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ICE Agents Ordered to Free All Illegal Aliens in Custody: ‘Release Them All’

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(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

JOHN BINDER

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, tasked with enforcing federal immigration law, are being instructed to free all detainees in their custody, as President Joe Biden’s administration halts deportations.

An internal January 21 ICE memo, independently reviewed by Breitbart News and first reported by Fox News’s Tucker Carlson, orders agents to “stop all removals,” including land and air deportations.

In addition, the memo tells agents that “all cases” of detainees in ICE custody are now to be considered “no significant likelihood of removal in foreseeable future” — suggesting all detainees will need to be released.

“Release them all, immediately,” the ICE official wrote to staff in the memo. Typically, if detainees do not have sponsors in the United States, agents can hold an individual in their custody. The memo, though, states that is no longer the case and that even detainees without sponsors must be released.

It is unclear if ICE is currently carrying out the mass release of all 14,195 detainees in its custody, 71.45 percent of whom are convicted criminals or have pending criminal charges. These detainees are currently held in approximately 138 facilities across the United States.

ICE has halted all deportations, regardless of the criminal convictions of an illegal alien, as a result of Biden’s executive order stopping removals for at least 100 days. The initiative is a long-term goal of the open borders lobby, which has sought a permanent end to deportations.

ICE officials have not responded to a request for comment in time for this publication.

Breitbart

Israel launches coronavirus vaccinations for teenagers

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(AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

(i24) Vaccines now available to high school students aged 16-18 with parental approval

Israel began administering coronavirus vaccines to teenagers Saturday as it pushed ahead with its inoculation drive, health officials said.

On Thursday, Israel’s Health Ministry announced that it approved inoculation of high school students, aged 16-18, whose parents okayed the jab.

The country’s largest health fund, Clalit, was already giving teens shots as of Saturday morning, its website said, while the three smaller funds were due to kick off their campaign later.

Also from Saturday, people aged 40 and up are also allowed to get the vaccine in another expansion of the minimal age for booking an appointment.

Israel began administering vaccines on December 20, beginning with health professionals and quickly proceeding to the elderly, sick and at-risk groups, continuously lowering the minimum age of those entitled to the shot.

Since the rollout of vaccinations one month ago, almost 2.5 million of Israel’s nine-million-strong population have received at least one jab, according to the data released Friday.

The country secured a huge stock of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and has pledged to share the impact data quickly with the US-German manufacturer.

With pandemic figures still relatively high, Israel also extended its third national coronavirus lockdown on Tuesday, its end now slated for January 31.

Schumer: Impeachment Trial will Begin Week of February 8

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AP

JOSHUA CAPLAN

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced Friday that former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial will begin the week of February 8th.

“Both the House managers and the defense will have a period of time to draft their legal briefs just as they did in previous trials. …Once the briefs are drafted, the presentation by the parties will commence the week of February 8,” Schumer said in a Senate floor speech.

The development comes after Pelosi announced that the House will send its single article of impeachment to the upper chamber on Monday.

The Hill reports:

Under the agreement between Schumer and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), the article will be read at 7 p.m. on Monday. Senators will be sworn in Tuesday and a summons will be issued to Trump. Trump’s response to the article and House’s pre-trial brief will be due by Feb. 2, and Trump’s pre-trial brief will be due six days later. The earliest the trial could start is Feb. 9, when the House’s pre-trial rebuttal is also due.

In a statement, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell ‘s (R-KY) office expressed satisfaction regarding trial timeline.

“Leader McConnell is glad that Leader Schumer agreed to Republicans’ request for additional time during the pre-trial phase. Especially given the fast and minimal process in the House, Republicans set out to ensure the Senate’s next steps will respect former President Trump’s rights and due process, the institution of the Senate, and the office of the presidency,” McConnell spox Doug Andres said.

Last week, McConnell accused Trump of stoking the recent riot at the U.S. Capitol, in which five people died, including a police officer. “The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people, and they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding … which they did not like,” stated the Kentucky Republican. “But we pressed on. We stood together and said an angry mob would not get veto power over the rule of law in our nation.”

McConnell has yet to decide on whether he will vote to convict Trump in the upcoming trial, while some reports suggest that he may have trouble holding on to his long-held leadership post if he votes against the former president.

“If he does, I don’t know if he can stay as leader,” one unnamed senior Republican senator said, reported CNN. The lawmaker  told the news outlet that “several of his colleagues held similar views and asked not to be named discussing sensitive internal politics.”

Beitbart News

US military convoy enters northeast Syria: report

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(i24) A convoy of 40 trucks and armor vehicles said to have entered Syria from Iraq

A large US military convoy entered northeastern Syria on Thursday, Syrian state news agency SANA reports, citing sources on the ground.

According to the report, the convoy included some 40 trucks and armored vehicles and was backed from the air by helicopters.

It entered Syria from Iraq via the al-Waleed crossing to bring arms and logistical equipment to the bases in Hasakeh and Deir Ezzor provinces.

Other local media report that such maneuvers are not unusual as the US often moves transfers equipment between Iraq and Syria.

