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October 16, 2019 at 6:11 pm
President Trump is favored to win reelection to the White House in 2020, according to a Moody's Analytics report, but several factors will have to fall into place for the commander-in-chief to receive another four years.
Moody's report, tweeted out on Tuesday, said early signs point to a Trump victory mostly fueled by a strong economy. However, the results will depend on voter turnout.
"Our 2020 Presidential Election Models: Early signs point to Trump, though turnout is key," the tweet read.
The report states that Trump has the advantage in several forecast models such as the economy, personal finances, and energy prices.
"The current environment of stable to low gas prices favors Trump in his reelection bid. Moreover, the baseline forecast calls...
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October 16, 2019 at 6:04 pm
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announced at a news conference outside the White House on Wednesday that they had just walked out of a meeting with President Trump on Syria policy, after he apparently called Pelosi a "third-rate politician" and angrily suggested the Democrats probably appreciated communist Islamic State terrorists in the Middle East.
"What we witnessed on the part of the president was a meltdown, sad to say," Pelosi, D-Calif., remarked.
She said later, at the Capitol: "I pray for the president all the time, and I tell him that -- I pray for his safety and that of his family. Now, we have to pray for his health -- because this was a very serious meltdown on the part of the president."
A Demo...
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October 16, 2019 at 6:00 pm
TOWSON, Md. (AP) -- Police in a Maryland county may soon receive a pay raise.
The Baltimore Sun reports the Baltimore County Council is expected to vote Monday on a board's recommendation for a pay bump at the top of the salary scale for many police department employees. Fiscal notes from the county show the cost of the proposed changes is nearly $250,000.
The council raised fire department salaries by one grade in 2016. The Fraternal Order of Police said police also deserved a raise. The case went to court and was settled earlier this year.
County officials say the settlement requires the county to recalculate everyone's salary going back to July 2016 and provide back pay for each member of the FOP. The payout is expected to be split into two fiscal years.
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October 16, 2019 at 5:59 pm
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the operation took place in late September and took aim at Tehran's ability to spread "propaganda."
ASHINGTON - The United States carried out a secret cyber operation against Iran in the wake of the Sept. 14 attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities, which Washington and Riyadh blame on Tehran, two U.S. officials have told Reuters.The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the operation took place in late September and took aim at Tehran's ability to spread "propaganda."
One of the officials said the strike affected physical hardware, but did not provide further details.It highlights how President Donald Trump's administration has been trying to counter what it sees as Iranian aggression w...
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October 16, 2019 at 4:58 pm
There are three options Baltimore County Public Schools is considering for next year, including starting school before Labor Day.
BALTIMORE COUNTY, MD — Should school start before of after Labor Day? That is one question that the Baltimore County Board of Education wants to hear from the public about as it considers the academic calendar for 2020–2021.
Currently, there are three options, and the board plans to vote at its meeting Tuesday, Nov. 5.
There will be a public hearing on the 2020-2021 calendar proposal Tuesday, Oct. 22.
Here are the options:
Proposed BCPS Calendar Options 2020-2021
OPTION A: Start date of Aug. 31, 10 calendar day Spring Break, last day of school between June 11-18, depending on inclement weather days used.
OPTION B: Start date of Sept. 8, 5 cale...
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October 16, 2019 at 4:53 pm
Stocks closed lower Wednesday amid a lackluster session.
All three of the major averages lost ground, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average sliding 22 points, or 0.1 percent. The Dow never crossed more than 40 points above or below Tuesday's closing level. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq booked slighly larger losses, closing down 0.2 percent and 0.3 percent, respecetively.
U.S. retail sales fell 0.3 percent in September, according to data released Wednesday by the Commerce Department. The print made for the first negative retail sales number in seven months. Economists surveyed by Refinitiv were expecting 0.3 percent growth for the month.
Financial stocks remained in focus Tuesday after Bank of America, U.S. Bancorp, PNC Financial Services Group and Bank of New ...
