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House Democrats’ Attempt to Pressure TV Carriers Could Trigger Lawsuit: Dershowitz

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BY ZACHARY STIEBER(EPOCH TIMES)

The attempt by several House Democrats to pressure television carriers to deplatform certain news organizations could trigger a lawsuit, law professor Alan Dershowitz said Saturday.

“When the First Amendment says Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, it’s been interpreted to mean, take no action, it doesn’t have to be law. The First Amendment applies to presidents to governors to mayors to anybody who can abridge the freedom of speech. And I think these letters abridge the freedom of speech,” Dershowitz said during an appearance on Newsmax TV.

Reps. Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.) and Anna G. Eshoo (D-Calif.) sent a dozen letters to 12 different carriers this week urging them to deplatform or otherwise take action against Fox News, Newsmax, and One America News for allegedly spreading misleading information about the Jan. 6 Capitol breach and the COVID-19 pandemic.

They pointedly asked the carriers if they were planning on carrying the networks “both now and beyond any contract renewal date.”

“That’s not a question. That’s a threat,” Dershowitz said. “And that comes within the First Amendment, and I think there is room for a potential lawsuit for declaratory judgment at least, saying that Congress has no authority to tell or suggest or imply to cable operators that they should take people off the air as the result of content. That would violate the First Amendment.”

The offices of Eshoo and McNerney haven’t returned requests for comment.

They sent letters to AT&T, Verizon, Roku, Amazon, Apple, Comcast, Charter Communications, Dish Network, Cox Communications, Altice USA, Google’s parent company Alphabet, and Hulu.

The letters were sent in advance of a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing titled “Fanning the Flames: Disinformation and Extremism in the Media.”

Eshoo told the hearing that the First Amendment “prohibits Congress from enacting laws abridging the freedom of speech, and I’m an ardent supporter of it.

“It does not, however, stop us from examining the public health and democratic implications of misinformation,” she added.

Lawmakers heard from Emily Bell, director of the Tow Center for Digital Media at Columbia University, who claimed that Newsmax and One America News “showed themselves willing to continue to repeat false narratives about the legitimacy of the election result.”

They also listened to Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University law professor, who called the deplatforming push similar to the “Red Scare” seen during the Cold War, when anyone suspected of being communist sympathizers were targeted.

Ranking Member Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) criticized the letters as an attack on the First Amendment.

“Anyone who values free speech and a free press should be alarmed by these actions today,” she said. “It’s an attack on the First Amendment when public officials use their power to coerce private companies to censor and silence viewpoints they don’t agree with.”

Janita Kan contributed to this report.

Bill Maher Shreds Anti- White “Woke” Educational Programs Indoctrinating Children in NYC

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AP

 

By Andrea Widburg(AMERICAN THINKER)

The headlines were about the fact that, when Megyn Kelly appeared on Bill Maher’s HBO show on Friday, she complained about the way her children’s pricey private schools in New York were indoctrinating them with pro-transgender values and anti-white animus. Bill Maher to his credit, agreed with Kelly that matters are getting seriously out of hand, at least when it comes to the anti-white hatred that’s becoming the norm in education. Maher’s always been a bit of maverick, though. The real surprise was the enthusiasm his audience showed for that sentiment.

For conservatives, nothing that Kelly said about her children’s experiences in New York’s toniest private elementary schools came as a surprise. Kelly said that, while she and her husband identify as “center-right,” she was okay with the fact that the schools were on the left side of the political aisle. That changed, though, when “they went hard left, and then they started to take a really hard turn toward social justice stuff.”

One of the hot-button issues was the schools’ efforts to normalize transgenderism, a form of body dysphoria that’s recognized as a mental illness when the subject is anorexia, not sex. Kelly told Maher that, when one of her sons was in third grade – that is, 8 years old, the school “unleashed a three-week experimental trans-education program.”

Not only did the children find it terribly confusing, but Kelly also said that what was going on was more like coercion than teaching tolerance. Thus, she said, “It wasn’t about support — we felt that it was more like they were trying to convince them. Like, come on over.”

The same pressure was applied to her other son who, in kindergarten was made to participate in a class project that saw the children writing to the Cleveland Indians to complain about their mascot. “He’s six,” she said. Can he learn how to spell Cleveland before we activate him?”

That’s when Kelly dropped a line that should be at the forefront of every single parent’s brain as he or she fights the school’s efforts to coopt American children: “If he’s going to be activated, Doug [Kelly’s husband] and I should do it.” It’s up to the parents, not the schools, to set values for the children – but of course, that’s not how leftists see it.

Maher then chimed in that he’d been hearing from parents – leftist parents – about the relentless anti-white activism the New York schools, both public and private, are pushing.

And this is what I’ve heard from parents – and these are all liberal, by the way – who say, “My kids are not ready to be told they’re white supremacists.” You know, I’m not ready to be told.
You talked about this letter the school put out. … Can I read some of the things that are from this letter, lest people think I’m losing my mind?
“There’s a killer cop sitting in every school where white children learn. White children are left unchecked and unbothered in their homes,” one sentence starts. Well, how old do you have to be before you can just be unchecked and unbothered. You know, what age to you get bothered?
“I’m tired of white people reveling in their state-sanctioned depravities, snuffing out black lives with no consequences.” You know, “go reform white kids.”
You know, it bothers me so much that I have to be on this side [Kelly’s side] of this issue. Because I’ve always been a civil rights advocate. You know, don’t make me Tucker Carlson. You’re the f***ing nuts. This is insane.
“As black bodies drop like flies around us by violent white hands.”
There is racist problems in this country. But this is hyperbole, and this is making people crazy.

