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June 25, 2017 at 8:27 am
The new chairman of the House Oversight Committee said Friday he does not plan to investigate Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election or questions of whether President Donald Trump obstructed the federal investigation into it.
Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., said he does not want the oversight panel to interfere with investigations by special counsel Robert Mueller and other congressional committees.
Gowdy emphasized that he personally is investigating Russia as a member of the House Intelligence Committee. Mueller has met with members of that House panel, and Gowdy said he told Mueller he “would never do anything wittingly or unwittingly that veered over into his lane.”
He said that as oversight chairman, he is focused on issues within the committee’s jurisdiction.
Gow...
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June 25, 2017 at 8:20 am
Baltimore, MD - June 22, 2017 - If you are learning in Kollel and wondering if Rabbanus is for you, wonder no more—if you are a member of Kollel Avodas Levi, the Kollel of Yeshivas Ner Yisrael in Baltimore, Maryland, that is. The STAR-K Rabbinical Training Program now offers yungeleit in the kollel the opportunity of capturing a glimpse into the multifaceted life inside the Rabbinate. The inaugural lecture series, held between Tu B’Shevat and Shavuos, was a huge success.
“The STAR-K Rabbincal Training Program was borne from the strong interest of a group of twenty-five Kollel Avodas Levi yungeleit to have a series of Rabbonim, community leaders, and other presenters discuss what it takes to be a Rav, community leader, and mechanech,” explains Rabbi Nosson ‘Na...
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June 25, 2017 at 12:16 am
Hi!
My mother is the co-founder of an amazing organization here in Baltimore called Gevuras Yarden/The Jewish Caring Network. It was started when she and another special woman saw how hard it was for a mutual friend to cope when faced with a very serious illness. From that sparked an idea that no family that is facing serious illness should ever feel left alone again. This idea flowered and bloomed into a multi-faceted organization that provides the imperative help that a family needs when up against a life-threatening prognosis.
My siblings and I always understood the importance of the organization, and not only gave of our own time and energy to volunteer, but we also watched our mother do amazing things, attend tons of meetings and personally answer multitudes of phone calls of people...
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June 25, 2017 at 12:14 am
Google is going to stop reading your Gmail in search of opportunities to sell ads.
The change announced Friday will end a practice that Google has embraced since the company introduced Gmail in 2004, even though it raised concerns among privacy watchdogs and creeped out some users.
To help finance the free service, Google has been scanning through what Gmail users were discussing and then showing ads connected to some of the topics. Someone writing about running, for instance, might see ads for Nike or Asics shoes.
Google still plans to show ads within Gmail. But instead of scanning through email content, the company’s algorithms will rely on other signals to determine which ads are most likely to appeal to each of its 1.2 billion Gmail users.
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June 25, 2017 at 12:12 am
Chief lieutenants in the Koch brothers’ political network lashed out at the Senate Republican health care bill on Saturday as not conservative enough, becoming a powerful outside critic as GOP leaders try to rally support for their plan among rank-and-file Republicans.
Tim Phillips, who leads Americans For Prosperity, the Koch network’s political arm, called the Senate’s plans for Medicaid “a slight nip and tuck” of President Barack Obama’s health care law, a modest change he described as “immoral.”
“This Senate bill needs to get better,” Phillips said. “It has to get better.”
Some Republican senators have raised concern about cuts to Medicaid, which provides health care coverage to millions of poor and middle-incom...
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June 25, 2017 at 12:12 am
British officials were investigating a cyberattack Saturday on the country’s Parliament after discovering “unauthorized attempts to access parliamentary user accounts.”
A statement from the House of Commons said that as a precaution, remote email access for members has been disabled in order to protect the network from hackers.
“As a result, some Members of Parliament (lawmakers) and staff cannot access their email accounts outside of Westminster,” it said, adding that IT services at Parliament itself are working normally.
It was not immediately clear how many people were affected or what the extent of the damage was.
An email sent all those affected described a “sustained and determined attack on all parliamentary user accounts in an attempt to iden...
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June 24, 2017 at 10:46 pm
The Supreme Court enters its final week of work before a long summer hiatus with action expected on the Trump administration’s travel ban and a decision due in a separation of church and state case that arises from a Missouri church playground.
The biggest news of all, though, would be if Justice Anthony Kennedy were to use the court’s last public session on Monday to announce his retirement.
To be sure, Kennedy has given no public sign that he will retire this year and give President Donald Trump his second high court pick in the first months of his administration. Kennedy’s departure would allow conservatives to take firm control of the court.
