Federal investigators probing Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s management of nursing homes and patients infected with coronavirus have focused on whether the governor or his staff manipulated or falsified data given to the U.S. Justice Department, The New York Times reported Friday citing unidentified sources.
Documents have been subpoenaed from Cuomo’s office, FBI agents have contacted lawyers for Cuomo’s senior staff and interviewed high-level officials from the state health department, the Times said citing four people ”with knowledge of the investigation.”
The information sought pertains to submissions late last year to the Justice Department, which had requested data about COVID-19-related deaths and cases in nursing homes, the sources said. Knowingly supplying erroneous information could be considered a crime.
The Times said a spokesman for the district attorney’s office in the Eastern District of New York declined to comment on the paper’s latest report.
The attorney hired to represent Cuomo and his administration in the matter denied any wrongdoing.
”The submission in response to DOJ’s August request was truthful and accurate and any suggestion otherwise is demonstrably false,” lawyer Elkan Abramowitz said.
The issue surrounds Cuomo’s March 25 order last year that mandated nursing homes and long-term care facilities readmit patients that had been treated for COVID-19 at a hospital. Cuomo insisted that the order was based on guidance provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
However, the federal Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said in a March 13 memo that nursing homes should admit patients they would ”normally” admit, and that the facilities should dedicate a unit exclusively for patients returning from a hospital.
”Nursing homes should admit any individuals that they would normally admit to their facility, including individuals from hospitals where a case of COVID-19 was/is present,” it reads. ”Also, if possible, dedicate a unit/wing exclusively for any residents coming or returning from the hospital.”
New York initially only released the number of deaths suffered by nursing home patients if they died at the nursing home. Patients who contracted the disease, were transferred to a hospital and then died were not included.
The Cuomo administration defended the lower number by saying it didn’t include the hospital deaths because the information was incomplete and unverified.
The Times reported earlier this month that in June last year the Cuomo administration removed the hospital deaths from a report prepared by the health department that included the data. The health department report indicated approximately 9,200 COVID-19-related nursing-home deaths, about twice the number the government had released to the public. The most recent figure of nursing-home COVID-19 deaths is about 15,000.
Melissa DeRosa, one of Cuomo’s top aides, told state legislators last month during a conference call that the governor’s office complied fully with the Justice Department request last August.
”They sent a letter asking a number of questions and then we satisfied those questions,” she said, according to a transcript of the conversation released by the governor’s office.
A makeshift camp of migrants sits at the border port of entry leading to the United States, Wednesday, March 17, 2021, in Tijuana, Mexico. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Kaylee Greenlee(DCNF)
Nearly 200 tents fill a plaza near the busiest port for border crossings in Tijuana, Mexico, in less than a month as migrants hope the Biden administration will allow entry into the U.S., the Associated Press reported Friday.
Around 1,500 migrants receive meals from a canopy-covered kitchen, kids play sports and volunteer security guards patrol the camp wearing orange jackets, the AP reported. Some pay to shower at a nearby hotel or to use the restroom at the pharmacy and travel agency.
“The camp is a center for disinformation,” a Honduran man staying in the camp with his family, Edgar Benjamin Paz said, the AP reported. “No one knows what’s going on.”
The migrants in the tent community hope that the Biden administration will open the U.S. border for a short time without notice or that they will be first in line to claim asylum despite nothing supporting either theory, the AP reported.
“We want to see if they open up, see if they give us some news, see if they respond to our pleas,” Christina, a 39-year-old mother of two from Mexico said, the AP reported. “Nothing is clear,” she added.
The Biden administration has started rolling back some Trump-era policies such as the remain in Mexico program and proposed a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants living in the U.S., the AP reported. President Joe Biden promised to “create a humane asylum system” through an executive order, though he has not announced any plans to make changes.
The tent community formed after Biden announced a pause on the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) and allowed asylum seekers waiting in Mexico to enter the U.S. on Feb. 1, the AP reported. The allowance only applies to the 26,000 active MPP cases and 2,114 migrants were admitted to the U.S. as of Monday.
Paz said migrants misinterpreted Biden’s announcement to mean the border was open, the AP reported. Some of the migrants at the makeshift community arrived months or years before the announcement, including Haitians who arrived in 2016 and families from Central America fleeing natural disasters and unstable economic conditions.
Customs and Border Protection encountered over 100,000 migrants including more than 9,000 unaccompanied minors in February 2021, according to the agency.
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Netanyahu says Israelis have right to know Lapid’s intentions and ambitions
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that he was not scared of debating opposition chief Yair Lapid, but the debate would come with some pre-conditions.
New Hope’s Gideon Sa’ar and Yamina’s Naftali Bennett demanded that they must also take part should the event materialize.
However, Netanyahu appeared to not accept the challenge despite earlier reports that he had been consulting with his allies on the matter.
In his own interview, he touched upon a number of subjects, including the Israeli plan to apply its sovereignty to parts of the West Bank — something Netanyahu said he would only do with a green light from the US.
The Prime Minister, who had been indicted on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of public trust, which he all denies, also said he was against canceling his own trial.
