WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats are refining part of their impeachment case against the president to a simple allegation: Bribery. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday brushed aside the Latin phrase “quid pro quo” that Democrats have been using to describe President Donald Trump’s actions toward Ukraine. As the impeachment hearings go public, they’re going for a more colloquial term that may resonate with more Americans. “Quid pro quo: Bribery,” Pelosi said about Trump’s July 25 phone call in which he asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for a favor. Trump says the call was perfect. Pelosi said, “It’s perfectly wrong. It’s bribery.” The House has opened its historic hearings to remove America’s...
The online-retail giant Amazon officially launched a Hebrew-language website on Monday, the same date as the shopping holiday Chinese Singles Day, CTech reported. In August, it did so first for vendors. In addition to having access to Amazon services in Hebrew, customers will be able to purchase more than 50 million products from different countries in different currencies, including the New Israeli Shekel (NIS), and seek Amazon customer service in Hebrew as well. In September, Amazon launched its Israeli website in English. The site offers a “ships locally” option and features Israeli retailers that joined the platform, including the cosmetics brand GA-DE, fashion retailers Crazy Line and Adika, and Nintendo Israel. Israeli customers ordering products from outside the cou...
A number of 2020 Democratic presidential candidates have reacted to the barrage of rocket fire launched by Palestinian Islamic Jihad from the Gaza Strip since Tuesday. Former vice president and Democratic front-runner Joe Biden touted his support for the Iron Dome air-defense system, which has been exhibiting a 90 percent effective rate against rockets in the latest escalation. “Israel has a right to defend itself against terrorist threats. It is intolerable that Israeli civilians live their lives under the constant fear of rocket attacks. That’s why our administration was such a strong supporter of Israel’s life-saving Iron Dome,” tweeted Biden. Similarly, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) told JNS that she is also proud to have supported Iron Dome. “The late...
The United States has rejected a request from Israel to condition U.S. assistance to the Lebanese Armed Forces, which has supported the U.S.-designated terrorist group and Iranian proxy Hezbollah. A U.S. State Department spokesperson told JNS that the United States remains committed to strengthening the capacity of the Lebanese Armed Forces to secure Lebanon’s borders, defend its sovereignty and preserve its stability, and that no Lebanese expenditures or purchases of military materiel has been delayed. “The United States continues to support the efforts of the Lebanese people to form a new efficient and effective government that will bring economic reform, and an end to endemic corruption,” continued the spokesperson. “We have expressed clearly our concerns at vi...
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would be given a vital role in a Bernie Sanders administration and could even be tapped for a cabinet-level position, Fox News reports. “Look, I have said this before, let me say it again — and I don’t want [Ocasio-Cortez] to hear this, because [her] head will explode,” Sen. Sanders, I-VT., said during a joint interview alongside the freshman House member. “I don’t know of any person — I’ve been in Congress for a few years, who in the course of less than one year — she’s been in office less than one year, who has had more of an impact on American politics as a freshman member of Congress than she has.” When asked about the possibility of Ocasio-Cortez joining his cabinet, Sander res...
The IDF Spokesman confirmed today that a ceasefire was achieved in the south, noting that the Black Belt battle plan had achieved its goals. “We achieved all goals within 48 hours,” said Spokesman Brigadier General Hedy Silberman, “we must continue to focus on the northern arena – Iranian activity is not just in Syria. The source also said: “Israel achieved the objectives of the operation. Islamic Jihad has been significantly damaged, we destroyed many infrastructures and over 20 terrorists have been thwarted.” Read more at Arutz Sheva.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday introduced legislation to give the country’s public housing units an energy-efficiency overhaul, their first attempt at turning the Green New Deal’s broad framework into specific policy. The bill, dubbed the Green New Deal for Public Housing Act, would use seven grant programs to upgrade housing units into carbon-neutral communities with organic grocery stores, onsite child care and community gardens. Residents of public housing would be given preference in hiring to renovate those units. “I think it’s very exemplary of what we try to do with the Green New Deal, where we have a front-line community that has historically gotten the short end of the stick with environmental justice,” Ocasio-Cort...
