Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations on Tuesday sarcastically called on the president of the Palestinian Authority (PA) to consider suing Egypt, France and Iran for their historic roles in securing a Jewish state in the land of Israel.  Danny Danon published his snide remark in a Twitter graphic in response to the recent announcement of plans by PA President Mahmoud Abbas to sue the UK for the 1917 Balfour Declaration, the historic document stating the British government would “view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” According to Abbas, the Balfour Declaration is the direct cause of the “Palestinian Nakba,” the “disaster” of Israel&rsquo...
On July 18 Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed publicly told a group affiliated with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement that his city would continue to allow the Atlanta Police Department (APD) to be trained by the Israel Police in spite of the group’s demands to cease the training relationship due to their treatment of the Palestinians. The decision by Reed comes amid nationwide protests and counter protests over police treatment of minority groups. Despite this heated environment, criminal justice experts and organizers behind U.S. police exchange programs with Israel believe that these claims by BLM groups are unsubstantiated, and that it is vital to maintain cooperation with countries like Israel at a time when police officers face dealing with an increasing number of te...
It’s been a long time since I saw a gesture this desperate. At the recent Arab Summit in Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania, the Palestinian Authority (PA) foreign minister, Riyad al-Maliki, announced that his boss, PA President Mahmoud Abbas, had asked the Arab states prepare a legal case against Britain in retaliation for the Balfour Declaration of 1917. The Balfour Declaration, which took the form of a letter from British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to the Zionist leader Lord Rothschild, confirmed Britain’s favorable view of a “national homeland” for the Jewish people in Palestine, which came under British control towards the end of World War I. For that reason, the PLO’s National Covenant dates the beginning of the “Zionist invasio...
New York - As the end of summer nears and dealers discount their 2016 cars to make room for next year’s models, shoppers who want to lease could find some hidden bargains. The key is to understand — and maximize — two little-understood aspects of leasing. It all comes down to finding cars with high resale value and then negotiating a low purchase price. “This is what I like to call ‘the leasing window,’” says Scot Hall, executive vice president of WantaLease, which posts leasing bargains. Michael Sin, co-creator of Leasehackr.com, adds, “People don’t know about it, but there are many underappreciated cars you can lease at bargain prices.” The forums on his site are filled with shoppers exchanging details of leasing deal...
Warsaw, Poland - Pope Francis’ visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau on Friday included an encounter with 25 Christian Poles who rescued Jews during the Holocaust — a powerfully symbolic meeting that Poland’s chief rabbi played a key role in orchestrating. Rabbi Michael Schudrich, originally from the United States, had long hoped to see such a meeting in Poland between a pope and some of the remaining Poles who risked their own lives during the world to give aid to Jews. Yad Vashem in Israel has recognized 6,620 Polish gentiles who sheltered Jews, so-called “Righteous Among the Nations.” Today fewer than 240 are still alive. Remembering their sacrifices is an important part of Schudrich’s mission as head of Poland’s Jewish community, and he has o...
Parshas Pinchas / Shabbos Mevarchim Menachem Av / Baltimore Zmanim / Eruv is UP! Baltimore, MD – July 29, 2016    Parshas:  Picnhas Today:    23 Tammuz       Chatzos: 1:13 Hadlakas Nairos: 8:03 PM Shkiah:                   8:21:32 PM Tzais HaKochavim:  9:12 PM Rosh Chodesh Menachem Av: Friday, Aug. 5th  
Washington - Donald Trump is vigorously tweeting the morning after Democrats finished their presidential nominating convention. His targets? A few choice people who criticized him from the stage at the Democratic National Convention. The Republican presidential nominee referred to former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, also a billionaire, as “Little Michael Bloomberg,” who “never had the guts to run for president” and whose final term as mayor was “a disaster.” That’s a reversal from 2012, when Trump praised Bloomberg for reducing crime in New York City, declaring, “That’s leadership.” Trump attacked Allen, saying he “failed badly in his fight against ISIS.” The former deputy commander of the wars in the Mi...
Trenton, NJ - A federal appeals court on Friday refused to dismiss a corruption indictment against Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, rejecting his claim that the U.S. Constitution shielded him from prosecution. Menendez, a Democrat, had been accused of abusing his power as a U.S. senator to advance the interests of a leading donor, in exchange for gifts and other perks. Prosecutors said Menendez interceded on behalf of Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen in an $8.9 million billing dispute with Medicare and a contract dispute with the government of the Dominican Republic, while accepting gifts including a stay at a Caribbean villa and flights on private jets. Menendez had argued that his actions were protected by the Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause...
Washington - The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee says its computers have been hacked. It’s been told by investigators the breach resembles the recent hacking of the Democratic National Committee. Meredith Kelly is spokeswoman for the committee, which is the political arm of House Democrats. She says the committee is using the forensic investigation firm Crowdstrike and is cooperating with federal law enforcement. A House Democratic aide said late Thursday the FBI is investigating the hack. Cybersecurity experts who studied the hack at the DNC have blamed Russia. That hack exposed embarrassing emails indicating that supposedly neutral DNC officials were favoring Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders during the presidential primary season. As a result, party chair...