(TVNEWS.COM) White House Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre appears to have blamed windy conditions for President Joe Biden’s fall while climbing the stairs of Air Force One on Friday.
“It’s pretty windy outside. It’s very windy. I almost fell coming up the steps myself,” Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard the president’s plane, according to New York Post reporter Steven Nelson.
Reporters from The National FIle were quick to check the weather for the exact time President Biden fell on the Air Force One Stairs.
The National Weather Service logged the wind speed at Andrews Air Force Base on Friday at 14 miles per hour, while data from WillyWeather shows a peak of 21.9 miles per hour throughout the day, and speeds of under 20 miles per hour at the time of Biden’s falls, National File pointed out.
Wind speeds of 13 – 18 mph is considered a “moderate breeze” according to the Beaufort scale, which is an empirical measure that relates wind speed to observed conditions at sea or on land.
According to the modern Beaufort scale, winds of 25-31 MPH, considered a “strong breeze” would make an umbrella difficult to use. Wind speeds of 32 – 38 mph, known as a “moderate gale” and beyond are the thresholds where walking becomes difficult.
The White House was lying.
Breitbart reported:
Biden stumbled twice and then fell to his left knee as he made his way up the stairs. The president then pulled himself up and reached the top of the steps, and then turned around to give a salute. He then entered the plane for a scheduled visit to Atlanta, Georgia.
White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said Biden did not require medical attention due to the fall, calling the stumble, “Nothing more than a misstep on the stairs.”
“I know folks have seen that President Biden slipped on his way up the stairs to AF1, but I’m happy to report that he is just fine and did not even require any attention from the medical team who travels with him,” the White House aide said.
Update: WH spox Karine Jean-Pierre seems to blame the wind for President Biden’s fall
She told reporters aboard Air Force One:
‘It’s pretty windy outside. It’s very windy. I almost fell coming up the steps myself. He is doing 100 percent’https://t.co/6GIwCG2xME
Toymaker Hasbro is changing the time-honored classic board game Monopoly by altering the Community Chest cards, saying they ”are long overdue for a refresh.”
Without specifying which events, Hasbro pointed to the ”tumultuous year of 2020” as the inspiration for dropping ”You’ve won second place in a beauty contest,” ”a tax refund,” and ”bank error in your favor.” Fans of the game will get to vote on new options.
”Coming out of the tumultuous year of 2020, the term ‘community’ has taken on a whole new meaning,” the company said on its website. ”Hasbro is counting on their fans to help reflect what community means in their real lives, into the Monopoly game, by voting for new cards like ‘Shop Local,’ ‘Rescue A Puppy,’ or ‘Help Your Neighbors.”’
All 16 Community Chest cards will be replaced by the fall.
”The world has changed a lot since Monopoly became a household name more than 85 years ago, and clearly today community is more important than ever,” said Eric Nyman, Chief Consumer Officer at Hasbro. ”We felt like 2021 was the perfect time to give fans the opportunity to show the world what community means to them through voting on new Community Chest cards. We’re really excited to see what new cards get voted in!”
Options for voting on the Monopoly website will include voting between ”You rescue a puppy — and you feel rescued, too! Get out of jail free” and ”Your friends video chat after a tough day. Get out of jail free.” Other voting options include ”Just when you think you can’t go another step, you finish that foot race — and raise money for your local hospital. Advance to Go. Collect $200,” or ”You shopped local ALL week. Advance to go. Collect $200.”
Other scenarios include rewards for visiting with an elderly neighbor, patronizing the school bake sale or donating blood.
The game, originally sold in 1935, is based on the buying and selling of properties, developing them and collecting rent from players landing on them with the intent of monopolizing the board and driving the other players into bankruptcy.
The properties are all based on streets in Atlantic City, New Jersey, although specialty versions also exist. A Ms. Monopoly version was released by Hasbro in 2019 in which girl and women players begin the game with $1,900 and boy and men players start with $1,500. Additionally, women and girls get $240 for passing go, while boys and men receive only the standard $200.
Other changes include the properties being replaced by inventions by women and mascot Rich Uncle Pennybags removed in favor of a young woman character described as his niece.
The popular Democratic candidate for Mayor, Andrew Yang, can’t seem to make up his mind against the anti-Isreal BDS movement.
Previously, Andrew Yang said in a statement to YWN that had “disagreed with Linda Sarsour on many issues including BDS and Israel.” Yang made the statement following a NY Post article which alleged that his campaign manager has ties with notorious Jew-hater Linda Sarsour.
Yeshivah World News Pointed out that Orthodox Jewish NY State Assemblyman Daniel Rosenthal “proudly” endorsed Andrew Yang for NYC Mayor. Rosenthal “praised Yang’s resolute stance against the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS)”
Days after this endorsement Yang is sounded very different in regards to BDS.
Responding to a question about his opposition to BDS in a forum co-hosted by Emgage( Muslim-American advocacy group) Yang said “I believe that BDS is the wrong approach, but I appreciate and would never begrudge people who are standing up for what they believe in.”
