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Kushner Cos To Bring Upscale Kosher Restaurant to Pier Village in NJ

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Veteran restaurateur David Mizrahi will open a trendy kosher steakhouse with the name Salt Bar and Grill

By:  Jerome Cardenzia

Kushner Cos. has announced the signing of a new tenant for the ground-floor retail space at The Lofts at Pier Village.  As reported by the Asbury Park Press, veteran restaurateur David Mizrahi will open a trendy kosher steakhouse with the name Salt Bar and Grill. Mizrahi already owns the LBK Grill at Wave Resort across from The Lofts in Long Branch, NJ, and two additional restaurants in Lakewood, NJ.

The restaurant owner has signed a lease agreeing to take on the 5,500-square-foot space at the Lofts luxury condos at Pier Village, and is on schedule to open Salt Bar and Grill in the spring, as per a spokesperson for Kushner Co.  The space will reportedly include a bar, a wood-fired oven, and a meat-aging fridge, and will also offer Shabbat meals.  A report from Yeah that’s Kosher, has shared that the steakhouse has tapped Chef Pinchas Frank, formerly of Entree in Lakewood, who is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of Jerusalem.

The Salt Bar and Grill is the second tenant signed up for the ground-floor retail space being developed under The Lofts. The first signed tenant was ice cream sandwich specialist The Baked Bear.  The Baked Bear is a franchise which began in San Diego and has now branched out to open 30 locations throughout 10 states.  It has agreed to occupy a 1,640-square-foot space beneath the Lofts, which will be its first in New Jersey location.  The store is reportedly slated to open in early 2021.

The Lofts, under constructed by Extell Development since 2017, are luxury condos which are part of the final phase of Pier Village. The beachfront development includes hotels, residences, retail and restaurants.  Construction of the condos has not yet been completed, but sales of the units have begun.  There will be a total of 245 posh condos, with prices ranging from $569,000 to $3.5 million.  Notably, a penthouse unit has already been sold for $2.8 million.

Over the summer, Extell sold most of its stake of Pier Village to its partner Kushner Cos.  It did however keep ownership of The Lofts’ condos, as per a report by The Real Deal.  The Asbury Park Press independently confirmed the sale.   Kushner Cos. owns the roughly 40,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space beneath The Lofts.  The reports indicate that about 20 percent of that retail space has now been leased out.

 

NYC Primary Candidates Say Getting Voter Signatures is Unsafe During Pandemic

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Mark Levine, the City Council’s health committee chairman, said distributing coronavirus vaccine to city residents to reduce infection rates should take priority over campaign petitioning. Photo Credit: nyc.gov

By Hellen Zaboulani

Primary elections are coming up in New York City and the petitioning requirements to get candidates onto the ballots have become a matter of debate.   Candidates running for public offices are asking Gov. Andrew Cuomo to waive laws which require the collection of voter signatures, calling it unsafe amid the pandemic.

As reported by the NY Post, some 300 candidates have filed to run for 51 council seats, there are roughly 20 candidates running for mayor, and more trying to get their names on the ballot for comptroller and borough president.  Currently the law states that in order to be added onto the ballot as a candidate for mayor 7,500 valid party signatures are required. For the post of borough president, 2,000 signatures are currently required, down from the originally mandated 4,000 signatures.  Council members need 450 signatures, down from the previously required 900.

Candidates are urging the governor to override the requirements, claiming the petitioning would warrant tens of thousands of non-socially distanced interactions, and be unsafe.  The petitioning for primary elections would run from Feb. 23 to April 1, 2021.

Last year, petitioning for NYS legislative races began as the Coronavirus pandemic first struck. Lawmakers and candidates had raised similar concerns and said that knocking door to door for signatures was a safety hazard and that voters were refusing to sign.  In July, Cuomo had approved an emergency order shortening the petitioning period and reducing signature requirements for the legislative and congressional races.

Corey Ortega, who is running for a vacant council seat in Northern Manhattan, said that petitioning for voter signatures now with the new more contagious strain of the virus, would be crazy.  He claims that he caught COVID-19 last year while collecting signatures for another candidate.  “I had to go to the emergency room. I had trouble breathing. I was scared out of my mind,” Ortega said.

“You’re not socially distancing when you gather signatures,” said Election lawyer Lawrence Mandelker.  “There’s going to be a lot of political pressure to lower the number of signatures to collect or do away with signatures entirely. But what do you replace it with? How do you measure a candidate’s support?”  Ortega suggested using campaign contributions to evaluate support to determine ballot eligibility.

Cuomo spokesman Peter Ajemian responded, “As we have done throughout the pandemic, we will continue to closely monitor the transmission rate and other data and will make adjustments accordingly to ensure our democratic process proceeds as safely as possible.‎”

Kamala Harris, Pelosi, Waters, Celebs & Pundits Advocated for Political Violence on TV, WATCH Dramatic Video

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AP

(TJVNEWS.COM) In this fascinating and dramatic video, numerous clips from mainstream media over the last 4 years, show elected officials including soon to be VP Kamala Harris, celebrities and pundits supporting violent protests, and violence against Trump, his family, and staff.

