76.3 F
New York
Thursday, May 2, 2024
type here...
Home Blog Page 1950

Israel’s Daily Corona Tally Spikes to 85, Health Ministry Warns of New Outbreak

By
Administrator
-
0
Magen David Adom medical workers test Gymnasia High School students and their families for coronavirus at a drive-through site in Jerusalem on May 30, 2020. Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90.

Health officials say corona restrictions have been virtually abandoned amid the reopening of the economy

By: Maytal Yasur Beit-Or

Israel’s Health Ministry held a special media briefing Friday, citing a troubling spike in the number of coronavirus cases diagnosed daily.

After several days in which the daily tally dropped to single digits and, at times, to zero, the ministry said that on Friday alone, 85 people had been diagnosed with COVID-19.

Outgoing Health Ministry Director Moshe Bar Siman-Tov attributed the spike to the public not following social distancing guidelines, as the country’s economy has been gradually returning to its pre-pandemic activities.

He noted that senior officials in the health, education and finance ministries, as well as the National Security Council, were holding discussions on the latest developments and the best course of action to counter the increase in infections so as to prevent a situation where another lockdown is necessary.

“We had a period of euphoria. Now we have received a wake-up call,” said Bar Siman-Tov.

Ministry data suggests that the majority of new infections are in schools, with seven percent coming from middle schools and 35 percent from high schools, he explained.

“We knew there would be a period of trial and error,” he said when asked whether the decision to reopen the school system had been premature. “If the data shows we need to close schools down again, we will do so.

“We’re trying to reach a balance between maintaining a low number of infections and opening up the economy,” he added.

Bar Siman-Tov said the ministry is closely monitoring the centers of infection and assessing the situation.

So far, 17,024 Israelis have contracted the virus, of which 14,812 have recovered. The virus has claimed the lives of 284 Israelis to date. (JNS.org)

Noam Dvir and Gadi Golan contributed to this report.

This article first appeared in Israel Hayom.

 

 

FEMA Predicts Above-Average Year for Hurricanes Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

By
Administrator
-
0
U.S. officials are predicting an “enhanced” Atlantic hurricane season that may create new challenges for Americans already struggling with the coronavirus pandemic. Photo Credit: AP

By: VOA News

U.S. officials are predicting an “enhanced” Atlantic hurricane season that may create new challenges for Americans already struggling with the coronavirus pandemic.

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officials briefed President Donald Trump on Thursday, outlining preparations for the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season.

The season, which officially begins Monday, has already seen two named tropical storms, Arthur and Bertha.

“The big concern this year is the Atlantic Ocean. We’re expecting an above-average year,” said Neil Jacobs, acting director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). “This is above average; this does not necessarily mean they’ll make landfall.”

“So you think we could have a slightly enhanced hurricane season. That’s just what we want,” Trump said. “Let’s see. Hopefully, that won’t be the case, but we’ll see.”

The president and FEMA officials were quick to say that they are prepared for the abnormally active season but did acknowledge the difficulties presented by COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

“There will be unique challenges in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic,” Vice President Mike Pence said. “When people are displaced by tropical storms or hurricanes, they often know and are used to congregating at a local school or a local gymnasium. There’ll be different challenges now.”

FEMA released the COVID-19 Pandemic Operational Guidance for the 2020 season to help emergency managers at every level devise new strategies to evacuate, shelter and care for people, while protecting against the spread of the coronavirus, administrator Peter Gaynor said.

“We’re in a really great place when it comes to funding, personnel and supplies,” Gaynor added. FEMA was recently allocated $40 billion as part of recent coronavirus emergency legislation, bringing the agency’s disaster relief fund total to $80 billion.

A typical Atlantic hurricane season, which officially starts June 1 and ends November 30, produces 12 named storms, six of which become hurricanes, with three on average becoming major hurricanes (Category 3, 4 or 5 storms). This year, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center is forecasting between 13 and 19 named storms, six to 10 hurricanes, and three to six major hurricanes.

There is a 60 percent chance of an above-normal season. The high probability of a season with above-average activity is because of the combination of several climate factors, including warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures and reduced vertical wind shear. The absence of an El Nino pattern to suppress hurricane activity and weakened tropical Atlantic trade winds is also expected to allow a more active season, NOAA officials said in a statement.

Tropical Storm Arthur formed off the coast of Florida on May 16, becoming the first named storm of 2020, continuing a six-year-long trend that a named storm forms before the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season. (VOA News)

Virgin Islands AG Says Deal Reached in Jeffrey Epstein Victim Compensation Fund

By
Administrator
-
0
This March 28, 2017, file photo, provided by the New York State Sex Offender Registry shows Jeffrey Epstein. A report released Friday, May 1, 2020, by Harvard University found that Epstein visited its campus more than 40 times after his 2008 sex crimes conviction and was given his own office. The school accepted $9 million from Epstein before his conviction but barred additional donations after that. Epstein was found unresponsive in a New York jail cell on Aug. 10, 2019, and was pronounced dead in a hospital that day. (New York State Sex Offender Registry via AP, File)

Edited by: JV Staff

A deal has finally been struck with the many victims of the notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein over how the compensation fund of his estate should be operated.

Epstein died under mysterious circumstances while incarcerated at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan in August of 2019.

According to a New York Post report, the announcement of the long awaited deal was made by Denise George, the attorney general of the US Virgin Islands on Friday.

In January of 2020, George said that she did not trust the two executors of Epstein’s estate to handle the case because they have a conflict of interest, according to a New York Post report.
The Post reported that George said there is a conflict of interest because the two executors of the financier’s estate, Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn, “served as officers or trustees” of companies and Epstein’s trust which are named in her lawsuit.

“The Government has an interest in the assets of the Estate, as well as an interest in ensuring that the laws of the Virgin Islands are enforced for the benefit of the Government and victims of Epstein’s crimes,” George wrote in the court filings. “The Executors of the Estate, who are alleged to have been affiliated with various entities that participated in Epstein’s criminal enterprise, cannot adequately protect the rights of the interest of the Government.”

