Trump veto threat raises the prospect of year-end government shutdown

 https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-usa-trump/trump-veto-threat-raises-the-prospect-of-year-end-government-shutdown-idUSL1N2J314S

A source familiar with the situation said aides thought they had talked Trump out of the $2,000 demand last week, only to learn he had not given up when he posted the video. That surprised even his Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, who took part in the talks and backed the $600 figure.

Current federal funding is due to expire on Monday if Trump, who is scheduled to leave for Florida on Wednesday, does not sign the bill into law.

That would furlough millions of federal workers and shut down wide swaths of the U.S. government at a time when it is rushing to distribute two coronavirus vaccines and contend with a massive hack that officials say was perpetrated by Russia.

'The worst president ever. Period': Cuomo unloads on Trump

President Trump Vetoes $740 Billion Defense Bill – Setting Up Override Vote

 https://time.com/5924655/trump-vetoes-defense-bill/

Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, avoided any criticism of Trump, but called the NDAA “absolutely vital to our national security and our troops. … Our men and women who volunteer to wear the uniform shouldn’t be denied what they need — ever.”

Long before issuing the veto, Trump offered a series of rationales for rejecting it. He has called for lawmakers to include limits on social media companies he claimed are biased against him — and to strip out language that allows for the renaming of military bases such as Fort Benning and Fort Hood that honor Confederate leaders. Without going into detail, he has claimed the biggest winner from the defense bill would be China.

 

Trump vetoes 'unconstitutional' defence bill

 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55432550

 House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the most powerful congressional Democrat, said Mr Trump's veto was "an act of staggering recklessness that harms our troops, endangers our security and undermines the will of the bipartisan Congress".

"In a time when our country was just targeted with a massive cyber-attack, it is particularly hard to understand the reasoning behind the president's irresponsibility," she said in a statement.

Ahead of Wednesday's veto, some of the outgoing president's advisers had cautioned him against rejecting the bill, as he is expected to be overruled by Congress.

Mr Trump has previously vetoed eight bills, vetoes which were all upheld with support from his fellow Republicans in Congress.

Trump issues 26 new pardons, including for Stone, Manafort and Charles Kushner

 https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/23/politics/trump-pardons-stone-manafort-kushner/index.html

President Donald Trump on Wednesday evening announced 26 new pardons, including for longtime ally Roger Stone, former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner's father, Charles.

The pardons extend Trump's streak of wielding his clemency powers for criminals who are loyalists, well-connected or adjacent to his family. While all presidents issue controversial pardons at the end of their terms, Trump appears to be moving at a faster pace than his predecessors, demonstrating little inhibition at rewarding his friends and allies using one of the most unrestricted powers of his office.

Christie in early 2019 went on to say that Charles Kushner committed "one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes" he had prosecuted, referring to an elaborate revenge plot that the older Kushner hatched in 2003 in order to target his brother-in-law, William Schulder, a former employee turned witness for federal prosecutors in their case against Kushner.

As a part of the plot, Kushner hired a prostitute to lure Schulder into having sex in a Bridgewater, New Jersey, motel room as a hidden camera rolled.

A tape of the encounter was then sent to Kushner's sister and Schulder's wife, Esther. Ultimately, the intimidation stunt failed. The Schulders brought the video to prosecutors, who tracked down the woman and threatened her with arrest. She promptly turned on Kushner

 

Pious Adultery - is wife prohibited as adultress?

