Monday, December 19, 2022

Jan. 6 Hearing : Committee Refers Donald Trump to Justice Department for Criminal Charges

 https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/jan-6-committee-hearing-trump-updates?mod=hp_lead_pos1

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol voted to make a raft of criminal referrals to the Justice Department for former President Donald Trump related to his attempt to overturn the presidential election.

The committee took the action in the panel’s 10th and final meeting this year as it concludes its 18-month probe.

Jan. 6 committee formally accuses Donald Trump of four crimes

 https://www.politico.com/news/2022/12/18/jan6-committee-deliver-judgment-trump-00074365

The Jan. 6 select committee on Monday voted to formally accuse Donald Trump of four crimes, including assisting an insurrection, in his bid to subvert the transfer of presidential power to Joe Biden.

The panel contended that its evidence proved Trump provided “aid and comfort” to a mob that was ransacking the Capitol in service of his attempts to reverse his loss in 2020. It also said Trump could be charged with obstructing Congress’ Jan. 6 joint session, conspiracy to make false statements to the National Archives and conspiracy to defraud the United States.

US House panel recommends criminal charges against Trump for Jan. 6 Capitol attack

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-december-19-2022/

The committee ‘has developed significant evidence that president Trump intended to disrupt peaceful transition of power under our Constitution,’ committee says

US backs probe into accident after Palestinian brothers killed by Israeli driver

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-backs-call-to-probe-accident-after-israeli-driver-kills-palestinian-brothers/

The United States on Sunday joined a call for an investigation into a deadly traffic incident over the weekend, in which an Israeli driver struck and killed two Palestinian brothers working on a disabled vehicle on the shoulder of a West Bank road.

The Palestinian Authority has called the Saturday collision, which took the lives of Mohammad and Muhannad Muteir from the Jerusalem-area Qalandiya refugee camp, an intentional ramming attack, while Israel Police says that it was an accident.

Anarchy rules in ultra-Orthodox enclaves of Jerusalem

 https://www.ynetnews.com/magazine/article/sj5j696uj#autoplay

Residents of the capital's Haredi enclaves, claim that the police is afraid to enter, leaving the lawless extremists to riot at will, whether protesting immodesty, military service or infrastructure projects

Religion - Jewish versus non Jewish

 Meshech Chochma (Shemos 12:21): It is said about the Jews that they are believers the descendants of believers However non Jews have stronger religious beliefs than Jews - even when their religion is utter nonsense To explain the distinction between Jewish and non Jewish faith, one must note that the appreciation of things such as love, beauty and power are all inherent in a person. The ancient peoples sanctified all these natural powers and placed high value on them and described them as resulting from specific G-ds. Thus they had a G-d of beauty, a G-d of power and a G-d of love as is well known. Even today, the peoples of the world make images and sanctify these tangible - directly experienced characteristics. Thus, non Jewish religious faith is essentially just an extension of natural emotion. That is not how G d conceives religious faith…. In fact, all tangible existence is totally separate from the one Creator. All this is such pure abstract intellectual awareness that Chovas HaLevavos asserts that true service of G d is for either the philosopher or prophet. Nevertheless, all Jews - even without reaching the levels of prophets or even philosophers - truly believe in these pure abstract thoughts of His existence and His unity and they scoff at all that which is entirely based upon natural emotional experience. They understand that faith based entirely on innate human feelings and thoughts is worthless and transient representing only conjecture  -  G d in the image of man. Because of this knowledge gained from their forefathers - Jews understand this profound abstract philosophical issue and scorn emotion based faith... 

Eidah Hachareidis Protests Violent Hafganah That Led to Woman’s Injury: “They Have No Daas Torah”

 https://matzav.com/eidah-hachareidis-protests-violent-hafganah-that-led-to-womans-injury-they-have-no-daas-torah/

At a pre-Chanukah shiur at the Dushinsky Bais Medrash with Rav Moshe Shternbuch, introductory remarks were delivered by Rav Amram Oifman of the Eidah Hachareidis. He spoke about the woman, Mirel bas Rachel Leah, who was injured in a violent hafganah this past week.

Rav Amram vigorously protested the violence and the criminal acts of a group of extremists. Then, in the presence of Rav Shternbuch and the Dushinsky Rebbe, Tehillim was recited for her refuah.

Does UC Berkeley really have ‘Jew-free zones’? - explainer

 https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-718992

It seemed like a headline out of the 19th century: a warning of “Jew-free zones” at the University of California-Berkeley.

That’s the phrase being employed by some prominent pro-Israel groups this week to describe a dispute at UC Berkeley’s law school, where nine student groups recently voted to adopt by-laws that state they will not invite any visiting speakers to campus who “hold views in support of Zionism, the apartheid state of Israel, and the occupation of Palestine.”

But is the “Jew-free” label accurate? Not according to Jewish leadership at the university. Here’s a rundown of the controversy, and where people have come down on it.

