Veteran Sen. Chuck Grassley announced early Friday he’ll be running for an eighth term in office in the upcoming midterm elections in a move that will head off a contentious primary in Iowa to find his replacement. The 88-year-old Republican made his announcement at 4 a.m. Central Daylight Time in a tweet that also stressed his exercise routine, reports Politico. “It’s 4 a.m. in Iowa so I’m running. I do that 6 days a week,” Grassley said in the post. “Before I start the day I want you to know what Barbara and I have decided. I’m running for re-election—a lot more to do, for Iowa.” Grassley won his last reelection bid in 2016 by 25 points, and his announcement will make it more likely Republicans will seek the Iowa sea...
Republicans say a new nonpartisan report indicates President Biden improperly avoided paying Medicare taxes before he took office — raising eyebrows and the possibility that he owes the IRS as much as $500,000 in back taxes. Biden is leading a Democratic push for a $3.5 trillion bill to subsidize child care, education and health care by targeting tax avoidance and raising tax rates on higher incomes so the rich “pay their fair share.” A House Ways and Means Committee draft of the bill would end the accounting trick apparently exploited by Biden and boost IRS funding for audits — but the new report, drafted by the Congressional Research Service and provided to The Post, suggests Biden owes taxes under current rules, according to the congressman ...
Former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner Scott Gottlieb said on Sunday that “nobody knows” the origins of the six-foot social-distancing recommendation. During an appearance on CBS’s “Face The Nation,” Gottlieb told host Margaret Brennan that the recommendation was arbitrary, saying that the Biden administration asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to change its guidelines from six feet to three feet in an effort to re-open schools last spring. “Nobody knows where it came from. Most people assume that the six feet of distance, the recommendation for keeping six feet apart, comes out of some old studies related to flu, where droplets don’t travel more than six feet,” Gottlieb told Brennan. Gottl...
Former President Donald Trump said Friday the election audit in Maricopa County, Arizona, “has uncovered significant and undeniable evidence of fraud.” “Huge findings in Arizona!” he said in a statement Friday. “However, the Fake News Media is already trying to ‘call it’ again for (Joe) Biden before actually looking at the facts—just like they did in November! The audit has uncovered significant and undeniable evidence of FRAUD! Until we know how and why this happened, our Elections will never be secure. “This is a major criminal event and should be investigated by the Attorney General immediately. The Senate’s final report will be released today at 4:00 PM ET. I have heard it is far different than that being repo...
President Joe Biden said Friday that talks over his $3.5 trillion rebuilding plan have hit a “stalemate” in Congress as he made the case for his expansive effort to recast the nation’s tax and spending programs and make what he sees as sweeping, overdue investments. Biden spoke at the White House as Democrats in the House and Senate are laboring to finish drafts and overcome differences between the party’s centrist and moderate factions. Despite efforts by the president and congressional leaders to show progress, Biden cast the road ahead as long and potentially cumbersome, even with upcoming deadlines. “We’re getting down to the hard spot here,” Biden told reporters at the White House. “We’re at this stalemate at the moment.”
Rudy Giuliani has been banned from appearing on Fox News for several months, and only learned of the “from the top” order on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Son Andrew Giuliani, a New York gubernatorial candidate, has also been banned. And former NYPD Commsissioner Bernie Kerik, a close adviser to Giuliani, is rarely booked on Fox News, Politico Playbook reports. Rudy Giuliani and Kerik were prominent New York City leaders on 9/11 as mayor and NYPD commissioner. “They’re not doing us any favors,” a Trump aide told Politico. The rejection on hosting the Giulianis “comes from the top,” sources told Politico. Fox began distancing itself from Giuliani shortly after Trump left office and in the wake of Dominion Votin...
Jake Sullivan, national security adviser in the Biden administration, may be guilty of perjury related to the Hillary Clinton campaign’s dirty tricks against Donald Trump. Last week, Michael A. Sussmann, a partner at Perkins Coie, a law firm representing the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee, was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of making false statements to the FBI about his clients and their motives behind planting the rumor, at the highest levels of the FBI, of a secret Trump-Russia server. The indictment states that Sussmann, as well as the cyber experts recruited for the operation, “coordinated with representatives and agents of the Clinton campaign with regard to the data and written materials that Sussmann gave t...