While everyone agrees that fringe entities like QANON advocating for far-right violence are detrimental to America, advocating for violence from mainstream elected officials, TV personalities, and celebs like Robert Deniro and Madonna on cable TV, broadcast to millions of households, raised next to no controversy.  QANON is buried in the vast world of conspiracy message boards, this video contains clips broadcast to millions on CNN, CBS, MSNBC, beamed right into your living room.

 

 

 

Belichick Won’t Accept Presidential Medal of Freedom from Trump

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AP

(AP) New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick announced Monday night that he will not accept the Presidential Medal of Freedom, saying “remaining true to the people, team and country I love outweigh the benefits of any individual award.”

In a delicately worded, one-paragraph statement, the six-time Super Bowl-winning coach did not say explicitly that he had turned down the offer from President Donald Trump, whom he has called a friend. Instead, Belichick explained, “the decision has been made not to move forward with the award” in the wake of last week’s deadly siege on the U.S. Capitol.

Trump announced on Saturday, three days after the riots, that he would be awarding Belichick the nation’s highest civilian honor — part of a late flurry of presentations that also included golfers Annika Sorenstam, Gary Player and the late Babe Zaharias.

Sorenstam and Player accepted their awards in a private ceremony the day after Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Five people died in the mayhem, including U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick. Belichick was to be honored on Thursday.

“I was flattered … out of respect for what the honor represents and admiration for prior recipients,” the coach said in a statement, which was forwarded to The Associated Press by the Patriots.

“Subsequently, the tragic events of last week occurred and the decision has been made not to move forward with the award. Above all, I am an American citizen with great reverence for our nation’s values, freedom and democracy. I know I also represent my family and the New England Patriots team.”

Although he describes himself as apolitical, Belichick has waded into politics on occasion.

The architect of the Patriots dynasty wrote Trump a letter of support that the candidate read aloud the night before the 2016 election at a rally in New Hampshire, a bastion of the team’s fandom.

Although Trump said the letter offered “best wishes for great results” on election day and “the opportunity to make America great again,” Belichick said it was it was merely to support a friend.

Belichick also wore an Armenian flag pin to the White House in 2015 when the team celebrated its fourth Super Bowl victory — believed to be a sign of support for the team’s director of football, Berj Najarian, who is of Armenian descent. Last month, Belichick called on the U.S. government to take action against Turkey and Azerbaijan for “unprovoked and violent attacks against Armenians.”

In the aftermath of George Floyd’s death this summer, Patriots players praised Belichick for providing an open forum for them to express their feelings on race and social injustice in America. In his statement on Monday, Belichick called that “one of the most rewarding things in my professional career.”

“Through the great leadership within our team, conversations about social justice, equality and human rights moved to the forefront and became actions,” he said. “Continuing those efforts while remaining true to the people, team and country I love outweigh the benefits of any individual award.”

Social Media Purge: Over 70,000 Accounts Suspended From Twitter, Mentions of “Stop the Steal” Banned From Facebook

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(TJVNEWS.COM) In a Monday night blog post, Twitter lays out all the latest details of a historic purge that started with the suspension of President Trump and has escalated into the ban of tens of thousands of conservative voices, or as Twitter puts it, “steps taken to protect the conversation on our service from attempts to incite violence, organize attacks, and share deliberately misleading information about the election outcome”, Zero Hedge pointed out

It is important to note during the Summer, posts in support of hundreds of violent protests for left-wing causes against Police and for Social Justice causes, were not purged in masse.

“It’s important to be transparent about all of this work as the US Presidential Inauguration on January 20, 2021, approaches’, Twitter explained.

According to Twitter, “more than 70,000 accounts have been suspended”. 

Below is Twitter’s Monday Night press release:

An update following the riots in Washington, DC

Following the horrific events in Washington, DC, last week, here are some of the steps we’ve taken to protect the conversation on our service from attempts to incite violence, organize attacks, and share deliberately misleading information about the election outcome. It’s important to be transparent about all of this work as the US Presidential Inauguration on January 20, 2021, approaches.

Updated our coordinated harmful activity policy

We’ve been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm. Given the violent events in Washington, DC, and increased risk of harm, we began permanently suspending thousands of accounts that were primarily dedicated to sharing QAnon content on Friday afternoon.

Many of the individuals impacted by this updated enforcement action held multiple accounts, driving up the total number of accounts impacted. Since Friday, more than 70,000 accounts have been suspended as a result of our efforts, with many instances of a single individual operating numerous accounts. These accounts were engaged in sharing harmful QAnon-associated content at scale and were primarily dedicated to the propagation of this conspiracy theory across the service. 

Our updated enforcement on QAnon content on Twitter, along with routine spam challenges, has resulted in changes in follower count for some people’s Twitter accounts. In some cases, these actions may have resulted in follower count changes in the thousands. 

As stipulated in this policy that we announced ahead of the 2020 US election, accounts that have Tweeted or Retweeted associated content will continue to be subject to limited visibility across search, replies, and on timelines and are prohibited from being recommended to others by Twitter. It’s important that these types of accounts — that are not predominantly engaged in sharing this material — can see different perspectives in the open public conversation that Twitter uniquely provides.

