Willem Van Spronsen went to the Northwest Detention Center, the holding facility for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Tacoma Washington, armed with a rifle and incendiary devices, and ended up being killed by police, Seattle Times reported.
The alleged (now deceased) terrorist last year drew headlines when the 68-year-old man wrapped his arms around a police officer’s throat and shoulders in an apparent attempt to free another protester, during a protest by radical open boarders leftists last year.
Police said Van Spronsen tossed lit objects at vehicles and buildings, causing one car fire, and unsuccessfully tried to ignite a propane tank.
Officers were called by an ICE employee who saw the rifle. Soon after they arrived, officers reported “shots fired,” said Tacoma police spokeswoman Loretta Cool, although it is unclear who fired first or if Van Spronsen fired at all. The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office classified his death as a homicide, Seattle Times reported.
The four responding officers all opened fire and then took cover, uninjured. After medical aid arrived, officers found Van Spronsen dead.
According to his manifesto, a copy of which was obtained by Jack Posobiec, an independent journalist Van Spronsen was armed with an AR-15 and stated, “I am Antifa”.
The manifesto is a rambling advocacy of communist politics mixed with hysteria about “concentration camps,” which clearly suggests that Van Spronsen was radicalized by fringe rhetoric from the likes of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has repeatedly called ICE detention centers “concentration camps”. He also attacks several high profile billionaires including Trump in his manifesto.
ANTIFA, the supposed “anti fascist” group has been seen recently at protests wearing “smash ICE” t-shirts, with violent images of officers with bloody faces.
Van Spronsen was a member of a left wing group called Red Neck Revolt, which is a branch of ANTIFA ; a pro gun left wing group that pays homage to John Brown. Several members have been arrested for threatening Trump supporters and their children with fire arms. Independent journalist Jack Posobiec pointed out that two months ago CNN ran a special report glorifying Red Neck Revolt. Below is a clip of CNN literally promoting a terrorist organization.
Also over the weekend, several radical open-boarders ANTIFA protesters flew Mexican flags at 2 detention centers. The black clad protesters have become radicalized in recent months by the rhetoric of far left Democrat congresswoman Cortez and Ilan Omar.
A new internal Democrat poll in swing districts released on Sunday showed that socialist Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) are extremely unpopular and that they may cost the Democratic Party the presidency and the House in 2020, according to The Daily Wire.
Ocasio-Cortez was recognized by 74% of voters in the poll; 22% had a favorable view,” Daily Wire explained “Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota was recognized by 53% of the voters; 9% had a favorable view.”
On July 21, New York Yankees icon Mariano Rivera, 49, will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as the first player to be unanimously picked. Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
In Washington for the annual summit by Christians United for Israel, he took some time to talk about the Jewish state and what it means to him.
By: Jackson Richman
Legendary closer. Thirteen-time All-Star. Five-time World Series champion (earning the WS MVP in 1999). Devout Christian. Israel advocate.
On July 21, New York Yankees icon Mariano Rivera, 49, will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as the first player to be unanimously picked.
This week, he was in Washington, D.C., for the annual summit by Christians United for Israel, where he was a speaker.
Rivera, who holds the Major League Baseball record for most career saves, has been to Israel twice: in 2015 and 2018.
JNS talked with Rivera in person. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Q: Tell us about Israel and why you are such an advocate, especially having traveled to Israel last year.
A: The experience that I had in Israel just speaks volumes in it of itself. The experience that I had there, it was amazing. There are no words to describe what I experienced, what I felt. Jesus was a Christian. He was Jewish. He fulfilled the Old Testament. When it comes to that he did everything as a Jew, I love that. I understand that, as my Savior, the Bible speaks about Israel and the Jews. And that’s his people.
Q: Did you ever witness anti-Semitism growing up in Panama?
A: I never saw anti-Semitism growing up in Panama. I was in a small village called Puerto Caimito, a fishing village, so I never saw it. The Jewish population in Panama is huge—big and great people. I have great friends and, no, I never saw anti-Semitism in Panama at all.
A: To me, that’s a great decision. Hopefully, Honduras and Brazil will move their embassy to Jerusalem, where they belong. Being friends with Israel is a smart decision.
Q: Israel’s baseball team made a remarkable run in the 2017 World Baseball Classic. Were you able to meet with the team during your visit?
A: I didn’t have the chance to meet with them, but they made a remarkable run, great games. I was cheering for them. All the principles and fundamentals that they have is based on the Bible; that’s what they believe. That’s why I’m always in tune with that.
Q: Does Major League Baseball have a role in recruiting players from Israel? Does the league have a role in the U.S.-Israel relationship, considering baseball’s international appeal?
A: I can’t answer that question because I’m not in MLB anymore. But at the same time, I hope that if they don’t, they will because they’re recruiting players also, so having that great relationship with Israel would be smart so they can bring the game to Israel and recruit more players from Israel.
Q: You were the closer of a team in one of the heavily Jewish populated places in the world. What were your interactions with the Jewish and pro-Israel community there?
A: My interaction with the Jewish community in New York? I have great friends, rabbis, friends who are Jewish that are amazing, beautiful people.
I went to Israel with a few friends of mine that are rabbis; to me, that was fascinating. We had a great time, and we’re working to do it again. That’s how powerful it was. Most of them were from New York.
The trip was to go to Israel and understand what Israel is all about—what is our G-d and just the people in general. How wonderful it was.
I believe that part of me is Jewish. I have to take a DNA test to see where my family came from, where I come from—all that stuff because I truly believe there’s something in me that just moves me to have something special for the Jewish community and Israel.
Q: What are your thoughts on the current baseball season? The Yankees are on a roll.
