Who Is Not Implicated in the Trump Indictment? Hillary Clinton.: Ruth Marcus, Washington Post, June 12, 2023
“I have no brief for Clinton’s behavior in setting up a private, insecure email server to get around the State Department’s clunky, antiquated email system. It was sloppy, and Clinton made matters worse when she had her lawyers unilaterally erase 30,000 emails they deemed personal.
But: Clinton didn’t keep classified documents or transmit them on the server. Rather, the emails sent on the server referred to classified information; they did not, with the exception of three email chains that had a paragraph or two marked “(C),” for confidential — contain other flags that the material was classified.
If anything, there was “evidence of a conscious effort to avoid sending classified information by writing around the most sensitive material,” Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz concluded in a June 2018 report on the Clinton investigation. And to the extent that classified information was discussed on the private system, investigators found, that was done with other government employees, for official purposes.
In addition, prosecutors did not find indications of any intent to obstruct in the Clinton lawyers’ deletion of the emails they decided were personal. They “concluded that there was no evidence that emails intentionally were deleted by former Secretary Clinton’s lawyers to conceal the presence of classified information on former Secretary Clinton’s server,” Horowitz reported.” [Hillary bit bleached 30,000 emails that were under subpoena and took a hammer to her cell phones, making it impossible to know what was on them, even though some showed up on Anthony Wiener’s cell. Also, her private server was easily hacked. For an even more scurrilous attempt to whitewash Hillary’s actions, see: “Hillary Clinton’s emails are nothing like Donald Trump’s documents.” — Ed.]
“Special Counsel Jack Smith has an even higher burden to bear than that. He needs to convince the country —maybe not all of the country, but certainly more than just the half that didn’t vote for Donald Trump — that Trump deserves jail. Taken at face value, Smith has a long way to go. Indeed, assuming every single allegation in the indictment of the former president is true, he’s not even close. This is because there are no allegations in the indictment that Trump did anything with the classified documents that harmed the country. He didn’t sell them to the North Koreans or give them to Vladimir Putin. Chinese intelligence agencies didn’t infiltrate Trump’s bathroom and sneak off with nuclear secrets. To be sure, such harm is not a legal or technical requirement for a conviction. But right now, a good chunk of the country is asking itself whether we really want to throw a former president of the United States in jail — for what well may be the rest of his life — for a crime that is not only victimless, but also apparently commonplace among and seldom enforced against former officeholders.” — Mick Mulvaney (The Hill, June 19, 2023)
“We’ve lost the law. We’ve lost our most precious traditions, We are a Banana Republic. We use criminal indictments to get rid of people like any Banana Republic. We traded the American republic that kept us free for centuries because the bureaucrats of our unelected Kemalist administrative state didn’t like the immaturity of a boastful man who dared defeat Hillary Clinton in 2016.” – John Kass (John Kass News, June 13, 2023)
“We do not support Taiwan independence. We remain opposed to any unilateral changes to the status quo by either side. We continue to expect the peaceful resolution of cross strait differences. We remain committed to continuing our responsibilities under the Taiwan Relations Act including making sure Taiwan has the ability to defend itself. At the same time, we and many others have deep concerns about some of the provocative actions that China has taken in recent years going back to 2016. The reason that this is a concern for so many countries, not just the United States, is that were there to be a crisis over Taiwan, the likelihood is that could produce an economic crisis that could affect quite literally the entire world.” –– U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking at a press Conference Monday in Beijing following a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and reiterating U.S. support of the “One China” policy, saying that the U.S. does not support Taiwanese –independence. (Fox News, June 19, 2023)
“I believe it was this collision with freedom [Lyndon Johnson’s 1964 Great Society and War on Poverty]–its intimidating burden of responsibility, its terror of the unknown, its risk of humiliation —that pressured black Americans, especially the young, into a terrible mistake. . . . [S]uddenly, a new voice of protest exploded onto the scene, a voice of race and color and atavistic longing: ’black power.’ To accommodate, we shifted the overriding focus of racial protest in American life from laws and freedom to identity. Today, racial preferences are used everywhere in American life. Identity is celebrated almost as profusely as freedom once was. . . Today’s black identity is a victim-focused identity designed to entitle blacks in American life. into a life of chasing down privilege. The obvious problem with this is that it baits us into a life of chasing down privileges like affirmative action. In broader America, this only makes us sufferers for want of `privileges. Reparation can never be more that a dream of privilege.” — Shelby Steele. (WSJ, June 16, 2023).
