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November 17, 2019 at 5:54 pm
House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) on Sunday offered support for President Trump’s pardons of two U.S. service members in cases involving allegations of war crimes.
“Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace asked the lawmaker about the president clearing three men accused or convicted of war crimes, adding that “Senior Pentagon officials advised the president against” the decision because they believed it would “undermine the military justice system.”
“Clearly the president is the commander-in-chief. He's well within his rights. Do you have any problem with this decision to clear these three men?” Wallace asked.
“No,” Scalise responded.&n...
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November 17, 2019 at 5:51 pm
Senate Republicans say the first week of House impeachment hearings hasn't moved the needle in their conference and question whether the proceedings consuming Washington have much traction outside the Beltway.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who is up for reelection next year in what is increasingly becoming a battleground state, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), a moderate swing vote in the upper chamber, for example, say their constituents aren’t even closely following the impeachment proceedings.
Although it is becoming increasingly clear that President Trump attempted to use military aid to pressure Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, the bottom line for Republicans is that it doesn’t reach the threshold to re...
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November 17, 2019 at 5:15 pm
Question #1: Davening in Public
“I am traveling, and the only place to daven is in a crowded terminal. Are there any special laws that I need to know?”
Question #2: Bowing or Genuflecting?
Have you ever genuflected?
Question #3: Bow and Arrow!
Does bowing have anything to do with bows and arrows?
Introduction:
Parshas Chayei Sarah mentions that Avraham bowed to the descendants of Cheis, when they agreed to give him a burial area for Sarah (Bereishis 23:7). The parsha also mentions that Eliezer bowed to Hashem to thank Him that his mission appeared to be achieving success. These provide a special opportunity to discuss some of the laws of bowing during the shemoneh esrei. As there is far more to this topic than can be covered in one article, we will, bli neder, have to re...
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November 17, 2019 at 4:59 pm
Toronto – A Toronto student union has refused to support a drive to make kosher food accessible on campus because its backers are “pro-Israel.”
Last week, a Jewish student wrote to the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union (GSU), asking it to consider supporting an ongoing campaign by Hillel to secure kosher food access on campus. In response, the student was told: “I doubt the Executive Committee will be comfortable recommending this motion given that the organisation hosting it (Hillel) is openly pro-Israel.”
The response email added that any move to support the kosher food campaign could be contrary to “the will of the membership,” an apparent reference to the GSU’s adoption of the Boycot...
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November 17, 2019 at 4:43 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi invited President Donald Trump to testify in front of investigators in the House impeachment inquiry ahead of a week that will see several key witnesses appear publicly.
Pushing back against accusations from the president that the process has been stacked against him, Pelosi said Trump is welcome to appear or answer questions in writing, if he chooses.
“If he has information that is exculpatory, that means ex, taking away, culpable, blame, then we look forward to seeing it,” she said in an interview that aired Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” Trump “could come right before the committee and talk, speak all the truth that he wants if he wants,” she said.
Senate Democratic leader Chuc...
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November 17, 2019 at 4:41 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – Michael Bloomberg on Sunday reversed his longstanding support of the controversial “stop-and-frisk” police strategy ahead of a potential Democratic presidential run, a policy he embraced as New York’s mayor even though it disproportionately impacted people of color.
Addressing a black church in Brooklyn, Bloomberg said the practice often led to the disproportionate detaining of blacks and Latinos. He added that he “can’t change history” but now realizes “I was wrong.”
If anyone was wrongly stopped by police, “I apologize,” he said.
Bloomberg’s reversal is a notable recognition of the power and importance of black voters in the Democratic Party and the fact that his record on stop-and-frisk could be...
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November 17, 2019 at 3:50 pm
Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, said on Sunday that he believes the upcoming Inspector General report on the counterintelligence investigation into Russia and the Trump campaign is going to be damning evidence of wrongdoing by FBI and Justice Department officials and could lead to a full-fledged criminal investigation.
“It doesn’t take 500 pages to tell the inspector general that everything was done properly,” Ratcliffe said during an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” “The IG report is going to find that there were problems.”
For more than a year and a half, Inspector General Michael Horowitz has been investigating alleged misconduct related to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, warrants del...