But Kennedy turns 81 next month and has been on the court for nearly 30 years. Several of his former law clerks have said the...
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June 24, 2017 at 10:39 pm
Israeli PM emphasizes that Israel 'will not tolerate' any missiles fired into its territory.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke about the IDF's attack on Syrian targets.
The Israel Air Force attacked three Syrian targets in response to ten missiles which were fired from Syria and landed in Israel's Golan Heights.
"With the IDF's actions today, we emphasize our policy once more: We will not tolerate sporadic missiles or any kind of spillover. We will respond with force to any missiles which land in our territory," Netanyahu said.
Earlier on Saturday, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) said, "We do not intend to allow our sovereignty or security to be compromised, even by a war between the Syrian government and rebel force...
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June 24, 2017 at 10:35 pm
CIA Director Mike Pompeo says he thinks disclosure of America’s secret intelligence is on the rise, fueled partly by the “worship” of leakers like Edward Snowden.
“In some ways, I do think it’s accelerated,” Pompeo told MSNBC in an interview that aired Saturday. “I think there is a phenomenon, the worship of Edward Snowden, and those who steal American secrets for the purpose of self-aggrandizement or money or for whatever their motivation may be, does seem to be on the increase.”
Pompeo said the United States needs to redouble its efforts to stem leaks of classified information.
“It’s tough. You now have not only nation states trying to steal our stuff, but non-state, hostile intelligence services, well-funded — folks li...
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June 24, 2017 at 10:35 pm
Police are considering filing manslaughter charges related to the fire at a west London apartment tower that killed at least 79 people.
In its most detailed briefing on the criminal investigation, the Metropolitan Police on Friday confirmed residents’ suspicions that the June 14 inferno at Grenfell Tower was touched off by a refrigerator fire. The department also said exterior cladding attached to the 24-story public housing project during a recent renovation failed safety tests conducted by investigators, and that police have seized documents from a number of organizations.
“We are looking at every criminal offense from manslaughter onwards,” Detective Superintendent Fiona McCormack told reporters. “We are looking at all health and safety and fire safety offenses...
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June 24, 2017 at 10:34 pm
President Donald Trump named New York Jets owner Woody Johnson to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom.
Johnson, 70, is also chairman and chief executive officer of New York-based Johnson Co., a private asset-management firm. According to the White House statement, Johnson holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona and has served on the President’s Export Council and the President’s Commission on White House Fellows.
He’s the great-grandson of the founder of Johnson & Johnson, the health care products manufacturer. His football team was valued at $2.6 billion in November 2016 by Peter Schwartz, a consultant with Anderson Economic Group in New York.
The U.K. ambassador post is historically given to crucial campaign supporters. Johnson h...
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June 24, 2017 at 10:34 pm
Republican Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada said Friday he opposes the GOP bill that would scuttle much of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, complicating the task party leaders face in guiding the banner legislation through the Senate.
Heller, who faces a difficult re-election fight next year, said he would vote against the bill in its current form but did not rule out supporting a revamped version.
Facing unanimous Democratic opposition, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., must get yes votes from 50 of the 52 GOP senators to avoid a defeat that would be a major embarrassment to President Donald Trump and the Republican Party.
McConnell has acknowledged that he’s willing to change the measure before it’s voted on.
The Senate bill would make major cut...
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June 24, 2017 at 10:33 pm
The Supreme Court has almost certainly decided what to do about President Donald Trump’s travel ban affecting citizens of six mostly Muslim countries.
The country is waiting for the court to make its decision public about the biggest legal controversy in the first five months of Trump’s presidency. The issue has been tied up in the courts since Trump’s original order in January sparked widespread protests just days after he took office.
The justices met Thursday morning for their last regularly scheduled private conference in June and probably took a vote about whether to let the Trump administration immediately enforce the ban and hear the administration’s appeal of lower court rulings blocking the ban.
The court’s decision could come any time and is expec...
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June 24, 2017 at 10:33 pm
Authorities say a protester has been charged with assault after a fracas outside the rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for President Donald Trump.
Police say 22-year-old Anne Seifert was arrested after Wednesday evening’s incident near the U.S. Cellular Center, where Trump later addressed supporters. A public phone listing for her couldn’t be found Friday. Online court records don’t list the name of an attorney who could comment for her.