“Intervention is the only vehicle available to assure that the Government will not suffer detrimental harm by the actions of the Executors,” George said.

Under the agreement, the fund would have safeguards in place including appointing a victim advocate, putting aside money for victims who may not have come forward yet or who opt out of the program, implementing protections to make sure information divulged by victims wouldn’t later be used against them and other measures, the AG said, according to the Post report.

In January, the Post reported that George wanted to intervene in Epstein’s estate case to make sure her claims are represented and to ensure VI laws are followed especially given the fact that the executors of the estate have a conflict of interest.

A VI judge must still approve the agreement.

“I’m hopeful the Agreement will receive final approval, so these women are able to receive the help they need,” George said in a statement.

The NY Post reported that William Blum, a lawyer for the executors, said his clients “are extremely pleased that the USVI Attorney General has dropped her opposition to the Epstein Victims’ Compensation Program, and allowed it to proceed as funded entirely by the Estate.”

“We are pleased that the parties have reached a resolution that allows victims the opportunity to resolve their sexual abuse claims through this independent, voluntary, non-adversarial process,” fund designers Camille Biros, Kenneth Feinberg and Jordana Feldman said. “Over the last several months, we designed the Program with the input of victims’ counsel and other interested parties, and we are preparing to move forward to implement the claims process.”

Report: UN, WHO Coronavirus Relief Used for Terror-Linked NGOs

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0
World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. Credit: U.S. Mission Geneva/Eric Bridiers via Flickr.

By  ELIANA RUDEE

(JNS) Funding from the United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO) to Gaza and the West Bank are being directed to non-emergency advocacy efforts and projects with terror-linked NGOs, according to a new report by NGO Monitor.

The U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in cooperation with the WHO, has coordinated millions of dollars in international, emergency government funding intended for lifesaving COVID-19 efforts in the West Bank and Gaza, which has been used more for the procuring of funds for NGO allies rather than critical humanitarian aid.

The May 2020 report, “No NGO Left Behind: The Politics of OCHA’s COVID-19 Humanitarian Aid in the West Bank and Gaza,” shows that funding is being provided to NGOs with ties to internationally designated terrorist organizations. That includes some NGOs whose staff were only months ago arrested and indicted for the murder of 17-year-old Rina Schnerb, who was killed on Aug. 23, 2019, in a bombing attack in Samaria that also seriously injured her father and brother.

According to OCHA, the West Bank and Gaza are in need of humanitarian aid to increase COVID-19 testing capacity; expand hospital-bed capacity; increase respiratory support and intensive-care treatment; provide Personal Protective Equipment; and to ensure that public-health messages are widely shared. “Put simply, to increase the ability of the Palestinians to combat and deal with COVID-19, some of the funds are going to the stated COVID-19 emergency efforts,” said Becca Wertman, managing editor at NGO Monitor.

However, she told JNS, “funds are also being used for activities that do not appear to involve vital, lifesaving resources and supplies to implement the most urgent and critical activities. In some instances, it is clear that existing NGO advocacy ventures, which often involve anti-Israel rhetoric and agendas, have been relabeled ‘COVID-19’ without a substantive contribution to emergency humanitarian aid.”

Some NGO activity funded by the response to the coronavirus, she added, involves low- or no-cost efforts, as well as tasks that have already been performed. The sums budgeted to these tasks, however, are not reported.

“This suggests that key factors for OCHA are the goals of procuring funds for their NGO allies and ‘padding the stats’—not providing critical humanitarian materials in the most efficient and professional manner possible,” said Wertman.

This is especially hazardous, she continued, as OCHA partners with a number of organizations with ties to internationally designated terrorist organizations, and so “financial support to these groups results in increased risk for aid diversion.”

Wertman placed responsibility on OCHA, as well as its donor governments. “It is incumbent on OCHA to be transparent and report details on how much funding NGOs are getting and from which government,” she said.

“The U.N. should [also] be accountable to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence, and not partner with any group that violates these principles,” stated Wertman.

Lastly, she said, “donor governments should also increase their own oversight and condition funds on the U.N.’s ability to be accountable and transparent in its use of their funds. Donor governments should also be transparent themselves and insist that their own domestic ‘terror entities lists’ are utilized in all funding contracts with U.N. agencies.”

‘Track how taxpayer money is spent’

According to NGO Monitor, the plan, which requested $42 million from U.N. donor states, has so far raised millions from governments, including the European Union, Canada, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Ireland, Norway and Spain.

“In most cases, the officials in the various countries don’t bother to track how the taxpayer money is spent,” Professor Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO Monitor, told JNS. “This opens the door to U.N. waste and worse, including funds allocated for medical purposes ending up with groups affiliated with Palestinian terror organizations.”

He urged that “governments need to pay attention to these details and to take the necessary steps to stop the United Nations from diverting funds.”

In its report, NGO Monitor suggested that steps be taken to ensure that funds raised for humanitarian response truly support those projects, including recommended safeguards to prevent any funds from reaching NGOs or others linked to internationally designated terrorist groups.

Said Steinberg: “Our report provides a snapshot of what humanitarian aid actually looks like in crisis situations and the accompanying shortcoming.”

Three Ways Lockdowns Are Costing Human Lives

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0

(MISES)

The conversation about the lockdowns when the COVID-19 crisis started was centered on saving lives at the cost of the economy. This makes sense, since many of those making decisions were epidemiologists and we cannot expect them to fully understand the lockdowns’ impact on the economy and human lives. The problem is that even many economists argued the same thing and completely ignored the harm that the lockdowns would create.

