Most Americans are worried about paying for housing, according to a survey conducted by market financing company Freddie Mac. Sixty-two percent of the 2,000 adults surveyed said that they are somewhat or very concerned about being able to cover their housing in the coming year, and 69 percent said that they are somewhat or very worried about higher home prices in general. Among the highest concerns surveyed were those on an impending economic recession, at 84 percent, and rising interest rates, at 77 percent, while half said that they are worried about losing their jobs. Fifty-eight percent of respondents said that their rent has gone up in the past 12 months, as inflation rates have soared, with 6 percent saying that it had increased by 30 percent or more.
“We are at the edge of war with Russia and China on issues which we partly created, without any concept of how this is going to end or what it’s supposed to lead to.”
That’s the view of Henry Kissinger, the 99-year-old former secretary of state and national-security adviser, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. He recommended that the U.S. not “accelerate the tensions and to create options, and for that you have to have some purpose.” Kissinger added that foreign policy is “very responsive to the emotion of the moment.” He did say that, even if the U.S. played some role in triggering Russia, Ukraine now has to be treated like a NATO member, whether formally or not. On Taiwan, he advised being ...
A federal judge on Monday turned down Sen. Lindsey Graham’s bid to throw out a subpoena compelling him to testify before the Atlanta-area grand jury investigating Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election. “[T]he Court finds that the District Attorney has shown extraordinary circumstances and a special need for Senator Graham’s testimony on issues relating to alleged attempts to influence or disrupt the lawful administration of Georgia’s 2022 elections,” U.S. District Court Judge Leigh Martin May wrote in a 22-page opinion rejecting Graham’s effort and sending the matter back to state courts for further proceedings. The ruling is a victory for District Attorney Fani Willis, who is leading the grand jury probe that resulted in ...
The state of Maryland is offering more relief to homebuyers - including eliminating up to $50,000 of their student debt - in light of the ongoing "inflation crisis," announced Gov. Larry Hogan today. The state's SmartBuy program will now offer up to $50,000 in student debt payoff assistance, up from $30,000. Eligible buyers can get either 15 percent of their purchase price, or $50,000 in student debt payoff, whichever is lower. Hogan said in a press release:
“As the country continues to deal with an inflation crisis, we are again taking steps to provide relief to Marylanders. Our SmartBuy initiative—the first of its kind in the country—has established a national model for removing persistent roadblocks to homeownership and financial security, and thi...
 Donald Trump's longtime finance chief is expected to plead guilty as soon as Thursday in a tax evasion case that is the only criminal prosecution to arise from a long-running investigation into the former president's company, three people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg was scheduled to be tried in October on allegations he took more than $1.7 million in off-the-books compensation from the company, including rent, car payments and school tuition. Prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney's office and Weisselberg's lawyers met Monday with the judge overseeing the case, Juan Manuel Merchan, according to court records. The judge then scheduled a hearing in the matter for 9 a.m. Th...
They heard the reports and they had seen the actual fruit. They had personally witnessed the gigantic grapes hauled back by the spies. They had gazed at outsized figs and succulent pomegranates. Additionally, they recalled Moshe’s promise, decades earlier about a land of milk and honey. It was finally time to transition from monotonous manna to luscious fruit and abundant produce. Finally, they could take leave of the sandy desert and enjoy the lush pasturelands of Israel. Moshe doesn’t disappoint them. He lists seven varieties of crops and fruits which are indigenous to the land of Israel: wheat, barely, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and honey. This catalog is a balanced list of basic grains for nourishment, essential fruits for both vitamins and commerce, as well as sc...
Border Patrol agents have made about 1.82 million arrests at the southern border in the government’s fiscal year that began in October, new figures published Monday show, the second year under the Biden administration that arrests hit an record. In July, agents arrested about 182,000 migrants crossing the border illegally, with about two-thirds of those arrested being single adults. About 22% of those arrested involved repeat border crossers. The monthly figure suggests that, if trends at the border hold, arrests for the fiscal year, which ends in September, will likely eclipse two million for the first time. July marked the second month of declining arrests, down 19% from the high in May. It’s not clear what is driving the decline, though it is likely a mix of s...
Former President Donald Trump said Monday that FBI agents “stole” his passports last week when they raided his residence at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla — his latest explosive allegation against federal law enforcement. “Wow! In the raid by the FBI of Mar-a-Lago, they stole my three Passports (one expired), along with everything else,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “This is an assault on a political opponent at a level never seen before in our Country. Third World!” the 45th president added. FBI agents searched Trump’s residence within his ritzy Mar-a-Lago club Aug. 8 in connection to records that were removed from the White House when Trump left office in January 2021. Documents unsealed Friday say the Justi...
Under pressure to deny an entry visa to Iran’s president, the U.S. State Department says it must uphold its commitments to the United Nations under its arrangement as the host country. Seven Republican senators sent a letter on Aug. 2 to U.S. President Joe Biden urging him to deny visas for Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his delegation to attend the U.N. General Assembly in September. Raisi is scheduled to speak at the event. A State Department spokesperson told JNS that it is “generally obligated under the United Nations Headquarters Agreement to facilitate travel” by U.N. member representatives. The spokesperson added: “We take our obligations under the U.N. Headquarters Agreement seriously. At the same time, the Biden administration has not and will not wav...
