45.6 F
New York
Friday, March 29, 2024
Home Blog Page 1609

Corporations continue to purge conservative employees and affiliates

0

Sephora is a French-owned beauty supply store that shows up in more affordable shopping malls. It’s not in the same mall as Saks or Nordstrom. Instead, you’ll find it inside J.C. Penney or near a Costco. In other words, it caters to ordinary Americans, the ones who fall economically in the middle- or blue-collar classes. In other words, economically, it’s in the Trump demographic. Still, when a leftist got word that “beauty influencer” Amanda Ensing was a conservative, Sephora dumped her for failing to “align” with its values.

If you’re not familiar with the term “influencer,” I’m sorry to say that you’re showing your age. An influencer is someone who has a social media following – usually through videos – that is so powerful that he or she can influence people’s buying habits. Influencers can become very wealthy because corporations pay these influencers to promote products to the influencers’ millions of fans.

Amanda Ensing is a beauty influencer. Through her Twitter feed and YouTube channel, she dispenses fashion and beauty advice to her followers (almost 86,000 on Twitter and 1.4 million on YouTube). If you go to the page with her Cozy Christmas House Tour 2020, you’ll see that she has links to help people buy everything shown in her video – and Ensing gets a cut of every purchase. To which I say, good for her! Find a need, fill it, and make a living.

One of the product lines Ensing represented was Sephora and she recently did a sponsored video for the discount beauty product line. However, when one leftist wrote to Sephora complaining that Ensing is “a supporter of the dangerous MAGA group,” it dumped her like a hot potato:

Thank you for reaching out and bringing this to our attention. We were made aware that Amanda Ensing, an influencer contracted through one of our external vendors’ campaigns, recently shared content on social media that is not aligned with Sephora’s values around inclusivity. As soon as we were informed, we made the decision to cease all programming with Amanda and will not be engaging her for future partnerships.

 

Ensing’s appalling views? Opposing human trafficking, supporting the troops, harshing on Robinhood and, of course, supporting Trump. I would boycott Sephora, except I never shop there anyway. If you do, stop.

This isn’t the first time a corporation dropped someone for being conservative. The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency, a New York literary agency fired Colleen Oefelein, not for anything she ever said or did at work but simply because she had accounts at Gab and Parler and identified as a Christian.

What we’re seeing here is the fallout from the fact that corporations now rely almost entirely on college graduates to staff their management positions. The old-fashioned practice of promoting management through the ranks is gone. Almost all American colleges and universities are left-wing institutions that no longer educate; instead, they indoctrinate their students in leftist values that these students then take into the corporate world.

It’s time for people who are sued based upon their politics to start suing. Most American contracts are “at will,” which means employers can fire employees for any reason – that is, any reason except for an illegal one.

I am not an employment or a constitutional lawyer, but it seems to me that something can be made of the fact that state and federal civil rights laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of “creed.” To the extent that leftists have turned their politics into a fanatic religion, their firing people for heretical thoughts ought to slot perfectly into the behavior the civil rights laws proscribes.

Also, it’s time to boycott every single business that says it hates you. Why in the world would a conservative or a Christian give money to Sephora or to the stores that dumped Mike Lindell’s My Pillow (Bed Bath & Beyond, Kohl’s, Wayfair, H-E-B, Kroger, and BJ’s)? And again, stop buying products made in China. If we continue to fund the people and nations who hate us, we deserve everything bad that comes our way.

Read more: https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/01/corporations_continue_to_purge_conservative_employees_and_affiliates.html#ixzz6l498dkv8
Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on Facebook

Infant, two months old, dies of coronavirus at Jerusalem hospital

0

Israel national news The pediatric intensive care unit at Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center reported on Saturday the death of a two-month-old infant.

The infant had been in serious condition, unconscious and on a ventilator, for three weeks.

According to the hospital, the infant had a pre-existing condition and had undergone a complicated surgery immediately after birth.

The staff at Hadassah Ein Kerem’s PICU fought for the baby’s life during the past few weeks, remaining at his bedside day and night, a hospital statement said. However, coronavirus, which had affected his lungs, together with his delicate and complicated situation, caused him to suffer seriously and acutely from the virus.

“We share the deep pain of the family, who we have worked extensively together with during this period,” the statement said.

Cicely Tyson, purposeful and pioneering actor, dead at 96

0
AP

(AP) — Cicely Tyson, the pioneering Black actor who gained an Oscar nomination for her role as the sharecropper’s wife in “Sounder,” won a Tony Award in 2013 at age 88 and touched TV viewers’ hearts in “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman,” died Thursday at age 96.

Tyson’s death was announced by her family, via her manager Larry Thompson, who did not immediately provide additional details.

“With heavy heart, the family of Miss Cicely Tyson announces her peaceful transition this afternoon. At this time, please allow the family their privacy,” according to a statement issued through Thompson.

A onetime model, Tyson began her screen career with bit parts but gained fame in the early 1970s when Black women were finally starting to get starring roles. Tyson refused to take parts simply for the paycheck, remaining choosey.

“I’m very selective as I’ve been my whole career about what I do. Unfortunately, I’m not the kind of person who works only for money. It has to have some real substance for me to do it,” she told The Associated Press in 2013.

Tributes from two former presidents and from across the worlds of Hollywood and Broadway poured in, with many praising her careful approach to her career and activism. “She took pride in knowing that whenever her face was on camera, she would be playing a character who was a human being — flawed but resilient; perfect not despite but because of their imperfections,” wrote former President Barack Obama, who awarded Tyson the Medal of Freedom in 2016.

Former President Bill Clinton wrote online that Tyson “brought complex characters to life with dignity and heart, and humanity and depth, always remaining true to herself.” “She used her career to illuminate the humanity in Black people. The roles she played reflected her values,” wrote Oprah Winfrey.

