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A Jew in Post-War Europe Tells of Jewish Revenge

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By: Marion DS Dreyfus  

 

It was sometime in the 1990s, at a conference, when I met a film director with whom I became friendly, especially when he told me he had been a fighter in the Warsaw Ghetto.

In his vigorous 70s, Moshe Mizrahi detailed for me some of the experiences he had undergone fighting the nazis during the all-out valiant battle in the Ghetto uprising.

Mizrahi  later invited me to his home in the ‘five towns.’ Where he introduced me to his maid, a woman with a discernible Polish or Hungarian accent. She had been, she revealed without any sign of reluctance or regret, a qualified doctor  in Europe, during the war. The director, whose name took some effort to recall, told me his conscientious housekeeper preferred working as a domestic in the United States to working in post-war Europe as a physician, with all the privations, widespread poverty, and rancor. Plus low wages, absence of benefits, shortages.

Walking me around his home, Mizrahi remarked in an aside that she made more money, and had more comfort, as a domestic in the US than as a physician in  post-WWII Europe.

Among other recollections, the director told me that after the war, he, and others who had survived the life and death fight against the nazi juggernaut, roamed at will through towns and outlying areas of war-torn former nazi strongholds. He told me in undramatized terms that he had entered homes at will, taking whatever he saw that he wanted, with quiescent and obviously terrified inhabitants not muttering a peep when he came through, he plainly furious on whatever revenge he could wrest from the burghers.

They all, he said, plaintively claimed “We had nothing to do with it! We had nothing to do with killing the Jews. We were just living here, quietly, when the nazis did whatever they did.” They willingly gave whatever was taken by the still-breathing Jews who came into their homes.

Director Moshe elaborated without inflection: “If they had protested, we would have knifed and killed them without remorse.” The people in Germany, Poland, Austria who were subject to these lost, homeless but resilient vestiges of the millions who had been rounded up, enslaved in camps, incinerated, tortured and experimented upon for the length of WWII were all too aware that the roving Jews had whatever weapons they could scrounge from dead soldiers and others, and the director repeated that he would have killed any resisters without regret.

Because, at this point, Mizrahi knew I wrote film reviews, he screened for me his film, “War and Love” (1985), one that featured a young Kyra Sedgwick, whom I identified to him as a definite “future star.” I was struck by the honesty and sophistication of her performance, which seemed to me to be above the others in the cast.  Of course, it turned out my assessment of her acting prowess was on-the-spot correct. She has appeared in dozens of films since, and featured as Brenda Lee Johnson in the long-run TV series, “The Closer.” (2005-2012)

I lost contact with the Director Mizrahi but have never forgotten his powerful recollections of how the fearsome anti-Jewish haters were swiftly reduced to timid acquiescents in the face of their undeniable, blatant guilt.

In the moment, they were splattered with the blood of innocent Jews, Roma, other “undesirables” though later, this guilt was moderated by the gall of cowardly denial characterizing the professions of so many war criminals.

 

Marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2021 “My Lost Childhood”

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Edited by: TJVNews.com

 

This heartwrenching testimony of Renee Kochman (Renia Baaf) expresses the sense of the utter despair she and many thousands of survivors felt after liberation. During the war, all of their energies were focused on the daily struggle to survive. Now that they had finally been liberated by the Allied Forces and their enemies destroyed, those who had lived through the Holocaust were faced with having to piece together their lives.

 

Child survivors were especially affected by this newfound reality. Many of them, entrusted during the Shoah to non-Jews for safekeeping from the Nazi onslaught, were left with no one to redeem them. While DP camps helped restore a sense of community and a feeling of agency for many adult survivors, children required a special set of needs and care – in the medical, psychological and educational spheres. In the months following liberation, social welfare organizations began establishing special children’s homes throughout much of Europe to meet these demands.

 

In advance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, has uploaded a new online exhibition, entitled “My Lost Childhood,” telling the stories of seven of these homes established across Europe in the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust. Through the voices of survivor testimony as well as artifacts, photographs and documents from Yad Vashem’s unrivalled collections, this moving exhibition brings to life the terrifying ordeals of the children brought to the homes, and how they were gently assisted – often by survivors themselves – to re-enter normative society.

 

“This exhibition sheds light on what Jewish children had to endure in order to survive and then rebuild their lives,” states Dana Porath, Director of the Digital Department in Yad Vashem’s Communications Division. “But above all, it tells the story of the resilience of these children and how, despite their unspeakable traumas, the vast majority became fully contributing members to the countries in which they later settled.”

 

“Today, as the world continues to battle expressions of hatred, antisemitism and xenophobia, the significance and meaning of the Holocaust is particularly relevant,” remarks Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev. “It is Yad Vashem’s ongoing mission to make sure that the stories and voices of the Holocaust victims and survivors are maintained and preserved for generations to come.”

