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November 19, 2019 at 8:46 am
NEW YORK (AP) – A western New York man has pleaded guilty to threatening to kill U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.
Patrick Carlineo entered the plea Monday in Rochester to charges that carry up to 10 years in prison. His sentencing is set for February.
Omar, a Democrat, is among the first Muslim women in Congress.
Prosecutors say the 55-year-old Carlineo called her office March 21, told a staffer the congresswoman was a “terrorist” and threatened to shoot her.
His lawyer, Sonya Zoghlin, says Carlineo is passionate about his beliefs and has taken responsibility for using threatening language to express them. Zoghlin says Carlineo never intended to harm Omar.
U.S. Attorney James Kennedy Jr. says the case highlights that free speech rights carry responsibilities not to...
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November 19, 2019 at 8:45 am
HONG KONG (AP) — About 100 protesters remained holed up at a Hong Kong university Tuesday as a police siege of the campus entered its third day.
City leader Carrie Lam said 600 people had left the Hong Kong Polytechnic campus, including 200 who are under 18 years old.
Police have surrounded the university and are arresting anyone who leaves. Lam said those under 18 would not be immediately arrested but could face charges later.
She said that the other 400 who have left have been arrested.
Now in its fifth month, the Hong Kong protest movement has steadily intensified as local and Beijing authorities harden their positions and refuse to make concessions.
Universities have become the latest battleground for the protesters, who used gasoline bombs and bows and arrows in their fight...
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November 19, 2019 at 8:43 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The phone call State Department official David Holmes overheard between President Donald Trump and Ambassador Gordon Sondland lasted just two minutes. But it won’t be easily forgotten.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Holmes told Trump impeachment investigators, “someone calling the President from a mobile phone at a restaurant, and then having a conversation of this level of candor, colorful language. There’s just so much about the call that was so remarkable that I remember it vividly.”
Holmes’ first-hand account of the conversation heard over lunch in Kyiv provides a key piece of the impeachment inquiry. He is among the only witnesses testifying so far to show Trump personally seeking investigations into Demo...
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November 19, 2019 at 8:42 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Elizabeth Warren’s proposal to gradually move the country to a government-funded health care system has further inflamed the debate over “Medicare for All,” likely ensuring the issue will play a significant role in this week’s Democratic presidential debate.
The Massachusetts senator announced Friday that her administration would immediately build on existing laws, including the Affordable Care Act, to expand access to health care while taking up to three years to fully implement Medicare for All. That attempt to thread the political needle has roiled her more moderate rivals, who say she’s waffling, while worrying some on the left, who see Warren’s commitment to a single-payer system wavering.
The divide could complicate plans ...
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November 19, 2019 at 8:41 am
JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military said it intercepted four incoming rockets from Syria on Tuesday and explosions were heard shortly after that in Damascus, a week after another Israeli strike targeted a top Palestinian militant in the Syrian capital.
Israeli air defense systems captured the projectiles, the military said, and no harm was caused to Israeli communities in the Golan Heights after warning sirens awoke residents there early in the morning. There was no immediate official comment from Syria but the SANA state news agency reported explosions were heard near Damascus International Airport, indicating a potential Israeli retaliatory strike.
The Israeli military would not comment on the explosions in Syria, but Defense Minister Naftali Bennett was convening the top milit...
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November 19, 2019 at 8:40 am
President Donald Trump’s transactional approach to foreign policy assumes that everything has a price. The problem for him in his nuclear gamble with North Korea is that Kim Jong Un may not be buying.
In a blunt put-down Monday, North Korea rejected what a senior adviser to Kim called another “fruitless” one-on-one with Trump. It was the latest reminder that Trump’s open-door policy for bargaining with authoritarians means those leaders can slam the door in his face.
“We are no longer interested in such talks that bring nothing to us,” said Kim Kye Gwan, a veteran diplomat and Foreign Ministry adviser. “As we have got nothing in return, we will no longer gift the U.S. president with something he can brag about.”
Trump had hinted on Sunday ...