At the same time, SANA also reports that some 200 US troops arrived in the Hasakeh province on helicopters.

According to the report, the troops are set to deploy on the nearby oilfields, with Kurdish-controlled eastern Syria rich in energy resources.

The US-led coalition has been working closely with the Kurds during the campaign against the Islamic State terrorist group in Syria, with Kurdish forces often working as ground coordinators for coalition jets during airstrikes.

In late 2020, then-US President Donald Trump ordered US troops withdrawn from the area to redeploy to Iraq.

One Million Jobs Lost in New York State During Pandemic

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People eat at restaurant tables on a street block closed to vehicle traffic to allow social distancing and outdoor dining during the coronavirus pandemic in the borough of Manhattan in New York City on Sunday, December 13, 2020. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)

By Sandy Fitzgerald(NEWSMAX)

The state of New York lost 1 million jobs in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, including 578,000 in New York City alone, according to a new state Labor Department report.

The job losses, which caused 10 percent of the state workforce to vanish, came after lockdowns, tourism drops, and tanking business activity, reports The New York Post. In New York City, the decline meant that 12 percent of jobs disappeared, marking the highest job loss in the state.

In the United States overall, 6% of jobs dropped, marking half the rate of New York City, which was the initial coronavirus epicenter last spring.

The economy has also stalled during the second COVID-19 surge, with New York State losing 37,200 jobs in December, compared to November of last year.

Most of New York City’s job losses came from the restaurant, food services, and beverage industry. In December 2019, 324,500 people were employed in that sector, compared to 183,800 in December 2020.

The industry also lost 11,700 jobs in December compared to November after Gov. Andrew Cuomo reinstated the ban on indoor dining in New York City in an attempt to contain the second COVID-19 surge.

The hospitality sector, which includes hotels, arts, and entertainment, also dropped 366,000 jobs statewide, with many hotels and the Broadway theater district remaining shuttered.

According to Cuomo’s economic forecast, released as part of his new budget plan this week, the state will probably not recover all of its lost jobs until 2025.

Andrew Rigie, executive director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance, said restaurants and bars are essential to the city’s “social and economic fabric” and the city is at a “crisis level like we’ve never experienced.”

New York City restauranteurs also complain that indoor dining is banned in the city but is allowed elsewhere in the state if combined with social distancing restrictions.

“If New York City is to pull itself out of this economic grave and gain jobs, we must safely bring back regulated indoor dining like it’s permitted in the rest of New York State, and the Biden Administration and Congress must enact the RESTAURANTS Act stimulus plan very soon,” Rigie said.

Twitter Suspends Antifa-Linked Accounts Following Inauguration Day Riots

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zz/John Nacion/STAR MAX/IPx 2020)

By Brian Trusdell  (NEWSMAX)

Twitter has suspended antifa-linked accounts with more than 71,000 followers after Inauguration Day riots in Seattle and Portland that targeted the Democratic Party headquarters and Immigrational and Customs Enforcement offices.

The accounts linked to the militant far-left antifa that were suspended included @JewishWorker, @RevAbolition, @RevAbolitionNYC and @TheBaseBK, Andy Ngo of the conservative blog The Post Millennial reported.

Ngo characterized TheBaseBK, a self-described anarchist political center, as an ”extremist bookstore in Brooklyn, NY that has been used as an antifa training center.”

The move comes after rioters smashed windows, dragged dumpsters into the streets and set them afire and defaced the Democratic Party headquarters Portland, local CBS television affiliate KOIN reported. Eight people were arrested.

Two others were arrested in Seattle, where rioters smashed windows of several businesses, including a Starbucks restaurant.

Antifa Sacramento decried Twitter in a post on its own Twitter account.

”Our comrades w The Base (@TheBasebk), an anarchist social center in Brooklyn, NY of 9 years now took this Twitter thing seriously,” it wrote. ”Reaching a platform of 17k followers they pushed a very specific line where politics were never blurred. Today, Twitter took their account down, and now there’s a void.

”The Base took the same approach to Twitter as they do in the struggle for liberation,” it added. “As anarchists, they take a stand & never waver. Its inspiring. And we encourage everyone to check their site now & periodically http://thebasebk.org Solidarity forever!”

Several cities, but Portland and Seattle especially, have experienced riots since the beginning of the summer following the death of a Black man in police custody in Minneapolis. President Joe Biden famously called antifa a ”movement” but not an organization during the presidential debate with then-President Donald Trump in September.

Larry King, broadcasting giant for half-century, dies at 87

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In this April 18, 2007 file photo, Larry King speaks to guests at a party held by CNN, celebrating King's fifty years of broadcasting in New York. King, who interviewed presidents, movie stars and ordinary Joes during a half-century in broadcasting, has died at age 87. Ora Media, the studio and network he co-founded, tweeted that King died Saturday, Jan. 23, 2021 morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. ( AP Photo/Stuart Ramson, File)

By ANDREW DALTON

(AP) — Larry King, the suspenders-sporting everyman whose broadcast interviews with world leaders, movie stars and ordinary Joes helped define American conversation for a half-century, died Saturday. He was 87.