These economists have fallen prey to what Frédéric Bastiat called the “unseen” consequences of a policy. Frédéric Bastiat argued that an “act, a habit, an institution, a law, gives birth not only to an effect but to a series of effects. Of these effects, the first only is immediate; it manifests itself simultaneously with its cause—it is seen. The others unfold in succession—they are not seen: it is well for us, if they are foreseen.” Applied to lockdowns this means that it is easier to see the deaths caused by COVID-19 than to see the deaths caused by lockdowns. In what follows, I provide three arguments on how the economic lockdowns are costing us human lives and will continue to do so long after they end.

Deaths of Despair

A recent study finds that we could have up to seventy-five thousand more deaths of despair over the next ten years. Deaths of despair refer to suicides and deaths from abuse of alcohol and drugs. The study argues that these deaths will primarily be caused by increased unemployment, fear, and isolation. Unemployment is the main factor and the analysis is based on the projected unemployment rate between 2020 and 2029. The authors estimate that in the best case scenario (lowest unemployment) we will have about twenty-eight thousand more people die deaths of despair and in the worst-case scenario (highest unemployment) we could see up to one hundred fifty-four thousand more people die. A recent study showing that unemployment will remain high for a prolonged period of time means that we can expect the number to be higher than seventy-five thousand.

This is not the only study that argues that unemployment is directly related to deaths of despair. Consider, for instance, a NBER study that found an increase of 3.6 percent in the opioid death rate for each 1 percent increase in unemployment. Based on this, we could see another twenty-nine thousand more deaths because of opioids annually. One may argue that these are only predictions, but sadly the indications we have so far show support for these studies. For instance, a doctor in the Bay Area told a local ABC7 reporter “I mean, we’ve seen a year’s worth of suicide attempts in the last four weeks.” This is not an isolated case. The Washington Examiner has reported recently that “More people died of suicide in a single Tennessee county last week than of the coronavirus across the entire state, according to one local official.” Hence, either directly through isolation or indirectly through unemployment, the lockdowns are costing us many human lives.

Deaths Due to Lack of Preventive Care

In a recent interview for Fox News, Dr. Scott Atlas, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, argued that “the cure is bigger than the disease at this point.” He argued that in the US every month one hundred and fifty thousand people are diagnosed with cancer, but the numbers are now much lower. Unfortunately, this will lead to higher death rates for this group of people. Add to this the people who are not receiving their chemotherapy as they should and we start to see a clearer picture of how the lockdowns are harming the lives of those with cancer. These are only two examples, but if we consider the many more preventive care visits that are not happening it becomes clear that we will see increased deaths because of a lack of preventive care.

This has become such a big concern for doctors that many of them are speaking out against this and hopefully we will see a policy response soon. As a Forbes article reports, at least six hundred doctors around the country are calling for an end to lockdowns, and their reasoning is in line with that of Dr. Scott. As Dr. Marilyn Singleton argued, “Ending the lockdowns are not about Wall Street or disregard for people’s lives; it about saving lives.”

Deaths Because of Hunger and Malnourishment

When the lockdowns started, many argued that it was worth giving up some economic growth in order to save lives. Unfortunately these people miss the point—that economic growth is what saves millions of lives around the globe every single year. We know that as economic conditions get worse many people around the world will struggle to meet their basic nutritional needs, which will lead to more deaths. In the New York Times,  Abdi Latif Dahir argues 265 million people will experience acute hunger in 2020. That will be nearly double the number of the year before. To put this in perspective, let us consider that poverty had been in decline since 1998. One may ask, Isn’t the economic downturn because of the COVID-19 crisis? As Ryan McMaken has noted, in previous similar pandemics we did not have the economic downturn we are experiencing now, so the answer is no. The downturn is due to the economic lockdowns, not the COVID-19 pandemic.

What is more, this is not a problem that only poor countries will face. Even though poor countries will be hit the hardest, we are seeing the consequences here in the US already. Consider, for instance, that “a survey…found 37% of unemployed Americans ran out of food in the past month and 46% said they worried about running out.” Although deaths directly caused by hunger may not be high in the US, we must keep in mind that malnourishment also harms our health and leads to more deaths in the long run.

Conclusion

The careful and concerned reader may argue that although it may be true that lockdowns cost human lives, COVID-19 does as well, so we had to implement the lockdowns. This is a good point, and it is not the purpose of this article to diminish the danger that COVID-19 poses to certain groups of people or downplay the hundreds of thousands of lives that have been lost. The point is that we must still consider the tradeoffs carefully, since both COVID-19 and lockdowns cost human lives. So, the answer is not as simple as it is sometimes presented by officials who are so eager to shut everything down.

If we do not correctly take into account the opportunity cost, in terms of lives that can be lost from lockdowns, then we will most likely continue to make bad decisions in the future. We need to look for alternatives, and instead of locking down the whole economy we should protect those who are the most vulnerable. But, even when we consider this solution we should keep in mind that centralized solutions hardly ever work for such complex issues and large countries like the US.

Author:

Klajdi Bregu

Dr. Klajdi Bregu is an assistant professor of economics at IU South Bend’s Judd Leighton School of Business and Economics and a fellow at the Center for Market Education. Prior to his appointment to the Leighton School faculty, Dr. Bregu taught at the University of Arkansas. He has published research in the Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control and the Southern Economic Journal

Floyd Autopsy Doesn’t Support Strangulation As Cause Of Death

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0

By Cathy Burke  (NEWSMAX)

George Floyd died from the combined effects of being restrained by police, potential intoxicants and his underlying health issues, including heart disease, according to preliminary findings from an autopsy.

It revealed nothing to support strangulation as the cause of death, the Associated Press reported.

“Mr. Floyd had underlying health conditions including coronary artery disease and hypertensive heart disease,” said the complaint from the Hennepin County Attorney, the Washington Times reported.

“The combined effects of Mr. Floyd being restrained by police, his underlying health conditions and any potential intoxicants in his system likely contributed to his death.”

The complaint offered no other details about intoxicants, and toxicology results can take weeks, the AP noted.

In the 911 call on Memorial Day that drew police, the caller describes a man suspected of paying with counterfeit money as “awfully drunk and he’s not in control of himself.”