Tyson’s memoir, “Just As I Am,” was published this week.

Besides her Oscar nomination, she won two Emmys for playing the 110-year-old former slave in the 1974 television drama “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.” A new generation of moviegoers saw her in the 2011 hit “The Help.”

In 2018, she was given an honorary Oscar statuette at the annual Governors Awards. “I come from lowly status. I grew up in an area that was called the slums at the time,” Tyson said at the time. “I still cannot imagine that I have met with presidents, kings, queens. How did I get here? I marvel at it.”

(AP Photo, File)

Writing in “Blacks in American Film and Television,” Donald Bogle described Tyson as “a striking figure: slender and intense with near-perfect bone structure, magnificent smooth skin, dark penetrating eyes, and a regal air that made her seem a woman of convictions and commitment. (Audiences) sensed… her power and range.”

“Sounder,” based on the William H. Armstrong novel, was the film that confirmed her stardom in 1972. Tyson was cast as the Depression-era loving wife of a sharecropper (Paul Winfield) who is confined in jail for stealing a piece of meat for his family. She is forced to care for their children and attend to the crops.

The New York Times reviewer wrote: “She passes all of her easy beauty by to give us, at long last, some sense of the profound beauty of millions of Black women.”

Her performance evoked rave reviews, and Tyson won an Academy Award nomination as best actress of 1972.

In an interview on the Turner Classic Movies cable channel, she recalled that she had been asked to test for a smaller role in the film and said she wanted to play the mother, Rebecca. She was told, “You’re too young, you’re too pretty, you’re too sexy, you’re too this, you’re too that, and I said, `I am an actress.’”

In 2013, at the age of 88, Tyson won the Tony for best leading actress in a play for the revival of Horton Foote’s “The Trip to Bountiful.” It was the actor’s first time back on Broadway in three decades and she refused to turn meekly away when the teleprompter told to finish her acceptance speech.

″`Please wrap it up,′ it says. Well, that’s exactly what you did with me: You wrapped me up in your arms after 30 years,” she told the crowd. She had prepared no speech (“I think it’s presumptuous,” she told the AP later. “I burned up half my time wondering what I was going to say.”)

Tyson after her Emmy win in 2013. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

She reprised her winning role in the play for a Lifetime Television movie, which was screened at the White House. She returned to Broadway in 2015 opposite James Earl Jones for a revival of “The Gin Game.”

Her fame transcended all media. Apple CEO Tim Cook took to Twitter to praise Tyson as a “pioneer with purpose. Cicely Tyson’s talent redefined theater, film and television. Her courage, resilience and grace changed the entertainment landscape for generations to come.” Rihanna called her “a true legend.” Neil deGrasse Tyson called her “a force of nature unto herself” and Shonda Rhimes said “her power and grace will be with us forever.”

In the 1974 television drama “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman,” based on a novel by Ernest J. Gaines, Tyson is seen aging from a young woman in slavery to a 110-year-old who campaigned for the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

In the touching climax, she laboriously walks up to a “whites only” water fountain and takes a drink as white officers look on.

“It’s important that they see and hear history from Miss Jane’s point of view,” Tyson told The New York Times. “And I think they will be more ready to accept it from her than from someone younger”

New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael offered her praise: “She’s an actress, all right, and as tough-minded and honorable in her methods as any we’ve got.”

Tyson models a B. Michael design in The Heart Truth Red Dress collection during Fashion Week in New York in 2009. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

At the Emmy Awards, “Pittman” won multiple awards, including two honors for Tyson, best lead actress in a drama and best actress in a special.

“People ask me what I prefer doing — film, stage, television? I say, ‘I would have done “Jane Pittman” in the basement or in a storefront.’ It’s the role that determines where I go,” she told the AP.

Tyson made her movie debut in the late 1950s with small roles in such films as “Odds Against Tomorrow,” “The Last Angry Man,” and “The Comedians.” She played the romantic interest to Sammy Davis Jr.’s jazz musician in “A Man Called Adam.”

She gained wider notice with a recurring role in the 1963 drama series “East Side, West Side,” which starred George C. Scott as a social worker. Tyson played his secretary, making her the first Black woman to have a continuing role in a dramatic television series.

She played a role in the 1968 drama “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter” that was hailed by a reviewer as “an absolute embodiment of the slogan ‘Black is beautiful.’” In “Roots,” the 1977 miniseries that became one of the biggest events in TV history, she played Binta, mother of the protagonist, Kunta Kinte, played by LeVar Burton.

She also appeared on Broadway in the 1960s in “The Cool World,” “Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright” and other plays. Off-Broadway, she appeared with such future stars as Maya Angelou, Godfrey Cambridge and James Earl Jones in a 1961 production of French playwright Jean Genet’s “The Blacks.”

She won a Drama Desk award in 1962 for a role in the off-Broadway “Moon on a Rainbow Shawl.”

After her “Sounder” and “Miss Jane Pittman” successes, Tyson continued to seek TV roles that had messages, and she succeeded with “Roots” and “King” (about Martin Luther King) and “The Rosa Parks Story.”

She complained to an interviewer: “We Black actresses have played so many prostitutes and drug addicts and house maids, always negative. I won’t play that kind of characterless role any more, even if I have to go back to starving.”

She continued with such films as “The Blue Bird,” “Concorde — Airport ’79,” “Fried Green Tomatoes,” “The Grass Harp” and Tyler Perry’s “Diary of a Mad Black Woman.”