Police say an officer saw Seifert throw an egg at a man and then punch and kick him. He had been filming the protesters and got into an argument with Seifert. Police say Seifert reported that she became upset because she thought the man had come across the street to provoke her and other protesters.
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June 24, 2017 at 10:33 pm
President Donald Trump suggested he was just trying to keep fired FBI Director James Comey honest with his cryptic tweet implying there might be recordings of their private conversations.
Trump ended a month-long guessing game Thursday by tweeting that he never made and doesn’t have recordings of his private conversations with Comey. In an interview that aired Friday on “Fox & Friends,” Trump said: “When he found out that I, you know, that there may be tapes out there, whether it’s governmental tapes or anything else, and who knows, I think his story may have changed.”
Asked if he was trying to keep Comey honest, Trump added: “It wasn’t very stupid, I can tell you that. He was — he did admit that what I said was right.”
The...
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June 24, 2017 at 10:32 pm
U.S.-led coalition battling ISIS says there's no concrete evidence on whether ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi is dead or alive.
The U.S.-led coalition battling Islamic State (ISIS) said on Friday it had no concrete evidence on whether the group's leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi was dead or alive, Reuters reported.
At the same time, it also played down any significance he might have on the battlefields of Iraq and Syria.
"We certainly know that if he is still alive, we expect that he is not being able to influence what is currently happening in Raqqa or Mosul or overall in the ISIS as they continue to lose their physical caliphate," coalition spokesman U.S. Army Colonel Ryan Dillon told a Pentagon briefing.
"That said, we don't have any concrete evidence on w...
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June 24, 2017 at 10:32 pm
Arabic newspaper says Trump may pull out of peace talks. Senior US official: Report claiming Trump will pull out of negotiations 'nonsense.'
The London-based Arabic daily al-Hayat on Saturday reported that US President Donald Trump is debating whether to pull out of Israeli-Arab peace talks.
According to the report, despite the US claims that the meeting between senior White House adviser Jared Kushner, US Middle East Envoy Jason Greenblatt, and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas was "positive and fruitful," Abbas described it as "tense," with the US demanding he put a stop to incitement against Israel.
During the meeting, Abbas claimed paying salaries to terrorists is "part of the Palestinian government's social responsibilit...
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June 24, 2017 at 10:17 pm
We regret to inform you of the Petira of Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz, Z”L, the founder of Artscroll. He was Niftar on Friday night after an illness.
Rabbi Zlotowitz was a student of the Posek Hador, Hagaon HaRav Moshe Feinstein, ZATZAL, at Mesivta Tifereth Jerusalem.
After graduation, he became director of a high-end graphics studio in New York. The firm, named ArtScroll Studios, produced brochures, invitations, awards and kesubahs. Rabbi Nosson Scherman, then principal of Yeshiva Karlin Stolin Boro Park, was recommended to Rabbi Zlotowitz as someone who could write copy, and they collaborated on a few projects.
In late 1975, a close friend of Rabbi Zlotowitz, Rabbi Meir Fogel, was suddenly NIftar, prompting him to want to do something to honor his memory. As Purim was a few months away,...
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June 24, 2017 at 9:30 pm
Baltimore, MD - June 23, 2017 - Let’s talk about the future of the Northwestern School Building
When: Monday July 10, 20176:00pm-8:00pmWhere: Northwestern High School6900 Park Heights Avenue As part of the 21st Century Schools Initiative to construct nearly $1billion in new or renovated schools in Baltimore City, the school system has identified school buildings which are no longer needed for school use. This presents an opportunity to envision new uses in these surplus buildings to complement the surrounding communities. The Baltimore City Planning Department will meet with community members and stakeholders to explore prospects for re-use which could include a different government use, sale or lease of the building for private redevelopment, or demolition.
Please join commun...
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June 23, 2017 at 6:14 pm
A short thought since the hour is late: At the beginning of this week's parsha is the episode of Korach and his rebellion against Moshe. A famous question that is asked regarding this series of events is why Moshe did not pray on the behalf of Korach and his men that they not perish as he did for other groups of sinners.
I heard the following answer from R' Elie Wolf but I do not recall the origin. Rashi tells us (Shemos 20:2) that when B'nei Yisrael sinned with the Golden Calf, Moshe's argument to HaShem was that when He commanded the first two of the aseres hadibros, he spoke only to Moshe as the verb used is in the singular, and not to the rest of the nation. Here, (16:3) Rashi explains that Korach's argument was that Moshe was no ...