The complaint charged that arresting officer Derek Chauvin, in arresting Floyd in the incident, had his knee on the unarmed black man’s neck for 8 minutes, 46 seconds, including nearly three minutes after Floyd stopped moving and talking.

The Minneapolis police officer was charged Friday with third-degree murder and manslaughter.

“Police are trained that this type of restraint with a subject in a prone position is inherently dangerous,” the complaint said, the Washington Times reported.

FDA finds contamination in several brands of diabetes drug

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0
his image made available by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday, May 28, 2020 shows a label for the drug metformin. U.S. health regulators are telling five drugmakers to recall versions of the widely used diabetes medication after testing revealed elevated levels of a contaminant linked to cancer in several lots. (FDA via AP)

By MATTHEW PERRONE (AP)

U.S. health regulators are telling five drugmakers to recall their versions of a widely used diabetes medication after laboratory tests found elevated levels of a contaminant linked to cancer.

The Food and Drug Administration said late Thursday that several batches of the drug metformin tested positive for unsafe levels of N-Nitrosodimethylamine, a possible cancer-causing chemical that can form as a manufacturing byproduct. The agency has stepped up testing after the chemical was found in dozens of shipments of blood pressure and heartburn drugs last year, triggering recalls of Zantac and other popular over-the-counter and prescription medications.

Metformin tablets are a staple of diabetes care, reducing excess sugar in the blood. People with Type 2 diabetes use metformin alone or with other drugs to help control their blood sugar levels. More than 34 million people in the U.S. have this disease.

Patients should continue taking metformin drugs until their doctor can prescribe a replacement, the FDA said in a statement, noting the risks of discontinuing. Regulators are still assessing whether the recalls will lead to shortages of metformin, but noted that a number of other companies make generic versions of the drugs that don’t appear to be affected by the issue.

Drugmaker Apotex Corp. recalled its extended-release metformin distributed in the U.S. earlier this week after the FDA found contamination in one lot. Apotex said in a statement it voluntarily recalled all supplies of the drug “out of an abundance of caution.” The company said it stopped selling the drug in the U.S. in February 2019 and that little remains on the market.

The FDA announcement did not name the four other drugmakers who have been requested to recall their products.

The agency noted that no contamination problems have been found in immediate-release metformin.

The FDA is responsible for ensuring that medicines for the U.S. market are made in safe, sanitary conditions that meet federal quality standards. But government inspectors have repeatedly criticized the agency for falling short in reviewing overseas manufacturing plants as the pharmaceutical supply chain has increasingly spread to Asia.

In March, the FDA suspended nearly all U.S. and foreign inspections due to safety concerns and travel restrictions caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

___

AG Bill Barr: Violence Appears Planned by Far-Left Groups Using ‘Antifa-Like Tactics’

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0
Counter-protesters prepare to clash with Patriot Prayer protesters during a rally in Portland, Ore., Saturday, Aug. 4, 2018. Small scuffles broke out Saturday as police in Portland, Oregon, deployed "flash bang" devices and other means to disperse hundreds of right-wing and self-described anti-fascist protesters.(AP Photo/John Rudoff)

JOSHUA CAPLAN(Breitbart) 

Attorney General William Barr said Saturday that violence in many places around the country appears to have been planned and carried out by “far-left extremist groups using Antifa-like tactics” in the wake of riots over the death of George Floyd.

“Unfortunately with the rioting that is occurring in many of our cities around the country, the voices of peaceful protests are being hijacked by violent radical elements. Groups of outside radical agitators are exploiting the situation to pursue their own separate and violent agenda,” Barr said in a press conference at the Department of Justice:

“In many places, it appears the violence is planned, organized, and driven by anarchic and leftist extremist groups, far-left extremist groups using Antifa-like tactics, many of whom traveled outside the state to promote the violence,” Barr continued.

Barr’s comments come shortly after President Donald Trump fingered leftist groups, such as Antifa, for widespread rioting and looting.

“It’s ANTIFA and the Radical Left. Don’t lay the blame on others!” the president tweeted:“These are ‘Organized Groups’ that have nothing to do with George Floyd. Sad!” he wrote in a separate tweet

Protests erupted in dozens of cities across the United States overnight as activists called for justice for the death of Floyd in Minneapolis.

Minneapolis Gov. Tim Walz called on protesters to disperse early Saturday morning after a nonviolent demonstration there turned to riots, looting, and vandalization.

“The absolute chaos — this is not grieving, and this is not making a statement [about an injustice] that we fully acknowledge needs to be fixed — this is dangerous,” he said. “You need to go home.”

Walz stated that he spoke with Floyd’s family, who said the violence that had overtaken the city was counterproductive to the message activists were trying to send about the 46-year-old’s death.

Floyd died Monday after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes during an arrest. There have been daily protests since the incident — which was recorded on video — calling for the officer and three others present during the arrest to face charges.

Chauvin was charged Friday with third-degree murder, and bail was set at $500,000. All four officers, including Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng, and Tou Thao, were fired from the Minneapolis Police Department.

Protesters took to the streets across the country Friday night, many beginning as peaceful demonstrations that later took a violent turn. Several buildings were torched while businesses were vandalized and looted.

 

Netanyahu threatens new corona restrictions amid spike in infections

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (AP Photo/Yonatan Sindel/Pool Photo via AP)

By Ebin Sandler, World Israel News

On Saturday evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the nation on live television to issue a stern warning regarding the need to remain vigilant in light of the continuing coronavirus threat.

“Everyone needs to worry about not getting infected, and about not infecting others,” said Netanyahu, adding, “If we don’t keep the regulations, it will return.”

Netanyahu delivered the address in response to a spike this week in new virus cases, with 100 infections reported during a 24-hour period on Friday, the largest surge since the beginning of May. The general theme of the address was that corona victory celebrations are premature at this point, with Netanyahu identifying as red flags Israelis’ failure to continue wearing masks and maintain social distancing.

