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November 17, 2018 at 8:23 pm
The launch of Michelle Obama’s cross-country book tour for her new memoir, “Becoming,” last week is just the latest marker on the road to fabulous wealth for the former first couple, who are on their way to becoming a billion-dollar brand.
In addition to a $65 million book advance and an estimated $50 million deal with Netflix, both of which she shares with husband Barack Obama, the former first lady is poised to rake in millions from appearances on her 10-city US tour and sales of merchandise connected to her autobiography.
Forbes estimated the couple made $20.5 million in salaries and book royalties between 2005 — when Obama became a federal senator and they first arrived in Washington — and 2016. They are now worth more than $135 million.
Read more at&nb...
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November 17, 2018 at 8:17 pm
The man who shouted “Heil Hitler, heil Trump” at a Baltimore performance of “Fiddler on the Roof” apologized Friday for his outburst, saying he chose the wrong words when he was attempting to compare President Donald Trump to the Nazi leader.
Anthony M. Derlunas II, 58, said the play, which tells the story of a Jewish family facing persecution in tsarist Russia, reminded him of Trump’s immigration policies. His comparison “came out wrong” and was “beyond a mistake” he said during an interview at his home in Joppa.
“Instantly it was like, ‘Oh my God, what did you do?’ ” said Derlunas, who acknowledged he had been drinking heavily before the show. “The thing that I can’t stand is Trump sprea...
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November 17, 2018 at 7:42 pm
Baltimore, MD – Nov. 18, 2018 - It is with sadness that BaltimoreJewishLife.com informs the community of the petirah of Mrs. Helen Cohen, a’h, mother of Mr. Bill Cohen and Mr. Jeff Cohen.
The levayah will take place at Levinson’s on Sunday, Nov.18, at 2:30 PM.
Kevurah will be at Adath Yeshurun Cemetery - 6700 Bowleys Lane, Baltimore, MD 21237
Shiva will be observed at 5804 Narcissus Ave, Baltimore, MD, 21215
Times of Minyanim to follow
Bila HaMaves LaNetzach...
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November 17, 2018 at 7:31 pm
Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin has signed an executive order to ban the award of state contracts to companies that participate in the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported Friday.
Bevin, a Republican, said upon signing the directive that “We will not allow state resources to benefit entities that intentionally engage in discriminatory practices to harm the sovereignty and economic prosperity of any ally nation. Today’s executive order makes it clear that Kentucky condemns the BDS movement and that we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our friend, Israel.”
Bevin signed the order during a ceremony on Thursday at the Kentucky Capitol with Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer and Consul General of Israel ...
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November 17, 2018 at 7:19 pm
United Nations - The United States opposed on Friday for the first time an annual draft resolution at the United Nations calling on Israel to rescind its authority in the occupied Golan Heights, drawing praise from Israeli officials.
The Golan Heights form a buffer between Israel and Syria of about 1,200 square km (460 square miles). Israel captured most of it from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war. It annexed the territory in 1981, a move not recognized internationally.
The United States has abstained in previous years on “Occupied Syrian Golan” resolution, which declares Israel’s decision to impose its jurisdiction in the area “null and void”, but U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Thursday that Washington would vote against the reso...
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November 17, 2018 at 7:18 pm
California - From the ashes of a mobile home and RV park, President Donald Trump said Saturday he came to the heart of California’s killer wildfire to fully grasp the scale of the desolation wrought on the landscape.
“We’re going to have to work quickly. ... Hopefully this is going to be the last of these because this was a really, really bad one,” said the president, standing amid the crumpled foundations of homes and twisted steel of melted cars.
“I think everybody’s seen the light and I don’t think we’ll have this again to this extent,” Trump said in Paradise, the town largely destroyed by a wildfire ignited Nov. 8 that he called “this monster.”
With that bold and perhaps unlikely prediction, Trump pledged that improve...
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November 17, 2018 at 6:59 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration denied on Saturday that it had reached a final determination in the death of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi.