King died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his production company, Ora Media, tweeted. No cause of death was given, but a spokesperson said Jan. 4 that King had COVID-19, had received supplemental oxygen and had been moved out of intensive care. His son Chance Armstrong also confirmed King’s death, CNN reported.

A longtime nationally syndicated radio host, from 1985 through 2010 he was a nightly fixture on CNN, where he won many honors, including two Peabody awards.

With his celebrity interviews, political debates and topical discussions, King wasn’t just an enduring on-air personality. He also set himself apart with the curiosity he brought to every interview, whether questioning the assault victim known as the Central Park jogger or billionaire industrialist Ross Perot, who in 1992 rocked the presidential contest by announcing his candidacy on King’s show.

In its early years, “Larry King Live” was based in Washington, which gave the show an air of gravitas. Likewise King. He was the plainspoken go-between through whom Beltway bigwigs could reach their public, and they did, earning the show prestige as a place where things happened, where news was made.

King conducted an estimated 50,000 on-air interviews. In 1995 he presided over a Middle East peace summit with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, King Hussein of Jordan and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. He welcomed everyone from the Dalai Lama to Elizabeth Taylor, from Mikhail Gorbachev to Barack Obama, Bill Gates to Lady Gaga.

Especially after he relocated to Los Angeles, his shows were frequently in the thick of breaking celebrity news, including Paris Hilton talking about her stint in jail in 2007 and Michael Jackson’s friends and family members talking about his death in 2009.

 

King boasted of never overpreparing for an interview. His nonconfrontational style relaxed his guests and made him readily relatable to his audience.

In this Oct. 7, 1999 file photo, Donald Trump, right, is interviewed by Larry King during a taping of “Larry King Live.” (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler, File)

“I don’t pretend to know it all,” he said in a 1995 Associated Press interview. “Not, `What about Geneva or Cuba?′ I ask, `Mr. President, what don’t you like about this job?′ Or `What’s the biggest mistake you made?′ That’s fascinating.”

At a time when CNN as the lone player in cable news was deemed politically neutral, and King was the essence of its middle-of-the-road stance, political figures and people at the center of controversies would seek out his show.

In this Jan. 26, 1994 file photo, Oliver North talks to television show host Larry King prior to the start of CNN’s ‘Larry King Live’ in Washington. (AP Photo/Shayna Brennan, File)

And he was known for getting guests who were notoriously elusive. Frank Sinatra, who rarely gave interviews and often lashed out at reporters, spoke to King in 1988 in what would be the singer’s last major TV appearance. Sinatra was an old friend of King’s and acted accordingly.

“Why are you here?” King asks. Sinatra responds, “Because you asked me to come and I hadn’t seen you in a long time to begin with, I thought we ought to get together and chat, just talk about a lot of things.”

King had never met Marlon Brando, who was even tougher to get and tougher to interview, when the acting giant asked to appear on King’s show in 1994. The two hit it off so famously they ended their 90-minute talk with a song and an on-the-mouth kiss, an image that was all over media in subsequent weeks.

After a gala week marking his 25th anniversary in June 2010, King abruptly announced he was retiring from his show, telling viewers, “It’s time to hang up my nightly suspenders.” Named as his successor in the time slot: British journalist and TV personality Piers Morgan.

By King’s departure that December, suspicion had grown that he had waited a little too long to hang up those suspenders. Once the leader in cable TV news, he ranked third in his time slot with less than half the nightly audience his peak year, 1998, when “Larry King Live” drew 1.64 million viewers.

His wide-eyed, regular-guy approach to interviewing by then felt dated in an era of edgy, pushy or loaded questioning by other hosts.

Meanwhile, occasional flubs had made him seem out of touch, or worse. A prime example from 2007 found King asking Jerry Seinfeld if he had voluntarily left his sitcom or been canceled by his network, NBC.

“I was the No. 1 show in television, Larry,” replied Seinfeld with a flabbergasted look. “Do you know who I am?”

Always a workaholic, King would be back doing specials for CNN within a few months of performing his nightly duties.

He found a new sort of celebrity as a plainspoken natural on Twitter when the platform emerged, winning over more than 2 million followers who simultaneously mocked and loved him for his esoteric style.

FILE – In this Dec. 1, 2016 file photo, Larry King arrives at Trump Tower in New York. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

“I’ve never been in a canoe. #Itsmy2cents,” he said in a typical tweet in 2015.

His Twitter account was essentially a revival of a USA Today column he wrote for two decades full of one-off, disjointed thoughts. Norm Macdonald delivered a parody version of the column when he played King on “Saturday Night Live,” with deadpan lines like, “The more I think about it, the more I appreciate the equator.”

King was constantly parodied, often through old-age jokes on late-night talk shows from hosts including David Letterman and Conan O’Brien, often appearing with the latter to get in on the roasting himself.

King came by his voracious but no-frills manner honestly.

He was born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger in 1933, a son of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe who ran a bar and grill in Brooklyn. But after his father’s death when Larry was a boy, he faced a troubled, sometimes destitute youth.