The prime minister reminded the nation that the virus is still ravaging other parts of the world and “still exists here in Israel.”

“As long there is no vaccine, [COVID-19] will return. And it will spread, if we aren’t exacting [with] the rules,” Netanyahu said.

Among the hotbeds of new infections is a school in Jerusalem’s tony Rechavia neighborhood, which had over 100 cases, requiring testing for all students and staff.

Netanyahu referred to the upcoming week as a trial for the nation to see if eased restrictions keep the virus at bay, warning that if the uptick in cases appears to be a trend, restrictions on businesses and movement could be reintroduced.

While the school system is slated to remain open, Netanyahu said that authorities would step up enforcement of social distancing and face mask requirements.

As of Saturday evening, Israel had recorded 284 deaths from the coronavirus.

2 Sisters Arrested During Brooklyn Riots 1 For Attempted Murder After Throwing Molotov cocktail at NYPD van

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0
An abandoned police van was set on fire and at least two other police vehicles were vandalized in Fort Greene.Credit...Frank Franklin Ii/Associated Press

Two sisters from upstate New York were arrested for throwing a Molotov cocktail at an NYPD van during the night-long protest in Brooklyn over the death of George Floyd, NY Daily news reported.

Samantha Shader, 27, was charged with four counts of attempted murder as well as attempted arson, assault, reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a weapon.

Her sister, Darian Shader, 21, was charged with resisting arrest and obstruction of justice, ABC7 reported

“It is by the grace of God… that we don’t have dead officers today,” New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said at a news briefing Saturday morning.imes

The NY Times described the protests :

For the second night in a row, tensions flared in New York City, as thousands of people attended a raucous demonstration at the perimeter of Barclays Center in Brooklyn, later splitting into several smaller violent protests. Some hurled bottles and debris at police officers, who responded with pepper spray and arrests.

At least one protester attempted to throw a homemade firebomb into a police car with four officers inside, the police said. Another man hurled a second firebomb at a police cruiser, causing the back seat to ignite, the police said. An unoccupied police van was set on fire and at least two other police vehicles were vandalized, their windows shattered, all in surrounding areas near the arena, including the Fort Greene neighborhood.

ABC News report below. This is practically an act of terrorism.

SpaceX rocket ship blasts off into orbit with 2 Americans

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0

By MARCIA DUNN (AP)

A rocket ship built by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company thundered away from Earth with two Americans on Saturday, ushering in a new era in commercial space travel and putting the United States back in the business of launching astronauts into orbit from U.S. soil for the first time in nearly a decade.

NASA’s Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken rode skyward aboard a white-and-black, bullet-shaped Dragon capsule on top of a Falcon 9 rocket, lifting off at 3:22 p.m. from the same launch pad used to send Apollo crews to the moon a half-century ago. Minutes later, they slipped safely into orbit

Let’s light this candle,” Hurley said just before ignition, borrowing the words used by Alan Shepard on America’s first human spaceflight, in 1961.

NASA astronauts Douglas Hurley, left, and Robert Behnken walk out of the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building on their way to Pad 39-A, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, May 30, 2020. The two astronauts will fly on a SpaceX test flight to the International Space Station. For the first time in nearly a decade, astronauts will blast into orbit aboard an American rocket from American soil, a first for a private company. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

The two men are scheduled to arrive at the International Space Station, 250 miles above Earth, on Sunday for a stay of up to four months, after which they will come home with a Right Stuff-style splashdown at sea.

The mission unfolded amid the gloom of the coronavirus outbreak, which has killed over 100,000 Americans, and racial unrest across the U.S. over the death of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man, at the hands of Minneapolis police. NASA officials and others held out hope the flight would would be a morale-booster.

“Maybe there’s an opportunity here for America to maybe pause and look up and see a bright, shining moment of hope at what the future looks like, that the United States of America can do extraordinary things even in difficult times,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said before launch.

With the on-time liftoff by the 260-foot rocket, SpaceX, founded by Musk, the Tesla electric-car visionary, became the first private company to launch people into orbit, a feat achieved previously by only three governments: the U.S., Russia and China.

The flight also ended a nine-year launch drought for NASA, the longest such hiatus in its history. Ever since it retired the space shuttle in 2011, NASA has relied on Russian spaceships launched from Kazakhstan to take U.S. astronauts to and from the space station.

In the intervening years, NASA outsourced the job of designing and building its next generation of spaceships to SpaceX and Boeing, awarding them $7 billion in contracts in a public-private partnership aimed at driving down costs and spurring innovation. Boeing’s spaceship, the Starliner capsule, is not expected to fly astronauts until early 2021.

Musk said earlier in the week that the project is aimed at “reigniting the dream of space and getting people fired up about the future.”

Ultimately, NASA hopes to rely in part on its commercial partners as it works to send astronauts back to the moon in the next few years, and on to Mars in the 2030s.

A launch attempt on Wednesday was called off with less than 17 minutes to go in the countdown because of lightning. On Saturday, stormy weather in Florida threatened another postponement for most of the day, but then the skies began to clear in the afternoon just in time.

Before setting out for the launch pad in a gull-wing Tesla SUV — another Musk product — Behnken pantomimed a hug of his 6-year-old son, Theo, and said: “Are you going to listen to Mommy and make her life easy?” Hurley blew kisses to his 10-year-old son and wife.

Nine minutes after liftoff, the rocket’s first-stage booster landed, as designed, on a barge a few hundred miles off the Florida coast, to be reused on another flight.

“Thanks for the great ride to space,” Hurley told SpaceX ground control. His crewmate batted around a sparkly purplish toy, demonstrating that they had reached zero gravity.

SpaceX controllers at Hawthorne, California, cheered and applauded wildly. Bridenstine pronounced it “just an amazing day.”