Stocks ended the session mixed as investors weighed strong results from the likes of Walmart against more conflicting signals about the status of a U.S.-Chinese trade deal as well as potential progress on getting USMCA passed. Despite the modest moves, U.S. stocks remain near or at record levels. Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell testified on Capitol Hill for a second day, saying that he doesn't expect sluggish U.S. factory activity to spill into the broader economy. On Wednesday, Powell told the Senate Banking Committee that he expects the U.S. economy to keep growing at a solid pace, but there are risks from slower global growth and trade tensions. In corporate earnings, Dow component Walmart ...
NEW YORK (VINnews) — B&H has issued a statement in response to the announcement by AG Letitia James of a NYS lawsuit against them. The statement sent out to their staff reads as follows: Dear B&H Employee, Today the NY Attorney General filed suit against B&H claiming that we should have collected sales tax from customers on instant savings discounts. We obviously believe these claims are without merit, especially since the entire consumer electronics retail industry takes the identical approach that we do. B&H will fight these allegations aggressively. It’s unbelievable to me that the Attorney General has singled out B&H and is misleading the public about our company, while ignoring the identical practices from much larger competitors. We issued the foll...
GAZA CITY – (AP) Gaza militants fired a barrage of rockets into Israel hours after a cease-fire was declared to bring to an end to two days of intense fighting. Air raid sirens went off in several communities on Thursday near the Gaza Strip as at least five rockets could be seen blasting out of the territory. The rockets come after both Israel and the Islamic Jihad militant group said they were holding their fire following the heaviest bout of cross-border violence in months. It was not immediately clear whether Israel would respond and what the fate of the cease-fire might be. The fighting killed at least 34 Palestinians, among them three women, eight children and 18 militants. The rockets brought life in southern Israel to a standstill.
To all people who are interested in the simple truth here the indisputable facts regarding the B&H sales tax issue. Background: Its very common for some manufacturers to drop their Map Price of an item with for example $500 and force the retailers to charge the customer with $500 less for the item, take for example the Nikon D850 (Searched as Nikon 1585) Camera it currently has an Instant rebate of $500 from $3296.95 to $2796.95. So normally B&H would collect Sales Tax on $3296.95but now since the Manufacturer sets the sell price as  $2796.95 B&H  would collect Sales Tax only on $2796.95 The Government argues that since the manufacturer reimburses B&H with money for the forced discount it is as if the...
JERUSALEM (VINnews)— A member of the Israeli secular Hitorerut party in the Jerusalem municipality has lodged a formal complaint with Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon over the erecting of a tent to honor the visit of a New York Rabbi the leader of an Anti-zionist movement to Israel next Tuesday. Satmar Rebbe, Rabbi Zalman Leib Teitelbaum is due to visit Israel for ten days, during which he will inaugurate a new Beis Medrash for the Chasidus in Yoel Street, Jerusalem. A special tent has been erected there, where the Rebbe will conduct his prayers and a tish for thousands of his Chasidim from Israel and abroad. City Councillor Yovav Tzur said that during such a sensitive security period for Israel it would be wrong for the city to give such honor to a Rebbe who is known for his opposition ...
NEW YORK (VINnews) — A group of Chasidic women from Williamsburg have demanded that the city of New York cut back the amount of hours that men are allowed to swim at a public pool in the neighborhood in order to accommodate the needs of orthodox women. Jewish religious practice requires women not to bathe together with men. Acting on the request of the local women, Community Board 1’s full board passed a motion demanding that the Parks Department set aside an additional three hours a week for female-only swimmers at the Metropolitan Recreation Center, because the current time slots are so jam-packed that one Williamsburg woman said she no longer allows her aging mother to use it for fear that she’ll drown. “My mom — who is hitting 90-years-old, thank G-d &md...