 

In addition to the online exhibition Yad Vashem will once again launch the Wall, which is now available in six languages. Each participant who joins the event will be randomly linked to one of the individuals recorded in Yad Vashem’s Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names, which today includes more than 4,800,000 names. Their names will then appear together on the IRemember Wall. Participants can also choose additional Holocaust victims from the Names Database to commemorate on the Wall. Those who join are encouraged to share the stories on their social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

“I should like someone to remember that there once lived a person named David Berger,”

David wrote in his last letter, which he sent from Vilna in 1941. Today, 80 years after the 19-year-old was murdered during the Holocaust, Yad Vashem is fulfilling the last wishes of David and many other Holocaust victims through its IRemember Wall project. This unique online commemorative initiative allows the public to identify with the names and stories of some of the six million Jewish men, women and children whose lives were brutally cut short by the Nazi Germans and their collaborators during the Holocaust.

Yad Vashem will be partnering again this year with Facebook International to promote the project on social media. As last year, Facebook will use its platform and resources in order to encourage global awareness and outreach of this meaningful initiative.

“By partnering together with Facebook, we are able to reach a wider international audience, which is crucial to keeping the memory of the Jewish victims alive and the meanings of the Holocaust relevant in today’s complex reality. Last year, over 85,000 victims were commemorated by people from some 175 countries around the world in their own languages – making each participant an ‘ambassador of memory,’ responsible for promulgating the voices of those who were murdered.”.Iris Rosenberg, Director of Yad Vashem’s Communications Division

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg stated: “I am so grateful for all that Yad Vashem does to honor the victims of the Holocaust – including this incredible IRemember Wall project. Facebook is honored to be a part of this project, helping to tell the story of the millions of women, men, and children murdered by the Nazis. They deserve to be remembered so this never happens again.”

Many members of the public who participated in last year’s IRemember Wall were grateful for the opportunity to bring personal meaning to International Holocaust Remembrance Day. “Thank you for giving me a place to acknowledge the individual and not the just statistics,” commented Catherine F.  Liana L. wrote, “This is a great initiative and I am grateful for being able to learn about three victims and reflect about their lives… they will never be forgotten.”

 

Federal Judge Blocks Joe Biden’s Halt to Deportations for Illegal Aliens

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AP

JOHN BINDER

A federal district judge has blocked President Joe Biden’s halt to deportations for illegal aliens after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the administration.

Hours after taking office on January 20, Biden signed an executive order that halts deportations of most illegal aliens for at least 100 days. The order came as illegal immigration has spiked in recent months and a migrant caravan heads to the United States-Mexico border in the hopes of taking advantage of the Biden administration’s lax enforcement policies.

Last week, Paxton filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration, asking a federal judge to block the order noting the negative impact it would have on the state of Texas and its social services.

Following a hearing, U.S. District Judge Drew B. Tipton blocked the order for 14 days:

Defendants and all their respective officers, agents, servants, employees, attorneys, and other persons who are in active concert or participation with them are hereby ENJOINED and RESTRAINED from enforcing and implementing the policies described in the January 20 Memorandum in Section C entitled “Immediate 100- Day Pause on Removals.” [Emphasis added]
This TRO is granted on a nationwide basis and prohibits enforcement and implementation of the policies described in the January 20 Memorandum in Section C entitled “Immediate 100-Day Pause on Removals” in every place Defendants have jurisdiction to enforce and implement the January 20 Memorandum. [Emphasis added]

Tipton noted Paxton’s lawsuit had “presented evidence it would suffer injuries for various reasons if an injunction is not entered.”

“First, Texas demonstrates that it pays millions of dollars annually to provide social services and uncompensated healthcare expenses and other state-provided benefits to illegal aliens such as the Emergency Medicaid program, the Family Violence Program, and the Texas Children’s Health Insurance Program,” Tipton wrote.

“Additionally, Texas has presented evidence that it would incur increased educational costs … Texas anticipates suffering financial harm from which it cannot recover by suing the federal government,” Tipton continued.

Tipton’s halt Biden’s order can be extended for an additional 14 days. Eventually, Paxton will have to seek a preliminary injunction.

“The Court’s decision to stop the Biden administration from casting aside congressionally enacted immigration laws is a much-needed remedy for DHS’s unlawful action,” Paxton said in a statement. “A near-complete suspension of deportations would only serve to endanger Texans and undermine federal law.”

Deportations for illegal aliens is a huge cost savings for American taxpayers, research has found. The taxpayer cost of the roughly 11 million to 22 million illegal aliens living across the U.S. totals nearly $750 billion over the course of a lifetime while each deportation costs just $10,900. This indicates that taxpayers would save about $622 billion over a lifetime if every illegal alien was deported.

Paxton’s lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. The case number is 6:21-cv-00003.