Miami - Florida likely has the first cases of Zika transmitted by mosquitoes on the U.S. mainland, the state’s governor said Friday. No mosquitoes in the state have tested positive for Zika, but one woman and three men in Miami-Dade and Broward counties likely contracted the virus through mosquito bites, Gov. Rick Scott said during a news conference in Orlando. More than 1,650 Zika infections have been reported in the U.S., but the four patients in Florida would be the first not linked to travel outside the U.S. mainland. “This is not just a Florida issue. It’s a national issue — we just happen to be at the forefront,” Scott said. Health officials believe the infections occurred in a small area just north of downtown Miami, in the popular Wynwood ar...
Philadelphia - The father of a Muslim American soldier killed in Iraq posed a question to Donald Trump: Have you read the Constitution? To rapturous cheers, Pakistan-born Khizr Khan fiercely attacked the billionaire businessman Thursday at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia, saying that if it was up to Trump, his son never would have been American or served in the military. Khan said that Hillary Clinton, by contrast, “called my son the best of America.” The address was the latest effort by Democrats to highlight their diversity and criticize Trump’s most contentious plans. Beyond his proposed wall across Mexico, the billionaire businessman has threatened to ban Muslims from entering the United States if he becomes president. Capt. Humayun Khan died in 2...
Baltimore, MD  Daily Dvar Halacha -  July 29, 2016 / 23 Tammuz 5776 - Shine Shoes During 9 Days?
Paris - National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden and transparency website WikiLeaks are clashing over how best to handle the publication of sensitive data, a spat played out over Twitter. WikiLeaks has come under increasing criticism over what it publishes, particularly following the release of what the website advertised as emails from Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party. When a large numbers of emails turned out to be little more than messages from ordinary citizens, critics said WikiLeaks should have exercised better discretion to protect innocent people’s privacy. Snowden praised WikiLeaks on Thursday but said their “hostility to even modest curation is a mistake.” WikiLeaks fired back , accusing Snowden of “opportunism.” ...
Washington - Donald Trump’s campaign is calling Democrat Hillary Clinton’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention “an insulting collection of clichés and recycled rhetoric.” The statement issued Friday on Trump’s campaign Facebook page says Clinton’s stance on immigration “will take jobs, resources and benefits from the most vulnerable citizens of the United States and give them to the citizens of other countries.” Trump tweeted a link to the statement. It slams Clinton for not mentioning the words, “radical Islam,” ‘‘her disaster in Libya” or the investigation of Clinton’s private email server. The statement says Clinton’s remarks were “delivered from a fantasy...
Fort Lauderdale, FL - U.S. budget airline JetBlue Airways Corp said on Thursday it would launch scheduled commercial flights from the United States to Cuba on Aug. 31, ahead of competitors that have also announced departure dates. The former Cold War foes agreed last year to restore regular airline services after more than five decades as part of a broader detente in which they also resumed diplomatic ties. U.S. travel to Cuba was long an expensive and complicated endeavor. Given a U.S. ban on tourism to the island, most Americans could visit only as part of an organized group tour. Even when U.S. President Barack Obama eased travel rules earlier this year, allowing Americans to travel independently to Cuba for educational, cultural and other authorized purposes, they still had...
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Philadelphia - This time, Bill Clinton was the adoring spouse, smiling and clapping when the cameras cut away from the candidate in the spotlight. It was him in the VIP seating, watching as his wife took center stage to claim the presidential nomination at the Democratic convention Thursday night. It was one small step in the role reversal Americans will need to get used to if Hillary Clinton wins the White House in November. Already, satires and spoofs are circulating, taking note of Bill’s fashion choices, accessories and hair style. How about that fetching pantsuit! And that nice head of hair! Whose shoes is he wearing? After all, that’s what political wives have come to expect. For the record: He wore a dark suit; she a white one. Much of the world is watching ...
New York - Jeff Bezos, the founder and chief executive of Amazon.com Inc., has become the world’s third-richest person as of the market close for the first time, Forbes magazine said, passing Warren Buffett, the chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Bezos’ fortune was $65.3 billion as of 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030 GMT) on Thursday, compared with Buffett’s $64.9 billion. Microsoft Corp co-founder Bill Gates remained the world’s richest person, at $77.7 billion, while Spain’s Amancio Ortega, who founded the Zara clothing chain’s owner Inditex SA, was second at $72.7 billion. Facebook Inc co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg was fifth, at $54 billion. Bezos, 52, owns close to 18 percent of Amazon. Its stock has risen by rough...
Philadelphia - Hillary Clinton is questioning whether Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has the temperament to be commander in chief. She says Trump “can’t even handle the rough-and-tumble of a presidential campaign.” Clinton says Trump loses his cool at the “slightest provocation” — when he’s gotten tough questions from reporters, when he’s challenged in a debate or when he sees a protester at a rally. Here’s her take: “A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.”
Philadelphia - There are some signs of discontent amid the celebration of Hillary Clinton’s acceptance of the Democratic presidential nomination. As Clinton spoke, several people in the crowd at the Democratic National Convention unfurled a banner that said “Wikileaks.” It’s a reference to the leaked party emails that some say show the Democratic National Committee favored Clinton over primary rival Bernie Sanders. Near the Hawaii delegation, a few delegates waved signs for Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Some Sanders delegates sat quietly throughout the speech. For much of Clinton’s speech, a bright red sign stood out from the sea of campaign posters. It read, “Keep your promises.” Clinton struggled to keep command of the arena. She wa...
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