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February 14, 2019 at 9:47 pm
Warsaw, Poland - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday denied suggestions of going along with Holocaust historical revisionism in Poland.
Netanyahu was asked Thursday in Warsaw about the issue by a reporter and replied: “Here I am saying Poles cooperated with the Nazis. I know the history and I don’t whitewash it. I bring it up.”
Last year, Poland and Israel were embroiled in a bitter dispute over a Polish law that made it a crime to blame the Polish nation for Holocaust crimes. Israel saw it as an attempt by Poland to suppress discussion of the killing of Jews by Poles during the wartime German occupation.
The dispute was resolved when Poland softened the law and Netanyahu and his Polish counterpart agreed on a joint declaration stressing the involveme...
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February 14, 2019 at 9:46 pm
New York - The police officer who was wounded in a shooting that led to the friendly fire death of a New York Police Department detective has returned to his Long Island home.
Sgt. Matthew Gorman emerged from a black van outside his home in Seaford Thursday afternoon. He used crutches and was accompanied by several unidentified people.
Gorman was struck in the leg as he and six other officers fired 42 shots at a robbery suspect brandishing a fake handgun at a cellphone store in Queens Tuesday night.
His partner, Det. Brian Simonsen, was shot in the chest and died.
The suspect, who was also wounded, has been charged with murder.
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February 14, 2019 at 9:44 pm
Washington - President Donald Trump’s plan to declare a national emergency to free up money for his border wall would be an extraordinary step, despite his statement that predecessors liberally used such power.
The White House said Thursday that Trump plans to go ahead with the declaration as part of his effort to direct money unilaterally to wall construction, because Congress agreed to give him far less than he demanded in the deal averting another government shutdown.
It’s a contentious move, likely to be legally challenged, and not something presidents routinely do, contrary to his rhetoric:
TRUMP: “You know, we already have national emergencies out there. You know, President Obama, President Clinton, President Bush — they’ve declared many national &mda...
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February 14, 2019 at 9:29 pm
A key provision in the spending bill being presented to President Trump for signing stipulates that the federal government give specific Texas border counties the opportunity to derail any efforts to build barriers, fencing, or walls by simply opposing the construction of the border security measures–but many of the specified counties have a long and recent history of top officials taking bribes from the Mexican Gulf Cartel. Ultimately, the bill allows county offices with historic ties to the Gulf Cartel to stop U.S. border barriers from being constructed in the region.
Local government officials spoke out against the building of additional border barriers and have relied on the judgment of local law enforcement officials. As Breitbart News reported, the bill being presented to Pres...
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February 14, 2019 at 8:50 pm
The House of Commons has voted against the British government’s Brexit strategy by 303 votes to 258. Unlike some of her most humiliating defeats, the latest insult to Prime Minister Theresa May was only symbolic, but it may cause real damage to her negotiating position in Europe.
May has spent the last few weeks trying to cobble together a stable majority who agree on what concessions must be granted by Brussels for the British Parliament to vote through her withdrawal agreement. Thursday’s defeat means May is in no position to return to Europe and tell negotiators that she can get any newly negotiated compromise deal through her own parliament. The next meaningful votes in Westminster are expected at the end of the month. Read more at The BBC.
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February 14, 2019 at 8:48 pm
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Thursday celebrated Amazon’s decision to cancel its plans to build a second headquarters in New York City.
“Today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbors defeated Amazon’s corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world,” Ocasio-Cortez, one of the deal’s staunchest critics, wrote.
Ocasio-Cortez in recent months joined the chorus of local politicians and advocates slamming the Amazon deal as corrupt and potentially harmful to local residents. Critics focused much of their ire on New York City’s decision to offer $3 billion in state and city incentives to lure in Amazon, as well as the company’s anti-union track record.
The self-d...
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February 14, 2019 at 8:46 pm
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — When a young mountain lion clamped its jaws onto Travis Kauffman’s wrist and clawed at his face, he screamed a “barbarian yell,” jammed his foot onto the animal’s neck and held it there until the cat quit thrashing and died.
After a couple of minutes, Kauffmann recalled Thursday, “it finally stopped moving and then the jaws opened and I was able to kind of scramble back up the hill and get the heck out of Dodge.”