After President Donald Trump called his CIA chief and top diplomat from Air Force One as he flew to survey wildfire damage in California, the State Department released a statement saying "recent reports indicating that the U.S. government has made a final conclusion are inaccurate."
American intelligence agencies have concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing in the Saudi Consulate in Turkey, according to a U.S. official familiar with the assessment. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity Friday. The conclusion was first reported by The Washing...
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November 17, 2018 at 6:56 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. intelligence officials have concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a U.S. official said Friday. The Saudi government has denied the claim.
The conclusion will bolster efforts in Congress to further punish the close U.S. ally for the killing. The Trump administration this week sanctioned 17 Saudi officials for their alleged role in the killing, but lawmakers have called on the administration to curtail arms sales to Saudi Arabia or take other harsher punitive measures.
The U.S. official familiar with the intelligence agencies' conclusion was unauthorized to speak publicly about it and spoke on condition of anonymity. It was first reported by The Washington Post.
Saudi Arabia's top dip...
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November 17, 2018 at 6:54 pm
The Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, on Friday afternoon permitted El Al flight LY008 from New York to land in Israel after the start of Shabbat, due to pikuach nefesh, the principle in Jewish law that the preservation of human life overrides virtually any other religious consideration. The permission was granted due to fear for the life of one of the passengers aboard the flight, who is suffering from a serious illness.
Flight LY008 was one of two El Al flights that took off from JFK airport in New York and were diverted to destinations in Europe instead of Ben Gurion Airport, in order to prevent religious and haredi travelers from arriving late to Israel and thus desecrating Shabbat.
Flight LY008 was supposed to have landed at 3:00 p.m. in Rome, but after...
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November 17, 2018 at 6:52 pm
Former National Union lawmaker and Arutz Sheva Group Chairman Yaakov 'Ketzale' Katz denied reports that haredim became violent on an El Al flight that landed on Shabbat.
According to Channel 2, a group of haredim began to riot on the flight to Israel on Friday after it became clear that they would not arrive before Shabbat began. The haredim allegedly pushed flight crew, cursed stewardesses, and threatened to forcibly break into the cockpit.
"In midst of my deep sleep I heard shouts of 'liars, cheaters,' and raised fists and the shouts at the flight attendants who burst into tears," recounted an eyewitness.
The reports were dismissed by Katz, who had been a passenger on the plane. In an interview with Arutz Sheva, the former legislator s...
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November 17, 2018 at 6:47 pm
Jerusalem - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday he wanted his government to fulfil its term, putting the onus of triggering an expected early election onto a coalition partner.
Netanyahu has faced calls from his coalition members to hold a snap election after the resignation of Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Wednesday.
Lieberman quit over what he described as the government’s too-soft policy on an upsurge of cross-border violence with Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, leaving the government with a razor-thin majority.
Israel’s Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, who heads the centrist Kulanu party, was the first coalition partner to call for an early election after meeting Netanyahu on Thursday.
Kahlon’s calls were echoed by Aryeh Deri,...
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November 17, 2018 at 6:47 pm
San Francisco - Airbnb had its best quarter ever, even as cities across the U.S. have started clamping down on the short-term rental market.
Revenue during the third quarter breezed past the $1 billion level as guest reservations boomed internationally in places like Beijing, Mexico City and Birmingham, England, the San Francisco company said Friday.
Airbnb expects a record one million guests to stay at Airbnb listings across the U.S. during the Thanksgiving holiday.
Airbnb acts as an online booking agent for homeowners to make extra income by renting rooms, apartments and houses. Its growth has drawn the ire of the hotel industry and communities in the U.S. and abroad, where locals are uneasy with the constant turnaround of guests in their neighborhoods and apartment buildings.
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November 17, 2018 at 6:47 pm
ATLANTA (AP) — Stacey Abrams broke the rules of politics until the very end.
The Georgia Democrat who came about 60,000 votes shy of becoming America's first black woman governor refused to follow the traditional script for defeated politicians who offer gracious congratulations to their victorious competitor and gently exit the stage. Instead, Abrams ended her campaign in an unapologetically indignant tone that established herself as a leading voting rights advocate.