A fan of such radio stars as Arthur Godfrey and comedians Bob & Ray, King on reaching adulthood set his sights on a broadcasting career. With word that Miami was a good place to break in, he headed south in 1957 and landed a job sweeping floors at a tiny AM station. When a deejay abruptly quit, King was put on the air — and was handed his new surname by the station manager, who thought Zeiger “too Jewish.”

A year later he moved to a larger station, where his duties were expanded from the usual patter to serving as host of a daily interview show that aired from a local restaurant. He quickly proved equally adept at talking to the waitresses, and the celebrities who began dropping by.

In this Dec. 16, 1999 file photo, Republican presidential candidate Texas Gov. George W. Bush jokes with CNN’s Larry King after finishing the “Larry King Live” show from the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/John Russell, file)

By the early 1960s King had gone to yet a larger Miami station, scored a newspaper column and become a local celebrity himself.

At the same time, he fell victim to living large.

“It was important to me to come across as a ‘big man,”’ he wrote in his autobiography, which meant “I made a lot of money and spread it around lavishly.”

He accumulated debts and his first broken marriages (he was married eight times to seven women). He gambled, borrowed wildly and failed to pay his taxes. He also became involved with a shady financier in a scheme to bankroll an investigation of President John Kennedy’s assassination. But when King skimmed some of the cash to pay his overdue taxes, his partner sued him for grand larceny in 1971. The charges were dropped, but King’s reputation appeared ruined.

King lost his radio show and, for several years, struggled to find work. But by 1975 the scandal had largely blown over and a Miami station gave him another chance. Regaining his local popularity, King was signed in 1978 to host radio’s first nationwide call-in show.

Originating from Washington on the Mutual network, “The Larry King Show” was eventually heard on more than 300 stations and made King a national phenomenon.

A few years later, CNN founder Ted Turner offered King a slot on his young network. “Larry King Live” debuted on June 1, 1985, and became CNN’s highest-rated program. King’s beginning salary of $100,000 a year eventually grew to more than $7 million.

In this Thursday, Aug. 26, 1999, file photo, talk show host Larry King wipes his eyes after laughing at a joke by comedy legend Jerry Lewis. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

A three-packs-a-day cigarette habit led to a heart attack in 1987, but King’s quintuple-bypass surgery didn’t slow him down.

Meanwhile, he continued to prove that, in his words, “I’m not good at marriage, but I’m a great boyfriend.”

He was just 18 when he married high school girlfriend Freda Miller, in 1952. The marriage lasted less than a year. In subsequent decades he would marry Annette Kay, Alene Akins (twice), Mickey Sutfin, Sharon Lepore and Julie Alexander.

In 1997, he wed Shawn Southwick, a country singer and actress 26 years his junior. They would file for divorce in 2010, rescind the filing, then file for divorce again in 2019.

In this Feb. 15, 2000 file photo, Larry King, host of CNN’s Larry King Live, asks a question to the Republican presidential candidates, from left, Sen. John McCain, Alan Keyes, and Gov. George W. Bush of Texas, during the Republican presidential debate in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Eric Draper, Pool)

The couple had two sons — King’s fourth and fifth kids, Chance, born in 1999, and Cannon Edward, born in 2000. In 2020, King lost his two oldest children, Andy King and Chaia King, who died of unrelated health problems within weeks of each other.

He had many other medical issues in recent decades, including more heart attacks and diagnoses of type 2 diabetes and lung cancer.

Through his setbacks he continued to work into his late 80s, taking on online talk shows and infomercials as his appearances on CNN grew fewer.

“Work,” King once said. “It’s the easiest thing I do.”

Funeral arrangements and a memorial service will be announced later in coordination with the King family, “who ask for their privacy at this time,” according to the tweet from Ora Media.

FILE – This April 1, 2013 file photo shows talk show host Larry King attends a season-opening baseball game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

The Mullahs Turn to Bitcoin Mining

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BHassan Mahmoudi(American Thinker)

The Iranian regime’s economy is suffocating, its banking system locked at the international level.  Khamenei believes that any negotiation and moderation would mean an end to his nuclear ambitions and the export of regional terrorism, threaten his regime’s survival and could swiftly lead to its overthrow.

The financial institutions affiliated with Khamenei and especially the IRGC, need to find other ways to launder money, circumvent sanctions, and evade the world banking system. Supporting their proxy forces in the region depends on keeping the money flowing.  There is no centralized control over bitcoin, making it an attractive vehicle, but Iran hasn’t got enough hard currency to buy a lot of it.  Bitcoin can’t be used to circumvent sanctions importing and exporting and unless two countries cooperate. Iran cooperates with China, Venezuela, Turkey, and several other countries on bitcoin transactions.

Enter bitcoin mining.

Tejerat News wrote last December that according to a study by the Iranian Research Center on Digital Currency, “Iran ranks 3rd amongst countries that mine Bitcoin.”