Our teams are discussing ways we can empower research into QAnon and coordinated harmful activity on Twitter. 

Escalated enforcement measures for our civic integrity policy

During the past several weeks, misleading and false information surrounding the 2020 US presidential election has been the basis for incitement to violence around the country. We took action on these claims in line with our Civic Integrity policy

Now that the results of the election have been officially certified by Congress, we updated our Civic Integrity policy on Friday to aggressively increase our enforcement action on these claims. The updated policy provides details about how we enforce against violations of this policy, including repeated sharing of Tweets that receive warning labels. Ultimately, repeated violations of this policy can result in permanent suspension.

Deployed tech to surface potentially harmful Tweets for urgent human review

Our teams are continuing to aggressively deploy technology to surface potentially harmful Tweets for human review in an effort to take action as quickly as possible on violative content. Using this combination of technology and human review helps our teams work at scale during this critical time. We continue to update these tools as terminology and behaviors evolve on Twitter.

Limited engagement on labeled Tweets

On Tuesday, we limited engagement by no longer allowing any Tweets labeled for violations of our civic integrity policy to be replied to, Liked or Retweeted. People on Twitter are still able to Quote Tweet to share this content with additional context or their own perspective.

Blocked violative keywords from Search and Trends

We want Trends to promote healthy conversations on Twitter. This means, at times, we may prevent certain content from trending. There are rules for Trends, and if we identify Trends that violate these rules, we’ll take enforcement action.

Since last week, we’ve prohibited certain terms from surfacing in Trends and Search suggestions based on the following Twitter Rules:

We will also continue to prioritize reviewing and adding context to Trends. Our goal is to help people see what’s happening while ensuring that potentially confusing trends are presented with context.

Fought spam and challenged potentially inauthentic accounts

It is against the Twitter Rules to engage in spamming behavior, including bulk, aggressive, or deceptive activity. That’s why we routinely deploy anti-spam challenges to accounts to fight this behavior and protect the public conversation. During these challenges, account owners must verify their authenticity through a variety of measures, such as reCAPTCHA or providing a functional email address. 

As always, while accounts are undergoing these challenges, they’re temporarily removed from follower counts. This, along with our updated enforcement around coordinated harmful activity, means some people may notice drops or fluctuations in their follower count. 

Ahead of the inauguration, we’ll continue to monitor the situation, keep open lines of communication with law enforcement, and keep the public informed of additional enforcement actions.

Facebook, released a new policy, which goes beyond banning violent or false QANON related content. Facebook will now ban any material related to “stop the steal”. It remains to be seen if all discussion about voter fraud will be banned, it appears this too is possible to occur.  Twitter’s policy update also implies discussion about the election results is a violation of their terms. As evidence of this Nancy Pelosi 2017 Tweet, claims of election integrity were perfectly acceptable when it came to questioning Trump’s victory

Facebook :

Monday Facebook announced that it was removing all content mentioning “stop the steal,” a popular phrase among supporters of Trump’s claims that the election was rigged.

We are now removing content containing the phrase “stop the steal” under our Coordinating Harm policy from Facebook and Instagram. We removed the original Stop the Steal group in November and have continued to remove Pages, groups and events that violate any of our policies, including calls for violence. We’ve been allowing robust conversations related to the election outcome and that will continue. But with continued attempts to organize events against the outcome of the US presidential election that can lead to violence, and use of the term by those involved in Wednesday’s violence in DC, we’re taking this additional step in the lead up to the inauguration. It may take some time to scale up our enforcement of this new step but we have already removed a significant number of posts.

Israeli COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Offers Lessons for US Distribution

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Shaare Zedek Medical worker prepares a Covid-19 vaccine injection, Jan. 3, 2021. (Flash90/Yonatan Sindel)

By Lynn Allison(NEWSMAX)

Israel is at the head of the class in vaccinating its citizens boasting the fastest rollout in the world. So far, an incredible 20% of its population have received the COVID-19 jab and the country now plans to inoculate everyone over the age of 16 by the end of March.

According to The Wall Street Journal, while Israel’s 9 million population makes the job of vaccinating its people simpler than tackling the 332,000,000 citizens in the U.S., some the country’s innovative methods are models of economy and ingenuity that could be applied to any country. For example, the Pfizer vaccine which requires extremely cold temperature storage, comes in 1,000 dose packages. Israel devised a way to split the packages into smaller bundles with only a few hundred doses, according to the Journal. This makes delivery more accessible to remote places and ensures less waste. While Israel is following a similar pattern of vaccine distribution priority as the U.S., vaccinating healthcare workers, seniors and those with high-risk medical conditions, its policy allows for any leftover vaccines to be administered to anyone who is available.

The Israelis are also setting up massive medically staffed vaccination sites in sport arenas and other venues away from medical facilities so that people will have easy access to getting vaccinated. Public health officials are aggressively texting and reaching out to individuals who are eligible to receive the COVID-19 inoculation, according to the Journal.