Through it all, the 31-year-old trail runner said, the cat remained eerily silent.
It was the first time Kauffman publicly recounted the Feb. 4 ordeal that left him with 28 stitches and a reputation for toughness and bravery that overshadows his wiry frame.
“I will never be able to live up to the reputa...
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February 14, 2019 at 8:41 pm
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Nicolas Maduro has invited a U.S. special envoy to Venezuela after revealing in an AP interview on Thursday that his foreign minister recently held secret talks with the U.S. official in New York.
A senior Venezuelan official said the second of two meetings took place Feb. 11 — four days after the envoy, Elliott Abrams, said the “time for dialogue with Maduro had long passed,” and as the Trump administration publicly backed an effort to unseat the embattled Venezuelan president. The official spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to discuss the talks.
Even while harshly criticizing Donald Trump’s confrontational stance toward his socialist government, Maduro said he holds out hope of meeting the U.S. president soo...
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February 14, 2019 at 8:39 pm
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu mocked Poland’s controversial Holocaust censorship law on Thursday, publicly flouting the law during a state visit to Warsaw.
“Poles collaborated with the Nazis,” said Netanyahu in Warsaw Thursday. “See, I’m saying it. It is a fact. And I don’t know a single person who was ever sued because of it.”
Netanyahu added that the issue of Poland’s Holocaust censorship law was raised during his meeting with Polish Premier Mateusz Morawiecki.
In response, Kan reported, Prime Minister Morawiecki’s office released a statement calling Netanyahu’s comments “surprising”.
“In German-occupied Poland there was no Polish regime – a great misunderstanding regarding the conditions ...
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February 14, 2019 at 8:34 pm
Tel Aviv - Some 80 representatives of the largest travel agencies and tourism wholesalers from 16 countries are visiting Israel this week as guests of Israel’s Ministry of Tourism, part of the ministry’s six-day annual Israel Conference.
The participants visited Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, the Dead Sea, Christian tourist sites, Caesarea and other attractions the Holy Land has to offer.
Israel’s tourism industry in January saw an 11 percent increase in tourist entries, bringing $413 million in revenues to the Israeli economy.
According to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), approximately 285,600 tourist entries were recorded in January, 11.3 percent more than January 2018 and a whopping 35 percent more than January 2017.
Tourism Ministry Director-General Amir H...
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February 14, 2019 at 8:32 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — The first two Democratic presidential debates for the 2020 election will have two heats with room for a total of 20 candidates who meet certain polling or grassroots fundraising thresholds.
A senior Democratic National Committee official outlined the framework Thursday for the June and July events, which party Chairman Tom Perez has promised will ensure fairness for all potential candidates in a growing primary field that could approach two dozen candidates.
Candidates can qualify by reaching 1 percent support in at least three national or early primary state polls. They also can qualify by collecting campaign donations from at least 65,000 individuals, with at least 200 unique donors in at least 20 states.
NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo will broadcast the June debates...
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February 14, 2019 at 8:29 pm
Washington - The average tax refund and the total amount of refunds issued declined for the second straight week, potentially intensifying a political flashpoint seized by Democrats as proof that the Republican-written tax law hurts the middle class.
The average refund in the second week of the filing season ended Feb. 8 was $1,949, down 8.7 percent from $2,135 a year earlier, according to IRS data released Thursday.
Total refunds to date are down 23 percent to $22.2 billion, from $28.9 billion last year.
The decline may be largely due to how some employees and employers had adjusted the amounts withheld from paychecks to account for changes under the new tax law. Most taxpayers received a tax cut under the law but some may have had too little withheld, resulting in a smaller-than-expec...
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February 14, 2019 at 8:28 pm
Washington - President Donald Trump has put on some pounds and is now officially considered obese.
The White House on Thursday released results of his annual physical, revealing that his Body Mass Index is now 30.4. That’s based on the fact that he’s now carrying 243 pounds on his 6-foot, 3-inch frame.
People with an index rating above 30 are considered obese. Trump’s doctor says the 72-year-old president “remains in very good health overall.” Dr. Sean Conley reported that the president has gained four pounds since his last exam.
His resting heart rate is 70 beats a minute and his blood pressure reading was 118 over 80, well within the normal range.
Conley says Trump’s liver, kidney and thyroid functions are all normal and so are his electrolytes and...