Tyson at unveiling of Tyler Perry’s Atlanta studio in 2008. (AP Photo/W.A.Harewood)

She won a supporting actress Emmy in 1994 for “Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All.” She was nominated for Emmys several other times, including for “Roots,” “King,” “The Marva Collins Story” “Sweet Justice” and “A Lesson Before Dying.”

In recent years, she was part of a panel discussion for “Cherish the Day,” an eight-episode OWN anthology series created and produced by Ava DuVernay. She played the mother of Viola Davis’ character on “How to Get Away with Murder.”

Tyson’s parents moved from the island of Nevis in the Caribbean to New York, where Cicely (her name was spelled early on as Cecily and Sicely) was born in 1924, the youngest of three children. When her parents separated, her mother went on welfare. At 9 Cicely sold shopping bags on the streets of East Harlem.

When she graduated from high school, she found work as a secretary at the Red Cross. Her striking looks prompted friends to advise her to take up modeling and that led to acting schools, theater, movies and television.

“My mother told me I could no longer live in her house because I was determined to be an actress,” she told an interviewer in 1990. “I said `OK,’ and I moved out.”

Tyson was married once, to jazz great Miles Davis. The wedding was held in 1981 at Bill Cosby’s home in Massachusetts, attended by show business notables. They divorced in 1988.

Tyson was never hard to spot. She tried to say no to wearing a terrifically large hat to Aretha Franklin’s 2018 funeral, only to be overruled by her designer. The hat would become a viral highlight.

Tyson at Aretha Franklin’s funeral in 2018. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya

“I never thought in my career that I would be upstaged by a hat! And I did not want to wear it,” Tyson said later. “I said, ‘I can’t wear that hat, I will be blocking the view of the people behind me, they won’t be able to see and they’ll call me all kinds of names.’ He just looked at me and said, ‘Put the hat on.’”

She came around, telling the AP she thought of the hat as homage to Franklin’s appearance at Obama’s inauguration.

___

A Closer Look at “Billionaire’s Bunker” – the Exclusive Miami Venue that Jared Kushner & Ivanka Trump Will Call Home

0
https://www.zilbert.com/

By: TJVNews.com

Now that the Trump family has departed the White House and begin the next chapter in their lives, it has been reported that the former president and wife Melania are looking at other property to purchase near their Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

The former first couple, however, will not be too far from family members. As was previously reported in the Jewish Voice, the former president’s oldest son, Donald Jr and girlfriend Kimberly Giulfoyle are looking to purchase a home in Jupiter, Florida as his five children from his ex-wife Vanessa live there with her.

Also seen checking out upscale condos in the Miami area was the former president’s daughter Tiffany, from his marriage to actress Marla Maples. Tiffany just recently announced her engagement to boyfriend Michael Boulos. Currently, Tiffany is living at the Setai Hotel in Miami Beach after having graduated from Georgetown Law School.

Now for the main act. Much publicized fanfare has been accorded to the recent purchase of a $30 million lot of land on Indian Creek Island in Miami Beach by Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.

Indian Creek Island is often referred to as “Billionaire Bunker” as the exclusive island is the home of wildly wealthy celebrities, sports figures, internationally recognized entrepreneurs, and politicians.

Until their custom built home is completed on Indian Creek, the former first daughter, her husband and three children will be taking up residence in a luxury condominium in the Arte building in Miami’s exclusive Surfside neighborhood.

In December 2020 it was reported that Jared and Ivanka purchased the undeveloped 1.8-acre waterfront plot of land on the ultra-exclusive private island from Latin crooner Julio Iglesias, according to a report on the Celebrity Net Worth web site. Iglesias put the plot of land together in two transactions. First he had owned a mansion on one plot for decades. He demolished that mansion and then in 2008 paid $15.2 million for the property next door to create the combined nearly 2-acre empty ocean-front lot.

Business Insider reports that Indian Creek is a village of just 42 people on a tiny private island in Miami’s Biscayne Bay.

Among those who call Indian Creek home besides Iglesias are billionaire investor Carl Icahn, the supermodel Adriana Lima, Beyonce & Jay-Z, billionaire hedge fund manager Eddie Lampert, car-dealership tycoon Norman Braman and Miami Dolphins former coach Don Shula. The singer and actor Ricky Martin also lived on the island at one point, but it’s unclear whether he still does, as was reported by Business Insider.

According to Forbes, Icahn paid $7.5 million for his 14,000-square-foot Indian Creek vacation home in 1997. Shula and his wife have lived in a sprawling white house on the island for more than 20 years, as was reported by Business Insider.

Michael Light, the founder of Miami Luxury Homes and senior director of luxury sales at Douglas Elliman, wrote on his website that “Indian Creek is an exclusive 300-acre island located on the beautiful waters of Biscayne Bay and recognized as one of the wealthiest, private, most secure communities in Miami Beach, and the world.”

He added that, “the high level of privacy and security is the highest priority to the residents of Indian Creek and maintained by having its own private police force, as well as its own 24/7 armed marine patrol monitoring the waters surrounding the island.”

According to the Business Insider report, the island is “so exclusive and private that visiting is not allowed with an owner’s written permission and even if you have that permission it’s illegal to get out of your car to go anywhere except the residence to which you were invited.”

Business Insider reported that the village’s 34 homes are built around the perimeter of the island, giving them all waterfront views. The center is occupied by an 18-hole golf course and a country club. The village is also protected by a private 13-person police force and they even patrol the perimeter of the island from the water, according to the report.

The island is accessible only by car via a single bridge that spans the waterway from Surfside.

The report also indicated that homes in Indian Creek are rarely up for sale. When the report was published in December of 2020 one house was on the market. It was described as an eight-bedroom, Mediterranean-style mansion that was going for a cool $24 million.

Indian Creek also has the distinction of being the place where the record was broken for the most expensive single-family home being sold in the Miami area. An estate was sold last February for $50 million.