It was with those words that the amazing thing happened: Maher’s audience applauded. Over the years, Maher’s audiences have always been trained seals, reliably clapping at every hard left, anti-George Bush, anti-Trump, pro-Obama statement the host utters. But this time, he said that the BLM rap pushing Critical Race Theory (“CRT”) on American society is dangerous insanity – and the audience clapped.

When evil or crazy people — that would be the BLM, CRT crowd – take the bit in their mouths, there is no stopping the extremes to which they’ll go. Perhaps the reaction from Maher’s audience is telling us that the American people are finally ready to rein them in. After all, a leftist audience realized, as Kelly and Maher did, that the left’s anti-white racism is going to destroy America.

 

 

US Reports Lowest Influenza Season on Record During COVID Pandemic

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ucsfhealth.org

(TJV NEWS) According to the CDC, the cumulative positive influenza test rate from late September into the week of December 19th was just 0.2%, compared to 8.7% from a year before.

Zero Hedge reported:

Hospitals say the expected army of flu-sickened patients never materialized, and that nationally “this is the lowest flu season we’ve had on record,” according to a surveillance system that is about 25 years old.

One source from Maine Medical Center in Portland, the state’s largest hospital, said “I have seen zero documented flu cases this winter,” said Dr. Nate Mick, the head of the emergency department.

Ditto in Oregon’s capital city, where the outpatient respiratory clinics affiliated with Salem Hospital have not seen any confirmed flu cases.

Dr. Michelle Rasmussen, the head of the hospital, said “It’s beautiful.” Especially considering the flu’s longstanding status as the country’s biggest virus threat, the outcome is remarkable.

In the UK, data released this week show that the number of active flu cases in the country has fallen to zero.

Zero Hedge: Last month, top epidemiologist Knut Wittkowski asserted that, “Influenza has been renamed COVID-19 in large part.”

According to Wittkowski, former Head of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Research Design at Rockefeller University, this was because many flu infections are being incorrectly labeled as coronavirus cases.

“There may be quite a number of influenza cases included in the ‘presumed COVID-19’ category of people who have COVID-19 symptoms (which Influenza symptoms can be mistaken for), but are not tested for SARS RNA,” Wittkowski told Just the News.

According to the CDC chart, below essentially there was no flu season for 20-21 thus far, based on hospitalization numbers.

ANTIFA Riots Are Back in Portland- Cops Assailed, Business Trashed, Street Fights

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AP

(TJVNEWS) ANTIFA has clearly let it be known, they are not allies with the Biden administration. In the days following the election ANTIFA surfaced in Portland and Seattle clearly protesting against Biden.

Last night in Portland, social media revealed the radical, communist/anarchist group are still fired up and causing chaos in the Portland area.

A group of dozens of people were reportedly demonstrating against immigration policy under the Biden administration in the Pearl District in downtown Portland, but quickly began vandalizing the area.

Biden Team Readies Wider Economic Package After Virus Relief

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. Photo Credit: AP

(AP) Looking beyond the $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill, President Joe Biden and lawmakers are laying the groundwork for another top legislative priority — a long-sought boost to the nation’s roads, bridges and other infrastructure that could run into Republican resistance to a hefty price tag.

Biden and his team have begun discussions on the possible outlines of an infrastructure package with members of Congress, particularly mindful that Texas’ recent struggles with power outages and water shortages after a brutal winter storm present an opportunity for agreement on sustained spending on infrastructure.

Gina McCarthy, Biden’s national climate adviser, told The Associated Press that the deadly winter storm in Texas should be a “wake-up call” for the need for energy systems and other infrastructure that are more reliable and resilient.

“The infrastructure is not built to withstand these extreme weather conditions,” said Liz Sherwood-Randall, a homeland security aide to the president. “We know that we can’t just react to extreme weather events. We need to plan for them and prepare for them.”

A White House proposal could come out in March.

“Now is the time to be aggressive,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a former South Bend, Indiana, mayor who knows potholes.

At a conference with state and local highway officials Thursday, he referred to the often-promised, never-achieved mega-initiative on roads, bridges and the like from the Trump administration.

“I know you are among those who are working and waiting most patiently, or maybe impatiently, for the moment when Infrastructure Week will no longer be a kind of Groundhog’s Day promise — but actually be something that delivers generational investments,” he said.

Much of America’s infrastructure — roads, bridges, public drinking and water systems, dams, airports, mass transit systems and more — is in need of major restoration after years of underfunding, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers. In its 2017 Infrastructure Report Card, it gave the national infrastructure an overall grade of D+.

Both chambers of Congress will use as starting points their unsuccessful efforts to get infrastructure bills through the last session.

Democrats passed a $1.5 trillion package in the House last year, but it went nowhere with the Trump administration and the Republican-led Senate. A Senate panel approved narrower bipartisan legislation in 2019 focused on reauthorizing federal transportation programs. It, too, flamed out as the U.S. turned its focus to elections and COVID-19.

Biden has talked bigger numbers, and some Democrats are now urging him to bypass Republicans in the closely divided Congress to address a broader range of priorities urged by interest groups.

During the presidential campaign, Biden pledged to deploy $2 trillion on infrastructure and clean energy, but the White House has not ruled out an even higher price tag. McCarthy said Biden’s upcoming plan will specifically aim at job creation, such as with investments to boost “workers that have been left behind” by closed coal mines or power plants, as well as communities located near polluting refineries and other hazards.