Israel became the first country to announce it will issue a “green passport” to residents who receive the COVID-19 vaccine, according to its Ministry of Health. Chezy Levy, the Ministry of Health’s Director-General, said that a vaccine passport offers many benefits to the holder.

“This passport will show that a person is vaccinated and will give a number of advantages such as not needing to quarantine, entry to all kinds of culture events, restaurants and so on,” he said, according to Newsweek.

Israel has also been reaching out to minority groups, such as the ultra-Orthodox, to convince their rabbis and leaders of the vaccine’s safety and efficacy, according to the Journal, and received approval from top officials urging their people to get inoculated.

Cuomo Announces Proposal to Enable Online Sports Wagering as Part of the 2021 State of the State

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Men sit at a bar while researching bets at the Meadowlands Racetrack, Saturday, July 14, 2018, in East Rutherford, N.J. Meadowlands Racetrack started taking sports betting on Saturday, becoming the fourth sports betting outlet in New Jersey following the state's U.S. Supreme Court victory in a case that cleared the way for all 50 states to legalize sports betting. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced legislation to authorize mobile sports wagering as part of the 2021 State of the State. Under Governor Cuomo’s proposal, the New York State Gaming Commission will issue a request for proposals to select and license a sports operator or platform to offer mobile sports wagering in New York. This operator or platform must have a partnership with one of the existing licensed commercial casinos. The Commission will also require any entity operating mobile wagering apps include safeguards against abuses and addiction.

“At a time when New York faces a historic budget deficit due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the current online sports wagering structure incentivizes a large segment of New York residents to travel out of state to make online sports wagers or continue to patronize black markets,” Governor Cuomo said. “New York has the potential to be the largest sports wagering market in the United States, and by legalizing online sports betting we aim to keep millions of dollars in revenue here at home, which will only strengthen our ability to rebuild from the COVID-19 crisis.”

The sports gambling market is evolving rapidly. In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court in Murphy v. NCAA overturned a federal law prohibiting most states from authorizing sports wagering. Sports wagering is now legal online in 14 states, including the bordering states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, while it is only legal in New York at the four Upstate commercial gaming facilities and Native American gaming facilities.  An industry study found that nearly 20 percent of New Jersey’s sports wagering revenue comes from New York residents, costing the State millions of dollars in lost tax revenue.

Fox News Panics, Demotes MacCallum as Newsmax Rises

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Bret Baier, right, and Martha MacCallum, left, during a Fox News town-hall style event with Sen. Bernie Sanders Monday April 15, 2019 in Bethlehem, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

The rise of Newsmax TV has caused a major shake-up at Fox News, which announced Monday that its early evening show host Martha MacCallum has been demoted back to an early afternoon slot, among other changes to the lineup.

“Newsmax’s consistently strong numbers during the day and especially at the 7 p.m. ET slot has caused panic at Fox, which rarely makes lineup changes,” Newsmax said in a statement Monday, adding with a wink, “The Fox is on the run.”

MacCallum’s “The Story” had long been the #1 cable news show in the 7 p.m. time slot, until Newsmax TV’s “Greg Kelly Reports” began a ratings surge in recent months.

With Kelly pulling an average of 800,000-plus viewers per minute each night, MacCallum had fallen to third place behind CNN and MSNBC.

In December “Greg Kelly Reports” beat MacCallum in a key demo, a news story broken by CNN.

Newsmax has consistently taken one-third to one-half of Fox’s audience in each day part, according to the Nielsen Coverage Rating. The Coverage Rating shows a network’s viewership proportionate to the homes that can tune in.

Last week the Nielsen Coverage Rating for 7 p.m. showed that in the crucial 35-64 demo, “Greg Kelly Reports” was pulling more than half of MacCallum’s “The Story” (.77 versus 1.53).

The Nielsen numbers tell only half the story. Newsmax streams free on most OTT platforms and Fox News does not.

Newsmax estimates the OTT viewership nearly doubles its Nielsen average viewership numbers.

Newsmax’s consistently strong numbers have caused Fox to make additional changes.

Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott Monday announced a full shift in its daytime lineup.

MacCallum will be moved to the 3 p.m. spot and replaced by new show “FOX News Primetime” with hosts to be announced. The changes will debut on Jan. 18.

Other changes include that Harris Faulkner will no longer host “Outnumbered Overtime” at 1 p.m., but will host a new show, “The Faulkner Focus,” at 11 a.m.

Chief White House Correspondent John Roberts is moving to the studio as co-anchor of a new two-hour program with Sandra Smith.

FBI: Armed Protests Planned for 50 State Capitols, U.S. Capitol, Ahead of Inauguration Day

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(AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

HANNAH BLEAU

Organizers are reportedly planning armed protests slated to occur at 50 state capitols, as well as the U.S Capitol, in the days leading up to Inauguration Day, according to an internal FBI bulletin obtained by ABC News.

“Armed protests are being planned at all 50 state capitols from 16 January through at least 20 January, and at the US Capitol from 17 January through 20 January,” the bulletin read, according to ABC’s Aaron Katersky, who added that a group is “calling for ‘storming’ state, local, and federal government courthouses and administrative buildings in the event President Trump is removed prior to Inauguration Day.”