Mining bitcoins requires powerful dedicated servers called “miners.” IRGC institutions have appropriated cheap subsidized agricultural electricity and with the help of the government plundered national wealth to build large sheds housing the mines.  China has transferred its old equipment to Iran to make this possible. The energy consumption level of these mining farms is so high that each consumes as much electricity as a small town. The government and the IRGC, who think only of their own interests and profit, also cut the electricity quota of the cities to keep their money-making facilities alive.

Aftab Yazd Newspaper on January 13 wrote, “The General Manager of International Affairs of Tavanir Company said; ‘One of the factors that has increased electricity consumption is the illegal mining centers (bitcoin or digital currency) and we have identified about 1,600 unauthorized centers so far.’”  Meanwhile the official Fars News Agency downplayed the impact: “Tavanir Company’s action was taken in a situation where some media outlets had previously stated that bitcoin mining was the cause of power outages. But, the total electricity consumption of bitcoin mining is 600 MW, which is less than 1.5% of the average daily electricity consumption in December.”

According to BBC Persian in July of last year, the police force has imported more than 16,000 miner servers.

The Chinese have built a 175-megawatt bitcoin mine in Rafsanjan Special Economic Zone, near the 230 kV ferrochrome transmission lines and substation. They have located other mines in various areas of Iran. In the first phase, 10,000 M3 devices with very low efficiency were turned on and were charged the cheapest electricity tariff, at the same subsidized rate as agriculture.

As a result of this power grab, electricity has been cut off in many cities and citizens have suffered many problems. Power outages in Iranian cities are directly related to bitcoin mining. Of course, bitcoin mining is prohibited for ordinary citizens, being reserved only for the IRGC and the financial institutions of the Supreme Leader. Ali Moayedi, head of the Anti-smuggling of goods and foreign currency Headquarters, announced in July 2019, “Activities related to digital currencies mining are illegal in Iran.” The IRGC and its Basij force confiscate and seal Bitcoin mining sites operated by citizens, leaving them exclusively at the IRGC’s own disposal.

The Zeitoun website wrote: “In recent weeks, the price of bitcoin in the Iranian open market has again hit a record high and reached $ 40,000. Bitcoin has increased by 300% compared to 9 months ago. At least one of the main reasons for a sudden shortage of natural gas to generate electricity needed for public thoroughfares in the capital could be the sudden increase in mitcoin’s value.”

Bitcoin mining projects have led to an increase in electricity consumption and its immediate impact on the country’s electricity network has led to power outages in many cities across the country. This has forced those involved to use mazut instead of natural gas, which has increased air pollution.

In fact, the IRGC takes cheap agricultural subsidized electricity from citizens and in return gives back pollution, disease, and death to them. As a result, the death rate and incidence of respiratory and mental illnesses have risen sharply among the population.

Thus, the mullahs’ regime manages its economic stalemate by establishing digital farms, which are largely owned by the IRGC, by plundering people’s electricity, causing air pollution, and impeding people from breathing. This factor will quickly lead to popular protests, which the regime is deeply afraid of in the current explosive conditions of Iranian society.

 

Trump departure jeopardizes future Arab-Israel peace deals, says US envoy

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U.S. Special Envoy Aryeh Lightstone (r) stands beside U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman (Twitter/U.S. Ambassador to Israel)

By Josh Plank, World Israel News

Rabbi Aryeh Lightstone, outgoing U.S. special envoy for economic normalization in the Middle East, voiced optimism about the region while acknowledging that a changing U.S. administration has led to uncertainty about future peace deals in an interview with Kan News on Wednesday.

When asked whether the lack of a second term for the Trump administration had damaged developing peace negotiations between Arab nations and Israel, Lightstone said, “I don’t want to say ‘damaged,’ but certainly has given pause.”

“Anybody doing any deal ever knows that it’s easier to do a deal when you’ve got certainty and it’s less easy to do a deal when there’s uncertainty,” he said.

The Trump administration has successfully brokered normalization agreements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco. Lightstone said he has been involved in talks with “over a dozen more” countries.

He said that he believes Saudi Arabia will be ready for a normalization agreement with Israel “at some point.”

“[T]he region is pivoting towards the benefits of greater prosperity, security, and safety for all of the inhabitants,” he said.

Lightstone said it is in America’s best interest for countries to be not dependent but independent.

“And if you are going to become independent and rejoin the community of nations, it’s been the policy of this president that you can’t do that and still decide that you’re not going to have normalization with Israel,” he said.

“You can’t be my best friend unless you’re going to talk to my other best friend, right? It’s not possible. I can’t imagine a relationship like that,” said Lightstone.

He said that this seemingly obvious fact was “not obvious at all” to other nations when the normalization talks began.

 

In an interview with i24News on Sunday, Lightstone was optimistic about future normalization agreements, saying there would be “definitely more to come.”

“Peace does not belong to Republicans or to Democrats. It is not an issue for Jews, or Christians, or Muslims; it’s an issue for mankind,” he said.

“I don’t need to prognosticate about a future administration because I can prognosticate about the American people. The American people and the United States of America have always been for peace. They’ve always been for freedom. They’ve always been for prosperity. They’ve always been for security,” said Lightstone.