“He’s been a long fan of investing in infrastructure — long outdated — long overdue, I should say,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday. “But he also wants to do more on caregiving, help our manufacturing sector, do more to strengthen access to affordable health care. So the size — the package — the components of it, the order, that has not yet been determined.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, recently told the White House that he’s ready to use the budget maneuver known as reconciliation to pass a broad economic recovery package with only Democratic votes. That drew stern warnings from Republicans who have already closed ranks against Democrats’ COVID-19 relief bill.

West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, the top Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said there’s bipartisan support for ambitious steps on infrastructure. But that “should not extend to a multitrillion-dollar package that is stocked full with other ideologically driven, one-size-fits-all policies that tie the hands of our states and our communities,” she said.

Capito will be helping to craft bipartisan legislation on the Senate side.

Rep. Peter DeFazio, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, told the AP that he foresees a comprehensive House package that will go beyond roads, bridges and public transit.

He also expects it to have money for water systems, broadband and the power grid — addressing a weak infrastructure laid bare after the crippling blackouts in Texas.

He’s not ready to talk overall costs yet. DeFazio, D-Ore., said it will be up to the Biden administration and the House Ways and Means Committee to figure out how to pay for it.

DeFazio said General Motors’ recently announced goal of going largely electric by 2035 demonstrates the need for massive spending on charging stations across the country. Biden campaigned on a plan to install 500,000 charging stations by the end of 2030.

“I’m totally willing to work with (Republicans) if they’re willing to recognize climate change,” DeFazio said, “or if they don’t want to recognize climate change, they can just recognize that electric semis and electric vehicles are a flood on the horizon and we’ve got to get ahead of it.”

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, D-Mich., expressed a similar sentiment, urging strong action on carbon emissions and the vehicle charging stations to help achieve a “full transition to electric.” She also wants states to have more federal grants for infrastructure repairs after natural disasters and extreme weather.

At the Senate hearing where she spoke, Republican Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland said there’s bipartisan support among governors for relieving congestion, cutting red tape, leveraging private sector investment and ensuring projects can better withstand cyber attacks and natural disasters.

Democratic Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, the new chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said his goal is for his committee to pass an infrastructure bill by Memorial Day.

In the House, Rep. Sam Graves, the top Republican on the transportation panel, said Republicans would be open to a larger package as long as it didn’t greatly add to the national debt.

But many lawmakers oppose an increase in the federal gas tax, one way to help pay for the spending, while groups such as the Chamber of Commerce argue against increasing taxes on companies during a pandemic.

White House aide Cedric Richmond, a former congressman from Louisiana, told state transportation officials the president intends for most of the spending to be paid for, not added to the debt. In part, this would be by reversing some of the Trump administration tax cuts.

Ed Mortimer, a vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said removing items in last year’s infrastructure bill for renovating schools and low-income housing could lower the price tag, because the COVID relief measure passed by the House already has hundreds of billions of dollars for those purposes.

“Affordable housing, school construction, very meritorious, but we’re not sure that that’s a key focus that’s going to get a bill signed into law,” Mortimer said.

President Trump To Close CPAC 2021, Highly Anticipated Speech : WATCH OUR LIVE STREAM

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Photo Credit: CPAC

The last day of CPAC begins at 9 AM EST, former President Trump will close out the conservative political event with his much-anticipated speech, his first major address to the public since he has left office. Trump will speak at 3:40 PM, according to CPAC’s schedule.

You can stream the entire Sunday event, courtesy of Right Side Broadcasting, right here at TJVNEWS

 

Outraged Demonstrators Gather at NBC Studios in NYC to Blast Anti-Semitic “Joke” by SNL’S Michael Che

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Individuals at the New York City studios slammed Che's alleged “joke” on last week’s Saturday's "SNL" episode in which the comedian said: "Israel is reporting that they’ve vaccinated half of their population. I’m going to guess it’s the Jewish half." Photo Credit: Marion Dreyfus

By: Fern Sidman

Supporters of a grassroots movement committed to battling media anti-Semitism held a protest outside of NBC studios on Saturday night in response to a recent anti-Semitic statement  made by “Saturday Night Live” star Michael Che, according to a Fox report.

The protest was  co-sponsored by former Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind and his Americans Against Anti-Semitism organization as well as such groups as End Jew Hatred, Liberate Art and Yad Yamin New York.

Individuals at the New York City studios slammed Che’s alleged “joke” on last week’s Saturday’s “SNL” episode in which the comedian said: “Israel is reporting that they’ve vaccinated half of their population. I’m going to guess it’s the Jewish half.”

In a statement to Fox News, Brooke Goldstein, executive director of The Lawfare Project and an End Jew Hatred partner said, “Michael Che is a bigot – plain and simple. Not only was his ‘joke’ the laziest form of comedy, it perpetuated a vile lie that stands to exacerbate already rising antisemitism in the United States. NBC must make it clear that Jew Hatred has no place on its network and hold Che and the SNL writers responsible for spreading hate.”

Fox News reported that Che has been facing backlash throughout the week for the joke, which many critics called “anti-Semitic.”

In a YouTube video issued prior to the Saturday night demonstration, Dov Hikind said, “We are going to NBC to educate — not to crucify anybody — we are going there to say this is not funny. Antisemitism is never funny. Period.”

As a scholar of contemporary anti-Semitism and a son of Holocaust survivors, Hikind posted, “Unsurprising coming from SNL as they have a long record of anti-Semitism.” Besides himself, Hikind said that Sid Rosenberg, co-host of WABC’s “Bernie and Sid in the Morning” radio show, will lead the protest, according to a NY Post report.

Israel’s Ambassador to the United States and the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, said such jokes perpetuate anti-Semitic tropes and demanded SNL issue an apology.