Biden Names Anti-Israel Activist, Maher Bitar to Senior Intel Role

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AP

DEBORAH BRAND

President Joe Biden has appointed former anti-Israel activist Maher Bitar, who was also heavily involved in the first impeachment of former President Donald Trump, to the role of senior director for intelligence programs at the National Security Council.

“I am thrilled to see him in his new post, though we will certainly miss him on the committee,” House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff told Politico. “I can’t think of anyone more suited to the role than Maher.”

As Schiff’s top legal adviser, Bitar, who is Palestinian-American, helped steward the impeachment process against Trump.

 

Maher also served in the National Security Council under former President Barack Obama, as director for Israeli and Palestinian affairs.

Bitar is also one of the executive board members of Students for Justice in Palestine, a radical anti-Israel campus group.

Writing at FrontPageMag, journalist Daniel Greenfield noted that Bitar will now be in charge of “the most classified information” between the White House and the intelligence community.

Greenfield wrote:

The job of Senior Director for Intelligence at the National Security Council is supposed to go to an intelligence professional. How did an anti-Israel activist go from helping host a conference for an organization whose speakers have supported Islamic terrorism to a top intelligence job?

Greenfield went on to note that Bitar had run a session describing how to best demonize Israel; facilitated a Palestinian Student Society summit addressed by Joseph Massad, who had called Israel a “Jewish supremacist state” and praised terrorism; appeared to dance in a keffiyah in front of a banner reading, “Divest from Israel Apartheid;” and argued that “Israel’s rejection of their right to return remains the main obstacle to finding a durable solution.”

The so-called Palestinian “right of return” is one of the core issues at the heart of the conflict and one to which Israel will never agree. It calls for Palestinian refugees from 1948’s War of Independence — and their millions of descendants — to return to their ancestral homes in Israel proper, a move that would spell the end of the Jewish state by demographic means.

Breitbart

GOP Stands with Rand Paul Against Donald Trump Impeachment Trial

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SEAN MORAN

Forty-five senators voted on Tuesday with Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), raising constitutional concerns over the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump.

Forty-five senators voted with Paul’s motion to raise the question of whether it is constitutional to impeach Trump after he left office. This means that likely five Republicans voted with Democrats on the question of whether it is constitutional to impeach a former president.

Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Mitt Romney (R-UT), Ben Sasse (R-NE), and Pat Toomey (R-PA) voted with Democrats, believing that the impeachment is constitutional.

This vote likely serves as a proxy vote on the final vote of whether to convict Trump on the question if he incited an insurrection during the January 6 riots.

Paul wrote on Tuesday that 45 senators agreed that this trial is a “sham:”

“The Senate just voted on my constitutional point of order. 45 Senators agreed that this sham of a “trial” is unconstitutional. That is more than will be needed to acquit and to eventually end this partisan impeachment process. This “trial” is dead on arrival in the Senate,” Paul wrote.

Paul contended on the Senate floor that the trial against Trump is merely partisan. The Kentucky conservative noted that Supreme Court Justice John Roberts will not preside over the trial. Instead, Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT), the Senate Pro Tempore, will preside over the trial.

He said before his procedural motion:

This impeachment is nothing more than a partisan exercise designed to further divide the country.

Democrats claim to want to unify the country, but impeaching a former president, a private citizen, is the antithesis of unity.

Democrats brazenly appointing a pro-impeachment Democrat [Senate President Pro Tem Patrick Leahy] to preside over the trial is not fair or impartial, and hardly encourages any kind of unity in our country.

No, “unity” is the opposite of this travesty we are about to witness.

If we are about to try to impeach a president, where is the Chief Justice? If the accused is no longer president, where is the constitutional power to impeach him? Private citizens don’t get impeached. Impeachment is for removal from office. And the accused here has already left office.

Hyper-partisan Democrats are about to drag our great country down into the gutter of rancor and vitriol the likes of which has never been seen in our nation’s history. Instead of doing the nation’s work, with their new majorities in the House, the Senate, and the executive branch, Democrats are wasting the nation’s time on a partisan vendetta against a man no longer in office.

“A sham, this is a travesty. A dark blot on the history of our country. I urge my colleagues to reconsider this kangaroo court and move forward to debate the great issues of our day,” he added.

Breitbart

Rand Paul Highlights Democrat ‘Incitement’ in Speech Against Impeachment Trial

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AP

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) delivered a strident address on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday afternoon in which he cited examples of Democrats encouraging violence and aggressive behavior against Trump supporters and Republicans, Breitbart reported

Paul highlighted the Democrats’ hypocrisy as he spoke against the impending impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, which is scheduled to begin Tuesday afternoon, though substantive proceedings will be delayed until February 8.

Paul’s remarks Highlighted

***

This impeachment is nothing more than a partisan exercise designed to further divide the country.