As to the amenities on “Billionaire’s Bunker” the Indian Creek Golf Course is one of the prime golf courses in Florida, according to the website Top 100 Golf Courses, as was reported by Business Insider.

“This is not one of the most accessible venues for the visiting golfer, so you’ll need to befriend a member to tee it up on the classical William S. Flynn-designed course here at Indian Creek, which dates back to the 1930s,” the website reads.

The island has just one street, Indian Creek Island Road. It’s bordered by lavish homes on one side and the perfectly manicured golf course on the other, as was reported by Business Insider. Most of the village’s homes sit behind gates, partially shrouded from view by palm trees and other lush foliage.

Business Insider reported that the Indian Creek Country Club is a sprawling Mediterranean-style structure that sits on the island’s southwest shore. Writing in the Miami New Times in 2011, Gus Garcia-Roberts said, “The Indian Creek Country Club is Miami-Dade County’s most exclusive, and controversial, private society.”

The clubhouse includes a swimming pool, a fitness center, a massage and steam room, locker rooms, a bridge room, and a marina, according to the Business Insider report. It was built in 1929 by Maurice Fatio, the architect who designed many of the most famous estates in Palm Beach.

 

 

 

9/11 Heroes: Outraged that Gitmo Detainees Prioritized for Vaccine

0
AP

HANNAH BLEAU

Heroes of 9/11 are expressing outrage over reports of the Biden administration moving to offer coronavirus vaccines to suspected terrorists residing in the U.S. military prison in Guantánamo Bay, calling the move “disgusting” and “f**king nuts.”

A Department of Defense confirmed this week that Gitmo detainees and prisoners will be offered vaccines on a voluntary basis. According to the New York Times‘s Thursday report, vaccinations may begin as early as Monday.

“It will be administered on a voluntary basis and in accordance with the Department’s priority distribution plan,” spokesman Michael Howard said, according to the New York Post: “The order was signed on Jan. 27 by Terry Adirim, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs who was sworn in as a Biden appointee on Inauguration Day, a Pentagon spokesman confirmed.”

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, and his coconspirators are among those who will be offered the vaccine, sparking outrage from Americans who experienced the 9/11 terrorist attacks firsthand.

om Von Essen, who served as city fire commissioner during the attacks, called the move “fucking nuts.”

“You can’t make this up. The ridiculousness of what we get from our government. They will run the vaccine down to those lowlifes at Guantanamo Bay before every resident of the United States of America gets it is the theater of the absurd,” he remarked:

John Feal, a demolition supervisor at the Ground Zero pile in the aftermath of the attacks who has various 9/11-related illnesses, and who has not yet gotten the vaccine, was stunned by the news.
“The fact that the 9/11 community can’t get the vaccine and the terrorists can show how backward our government is,” he told The Post. “It’s the most ludicrous thing I’ve ever heard. It’s an insult to the people who ran into the towers and were killed and those who worked on the pile for months and are ill.”
Brian Sullivan, a retired special security agent with the Federal Aviation Administration, said, “I’m incensed. It’s totally outrageous. I’m 75. I haven’t gotten my COVID vaccine. They’re going to give it Khalid Sheikh Mohammed?”

Sullivan added that the news is essentially a “slap in the face to the 9/11 victims’ families.”

“This year will be the 20th anniversary and the terrorists are still at Guantanamo. And now we’re going to give them the COVID vaccine. It’s just insane,” he added.

Retired FDNY Lt. Michael O’Connell described the decision as “upsetting,” “disgusting,” and a “real kick in the balls.”

“These terrorists committed harm but the patriots are the one[s] who have to wait to get vaccinated. We responded within ten seconds of when the first plane crashed into the building,” he said. “Here we are a year later [since the COVID-19 outbreak] and the politicians can’t get it right on the coronavirus vaccine.”

 The U.S. had distributed 49,216,500 vaccines and administered 27,884,661, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) January 29 data. The vaccine is not yet available to all populations, as states continue to prioritize the most vulnerable, which include seniors and those with chronic health conditions. More than one million seniors have been vaccinated in Florida alone.
Breitbart

 

Waters Has Shoveled Over $1 Million in Campaign Cash to Daughter

0
AP

Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Calif.) has now dished out more than $1 million in campaign payments to her daughter following the 2020 elections.

Karen Waters has pocketed $1.13 million for providing an array of services for her mother’s campaign since 2003. The majority of the cash is for her role in running a controversial slate-mailer operation, in which California politicians gave money to Waters’s campaign in exchange for mailers bearing her endorsement.

The mailers have become increasingly lucrative for the younger Waters over the years. During the 2020 cycle, her payments hit a high of $240,000. That’s significantly more than the $90,000 her firm, Progressive Connections, took in during the 2006 election cycle. The Federal Election Commission gave Waters the green light for the mailer operation in 2004.

While slate mailers are commonplace in states like California and Oregon, the practice is extremely rare at the federal level. In fact, Waters appears to be the only federal politician to use a slate-mailer operation. As such, the arrangement between her and her daughter has led to complaints from watchdog groups asking the FEC to audit the campaign.

Many prominent California politicians have paid to be featured on the mailers. Vice President Kamala Harris twice shelled out tens of thousands from her campaigns for a spot on the mailers. California governor Gavin Newsom (D.) and former senator Barbara Boxer (D.) have likewise dished out cash for Waters’s support.

The practice has received criticism from local media.”While some of these mailers reflect the earnest political values of the organizations that put them together, many are pay-to-play money-makers that blur the line between endorsement, paid advertisement and extortion,” CalMatters wrote last year.

Waters’s campaign did not return a request for comment.