“It’s been nine years since we’ve launched American astronauts on American rockets from American soil — and now it’s done. We have done it. It’s been way too long,” he said.

President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence flew in for the launch attempt for the second time in four days.

“I’m so proud of the people at NASA, all the people that worked together, public and private. When you see a sight like that it’s incredible,” Trump said after liftoff.

Inside Kennedy Space Center, attendance was strictly limited because of the coronavirus, and the small crowd of a few thousand was a shadow of what it would have been without the threat of COVID-19. By NASA’s count, over 3 million viewers tuned in online.

Despite NASA’s insistence that the public stay safe by staying home, spectators gathered along beaches and roads hours in advance.

Among them was Neil Wight, a machinist from Buffalo, New York, who staked out a view of the launch pad from a park in Titusville.

“It’s pretty historically significant in my book, and a lot of other people’s books. With everything that’s going on in this country right now, it’s important that we do things extraordinary in life,” Wight said. “We’ve been bombarded with doom and gloom for the last six, eight weeks, whatever it is, and this is awesome. It brings a lot of people together.”

Because of the coronavirus, the astronauts were kept in quasi-quarantine for more than two months before liftoff. The SpaceX technicians who helped them get into their spacesuits wore masks and gloves that made them look like black-clad ninjas. And at the launch center, the SpaceX controllers wore masks and were seated far apart.

Hurley, a 53-year-old retired Marine, and Behnken, 49, an Air Force colonel, are veterans of two space shuttle flights each. Hurley piloted the shuttle on the last launch of astronauts from Kennedy, on July 8, 2011.

In keeping with Musk’s penchant for futuristic flash, the astronauts wore angular white uniforms with black trim. Instead of the usual multitude of dials, knobs and switches, the Dragon capsule has three large touchscreens.

SpaceX has been launching cargo capsules to the space station since 2012. In preparation for Saturday’s flight, SpaceX sent up a Dragon capsule with only a test dummy aboard last year, and it docked smoothly at the orbiting outpost on autopilot, then returned to Earth in a splashdown.

During the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and shuttle programs, NASA relied on aerospace contractors to build spacecraft according to the agency’s designs. NASA owned and operated the ships.

Under the new, 21st-century partnership, aerospace companies design, build, own and operate the spaceships, and NASA is essentially a paying customer on a list that could eventually include non-government researchers, artists and tourists. (Tom Cruise has already expressed interest.)

“What Elon Musk has done for the American space program is he has brought vision and inspiration that we hadn’t had” since the shuttle’s retirement, Bridenstine said.

The mission is technically considered by SpaceX and NASA to be a test flight. The next SpaceX voyage to the space station, set for the end of August, will have a full, four-person crew: three Americans and one Japanese.

Saturday’s first human flight was originally targeted for around 2015. But the project encountered bureaucratic delays and technical setbacks.

A SpaceX capsule exploded on the test stand last year. Boeing’s first Starliner capsule ended up in the wrong orbit during an crew-less test flight in December and was nearly destroyed at the mission’s end.

NASA FEED LIVE

___

Associated Press writers Jill Colvin and Mike Schneider in Cape Canaveral, Fla., contributed to this report.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

NY Update: City To Focus on Hotspots in Reopening for June 8th

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0

67 deaths were reported for NY State, all indicators were drastically down once more

As the city heads toward the first phase of reopening on June 8, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said on Saturday that state officials were focusing on controlling hot spots in the city and preparing its hospitals to deal with a potential second spike.

Under Phase 1 of reopening, retail stores will be allowed to open for curbside or in-store pickup and nonessential construction and manufacturing can resume, sending as many as 400,000 people back to work.

Mr. Cuomo said officials will also target the 10 ZIP codes in the city with the highest infection rates, distributing masks and hand sanitizers and opening an additional testing site in each ZIP code.

Those 10 hardest-hit neighborhoods are mostly in the Bronx and Brooklyn, and are predominantly low-income and minority communities. The infection rate in the 10457 ZIP code in the Bronx, for example, was 50 percent, compared to 19.9 percent for the city as a whole, The NY Times reported.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today signed into law a new measure providing death benefits to the families of frontline workers who lost their lives fighting the COVID-19 pandemic in New York. The bill, S.8427/A.10528, establishes a COVID-19 death benefit for the families of state and local government employees who have been on the front lines of response to this public health emergency.

The Governor also announced that New York State will open 10 additional testing sites—one for each zip code—in New York City COVID hotspots. Controlling the virus’ spread in the city’s hotspots, which are located in predominately low income and minority communities, is a top priority as it moves toward Phase 1 of reopening on June 8. Six testing sites will be in the Bronx, three will be in Brooklyn and one will be in Queens.

Governor Cuomo also said that New York State continues to monitor progress fighting the virus in the Capital Region and Western New York, which will reach two weeks of Phase 1 reopening next week.

“This new law will provide death benefits to the families of state and local government frontline workers who died from COVID-19 and gave their lives for us,” Governor Cuomo said. “It is the least we can do to say thank you, and we honor you, and we remember you. We will be there to support your families going forward. And we say to their families, we thank you, we grieve for your loss, and we will always be there for you the way your loved one was there for us.”

 

Trump Calls Out ANTIFA and “Organized Groups” as Provocateurs of Violent Rioting

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0
President Donald Trump speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House, Friday, May 29, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The violence, looting, and destruction of whole neighborhoods in Minneapolis and elsewhere in protest of the death of George Floyd is the fault of Antifa and other radical leftist elements, declared President Trump.

Trump continues by blaming “organized groups”. Much has been written about billionaire philanthropist and social engineer George Soros and his connections to non profit political action committees, who are frequently connected to large protests and  fast organizing of synchronized protests around the country.  which we are witnessing with the current protests and riots.  Similar organizing of protests we have seen in Baltimore and Missouri in recent memory.