"I acknowledge that former Secretary of State Brian Kemp will be certified as the victor in the 2018 gubernatorial election," Abrams said in a fiery 12-minute address. "But to watch an elected official ... baldly pin his hopes for election on the suppression of the people's democratic right to vote has been ...
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November 17, 2018 at 6:44 pm
Democrat Andrew Gillum ended his hard-fought campaign for Florida governor on Saturday, just hours before counties must turn in their official results following days of recounting ballots.
Gillum, in a video that he posted on Facebook, congratulated Republican Ron DeSantis but vowed to remain politically active although he gave no clues as his future plans. His term as Tallahassee mayor ends next week.
“This has been the journey of our lives,” said Gillum, who appeared in the video with his wife, R. Jai Gillum. “Although nobody wanted to be governor more than me, this was not just about an election cycle. This was about creating the kind of change in this state that really allows the voices of everyday people to show up again in our government.”
There w...
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November 16, 2018 at 3:49 pm
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday presented the leaders of Israel’s southern communities adjacent to the Gaza border with a financial plan worth 500 million shekels ($135 million) which will fund a variety of programs for the years 2019-2020.
Netanyahu, along with Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot and IDF Southern Regional Commander Hertzl Halevi, met with heads of local authorities heads, at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem on Thursday.
“The program, which will be submitted to the government for approval in the coming weeks, includes strengthening emergency medical infrastructure, informal education, welfare services and security grants to assist in the communities’ ongoing f...
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November 16, 2018 at 3:49 pm
After Leah gives birth to 4 boys, Rachel, following a confrontation with Yaakov, gives over her maidservant to Yaakov so that he may produce children with her. She declares with utmost certainty, (30:3) "ve'ibaneh gam anochi mimenah," and I, too, will be built up through her. This statement is in noticeable contrast to Sarah's statement when she gives Hagar to Avraham. There, she states (16:2) "ulai ibaneh mimenah," perhaps I will be built up through her.
There's a simple explanation for the different approaches taken by the imahos. Although the Torah states that Sarah was barren, without children, Avraham was equally childless. The exact cause of their childlessness was seemingly unknown. Had Avraham been the infertile one, giving him Hagar would not have...
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November 16, 2018 at 3:34 pm
Boeing Co. has been sued in what may be the first U.S. claim tied to the crash of Lion Air Flight 610, which dove into the Java Sea after taking off from Jakarta Oct. 29.
H. Irianto, the father of Dr. Rio Nanda Pratama, an Indonesian man who was among 189 killed in the disaster, sued Boeing on Wednesday in state court in Chicago, where the airline manufacturer is headquartered. Irianto claims a new flight-control system incorporated in the Boeing 737 MAX 8 airliner caused the crash. He’s seeking unspecified damages.
Investigators believe an erroneous sensor prompted a computerized safety system to aggressively push the jet into a dive as pilots were trying to deal with multiple malfunctions. Boeing and U.S. aviation regulators are considering whether to add a software fix to the 73...
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November 16, 2018 at 3:31 pm
White House chief of staff John Kelly may soon become the latest high-ranking member of President Trump’s inner circle out of a job.
Trump is mulling replacing Kelly with one of a number of candidates, with Nick Ayers, chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, having the inside track, White House sources told NBC and the Wall Street Journal.
Kelly, Trump’s chief of staff since July 2017, has reportedly been on the hot seat amid friction with several members of the West Wing staff — including the first lady and Trump himself.
Read more at NY POST.
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November 16, 2018 at 3:31 pm
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been charged under seal, prosecutors inadvertently revealed in a recently unsealed court filing – a development that could significantly advance the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election and have major implications for those who publish government secrets.
The disclosure came in a filing in a case unrelated to Assange. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kellen Dwyer, urging a judge to keep the matter sealed, wrote “due to the sophistication of the defendant and the publicity surrounding the case, no other procedure is likely to keep confidential the fact that Assange has been charged.” Later, Dwyer wrote the charges would “need to remain sealed until Assange is arrested.”
Dwyer is also assigned to the WikiLeaks case. ...