According to the bulletin, the FBI has “received information about an identified armed group intending to travel to Washington, DC on 16 January.” The group, per the bulletin, has reportedly warned that a “huge uprising” will occur if Congress attempts to remove President Trump through the 25th Amendment:

On Monday, Republicans blocked Democrat attempts to introduce a resolution calling on Vice President Mike Pence to “convene and mobilize the principal officers of the executive departments of the Cabinet to activate Section 4 of the 25th Amendment to declare President Donald J. Trump incapable of executing the duties of his office and to immediately exercise powers of acting president.” Republicans blocked the attempt:

The bulletin follows the chaos that descended upon the U.S. Capitol last week, which many lawmakers have blamed primarily on President Trump, calling for his removal via either the 25th Amendment or impeachment. Others, such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), have also called for the resignations of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Josh Hawley (R-MO), and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), arguing that they effectively incited the day’s events by supporting efforts to challenge the election results.

 

Breitbart

 

In Final Days of Trump Presidency, Andrew Cuomo Vows to Reopen New York Economy

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AP

KYLE MORRIS

In the final days of President Donald Trump’s presidency, Democrat New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo now says the “cost is too high” for businesses to remain closed until the coronavirus vaccine “hits critical mass.”

“We simply cannot stay closed until the vaccine hits critical mass,” Cuomo said in a tweet, just days before Trump is set to leave office. “The cost is too high. We will have nothing left to open.”

“We must reopen the economy, but we must do it smartly and safely,” Cuomo added.

For months during the coronavirus pandemic, Cuomo has consistently implemented harsh restrictions on businesses in the state, closing certain restaurants and stores for periods of time and threatening to shut down restaurants that fail to adhere to the state’s restrictions.

“Three violations and you’re closed,” Cuomo said last July, adding that the state government would expose those that do not comply. “We’re also going to post the names of the establishments facing disciplinary charges.”

Last summer, Cuomo introduced additional restrictions on serving alcohol, telling restaurants to serve it only to those who are ordering and eating food, practically eliminating those which did not serve food. State orders also concluded that “all service at bar tops must only be for seated patrons who are socially distanced by six feet or separated by physical barriers.”

Cuomo has also faced scrutiny from the United States Supreme Court, which found Cuomo’s orders violated the First Amendment via coronavirus restrictions on religious gatherings.

“Members of this Court are not public health experts, and we should respect the judgment of those with special expertise and responsibility in this area,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the 5-4 decision. “But even in a pandemic, the Constitution cannot be put away and forgotten.”

“The restrictions at issue here, by effectively barring many from attending religious services, strike at the very heart of the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious liberty,” Gorsuch concluded.

A November report from TrackTheRecovery.org revealed that 27.8 percent of small businesses in New York have not reopened following the mass shutdowns that occurred in the Empire State last year.

Follow Kyle on Twitter @RealKyleMorris and Facebook. Breitbart

The Shocking Truth About QANON- Were They Responsible For The Mayhem At The Capitol ?

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AP

Jared Evan

The Washington Post reports that House Democrats, which just formally introduced an article of impeachment against President Trump, have lined up the votes to impeach him for his role in “inciting an insurrectionist mob” to storm the Capitol.

“We actually have the votes,” Rep. David Cicilline, the Rhode Island Democrat who has taken the lead in rounding up support for a resolution of impeachment, told The Washington Post.

Joining Reps. David Cicilline (R-I.), co- authorizing the articles Ted Lieu (Calif.) and Jamie Raskin (Md.), states that Trump engaged in high crimes and misdemeanors by “willfully inciting violence against the Government of the United States.” The full text of the article is as follows:

This action is sure to trigger an important debate regarding free speech itself. Can one be responsible for another’s actions as the result of the interpretation of words spoken? The argument for the impeachment of Trump is based on the most questionable remark made in the president’s January 6th speech: ” if you don’t fight like hell, you are not going to have a country anymore.”

Jonathan Turley, American attorney, legal scholar, writer, commentator, wrote on this issue:

There was no call for lawless action by Trump. Instead, there was a call for a protest at the Capitol. Moreover, violence was not imminent; the vast majority of the tens of thousands of protesters present were not violent before the march, and most did not riot inside the Capitol. Like many violent protests we have witnessed over the last four years, including Trump’s 2017 inauguration, the criminal conduct was carried out by a smaller group of instigators. Capitol police knew of the planned march but declined an offer of National Guard personnel because they did not view violence as likely.

Several reports have emerged however that the violent effort to take over the capitol was inspired by the QANON online conspiracy message board.

Ashli Babbitt was shot and killed after trying to force her way into the House Chamber where lawmakers were sheltering, was a follower of QANON.

Rosanne Boyland, 34, who was trampled to death as the mob stormed toward the Capitol building, was also a QNON follower.

Dozens of the individuals arrested were also followers of QANON.

While it would seem logical that Democrat opponents of Trump would use this tragedy as an opportunity to finally bury Trump politically, what about QANON?

QANON messages were telling their followers, that Trump wanted his supporters to attack the capitol and this was their big moment, “the awakening”.  This event is sure to spur a debate in regards to online free speech for years to come.

