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February 25, 2017 at 7:24 pm
The president tweeted his announcement on Saturday.
Donald Trump will be skipping the White House Correspondents' Dinner on April 29.
"I will not be attending the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner this year. Please wish everyone well and have a great evening!" Trump tweeted on Saturday afternoon.
Trump's decision comes after CNN, The New York Times, Politico and several other major media outlets were blocked from attending a Friday White House press briefing. The president also continued to express his dislike for "fake news" media and targeted reporters' use of anonymous sources while speaking to the Conservative Political Action Committee on Friday.
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February 24, 2017 at 4:55 pm
During the Donald Trump era, America “will stand with Israel,” Vice President Mike Pence vowed on Thursday during his address to the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland.
“Israel’s fight is our fight, her cause is our cause and her values are our values,” Pence said, prompting a standing ovation. “I’m proud to stand with the president, who stands with our most important ally, the Jewish state of Israel.”
Pence’s CPAC appearance came a day after he stopped at a recently vandalized Jewish cemetery in Missouri and lent a helping hand in the cleanup effort.
An Israeli government representative slammed the BDS movement on Friday for falsely implying that a prominent US literary so...
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February 24, 2017 at 4:52 pm
An Israeli government representative slammed the BDS movement on Friday for falsely implying that a prominent US literary society had decided to boycott the Jewish state.
Shimon Mercer-Wood — spokesman and consul for media affairs at the Consulate General of Israel in New York — was referring to an Adalah-NY press release that heralded the lack of Israeli government funding for PEN America’s 2017 World Voices Festival — an annual New York event that Israel had been a sponsor of in recent years.
Adalah-NY claimed that this was the result of “a campaign and a call supported by leading literary figures asking the organization to reject Israeli government sponsorship.”
PEN America has faced pressure from pro-Palestinian activists to forgo I...
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February 24, 2017 at 4:52 pm
Rather than becoming more moderate — as promised by the Obama administration during its marketing of the July 2015 Iran nuclear deal — the Iranian regime is now “far more dangerous” than it was when it agreed to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with six world powers, a former top Israeli diplomatic official said on Thursday.
Recent hostile rhetoric by top Tehran regime officials — including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s call for the destruction of Israel — shows Iran is seeking “continuing conflict and escalation,” ex-Foreign Ministry Director General Dore Gold — currently the president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs — said.
On Thursday, as reported by The Algemeiner, Iranian Defense Minist...
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February 24, 2017 at 4:49 pm
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is “deeply implicated in BDS and other forms of political warfare” against the Jewish state, a watchdog group said on Friday, following the news that the Israeli government had rejected a HRW request for a work permit for its regional director.
“For two decades, Human Rights Watch has been one of the most blatant and aggressive anti-Israel NGOs in the world,” Prof. Gerald Steinberg, president of Israel-based NGO Monitor, said in a statement. “Their defenders need to ask why they systematically hire pro-BDS activists for key Israel-related ‘research’ positions, while lobbying to isolate Israel through false allegations.”
In a letter explaining its decision to not grant a work permit to Omar Shakir &mda...
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February 24, 2017 at 4:38 pm
President Barack Obama shook hands with lawmakers as he strode down the middle aisle of the House of Representatives before his final State of the Union, breaking into a wide smile when he saw a very familiar face.
“Eliot, you’re here,” Obama said.
“Would I be anyplace else?” Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., replied.
For nearly three decades, Engel has been on the aisle for every presidential address to Congress. For a fleeting moment, it’s just him and the president – two Republicans and two Democrats since he began the tradition in 1989 – shaking hands in a show of support for the leader of the free world.
Engel could be someplace else Tuesday night, when President Donald Trump strides down the House’s center aisle to deliver his first a...
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February 24, 2017 at 4:36 pm
In a White House laden with competing power centers, a trio of military men has emerged as a force to be reckoned with.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and Joint Chiefs Chairman Joseph Dunford have quickly formed a stabilizing alliance in an administration whose earliest days have been marked by turmoil. At working dinners and meetings with President Donald Trump, the men – all retired or current generals -have sought to guide the new leader and foreign policy novice.