In a follow up to the appearance on the Emgage event The Forward reports:
“BDS does not recognize the right of Israel to exist,” Yang said on Friday. “Not recognizing Israel’s right to exist is antisemitic. I strongly oppose BDS, as I’ve said countless times.”
Yang said on Friday that he “used a poor choice of words on BDS” at the forum “and it has caused pain to many people.”
The left-leaning Forward reported: He said that he will reach out to Jewish leaders over the coming days “to make sure they know what’s in my heart.” And he reiterated a pledge that he will travel to Israel as mayor and is looking forward to “furthering the strong economic ties between Israel and NYC.”
In January, Yang wrote a scathing op-ed denouncing the BDS movement for the left-leaning Jewish website The Forward. Yang described the BDS movement as “rooted in antisemitic thought and history, hearkening back to fascist boycotts of Jewish businesses.”
An aide to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo publicly accused the prominent Democrat of sexual harassment Friday — the first allegation brought forth by a current staff member — plunging the embattled governor further into scandal sparked by multiple harassment allegations and his handling of data regarding deaths in nursing homes during the coronavirus pandemic.
He called her and her co-worker “mingle mamas.” He inquired about her lack of a wedding ring, she said, and the status of her divorce. She recalled him telling her she was beautiful — in Italian — and, as she sat alone with him in his office awaiting dictation, he gazed down her shirt and commented on a necklace hanging there. In the latest allegation against Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, Alyssa McGrath, an employee of the governor’s office, described a series of unsettling interactions with the governor, telling The New York Times that Mr. Cuomo would ogle her body, remark on her looks, and make suggestive comments to her and another executive aide. […] Over the last three years, Ms. McGrath said, the governor had seemingly fostered an unusual work triangle with her and her friend, the co-worker he allegedly groped, blending a professional relationship with unwanted attention. There was paternalistic patter, but also a commandeering, sometimes invasive physicality.
In an interview with the Times, McGrath said Cuomo’s cozy conduct toward her often made her feel uncomfortable and bewildered.
“He has a way of making you feel very comfortable around him, almost like you’re his friend,” she told the newspaper. “But then you walk away from the encounter or conversation, in your head going, ‘I can’t believe I just had that interaction with the governor of New York.’”
McGrath’s lawyer, Mariann Wang, said of Cuomo, “this would be unacceptable behavior from any boss, much less the governor,” continuing, “The women in the executive chamber are there to work for the State of New York, not serve as his eye candy or prospective girlfriend.”
To date, eight women have accused Cuomo of harassment and unwanted touching — all allegations that the governor vehemently denies.
“[T]he governor has greeted men and women with hugs and a kiss on the cheek, forehead, or hand. Yes, he has posed for photographs with his arm around them. Yes, he uses Italian phrases like ‘ciao bella,’” Cuomo lawyer Rita Glavin said in response to McGrath’s claims. “None of this is remarkable, although it may be old-fashioned. He has made clear that he has never made inappropriate advances or inappropriately touched anyone.”
Despite Cuomo’s denials, the governor faces sustained calls to resign, which have been made by top Democrats such as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA).
“Due to the multiple, credible sexual harassment and misconduct allegations, it is clear that Governor Cuomo has lost the confidence of his governing partners and the people of New York,” Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) recently said in a joint statement. “Governor Cuomo should resign.”
Cuomo has urged New York Attorney General Letitia James’ independent investigation into the allegations to play out before making a decision on stepping aside.
McGrath came forward with her allegations hours after Times revealed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating whether Cuomo aides provided false data regarding the number of deaths in the state’s nursing homes during the pandemic.
Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi rebuked U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan during a meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, on Thursday, citing the Black Lives Matter movement on U.S. human rights abuses.
The summit was the first bilateral meeting between the two countries under President Joe Biden, who has traditionally been soft on Beijing, and has struggled to balance a desire to break with Trump’s tough policies with the need for a strong stance.
Ahead of the meeting, the White House boasted that it had successfully insisted that the summit happen on home soil. Press Secretary Jennifer Psaki also promised earlier Thursday that the U.S. would bring up concerns about human rights in China.
But when Blinken spoke of the “rules-based international order,” and expressed “deep concerns” with China’s behavior in “Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan, cyberattacks on the United States, economic coercion toward our allies,” Jiechi struck back.
He objected to what he called a violation of diplomatic protocol, and said the U.S. could not lecture China from a position of strength.
He also claimed that the U.S. had “deep-seated” human rights problems:
China is firmly opposed to U.S. interference in China’s internal affairs … On human rights, we hope the United States will do better on human rights. China has made steady progress in human rights, and the fact is that there are many problems within the United States regarding human rights, which is admitted by the U.S. itself as well. … The challenges facing the United States in human rights are deep-seated. They did not just emerge over the past four years, such as “Black Lives Matter.” It did not come up only recently.
Yang Jiechi, director of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission Office for China addresses the US delegation at the opening session of US-China talks at the Captain Cook Hotel in Anchorage, Alaska on March 18, 2021. – China’s actions “threaten the rules-based order that maintains global stability,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday at the opening of a two-day meeting with Chinese counterparts in Alaska. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / POOL / AFP) (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Blinken countered that in his discussion with allies, he was hearing “deep satisfaction that the United States is back, that we’re re-engaged with our allies and partners,” and “deep concern about some of the actions your government is taking.”