“The Abraham Accords, stemming and starting with the United States of America standing without any daylight between our number one ally in the region, Israel, has caused and created the room for the Abraham Accords to progress and to progress rapidly. Any and every American will be supportive of this,” he said.

Outgoing U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, to whom Lightstone has served as a senior advisor, told CBN News in a recent interview that the Trump administration has left the Mideast in a good place.

“I would urge real caution in changing any of the dynamic. It ain’t broke, so don’t fix it,” he said.

Yad Vashem unveils digital exhibits for International Holocaust Remembrance Day

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By Joseph Wolkin, World Israel News

Jan. 27 marks the day the world officially remembers those who perished during the Holocaust. This year’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day marks the 76th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp in Poland.

Approximately 1.1 million souls perished in Auschwitz.

This year, Yad Vashem is marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day with a plethora of digital exhibitions. From the “My Lost Childhood” exhibit to the IRemember Wall and a virtual tour of the Block 27 memorial at Auschwitz.

“We have dozens upon dozens of photos of children from their homes,” Yona Kobo, the curator at Yad Vashem who created the “My Lost Childhood” exhibition, said. “If you look at the photos, they look so happy, smiling and dancing. But behind those behind those happy, smiling faces, there are a lot of tragedies.”

Child survivors from Poland, Hungary, the Netherlands, Germany and France were placed into homes where they could regain a sense of normal life, as well as return to their Jewish faith.

 

“We bridge the gap between the happy faces and what they went through,” Kobo said. “We want people to understand what it means to be a child survivor. They were robbed of everything from family members to school. People they met usually wanted to kill them.”

Many of the child survivors, once they were old enough to do so, moved to Israel in the Jewish State’s early years.

The anecdotes that Yad Vashem includes in this exhibit are highly detailed, telling not only stories of survival, but of triumph amid the worst of all scenarios. One of the heart-warming stories is of the “Buchenwald Boys,” who were moved to the children’s home in Écouis, France after the war.

“One of the stories here is about Zvi Unger, who was about 14 years old,” Kobo said. “He came from a family of nine siblings, and he lost all of them. He found himself alone at Auschwitz. He said he became some kind of an animal, only listening to his instinct and listening to no one.”

The IRemember Wall is enhanced this year to personalize the experience of remembering people who perished during the Holocaust. People who register for it can either be randomly matched with someone’s name and memory, and they can pick a specific victim who they are related to or have a personal connection with. Yad Vashem’s Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names includes more than 4.8 million Jewish people who died during the Holocaust.

Finally, the digitization of Block 27 is something that Yad Vashem never did before. The block is a memorial in Auschwitz-Birkenau, which was prepared by Yad Vashem and debuted in 2013. It boasts galleries, a massive book of names of people who perished and a room dedicated to the memory of children who were murdered.

“Although we have Yom HaShoah, this is something that goes beyond Israel,” Kobo said. “We’re not only talking about the Jewish tragedy because this happened to mankind.”

NY Budget Spares Non-Public Schools and Yeshivos from Major Cuts

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Photo Credit: AP

Edited by: TJVNews.com

 

Earlier this week New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo released his 2021-22 executive budget. Despite facing huge deficits due to the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, the yeshiva and non-public school community were spared major cuts.

 

As a result of the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations act (CRRSA), recently enacted by the federal government, $248 million dollars was made available to non-public schools. As a result, funding parity for non-public schools and school districts were maintained, as reductions were limited to 2%, the same level as school districts. This is in line with the Agudah’s long time mantra of pushing for equality not special treatment.

 

Specifically, Mandated Services (MSA) and Comprehensive Attendance Policy (CAP) were funded at $189 million, a slight reduction from last year. The STEM reimbursement allocation was reduced from $30 million to 29.4 million. Academic Intervention for Nonpublic Schools (AIS) was funded at $904 thousand, and Nonpublic School Safety and Equipment (NPSE) was retained at its previous level of funding at $15 million.

 

More importantly, schools were held harmless for aid losses due to school closures in the spring of 2020 due to COVID-19. This has been a major legislative priority for Agudath Israel.

 

The governor’s executive budget is the first step in the process as both houses of the legislature have to vote on a final budget agreement before April 1.

 

In a statement, Mr. Shlomo Werdiger, chairman of Agudath Israel’s Board of Trustees, thanked the governor saying, “We are extremely thankful to Governor Cuomo for not overlooking the needs of the non-public school community despite the large deficits incurred due to the Covid-19 pandemic.”

 

“We were particularly pleased that our schools – who work so hard in educating their students – were held harmless for school closure and that other allocations were kept close to previous years. We will continue to work with our friends in the legislature and the executive office to hold the line on any further reductions and should additional federal funds or other revenue sources become available, to pass on accordingly.” added Rabbi Yeruchim Silber, director of New York Government Relations.

 

In Blow to NRA, Judge Rules N.Y. Lawsuit Can Proceed

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AP

(Free Beacon)

The National Rifle Association suffered a setback on Thursday as a state supreme court justice ruled against the organization’s motions to dismiss, delay, or transfer a lawsuit seeking the group’s dissolution.