And they have increasingly represented Trump around the world, seeking to allay concerns about the new president and his nascent foreign policy.
Their fingerprints can increasingly be seen on the president’s early national security moves, from the reworking of his controvers...
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February 24, 2017 at 4:33 pm
President Donald Trump has signed a new executive order taking aim at government regulations.
The president says the order will direct each federal agency to establish a regulatory reform task force.
The task forces will then recommend which regulations they can simplify or eliminate.
The president has long argued that excessive regulations are “killing jobs, driving companies out of our country like never before.”
He says the regulator burden is “an impossible situation” for big and small businesses, but says, “we’re going to solve it very quickly.”
Trump signed the order in the Oval Office surrounded by top executives from major corporations.
He signed a previous order that instructed agencies to identify two regulations to eliminate for ev...
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February 24, 2017 at 4:30 pm
New Hampshire this week passed a law allowing residents to carry a concealed handgun without a permit, joining a growing number of states that are allowing residents to carry weapons out of sight without a license.
At least 11 states have passed laws allowing the concealed carry of guns without a permit, and 16 states have introduced legislation this year to do the same, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures and the National Rifle Association. Gun rights advocates see the laws as the next frontier in Second Amendment rights. But the legislation has been controversial in many places where it has been introduced, with some in law enforcement, politicians and gun proponents arguing that the bills go too far.
“That’s kind of the next step in expanding law-abi...
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February 24, 2017 at 4:29 pm
Eric Pusey has to bite his tongue when customers at his pharmacy cough up co-payments far higher than the cost of their low-cost generic drugs, thinking their insurance is getting them a good deal.
Pusey’s contracts with drug-benefit managers at his Medicap Pharmacy in Olyphant, Pennsylvania, bar him from volunteering the fact that for many cheap, generic medicines, co-pays sometimes are more expensive than if patients simply pay out of pocket and bypass insurance. The extra money — what the industry calls a clawback — ends up with the benefit companies. Pusey tells customers only if they ask.
“Some of them get fired up,” he said. “Some of them get angry at the whole system. Some of them don’t even believe that what we’re telling them is ac...
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February 24, 2017 at 3:43 pm
J.C. Penney on Friday said it plans to close between 130 and 140 stores in the next several months, a move that makes it the latest retail stalwart to pull back from the mall amid the rise of online shopping.
The department store giant’s latest quarterly results, also released Friday, illustrate its struggle to connect with shoppers: Sales were down 0.7 percent at stores open more than a year. And yet the report also demonstrated that J.C. Penney, unlike department store rivals such as Macy’s and Sears, has had improving momentum lately. The company managed to deliver a net profit in 2016, the first time it has done so since 2010.
J.C. Penney’s decision to close stores comes as many industry executives and analysts say that old-school chains are “overstored,&rdquo...
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February 24, 2017 at 3:42 pm
Investing in politics is finally paying off for billionaire casino owner Sheldon Adelson.
The dividends will be displayed this weekend as some of the nation’s top fundraisers assemble at his Venetian hotel in Las Vegas for the annual meeting of his signature political organization, the Republican Jewish Coalition. Among those paying their respects will be Vice President Mike Pence and Ronna Romney McDaniel, the new Republican National Committee leader.
While Adelson often attracts big-name conservatives, the RJC and its mega-donor benefactor have rarely enjoyed such a strong political position as now. He had a private dinner at the White House earlier this month, just days before a visit from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu where President Donald Trump announced an abando...
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February 24, 2017 at 3:42 pm
The State Department legislative office prepared a four-page memo for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warning of the dangers of leaking by State Department employees. It promptly leaked, to me. That’s only the latest sign that the relationship between the Trump administration political appointees and the State Department professional workforce is still very much a work in progress.
The Feb. 20 memo by State Department acting legal adviser Richard Visek to Tillerson is entitled “SBU: Protecting Privileged Information.” The SBU stands for Sensitive But Unclassified, a designation used on documents that are not technically secret but also not supposed to be shared. The memo itself is marked SBU and begins with detailed explanation of how and when Tillerson has the privileg...
