg/?default_fld=%0D%0A&leg_video=&bn=S1047&term=2019&Summary=Y&Actions=Y&Committee%26nbspVotes=Y&Floor%26nbspVotes=Y&Memo=Y&Text=Y&LFIN=Y&Chamber%26nbspVideo%2FTranscript=Y

http://www2.assembly.state.ny.us/write/upload/transcripts/2019/1-15-19.pdf#search=%22747%22 

https://www2.assembly.state.ny.us/write/upload/transcripts/2019/1-15-19.html#00747

MR. RA:

"I JUST HAVE ONE QUICK QUESTION.  AND I -- I
KNOW THAT, YOU KNOW, AMONGST THE PROVISIONS THIS IS AMENDING, YOU KNOW, OBVIOUSLY RELATE TO HOW DIFFERENT PRACTICES ARE -- ARE CONSIDERED IN VARIOUS PARTS OF OUR LAW, INCLUDING THE EDUCATION LAW, SO -- SO THE QUESTION IS, I THINK, PRETTY SPECIFIC.  WOULD A RELIGIOUS INSTITUTION LIKE A, YOU KNOW, ALL GIRLS RELIGIOUS HIGH SCHOOL, BE REQUIRED UNDER THIS TO ADMIT A STUDENT WHO IDENTIFIES AS FEMALE, BUT WAS, YOU KNOW, BORN MALE?"
                          

MR. GOTTFRIED:  "AS THEY DO IN NEW YORK CITY AND ALBANY COUNTY AND WESTCHESTER AND ROCHESTER AND SALT  CITY, YES."

~~~

4. Rosenthal voted for the ERA (see link below) and many bills giving brazen practitioners of sodomy fictive "rights."

https://nyassembly.gov/leg/?default_fld=&leg_video=&bn=A00271&term=2019&Summary=Y&Actions=Y&Committee%26nbspVotes=Y&Floor%26nbspVotes=Y&Memo=Y&Text=Y&LFIN=Y&Chamber%26nbspVideo%2FTranscript=Y

~~~

5.  Daniel Rosenthal also voted to increase abortion for women in prison:

https://nyassembly.gov/leg/?default_fld=&leg_video=&bn=A09965&term=2019&Summary=Y&Actions=Y&Committee%26nbspVotes=Y&Floor%26nbspVotes=Y&Memo=Y&Text=Y&LFIN=Y&Chamber%26nbspVideo%2FTranscript=Y

~~~

6.  Approximately 200 Rabbis say to go to therapy if need be to address LGBT issues with which an individual is struggling. However, Daniel Rosenthal voted to ban it for those who need it the most:

https://web.archive.org/web/20160824212229/http://www.torahdec.org/signatures.html

https://nyassembly.gov/leg/?default_fld=&leg_video=&bn=A00576&term=2019&Summary=Y&Actions=Y&Committee%26nbspVotes=Y&Floor%26nbspVotes=Y&Memo=Y&Text=Y&LFIN=Y&Chamber%26nbspVideo%2FTranscript=Y

So much for "choice."  That's only for women who want to kill their babies - and have the government cover up and even enable their crime, with the veneer of "Law."

Anti-vaxxers and Israel’s own conspiracy theorists

 https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/anti-vaxxers-and-israels-own-conspiracy-theorists/

 So no, Jews are not immune to this insanity, and neither is the Jewish state. And as with Trump in the US, we currently have a highly talented conspiracy king running the country. In this election campaign, we need to be on our guard. Anti-vaxxers could be the tip of the iceberg; we may get to see what an indigenous Israeli QAnon looks like, and who knows, if Bibi loses, maybe even our own ‘Capitol Hill’ insurrection.

It’s Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Party Now

 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/01/opinion/marjorie-taylor-greene-gop.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

 Greene is not the outlier in this party. Kinzinger is.

American conservatism — particularly its evangelical strain — has fostered derangement in its ranks for decades, insisting that no source of information outside its own self-reinforcing ideological bubble is trustworthy.

If you’re steeped in creationism and believe that elites are lying to you about the origins of life on earth, it’s not a stretch to believe they’re lying to you about a life-threatening virus. If what you know of history is the revisionist version of the Christian right, in which God deeded America to the faithful, then pluralism will feel like the theft of your birthright. If you believe that the last Democratic president was illegitimate, as Trump and other birthers claimed, then it’s not hard to believe that dark forces would foist another unconstitutional leader on the country.

There was a moment, after the Capitol riot, when it seemed as if a critical mass of the Republican Party was recoiling at what it had created. But the moment passed, because it would have required the party’s putative leaders to defy too many of their followers. Senator Mitch McConnell floated openness to convicting Trump in a Senate trial, but ended up voting that such a trial was unconstitutional. Fox News, finger to the wind, purged many of its real journalists and gave the conspiracy theorist Maria Bartiromo a prime-time tryout.

McConnell: Marjorie Taylor Greene's views are a 'cancer' for the GOP

 https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/01/politics/mcconnell-marjorie-taylor-greene-cancer-republican-party/index.html

 "Loony lies and conspiracy theories are cancer for the Republican Party and our country," McConnell said in a statement. "Somebody who's suggested that perhaps no airplane hit the Pentagon on 9/11, that horrifying school shootings were pre-staged, and that the Clintons crashed JFK Jr.'s airplane is not living in reality. This has nothing to do with the challenges facing American families or the robust debates on substance that can strengthen our party."

While McConnell did not name Greene directly, his statement stands as a scathing rebuke of the freshman Republican House member. The Hill first reported on the statement.

Greene quickly shot back on Twitter, asserting that "the real cancer for the Republican Party is weak Republicans who only know how to lose gracefully. This is why we are losing our country."

For 2nd time in day, thousands attend funeral of rabbi, flouting lockdown rules

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/for-2nd-time-in-day-thousands-attend-funeral-of-rabbi-flouting-lockdown-rules/

TV news estimates 8,000 attend Jerusalem burial of Rabbi Yitzhok Scheiner, hours after 10,000 joined procession for Rabbi Meshulam Dovid Soloveitchik; both died of COVID

 

One third of Israel's coronavirus victims died in January

 https://www.ynetnews.com/article/ryMNjXSlu

 The ministry said 5,140 people tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday after 54,737 tests had been conducted, bringing the infection rate to 9.7%. The infection rate in the ultra-Orthodox sector is much higher at 20.1%.

At least 1,140 patients are in serious condition, of whom 315 are ventilated. Health officials said 30.6% of patients hospitalized in serious condition are below the age of 59.

In addition, 167 patients in their 50s are hospitalized in serious condition, 99 patients in their 40s, 50 in their 30s, 20 patients in their 20s and six children are currently being treated in hospitals after developing complications from COVID.