A former Delta Air Lines flight attendant says she was fired for sharing a cartoon of Donald Trump wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood on her personal social media, according to an employment discrimination lawsuit she filed. The lawsuit says the flight attendant, Leondra Taylor, an African American woman, admitted to sharing the cartoon on her personal Facebook page. The image, which was created by editorial cartoonist Aislin, was originally published in the Montreal Gazette in fall 2020, and depicts a hooded Trump and then-candidate Joe Biden debating each other, with the moderator telling Trump, “Thank you, Mr. President, for wearing your mask.” During the first presidential debate that year, moderator Chris Wallace asked Trump to disavow white supremacists, to which he responded, ...
Egg prices that rocketed to record highs after one the worst bird flu outbreaks in US history are now falling — fast — as the industry replaces dead hens. Midwest large eggs, the benchmark for commodity price, closed at $2.16 a dozen on Friday, down about 37% from late July’s record high, according to commodity researcher Urner Barry.  That’ll provide relief for consumers, who saw egg prices jump 47% at US grocery stores last month during the worst period of food inflation since 1979. Retail rates generally follow commodity prices, so 33 Farms are repopulating birds that they had to kill during this year’s highly pathogenic avian influenza  outbreak, Brunnquell said in a phone interview. That ...
DAILY DVAR HALACHA. Aug 15 . Av 18. Bracha on Melba Toast?.mp4 from Yitzchok Dinovitzer on Vimeo.
Jerusalem, Israel - Aug. 15, 2022 - The chairman of the Eretz Hakodesh party in the WZO, Rabbi Pesach Lerner, has appealed for an immediate freeze of the transfer of funds to a joint venture of the Ministry of Diaspora and the Panim organization to establish a so-called “Office of Jewish Renewal,” which was approved in the amount of NIS 60 million from coalition funds of the Labor Party. An investigation has revealed that MK Gilad Kariv served concurrently with his tenure in the Knesset as a member of Panim’s executive board, and that the Diaspora Ministry's engagement with Panim raises serious questions and concerns of conflict of interest. Rabbi Lerner pointed out that since Eretz Hakodesh is a global Jewish movement which operates to strengthen Jewish identity a...
 Prosecutors in Atlanta on Monday told lawyers for Rudy Giuliani he's a target of their criminal investigation into possible illegal attempts by then-President Donald Trump and others to interfere in the 2020 general election in Georgia, one of Giuliani's lawyers said Monday. Special prosecutor Nathan Wade alerted Giuliani's local attorney in Atlanta that the former New York City mayor could face criminal charges, another Giuliani attorney, Bob Costello said. News of the disclosure was first reported by The New York Times. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis opened the investigation last year, and a special grand jury was seated in May at her request. County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who's overseeing the special grand jury, has instructed Giul...
At the Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital in Jerusalem, 19-year-old Elazar, who was hit in the shoulder by a gunshot in the attack that happened last night near the Western Wall, has been hospitalized since last night. Dr. Assaf Kedar, director of the trauma unit at the hospital, reports that his injuries are mild. He was diagnosed with a fractured shoulder and will be left for treatment in the next day. Elazar has five siblings, with one of whom he was at the bus station last night when the shooting attack began. Yair, the brother of the two, said, "My two brothers were together last night, waiting for the bus at Maale HaShalom. 19-year-old Elazar helped a woman get on the bus and my 16.5-year-old brother Dovi was still at the station when the shooting started. Both were hit in the shoulder...
Some Maryland counties have found themselves under attack by an invasive species that has grown exponentially over the years. The spotted lanternfly has showed up in huge numbers this summer, swarming forests and people's homes. The spotted lanternfly's first discovery in Maryland was in 2018, and now, it's seemingly out of control in a number of counties, according to the Maryland Department of Agriculture. Some are calling it an infestation as millions of lanternflies have appeared in a number of neighborhoods in Harford and Cecil counties, as well as Washington County in Western Maryland. "If I were to show you the map right now about (what) resident reporting looks like online, it's just a blizzard of red points," said Kenton Sumpter, an entomologist with the Dep...
Albert Bourla is currently in isolation Chief Executive Officer of Pfizer, Albert Bourla, said on Monday that he was diagnosed with Covid-19. He is currently isolating with mild symptoms or the virus. Bourla, 60, received four doses of the vaccine developed by US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech and started treatment with a course of Paxlovid, the company’s oral antiviral treatment.   "I am confident that I will have a speedy recovery," Bourla said on Twitter, adding that he is “feeling well.”
41 people were killed in a fire at a Coptic church in Cairo, Egypt Sunday, church leaders announced. An additional 14 people were injured in the blaze. The fire occurred at the Abu Sefein church in the Imbaba neighborhood while the congregation was gathered for Sunday prayers, Police say an initial investigation suggests that the fire was started due to an electrical short-circuit, though the precise cause remains under investigation. As many as 5,000 worshipers were believed to be gathered at the church at the time of the fire. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi has instructed all relevant government bodies to act in response the fire, and ordered that aid be given to the victims of the fire.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told North Korean leader Kim Jong Un the two countries will "expand the comprehensive and constructive bilateral relations with common efforts," Pyongyang's state media reported on Monday. In a letter to Kim for Korea's liberation day, Putin said closer ties would be in both countries' interests, and would help strengthen the security and stability of the Korean peninsula and the Northeastern Asian region, North Korea's KCNA news agency said. Kim also sent a letter to Putin saying Russian-North Korean friendship had been forged in World War II with victory over Japan, which had occupied the Korean peninsula. The "strategic and tactical cooperation, support and solidarity" between the two countries has since reached a new level is thei...
More articles