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November 19, 2019 at 8:38 am
A member of a far-right network directed the vandalism of shuls in Michigan and Wisconsin in September, according to a criminal complaint filed on Tuesday and unsealed the following day.
It stated that Richard Tobin, 18, of Brooklawn, N.J., admitted to directing, through “online platforms and encrypted online messaging applications and chat rooms,” members of the network’s “Great Lakes Cell” to paint the synagogues with neo-Nazi symbols and slogans as part of what he dubbed “Operation Kristallnacht,” in reference to the 1938 Nazi pogrom in Germany, translated as the “Night of the Broken Glass.”
Temple Jacob in Hancock, Mich., was defaced with Nazi symbols on Sept. 21. Beth Israel Sinai Synagogue in Racine, Wisc., was vandalized with a...
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November 19, 2019 at 8:37 am
House investigators are examining whether President Donald Trump lied to former special counsel Robert Mueller, the House general counsel told a federal appeals court Monday in Washington.
The statement came during arguments over Congress’ demand for the urgent release of secret grand jury evidence from Mueller’s probe of Russia’s 2016 election interference, with House lawyers detailing fresh concerns about Trump’s truthfulness that could become part of the impeachment inquiry.
The hearing followed Friday’s conviction of longtime Trump friend Roger Stone for lying to Congress. Testimony and evidence at his trial appeared to cast doubt on Trump’s written answers to Mueller’s questions, specifically about whether the president was aware of his camp...
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November 19, 2019 at 8:36 am
Former House speaker and Fox News contributor Newt Gingrich discusses the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry.
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November 19, 2019 at 8:34 am
A plane with Hillary Clinton aboard was grounded at LaGuardia Airport Sunday afternoon after suffering an unknown mechanical issue on the tarmac, a report said.
American Airlines flight 2144 to Washington DC’s Reagan Airport was forced to return to the gate about 3:15 p.m. following a mechanical issue reported by ground personnel, a law enforcement source told CNN.
Another source confirmed with the network that the former secretary of state was on board.
Read more at THE NY POST.
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November 19, 2019 at 8:33 am
The chief executive of FedEx blasted a New York Times investigation detailing how the company wiped out its tax bill as an “outrageous distortion of the truth” Sunday and then challenged its publisher to a debate on federal tax policy.
CEO Fred Smith did not specify any particular errors in the report, which said the shipping giant’s tax bill went from $1.5 billion in 2017 to zero in 2018 after President Donald Trump’s tax cuts slashed FedEx’s effective tax rate from 34% to less than zero. The tax cut, which Smith lobbied for extensively, was framed as a means of spurring business investment, but FedEx apparently has done the opposite. It spent less on capital investments in 2018 than it did the year before and even less in 2019, according to the Times, and i...
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November 19, 2019 at 8:31 am
As Israel approaches what would be its third election in less than a year, many Israelis and international observers are questioning the sustainability of the country’s complicated parliamentary system. Yet at the heart of Israel’s current political impasse lies not only its system of government, but also its justice system.
Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit is expected to decide in the coming weeks whether or not to issue formal indictments in three separate cases against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In Case 1000, Netanyahu is accused of receiving gifts worth over $200,000 from friends over an extended period, while Case 2000 and Case 4000 both involve alleged attempts by Netanyahu to secure positive media coverage in exchange for political favors.
That Netan...
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November 19, 2019 at 8:28 am
Travelers should use only AC charging ports, use USB no-data cables, or "USB condom" devices.
Travelers are advised to avoid using public USB power charging stations in airports, hotels, and other locations because they may contain dangerous malware, the Los Angeles District Attorney said in a security alert published last week.
USB connections were designed to work as both data and power transfer mediums, with no strict barrier between the two. As smartphones became more popular in the past decade, security researchers figured out they could abuse USB connections that a user might think was only transferring electrical power to hide and deliver secret data payloads.
This type of attack received its own name, as "juice jacking."
Across the years, several proofs-of-concept wer...