Democrats claim to want to unify the country, but impeaching a former president, a private citizen, is the antithesis of unity.

Democrats brazenly appointing a pro-impeachment Democrat [Senate President Pro Tem Patrick Leahy] to preside over the trial is not fair or impartial, and hardly encourages any kind of unity in our country.

No, “unity” is the opposite of this travesty we are about to witness.

If we are about to try to impeach a president, where is the Chief Justice? If the accused is no longer president, where is the constitutional power to impeach him? Private citizens don’t get impeached. Impeachment is for removal from office. And the accused here has already left office.

Hyper-partisan Democrats are about to drag our great country down into the gutter of rancor and vitriol the likes of which has never been seen in our nation’s history. Instead of doing the nation’s work, with their new majorities in the House, the Senate, and the executive branch, Democrats are wasting the nation’s time on a partisan vendetta against a man no longer in office.

It’s almost as if they have no ability to exist except in opposition to Donald Trump. Without him as their bogeyman, they might to legislate, and to actually convince Americans that their policies are the right ones.

Democrats are about to do something no self-respecting Senator has stooped to: Democrats are insisting the election is actually not over, and so they insist on regurgitating the bitterness of the election.

This sham of impeachment will ostensibly ask whether the president incited the reprehensible behavior and violence of January 6 when he said, “I know everyone here will soon march to the Capitol to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”

“Peacefully and patriotically.” Hardly words of violence.

[Interjection: Not at all.]

But what of Democrat words? What of Democrat incitement to violence?

No Democrat will honestly ask whether [Senator] Bernie Sanders incited the shooter that nearly killed Steve Scalise and volunteer coach. The shooter nearly pulled off a massacre — I was there — because he fervently believed the false and inflammatory rhetoric spewed by Bernie and other Democrats, such as, “The Republican health care plan for the uninsured is that you die.”

” No Democrat will ask whether [Representative] Maxine Waters incited violence when she told her supporters, and I quote, that “If you see a member of the Trump administration at a restaurant, at a department store, at a gas station, or any place, you create a crowd, and you push back on them.” Is that not incitement?

My wife and I were pushed and surrounded and screamed at by this same type of mob that Maxine likes to inspire. It’s terrifying to have a swarm of people threatening to kill you, cursing at you and literally holding you hostage until police come to your rescue. That night we were assaulted by the crowd, I wasn’t sure if we would survive even with the police protection. But no Democrat suggested impeaching Maxine for her violent rhetoric.

The entire blistering speech is below:

Journalist & Social Media Influencer Andy Ngo Flees The Country Over Antifa Death Threats

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Ngo, after ANTIFA assaulted him in 2019

(TJVNEWS) Andy Ngo, the Portland-based journalist,- a regular presence documenting violent Antifa activity in the Pacific Northwest (and having been assaulted for his coverage) – has fled to the United Kingdom.

“My hometown of Portland, Oregon is the epicenter of American Antifa,” Ngo told Sky News Australia in a Saturday interview. Ngo noted that US politicians who rightly condemned the January 6 riots at the Capitol were “at best silent last year when my city was literally under siege.”

Ngo described the increasingly violent death threats he’s received, telling Sky “For a number of months now, there’s just been increasing threats of violence against me, promises by Antifa extremists to kill me.”

“It’s pained me a lot, temporarily having to leave the country and home that settled my parents who came there as political refugees,” he added.

Ngo, editor-at-large of The Post Millennial, was beaten and robbed by Antifa terrorists in July, 2019, after which his assailants – apparently not the “Unity” brand of Democrats – soaked him in liquids which police believed to be quick-drying cement. He was hospitalized following the incident, Zero Hedge pointed out.

Andy Ngo recently wrote a book called Unmasked, which is due out on February 2nd.  Radical ANTIFA members have harassed a Portland bookstore for weeks on end after the small business announced that they will not sell the book on its shelves but offer it online.

Biden Nominee Rachel Levine Was a Disaster in Pennsylvania. Now She’s Headed to Washington.

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(MISES) On January 19 it was announced that Joe Biden planned to nominate Rachel Levine, the Pennsylvania (PA) secretary of health, for the position of assistant secretary of health in the Department of Health and Human Services. This is potentially good news for Pennsylvanians, who will finally be rid of her after having had to endure her disastrous covid lockdowns and restrictions for nearly a year, but is likely bad news for the rest of the country.

News coverage of Levine’s nomination is focused almost entirely on the fact that if she is confirmed she will be the first transgender official to be confirmed by the Senate and barely mentions or completely glosses over her handling of the pandemic in PA. NPR doesn’t mention her track record at all other than noting that she, unsurprisingly, called for more federal funding to deal with the virus. The Morning Call at least reported that Levine has faced criticism over her handling of the virus response but failed to mention that under Levine PA nursing homes were forced to accept covid-positive patients.