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October 16, 2019 at 4:49 pm
Secretary General reportedly heading to Israel to talk with Netanyahu
he US pullout of its troops from northeast Syria has not endangered Israel, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said amid reports that he was heading to Jerusalem to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after visiting Ankara on Thursday.Channel 13 reported that Pompeo will discuss the removal of US troops with Netanyahu. Prior to that meeting, Pompeo and Vice President Mike Pence will meet with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and ask him to halt his attack on the Kurds.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who is a strong supporter of Israel, tweeted that he worried that as a result of the pullout of US troops – a move seen as an abandonment of America’s alley the Kurds – “we ...
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October 16, 2019 at 4:32 pm
House of Representatives passes measure opposing US withdrawal from northern Syria, abandonment of the Kurds.
The US House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a measure opposing President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw troops from northern Syria and allow Turkey to begin military operations against Kurdish forces in Syria.
"An abrupt withdrawal of United States military personnel from certain parts of Northeast Syria is beneficial to adversaries of the United States government, including Syria, Iran, and Russia," the resolution states.
The resolution further states that Congress "opposes the decision to end certain United States efforts to prevent Turkish military operations against Syrian Kurdish forces in Northeast Syria."
The measure passed 354-60, with four represe...
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October 16, 2019 at 4:29 pm
In late May, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney organized a meeting that stripped control of the country’s relationship with Ukraine from those who had the most expertise at the National Security Council and the State Department.
Instead, Mulvaney put an unlikely trio in charge of managing the U.S.-Ukraine account amid worrisome signs of a new priority, congressional officials said Tuesday: pressuring the fledgling government in Kiev to deliver material that would be politically valuable to President Donald Trump.
The work of those “three amigos,” as they came to call themselves – diplomats Gordon Sondland and Kurt Volker, plus Energy Secretary Rick Perry – has come to light in recent days through newly disclosed text messages and the testimony ...
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October 16, 2019 at 4:27 pm
Iran’s economy is expected to shrink by 9.5 percent this year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said, down from a previous estimate of a six percent contraction, as the country feels the impact of tighter US sanctions.
The IMF forecasts, published on Tuesday in the fund’s World Economic Outlook report, are not far from estimates given last week by the World Bank, which said the Iranian economy by the end of the 2019/20 financial year would be 90 percent smaller than it was just two years ago.
Iran, a large oil producer, saw its oil revenues surge after a 2015 nuclear pact agreed with six major powers that ended a sanctions regime imposed three years earlier over its disputed nuclear program.
But new sanctions brought in after President Donald Trump withdrew from that de...
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October 16, 2019 at 4:26 pm
The French court sentenced five Muslim women to lengthy prison sentences for attempting to blow up the Notre Dame cathedral.
The women, all converts to Islam, plotted to detonate a car bomb outside the cathedral in September 2016.
A Peugeot 607 was parked near Notre Dame in Paris. The car’s license plates had been removed and the lights were flashing. Police called to the scene found fuel tanks, diesel tanks and cigarette butts that were supposed to ignite the fuel tanks and cause the car to explode and damage the famous church.
According to French police investigators, “the attempted attack would have been successful if the women had chosen the right type of fuel.”
Read more at Arutz Sheva.
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October 16, 2019 at 4:23 pm
UNITED KINGDOM (JNS) — A primary-school teacher in England was fired after allegedly “joking” to pupils about “sending them to the gas chamber” if they failed to finish their work.
The teacher at Newberries Primary School, Hertfordshire, told a class of 28 10-year-olds, including 11 who are Jewish, on Thursday: “You better finish off your work quick, or I’ll ship you all off to the gas chambers,” according to parents.
The teacher reportedly apologized afterwards, saying she was “joking” and asking the students not to tell anyone. The pupils reported the anti-Semitic comment to parents, who expressed outrage on school WhatsApp group chats. The teacher was fired a day after making the comments.
A spokesman for Newberries Primary ...
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October 16, 2019 at 1:24 pm
Havdulah by the rebbe's sukkah at home
First day shachris, minyunim around the clock
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October 16, 2019 at 1:24 pm
The steering committee that leads the weekly riots on the Israel-Gaza border is inaugurating a children’s park near a border area that has been a focal point for the often violent disturbances, Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot reported on Sunday.