“Your ‘joke’ is ignorant – the fact is that the success of our vaccination drive is exactly because every citizen of Israel – Jewish, Muslim, Christian-is entitled to it. Apologize!” he said on his Twitter account.

The American Jewish Committee also launched a petition censuring NBC, saying: “Saturday Night Live’s ‘joke’ isn’t just untrue — it’s dangerous, a modern twist on a classic anti-Semitic trope that has inspired the mass murder of countless Jews throughout the centuries.”

Fox News reported that the petition continued: “Words have consequences, and Jews are at risk when a major American TV company joins with those who claim Israel is favoring only a portion of its citizens in its admirable efforts, praised by Dr. Anthony Fauci and others, to vaccinate all of its residents.”

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) told Fox News in a statement Monday evening that while the segment is “known for sharp criticism and public takedowns,” Che’s joke “not only missed the mark, but crossed the line — basing the premise of the joke on factual inaccuracies and playing into an antisemitic trope in the process.”

The group went even further to say it has been monitoring “Weekend Update” this season and said the segment has “inappropriately used Jews as the punchline” multiple times, according to the Fox News report.

Long time Jewish activist, published author and political commentator, Marion Dreyfus attended the demonstration and told the Jewish Voice that over 150 people participated in the rally at NBC Studios.

Ms. Dreyfus said that signs were held aloft by protestors saying, “Anti-Semitism is Not Funny” and “Shame on SNL.” She added that, “Dov Hikind did a remarkable job in organizing this demonstration and for bringing attention to this very important issue. Mr. Hikind told those present at the demonstration that he had not received an apology from NBC and that this outrage must not be ignored.”

According to Ms. Dreyfus, most of those in the crowd were expressing righteous indignation over the visceral anti-Semitism that has become endemic to the skits presented on Saturday Night Live.

As a veteran television critic, Ms. Dreyfus said that each week she reviews the program for her throngs of readers and has panned the program on multiple occasions. “Not only is SNL not funny, but I have observed that they constantly present harsh critiques of Trump and his acolytes, but never ever satirize President Biden or anyone from his administration.” She has concluded that the show is not only politically tendentious but it appears that they have a nefarious agenda.”

Parenthetically, Ms. Dreyfus told the Jewish Voice that NBC provides monetary compensation to audience members for their attendance each week at the airing of Saturday Night Live. “She said, “If they did not pay people to attend the show’s filming, them no one would attend.”

Also weighing in on this issue was acclaimed radio talk show personality, longtime Jewish activist, and president of the Conference of Jewish Affairs, Rabbi Aryeh Spero. In a recently published article entitled, “Saturday Night Live Stoops to Anti-Semitism to Get a Cheap Laugh” Rabbi Spero wrote:

“The producers of Saturday Night Live decided they would sacrifice the truth and demonize the Jewish State for the sake of a cheap laugh or, worse, enable an age old blood libel accusing Jews of manufacturing and spreading plagues while being indifferent to others.  Surely Mr. Michaels knows of the heroic efforts Israel has made in creating vaccines, medicines, and state-of-the art medical equipment to alleviate not only the coronavirus but also every type of disease found across the globe.  The Saturday Night Live crew would do best to educate themselves on how Israel, matched only by the United States, has sent its transportable medical units immediately to every part of the globe facing a meteorological or medical catastrophe.”

He added that: “The Saturday Night Live crew would never be this callous, nor stereotype a Muslim or LTGBQ group.  They know that in today’s culture, such demonization would get them cancelled and removed from media outlets. The demands for perfection made by left-leaning media outlets are directed mostly against the United States and Israel.  Why are there never demands that Muslim countries and organizations step up to the plate and help others, as is continually demanded of Israel, the United States, Jews and Christians?”

Rabbi Spero who is also the author of the book “Push Back: The Battle to Save Our American Judeo-Christian Heritage” also said in his article:

“Had Lorne Michaels, founder and producer of Saturday Night Live checked, he would have found that Israel has already vaccinated 70% of its Arab population over 60 years old, directly resulting in a delay for many of its Jewish citizens within Israel. In addition, had Mr. Michaels checked, he would have found that Israel offered the vaccine to Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Arab Authority, who refused the vaccine, placing his hatred of Israel above concern for his own Muslim constituents.”

NBC told Fox News it has “no comment.” Reps for Che did not immediately return Fox News’ request for comments on Saturday.

 

CPAC Agenda Featuring More Focus on Threats From China

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FILE - In this Dec. 4, 2013, file photo, Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, shakes hands with then U.S Vice President Joe Biden as they pose for photos at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. (AP Photo/Lintao Zhang, Pool)

By Sandy Fitzgerald(NEWSMAX)

China is looming large in this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) agenda, where panels are featuring discussions on the dangers posed by the communist nation and the topic is coming up in several speakers’ addresses.

“CPAC is largely a reflection of the success of the Trump America First agenda, and the Middle East, however serious radical Islam remains, that represents the neocon foreign policy that had been rejected by President Trump and the MAGA movement,” according to Brian Kennedy, chairman of the Committee on the Present Danger: China, reports Politico.

This year’s lineup is featuring six panels concerning China, with titles such as “China Subverts America,” and speakers like Sen. Rick Scotti, R-Fla., insisted he would not allow “any more bad trade deals” that favor China over America’s workers.

Last year’s conference schedule showed a marked departure from taking on the Middle East, after years when radical terrorism was a major foreign policy topic. This year, the schedule does not mention Iran, terrorism, or the Middle East, and Russia is mentioned just once.