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November 17, 2019 at 3:50 pm
A creative idea born in the Halutza community located near the Gaza border is turning rocket shards into beautiful jewelry!
From the website:
Thousands of Kassam Rockets have been fired into our communities bordering the Gaza Strip and the main purpose of these rockets are to cause nothing but chaos, destruction & death. My wife Shiran & I have collected pieces of rockets, removed the rust, filed & cut the sharp edges down & created beautiful necklaces gold or silver plated. It’s amazing to be able to turn something very hateful into a lovely piece of jewelry that symbolizes strength and beauty which is what The State of Israel is to us! Thank you for your love & support! #AmIsraelChai
“Here on the Gaza Border-We are turning a NEGATIVE into a POSI...
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November 17, 2019 at 3:50 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump is defending an unlikely target: Joe Biden.
Trump is responding to North Korea calling the former vice president and Democratic candidate a “rabid dog” who “must be beaten to death with a stick.”
Trump says in a tweeted message to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that Biden “may be Sleepy and Very Slow,” but says, “he is not a ‘rabid dog’” and “is actually somewhat better than that.”
Still, Trump adds he is “the only one” who can get Kim “where you have to be,” and is urging Kim to “act quickly, get the deal done.” He’s also hinting at another meeting, writing, “See you soon!”
The tweet comes amid an impeachment inve...
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November 17, 2019 at 3:49 pm
Hurricane Dorian inflicted losses of about $3.4 billion on the Bahamas, an amount equal to one-quarter of the Caribbean archipelago’s GDP, according to a report released Friday.
The report by the Inter-American Development Bank also said there were 67 confirmed deaths and that 282 people were still missing as of late October. Those figures have been previously reported.
Nearly 29,500 people lost homes or jobs, or were temporarily displaced by the Category 5 storm that hit Grand Bahama and Abaco islands in early September, the report said.
The development bank said reconstruction will require big investments and will take many years. Dorian was one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes ever to make landfall, unleashing a storm surge of up to 7.6 meters (25 feet).
Destruction of...
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November 17, 2019 at 3:49 pm
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday backed gasoline price increases that have sparked protests across Iran, blaming opponents of the Islamic Republic and foreign enemies for “sabotage,” state television reported.
“Some people are no doubt worried by this decision … but sabotage and arson is done by hooligans not our people. The counter-revolution and Iran’s enemies have always supported sabotage and breaches of security and continue to do so,” Ayatollah Khamenei said, according to state TV.
Riot police and security forces clashed with demonstrators on Saturday in Tehran and dozens of cities across the country, Iranian news agencies and social media said, a day after the government increased the price of gasoline.
Officials said on...
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November 17, 2019 at 3:48 pm
President Donald Trump said on Sunday he was in “very good” health after undergoing the first phase of an annual medical check the previous day.
Trump tweeted that he had the first phase of checks at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington. “Everything very good (great!). Will complete next year,” he said.
The White House said Trump had undergone a quick exam and some laboratory tests.
“Anticipating a very busy 2020, the President is taking advantage of a free weekend here in Washington, DC, to begin portions of his routine annual physical exam at Walter Reed,” White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement on Saturday.
She said the president also visited the medical staff and thanked them for their care of w...
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November 17, 2019 at 3:48 pm
JERUSALEM (JNS) — As rockets fell on southern and central Israel last week, a team of U.S. firefighters worked side by side with their Israeli counterparts to extinguish brush and building fires and deal with other emergencies.
The U.S. firefighters are part of the Emergency Volunteer Project (EVP), which trains U.S. firefighters and medical personnel and deploys them to Israel in times of need. However, according to EVP Emergency Deployment Director Eitan Charnoff they were already in the country when the flare-up in hostilities between Israel and Gaza-based terrorist groups broke out.
“They were originally deployed because of anticipated high winds later in the week,” said Charnoff. “We were fortunate to have them here given the unexpected rocket attacks.”...
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November 17, 2019 at 3:47 pm
The Faroe Islands is planning to establish an official diplomatic mission in Yerusalayim and recognize the long-contested city as Israel’s capital, the Danish newspaper Politiken reported on Friday.