Homeland Security Contract Officer Killed, Another Injured in Oakland

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0

By Tauren Dyson (NEWSMAX)

One Federal Protective Services officer was killed and another critically injured in Oakland on Friday night in a shooting that occurred near a large protest of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

The service is part of the Department of Homeland Security.

The officers were shot after a vehicle approached the building, and “an individual inside” began firing, according to a statement from the FBI.

The FBI San Francisco office and the Oakland Police Department are investigating the shooting.

“A vehicle approached the building,” the statement read. “An individual inside the vehicle began firing shots at contracted security officers for the Federal Protection Service of the Department of Homeland Security. One officer was killed and another injured.”

Close to 10,000 protesters flooded the streets in Northern California on Friday night, blocking traffic, looting stores and burning a Chase bank over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Floyd, a black man, was pinned to the ground by a white police officer before dying.

An Oakland police spokesperson told television station KPIX 5 it’s uncertain whether the shootings were related to the protests.

As Minneapolis burns, Mayor takes heat for the response

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey speaks during a news conference Thursday, May 28, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minn. Violent protests over the death of a black man in police custody rocked a Minneapolis neighborhood for a second straight night as angry crowds looted stores, set fires and left a path of damage that stretched for miles. The mayor asked the governor to activate the National Guard. (Elizabeth Flores/Star Tribune via AP)

By TAMMY WEBBER and STEVE KARNOWSKI (AP)

First-term Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey appeared to be doing everything right.

He worked with the city’s booming business community and the City Council. He reached out to minority neighborhoods and advocated for affordable housing. He implemented stricter disciplinary measures against police who violated the city’s body camera policy.

When George Floyd, a handcuffed black man, died Monday after a white police officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes and ignored his “I can’t breathe” pleas, Frey quickly expressed outrage and called for charges against the officer. Four officers were fired the next day, and on Friday, Officer Derek Chauvin was charged in Floyd’s death.

But Frey’s leadership is being questioned after police failed to quell three nights of looting, rioting and fires that followed Floyd’s death. Frey, who pleaded for calm, also approved the decision to abandon the city’s 3rd Precinct station on Thursday night, surrendering it to protesters who set fire to the building.

The night the station burned, Frey appeared at an early-morning news conference after hours of criticism on social media for a police response that didn’t confront the violence despite the activation of the National Guard. As he began talking, one reporter snapped, “What’s the plan here?” Frey struggled to answer, and the next morning, Gov. Tim Walz — like Frey, a Democrat — criticized the “abject failure” of the city’s response and said the state had taken control. President Donald Trump took to Twitter to call Frey a “very weak Radical Left Mayor” and threatened to get involved.

By early Saturday morning, it was Walz who found himself struggling with the enormity of the challenge, conceding that he didn’t have enough people to cope with the protests and moving to mobilize another 1,000 Guard members. Walz also took pains to praise Frey, who appeared alongside him after another night of unrest.

Some wonder whether Frey’s approach to the crisis might damage his chances for reelection next year. The 38-year-old former lawyer, community organizer and one-term City Council member took office in 2018 after defeating Betsy Hodges, whose time as mayor was marred by two high-profile police shootings.

The 2015 shooting of 24-year-old black resident Jamar Clark after a scuffle with two white police officers set off weeks of protests; neither officer was charged. The 2017 shooting of unarmed Australia native Justine Ruszczyk Damond, who had called 911 to report a possible sexual assault behind her house, provoked an international outcry. The black officer in that case was convicted of third-degree murder and is serving a 12 1/2 year term.

Frey campaigned partly on a promise to add police officers. But a City Council committee this spring voted against applying for a federal grant to hire 10 new officers for traffic enforcement, with one member saying he worried it would exacerbate racial disparities in vehicle stops.

Community activist Mel Reeves, who said he has led rallies to protest Floyd’s killing, refused to discuss the mayor’s response except to say that Frey had been “put in a difficult position.” He said the black community doesn’t trust police and prosecutors to do the right thing.

“The mayor is new, and he said all the right things,” Reeves said. “This is not about the mayor; it’s about the police department.”

The day after the 3rd Precinct fire, University of Minnesota political science professor Larry Jacobs said Frey was “out of his depth” and “clearly unable to understand what he has to do to restore order while also creating the kind of healing that has to happen in Minneapolis.”

He said abandoning the police station “sent a powerful message” that the city was not in control.

“There needs to be another message: ‘Here is the line and order will be maintained,’” said Jacobs. “You’ve got businesses that are just shocked without words to see property going up in flames, often with no police intervention at all. You have the black community (that has) heard his words but does not believe them.

“He worked really hard at those relationships and they appear to be in tatters. And I think a lot of residents are unnerved by the violence and the chaos.”

Jonathan Weinhagen, president and CEO of the Minneapolis Regional Chamber, said the mayor still has his support, and that many businesses damaged by the violent protests, including those owned by minorities and immigrants, want to rebuild.

“There is a lot of fear right now. If your store has been hit, you feel violated,” said Weinhagen, adding that some businesses already were suffering because of the coronavirus restrictions. “They were just beginning to see some light and this hit.”

But he believes the mayor is “leading with his values” and getting a lot of things right, including requesting the Guard assistance and implementing a curfew Friday and Saturday nights.

Jacobs, the political scientist, said Frey has been energetic, upbeat and dynamic, effectively leading the fast-growing city. But his inexperience with crisis management has shown.

“Until about a week ago, he looked to be on glide path to reelection, and within a week, his mayorship looks like it’s crumbled,” Jacobs said.

Cities Brace for Increasing Unrest, call in National Guard

By
Sholom Schreirber
-
0
A protester runs past burning cars and buildings on Chicago Avenue, Saturday, May 30, 2020, in St. Paul, Minn. Protests continued following the death of George Floyd, who died after being restrained by Minneapolis police officers on Memorial Day. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

By AARON MORRISON and SEAN MURPHY (AP)

Protesters set police cars ablaze, smashed businesses’ windows and skirmished with baton-wielding officers in streets from Atlanta to Los Angeles, as anger over George Floyd’s death spread across the country. Authorities were bracing for more violence Saturday, with some calling in the National Guard to beef up overwhelmed forces.