“If Republicans are going to win the White House in 2024 and win back the majority in 2022, we need to preserve a tough-on-China message, make that a key part of our platform and expose [Democrats] for being a pro-China party,” Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., who chairs the Republican Study Committee, said. “China is a key part of the new conservative movement moving forward.”

Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump, in his keynote speech Sunday night, is expected to make the case that President Joe Biden is “capitulating to Iran and China.”

“What worked for Trump –– what we consistently saw in our polling — was that he was far more willing than Biden to talk tough on China and voters liked that,” a former Trump pollster, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Politico. “He went after their trade practices. He said they should be held accountable for causing this pandemic and he ended U.S. ties to the World Health Organization.”

Several rumored presidential hopefuls are also appearing at the weekend conference, and four, Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Tom Cotton, R-Ark., Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Scott introduced a bill ahead of their speeches demanding an end to China’s access to 10-year multi-entry visas and to make a return to granting one-year visas.

NY Mandates Dance ‘Zones,’ Distancing When Weddings Resume

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Jewish wedding Bnei Brak near January 22, 2014. Photo by Yaakov Naumi/Flash90

(AP) — New York’s new coronavirus-era dance rules aren’t exactly “Footloose” strict, but don’t plan on cutting loose and kicking off the Sunday shoes with just anybody.

The state says that when wedding receptions resume next month, guests will be allowed to hit the dance floor only with members of their immediate party, household or family seated at the same table.

Even then, the rules say, dancers must wear face masks and stay within their own “dancing areas or zones” — spaces that should be at least 36 square feet (3.3 square meters) in size and positioned at least 6 feet (2 meters) apart from other dance zones and tables.

There’s no switching dance zones, either.

Happy couples can still take a twirl for a ceremonial first dance, and other couples can join in, but they must all stay 6 feet apart.

Live music performers and other entertainers are allowed, but if they’re unmasked or playing a wind instrument, they must be separated from attendees by 12 feet (4 meters) or an appropriate physical barrier.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo previously announced that weddings can begin again on March 15. Venues will be restricted to 50% of capacity, up to 150 guests, and all must be tested for coronavirus beforehand.

Gov. Kristi Noem Says COVID Didn’t Crush Economy, Government Did

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South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Saturday, Feb. 27, 2021, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

By Eric Mack(NEWSMAX)

Hailing her state as the only one in the U.S. that did not declare shelter-in-place orders, mask mandates, business closures, or defining essential business, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem fired back at the national failing of U.S. health experts during the pandemic.

“I don’t know if you agree with me, but Dr. [Anthony] Fauci is wrong a lot,” Noem said during her CPAC speech Saturday, pointing to the top U.S. infectious disease expert who told her South Dakota would get up to 10,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations in a day.

Her state never got over 600, she said.

“My administration resisted the call for virus control at the expense of everything else,” she continued, noting hospitalizations and not infection rates were her primary concern. “We looked at the science, the data, and the facts, and then we took a balanced approach.

“Truthfully, I never thought that the decisions that I was making were going to be unique. I thought that there would be more than would follow basic conservative principles, but I guess I was wrong.”

The early lockdowns were a step that would have locked down her state through the fall when the pandemic peaked, she said, calling out the “coercion, the force, and the anti-liberty steps the governments take to enforce them.”

“Often the enforcement isn’t based on facts; justifying these mitigation efforts has been anything but scientific,” Noem said.

Noem got laughs as she noted ABC’s George Stephanopoulos asked New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to give Noem advice on handling the pandemic.

“Now seems like a really good time to remind everyone of what Gov. Cuomo was doing in New York,” she said, breaking down the allegations involving Cuomo’s withholding of COVID-19 death counts of seniors in longterm living facilities, after he mandated the homes to take in infected patients instead of sending them to an empty Navy ship and field hospitals.

“Now, that is the media’s COVID hero.”

2nd Former Aide Accuses Cuomo Of Sexual Harassment

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Ap

(AP) – A second former aide has come forward with sexual harassment allegations against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who responded with a statement Saturday saying he never made advances toward her and never intended to be inappropriate.

Charlotte Bennett, a health policy adviser in the Democratic governor’s administration until November, told The New York Times that Cuomo asked her inappropriate questions about her sex life.

Another former aide, Lindsey Boylan, a former deputy secretary for economic development and special adviser to the governor, recently accused Cuomo of subjecting her to an unwanted kiss and inappropriate comments. Cuomo denied the allegations.

Cuomo said in a statement Saturday that Bennett was a “hardworking and valued member of our team during COVID” and that “she has every right to speak out.”

He said he had intended to be a mentor for Bennett, who is 25.

“I never made advances toward Ms. Bennett nor did I ever intend to act in any way that was inappropriate,” Cuomo’s statement said. “The last thing I would ever have wanted was to make her feel any of the things that are being reported.”

Cuomo, however, said he had authorized an outside review of Bennett’s allegations.

The governor’s special counsel, Beth Garvey, said that review would be conducted by a former federal judge, Barbara Jones.

“I ask all New Yorkers to await the findings of the review so that they know the facts before making any judgments,” Cuomo said. “I will have no further comment until the review has concluded.”

 

The pair of harassment allegations represent a deepening crisis for Cuomo, who just months ago was at the height of his popularity for his leadership during the height of the coronavirus pandemic last spring.

In recent weeks, he has been assailed, even by some fellow Democrats, over revelations that his administration had substantially underreported COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes.

A state assemblyman went public with complaints that Cuomo had threatened to destroy him politically over statements he made in the press, prompting other politicians to share stories about having been bullied by the governor.

Bennett did not immediately return a Twitter message seeking comment Saturday night.