After the announcement of her forthcoming nomination, Republicans began to attack Levine on social media, especially concerning her nursing home policy. In response, Newsweek published a laughable excuse of a “fact check,” asserting, “There is no evidence to support Greene’s [a Republican representative from Georgia] claim that Levine placed coronavirus-positive patients in nursing home facilities, thus likely contributing ‘to the thousands of elderly deaths in Pennsylvania.’”

However, the author, Julia Marnin, seems to have failed to adequately research PA Department of Health guidelines. She cites a guideline issued in March of 2020 that states that nursing homes “must continue to accept new admissions and receive readmissions for current residents who have been discharged from the hospital who are stable,” and that “This may include stable patients who have had the COVID-19 virus.” Marnin then argues that this language didn’t mean that nursing homes had to accept positive patients but that “they can” and that there is no evidence that Levine’s policy “placed coronavirus-positive patients in nursing homes or contributed to thousands of elderly deaths in the state.”

This absurd claim completely falls apart, since later Pennsylvania Health Department guidelines make it explicitly clear that nursing homes must readmit covid-positive patients and continue to accept new ones even if they are covid positive, as well. Guidance issued on May 12, 2020, states that “A positive test result is not a reason to refuse readmission to a resident” and that “An NCF [nursing care facility] must continue to take new admissions, if appropriate beds are available, and a suspected or confirmed positive for COVID-19 is not a reason to deny admission.”

Until the late fall/early winter surge in cases and deaths, roughly 70 percent of all covid fatalities in Pennsylvania were among nursing home and long-term care facility patients. Since the latest surge, that number has dropped to roughly 50 percent. Yet, even with the latest drop, it is clear that the state government’s nursing home policy has been a disaster, and the media does a great disservice to the country by sweeping a discussion of that record under the rug.

Perhaps even more disturbing than forcing nursing homes to accept covid-positive patients is Levine’s policy goal of social justice–based rationing of covid treatments that was released by the PA Department of Health under Levine’s leadership.

As I have written about previously, this guidance, entitled “Ethical Allocation Framework for Emerging Treatments of COVID-19,” states that “a core goal of public health is to redress inequities that make health and safety less accessible to disadvantaged groups—we show equal respect for all members of society by mitigating the structural inequities that cause certain communities to bear the greatest burden during the pandemic.” In other words, according to Levine’s department of health, public health isn’t just about medical health issues, it is about using the response to medical health issues to engineer society to promote “social justice.”

In this scheme, the state recommends that healthcare providers use a weighted lottery system to ration care and encourages hospitals to weigh a patient’s entry based on his or her socioeconomic status as determined by old data aggregated from census blocks. You would think that promoting “equality” would mean that whether you receive life-saving medical treatment wouldn’t depend on where you live, but some patients are apparently more equal than others.

The fact that someone who apparently subscribes to such a radical egalitarian agenda is likely to soon be one of the most powerful healthcare bureaucrats in the country does not bode well, as calls for the federal government to nationalize healthcare continue unabated. Levine’s radicalism, combined with the incompetence she displayed by forcing nursing homes to accept covid-positive patients and other heavy-handed lockdown measures, will hopefully at least lead to a serious analysis of her record during her Senate confirmation hearing. But don’t hold your breath.

Biden Hints Coronavirus Restrictions Through ‘Early Fall’ — ‘Never Said I’d Do It in Two Months’

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AP
CHARLIE SPIERING
President Joe Biden said Monday that Americans could expect to continue dealing with the coronavirus pandemic into the early fall.
The president responded to a question from Fox News reporter Peter Doocy, who asked whether Biden was fulfilling his campaign promise to “shut down” the virus.
The president spoke to reporters about the battle against the virus after signing an executive order promoting federal purchasing from companies making their products in the United States.
Biden predicted that it would take much longer to eliminate the restrictive stage of the pandemic, noting that most vaccinations take two shots per person spread apart for three weeks.
“We’re still going to be dealing with this issue in the early fall,” he said, additionally noting that, “We’re in this for a while.”
Biden blamed the ongoing crisis on “mass disregard” of Americans not listening to health officials on wearing masks and failing to properly socially distance themselves from other people.
He predicted that there would likely be 660,000 deaths from the virus before the United States would even be allowed to turn the corner.
“It’s beginning to move in the right direction,” Biden said.
In a slightly more optimistic estimate, Biden said that vaccines would be available to anyone who wanted one by the spring, and that by the summer the United States could be “well on our way to heading toward” herd immunity.
“I feel good about where we’re going, and I think we can get it done,” he said.

Breitbart

Dr. Fauci Raking in $417.6K a Year, Highest Salary in US Govt

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(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The man who oversaw the worst worldwide pandemic in more than a 100 years is not only the highest paid doctor in the U.S. government, he is highest paid among 4 million U.S. federal employees, according to Forbes.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, 80, who recently disparaged former President Donald Trump in his first White House briefing under President Joe Biden, made a U.S.-high $417,608 in 2019 as the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, per the report.