Capital punishment - Rav Moshe Feinstein

 Igros Moshe (C.M. 2:68): … The Torah reserves capital punishment for those sins which are very serious such as murder, kidnapping, sexually prohibited relations and idolatry. The perpetrator in these cases is unrestrained and is capable of doing whatever disgusting and cruel acts in the world that are in his heart that he thinks are for his benefit. However the death penalty is not administered out of hatred to evildoers or fear for the welfare of society because Bava Metzia (83b) tells us that G d will punish transgressors. That in fact is the halacha as poskened by the Rambam (Hilchos Chovel u’Mazik 8:9) as well as all other poskim. So on the one hand the purpose of capital punishment is to let people know the severity of these prohibitions so that they will not transgress them. On the other hand the laws of capital punishment emphasize the importance of each soul and other concerns. Therefore we are commanded that only the Sanhedrin with proper semicha can judge these cases. Only the greatest people in Torah scholarship and other knowledge receive this semicha. In addition to their knowledge they also need to have perfected their character and be very humble as well as G d fearing people. They also need to hate money and love the truth as well as wonderful people who are beloved by all…They don’t have any imperfections or bad reputations and they are very merciful. That is why very old people are not appointed judges because they have forgotten the stress of raising children. Also people without children are not appointed because they lack mercy to some degree and they will be too angry at those who have committed sins.  Even these great and good people cannot judge unless they constitute a Sanhedrin of 23 people.  However it is not enough there are 23 such people to make a Sanhedrin. They also need to have before them 3 rows of very great Torah scholars who are not yet great enough to be part of the Sanhedrin – but are almost great enough. This is to protect the Sanhedrin from making a mistake in judgment. That is because when these three rows of scholars think that the Sanhedrin is mistaken in their ruling of innocence they will protest and will not listen at all to their words. Another safeguard against making a mistake is that they do not convict based on circumstantial evidence – no matter how convincing. They only convict a person based on two valid witnesses who have not the slightest bias in the matter... Furthermore the witnesses are warned concerning the severity of the sin of false testimony as well as the seriousness of the sin of murder so that they are very afraid of mistakenly convicting or mistakenly declaring the suspected murderer innocent. Even with all of this the witnesses also have to warn the person against murder and the suspected murderer has to acknowledge the warning by saying that even though he is aware of the seriousness off the crime he is still doing it. As a consequence of all these safeguards, only once in many years would someone be convicted of murder. In addition it was impossible to judge capital cases unless the Temple existed and that the Sanhedrin of 71 of the greatest scholars was in session on the Temple Mount. In fact capital cases were not judged even in those countries where the king gave the Jews permission to judge their own people according to the law of the Torah.  As a consequence of these two factors there were almost no Jewish murderers because of the awareness of the severity of the prohibition of murder and because they were educated by means of the Torah and the punishments of the Torah to understand the seriousness of the crime. They were not simply afraid of punishment in the sense of getting caught but were afraid of the crime itself. However this use of the Torah system to run society was only when the crime of murder was not common but was simply the result of someone’s great lust or some quarrel concerning money or honor. But when people killed simply because it was viewed as an insignificant thing and the murderer was simply a callous and cruel person or similarly if there was a great deal of murders and wickedness – then a different system of law was utilized that was concerned with the pragmatic question of stopping killing and the goal became saving the society.

Embattled QAnon congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene 'openly cheated' on her husband of 25 years with a polyamorous tantric sex guru and then moved on to another affair with the manager at her gym

Republicans like Trump Greene, Walker and Gaetz are pro family

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9246917/Marjorie-Taylor-Green-openly-cheated-husband-men-gym.html

Controversial conspiracy congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene cheated on her husband with a polyamorous tantric sex guru, DailyMail.com has learned.

Then after ending her affair with him, the mom-of-three moved on to a gym manager behind her husband's back.

But despite the tawdry flings, Taylor Greene stuck with her husband Perry as she made her unlikely rise that has turned her into the most talked-about Republican in Washington, D.C.

Brooklyn DA Admits Botched Sex Abuse Case, Allowing Alleged Pedophile to Dodge Charges

 https://www.nbcnewyork.com/investigations/brooklyn-da-admits-botched-sex-abuse-case-allowing-alleged-pedophile-to-dodge-charges/3996834/

The Brooklyn District Attorney’s office admits it made a serious mistake in an a case of alleged sex abuse case and the result: an accused pedophile can’t be prosecuted.

The error was exposed after a woman, now in her 20s, spoke exclusively with the News 4 I-Team.

"I feel victimized twice," she said.

The alleged victim, a member of the Hassidic community in Borough Park, says the abuse by a man close to her family began when she was 11 years old, and continued for four years.

New clip shows moment dumpster pushed by ultra-Orthodox rioters hits Jerusalem woman

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/new-clip-shows-moment-dumpster-pushed-by-ultra-orthodox-rioters-hits-jerusalem-woman/

Moshe, an ultra-Orthodox resident of Mea Shearim, told Channel 12 that the protesters represented a “small handful” of the community and that most were afraid of them.

“We are afraid of them and all these years we have been against them. These people don’t represent anyone, it is a small and loud group, and we also suffer from them,” he said.

“Although we are an ultra-Orthodox community and support protests against Zionism, we are also afraid of the extremists that injured the woman, who is hospitalized now.”

Police release video of woman injured during haredi riots

 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-725192

Dozens of protestors rioted on Thursday night and blocked roads in central Jerusalem, demonstrating against the arrest of a man suspected of burning a store that sold phones which in his eyes were "not kosher."

Donald Trump brings new meaning to ‘guilt by association’

 https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/3779131-donald-trump-brings-new-meaning-to-guilt-by-association/

That said, although it no longer plays a role in establishing criminal or civil liability, “guilt by association” remains an extraordinarily effective way to judge the character of acquaintances, friends, and political leaders. Donald Trump (who refuses to relinquish fawning “love letters” North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un sent to him) is a 21st-century incarnation of tyrants who, according to Aristotle, “are always fond of bad men, because they love to be flattered. And no man who has the spirit of a freeman will demean himself by flattery.”

Trump’s modus operandi — feign ignorance when pressed about praise by an odious person; if absolutely necessary, issue a vague or self-evidently insincere condemnation and change the subject — brings new meaning to “guilt by association.”