 Binyan Tzion    (#154) … The normal practice of Jews is to travel for several days while their wife remains at home alone with the children and servants. One day when the husband was away on business a man arrived from Poland with ripped clothing and he requested from the wife a place to sleep. The wife had been very modest all her life, nevertheless her religious sensitivity blinded her and out of a feeling pity she gave him a place to stay as well as food and drink. However the guest refused to eat anything that came from an animal and he refused to drink anything other than water and he did other actions of an ascetic. For example he afflicted himself and everyday he remained in his room studying .Everynight at midnight he would say the prayers of mourning for the destruction of the Temple (Tikun Chatzos). In addition he refused to sleep in a bed or bench but only on the ground with a stone for a pillow. Everyday he would immerse himself twice in cold water in the river in the winter, One Friday night after the meal was finished  and the children and servants had left the table and gone to sleep in another room – this fraud remained sitting at the table alone with the woman. After they talked a while she asked him who he was and where he had come from and where was he going? He replied that he was G-d’s messenger and his name was Eliyahu the Prophet and he was gathering his fellow Jews from the four corners of the Earth and that he only revealed this information to certain pious individuals. The woman in her foolishness totally believed him. She then went to sleep in her bedroom which adjoined the dining room. This disgusting person remained sitting in his place study a sefer until midnight. After midnight he got up and quietly tiptoed to her bed and woke her from her sleep. He told her that he had traveled from one end of the world to the other and he had not found anyone as righteous as she was who was deserving to be the mother of the Messiah. But the problem was that her husband was not fitting to be the father of the Messiah. He said therefore he had been sent from Heaven to have intercourse with her and at the appropriate time she would give birth to the Messiah who would redeem all the Jewish people. He said to prove he was really Eliyahu  The next Tuesday after he had left her she should open the trunk which stood in her bedroom she would find a treasure of gold coins. But this would only happen if she didn't open the trunk before he had left. He spoke these things in such a convincing manner that he succeeded in seducing her and having intercourse with her on Friday Night and Saturday night. However on Sunday before dawn he fled from there and no one knew where he went. This foolish woman decided it would be a good idea to write to her husband that he should return home quickly since G-d had given them a great treasure. Her husband listened to her and returned on Tuesday. But when the woman opened the trunk she did not find any treasure that the seducer had promised her. When she realized that she had been tricked she screamed and cried bitterly and told her husband all the disgusting things that had transpired through this wicked man. She explained to him that she hadn't done this to rebel against him but rather she had done it for the sake of Heaven. She explained that the seducer was ugly and very disgusting and she hadn't done it for lust. However her husband was not placated with this explanation and went to the Rav and told him everything and asked what the halacha was regarding his wife. The Rav sent for her and cross examined her carefully and she told him all the details mentioned here. The Rav ordered that they separate from each other until he had a chance to consult with other rabbis. [...] Conclusion: Saying that when she deliberately had adulterous intercourse – for the sake of Heaven – it did not constitute rebelling against and betrayal of her husband is not a good argument to permit her to her husband according to the Maharik and Rema.

McConnell silent after Trump threatens to block coronavirus, government funding package

 https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mcconnell-trump-threat-coronavirus-government-funding-package

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell hasn't yet responded to President Trump demanding Tuesday night that Congress include $2,000 stimulus checks in the coronavirus aid package that it passed on Monday, which included smaller $600 checks for individuals.

The last-minute objection to the accord that Congress carefully crafted with very little if any involvement from Trump came after McConnell, R-Ky., said Monday, "The Senate just passed another major bipartisan, COVID-19 relief package. The American people can rest assured that more help is on the way, immediately."

That no longer is such a sure thing.

 

Trump goes on a rampage with pardons, veto threats and Covid denial

 https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/23/politics/donald-trump-pardons-stimulus/index.html

The sleazy final days of the Trump White House later hit new lows when the President wielded his unassailable pardon power, substituting political payoffs for justice in yet another morally questionable use of executive authority.

As the daily Covid death toll soared past 2,900, Trump concentrated on absolving two acolytes who had lied to investigators in the Russia probe and two staunchly supportive former GOP congressmen convicted of financial crimes.

He also spared guards from the Blackwater private security firm, founded by a political supporter, Erik Prince. The guards had unleashed sniper fire, machine guns and grenades on innocent men, women and children in Iraq in 2007.