Then a global coronavirus decimated the world under his watch as Director of the National Institute for Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and current chief medical adviser to the president. More than 419,228 Americans have died with COVID-19 in the past year under Fauci’s watch, and more than 2.1 million worldwide.

Fauci’s salary dwarfed even that of the $400,000 made by the president, Forbes reported, citing OpenTheBooks.com’s Freedom of Information Act requests of those whose salaries are paid by taxpayer dollars.

He stands to earn $2.5 million from 2019 through 2024, if he does not – or has not already – receive a raise and stays through the end of Biden’s first term, Forbes reported.

Also, Fauci has raked in $3.6 million in the decade of 2010-2019, having gotten a boost from $335,000 in 2014 during the Obama administration, per the report.

The lockdowns to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus were the brainchild of Fauci last spring.

Former Vice President Mike Pence, at $235,100, was less well-paid, despite being the leader of the White House coronavirus task force Fauci was a part of.

Among the other notable U.S. government salaries, per Forbes:

  • Taskforce coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx $305,972 in 2019.
  • House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., $223,500.
  • Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts $270,700.
  • House Members and Senators $174,000.
  • Four-star military generals $268,000.

There are 2.1 million federal agency employees in the Executive Branch, 1.4 million military members, and 500,000 postal employees, per Forbes.

Luxury Chocolatier “Godiva” Closing all US Stores Due to Losses Caused by Covid

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AP

By: TJVNews.com

Amid the seemingly infinite challenges that we have encountered due to the dreaded coronavirus as well as the political and cultural upheavals that we have witnessed over the last year, there seems to be more bad news and this time chocolate lovers are getting a kick in the collective gut.

It has been reported that the iconic Godiva luxury chocolate chain of stores will be closing or selling all 128 of its stores in North America, which includes all of its U.S. locations, by the end of March, as was reported by NBC New York.

“Demand for the in-person shopping experience offered through GODIVA’s brick and mortar locations has waned as a result of the pandemic and its acceleration of changes in consumers’ shopping behavior,” the company said in an emailed statement to TODAY Food.

Godiva products will still be available to buy online, as well as through its grocery, club and retail partners, the company told the Today show. CNN reported that Godiva will keep its stores open across Europe, Middle East and Greater China. The company did not disclose information on how many employees would be let go because of the closures.

“Our brick and mortar locations in North America have had a clear purpose since we first opened our doors in this market — to provide an in-person experience for consumers to enjoy the world’s most exquisite chocolates,” Godiva CEO Nurtac Afridi said in a statement, as was reported by NBC New York. “We have always been focused on what our consumers need and how they want to experience our brand, which is why we have made this decision.

“This decision was difficult because of the care we have for our dedicated and hard-working chocolatiers who will be impacted,” she continued, as was reported by NBC New York. “We are grateful for all they have done to make wonderful moments for our consumers and spread happiness through incredible customer service and living our values and behaviors.”

CNN reported that Godiva opened its first cafe in the United States in New York City in April 2019 and announced that it planned on opening 10 more cafes in New York and more than 400 across the United States. It was part of a plan to open 2,000 new cafes around the world. But that plan never came to fruition. Godiva relied heavily on mall traffic, which has been plummeting even before the pandemic.

NBC New York reported that in August, Pizza Hut announced it would be closing up to 300 underperforming locations, and in October, IHOP announced it would be closing nearly 100 locations. Several businesses have also filed for bankruptcy over the past year, including California Pizza Kitchen and the parent company of Chuck E. Cheese.

 

NY sees $1.6 Billion less in tax revenue from real estate deals

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By Hellen Zaboulani

Data revealing 2020’s real estate deals is ready, and it does not paint a pretty picture.

The year end totals show there were roughly $47.1 billion worth of residential and investment sales in New York in 2020, down 46% compared with 2019, according to a report from the Real Estate Board of New York. Friday’s report shows that the sales brought in an estimated $2.7 billion in tax revenue for the city and state, a 36 percent drop from the year before. That means the decline in real estate sales cost the city and state a combined decline of $1.6 billion in tax revenue, during the pandemic. “With this full scope of real estate activity in 2020, we can fully see the devastating economic impact the Covid pandemic has had on New York,” REBNY President James Whelan said in a statement. “Our city and state are in dire need for the new federal administration to step in with a stimulus package—including state and local aid, rent relief and unemployment benefits—that addresses our economy and helps all New Yorkers out of this crisis.”

As per Crain’s NY, the report divulges that there were a total of 28,187 investment and residential sales in 2020, down 39 percent from the year before. This made the city about $1.9 billion in tax revenue, and brought the state about $786 million in tax revenue for the state, down 38% and 32%, respectively.