Alan Dershowitz to Newsmax TV: Court Ain’t Broken, Don’t Fix It

0
AP

By Eric Mack (NEWSMAX)

Republicans have brought this court-packing commission upon themselves by using their legislative authority to block Merrick Garland from the Supreme Court, according to constitutional legal expert Alan Dershowitz told Newsmax TV.

“Look, I’m not a cautious conservative, but it ain’t broke, so we shouldn’t fix it just because people like me are dissatisfied with the current composition; I am,” Dershowitz told “Saturday Report.” “I would much prefer to see three or four more liberals on the Court, but I don’t want to destroy the Court to help my ideological goals be achieved by a politicized Supreme Court.”

Dershowitz told host Carl Higbie he could not object to Democrats weighing court packing if he supported Republicans’ constitutional authority of blocking Garland in his nomination at the end of the Obama administration and the pushing through of Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation at the end of the Trump administration.

“The Supreme Court has become far too politicized of an institution,” Dershowitz said, adding that is the nature of legislative authority.

“It’s constitutionally permissible, but both sides are playing politics with the Court, and I just don’t think that’s a good idea for the institution itself or for the benefit of all Americans.”

Dershowitz would support some discussion of reforms to lifetime appointments, because “45 years is too long,” but increasing the size of the Supreme Court when your party has power is a slippery slope that will expand the Court to an unworkable size.

“Nine it about the right number,” Dershowitz concluded. “Once you get up to 13 it gets a little harder.”

GameStop Rebellion Is Populist Successor to Trump and Brexit, Says Farage

0
AP

KURT ZINDULKA

Nigel Farage has hailed the GameStop rebellion as the natural successor to the populist movement which carried Brexit and Donald Trump to victory in 2016.

The Reform UK party leader said he is “with the ordinary traders” in the so-called Reddit Revolution, in which millions of small-time investors have collectively taken on giant hedge funds through buying heavily shorted stocks such as Gamestop and AMC — causing massive losses on Wall Street.

Mr Farage said that it was “about time Wall Street got a bloody nose” after the damage the financial sector inflicted upon ordinary people during the 2008 economic collapse when banks were bailed out at the expense of the public.

The driving force behind the Brexit movement said a “new kind” of economic populism has emerged with WallStreetBets — the Reddit group behind the movement — but that it is ultimately based on the longstanding feeling amongst the masses that “we’re run and governed by people, whether they work in the civil service, giant businesses, big banks, politics, much of the media, they’re all the same people.”

“They don’t understand the conversations that we have every day and of course when it comes to money they’re all in it for themselves,” Farage added.

“That’s why we voted Brexit and it’s why in 2016 Trump got elected and got another 75 million votes in November, and now this populist action has moved from voting to what people do on the markets,” he continued.

Mr Farage said that the actions were taken by financial services firm Robinhood, which blocked traders from buying stocks in GameStop, AMC and others, demonstrated that the market was being “openly rigged” in “favor of the big guys, in favour of the
establishment and against the little people”.

On Friday, Breitbart News reported that the Treasury Secretary has not recused herself from advising President Joe Biden on the populist economic revolt, despite what some see as an apparent conflict of interest.

“We don’t know what advice she gave, we don’t know what made the brokers stop taking buy orders,” Farage noted.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki defended Yellen not recusing herself, highlighting the fact that she is a woman in office as an achievement in itself and adding that “It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone she was paid to give her perspective and advice before she came into office.”

Mr Farage concluded by saying that “maybe the establishment this time bit off more than they can chew”, noting the bipartisan calls for investigations into Robinhood from the likes of Republican Senator Ted Cruz and Democrat Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

He said that the establishment is in trouble because “they haven’t just got the Trumpites screaming, they’ve got the Trumpites now linked up with those on the left, both with common cause about the way that big money, big banks, big politics work together in their favour and against ordinary folk.”

Breitbart

Elizabeth Warren Defends Hedge Funds, Asks SEC to Investigate Reddit Investors

0
(AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)

Jared Evan

Elizabeth Warren wrote a letter to the SEC  which demanded an explanation for why the SEC had not cracked down sufficiently on supposed “market manipulation”,  as a response to this week’s dramatic surge in stock prices from several stocks, which Hedge Fund managers have gambled on as money losers and had invested in as short-sells.

Many small-time investors organized on a Reddit message board and collectively started buying stocks of companies that are currently some of the most popular stocks to “sell short”, such as GameStop, BlackBerry, Bed Bath Beyond, and Blockbuster. This resulted in a huge price increase of these stocks.

Short selling is a fairly simple concept—an investor borrows a stock, sells the stock, and then buys the stock back to return it to the lender. Short sellers are betting that the stock they sell will drop in price. If the stock does drop after selling, the short seller buys it back at a lower price and returns it to the lender. The difference between the sell price and the buy price is the profit, explained by Investopedia. If the stock gains in price, the possibilities of loss for the investor are endless.

“Casino-like swings in stock prices of GameStop reflect wild levels of speculation that don’t help GameStop’s workers or customers and could lead to market instability,” Warren wrote. “Today I told the SEC to explain what exactly it’s doing to prevent market manipulation.”

“I am deeply concerned that these casino-like swings in the value of GameStop and other company shares are yet another example of the gamesmanship that interferes with the ‘fair, orderly, and efficient’ function of the market,” Warren stated in the letter.

“There is a troubling lack of clarity regarding who the major market participants are in this case and the degree to which their activities may be coordinated” Warren wrote in regard to Reddit traders that she described as “cloaked in anonymity.”