According to the report, the so-called “Park of Return” is already prepared for use and includes games, entertainment facilities, lawns, gardens, a promenade, shaded areas for picnics, and fountains.
The committee said, “The park is a message of our people’s life and continuity in the face of the occupation, that we are rooted in our land and cling to hope and life.”
The park is likely a response to criticism of the ruling Hamas terrorist group that it has been deliberately putting children in harm’s way du...
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October 16, 2019 at 1:08 pm
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The U.S. Census Bureau is acknowledging that its nationwide request for state drivers’ license records is the result of President Donald Trump’s order to gather records that can better determine the numbers of citizens and non-citizens across the U.S.
The bureau has expanded its request for state records in response to Trump’s order , officials said in a statement Tuesday.
Trump issued the order after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked his administration’s efforts to include a citizenship question on the 2020 Census.
The agency made the acknowledgement after The Associated Press reported Monday on the requests.
States already share records on food assistance and other programs to help the bureau track traditionally unde...
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October 16, 2019 at 12:59 pm
Freedom Caucus members Rep. Mark Meadows and Rep. Jim Jordan react on ‘Hannity.’
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October 16, 2019 at 12:56 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) —Twelve Democrats seeking the presidency tussled Tuesday night in a wide-ranging debate featuring the largest number of qualifying candidates on the same stage.
Here's a look at how some of their claims from Westerville, Ohio, stack up with the facts:
JOE BIDEN: "I would not have withdrawn the troops, and I would not have withdrawn the additional 1,000 troops that are in Iraq, which are in retreat now being fired on by Assad's people."
THE FACTS: The former vice president is wrong. There is no evidence that any of the approximately 1,000 American troops preparing to evacuate from Syria have been fired on by Syrian government forces led by President Bashar Assad. A small group of U.S. troops came under Turkish artillery fire near the town of Kobani last we...
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October 16, 2019 at 12:51 pm
Dutch authorities are trying to piece together the story of a family found living isolated from the outside world in the rural east of the Netherlands.
Mayor Roger de Groot said that the six-member family is believed to have lived for nine years on a farm in Ruinerwold, 80 miles northeast of Amsterdam.
Drone images of the farm showed a cluster of buildings with a large vegetable garden on one side. The small property appeared to be ringed by a fence and largely obscured by trees.
Dutch media reported the family was made up of five adult siblings and their father.
De Groot told reporters the siblings varied in age from 18 to 25. He said their mother is believed to have died "a number of years ago."
Local police said in a tweet that officers visited the farm after being alerted by someb...
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October 16, 2019 at 12:48 pm
With the release of polling showing wide public support for the program, the board of the Greater Baltimore Committee voted to support the return of surveillance flights to the city.
In a statement, the board of directors said police should use all available resources to fight violent crime. The Laura and John Arnold Foundation has offered to pay for three years of flights run by Persistent Surveillance Solutions, as well as police support, oversight and a study of the flights' effectiveness.
"Critics have objected to the technology as invasive of constitutional rights to privacy," the board said in a statement. "While those concerns are worthy of consideration, the GBC Board does not believe that the application of the aerial surveillance technology serves as a threat to ...
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October 16, 2019 at 12:44 pm
US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman joined tens of thousands of worshippers at the Kotel in Jerusalem Wednesday morning for the mass priestly blessing ceremony, known in Hebrew as ‘Birkat Kohanim’, during the Sukkot festival.
Speaking with Arutz Sheva, Friedman said the essence of the priestly blessing is a prayer for peace, and expressed hope that the prayers would be answered “in a land that people yearn for [peace] and deserve it.”
“It gets more and more exciting each time. This is my third Sukkot, I was here twice on Pesach. It’s a great privilege as the ambassador to be treated to this lofty spot and to be able to see over the entire congregation of Israel, a 100,000 people. It is very exciting.”
“We pray for peace. I hop...