She told the Times that her most disturbing interaction with Cuomo happened last June 5 when she was alone with him in his Albany office. She said Cuomo started asking her about her personal life, her thoughts on romantic relationships, including whether age was a factor, and said he was open to relationships with women in their 20s.

Bennett said she also dodged a question from Cuomo about hugging by saying she missed hugging her parents. She said Cuomo never touched her.

“I understood that the governor wanted to sleep with me, and felt horribly uncomfortable and scared,” Bennett told the Times. “And was wondering how I was going to get out of it and assumed it was the end of my job.”

Bennett said Cuomo also told her he wanted a girlfriend, “preferably in the Albany area,” and he was lonely since breaking up in 2019 with Sandra Lee, a chef, and TV personality.

Bennett also said she tried to change the subject when Cuomo’s comments were making her uncomfortable, telling him she was thinking of getting a tattoo. Cuomo, she told the Times, responded by suggesting she put the tattoo on her buttocks to avoid people seeing it when she wore a dress.

Bennett said she informed Cuomo’s chief of staff, Jill DesRosiers, about the interaction less than a week later. She said she was transferred to another job on the opposite side of the Capitol. At the end of June, she said she also gave a statement to a special counsel for Cuomo.

Garvey acknowledged that the complaint had been made and that Bennett had been transferred as a result to a position in which she had already been interested.

Garvey said in a statement that Bennett’s allegations “did not include a claim of physical contact or inappropriate sexual conduct” and Bennett “was consulted regarding the resolution, and expressed satisfaction and appreciation for the way in which it was handled.”

“The determination reached based on the information Ms Bennett provided was that no further action was required which was consistent with Ms Bennett’s wishes,” Garvey said.

Bennett told the newspaper she decided not to push for any further action by the administration. She said she liked her new job and “wanted to move on.”

Jones, who will oversee the investigation, was appointed to the bench by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, in 1995. As a judge, she struck down a portion of the Defense of Marriage Act denying federal recognition of same-sex marriage in a ruling later upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

After retiring, she joined the law firm Bracewell LLP, where her work focuses on corporate compliance and investigations.

 

Her arbitration work included a 2014 decision throwing out Ray Rice’s suspension by the NFL for punching his fiancé in an elevator in an attack recorded on video.

Boylan said in Twitter postings Saturday night that she was proud of Bennett and alleged Cuomo “tried to destroy many, including me, in the press.”

“You are not going to derail or destroy any more lives,” she tweeted.

Abbas vetoes Israeli offer of vaccination unit on Temple Mount: ‘They’re trying to get a foothold’

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Temple Mount (Shutterstock)

The Palestinian Authority (PA) vetoed an Israeli offer last week to set up a vaccination clinic on the Temple Mount even though weekly prayers attract thousands of Arabs in potential super-spreader events and against health regulations.

Channel 11 reported Wednesday that PA President Mahmoud Abbas opposed the initiative, saying it would give Israel a “foothold” in the Al Aqsa compound. (Jerusalem had suggested the idea of putting a discreet vaccination unit inside a pharmacy on the Temple Mount.)

Israel also tried to soften the Palestinian rejection by proposing that only Arabs would administer the immunizations and that they would be dressed in regular clothes, with nothing identifying them as coming from Israeli health organizations. The PA remained adamantly against the idea.

When lockdown restrictions were eased almost two weeks ago, some 15,000 Moslems came for Friday prayers on the Mount. Israeli police did nothing to stop them entering Al Aqsa even though it was a gross violation of Health Ministry guidelines, which state that outdoor gatherings are limited to 20 people.

srael also tried to soften the Palestinian rejection by proposing that only Arabs would administer the immunizations, and that they would be dressed in regular clothes, with nothing identifying them as coming from Israeli health organizations. The PA remained adamantly against the idea.

When lockdown restrictions were eased almost two weeks ago, some 15,000 Moslems came for Friday prayers on the Mount. Israeli police did nothing to stop them entering Al Aqsa even though it was a gross violation of Health Ministry guidelines, which state that outdoor gatherings are limited to 20 people.

Television reports showed men crowded in long lines as they bowed and prayed, which violated social distancing rules as well. In at least one clip, practically no one was wearing a mask.

 

This is not a new phenomenon. In December, before the most recent lockdown, coronavirus commissioner Prof. Nachman Ash called the Temple Mount a “hole” in terms of Israel’s lack of enforcement of health regulations.

At the time, with the same high number of Arabs coming each week to pray, the infection rates in eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods were staggering. In Issawiya, 17.5% of Covid tests came back positive. In Kafr Aqab, 23%, and in Shuafat, a whopping 50%.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly urged immunizations in the Arab sector and has visited health clinics in Arab towns to encourage vaccination. He took a picture with the one-millionth person to get the jab, an Arab in Umm al-Fahm.

The Health Ministry has staff dedicated to publicizing the need for inoculation among the Arab public, along with explanatory videos on its website about Covid-19 and vaccines in Arabic.

However, the morbidity rate from the coronavirus in the Israeli Arab sector still remains high in comparison to the rest of the population, and the vaccine rate is low. For example, among the most vulnerable over-60 age group, over 90% of the general public received a first shot, while that number is only 60% among Arab Israelis.

According to Palestinian news agency Wafa, on Thursday the Palestinian Ministry of Health called for a two-week full lockdown in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem due to a recent spike in coronavirus cases.

According to the Corona-tracker Worldometer site, while the three-day moving average at the beginning of the week in the “state of Palestine” was 596, by Wednesday it had jumped to 1,377.