NEW JERSEY (VINnews) – Three decades after it first wowed kosher consumers with its debut show at the Javits Center, Kosherfest continues to draw businesses and consumers alike, with products as stereotypically Jewish as matza just yards away from a Bubby’s Lotus-biscuit-topped crepe cake and Aufschnitt Meats’ dark chocolate chia beef jerky. The two day show began on Tuesday at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus and continued on Wednesday. “This is a dream come true,” Menachem Lubinsky, president and CEO of Lubicom Marketing and the founder of Kosherfest, told VIN News. “It is a vision that I had but didn’t think it would ever happen. The kosher industry has exploded and surprised even me to extent of its growth, its development, ...
BALTIMORE (VINnews) Baltimore is far too familiar with violent crime and the harm it causes to it’s communities. While violent crime is not uncommon in Baltimore, a number of incidents involving teenagers have gotten the attention of Mayor Jack Young and concerned community members. The incident occurred last Tuesday night. A 52 year old man was taking a shortcut through New Hope Circle when he was surrounded by 15 teens. Instead of just taking his money, the group of teens beat, punched, and stomped him before running off with his belongings. The man is alive and recovering. What can be done to stop the violence plaguing Baltimore City? Mayor Young believes that the solution lies in providing opportunities for teens that otherwise may resort to crime. “You break it by going...
NEW YORK (AP) – Until recently, New York City police secretly kept fingerprints of children arrested as juveniles on file permanently in a department database — an illegal practice that has raised alarms about the lengths the nation’s largest police force has taken to keep tabs on the city’s youth. The public defender organization that uncovered the yearslong practice pressured the New York Police Department to acknowledge it and then threatened legal action to make it stop, citing a state law barring local police from stockpiling juveniles’ fingerprints. Now, after years of discussions, the NYPD said Wednesday it has purged all juvenile fingerprints records from the database and will no longer keep them indefinitely. It has also issued bulletins to its 36,0...
WASHINGTON (AP) — With historic impeachment hearings underway, Democrats and Republicans are hardening their arguments over the actions of President Donald Trump as they set out to win over a deeply polarized American public. Democrats say Wednesday’s extraordinary public session in the House revealed a striking account of Trump abusing his office by pressing the newly elected president of Ukraine for political investigations of rival Democrats, all while holding up needed military aid. “Bribery,” they said, and “extortion.” Republicans counter that the hearing showed none of that. They say the two seasoned diplomats at the witness table had, at best, secondhand accounts of Trump’s July 25 call that’s central to the impeachment inquiry. The...
Jordan foiled a terrorist plot to attack Israeli and U.S. diplomats along with U.S. soldiers at a military base in the south of the country, Jordanian state-owned media reported on Tuesday, according to Reuters. The two suspects had planned to drive vehicles into the Americans and Israelis, and also attack with guns and knives, according to Jordan’s al-Rai daily. The suspects are to stand trial in the country’s state security court, according to the report. Last year, Jordan thwarted a planned Islamic State attack on security installations, shopping malls and religious figures, noted Reuters. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday marked 25 years since the signing of the Israel-Jordan peace treaty. “We have an outstanding interest in keeping the peace agr...
JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Some people are legends in their lifetimes, while others become legendary after their death. Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, whose 25th Yahrzeit falls today, was unique in his lifetime, creating a new genre of Jewish music and animating Jews of all walks of life with his warm and heartfelt melodies, but after his death he became an even greater legend, with the advent of the hugely popular Carlebach minyanim. These minyanim in Israel and in the U.S., have influenced all walks of orthodox Judaism, from the minimally observant to the most Chareidi and in many of them the most diverse levels of religious observance can be seen praying and dancing together. In his death, Carlebach left a legacy both of music and of love for every Jew and this love permeates these minyani...
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