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November 19, 2019 at 8:21 am
Pharmaceutical company Teva USA today announced that it will resume production of childhood cancer drug vincristine after a recent shortage which led to patients missing doses of the vital chemotherapy.
“I’m pleasantly surprised to see the announcement and it’s the right decision,” said Dr. Yoram Unguru, a pediatric oncologist at the Herman and Walter Samuelson Children’s Hospital at Sinai in Baltimore and faculty member at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. “Patients are going to benefit, but it wont help immediately,” he added.
The company came under intense pressure for the decision to cease production in March 2019 after claiming its product only made up 3% of the market share, with Pfizer producing the rema...
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November 19, 2019 at 8:18 am
One of the two Rebbes of the Satmar movement, Rabbi Yekutiel Yehuda Teitelbaum - better known as Rabbi Zalman Leib - landed this morning (Tuesday) in Israel, flying on a private plane from Heathrow airport, in London. Haredi leaders met the rebbe at Ben Gurion Airport.
The Rebbe is expected to take part in many different events in Jerusalem, including donating some five million dollars to organizations who do not accept funds from the state.
Member of Knesset Yulia Malinovsky (Yisrael Beytenu) took to Twitter to attack the fact that roads are being closed for Teitelbaum's visit.
"Have we all gone mad? Closing roads in Jerusalem for the arrival of the anti-Zionist Satmar leader who objects to the existence of the State of Israel. I don't understand how he is permitted to enter ...
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November 19, 2019 at 8:16 am
Security Alert: U.S. Embassy Jerusalem (November 18, 2019) Location: Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza The U.S. Embassy advises U.S. citizens in or considering travel to or through Jerusalem, the West Bank, or Gaza to maintain a high level of vigilance and take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness in light of the current environment. Individuals and groups opposed to the Secretary of State’s recent announcement may target U.S. government facilities, U.S. private interests, and U.S. citizens. Potential targets include public events, such as demonstrations, holiday events, and celebratory gatherings; hotels, clubs, and restaurants popular with U.S. citizens; places of worship; schools; shopping malls and markets; tourism infrastructure; public transportation ...
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November 19, 2019 at 8:15 am
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu praised the Trump administration Tuesday, hailing as a ‘great day for Israel’ the US State Department’s declaration that it does not view Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria as illegal under international law.
Speaking during a visit to Israeli towns in Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem, Tuesday afternoon, Prime Minister Netanyahu called Secertary of State Mike Pompeo’s Monday announcement regarding Judea and Samaria a “great day for the State of Israel”.
“This is a very great day for the State of Israel, and an achievement that will last through the ages.”
“I admit that I am very moved,” Netanyahu continued. “We are here, in Gush Etzion, a place where we were expelled from during th...
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November 19, 2019 at 8:10 am
It is with great sadness that Matzav.com reports the passing of Rebbetzin Gittel Kaplan a”h of Yerushalayim. She passed away a day before her 50th birthday.
Rebbetzin Kaplan was the wife of Rav Nissan Kaplan, rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Daas Aharon and former longtime R”M at Yeshivas Mir Yerushalayim.
She was a daughter of Rav Avrohom Gurwicz, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Bais Yosef of Gateshead.
The rebbetzin had battled illness and, at the advice of Rav Chaim Kanievsky, a name, Yente, was added to generate zechusim for her speedy recovery. She passed away Tuesday morning.
She is survived by her husband and 11 children, most of whom are not yet married. The levaya will begin on Tuesday night at 8:00PM from their home at 31 Agassi Street in H...
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November 18, 2019 at 7:34 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Donald Trump boarded Air Force One to fly to a Kentucky campaign rally two weeks ago, a plan was in place for him to give final approval to a plan to ban most flavored e-cigarettes.
By the time Trump landed back at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington a few hours later, the plan was off. And its future is unclear.
For nearly two months, momentum had been building inside the White House to try to halt a youth vaping epidemic that experts feared was hurting as many as 5 million teenagers.
Both first lady Melania Trump and Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and senior adviser, pushed for the ban, which was also being championed internally by White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, who has taken the lead on some public health issues.
But as...