AP reported:

The insurrectionist mob that showed up at the president’s behest and stormed the U.S. Capitol was overwhelmingly made up of longtime Trump supporters, including Republican Party officials, GOP political donors, far-right militants, white supremacists, members of the military, and adherents of the QAnon myth that the government is secretly controlled by a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophile cannibals. Records show that some were heavily armed and included convicted criminals, such as a Florida man recently released from prison for attempted murder.

AP also reported: Boyland’s(who was trampled to death)  sister told the AP on Friday she was an adherent of the QAnon conspiracy theory that holds Trump is America’s savior. Her Facebook page featured photos and videos praising Trump and promoting fantasies, including one theory that a shadowy group was using the coronavirus to steal elections. Boyland’s final post on Twitter — a retweet of a post by White House social media director Dan Scavino — was a picture of thousands of people surrounding the Washington Monument on Wednesday.

QANON since 2017 has consisted of alleged inside experts from the CIA, FBI who are supposedly releasing secret information to their followers. Thus far not a single claim QANON has predicted has come true. QANON apparently has literally brainwashed hundreds of thousands of conservatives. Some have committed serious crimes because of QANON over the past 4 years. It looks like it climaxed on January 6th.

What will happen to QANON followers and the entire movement on January 20th, when Trump is gone? Will QANON morph into something else emanating a new and more dangerous message?

The QANON movement is dangerous to the conservative movement and is turning people into irrational, brainwashed psychopaths.

The entire movement is based on anonymous information disseminated online. Nobody is quite sure who is actually behind the messages.  It is amazing that something so random and unverified has influenced so many people. The Guardian highlighted some of the unbelievable actions QANON followers have taken over the last 4 years.

15 June 2018: An Arizona resident blocked a bridge near the Hoover Dam with an armored vehicle. He later pleads guilty to a terrorism charge.

19 December 2018: A California man is arrested after being found with what appeared to be bomb-making materials in his car, in an alleged plot to blow up a satanic display in the capitol in Springfield, Illinois.

25 September 2019: A QAnon supporter smashes up the Chapel of the Holy Hill in Sedona, Arizona, while shouting about the Catholic church supporting human trafficking.

30 December 2019: Montana police arrest a QAnon supporter from Colorado in connection with an alleged kidnapping scheme.

26 March 2020: A Kentucky mother is charged with kidnapping twin daughters.

2 April 2020: A man is charged with intentionally derailing a freight train near the navy hospital ship Mercy in Los Angeles.

30 April 2020: A woman is arrested after driving to New York and allegedly making threatening statements against Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton.

3 July 2020: Corey Hurren, a reservist in the Canadian Rangers, allegedly rams a truck through the gates of the prime minister’s residence in Ottawa.

12 August 2020: A Texas woman is arrested after allegedly chasing and crashing into a car, then telling police she thought she was chasing a pedophile

1 October 2020: Utah woman arrested in Oregon for allegedly kidnapping her young son

On January 6th, QANON seems to have influenced thousands of conservatives to invade the capitol and it resulted in 6 deaths. QANON makes the best case for curtailing free speech online.

In, breaking news: Armed protests are being planned at all 50 state capitols from 16 January through at least 20 January, and at the US Capitol from 17 January through 20 January,” according to an FBI bulletin obtained by ABC News. “An identified armed group intends to travel to Washington, DC on 16 January. They have warned that if Congress attempts to remove POTUS via the 25th Amendment a huge uprising will occur.” The group is calling for “storming” state, local, and federal government courthouses and administrative buildings in the event President Trump is removed prior to Inauguration Day.

Once more this sounds like the work of QANON. TJV News would like to encourage anyone reading this article to stay away from QANON, and if you know anyone who follows the conspiracy mill to abandon it immediately. QANON is leading people down a dark and dangerous path.

 

 

Parler CEO Denies Site’s Role in Violence, Vows Return, Sues Amazon

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(TJVNEWS/NEWSMAX) Parler CEO John Matze Monday denied his social media platform had anything to do with the violence at the Capitol and said his site is examining alternatives after Amazon Web Services’ decision to suspend the platform from its cloud hosting service, causing the site to go offline early Monday morning.

Reuters also reported, in a complaint filed with the U.S. District Court in Seattle, Parler said Amazon’s decision to effectively shutter its account was “apparently motivated by political animus” and “apparently designed to reduce competition in the microblogging services market to the benefit of Twitter.”

“I never thought we would be in a country where things like this would happen, with coordinated companies canceling you, what you are doing,” Matze told Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo on “Mornings With Maria.” “Essentially, the site is down. It’s just a black hole. It’s pretty horrible.”

Amazon Web Services said Parler failed its terms of services by failing to effectively deal with a steady increase in violent content. The move came after Apple and Google removed the site from its app offerings. In addition, Matze said the company had backups to host the platform, but they “all ended up dropping us last night,” he said.

“Woke up Friday, everything was fine; now today, there is nothing left,” said Matze.