“He needs to be shot. . .” — Democrat Virgin Islands Del. Stacey Plaskett on MSNBC Sunday, appearing accidentally to say that former President Trump “needs to be shot”, while discussing his classified documents investigation. Plaskett, a radical Democratic progressive who represents a nonvoting U.S. territory, was criticizing Trump’s handling of classified documents during a live segment on MSNBC Sunday. She quickly attempted to correct herself by adding “stopped.” (Fox News , June 19, 2023)
“If even [half of] the indictment is true, then he’s toast. It’s a very detailed indictment, and it’s very, very damning. The idea of presenting Trump as a victim of a witch hunt is ridiculous.” — William F. Barr, Trump’s fired Attorney General in an interview with Shannon Bream (Fox News, June 11, 2023)
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AT LEAST 4 DEAD, SEVERAL WOUNDED IN TERRORIST SHOOTING ATTACK IN SAMARIA (Samaria) — At least four people have died and several were wounded, two critically, in a terrorist attack in central Samaria Tuesday afternoon. The attack occurred at a gas station just outside of the Israeli town of Eli on Route 60 at approximately 4:15 p.m., when a gunman opened fire on Israelis before being shot himself. The four victims of the deadly terrorist shooting have been identified. The youngest, 17, is Nachman Shmuel Mordoff from the town of Ahiya in the Binyamin region. The other three are Elisha Antman, 18, a resident of Eli; Harel Masoud, 21, from Yad Binyamin in central Israel; and Ofer Fayerman, 60, from Eli. (WIN, June 20, 2023; WIN, June 21, 2023)
7 IDF SOLDIERS WOUNDED IN JENIN AMBUSH OF ARMORED VEHICLE (Jenin) — Two IDF soldiers and five Border Police officers were wounded in Jenin during a firefight that lasted hours and included the ambush of an armored military vehicle. The plan was to arrest two terror operatives: one from Hamas and one from Islamic Jihad. Palestinian reports said five Palestinians were killed in the clashes and 28 were wounded, some in serious conditions. (Jerusalem Post, June 19, 2023)
COALITION MOVES TO RESTART OVERHAUL, SETS PLAN TO LIMIT HIGH COURT’S JUDICIAL REVIEW (Jerusalem) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition decided to reignite its controversial plan to shake up Israel’s judiciary, setting a goal to curtail judicial review of the “reasonableness” of government decisions before the Knesset recess next month. Legislation to take political control of judicial appointments — the core and most controversial element of the overhaul — will be scheduled for the winter session, which opens in October. The coalition is expected to withdraw the bill it was about to enact in late March, which would give the governing majority near-absolute control of appointments throughout the judicial hierarchy, and prepare a fresh draft with as-yet unspecified changes. (Times of Israel, June 19, 2023)
NETANYAHU HANDS SMOTRICH FULL AUTHORITY TO EXPAND EXISTING SETTLEMENTS (Jerusalem) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government passed a controversial resolution Sunday that gives practically all control over planning approval for construction in West Bank settlements to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, an ultranationalist advocate of settlements. The decision also dramatically expedites and eases the process for expanding existing West Bank settlements and retroactively legalizing some illegal outposts. (Times of Israel, June 18, 2023)
ISRAEL PLANS FIRST-EVER SALE OF FLAGSHIP MERKAVA TANK TO EUROPEAN COUNTRY (Jerusalem) — Israel is in talks to sell its Merkava tank to two countries, one of them in Europe, in what would be the first export of the flagship fighting vehicle.. Introduced after Israel’s armored corps suffered heavy losses against Egypt and Syria in a 1973 war, and with a view to reducing reliance on foreign arms supplies, the Merkava – biblical Hebrew for “chariot” – is now in its fourth generation. (Jerusalem Post, June 15, 2023)
JERUSALEM FAMILY DONATES 1,300 DOLLS TO HELP CHILDREN DURING MEDICAL EMERGENCIES (Jerusalem) — In a tribute to their late daughter, Gilat, who passed away in 2008 from a rare disease, Jerusalem residents Tali and Yair Eisenmann donated more than 1,300 dolls to United Hatzalah. Resembling Gilat, who died at the age of 11 in her native Holland, the dolls will be utilized by United Hatzalah volunteers to provide solace to young children and their families during medical emergencies. Yair and Tali Eisenmann established the Gilat Foundation in 2009 to honor their daughter’s memory. (WIN, June 18, 2023)