He added that a “hallmark” of American “leadership” was that the U.S. was willing to admit its mistakes — that it was engaged in “a constant quest to form a more perfect union,” but confronted its challenges “openly” and “transparently.”
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His newest e-book is How Not to Be a Sh!thole Country: Lessons from South Africa. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
Former U.S. Special Envoy Jason Greenblatt speaks at a conference of Israel Hayom newspaper at Davidson Center in Jerusalem Old City on June 27, 2019. Photo by Aharon Krohn/Flash90
(March 19, 2021 / JNS) Saudi Arabia is on a path to peace with Israel, but it needs to be given space to move at its own pace, former White House Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt told JNS in an exclusive interview.
“These deals are complex and take a great deal of time, but any one thing could spark the right opportunity for a deal to actually be announced and quickly consummated, as we have seen,” said Greenblatt.
The New York-born son of Hungarian Jewish refugees, Greenblatt is a father of six who lives in Teaneck, N.J. He worked as a top lawyer for the Trump organization before becoming former President Donald Trump’s special envoy for international negotiations in January 2017, one of the few Trump officials charged with the Middle East file.
Greenblatt weighed in on his experiences negotiating on behalf of the Trump administration’s efforts towards Israeli-Palestinian peace and the Abraham Accords, as well as his thoughts on the Biden administration reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA ) and its critical approach vis-à-vis the Saudis.
He noted that in its first months, the Biden administration seems to be giving too much credence to the European position, even though the European Union was a main force behind what he called the “disastrous” Iran nuclear deal.
Below is the full text of questions and answers with Greenblatt:
Q: In your recent article in Newsweek, you seem to rebuke the Biden administration’s foreign policy that seeks a rapprochement with Iran at the expense of the moderate Gulf and Arab states, as well as Israel. How will this affect the peace deals between Israel and the Arab world that you helped orchestrate? Will it make their alliance stronger?
A: My position on whose voices truly matter on the Iranian threat has been clear. The Biden administration has put a great deal of emphasis on the Europeans being the relevant parties at the Iranian table.
While some of these European countries are relevant in the sense that they were involved in the disastrous JCPOA, and indeed they have a relationship with the Iranian regime which is helpful, the European outlook often is not aligned with ours or our important allies in the Middle East- Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Jordan.
It is our allies in the Middle East who are in the most danger from the Iranian threats, including nuclear, missiles, drones, proxies, terrorism and other malign activity. These countries should have a seat at the front of the table at all these meetings to ensure their voices are heard loud and clear.
Q: From Israel’s perspective, how should it pursue a peace deal with Saudi Arabia and some of the other Arab countries that have not done so yet? Will the current administration’s policies push Saudi Arabia and Israel closer?
A: These deals are complex and take a great deal of time, but any one thing could spark the right opportunity for a deal to actually be announced and quickly consummated, as we have seen.
Israel should continue to do what it is doing by being a force for good in the world and security in the region and elsewhere. Israel should walk tall and proud, and over time, more and more countries will realize that being Israel’s ally is a big benefit for so many reasons.
I think Saudi Arabia will get there, but we have to be patient and give Saudi Arabia the space it needs. Pressure from any party, including the U.S., will not yield a peace deal that is worth much or long-lasting. Peace will come when everyone is ready for it, for the right reasons. Encouragement is important, but pressure is not worthwhile.
Q: What do you make of the latest spat between Israel and Jordan, and the report that Jordan blocked its airspace to Netanyahu?
A: I don’t have the inside scoop on what actually happened, and I am not sure which news reports are accurate. But I think Jordan is not only an important ally of the U.S., it is an important neighbor to Israel.
I hope that Israel and Jordan work in good faith to repair that very important relationship. Rhetoric from some sectors turning this into a religious dispute is very harmful, and I doubt there is any truth to those stories. Frankly, if it were up to me, I would invite Crown Prince [Mohammed bin Salman] to visit Jerusalem and pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and ensure that he has the security he is comfortable with.
Israel tries hard to do as good a job as possible to allow Muslims to worship at Al-Aqsa; in fact, it is Jewish worship that is forbidden. The more people understand that the better.
Q: What is the biggest misconception you observed in Washington circles and the foreign-policy establishment regarding the overall situation in the Middle East?
A: I will actually list several misconceptions because they are so important to understanding the conflict and its potential resolution.
First, that the Arab-Israeli conflict can only be solved when solving the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Perhaps that was true years ago. Clearly, it is no longer true for some countries, and hopefully, for many others. The conflicts are tied together, but can be broken apart and solved separately.
Another is the total acceptance of many of the Palestinians’ talking points as if they were valid, legally binding rights, such as their demand for all of East Jerusalem (including Judaism’s holiest sites) and that a peace deal must be largely based on the so-called 1967 borders, as if Israel is illegally occupying land that actually once belonged to Palestinians, as opposed to the land being disputed and claimed by Palestinians.