Senator Warren has built a career around being tough on billionaires and allegedly for the “little guy”. Many critics have pointed out that Warren is rushing to the defense of the hedge fund managers in this case and is looking to investigate the consumer investors from Reddit message boards

 

 

California Man Who Was “excited” About Getting COVID Vaccine Died After 2nd Dose

0
Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday that the country has fallen far short of its goal of vaccinating 20 million Americans by the end of 2020

(TJNNEWS) A California health care worker who was enthusiastic about the coronavirus vaccine died days after receiving the second dose.

On Tuesday, Orange County x-ray technician Tim Zook, 60, was reportedly thrilled to receive the second round of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine, posting on his Facebook wall, “Never been so excited to get a shot before. I am now fully vaccinated after receiving my 2nd Pfizer dose”, as reported by FOX11 in Los Angeles reported.

“The doctors believe that his body reacted to something after he took the vaccine and they called it an inflammatory reaction,” said the man’s wife, Rochelle. “It was so intense that it started attacking major organs and he never had a chance to recover.”

The report from Fox Los Angeles is below

Young Nurse’s Aide Died Within 48 Hours of Taking COVID Vaccine

0
 (AP)

(TJVNEWS.COM) Pro-life news outlet LifeSiteNews reported that a 39-year-old nurses aide died within 48 hours of taking the COVID vaccine

The Northern Ohio woman was found unresponsive in her car outside her apartment complex on December 31 around 8:00 p.m., her brother Jacob Gregory told LifeSiteNews.

Janet L. Moore(Obituary here), a nurse aide at Admirals Pointe Nursing Home (APNH) in Huron, Ohio.

“She was coming home from work and as soon as she drove into her parking lot she passed away,”  Moore’s brother Jacob Gregory told the pro-life outlet. . “According to her neighbors she wasn’t feeling good directly after the vaccine, and then ever since the vaccine she was actually feeling nauseated, she’d have like migraines and stuff like that. And then, within 48 hours, she ended up passing away.”

When asked if he knew the brand of the vaccine, Gregory, who lives in Akron, said, “According to my brother, it was by Pfizer, but I’m not absolutely sure on that.”

Gregory mentioned that his deceased sister, a mother of two sons, was required to receive this vaccine due to her nursing home employment, this however has not been verified.

TJV has been one of few news outlets, actually covering deaths that have been associated with the vaccine. TJV does not take an anti-vaccine position

More than 87.1 million doses in 60 countries have been administered, according to data collected by Bloomberg, as of Friday 1/29/21 The latest rate was roughly 4.19 million doses a day, on average.

Earlier in the month, TJV News reported that the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) LINK  revealed that 55 Americans so far have died after receiving the vaccine. LINK HERE 

 

 

 

 

Biden Coronavirus Adviser Questions Fauci on Double Masks: It ‘May Actually Be Counterproductive’

0
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

HANNAH BLEAU

Dr. Michael Osterholm, a coronavirus adviser to President Biden, appeared to question Dr. Anthony Fauci’s seeming embrace of double masking, or wearing two masks at once, suggesting during an appearance on MSNBC Thursday that the practice “may actually be counterproductive.”

“There’s a lot of talk that double masking is going to become an official [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)] recommendation,” MSNBC’s Chuck Todd said, asking Osterholm where he falls on the subject.

“In terms of using the face cloth coverings, doubling them, actually, we need to be very careful about that,” he told Todd. “That may actually be counterproductive, not helpful.”

“We know, and I’m not an aerobiologist, but we know that, in fact, they may actually impede the movement of air in and out and causing it to actually escape in the big crevices between the cloth and your face. That’s a bigger problem, not a lesser problem than one,” he continued, warning that “too thick of a cloth” will prevent air from moving efficiently, causing the feeling of suffocation.

“And the air then moves in and out of the cracks. So that’s why we have to be very careful about people making recommendations right now about double masking and so forth without really having the data to support that,” Osterholm added.

His rebuttal comes days after Fauci, chief medical adviser for President Biden on the novel coronavirus, appeared to support the prospect of double masking, telling TODAY’s Savannah Guthrie it “just makes common sense that it would likely be more effective.”

“You know, it likely does because, I mean, this is a physical covering to prevent droplets and virus to get in,” he said when asked if the practice makes a difference.

“So if you have a physical covering with one layer, you put another layer on, it just makes common sense that it would likely be more effective, and that’s the reason why you see people either double masking or doing a version of an N95,” he added:

During a Tuesday appearance on America’s Newsroom, Fauci again failed to rule out double masking, even for those who have been vaccinated.

Fauci’s current position on masks and double masking stands in sharp contrast to the opinion he held in March 2020, suggesting masks provided more psychological relief than practical.

Breitbart

Masahiro Tanaka Tells Fans on Twitter That He’s Leaving the Yankees; Heading Back to Old Team in Japan

0
AP

By: TJVNews.com

Looks like there is a roster change in the New York Yankees organization.   Right handed pitcher Masahiro Tanaka announced on Twitter that he would be spending the upcoming season with his former team in Japan, known as the Rakuten Eagles.

For their part, the Yankees had a keen interest in retaining Tanaka, according to a report in the NY Post, however their main priority was to keep DJ LeMahieu on board, so they cut a six year $90 million deal to keep the infielder on the team.

Upon learning that Tanaka will not be in the lineup this spring. LeMahieu said during a Zoom call after his official re-signing with the Bronx Bombers that Tanaka will be missed, as was reported by the New York Post.

“I just wanted to mention what a great teammate he’s been and what an impact he’s had on the Yankees and the city,” LeMahieu said, according to the Post report. “Obviously, I wish him well and will be following him. As exciting as it is to stay with the Yankees, I’m disappointed I’m not gonna be playing with him anymore.”

Because the Yankees wanted to stay under the $210 million luxury-tax threshold, they chose to elicit the services of a pair of skilled right handers as that would cost them less money than what Tanaka was charging them.