There were a total of 2,579 investment sale transactions in 2020, down 20% from the previous year. As per the report, the Investment sales were worth some $21.4 billion and brought in roughly $1.4 billion in taxes last year, down 48% from 2019. In the residential market, activity was also slow, with 25,608 deals made worth roughly $25.7 billion, which brought in roughly $1.3 billion in tax revenue.

A decline in prices also led to the depressed figures in residential sales for the city. Even though in Brooklyn and Queens median sales prices reached record highs during the fourth quarter, in Manhattan median sales prices fell by 4.5 percent quarter over quarter, as per reports from Douglas Elliman. “Because of prices that are lower,” Douglas Elliman CEO Dottie Herman said, “we’re seeing some young people now who were not able to afford the city be able to come in.”

Hawaiian-Jewish Surfing Star Makua Rothman Sets Record for Riding the Tallest Wave

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AP

By: TJVNews.com

Hawaiian-Jewish surfing star Makua Rothman may have successfully ridden the largest recorded wave in the history of the sport, estimated to be at least 100 feet tall, according to a JTA report.

It was on January 16th, now known as Super Swell Saturday, when Rothman, 36,  the Oahu North Shore native was where he definitely wanted to be. The veteran surfer was riding the biggest waves of an epic 2020-21 winter season in Maui with his fellow big-wave surfers, Rothman mastered the ride on “Jaws” – better known as the Himalayan waves of Peahi.

Rothman posted video of the achievement from last Saturday on his YouTube page on Wednesday. Among those riding the gargantuan waves with Rothman were such legendary pros as Ian Walsh, Garrett McNamara, Kai Lenny and Billy Kemper. It was reported, however, that Rothman rode a monster of a wave that some estimated at 100 feet and was the biggest wave ever ridden in Hawaii. Suffice it to say that the surfing world and major media outlets were stunned by this phenomenal accomplishment after a video aired on TMZ.

It appears that Rothman broke his own personal record which he set when he was only 18. At that time, he successfully rode the 66-foot Peahi wave and won the XXL Awards in 2002.

In the days that followed his record riding wave 10 days ago, Rothman said, “I didn’t actually know how big it was when I was riding it, but I could tell it was a special wave, it felt different. Those waves, they create their own wind, their own ecosystem, they have things that aren’t on the normal-size wave: bumps as big as cars on their face.”

JTA reported that Rothman has a Jewish father and a Hawaiian mother and hails from Kahuku, Hawaii. Judaism was not a significant part of his life as a child, but he told the San Diego Jewish World in 2009 that he was drawing closer to the faith.

“God is the ocean. God is the air. God is the sun … Every time I’m out there I give thanks,” he said, according to the JTA report.

Rothman is considered one of the best surfers in the world and started to ride waves when he was only two years old, according to the JTA report. In addition to his passion for surfing, Rothman is also musically inclined and as a professional has toured with Jewish beat box star Mattisyahu as well as Bob Marley’s former backing band, known as The Wailers, as was reported by JTA.

Moreover, JTA reported that Rothman is also friends with an early Jewish pioneer of the sport, Dorian “Doc” Paskowitz. It was he who helped popularize it in Israel. Paskowitz brought a young Rothman to Israel for a surfing event that brought Jewish and Arab Israelis together on the waves, as was reported by JTA.

 

 

Tishman Speyer tower at Hudson Yards set to reach Milestone

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Tishman Speyer’.com

By Hadassa Kalatizadeh
The Spiral, Tishman Speyer’s 1,041-foot-tall Tower at Hudson Yards, will top off on Tuesday. The $3.7 billion, 66-story skyscraper, beribboned with cascading, landscaped terraces and hanging gardens will reach milestone heights. The supertall building’s design not only makes the building stand out, but also provides tenants on each floor with outdoor terrace space. As reported by the NY Post, CEO Rob Speyer, who has been heading the development, says the even better accomplishment is having Pfizer Inc signed as an office tenant. “Pfizer’s team are the true heroes of COVID,” Speyer said. “We couldn’t be prouder.
The pharmaceutical giant which churned out a COVID-19 vaccine in record time, signed on back in the summer of 2018, taking on a lease for 800,000 square feet. “We were proud when we first signed the lease with them,” he said. “Now we’re over the moon.” Pfizer is currently occupying a few older buildings in the East 40s, and plans to consolidate its offices when the Spiral is ready.

The Spiral boasts a total of roughly 2.85 million square feet, which is slated to open in the spring of 2022. The tower at 66 Hudson Blvd encompasses the entire block bounded by 10th Avenue and the Hudson Boulevard, and by West 34th and 35th streets. Designed by Bjarke Ingels Group architects, the tower will have spiraling rings of greenery, which will give the supertall glass tower a soft garden look.