Or that other countries or groups of countries, such as the United Nations or the European Union, can demand a solution to the conflict out of Israel, as opposed to a solution to the conflict, if any, coming from direct, good faith negotiations between the parties.
Another big misconception is ignoring the situation in Gaza. The Palestinian leadership is split into two groups and not much can happen without that changing. We will see if that changes, and if there is actually a free and fair election among the Palestinians as they are currently working on.
I could go on and on. There are many misconceptions, and each one causes the conflict to be harder to solve and holds people back from better lives.
Q: After having backed themselves into isolation, the Palestinians now seem to think they have an ally in the Biden administration. Do you see the administration forcing concessions from Israel on this matter?
A: I don’t want to make predictions about the Biden administration. I think the administration is smart enough to understand that demanding things out of Israel will not achieve a peace agreement and does nothing to further U.S. interests, so I certainly hope not.
I think the Palestinian leadership—both in Ramallah and the so-called leadership, actually terrorists, in Gaza—have read the tea leaves wrong again and again. What a shame for the Palestinian people who deserve so much better than they have now.
If asked, I would strongly advise the Biden administration not to put pressure on Israel and also not to start throwing money again at the Palestinians who misuse so much of the money that the U.S. and other countries give them. What a waste of U.S. taxpayer funds.
Q: Have you been contacted by members of the current administration for advice? Would you consider serving again in a future administration?
A: I have not been contacted by them and would be happy to share my three years of very relevant, current experience with them at any time. I think they could only benefit from hearing from us.
Keep in mind, it was a very small group of people who handled this file. I would expect they would want this information.
Under the right circumstances, I would consider serving at some point in the future. It was an incredible honor to serve my country and to work on bringing peace to the region, as well as strengthening the U.S.-Israel relationship, and building and deepening the ties between Israel and its Arab neighbors. I participated in some incredible, historic decisions and moments. What a blessing to have been able to do that.
A BBC reporter based in Myanmar was taken by men in plain clothes while reporting in the country’s capital, the outlet announced early Friday.
Aung Thura’s detention comes amid violent clashes between the Burmese military and protesters that have led to over 200 dead, according to BBC News. The military staged a coup in early February, detaining the country’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and other top government officials.
“We are extremely concerned about our BBC News Burmese Reporter, Aung Thura, who was taken away by unidentified men in the Burmese capital, Nay Pyi Taw, at approximately midday local time,” BBC News said in a statement. “The BBC takes the safety of all of its staff in Myanmar very seriously and we are doing everything we can to find Aung Thura.”
Local reporter Than Htike Aung was also detained, BBC reported. Mizzima, the company he worked for, had its operating license revoked by the Burmese military earlier in March.
Both men were detained after men arrived in an unmarked van and demanded to see them, BBC said, adding that it has been unable to contact Aung Thura since.
Demonstrators have continued to protest against the Burmese military, even as the clashes have turned violent. The military killed 38 protesters on March 3 alone, one of the deadliest days since the Feb. 1 coup, and has arrested 40 journalists since demonstrations began.
“We call on the authorities to help locate him and confirm that he is safe,” BBC said. “Aung Thura is an accredited BBC journalist with many years of reporting experience covering events in Nay Pyi Taw.”
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The odds are slim for Gov. Cuomo being impeached (AP)
Mary Margaret Olohan (DCNF)
A former staffer to Gov. Andrew Cuomo says the New York Democrat jokingly told her that he would “mount” her if he were a dog.
Lindsey Boylan originally said in December that Cuomo sexually harassed her and then in February accused him of kissing her without consent in a Medium post. In an interview with The New Yorker published Thursday, Boylan described yet another allegation of inappropriate conduct by the governor.
Boylan said she was attending a meeting at the governor’s mansion in 2018 when Cuomo’s dog, Captain, a Siberian-Shepherd-Malamute mix, jumped up and down near her, according to The New Yorker. Boylan said she attempted to calm Captain down before backing away.
Boylan told The New Yorker the governor joked that if he were a dog, he would attempt to “mount” her too.
“I remember being grossed out but also, like, what a dumb third-grade thing to say,” she told the New Yorker, noting that she did not reply, and adding, “I just shrugged it off.”
Cuomo’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation but reiterated to The New Yorker that the governor has never inappropriately behaved with Boylan.
The embattled governor is being investigated by both the state attorney general’s office for allegations of workplace sexual misconduct and by the Department of Justice for his role in knowingly undercounting the deaths of New York nursing home patients.
Cuomo said March 12 that no one wants the reviews to conclude “more quickly and more thoroughly” than he does. He also asked for lawmakers to wait for the investigations’ results before drawing conclusions, and refused to resign.
Last week, the majority of the New York Democratic congressional delegation called for Cuomo’s resignation in coinciding statements. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand also joined these calls.
President Joe Biden said Tuesday that Cuomo should resign if sexual misconduct allegations against him are confirmed to be true.
“I know you said you want the investigation to continue,” ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos said to Biden Tuesday. “If the investigation confirms the claims of the women, should he resign?”
“Yes,” Biden said. “I think he’ll probably end up being prosecuted, too.”