In Minneapolis, the city where Floyd died Monday after a white police officer pressed a knee into his neck and kept it there for more than eight minutes, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz fully mobilized the state’s National Guard and promised a massive show of force to help quell unrest that has grown increasingly destructive.

“The situation in Minneapolis is no longer in any way about the murder of George Floyd,” Walz said. “It is about attacking civil society, instilling fear and disrupting our great cities.”

On Friday alone, more than two dozen cities — from New York to Oakland, California, from Atlanta to Portland, Oregon — experienced protests, many peaceful but some of which turned violent. Many protesters spoke of frustration that Floyd’s death was one more in a litany. It comes in the wake of the killing in Georgia of Ahmaud Arbery, who was shot after being pursued by two white men while running in their neighborhood, and in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic that has thrown millions out of work, killed more than 100,000 people in the U.S. and disproportionately affected black people.

President Donald Trump did little to tamp down the anger, firing off a series of tweets ridiculing people who protested outside the White House and warning that if protesters breached the fence, “they would … have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen.”

Minnesota has steadily increased the number of National Guardsmen it says it needs to contain the unrest, and has now called up 1,700. The arrest and charging of the officer who held his knee to Floyd’s neck on Friday appears to have provided little balm.

Georgia’s governor, meanwhile, declared a state of emergency early Saturday to activate the state National Guard as violence flared in Atlanta. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler also declared an emergency and ordered a nighttime curfew for the city.

The Guard was also on standby in the District of Columbia. Some protesters tried to push through barriers set up by the U.S. Secret Service along Pennsylvania Avenue, and threw bottles and other objects at officers wearing riot gear, who responded with pepper spray.

I just feel like he’s just one of many names that we’ve had to create hashtags and T-shirts and campaigns for and I feel like nothing has changed,” district resident Abe Neri said of Floyd. “And so that’s why I’m out here. Yeah, when you say nothing you’re taking the side of the oppressor.”

A person was killed in downtown Detroit just before midnight after someone in an SUV fired shots into a crowd of protesters near the Greektown entertainment district, police said. In Portland, Oregon, protesters broke into police headquarters and authorities said they lit a fire inside. In Virginia’s capital, a police cruiser was set on fire outside Richmond police headquarters, and a city transit spokeswoman said a bus set ablaze was “a total loss,” news outlets reported.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp tweeted that up to 500 members of the Guard would deploy immediately “to protect people & property in Atlanta.” He said he acted at the request of Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who earlier appealed in vain for calm.

In scenes both peaceful and violent across the nation, thousands of protesters chanted “No justice, no peace” and “Say his name. George Floyd.” They hoisted signs reading: “He said I can’t breathe. Justice for George.”

Some demonstrators smashed police cars and spray-painted the iconic logo sign at CNN headquarters in downtown Atlanta. At least three officers were hurt and there were multiple arrests, Atlanta police spokesman Carlos Campos said, as protesters shot at officers with BB guns and threw bricks, bottles and knives.

Atlanta officials said crews were temporarily unable to reach a fire at Del Frisco’s restaurant in the Buckhead neighborhood several miles north because of protesters there.

“This is not in the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr.,” Bottoms said. “You are disgracing the life of George Floyd and every other person who has been killed in this country.”

Bottoms was flanked by King’s daughter, Bernice King, and rappers T.I. and Killer Mike.

“We have to be better than burning down our own homes. Because if we lose Atlanta what have we got?” said Killer Mike, crying as he spoke.

Video posted to social media showed New York City officers using batons and shoving protesters down as they took people into custody and cleared streets. One video showed on officer slam a woman to the ground as he walked past her in the street.

Demonstrators rocked a police van, set it ablaze, scrawled graffiti across its charred body and set it aflame again as officers retreated. Blocks away, protesters used a club to batter another police vehicle.

“There will be a full review of what happened tonight,” Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted, referring to the Brooklyn protest. “We don’t ever want to see another night like this.”

The police department said numerous officers were injured, including one whose tooth was knocked out.

The names of black people killed by police, including Floyd and Eric Garner, who died on Staten Island in 2014, were on signs and in chants.

“Our country has a sickness. We have to be out here,” said Brianna Petrisko, among those at lower Manhattan’s Foley Square, where most were wearing masks amid the coronavirus pandemic. “This is the only way we’re going to be heard.”

Protesters in Houston, where Floyd grew up, included 19-year-old Jimmy Ohaz from the nearby city of Richmond, Texas: “My question is how many more, how many more? I just want to live in a future where we all live in harmony and we’re not oppressed.”

Demonstrators on the West Coast blocked highways in Los Angeles and Oakland, California.

About 1,000 protesters in Oakland smashed windows, sprayed buildings with “Kill Cops” graffiti and were met with chemical spray from police, who said several officers were injured by projectiles.

One Los Angeles officer received medical treatment, police said. An LAPD vehicle had its windows smashed, and at least one city bus was vandalized. Police declared an unlawful assembly throughout downtown, where aerial footage from KTLA-TV showed scored of people corralled by police.

An LAPD spokesman told The Associated Press they were still tallying arrests.

Portland, Oregon, police said at least one shooting was tied to the protest, although details weren’t immediately released.

Mayor Wheeler tweeted a plea to protesters to remain peaceful and said that, while he had left the city to attend to his dying mother, he was heading back. He later declared a state of emergency.

“Portland, this is not us,” he wrote. “When you destroy our city, you are destroying our community. When you act in violence against each other, you are hurting all of us. How does this honor the legacy of George Floyd?”

1...1,9491,9501,951...2,280Page 1,950 of 2,280
DONATE NOW
Subscribe Now

© The Jewish Voice. All rights reserved.

Website managed by Napollo

About Us

Popular Category

Editor Picks