The lawsuit, brought by New York attorney general Letitia James, aims to dissolve the group—a nonprofit organization incorporated under New York law—because it allegedly defrauded donors.

The NRA was hoping to convince the judge to dismiss the trial or move the venue from gun-skeptical Manhattan to more friendly political territory in Albany.

The ruling comes six days after the Second Amendment organization filed for bankruptcy and announced its plan to reincorporate in Texas. New York state supreme court justice Joel M. Cohen ruled that while the NRA filed for bankruptcy, it wasn’t “the exclusive province of the bankruptcy court” to decide the case. The bankruptcy court could still weight in on the case. In many instances, bankruptcy proceedings put lawsuits on hold.

The Second Amendment group has been locked in a legal battle with the New York attorney general that began in August when James filed a lawsuit alleging the NRA misused charitable donations intended for firearms training and safety education and diverted them toward the benefit of executives.

James’s lawsuit capped a summer filled with media reports on the NRA’s exorbitant spending. Among the allegations was that the organization looked into using $6.5 million in members’ money to buy a house for CEO Wayne LaPierre and $54 million for outside legal counsel to represent the group in a lawsuit against their former long-time PR firm, Ackerman McQueen.

James is using her authority to police nonprofit organizations incorporated in the state of New York to justify the lawsuit. The NRA’s reincorporation in Texas could prevent any attempt to dissolve the Second Amendment group since it may no longer be within James’s jurisdiction.

The NRA has denied any wrongdoing and argues that James is motivated by political animosity toward the organization. In an October 2018 interview with Ebony, James said, “The NRA holds [itself] out as a charitable organization, but in fact, [it] really [is] a terrorist organization.”

The NRA filed a countersuit in August alleging that James’s motivation was politics, not the well-being of NRA donors. “James boasted that she would strike foul blows against the NRA and pound the NRA into submission. She vowed that she would use the NYAG’s investigative and enforcement powers for the precise purpose of stanching political speech,” the lawsuit said.

An attorney for James told the judge that the trial could begin early next year.

Biden reverses change to ‘US ambassador to Israel’ title on Twitter after blowback

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By Adam Kredo, Washington Free Beacon

The Biden administration on Wednesday reversed a change to the U.S. ambassador to Israel’s Twitter account name to read, “the official Twitter account of the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza” after a Washington Free Beacon report highlighting the shift.

For a time on Wednesday, the official Twitter feed for the U.S. ambassador to Israel had its title changed to add “the West Bank and Gaza,” territories the United States has for decades avoided taking a stand on due to ongoing peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians.

The title change sparked an outcry online, including among Republican lawmakers, and was quietly changed back to read only, “U.S. ambassador to Israel.” The State Department would not comment on the initial change or why it was changed back to its original form.

Embassy officials have speculated that the title was inadvertently changed by Twitter due to a technical glitch when the accounts were switched from the Trump administration over to the Biden administration. The Free Beacon could not confirm the veracity of these claims.

“The U.S. doesn’t have ambassadors to any other disputed territory in the world. Singling out Israel, once again, is wrong,” said Len Khodorkovsky, former deputy assistant secretary at the State Department. “Instead of building on all the progress that’s been made toward peace in the Middle East, the Biden administration seems to be reversing course toward the failed policies of the Obama years.”

 

During the Obama administration, former ambassador Dan Shapiro was referred to in official communications as the “U.S. Ambassador to Israel.”

While President Joe Biden has said he would maintain the U.S. embassy facility in Jerusalem — which former President Donald Trump moved in a historic policy shift — it is likely he will put greater emphasis on Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which have long been stalled. Biden also will grapple with the last administration’s decision to recognize the Golan Heights area along the Israel-Syria border as officially part of the Jewish State.

Reacting to the shift, Rep. Michael McCaul (R., Texas), lead Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said on Twitter: “It’s incredibly troubling the administration made this controversial move on Day One, [without] consulting w/Congress. It also seems to fly in the face of comments made by Antony Blinken yesterday. I strongly urge the president to clarify this provocative move quickly.”

The title change also seemed to contradict comments by Biden’s secretary of state nominee, Anthony Blinken, who said during his confirmation hearing Tuesday that he would not seek to relocate the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem and would continue the tight security relationship between the United States and Israel.

Jonathan Schanzer, a veteran Middle East expert and vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the move could lead to significant policy changes.

“One can interpret this in two ways: On the one hand, it could be a recognition of the fact that the East Jerusalem Consulate is no longer, thus underscoring that the embassy in Jerusalem is the central clearinghouse for all things related to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. On the other hand, it also seems to imply that all three territories are to be treated with equal recognition — and that might mark a significant change in policy,” Schanzer said.

“Clarification will be needed on whether America’s diplomatic approach to Israel and the Palestinians is changing on day one of the Biden administration.”

Impeachment Frenzy: McConnell Lays Out Trump Impeachment Timeline, as GOP Rep Greene Files Articles Against Biden

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(TJVNEWS.COM) With huge unemployment numbers, a decimated economy, major issues with the pandemic and vaccine distribution, Democratic leadership and several Republicans remain transfixed on Donald Trump and seek to impeach him, even after he has left office, in an effort to prevent him from ever running for office again. Meanwhile, a freshmen congresswoman has filed impeachment articles against President Biden.