“There should be an investigation to determine whether what she says is true,” Biden said, apparently referring to one of Cuomo’s accusers. “That’s what’s going on now.”
Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].
Two weeks ago, a bus filled with veteran Israeli generals from the Bithonistim, a grassroots national security organization, slowly made its way up the slopes of Mt. Ebal in Northern Samaria to visit a biblical-era site that was severely damaged by a Palestinian Authority contractor in late January.
They came to draw the public’s attention to the strategic implications of the war the Palestinians are waging against Jewish history.
The site was excavated between 1980 and 1989 by the late Professor Adam Zertal, who identified it as Joshua’s Altar as described in the Books of Deuteronomy, (27; 1-9) and Joshua (8; 30-35). The animal remains at the site contained thousands of burnt bones of year-old male, exclusively kosher, animals. They were burned in an open flame 3,250 years ago—the time generally identified as the period of ancient Jewish settlement of the Land of Israel under Joshua. Other remains found at the site included earrings and scarabs made in Egypt at the time of Ramses II, the Egyptian pharaoh often associated with the story of the Exodus from Egypt.
As Zertal explained in a lecture in 2013, the altar was buried under a layer of rocks, in keeping with Jewish prescriptions for preventing the desecration of abandoned holy sites. In keeping with the biblical narrative, the altar is made of unhewn stones; instead of steps, there are two ramps for the priests to alight to the platform—blocks of plaster were found nearby. The altar at Mt. Ebal also matches a Talmudic description of an altar from the Second Temple period, around 900 years later, indicating a continuity of Jewish practices throughout the biblical period.
Although initially controversial, Zertal’s general finding that the site is around 3,300 years old and is a Jewish historical site, where sacrifices were carried out in keeping with biblical guidelines, has become widely accepted—although many continue to dispute the specific identification with Joshua.
In late January, the Palestinian Authority (PA) posted a video on its website of 60 meters of the ancient wall surrounding the altar being destroyed to pave a road connecting the Palestinian village of Asira ash-Shamaliya to Nablus. Nablus, built on the ruins of the biblical city of Shechem, is located in northern Samaria between Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim.
Zertal was a fiercely secular son of hardcore socialists. Yet, he explained in a 2013 lecture, his scientific work compelled him to accept that the biblical narrative “from Deuteronomy through the Books of Kings was historically accurate.”
“There are people who refuse to acknowledge that the damage done here was deliberate,” Major General Gershon Hacohen explained to Newsweek. “That since it was the surrounding wall—rather than the altar itself—that was destroyed, the altar wasn’t harmed. That’s like saying that if someone destroys the steps to the Acropolis, they aren’t harming the Acropolis. It’s the same complex.”
“They also say the Palestinians weren’t trying to damage the site—they just needed stones for their road. But look at this place,” he said and waved his hand across the landscape.
The slopes of Mt. Ebal are strewn with loose rocks.
“If they needed rocks for the road, all the Palestinians had to do was bring up a truck and take as many as they needed. Instead, they brought a bulldozer all the way up here and deliberately destroyed 60 meters of a 3,250-year-old wall.”
As if to prove Hacohen’s point, this week, a group of Palestinians was filmed barbecuing on the altar itself.
The Palestinian effort to destroy the site is of a piece with the PA’s long-standing efforts to destroy the physical record of millennia-old Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel. That effort is now focused on destroying and appropriating the artifacts of Jewish history in Samaria.
Just across the valley from Mt. Ebal is Tel Samaria, which contains the remains of the city of Samaria—the capital built by King Omri of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, where both Omri and King Ahab ruled.
During the Roman period, Herod built the city of Sebastia at Tel Samaria and turned it into one of the most important cities in ancient Israel.
In November 2020, the PA held a ceremony at Sebastia in which Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh proclaimed it a “Palestinian heritage site” and foisted a massive Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) flag up a 15-meter flagpole.
The Palestinians claim Herod, known as “the King of the Jews”—the ruler who expanded the Jewish Second Temple complex in Jerusalem in the first century B.C.E.—was actually “the King of Palestine.”
The PA is also destroying the nearby archaeological site of Tel Aroma, a center of Jewish settlement for more than a millennium.
Since the PLO founded the PA in 1994 in the framework of its peace process with Israel, destroying and appropriating Jewish historical sites—with the enthusiastic support of international organizations like UNESCO—has been a constant effort.
Immediately after Israel transferred control over the city of Jericho to the PA in 1994, then-PLO leader Yasser Arafat directed the destruction of the ancient Shalom al Yisrael synagogue in Jericho.
But the central focus of its destructive activities has been the Temple Mount.
In 1999, the PA carried out a massive renovation project to transform ancient underground Temple Mount chambers into a new mosque, removing 9,000 tons of antiquities and debris from the complex and dumping them around Jerusalem. Alarmed archaeologists collected the debris and transferred it to Mt. Scopus, where the Temple Mount Sifting Project was inaugurated. Over the next 20 years, thousands of artifacts were discovered by volunteers who sifted through the garbage to salvage them.
Last year, the PA plundered Hasmonean graves at the Hasmonean palace outside Jericho and scattered 2,000-year-old bones.