In 2018, after Pfizer signed on right before ground breaking, two other large tenants signed on, namely Debevoise & Plimpton LLP and AllianceBernstein. Those three sign-ons together brought the Spiral to just over 50 percent leased. Filling up the rest of the building might prove difficult now that the pandemic has devastated the commercial real estate market.
Last week, Speyer voiced confidence though, in an interview with The Post. “We’re over 50 percent leased, and we have more than a year and a half to deliver,” he said. “We have several conversations going with companies that are broadly representative of the city’s commerce.” Speyer said they have not lowered the asking rents but indicated they would be open to negotiating a “fair deal for everyone.” “Remember, many companies have delayed [real-estate] decisions pending the resolution of the pandemic.” said Speyer. “That naturally creates pent-up demand.” Speyer expressed hope that by September, if the virus can be contained, there can be a strong increase in leasing volume.

Saks Fifth Avenue May Try to Spin Off Dot-Com Business with IPO

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By Benyamin Davidsons

Saks Fifth Avenue, the iconic retailer, may be trying to spin off its dot-com business with a possible initial public offering this year.

The luxury department store chain, owned by Toronto-based Hudson’s Bay Co., left the Toronto Stock Exchange in March to become a privately held company. As reported by the NY Post, now the company management has readied information for investors to consider in preparation for an IPO for Saks.com. The efforts are in their “early days,” a source told the Post.

Such an endeavour would separate the 40 Saks Fifth Avenue retail stores from the company’s $1 billion digital business, at a time when the online business has been booming with people staying home due to the pandemic. While brick and mortar stores, in general, have suffered during the Covid-19 pandemic, sales at Saks.com have increased by “double digits.”

“People were buying things in the height of the pandemic that there was no absolute functional end use for, but they love the fashion,” said Saks Fifth Avenue Chief Executive Marc Metrick. “I think what we learned is [consumers] view luxury as the comfort food of retail. … It was their way to feel — it was something so much more and so much deeper than a pair of shoes.” “Why else would you buy 110-millimeter pumps … from a from a luxury brand, when you’re working at home and on Zoom all day?” Metrick added. “You do it because you love fashion, and it’s your Oreo cookie. It’s your — something that’s going to make you feel better.”

HBC executive chairman Richard Baker, who owns a majority stake Saks Fifth Avenue, has spoken about a spinoff of Saks.com since 2017. HBC also owns 106 Saks Off Fifth stores. “Saks.com significant value,” said retail consultant Gerald Storch, who is a former CEO of HBC. “But pulling off such an IPO is quite difficult and unprecedented.”

An exclusive agreement would still keep the separated entities tied together, if the IPO goes through, reported Women’s Wear Daily. A spinoff would still present difficulties for the company to provide incentives “for the sales staff to treat sales at the stores and the Internet the same,” and determining the commission pricing on those sales, Storch said. He also added that Saks chief executive Metrick would be the most probable candidate to run the dot-com company, if it were to go public.
HBC declined to comment to the Post.

Have covid, will travel: Israeli reporter discovers fake negative corona test results for sale

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By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

An investigation by Kan News Sunday has revealed that a fake negative Covid-19 test result is just a few clicks away on your phone or computer, and cheap at that.

Finding a bot on Telegram called “Corona test results,” the reporter sent a false name, date of birth, passport and ID numbers, and paid a £ 25 fee (about 110 shekels) to a bitcoin wallet. A fake clearance arrived just a few minutes later, supposedly from Poriyah Hospital in Tiberias. A receipt duly followed from a company called Elastic-fantastic.

Many countries now require that people entering their borders need to have proof dated within 72 hours of travel that they are not infected by the coronavirus. The demand for this basic level of protection has led criminal minds to figure out how to profit off those who need to travel, don’t like waiting in line or for results that can take a day to arrive, or, in the worst case scenario, may be positive for the disease.

The Israeli police arrested four people in September on suspicion of running a similar operation, but that may only be the tip of the iceberg. A Kan investigator found someone to put together a fake test result, in this case for a fictitious Israeli returning from Dubai.

In that case, the counterfeiter said that he would need a real corona certificate in order to do a mock-up.

It was an even simpler task if the traveler was ill, with a positive test in hand, she was told.

“That’s the easiest,” the criminal told the reporter. “Send me the form and I’ll change it to be negative… As it is, this test is as reliable as sh**.”

When she expressed nervousness about the fake form passing muster in the airport, he told her that the airport authorities “wouldn’t check the form because you are an Israeli citizen.”

Former senior police investigator Dr. Susie Ben Baruch told Kan News that once the special “green passports” allowing people to travel because they have had the vaccine become commonplace, a way must be found to detect counterfeits.

“We have to sit down immediately and solve the problem of how this green passport will contain some kind of sign to show that it’s fake or real, like there are in our banknotes, like we have in our ID cards,” she said.