“We may even have to go as far as buying and building our own data centers, buying up our servers if we need to, to get back on the internet,” he said. “We are going to figure this out. It is going to be devastating to our business model to raise future capital at least with the plans we had before. This is really, really devastating, what they did.”

Matze added that there has been “no credible piece of evidence” that the type of content being shared on Parler doesn’t exist on other platforms, or that Parler had anything to do with inciting the Capitol Hill violence.

“We have no mechanism to meet up or organize some kind of event like that on Parler,” he said. “That is not really you know something that Parler could have been used for … we advertised free speech in the United States is allowed in this country,” Matze said. “We never promoted that kind of violence or anything like that. We have a lot of things in place to stop it.”

He further accused the other tech giants of using the shock about the violence in Washington to stop competition from his company as one of the first “real tangible competitors.”v

Limbaugh, Levin, and Glick abandon Twitter: ‘The Left’s fascist purge is here’

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Mark Levin speaks at the White House, Oct. 2019. (AP/Alex Brandon)

By Josh Plank, World Israel News

Conservative commentators Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Caroline Glick, and John Bongino are leaving Twitter voluntarily following the social media platform’s banning of President Donald Trump and many of his supporters on Friday.

Limbaugh completely deactivated his Twitter account. If any of Limbaugh’s 88.6 million followers visit his Twitter profile, they now see the simple message, “This account doesn’t exist.”

“I have suspended my own Twitter account in protest against Twitter’s fascism. I ask all my followers to join me now on Parler and Rumble,” tweeted Levin.

“The Left’s fascist purge is here,” he said on Parler.

I joined Twitter because of President Trump. If he’s unacceptable to Twitter, Twitter is unacceptable to me. I’ll let you know when I’m set up at #Parler,” tweeted Glick.

“This will be my final post on this anti-American platform. The greatest threats to liberty are the destructive tech tyrants who have acted as publishers in their ongoing wars on conservatives & free speech,” tweeted Bongino, who is a Parler investor.

“If you’re still under the misguided, absurd belief that we live in a free country, then please seek help,” he said on Parler.

“We worked tirelessly at Parler to build an alternative to the Twitter and Facebook data pillagers and this successful enterprise was just severely damaged by the totalitarians at Apple and Google,” Bongino said, referring to Apple and Google’s recent removal of the Parler app from their app stores.

In addition, Amazon has announced that they are kicking Parler off their web-hosting service.

“Sunday (tomorrow) at midnight Amazon will be shutting off all of our servers in an attempt to completely remove free speech off the internet. There is the possibility Parler will be unavailable on the internet for up to a week as we rebuild from scratch,” said Parler CEO John Matze.

“Amazon, Google and Apple purposefully did this as a coordinated effort knowing our options would be limited and knowing this would inflict the most damage right as President Trump was banned from the tech companies,” he said.

“They will NOT win! We are the world’s last hope for free speech and free information. What they are doing is unprecedented, unfounded and absolutely disgusting. Shameful,” said Matze.

“Where has everyone been @marklevinshow?” investigative journalist Laura Loomer asked on Parler.

Loomer, who refers to herself as “the most banned woman in the world,” was banned from Twitter in 2018. She has also been banned by Facebook, Instagram, Uber, Lyft, Uber Eats, PayPal, Venmo, GoFundMe, Medium, TeeSpring, and Chase Bank.

“I filed a tortious interference lawsuit against Twitter years ago. I have also sued Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Apple in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals and last week I filed a petition with the Supreme Court to hear my anti-Trust case which was dismissed by the DC circuit court of appeals,” Loomer said.

Loomer said that Levin declined to have her come on his program to talk about her lawsuits, as did Fox News.

Fox News has played a huge part in keeping conservatives censored. It’s inexcusable and a little too late now,” she said.

On Friday, Twitter permanently banned hundreds, if not thousands, of Trump supporters including Ali Alexander, Michael Coudrey, Gen. Mike Flynn, Sidney Powell, and Lin Wood, before banning the president himself.

Israel inks $1.7 billion deal to run flight school for Greek Air Force

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An Israel Air Force M-346 Lavi training jet. (Ministry of Defense)

By Paul Shindman, World Israel News

The Ministry of Defense announced that Israel and Greece will sign an agreement worth $1.7 billion under which Israel will provide equipment and infrastructure to the Hellenic Air Force to train its future pilots.

The agreement, which will be signed by both defense ministries, includes the establishment and operation of a flight school for the Hellenic Air Force, 10 M-346 Lavi training jets, the maintenance for T-6 propeller aircraft, as well as the provision of simulators, training and logistic support.

The government to government deal will span over 20 years and use the services of the major Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems.

“This agreement reflects the excellent and developing relations we have with Greece,” said Defense Minister Benny Gantz. “It is a long-term partnership that will serve the interests of both Israel and Greece, create hundreds of jobs in both countries, and promote stability in the Mediterranean.”

Gantz said he told his Greek counterpart, Defense Minister Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos, he expected the recent strengthening of defense relations between the countries to deepen further.

 

Israel’s Defense Ministry said it won the international tender for the project, and as part of the agreement the flight school will be built and maintained by Elbit Systems, noting it’s the largest defense procurement agreement between the two countries to date.