UNESCO, the UN agency charged with preserving international heritage sites, has supported the Palestinian efforts, denied the Jewish ties to the Temple Mount—Judaism’s most sacred site—and declared the Cave of Machpela in Hebron—where the biblical patriarchs and matriarchs are buried—an Islamic heritage site, along with Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem.
The PLO and the PA have never agreed to recognize that Israel is the Jewish state. Since the PLO published its charter in 1964, the consistent Palestinian position has been to deny that the Jews have any history at all in the Land of Israel. An internal memo from the PLO’s negotiations support unit explained why. Published in 2011 by The Guardian and Al Jazeera, it warned, “Recognition of the Jewish people and their right to self-determination may lend credence to the Jewish people’s claim to all of Historic Palestine.”
In other words, the obliteration of the historical record is a fundamental feature of the Palestinian war to destroy Israel. Any acknowledgement of Jewish history in the Land of Israel risks revealing the otherwise-undeniable truth that the Jewish people are indigenous to the Land of Israel.
Arafat’s successor, PLO and PA chief Mahmoud Abbas, as well as all of his colleagues, live by these lies. Abbas has rewritten thousands of years of history to claim a 5,000-year history in the Land of Israel for the Palestinians. He alternates between claiming lineage from the Jebusites and Canaanites, while denying that there was ever a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.
Benny Katzover, who served as Samaria Regional Council chairman during Zertal’s excavation, became close friends with Zertal during his long years of work. Speaking to the generals, Katzover said, “No nation would allow anyone to destroy its roots in this fashion. We, the Jewish people, have the deepest, most significant roots in our land of all of humanity. It isn’t a surprise that the entire world is trying to deny these ties, by turning a blind eye to the destruction and claiming that the Cave of Machpela is a Palestinian heritage site.”
Hacohen responded by recalling an interview from 2009 with Abbas Zaki, the PLO’s ambassador to Lebanon, in which Zaki revealed the PLO’s true purpose when it calls for a so-called “two-state solution” that would require Israel to withdraw from Judea and Samaria and northern, eastern and southern Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount.
“With the two-state solution,” Zaki said, “Israel will collapse, because if they get out of Jerusalem, what will become of all the talk about the Promised Land and the Chosen People? What will become of all the sacrifices they made—just to be told to leave? They consider Jerusalem to have a spiritual status. The Jews consider Judea and Samaria to be their historic dream. If the Jews leave those places, the Zionist idea will begin to collapse. It will regress of its own accord. Then we will move forward.”
In other words, the purpose of the Palestinian war against, and appropriation of, Jewish history in the Land of Israel is to set the conditions for Israel’s ultimate physical destruction. Where better to strike than the site where, in Moses’s words, the Jews became “the nation of the Lord your God?”
Zack Snyder’s Justice League (aka The Snyder Cut), which premiered this week on HBO Max, is literally four-hours and two minutes long — 242 minutes to be precise, which makes it 15 minutes longer than Lawrence of Arabia, 21 minutes longer than Gone with the Wind, and 122 minutes longer than 2017’s original Justice League.
In case I’m being too subtle, The Snyder Cut is really, reeeeeally long, and it’s a problem.
So why are there two Justice Leagues movies, both directed by Zack Snyder? Good question. Well, back in 2017, Snyder had shot and edited most of his version of Justice League but the studio was pretty unhappy with it. Then Snyder’s family was hit with a terrible tragedy, so he walked away and in stepped Avengers 1 & 2 director Joss Whedon, who reportedly re-shot two-thirds of the movie and released it without taking credit as director, or even as co-director.
The result was a critical flop, a commercial bomb, and fan failure. And so the call went out on the Internet for the studio to release “The Snyder Cut.” Snyder (who had saved his cut on a laptop) joined the call and Warner Bros., a studio desperate to fill its new HBO Max streaming service with sexy content, agreed. Snyder was given $70 million to finish his opus and it’s 242 minutes long.
Which is looong.
There’s no intermission.
Watch below:
It’s broken into six chapters followed by a reeeeeally long epilogue, and there’s no natural place where you can stop, go on with your day, and return to it tomorrow. This is one movie. One sit. And it’s a reeeeeally long movie.
Granted, I’m glad I saw it and was only bored in a few parts. The 30-minute epilogue, however, is pretty excruciating and promises a sequel. Nevertheless, I will never watch it again. Ever.
Did it need to be four hours long? No. Countless scenes go on too long and repeat the same information. Between that and the epilogue, this sucker could have been trimmed to 160 minutes easy.
It is, though, an entirely different movie from Whedon’s Justice League, which felt abrupt and like it just wanted to get itself over with.
The Snyder Cut wants to be seen as an epic filled with mythology, as something that slows down and revels in the character and plot details fans love so much. Each character — Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman Flash, and Cyborg — is given plenty of time (and a slo-mo music montage) to establish who they are and what they are about as Batman/Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) goes about the business of recruiting them. He knows a threat is on its way and the only way to stop it is by uniting earth’s greatest heroes.