Coming off of the disabled list due to significant injuries, the Yankees signed Corey Kluber on a one-year, $11 million deal and traded four prospects to Pittsburgh in exchange for Jameson Taillon, according to the Post report.

These new picks will be counted on to perform for the Bombers in addition to Jordan Montgomery and some combination of Domingo German, Deivi Garcia and Clarke Schmidt, as was reported by the Post. Luis Severino is due back from Tommy John surgery in midseason.

Throughout his seven year contract, Tanaka was considered a major pitching asset for the Yankees. The deal that the team made for him cost them $155 million, so they consider it a successful investment. During his first season, Tanaka suffered a partially torn UCL but bounced back and was a highly effective player.

The Post reported that in a statement posted on Twitter in English, Tanaka thanked fans “for all the love and support you have given me for the past seven seasons. I feel extremely fortunate for having the opportunity to take the field as a member of the New York Yankees and play in front of all you passionate fans. It has been an honor and a privilege!”

He finished his Yankees career 78-46 with a 3.74 ERA and, until recently, was superb in the playoffs, according to the Post report.

Despite Pandemic, Hamptons Sees Record Increase in Home Sales as NYC Dwellers Flee City Congestion

0

By: TJVNews.com

Even though our daily news reports fill us with dread about an economy that has been devastated due to the resultant effects of the coronavirus, as it turns out, not everyone is reeling under the dismal conditions.

Real estate out in the tony Hamptons, (a playground for the rich and famous) is more vibrant than could have ever been imagined while a pandemic is raging.

According to a report in the New York Post, in just three months, from October to December, those seeking to leave the concrete jungle of New York City have plunked down a staggering $2.159 billion for prime property on the East End of the island with the sale of just 844 homes.

A new market report produced by the Corcoran Group indicates that this year’s sales are up 133% from the last quarter of 2019. It was then that buyers forked over $924.82 million on 503 homes.

A different market report released by Brown Harris Stevens indicates that in 2020, people spent $5.49 billion on Hamptons real estate, breaking the last record of $4.42 billion set in 2014, as was reported in the Post.

Clearly, experts in the industry have come to the conclusion that the massive uptick in Hamptons property sales can be directly attributed to those fleeing the pandemic in the close quarters of the city. During a lockdown, they say, people seem to have the propensity towards finding larger living quarters in a much less densely populated area. Moreover, another reason that has motivated people to high tail it out of the Big Apple is the dramatic increase in crime and violence.

Speaking to the NY Post, Corcoran CEO Pam Liebman said, “When the pandemic hit, buyers looked to alternative spaces to high-rise living and the Hamptons were the natural choice. It’s within driving distance, it’s beautiful and there was lots of inventory, although now most of the inventory has been absorbed and prices have steadily climbed. She added that  low interest rates also “helped money go further so people could stretch and buy what would otherwise have been out of their price range.”

So, if you some extra cash to burn and are looking for a luxurious place to call home, the Post reported that the most expensive home currently on the market is a $175 million beach mansion on Meadow Lane in the Hamptons.

While the lion’s share of the buyers are New York City home owners, other buyers are from the tri-state area.

Offering her observations of the real estate extravaganza, Liebman told the Post, “It’s pretty crazy. It’s a total record and sales prices also reached an all-time high. It’s the most sales we’ve seen.

Because of the mass exodus from New York City and the surrounding areas, the Hamptons is no longer considered a summer get away venue for those who can afford it, but has morphed into a  “year-round community,” according to Liebman.

She told the Post that, “people aren’t just there for a couple of months a year. It’s now a full-time residence or a place to enjoy part-time but all year round.”

Of all places in the Hamptons, the most popular among buyers was Quogue Village and Quogue, according to the Post report.  There was a gigantic 225% year-over-year increase in sales. People bought 26 homes in the fourth quarter of 2020, up from just eight homes in the fourth quarter of 2019, as was reported by the NY Post.

Other towns that saw an increase in sales were in Amagansett, a magnet for such A-list celebrities as Gwyneth Paltrow and Scarlett Johansson, who own beach homes there, according to the Post.

The Post reported that sales skyrocketed by 164%, from 14 homes in the fourth quarter of 2019 to 37 homes in the fourth quarter of 2020.

During the same period, sales catapulted 214%, from $42.97 million to $134.87 million, according to the Post report.

 

Iconic Musician Jimmy Buffett to Open Luxurious “Margaritaville” Resort in Times Square in Late Spring

0

By:  TJVNews.com

Despite the fact that businesses have been ravaged due to the deleterious effects of the coronavirus, New Yorkers have something to look forward to. According to a recent New York Post report, iconic singer and entrepreneur, Jimmy Buffett has plans to bring his  Margaritaville Resort empire to Times Square in this spring.

Even though tourism has come to grinding halt in the Big Apple, this “Son of a Son of a Son of a Sailor” will treat his fans and followers to way more than a “Cheeseburger in Paradise.”

The glitzy resort was originally scheduled to make its debut in the fall of 2020, but was upended by the coronavirus. Located in a 32-story building on the southern edge of Times Square at 560 Seventh Avenue, the new Midtown headquarters for Buffett fans will   feature 234 guest rooms, 4,861 square feet of ground-floor retail space, five restaurants and bars including License to Chill Bar, 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar, Landshark Bar & Grill, Joe Merchant and Margaritaville Restaurant, as was reported by the Post.

Curbed reported that the tower replaced a six-story building that housed the former fashion campus of the Parsons School of Design and a synagogue on the first floor, known as the Garment Center Congregation temple.

Prior to deal being inked between Buffett and developers Sharif El-Gamal of Soho Properties and MHP Real Estate Services, the proposed building was meant to house a Dream Hotel, according to the Curbed report.