The Greek flight school will be modeled after the Israel Air Force (IAF) flight academy, the Greek school will be equipped with 10 of the Israeli version of the Italian made M-346 training jets, which the IAF uses to train Israeli fighter pilots.

As part of the agreement, Elbit will upgrade and operate the Hellenic Air Force’s existing T-6 aircraft as well as provide training, simulators and logistical support.

“The Greek government’s approval of this agreement is a historic step in further deepening the excellent defense relations between our two countries. This is not just a defense export agreement, but rather a partnership for at least 20 years,” said Brig. Gen. (Res.), Yair Kulas, who heads the Defense Ministry’s Directorate for International Defense Cooperation.

Last year the two countries signed a deal for Israel to produce a corvette for the Hellenic Navy, and the two sides together with Cyprus are building a massive underwater gas pipeline to Europe from Israel’s offshore gas fields.

Exterior of Auschwitz Jewish cemetery wall vandalized

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By David Isaac, World Israel NewsThe Auschwitz Memorial’s official Twitter account reported on Sunday that an exterior wall of the Auschwitz Jewish cemetery was vandalized.

Painted on the wall was a swastika and an SS symbol standing for the Schutzstaffel. There were two SS units – the Allgemeine SS and the Waffen SS. The Allgemeine SS was responsible for enforcing Germany’s racial purity laws.

The tweets from the Auschwitz memorial said, “The exterior wall of the Oświęcim Jewish cemetery – a remnant and memorial of the destroyed community – has been vandalized with Nazi symbols. Seeing them just 3 km from the Memorial, at the town that suffered so much during the German occupation, is painful.

A second tweet continued: “This cemetery is well taken care of by the Auschwitz Jewish Center & local community. The wall was cleaned immediately, but together we need to keep fighting against all forms of hatred. The Polish law prosecutes such acts. We hope the Police will identify people responsible.”

The Auschwitz Memorial preserves the site of the former German Nazi Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp.

Vogue Magazine in “Whitewashing” Controversy Over Kamala Harris Cover Photo

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By: TJVNews.com

It appears that the penchant that Vogue Magazine has for celebrities who grace their covers has taken on new meaning. Now that the United States is welcoming the very first female vice-president, Vogue Magazine will be featuring Kamala Harris on their cover in February.

An issue with the cover photo has now placed the iconic fashion magazine in a “whitewashing” controversy. On Sunday, it was reported that the two cover photos of Harris were tweeted and many folks were more than outraged.

According to CBS News, the cover photo showed Harris wearing a dark suit and a pair of Converse sneakers. She is standing in front of a pink and green backdrop which signifies the colors of Harris college sorority. According to a report in Vogue, the sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha was founded in 1908 and  is the first historically African American sorority.  Its official colors are salmon pink and apple green. Vogue reported that they were chosen by educator Beulah Burke, one of the group’s nine founding members. The combination has remained the same for more than a century and is instantly recognizable to members and anyone with knowledge of the Greek system of sororities and fraternities. Over the years, they’ve been donned by women such television legend Phylicia Rashad, mathematician Katherine Johnson, and Nobel prize winning author Toni Morrison, according to the Vogue report.

CBS reported that the magazine then released a second photo. It was a portrait of Harris wearing a powder blue suit. A source familiar with the photo shoot told CBS News that it was this particular photo was the one that has been agreed upon by the Harris camp as the featured photo on the cover of the magazine.

The source told CBS that, “Aides to Harris and Vogue had the understanding that the blue suit/gold background would be the cover photo. Without telling Harris’ team, Vogue changed it to the pink/green photo which the Vice President-elect’s team did not agree to.”

The source added that the image of Harris in her sneakers and standing in front of her sorority colors was originally intended to be used as a photo that would be used inside the magazine as part of the story about Harris.

The Guardian of the UK reported that one user called it a “washed out mess of a cover”. The observer wrote, “Kamala Harris is about as light skinned as women of color come and Vogue still fucked up her lighting.

New York Times contributor Wajahat Ali wrote, “What a mess up. Anna Wintour (the editor of Vogue) must really not have Black friends and colleagues. I’ll shoot shots of VP Kamala Harris for free using my Samsung and I’m 100% confident it’ll turn out better than this Vogue cover.”

“The pic itself isn’t terrible as a pic. It’s just far, far below the standards of Vogue. They didn’t put thought into it. Like homework finished the morning it’s due,” the LGBTQ activist Charlotte Clymer tweeted.

Both photos were taken by 26-year old photographer Tyler Mitchell. CBS reported that Mitchell became the magazine’s first African American photographer to shot a Vogue cover in the magazine’s 125-year history.

“Vogue has not found enough ways to elevate or give space to Black editors, writers, photographers, designers, and other creators,” Wintour wrote. “We have made mistakes too, publishing images or stories that have been hurtful or intolerant. I want to take full responsibility for those mistakes.”

According to the Post, Harris and her team had control over her clothes, hair and makeup. She chose her own casual black jacket and pants and a pair of Converse Chuck Taylor boots for one photo, a powder blue Michael Kors pantsuit for the other.