We get tons of backstory, two extended flashbacks (one on Wonder Woman’s all-woman island where a sense of humor and cleavage have been outlawed), at least an hour of slow motion scenes, and a number of big action sequences. Some of it works. Some of it doesn’t. All of it looks fake, looks like it was created in a computer, and the overall aura of the movie is so grey and oppressive, by chapter four you want to take a Xanax.
The Snyder Cut is never much fun. It takes itself seriously, too seriously, and wants you to take it seriously. The only attempt at comic relief is Ezra Miller’s young Flash, but his nebbish, gee whiz act gets pretty old pretty quick. Other than that, there’s a sense of self-importance that’s never earned because the stakes never feel real. Not for a moment did I believe the earth or a single one of our heroes was in any sort of danger.
Of course the movie truly comes alive every time Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman appears on screen, but that might only be due to the fact I’m a red-blooded, heterosexual American male.
I will say this… The Snyder Cut is a helluva lot better than DC’s most recent entry, the dreadful Wonder Woman 1984 and even Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, which I finally saw last week and did not understand a single second of. But…
Is it better than Whedon’s original Justice League? Well, let’s just say Whedon’s version felt like no one gave a damn and Snyder’s version feels like someone gave too much of a damn. And it’s long.
During the 2020 Presidential election, Biden mocked President Trump over the way he steps down the ramp of Air Force One
FLASHBACK -> Biden mocks Trump’s ramp walk at West Point and claims he’s stronger: “Look at how he steps and look at how I step. Watch how I run up ramps and he stumbles down ramps. Come on.” pic.twitter.com/U7CL0dBSQA
During an interview aired on Thursday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “America Reports,” Silver Lake Specialized Care Center Administrator Michael Kraus stated that he raised concerns about New York requiring nursing homes to take coronavirus-positive patients on a call with state officials, and his concerns were dismissed.
Kraus said that when he heard about the state’s order during a conference call with other administrators, leaders of hospitals, and state officials, “I said that’s ridiculous. Everyone heard about the story that happened in Washington State, and that was enough for me to understand I can’t put these people at risk. We can’t be doing this. It’s just not right to the residents.”
Fox News Correspondent Aishah Hasnie then asked, “And you vocalized that on these phone conversations?”
Kraus responded, “I did vocalize it, and then once it was shot down, I never spoke again.”
He added that he couldn’t say who his concerns were shot down by.
Sen. Rand Paul, a day after squaring off against Dr. Anthony Fauci during a contentious Senate hearing, Friday continued to accuse the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of engaging in political “theater” by asking Americans to keep wearing masks after they have been vaccinated for COVID-19.
“The science of vaccines is that when you get an infection or you get the vaccination you develop immunity and yet (he) keeps moving the goalposts and saying well you might get this variant from South Africa,” the Kentucky Republican said on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends.”
His comments come after Paul argued during the Thursday committee hearing with Fauci, who is now President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser and has led the NIAID for almost 40 years, that he keeps wearing masks even though he’s had his vaccines to bolster his argument that people should continue to mask up.
“What studies do you have that people that have had the vaccine or have had the infection are spreading the infection?” Paul asked Fauci in the hearing. “If we’re not spreading the infection, isn’t it just theater?”
Fauci retorted that “when you talk about reinfection and you don’t keep in the concept of variants, that’s an entirely different ballgame. That’s a good reason for a mask.”
On Friday, Paul, an ophthalmologist, commented that the question is about whether the millions of Americans who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 have their immunity, and if they do, why they should wear masks.
“My point to him is, show us the evidence,” said Paul. “Show us the scientific evidence that people who have already had COVID or people that have already gotten the vaccine are getting it again.”
The science of vaccines, he added, comes from the basis of when one gets an infection or a vaccination, that person develops immunity.
“Yet he’s moving the goal post and saying well, you might get this variant from South Africa,” said Paul. “My point to him is to show us the evidence. Show us the scientific evidence that people who have already had COVID or people who have already had the vaccine are getting it again. If they’re getting it in large numbers and getting ill and going to the hospital and dying we should know that, but it’s not true. It’s his conjecture.”
Under that reasoning, Paul added, that is like saying “well, we might get the Spanish flu, so maybe we should wear the mask until the Spanish flu comes back. It’s a ridiculous notion not based on science, and what he is doing is theater and it goes against the science of vaccines.”
But Fauci, who has immunity, can’t get COVID-19 again, Paul argued, “but he’s wearing a mask because it’s one of his noble lies to convince everybody to wear masks, but it’s not true. If you’ve been vaccinated, you don’t need to wear a mask.”
Meanwhile, Paul said he’s not against the COVID vaccinations, because that is the way toward the pandemic coming to an end, along with natural immunity.
“Once you are vaccinated, you’re two weeks out from the second dose, you are safe, and there’s no record so far of anybody being hospitalized or dying that’s been vaccinated,” Paul said. “There’s also no record of people who have gotten in naturally being reinfected and being hospitalized or dying, so what we have is that it’s very very safe once you’ve had the vaccine, very very safe once you’ve had the infection and we should be getting that reward. In fact, it should be an incentive to people to go out and get vaccinated.”
