Trump watched Fox News for hours, ‘chose’ not to act, panel hears

 https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20220722-jan-6-hearing-focuses-on-trump-s-response-on-the-day-of-the-capitol-attack

"President Trump sat at his dining table and watched the attack on television while his senior-most staff, closest advisors and family members begged him to do what is expected of any American president," said Representative Elaine Luria, a Democratic committee member.

The panel played videotaped testimony from White House aides and security staff discussing the events of the day. Former White House counsel Pat Cipollone was asked question after question in the recorded testimony about whether Trump took this action or that action - did he call the secretary of defense? Did he call the U.S. attorney general? Did he call the head of Homeland Security? Cipollone answered "no" to each query.

Panel members said Trump's daughter Ivanka and son Don Jr. were among those who pleaded with him to act. The hearing, expected to be the last until September, detailed both the violence that played out as Trump supporters fought their way into the Capitol and Trump's actions in the hours after his speech in which he urged the crowd to "fight like hell" and the release of the video telling the rioters to go home.

First US case of polio in nearly a decade is an Orthodox Jewish man

 https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/article-712800

The first case of polio in the United States in a decade has been diagnosed in an Orthodox Jewish man in Rockland County, just north of New York City.

Local health officials announced the case Thursday and said they would begin a drive to increase vaccination against the potentially deadly virus. They said the victim was experiencing paralysis, a hallmark of the disease, and that he had not been vaccinated against it.

“He was released from the hospital,” one source told the Jewish Week on condition of anonymity. “He’s a young adult, in a wheelchair. He got married recently.”

Takeaways from the January 6 hearings day 8

 https://edition.cnn.com/2022/07/21/politics/january-6-hearing-day-8-takeaways/index.html

The committee used Thursday's hearing to show how Trump not only failed to act, but chose not to as he watched the violent assault on the US Capitol unfold.

Several witnesses with first-hand knowledge of what was happening inside the White House on January 6 told the committee that Trump did not place a single call to any of his law enforcement or national security officials as the Capitol attack was unfolding, according to previously unseen video testimony played during Thursday's hearing.

The panel said it "confirmed in numerous interviews with senior law enforcement and military leaders, Vice President Mike Pence's staff, and DC government officials: None of them -- not one -- heard from President Trump that day," Luria said.

The committee used that testimony to make the case that Trump's refusal to intervene amounted to a dereliction of duty.

In a D.C. jail, Jan. 6 defendants awaiting trial are forming bitter factions

 https://www.npr.org/2022/04/14/1092580753/capitol-riot-january-6-insurrection-defendants

Inside the Washington, D.C., jail, where a group of defendants charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol have been held for as long as a year or more, a bitter divide is growing, current and former inmates say.

A combination of that intense proximity, the stress of criminal cases and a fight over more than a million dollars donated to support the defendants has contributed to the rift.

One inmate described the situation to NPR as "too many rats together in a small cage for too long."

Capitol rioters’ tears, remorse don’t spare them from jail

 https://thehill.com/homenews/wire/587893-capitol-rioters-tears-remorse-dont-spare-them-from-jail/

Fifty-six of the 71 pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. Most of them were sentenced to home confinement or jail terms measured in weeks or months, according to an Associated Press tally of every sentencing. But rioters who assaulted police officers have gotten years behind bars.

Eighteen judges, including four nominated by Trump, have sentenced the 71 rioters. Thirty-one defendants have been sentenced to terms of imprisonment or to jail time already served, including 22 who received sentences of three months or less, according to the AP tally. An additional 18 defendants have been sentenced to home confinement. The remaining 22 have gotten probation without house arrest.

James Murray's Trump Ties Face Scrutiny Over Deleted Secret Service Texts

 https://www.newsweek.com/secret-service-james-murray-trump-ties-texts-1726581

O'Donnell said that the agency has lost "the most important text messages in their history because no one there knew that those text messages were important" and accused Murray of being a "Trump guy."