Police arrest Oklahoma teens for vandalizing children’s Holocaust memorial

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The vandalized children's Holocaust memorial at the Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art in Tulsa, Okla. Source: Screenshot/Tulsa Police Department.

(JNS) Two teens were arrested after they were caught on camera Wednesday morning toppling memorials dedicated to children killed during the Holocaust.

The five, custom-made metal sculptures were housed on the grounds of the Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art in Tulsa, Okla. Each statue is filled with 2,000 rocks and has the names of Jewish children who were murdered on them.

The teen suspects, ages 15 and 16, were seen on video “bending the metal statues and knocking them down while also attempting to steal them unsuccessfully,” according to the museum, which estimates the damage to be upwards of $15,000.

“You come outside and your car’s been egged, that’s not great,” said Tulsa Police Lt. William White in a video posted online. “But when you have statues dedicated to the children lost in one of the greatest tragedies of humankind, obviously, there’s a different tier there. We are taking this very seriously.”

According to the police, the teens were apprehended with the help of the public, who called in tips as to their identity.

The suspects were arrested for “assault with a deadly weapon and felony vandalism [The technical term is malicious injury or destruction of property]. In this case, it’s a felony because the damage exceeds $1,000. … For those asking about charging with a hate crime, it is only a misdemeanor. They were charged with a higher crime felony, ‘vandalism.’ ”

According to the police, prior to damaging the statues, the suspects also threatened another citizen with a knife. No one was hurt in that incident.

On Facebook, the museum expressed appreciation for the acknowledgment of the statues and what they symbolize. It also noted that “this painful incident further reinforces our commitment to Holocaust education.”

Iran linked to explosion that struck Israeli-owned ship in Mideast

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hole made by an Iranian limpet mine on the damaged Panama-flagged, Japanese owned oil tanker Kokuka Courageous in 2019. (AP Photo/Fay Abuelgasim, File)

(AP) An explosion struck an Israeli-owned cargo ship sailing out of the Middle East on Friday, an unexplained blast renewing concerns about ship security in the region amid escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran.

The crew and vessel were safe, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which is run by the British navy. The explosion in the Gulf of Oman forced the vessel to head to the nearest port.

The incident recalled the summer of 2019, when the same site saw a series of suspected attacks that the U.S. Navy blamed on Iran, which Tehran denied. Meanwhile, as President Joe Biden tries to revive nuclear negotiations with Iran, he ordered overnight airstrikes on facilities in Syria belonging to a powerful Iranian-backed Iraqi armed group.

Dryad Global, a maritime intelligence firm, identified the stricken vessel as the MV Helios Ray, a Bahamian-flagged roll-on, roll-off vehicle cargo ship. Another private security official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, similarly identified the ship as the Helios Ray.

Satellite-tracking data from website MarineTraffic.com showed the Helios Ray had been nearly entering the Arabian Sea around 6:00 GMT Friday before it suddenly turned around and began heading back toward the Strait of Hormuz. It was coming from Dammam, Saudi Arabia, and still listed Singapore as its destination on its tracker.

Israel’s Channel 13, in an unsourced report, said the assessment in Israel is that Iran was behind the blast. Israeli officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Iranian government did not comment on the blast Friday.

The blast comes as Tehran increasingly breaches its 2015 nuclear accord with world powers to create leverage over Washington. Iran is seeking to pressure Biden to grant the sanctions relief it received under the deal that the U.S. bandoned nearly three years ago.

Iran also has blamed Israel for a recent series of attacks, including a mysterious explosion last summer that destroyed an advanced centrifuge assembly plant at its Natanz nuclear facility and the killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a top Iranian scientist who founded the Islamic Republic’s nuclear weapons program two decades ago.

Capt. Ranjith Raja of the data firm Refinitiv told the AP that the Israeli-owned vessel had left the Persian Gulf Thursday bound for Singapore.

On Friday at 2:30 GMT, the vessel stopped for at least nine hours east of a main Omani port before making a 360-degree turn and sailing toward Dubai, likely for damage assessment and repairs, he said.

The vessel came loaded with cargo from Europe. It discharged vehicles at several ports in the region, Raja added, including in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, with its last port of call at Dammam.

While details of the explosion remained unclear, two American defense officials told the AP that the ship had sustained two holes on its port side and two holes on its starboard side just above the waterline in the blast. The officials said it remained unclear what caused the holes.

They spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss unreleased information on the incidents.

A United Nations ship database identified the vessel’s owners as a Tel Aviv-based firm called Ray Shipping Ltd. Calls to Ray Shipping rang unanswered Friday.

Abraham Ungar, 74, who goes by “Rami,” is the founder of Ray Shipping Ltd., and is known as one of the richest men in Israel. He made his fortune in shipping and construction.

According to the Nikola Y. Vaptsarov Naval Academy, where Ungar provides support and maritime training, he owns dozens of car-carrying ships and employs thousands of engineers.

The U.S. Navy’s Bahrain-based 5th Fleet said it was “aware and monitoring” the situation. The U.S. Maritime Administration, an agency of the Transportation Department, issued a warning to commercial shippers early Saturday acknowledging the explosion and urging ships to “exercise caution when transiting” the Gulf of Oman.

While the circumstances of the explosion remain unclear, Dryad Global said it was very possible the blast stemmed from “asymmetric activity by Iranian military.”

As Iran seeks to pressure the United States to lift sanctions, the country may seek “to exercise forceful diplomacy through military means,” Dryad reported.

In the tense summer of 2019, the U.S. military blamed Iran for explosions on two oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most strategic shipping lanes. The U.S. also had attributed a series of other suspected attacks to Iran, including the use of limpet mines — designed to be attached magnetically to a ship’s hull — to cripple four oil tankers off the nearby Emirati port of Fujairah.