The Post reported that the building where the Margaritaville Resort is to be housed is the only one in Times Square with an outdoor pool, rooftop views and a State of Liberty replica. Buffett currently has about 22 resort properties across the U.S. and the Caribbean, as was reported on the Curbed web site. The project is expected to cost around $300 million to build.

Curbed reported that the Garment Center Congregation synagogue was given a 99-year lease for $1 a year in the 1970s. In order to purchase the building, Soho Properties’ El-Gamal had to negotiate with the congregation, and he agreed to build a synagogue (complete with a kosher kitchen and a small terrace for a sukkah) in the new building. The synagogue’s lobby will be on the first floor, and it will also occupy two below-ground levels. This will be the first synagogue in Margaritaville.

Other Margaritaville resorts feature spas, zip lines, erupting volcanoes and even an amusement park at the Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, branch, according to the NY Post report. Guests at the new Times Square resort will enjoy such amenities as walk-in rain showers , St. Somewhere bath amenities, Keurig coffee makers, complimentary Wifi and USB outlets, mini fridge,  in-room delivery service, bathrobes/slippers , complimentary Paradise Water , soundproof windows , steamer , hairdryer, signature Margaritaville bed linens ,in-room safe , ceiling fan , smart 55-inch TV and cable/satellite service.

According to the Margaritaville website the guest rooms at the resort will feature an island-inspired casual design and luxurious comfort. The site says that the ambience will “instantly transport guests to the iconic Margaritaville state of mind. The resort’s fun and relaxation will bring a much-needed escape from the everyday hustle and bustle of New York City.”

 

 

Family-Friendly Winter Fun in the Pocono Mountains

0
Break out your warmest coats and best winter boots for an avalanche of snow activities!

By: Emily Whalen

The Pocono Mountains is the place to be for quality bonding time. From frolicking in the snow to splashing in the pool, a family vacation filled with lasting memories awaits!

Indulge in snow adventures, sweet treats, and activities for everyone at our family resorts as you discover the beauty of the Pocono Mountains this winter. Keep reading to find insider tips to maximize the family fun of your getaway.

  1. Snow Activities
  2. Events
  3. Winter Treats
  4. Museums
  5. Waterparks

 

SNOW ACTIVITIES

Break out your warmest coats and best winter boots for an avalanche of snow activities! Whether you prefer gliding down the slopes or riding through the trails, you and your family are guaranteed to love winter outdoor adventure in the Pocono Mountains.

Skiing and snow tubing are popular pastimes when visiting the area. Weather permitting, try snowshoeing and snowmobiling over the snow-covered landscape too. Ready to kick the adrenaline up a notch? Book a winter tour on an all-terrain vehicle.

Insider Tip: Guests staying at Pocono Mountain Villas and Woodloch Resort can enjoy a variety of outdoor activities on-site.

  1. EVENTS

Savor the winter season like never before with Pocono Mountains’ events. The region takes advantage of the cooler temperatures and transforms the elements into fun for the whole family!

Bundle up for Wally Ice Fest in February or join the festivities at Shawnee Mountain, from Costume Carnival Day to Bigfoot Showshoe Race Day. Visitors to WinterFest in Downtown Stroudsburg can take an ice safari to view animal ice sculptures in front of local businesses.

Insider Tip: Pocono Organics will have food, games, alpacas, and more at their first annual Winter Wonderland Festival in January. Still hungry? Sample seasonal local fare select weekends at The Main Street Farmers’ Market at The Cooperage.

WINTER TREATS

All that excitement and energy can sure work up an appetite. Gather round the table and refuel at one of the region’s restaurants. Stop by a deli café to warm up with hot sandwiches and hot chocolate or enjoy a meal at a family restaurant.

Looking for something sweet? Visit a Pocono Mountains bakery and treat yourselves to yummy desserts and pastries.

Insider Tip: Resort restaurants like B-Lux Grill & Bar and Graffiti Pizza offer delicious fare in a family-friendly atmosphere.

MUSEUMS

Take the family back in time to discover the antiquity and arts of the Pocono Mountains at one of our historical attractions and museums. Explore downtown gems and take in the beauty that has brought visitors to this area for generations.

Historical societies live and breathe the rich culture of the region at places like the Columns Museum. Visit the Dorflinger Glass Museum and see the nation’s largest public display of Dorflinger crystal.

Insider Tip: For a truly immersive experience, dig deeper into the past by staying at historic resorts like Skytop Lodge and The Shawnee Inn and Golf Resort.

WATERPARKS

Enjoy the winter from indoors where the weather is always 84 degrees. Whether you’re looking for excitement or relaxation, Pocono Mountains’ waterparks provide both for all members of the family.

Water slides, wave pools, and aquatic children’s obstacles are just a few attractions your family will discover. Let the indoor adventures begin!

Insider Tip: Book a stay at Camelback Lodge & Aquatopia Indoor Waterpark, Great Wolf Lodge, Kalahari Resorts and Conventions or Split Rock Resort & Golf Club to experience waterpark fun free with your trip!

Discover Pocono family resorts with activities, entertainment, and dining all under one roof! Find ways to save on accommodations with family packages too. Looking to plan a family reunion in the Pocono Mountains? Tell us what you’re looking for with a request for proposal, and we’ll assist you with your event planning needs!

Don’t forget to check out all our winter activities and trip ideas as well. You can also stay up-to-date with area snow conditions with the latest reports this winter in the Pocono Mountains. (PoconoMountains.com)

Emily Whalen is the Communications Manager for the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau. A small town coffee shop connoisseur and lifelong lover of the mountains, she is excited to share tips to help visitors make the most of their stay in the Poconos.