 

U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) issued a statement today regarding his proposed timeline for the first phases of an impeachment trial of former President Trump.

“I have sent a proposed timeline for the first phases of the upcoming impeachment trial to Leader Schumer and look forward to continuing to discuss it with him.
“Senate Republicans are strongly united behind the principle that the institution of the Senate, the office of the presidency, and former President Trump himself all deserve a full and fair process that respects his rights and the serious factual, legal, and constitutional questions at stake. Given the unprecedented speed of the House’s process, our proposed timeline for the initial phases includes a modest and reasonable amount of additional time for both sides to assemble their arguments before the Senate would begin to hear them.
“At this time of strong political passions, Senate Republicans believe it is absolutely imperative that we do not allow a half-baked process to short-circuit the due process that former President Trump deserves or damage the Senate or the presidency.”
McConnell shared the following proposed pre-trial timeline with the Republican Conference today:
When the articles arrive, the House Managers would exhibit (read) the articles to the Senate, Senators would be sworn in the Members as the Court of Impeachment, and would issue a summons to former President Trump.  While we do not know what day the Managers will choose, Leader McConnell has asked for this to occur on Thursday, January 28. 
Former President Trump would have one week from that day to answer the articles of impeachment (February 4).  The House’s pre-trial brief would also be due then.
The President would then have one week from the day he submits his answer to submit his pre-trial brief (February 11).  That means former president Trump has fourteen total days from when we issue the summons to write his pre-trial brief.  The House would also submit its replication on this date.
The House would then have two days to submit their rebuttal pre-trial brief (February 13).  
This approach tracks the structure of the Clinton and Trump pre-trial processes.
Meanwhile: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene announced via Twitter video Thursday that she’s filed articles of impeachment on President Joe Biden.
Rep. Greene earlier pledged on Newsmax on January 13 to do so on the first day of Biden’s presidency, as reported.
“We cannot have a President of the United States that is willing to abuse the power of the office of the presidency and be easily bought off by foreign governments, foreign Chinese energy companies, Ukrainian energy companies. So on January 21st, I will be filing articles of impeachment on Joe Biden,” said Rep. Greene.

I just filed Articles of Impeachment on President @JoeBiden. pic.twitter.com/mcwEEkKiHL

— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (@RepMTG) January 21, 2021

Israel’s COVID-19 R-number drops below one, indicating infections may be slowing

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Israeli health-care workers administer coronavirus tests at a drive-through facility in Lod on Jan. 18, 2021. Photo by Yossi Aloni/Flash90.

(JNS)Israel’s COVID-19 transmission rate—also known as the reproduction or R-number—has fallen below one for the first time since October, Israeli media reported on Thursday.

The reports cited Israel’s Military Intelligence Directorate as saying that the reproduction rate now stands at 0.99. An R-number under one means that statistically, each infected individual is passing on the virus to less than one other person.

Israel is currently in the midst of its third nation-wide lockdown due to the pandemic. Officials have previously said that lockdown restrictions can be eased when the transmission rate reaches 0.8.

The lockdown, which began on Dec. 27 and was scheduled to end on Thursday, was extended for an additional 10 days on Tuesday following a Cabinet vote.

Israeli Health Ministry officials have confirmed the presence in the country of both the so-called U.K. and South African variants of the virus and have indicated that Israel’s robust vaccination campaign is a race against time.

As of Thursday morning, 2,365,041 people had received the first dose of Pfizer’s BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, representing 26.61 percent of the population, and 694,669 people had received the second dose, representing 7.82 percent, according to Health Ministry data.

The Cabinet also voted on Tuesday to tighten travel restrictions. As of Jan. 23, anyone entering Israel will have to present airline personnel in the country of origin with confirmation of a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken within 72 hours ahead of takeoff—or Health Ministry documentation of the travelers having recovered from COVID-19 or having been vaccinated.

Biden Suspends New Oil and Gas Leases, Permits for 60 Days, Kills 8000 Union Jobs Rescinding KeyStone XL Pipeline Permit

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(TJVNEWS.COM) Biden’s executive order to rescind the permit for TC Energy to build the Keystone XL pipeline will cost as many as 11,000 Americans their jobs, including 8,000 union positions. (Those figures come from an October TC news release estimating the number of jobs that pipeline construction would add to the economy in 2021.), Western Journal points out.

The Biden administration has suspended new oil and gas leasing and drilling on public lands and waters for 60 days as part a review of programs at the Department of Interior, AP reported.

The move follows President Joe Biden’s campaign pledge to halt new drilling and end the leasing of publicly owned energy reserves as part of his plan to address climate change.

The suspension went into effect immediately under an order signed Wednesday by Acting Interior Secretary Scott de la Vega. It drew a quick backlash from the oil industry.

The order also blocks approval of new mining plans, land sales or exchanges and the hiring of senior-level staff at the agency.