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February 24, 2017 at 3:42 pm
The Justice Department will step up enforcement of federal law against recreational marijuana, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Thursday, offering the Trump administration’s strongest indication to date of a looming crackdown on the drug, even as a solid majority of Americans believe it should be legal.
“I do believe you’ll see greater enforcement of it,” Spicer said in response to a question during a news conference. But he offered no details about what such enforcement would entail. President Donald Trump does not oppose medical marijuana, he added, but “that’s very different than recreational use, which is something the Department of Justice will be further looking into.”
A renewed focus on recreational marijuana in states that have lega...
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February 24, 2017 at 3:42 pm
Fox News contributor and syndicated columnist gives his take on the united front presented by Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon against the media before crowd at CPAC, saying Bannon was representation of 'Trumpism.
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February 24, 2017 at 3:28 pm
CNN and other news outlets were blocked Friday from an off-camera White House press briefing, raising alarm among media organizations and First Amendment watchdogs.
The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Politico and BuzzFeed were also excluded from the meeting, which is known as a gaggle and is less formal than the televised Q-and-A session in the White House briefing room. The gaggle was held by White House press secretary Sean Spicer.
In a brief statement defending the move, administration spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the White House "had the pool there so everyone would be represented and get an update from us today."
The pool usually includes a representative from one television network and one print outlet. In this case, four of the five major television networks ...
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February 24, 2017 at 3:00 pm
Gov. Larry Hogan on Friday officially appointed Angela Gibson to fill state Sen. Nathaniel Oaks' old seat in the House of Delegates.
Gibson was recommended by the Baltimore City Democratic Central Committee to represent District 41. Gibson is currently Mayor Catherine Pugh's legislative liaison to the City Council and spent more than 29 years in various mayor's office roles.
“I am confident that Angela Gibson is prepared to serve her constituency in Baltimore City,” Hogan said in a statement. “I offer her my sincere congratulations and look forward to working with her to continue changing Maryland for the better.”
Gibson was sworn in Friday morning.
Oaks was appointed to the state Senate to replace Lisa Gladden, who resigned in January.
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February 24, 2017 at 2:30 pm
India’s Prime Minister approves $2.5 billion purchase of Israeli-made Barak 8 anti-aircraft missile system.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the $2.5 billion purchase of an advanced Israeli-made anti-aircraft missile system for his country’s army, JNS.org reported Thursday.
“In a meeting of the cabinet committee on security headed by the prime minister, the proposal for procuring the MR-SAM air defense system for the army was approved and these would be deployed by the army,” a senior government source was quoted as having told India’s Mail Today newspaper.
The air-defense system is known in Israel as the Barak 8 and was jointly developed by India’s Defense Research & Development Organization and Israel...
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February 24, 2017 at 2:00 pm
Polish conservator facing prison term for allowing the demolition of former Jewish school building in central Poland.
A Polish conservator is facing a prison term for allowing the demolition of a former Jewish school building in central Poland.
The Prosecutor's Office in Konin this week charged the conservator, identified as Janusz T. in Polish news reports, for abuse of power by a public official. Janusz headed up a delegation from a Regional Office for the Protection of Monuments.
He reportedly could face up to three years in prison for permitting the razing of the former Talmudic school in Konin in July 2016. The building had been owned by the Union of Jewish Religious Communities in Poland, which in 2010 sold it to a private investor.
Konin residents protested the proposed d...
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February 24, 2017 at 1:30 pm
Arts Undergraduate Society at McGill University votes not to impeach student union leader for punch a Zionist today” tweet.
The Arts Undergraduate Society at McGill University in Montreal has voted not to impeach a student union leader for his “punch a Zionist today” tweet earlier this month.
On Wednesday evening, the society voted 22-16 with seven abstentions on the fate of Sadikov, also a member of the student legislative council at the university, according to JTA.
Since his original post on February 6, Sadikov has refused to resign from the McGill Student Society while issuing carefully worded “apologies” and calling his tweet a “misguided joke.”
“Many of my constituents and fellow students, and some of my friends, ...