JERUSALEM’S HISTORIC TIFERET ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE TO REOPEN AFTER 75 YEARS (Jerusalem) –More than 150 years after his great-great-great-grandfather, Brian Sherr aims to re-inaugurate Tiferet Israel Synagogue. Brian Sherr, 79, grew up in New Jersey with one foot in and an eye on the holy city of Jerusalem. His great-great-great-grandfather Rabbi Nissan Bek helped fund and found the Tiferet Israel Synagogue in the 1800s. This synagogue once served as the crown jewel of Jerusalem until it was captured by the Jordanian Arab Legion in the 1948 War of Independence and left for rubble. (Jerusalem Post, June 16, 2023)
A NEW NUCLEAR DEAL WITH IRAN THREATENS ISRAEL (Jerusalem) –Senior officials in Jerusalem are concerned about Israel’s inability to influence the Biden administration and Congress on the Iranian nuclear issue. While the United States and Iran have denied ongoing negotiations for a temporary nuclear agreement, Jerusalem isn’t buying it. It is believed that two Arab countries, including Oman, are mediating between Washington and Tehran. Israel is deeply concerned about the potential outcome of these negotiations, even if they take a long time to materialize. According to senior officials in Jerusalem, National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer expressed their concerns following their recent meeting with U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in Washington. (JNS, June 12, 2023)
SKIN SAMPLES CAN BECOME HUMAN PLACENTA, ISRAELI RESEARCHERS FIND IN NEW BREAKTHROUGH (Jerusalem) — A breakthrough achievement of converting skin samples into functional human placenta cells – creating significant implications for understanding pregnancy development, studying pregnancy-related diseases and advancing cell therapies – has been reached by researchers at the Faculty of Medicine of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU). The cell-reprogramming research, said Prof. Yossi Buganim and his team, opens new avenues for investigating the causes of infertility, complications during pregnancy and long-term health implications for both mothers and babies. (Jerusalem Post, June 20, 2023)
SHEBA MEDICAL CENTER ENTERS PARTNERSHIP WITH LARGEST UAE HEALTHCARE SYSTEM (Tel Hashomer) — Sheba Medical Center in central Israel has announced a new multifaceted strategic partnership with the United Arab Emirates’ PureHealth, the largest integrated healthcare platform in the Middle East. A memorandum of understanding was signed Sunday at Sheba by representatives of the two organizations, committing them to work together closely on joint clinical research projects, promote the use of advanced technology in healthcare, expand genetic research initiatives, collaborate on staff training, and boost health tourism in both countries. (Times of Israel, June 20, 2023)
PITTSBURGH SYNAGOGUE SHOOTER FOUND GUILTY OF CRIMES (Pittsburgh) —Robert Bowers, 50, has, after four and a half years, been found guilty of murdering eleven people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh on Oct.27, 2018, the deadliest antisemitic attack in American history. He entered the synagogue, which houses three different congregations, with an AR-15, and as his own defense attorney noted, “shot every person he saw.” Prosecutors have rejected his offer to plead guilty in return for a life sentence. The jury will now hear evidence relating to whether he should be sentenced to death (his attorney is pleading that he suffers from schizophrenia). (WSJ, June 16, 2023)
UNPRECEDENTED STEP FORWARD: UN SECURITY COUNCIL EXPLICITLY CONDEMNS ANTISEMITISM FOR FIRST TIME IN UAE-UK RESOLUTION(Brussels)–The UN Security Council ahead of a vote on a UAE-UK resolution on “Tolerance and International Peace and Security,” June 14, 2023, unanimously passed a resolution that for the first time explicitly condemns antisemitism in the 77-year history of the body, according to officials with the United Arab Emirates, which drafted the resolution along with the United Kingdom. The resolution, officially numbered Security Council resolution 2686 on “Tolerance and International Peace and Security, was introduced during the UAE’s month-long presidency of the council and is intended to condemn violence, hate speech, and extremism, and to encourage the promotion of tolerance, according to its language. (Algemeiner, June 19, 2023)
THE DARK SIDE OF MEDICATIONS: THESE DRUGS DO MORE HARM THAN GOOD (Cambridge; Melbourne) — A groundbreaking study conducted by researchers from the University of Cambridge and the University of Melbourne, published in the journal Science Advances, sheds light on the effects of certain drugs on cognitive function. The study involved 40 healthy participants between the ages of 18 and 35, and its results challenge the notion that drugs like Adderall and Ritalin enhance cognitive abilities. (Jerusalem Post, June 20, 2023)
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