רוצה טלפון? תן גט: הסנקציה שהבהילה את הסרבן

 https://www.kan.org.il/item/?itemId=131330

סרבן גט הסכים להתגרש מאשתו אחרי שבית הדין דרש ממנו למסור את מכשיר הטלפון הנייד שלו לשבוע. הסנקציה הוטלה עליו כי המשיך הקליט את הדיונים למרות שהובהר לו שחל על כך איסור

https://vinnews.com/2022/07/21/beis-din-confiscated-cell-phone-of-get-refuser-and-he-immediately-agreed-to-give-a-get/

Beis Din Confiscated Cell Phone Of Get Refuser – And He Immediately Agreed To Give A Get

The Double Standard for Policing Capitol Rioters and BLM Protesters

 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-07/trump-rioters-weren-t-policed-like-blm-protesters

Horrified onlookers including President-elect Joe Biden could not help but notice the striking contrast between the police response to Trump’s insurrection and the hard fist that met Black Lives Matter protests in June. During largely peaceful protests on June 1, D.C. police officers arrested 289 people, with federal officers tear-gassing demonstrators in Lafayette Square to clear the way for Trump’s infamous Bible photo-op at St. John’s Episcopal Church. By comparison, local police in Washington, D.C., who secured the Capitol grounds on Wednesday and enforced the 6 p.m. citywide curfew have made only 68 arrests as of Thursday morning.

Donald Trump's 187 Minutes of Inaction To Be Key Focus of Jan. 6 Hearing

 https://www.newsweek.com/trump-187-minutes-jan-6-hearing-thursday-1726602

The panel are hoping to suggest that Trump's inaction for more than three hours while the attack was taking place amounted to a dereliction of duty and a violation of his oath of office.

Jews and mazel

 Meiri (Shabbos 156): …. The gemora here says that in general Jews are not controlled absolutely by mazal. Don’t pay attention to the alternative view that says that Jews are in fact controlled by mazal. That view is the result of some of the sages became confused after they saw the lack of order in the manner of mankind’s reward and punishment. This confusion is also manifest in Moed Koton(28a) which states that “Lifespan, children and livelihood are not the result of merit but rather mazal.” This statement was made only because the author saw someone who was a tzadik and great scholar who was unsuccessful in these three areas.Another one of these confused sages stated in Bava Kama (80b): “A door which is locked is not readily opened” and “All those who suffer misfortune do not quickly obtain good fortune” while another one of this group said, “He will never obtain good fortune” . This statement was only made because of bad personal experience as the gemora itself concludes that it was not a general rule but he was only describing his own personal experience. All this shows that these statements asserting the importance of mazal were only made in response to their authors’ personal experiences or what they observed with others. Thus these are only exceptions to the general rule that “Jews are not governed by mazal.” In other words reward and punishment typically determines what happens to a person and not mazal. Our gemora here (Shabbos 156a) provides testimony concerning incidents predicted by astrologers such as being on the verge of death and yet nevertheless being saved through the merit of giving charity. There is no need to repeat the events described in this gemora because they are clearly stated.

Video of David Hogg Blasting Committee on Guns Viewed More Than 1M Times

 https://www.newsweek.com/video-david-hogg-blasting-committee-guns-viewed-more-1m-times-1726557

A video showing gun control activist David Hogg being escorted out of a House Judiciary Committee hearing following an outburst quickly received over 1 million views on Twitter.

Hogg, a survivor of the deadly 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, erupted at Republican Representative Andy Biggs of Arizona during the hearing on Wednesday after the congressman began speaking about an "invasion" of "illegal immigrants" coming across the U.S.-Mexico border.

People in Republican Counties Have Higher Death Rates Than Those in Democratic Counties

 https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/people-in-republican-counties-have-higher-death-rates-than-those-in-democratic-counties/

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the link between politics and health became glaringly obvious. Democrat-leaning “blue” states were more likely to enact mask requirements and vaccine and social distancing mandates. Republican-leaning “red” states were much more resistant to health measures. The consequences of those differences emerged by the end of 2020, when rates of hospitalization and death from COVID rose in conservative counties and dropped in liberal ones. That divergence continued through 2021, when vaccines became widely available. And although the highly transmissible Omicron variant narrowed the gap in infection rates, hospitalization and death rates, which are dramatically reduced by vaccines, remain higher in Republican-leaning parts of the country.

Israel is no haven for sex criminals - editorial

 https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-712631

To begin with, the story was strange. In her response, Shaked said that the decision to grant Lanner temporary residency was made by her predecessor, Arye Deri. Why he would have even considered granting citizenship to someone who has ruined the lives of so many people and is a registered sex offender in the US remains a mystery. It is true that Lanner served his time in prison and should be able to get on with his life, but that does not mean that it needs to be in Israel.