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February 14, 2019 at 8:23 pm
New York - The flu vaccine is doing a relatively good job this season, protecting about half the people who got it, U.S. health officials said Thursday.
Preliminary figures suggest the vaccine is 47 percent effective in preventing flu illness severe enough to send someone to the doctor’s office. Health officials are generally pleased if a flu vaccine works in 40 to 60 percent of people.
“These are early estimates, but they are encouraging,” said Dr. Alicia Fry of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Somewhere between 10,000 and 16,000 people have died from flu and its complications so far this season, according to new estimates released Thursday.
Last winter was dominated by a nasty kind of flu, and the vaccine’s weakness against it was one reaso...
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February 14, 2019 at 7:38 pm
Baltimore, MD - Feb. 14, 2019 - 5:01 PM - Baltimore City Councilman Yitzy Schleifer Released Survey Results from Baltimore Police Department Employees from a survey he personally commissioned.
Click on the letter below to read those results.
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February 14, 2019 at 7:36 pm
A group of inspiring teenagers are currently enjoying a special journey to Eretz Yisroel as part of Chai Lifeline’s annual Wish at the Wall program. The trip is Chai Lifeline’s celebration of life for teenagers who have either completed treatment for cancer or are living with chronic illnesses or disabilities—alternating between the two groups each year. Each participant is invited to share the memorable journey with a parent.
Wish at the Wall aims to instill the teens with a sense of confidence, joy and hope—providing them with the full Eretz Yisroel “experience,” while accommodating their every medical need. With wheelchairs, walkers and respirators in tow, the group has traveled across the country, visiting Masada, the Golan and Kineret, as well some...
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February 14, 2019 at 5:20 pm
Brooklyn, NY - Standing in front of over 20 Yeshiva of Flatbush students and a banner reading “New Yorkers Stand Together,”, Mayor Bill de Blasio spoke out strongly this morning against anti-Semitism and in support of Israel, particularly in light of the recent rash of hate crimes that has been sweeping the city.
The mayor’s remarks came this morning at a press conference held at Kingsway Jewish Center in Midwood, where he was joined by NYPD Chief of Patrol Chief Rodney Harrison, Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein, Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein, City Councilman Kalman Yeger, Jewish Community Relations Council executive director Rabbi Michael Miller and New York Board of Rabbis executive vice president Rabbi Joseph Potasnik.
Noting that New York City is home to a larg...
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February 14, 2019 at 5:18 pm
New York - When Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced he would bring the Green New Deal forward for votes he thought it would put Democrats — especially 2020 presidential contenders — on the spot.
But on Thursday, Senate Democrats said they welcome the opportunity for a debate on climate change, and the proposal from freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. They say it’s an issue Americans care about, and one Republicans have ignored.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, joined by colleagues on the Senate floor, said: “Bring it on.”
“We actually believe that we need to do something about climate change” and added: “Do Republicans?”
McConnell announced this week that the Senate will vote soon on the Green New Deal resolution. It call...
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February 14, 2019 at 5:17 pm
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday issued a warning to Republicans poised to support President Trump's decision to declare a national emergency at the southern border: the next Democratic president, she said, could do the same on guns.
"A Democratic president can declare emergencies, as well," Pelosi told reporters in the Capitol. "So the precedent that the president is setting here is something that should be met with great unease and dismay by the Republicans."
Pelosi noted that Thursday marked the one-year anniversary of the shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., that left 17 students and faculty dead. She argued that the real national emergency is not illegal border crossings, but gun violence in the U.S.
"Let's ta...
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February 14, 2019 at 5:14 pm
New York - U.S. discount retailer Payless ShoeSource Inc plans to close all of its approximately 2,300 stores when it files for bankruptcy later this month for the second time in as many years, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
The move would make Payless one of the most high-profile victims of the string of bankruptcies that have hit the brick-and-mortar retail sector as more shopping is done online. Toys “R” Us and The Bon-Ton Stores are among the retailers that shut their stores in liquidations in the last 12 months.
Payless had been trying unsuccessfully to find a buyer. After no such deal could be clinched, the Topeka, Kansas-based company has decided to initiate preparations to liquidate, the sources said.
There is still a small chance a buyer could eme...