A recent spike in deaths from COVID-19 among school bus drivers in several states has left many districts with few options for transporting students, according to a recent report from the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation. The group notes that according to various news reports and a Twitter account that tracks school personnel who were “lost to [COVID],” school bus drivers in almost a dozen states have died of the virus since last month, including 12 deaths in Georgia alone since the school year started. Ronna Weber, executive director of the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services, notes that although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention requires that all travelers on public transit, including school buses for b...
Any attack by Israel on Lebanon will be met with a response from Hezbollah, Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem said on Friday evening, according to Palestinian media. "Any Israeli attack on Lebanon will be met with a response from Hezbollah. Even if [Lebanon] is dragged into a war, we will face the war. Our weapons are locked and loaded. If we need more, we have our ways to rearm ourselves," he said, according to reports on Twitter. “We are waiting for the Lebanese government’s position on the indirect negotiations with [the Israeli enemy] regarding the border issue, and when our turn arrives, we will do our duty,” he said.  "We will continue to bring oil as long as Lebanon’s central bank and Lebanese fuel companies do not supply Lebanon&rsquo...
The IDF took down a Nazi flag bearing a swastika after it was hoisted by unknown perpetrators in the Palestinian town of Beit Ummar near Hebron on Saturday. Video reportedly from the scene showed an IDF soldier shooting down the flag that seems to have been hung on electrical lines. The flag was reportedly hung near an IDF post. The incident comes about a month after Palestinian rioters placed a flaming wooden Star of David with a swastika inside it near the Palestinian town of Beita and near the evacuated West Bank outpost of Evyatar. “The young men demonstrating against the illegal settlements are heroes,” said Mohammed Zain, a local activist from the Nablus area, at the time. “We will continue the peaceful protests until we foil the Israel...
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s call on Israel to withdraw to the pre-1967 lines in one year has elicited jeers from several Palestinians, who renewed their appeal to him to resign. Abbas issued his ultimatum to Israel on Friday in a pre-recorded speech before the United Nations General Assembly’s 76th session in New York. Referring to his plan to convene an international peace conference under the auspices of the Quartet members – the US, European Union, Russia and the UN – Abbas said: “To ensure our initiative is not open-ended, we must state that Israel, the occupying power, has one year to withdraw from the Palestinian territory it occupied in 1967, including east Jerusalem, and we are ready to work throughout this year on the...
Former US President Donald Trump has once again hinted at a 2024 presidential election run, The New York Post reports. The comments came on Friday in a radio interview when the host noted Trump has shied away from formally announcing his widely anticipated run. “I’ll ask you a different way, can you think of a reason not to run?” asked David Brody of the Real America’s Voice network. “Well, I guess a bad call from a doctor or something, right?” Trump responded. “I will say, that happens with people.” “So things happen, through G-d, they happen. But you know, I feel so good, and I hate what’s happening to our country,” he added. Trump has already hinted several times that he will run for the White House again i...
Top medics say FDA decision shows the third dose is safe, even if ethical issues of access to vaccines remain Following the final authorization by the United States on Wednesday of the booster shots of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine for those in high-risk groups, Israeli health officials said that the decision represents a validation of Israel's own intensive inoculation campaign. The Food and Drug Administration approved the booster shot for those aged 65 and upward as well as adults at high risk of severe disease and those in high-exposure jobs. “The decision reinforced our results that the third dose is safe,” Dr. Nadav Davidovitch, head of the school of public health at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University told the Associated Press, acknowledging th...
The chag of Sukkot isn’t anchored to a particular historical period, or geographical location. It doesn’t commemorate a miraculous event which occurred on a specific day in history. Sheltered huts positioned under the open sky, symbolize Hashem's compassion for creation, His care for humanity and His love of the Jewish people. Exiting our homes and sitting under makeshift and “improvised” huts, highlights our reliance upon Divine hashgacha rather than upon human structures or conventions. A Private Invitation As this chag isn’t tethered to a particular historical event, its scope extends beyond that of other Jewish holidays. Sukkot celebrates Hashem’s care for all humanity – Jew and non-Jew alike. Highlighting this international scope, the M...