The foreign minister of the self-governing archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean – which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark — was quoted as saying the goal was to open the Yerusalayim office in September or October 2020.
In the nearly two years since US President Donald Trump recognized Yerusalayim as Israel’s capital and subsequently moved the American embassy to there from Tel Aviv, several countries have made noises about following suit, but none — except for Guatemala — have turned word into deed.
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November 17, 2019 at 3:45 pm
France experienced another disarming rise in antisemitic offenses during the first six months of 2019, the head of the French Jewish community disclosed in a media interview on Friday.
Speaking to “Le Talk,” an online show produced by leading news outlet Le Figaro, Francis Kalifat — president of the French Jewish representative body CRIF — declared that “antisemitism continues to grow in our country.”
Addressing the fresh rise in antisemitic offenses, Kalifat spoke of “a very strong increase in reported antisemitic acts.”
“In the first half of the year, we are almost 76 percent higher than in the first half of 2018, which was already a bleak year,” Kalifat remarked.
Kalifat was speaking in advance of CRIF’s national conv...
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November 17, 2019 at 11:50 am
NICOSIA, CYPRUS (AP) – Cypriot police have confiscated a van reportedly loaded with sophisticated surveillance equipment and have questioned its Israeli owner following media reports that the vehicle was being hired out to spy on people.
Police said Saturday that officers also searched the office of the Israeli’s Cyprus-registered company that’s being investigated on possible violations of privacy rights laws.
Police chief Kypros Michaelides told private radio station Astra that authorities are also questioning the Larnaca-based company’s other Cypriot shareholders and are looking into how this van and other surveillance equipment was imported into the country.
The police probe was initiated after local media highlighted an earlier Forbes report on the Israeli it...
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November 17, 2019 at 11:49 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Many older American adults may inaccurately estimate their chances for developing dementia and do useless things to prevent it, new research suggests.
Almost half of adults surveyed believed they were likely to develop dementia. The results suggest many didn’t understand the connection between physical health and brain health and how racial differences can affect dementia risk.
Substantial numbers of people who rated their health as fair or poor thought their dementia chances were low. At the same time, many who said they were in excellent health said they were likely to develop the memory robbing disease.
Many said they tried at least one of four unproven memory-protecting methods, including taking supplements like fish oil and ginkgo. The most popular strat...
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November 17, 2019 at 11:49 am
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has stunned Republicans again, narrowly winning a second term Saturday as the Deep South’s only Democratic governor and handing Donald Trump another gubernatorial loss this year.
In the heart of Trump country, the moderate Edwards cobbled together enough cross-party support with his focus on bipartisan, state-specific issues to defeat Republican businessman Eddie Rispone.
Coming after a defeat in the Kentucky governor’s race and sizable losses in Virginia’s legislative races, the Louisiana result seems certain to rattle Republicans as they head into the 2020 presidential election. Trump fought to return the seat to the GOP, making three trips to Louisiana to rally against Edwards.
The president’s inten...
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November 17, 2019 at 11:48 am
AVENTURA, FL (AP) – Florida authorities say a woman died when her SUV was hit by a high-speed train at a railroad crossing.
Authorities told news outlets that a woman was driving a Mercedes SUV Friday afternoon near the suburb of Aventura and was trying to cross the tracks when a Brightline train struck her. She was pronounced dead at the scene, but her name has not been released.
Federal Railroad Administration records show that 11 people were killed by Brightline high-speed trains between Jan. 1 and May 31. Media reports show at least eight more deaths since then.
Brightline connects Miami and West Palm Beach.
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November 17, 2019 at 11:45 am
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Former Vice President Joe Biden brought an alarmist warning to a diverse crowd of Democrats late Saturday in early-caucus Nevada during a town hall at an elementary school in a historically minority Las Vegas neighborhood.
Biden opened the event saying that as long as Donald Trump is president, the security and future of the United States is at risk.
“As long as he’s there, everything we care about as a nation, and the issues we care about, are in the balance,” Biden said.
Trump state campaign chief Adam Laxalt responded that voters in 2020 will reject Biden and the Democratic “extremist liberal vision for America” and “choose freedom and economic growth instead.”
With fewer than 100 days before Nevada Democratic party caucuses...