Righteous people can also change

Berachos (28b) The Sages taught: Shimon HaPakuli arranged the eighteen blessings, already extant during the period of the Great Assembly, before Rabban Gamliel, the Nasi of the Sanhedrin, in order in Yavne. Due to prevailing circumstances, there was a need to institute a new blessing directed against the heretics. Rabban Gamliel said to the Sages: Is there any person who knows to institute the blessing of the heretics, a blessing directed against the Sadducees? Shmuel HaKatan, who was one of the most pious men of that generation, stood and instituted it.

The next year, when Shmuel HaKatan served as the prayer leader, he forgot that blessing,

and scrutinized it, in an attempt to remember the blessing for two or three hours, and they did not remove him from serving as prayer leader.

Berachos (29aWhy did they not remove him? Didn’t Rav Yehuda say that Rav said: One who was serving as the prayer leader before the congregation and erred in reciting any of the blessings, they do not remove him from serving as the prayer leader. However, one who erred while reciting the blessing of the heretics they remove him, as we suspect that perhaps he is a heretic and intentionally omitted the blessing to avoid cursing himself. Why, then, did they not remove Shmuel HaKatan?

Shmuel HaKatan is different because he instituted this blessing and there is no suspicion of him.

Let us suspect that perhaps he reconsidered and, although he had been righteous, he had a change of heart? Abaye said: We learned through tradition that a good person does not become wicked.

And does he not become wicked? Isn’t it explicitly written: “And when the righteous one returns from his righteousness and does wicked like all of the abominations that the wicked one has done, will he live? All of the righteous deeds that he has done will not be remembered given the treachery that he has carried out, and in his sin that he has transgressed, for these he shall die” (Ezekiel 18:24)? Abaye responds: That verse refers to a righteous individual who was initially wicked and repented, but ultimately returned to his evil ways. However, one who is initially righteous does not become wicked.

And does he not become wicked? Didn’t we learn in a mishna: Do not be sure of yourself until the day you die, as Yoḥanan the High Priest served in the High Priesthood for eighty years and ultimately became a Sadducee. Even one who is outstanding in his righteousness can become a heretic.

Abaye responded: He is Yannai he is Yoḥanan. In other words, from its inception, the entire Hasmonean dynasty had the same positive attitude toward the Sadducees, and there was no distinction between Yoḥanan Hyrcanus and Alexander Yannai. Yoḥanan the High Priest had Sadducee leanings from the outset. Rava said: Yannai is distinct and Yoḥanan is distinct. They did not share the same position in this regard. Yannai was wicked from the outset and Yoḥanan was righteous from the outset. If so, it works out well according to Abaye’s opinion; however, according to Rava’s opinion, it is difficult. How could Yoḥanan, a righteous individual, have changed and turned wicked?

 Rava could have said to you: There is also room for concern that one who is righteous from the outset will perhaps reconsider and turn wicked, as was the case with Yoḥanan the High Priest. If so, the original question is difficult: Why did they not remove Shmuel HaKatan from serving as the prayer leader?

Sefer HaChinukh (523:2) It is from the roots of the commandment [that it is] since the impulse of a man's heart is evil, and sometimes a passion comes to his heart against his fellow; and even if he is an extremely proper man, he is not saved from sometimes sinning. And even if a man stands for [a very long time] upon the ways of righteousness, it is not impossible for him to overturn his thoughts and to become bad. As behold, they, may their memory be blessed, said (Berakhot 29a) that Yochanan served in the high priesthood and at the end [of his long tenure], he turned into a Saducee; [they also said about him that he was at first a true prophet, and at the end, he became a false prophet]. Hence the thing is fit to not rely upon the heart of a man to punish his fellow according to his testimony; and even if the convicted is a total evildoer and the most common of commoners and the one testifying is the greatest sage in Israel. But when those testifying are two fit men, there is an assumption about all of the seed of Israel that they will not agree to testify falsely. And [this type of] an assumption is [powerful] about all things.

We see the issue of R Greenblatt is in fact a dispute between Abaye and Rava and clearly the gemora accepts the view of Rava that a righteous individual can change and do something wrong