'Virtual currency derivative transactions are all illegal financial activities and are strictly prohibited' China on Friday stepped up its crackdown on cryptocurrency with a blanket ban on all crypto transactions and mining, hitting bitcoin and other major coins and pressuring crypto and blockchain-related stocks. "Virtual currency-related business activities are illegal financial activities," the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said in an online statement Friday, adding that offenders would be "investigated for criminal liability in accordance with the law." The central bank said that in recent years trading of Bitcoin and other virtual currencies had become "widespread, disrupting economic and financial order, giving rise to money laundering, illegal fund-raising, fraud...
Certain Baghdad officials branded the participants 'traitors' Iraq's federal government on Saturday condemned a conference calling for normalization with Israel, held the previous day in Arbil, the capital of northern Iraq's Kurdistan autonomous region. A statement dismissed the gathering, organized by US think-tank Center for Peace Communications (CPC), as an "illegal meeting." The conference "was not representative of the population's (opinion) and that of residents in Iraqi cities, in whose name these individuals purported to speak," the statement said. The office of Iraq's President Barham Saleh, himself a Kurd, joined in the condemnation. Powerful Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr urged the government to "arrest all the participants", while Ahmed Ass...
Palestinian leader lashes out at Israel at the United Nations Speaking before the United Nations General Assembly via video link on Friday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas posed an ultimatum before Israel, saying it had "one year to withdraw from all the Palestinian territories." Failing that, he said, the Authority will turn to the International Court of Justice.  In a typically combative speech, Abbas accused Israel of all but destroying the two-state solution with actions he said could lead Palestinians to demand equal rights within one binational state comprising Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. The 85-year-old urged the international community to act to save the two-state formula that for decades has been the bedrock of diplomacy for the Israeli-Palestinian con...
At least 500,000 Maryland adults just became eligible for a booster shot of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. While most people were sleeping, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved boosters for a wide swath of the population that includes people 65 and older, adults at risk because of health conditions and adults at risk of exposure in the workplace or institutional setting. VACCINE INFO | TRACKING THE NUMBERS | LATEST COVID-19 NEWS | SEE STATE MAP AND INFO | CDC WEBSITE | LISTEN LIVE "We were all very surprised this morning because the information was different. Unfortunately, it is confusing for people, it's even confusing for people in the public health world," said Dr. Kelly Russo, medical director of the ...
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention endorsed Pfizer COVID-19 boosters for older Americans and Gov. Larry Hogan has announced immediate authorization for the shots. “While this action was long overdue, I am glad that the federal government has finally approved booster shots for seniors and high-risk individuals," Hogan said in a statement. "It is a significant step toward providing additional protection for our most vulnerable residents and supports the data-based decision we made earlier this month to move ahead on booster shots for seniors in congregate settings." As of Friday, Maryland has administered 7,842,216 COVID-19 vaccines. 3,924,568 Marylanders have received the first dose of a COVID-19 shot, 3,566,331 have received the second shot and 299,6...
[Sent from the sukkah] The Weekly Shtikle is dedicated le'iluy nishmas my father, Reuven Pinchas ben Chaim Yaakov, a"h. The Weekly Shtikle is dedicated le'iluy nishmas my Oma, Chaya Sara bas Zecharia Chaim, a"h. I couldn't ignore the irony when going through my Sukkos archives. The following Shtikle was first written in 2005 following tragic events of Hurricane Katrina and the Tsunami in Japan. I re-sent it once again 8 years later in 2013 after a year which began with Hurricane Sandy and ended with devastating floods in Colorado. Yet another 8 years on, after Hurricane Ida wreaked havoc on the East Coast, I felt it was once again most appropriate. The mishnah (Rosh HaShanah 1:2) states that the world is judged on four matters at f...
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