Since the killing of Fakhrizadeh, the Iranian nuclear weapons scientist, last November, Israeli officials have raised alarms about potential Iranian retaliation, including through its regional terror proxies like Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

Over the years, Iran has been linked to attacks on Israeli and Jewish civilian targets in Latin America, Europe and Asia. Israel has not commented on its alleged role in the scientist’s killing.

Friday’s incident also follows normalization deals between Israel and the UAE and Bahrain. The agreements, met with scathing criticism from Iran, solidified an emerging regional alliance against the Islamic Republic.

Democrats Ignore Antifa, Black Lives Matter in Calling Out Domestic Terrorism: Rep. Greg Steube

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. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Democrats in their efforts against domestic terrorism have focused on right-wing groups and have not acknowledged violence from groups with a different ideology such as Antifa and Black Lives Matter, according to Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.).

“The way the Democrats define domestic terrorism is white nationalism, far right extremism. It’s not Antifa, it’s not Black Lives Matter,” Steube, who represents Florida’s 17th congressional district, told “American Thought Leaders” at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Friday.

Earlier this week, at a House hearing on domestic terrorism in America, Steube played a video showing organized rioting, arson, looting, and deadly violence across the United States in 2020.

“I put every one of the Democratic witnesses—after I showed a video of all the atrocious things that happened in this country over the summer, and all the violence that happened over the summer—[I] asked each one of them and read them the definition of what domestic terrorism is, and not a single one of them would agree that what Antifa and Black Lives Matter did to our country and the cities all over was domestic terrorism,” he said, adding that the Democrat witnesses either refused to answer the question, or called it “civil disobedience.”

The term “domestic terrorism” is defined under the USA Patriot Act of 2001 as referring to activities that involve “acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State [and] appear to be intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.”

“If you read that [definition], what Antifa, Black Lives Matter [did], what happened in Minneapolis after the George Floyd shooting, all of that would be considered domestic terrorism,” Steube said. “So to say that that’s not and that’s peacefully protesting, and then [to say that] what happened Jan. 6 is domestic terrorism is not appropriate. It’s not an appropriate application in the law.”

Rioters light a fire at the Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse in Portland, Ore., on July 27, 2020. (Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Photo)

Steube said he has called out the violence by Antifa and Black Lives Matter in the same way he had condemned the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol building. He said of Democrats’ stance, “If we’re starting to focus on one side of the political ideology, and not the other, I think [it] is very, very dangerous for the future of our country.”

“If you violated law, by illegally entering the Capitol on Jan. 6, and caused destruction of property, illegally entering a federal building, you should be held legally accountable for that, just like the protesters, and Portland and Seattle and Antifa and Black Lives Matter and what happened in Minneapolis, where they destroyed federal property, they should be held accountable too,” Steube said. “But the Democrats don’t want to go after the far left, progressive, violent actors, they only want to go after conservative violent actors.”

In a statement on Wednesday, Steube noted that prominent House Democrats have called Antifa a “false issue” and a “myth.”

Journalist Andy Ngo, an expert on the anarcho-communist group, previously told The Epoch Times that Antifa is “more than an idea.” He said that Antifa is “also a movement” that has networks of organizations, and some of them are organized into formal groups.

‘Weaponizing’ the Law to Target Political Ideology

Steube alleged that the USA Patriot Act has been used to pursue without a warrant people who were in Washington on Jan. 6.

“That’s why they’re defining it domestic terrorism. If they define it as domestic terrorism, then they can use the Patriot Act and investigate and surveil American citizens without a warrant,” he said.

While there were those who committed violence on Capitol grounds, many others who were in Washington on Jan. 6 were engaged in peaceful protest and did not commit any violence.

“You’re weaponizing the Department of Justice for political reasons, just like what we saw happen in Russia collusion, just like what we saw happen to the Trump campaign before Trump got elected,” Steube alleged.

He added: “You saw reporting where Bank of America was giving information of people who are using ATMs in Washington on Jan. 6. I know, in fact, that they’ve been going through cellphone records of those people that were that were there on Jan. 6. You normally wouldn’t be able to do that without a warrant under our Fourth Amendment rights under our Constitution, but they’re using the Patriot Act to go after domestic terrorism—in their ideological lens—which I think is very, very dangerous for the future of our country.”

Dem Assemblyman Santabarbara: FBI May Be Only Way to Get Truth about Cuomo, Nursing Homes

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Ap

IAN HANCHETT

On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends First,” New York State Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara (D) said that the state legislature needs to use all of its powers, including subpoena powers, to get the truth about New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and nursing homes, but given how the Cuomo administration withholds information from the legislature, the FBI’s investigation into the matter may be the only way to get to the truth.

Santabarbara said, [relevant remarks begin around 5:45] “We need more transparency from the governor, more accountability, and the FBI investigation that’s going on may be the only way that we get it. Because the bottom line is, this governor has withheld information from this legislature. And when we tried to exert our oversight powers, he simply ignored us. To me, that tells me that that’s not being transparent. That’s not transparency at all. That’s secrecy. We need to move forward with our own investigation, use all the powers at our disposal, subpoena powers. And these commissioners, they’re notorious — the governor’s commissioners, for coming to these hearings with no information at all. More often than not, we get answers like, we’ll have to get back to you. We’re not sure about that data. We really don’t get any answers from any of the governor’s people. It’s very frustrating. I think that the FBI investigation is something that may be the only way that we actually get truth and accountability from this governor.”

 

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