Pat Robertson: Trump 'lives in an alternate reality,' truly believes he won the election (Trump is not a liar he is delusional!)

 https://www.foxnews.com/media/pat-robertson-trump-alternate-reality-election

 "The president still lives in an alternate reality, he really does. People say, ‘Well, he lies about this, that and the other,’ but no, he doesn’t lie. To him, that’s the truth," Robertson said on Christian Broadcasting Network. "It's time to move on."

Trump threatens surprise COVID bill veto: Pelosi agrees, relief checks should be $2,000

 https://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2020/12/22/22196626/trump-threatens-surprise-covid-bill-veto-pelosi-agrees-relief-checks-should-be-2000

 Trump’s central complaint in a video he posted on Twitter is that Congress should send folks $2,000 checks, not the “ridiculously low” amount of $600 his own Treasury Secretary, Steve Mnuchin, wanted.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi found herself in rare agreement with Trump.

Game on.

“Republicans repeatedly refused to say what amount the President wanted for direct checks. At last, the President has agreed to $2,000 — Democrats are ready to bring this to the Floor this week by unanimous consent. Let’s do it!” Pelosi said in a tweet.

Pelosi called Trump’s bluff.

Trump Slams COVID-19 Relief Bill, Asks For Changes After Bitter Negotiations- Trump supports Domocrats against Republicans

 https://www.npr.org/2020/12/22/949421102/trump-calls-relief-bill-a-disgrace-asks-for-changes-after-bitter-negotiations

President Trump is threatening to derail a $900 billion COVID-19 relief package passed by Congress on Monday after months of bitter negotiations.

In a video released on his Twitter feed Tuesday evening, Trump said he wants Congress to "send me a suitable bill or else the next administration will have to deliver a COVID relief package."

Trump said the bill was a "disgrace" and called the $600 payments to individuals in the current bill "ridiculously low." He said he wants that boosted to $2,000 per individual and $4,000 for couples — despite the fact that it was Republicans who stood in the way of higher payments for months.

Forcing wife beater to divorce wife

 

Binyamin Ze’ev (88). Concerning a husband who regularly beats his wife and she cries and groans from the abuse. How can the matter be corrected? You ask me my dear friend that since he doesn’t listen to the local rabbis whether the halacha is that he can be forced to divorce her if it can be shown that he is the instigator and not his wife? I found in the name of Rabbeinu Simcha who said in a similar case to force the husband to give a divorce since a woman marries for life not for suffering and every time he hits her he is committing a sin which is worse than if he was beating another man.  But it is best to make peace between the husband and wife by placing two or three people to mediate with them and ensure they keep their commitments to each other. If this doesn’t stop his abuse then it is agreed that the court will utilize non-Jews to force him to divorce her and tell him he must do as the Jews have said. Otherwise there is a problem that this will be an invalid divorce (get me’usa). Rabbeinu Simcha writes if nothing stops his abuse he is forced to divorce even through the use of non-Jews because in such a case the forcing is valid even though our Sages (Gitten) say that normally the use of non-Jews would make it invalid. But if they say “do as the Jewish judges have said” as we see from the Semag (50). Nevertheless the husband needs to say at the end of being forced that he is really doing it from his own free will. We can rely on this ruling of Rabbeinu Simchah to force the husband to divorce. .

Netanyahu’s Coalition Government Collapses After Budget Bill Failure – Triggering Israel’s 4th Election in 2 Years

 https://time.com/5924341/israel-netanyahu-government-collapses/

Israel’s brittle governing coalition collapsed after just seven months, sending the election-fatigued country to its fourth vote in two years.

The campaign will feature a new challenger who might win enough support to dethrone the long-serving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, polls suggest. The ballot is to take place on March 23 after parliament failed to approve a national budget for the second year in a row.

The grudging alliance between Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz had been formed expressly to avoid another vote after three inconclusive matchups, and to combine forces to contain the coronavirus outbreak. A fourth race, after long months of policy paralysis, will be especially bruising as the virus defies efforts to tame it, talk of a third national lockdown is percolating, and unemployment is a steep 15%.

Cuomo: This is a very bad situation the President is creating