A: The Yankees are on quite a roll. Hopefully, they continue winning. My prayers are that they go all the way.
Q: Is there anything else our readers should know about you?
A: You want to know more about Israel, come to Israel. Visit Israel. It’s a place like no other. It doesn’t matter what kind of religion you are, if you are religious or not. Just come and see with your own eyes to understand what it is all about. That is the best thing that I can say. Before you make a comment, you need to go there and find out. (JNS.org)
Former NY Yankees relief pitcher Mariano Rivera, Jewish Voice publisher David Ben Hooren and former NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg
Russia is continuing to deliver its S-400 missile system to Turkey for a second straight day, a move that could hurt Turkish-U.S. relations and puts advanced Russian military technology in possession of a key NATO alliance member, according to a VOA report.
By: Dorian Jones & Carla Babb
Turkey’s defense ministry said a fourth Russian cargo plane delivered more S-400 components to Murted Air Base near the capital of Ankara Saturday, ignoring threats of U.S. sanctions against Middle Eastern country. VOA reported that a Russian transport jet Friday delivered the first parts of the $2.2 billion missile system, causing concern from Brussels to Washington. Washington says the S-400, with its advanced radar that could potentially be used to target NATO jets, threatens to compromise NATO military systems in Turkey. The U.S. has stopped delivery of its latest F-35 jet if the Russia missiles are deployed, and Turkish firms may lose contracts to build significant parts of the expensive and complex F-35. “We are aware of Turkey taking delivery of the S-400. Our position regarding the F-35 has not changed,” Acting Secretary of Defense Mark Esper told reporters Friday. He held a 30-minute phone conversation with his Turkish counterpart, Hulusi Akar, but the Pentagon did not provide any details from the call, according to the VOA report.
Turkey’s Ministry of National Defense, however, did release details in a statement Friday. It said Akar told Esper that Turkey’s purchase of S-400 defense systems was “not an option but rather a necessity,” and a proposal for a joint working group to assess possible interactions between the F-35 and the S-400 was “still on the table.”
Akar added that Turkey was still assessing the bid to acquire U.S. Patriot air defense systems, and that Turkey’s partnership within the F-35 fighter aircraft program should continue “uninterrupted,” according to the statement. State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus warned earlier this week of “real and negative consequences” if the Russian missiles are procured. Potentially more damaging for Turkey are U.S. sanctions under the Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), which could hit Turkey’s already weakened economy. VOA reported that the top Republican and Democratic senators of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sens. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), issued a joint statement Friday condemning the delivery and urging President Trump to fully implement the sanctions.
“By accepting delivery of the S-400 from Russia, President Erdogan has chosen a perilous partnership with Putin at the expense of Turkey’s security, economic prosperity and the integrity of the NATO alliance,” the senators said. “It did not have to come to this,” they added, stating that Turkey had “rejected multiple attempts” by the United States to preserve the relationship while protecting Turkish airspace with F-35 fighter jets and the U.S.-made Patriot surface-to-air defense system. Ankara is relying on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s relationship with President Trump. Last month, the two presidents met in Japan on the sidelines of the G-20 summit of the world’s largest economies. At the time, Trump acknowledged the U.S. had a “complicated” situation when it came to responding to Turkey and noted that possible sanctions were being discussed, as was reported by VOA.
International relations expert Soli Ozel of Istanbul’s Kadir Has University said Ankara is miscalculating. “If Congress says CAATSA takes effect, can Trump really say ‘I will not be implementing it?’ He can, but can he get away with it? I don’t think so. But that is what Ankara believes and is the thread they are hanging onto. I don’t know where analysis ends and wishful thinking begins with this administration,” said Ozel.
Even though delivery of the S-400 has begun, there could be potential wiggle room to avert a full-blown crisis. Earlier this month, Senator Lindsey Graham appeared to raise the bar for sanctions, saying they may be triggered only when the missile system is activated. Ankara has given mixed messages over the timing of the activation of the missile system. Ambiguously, Erdogan said this past week the system would only be used in the event of a threat. The mounting diplomatic pressure is seeing Ankara push back, saying it will not bow to international pressure and as a sovereign nation, it has the right to buy whatever it wants from any country. Turkish officials argue Turkey is in a tough neighborhood, with it bordering Iran, Iraq, and Syria. Three years ago, the Turkish presidential palace was bombed by rogue elements of its military in an attempted coup, and some analysts suggest the missiles could be used to protect Erdogan. While the S-400 is widely recognized as one of the most advanced missile systems in the world, its practical use is in question, given its incompatible with the rest of Turkey’s NATO military systems. (VOA)
In the summer months, hundreds of thousands of tourists from across the globe flock to New York City, but on Saturday night disappointment filled the air as shows on the “Great White Way” as well as the much anticipated Jennifer Lopez concert at Madison Square Garden were cancelled due to a massive blackout that hit the west side of Manhattan.
By: Fern Sidman
The blackout occurred 42 years to the day that all of New York City was in darkness due to another blackout. In 1977, rampant looting and violent crimes took place on July 13th and 14th as all five boroughs in the Big Apple were directly affected.
On Saturday evening, the blackout sent theater-goers spilling into the streets, knocking out Times Square’s towering electronic screens and bringing sub way lines to a near halt.
According to an AP report, those attending the Jennifer Lopez concert said that Madison Square Garden went dark about 9:30 p.m. in the middle of Lopez’s fourth song of the night. The arena was later evacuated. And at Penn Station, officials were using backup generators to keep their lights on.
The AP reported that the New York City Fire Department said a transformer fire at West 64th Street and West End Avenue affected hundreds of thousands of customers along a 30-block stretch from Times Square to about 72nd Street and Broadway.
The fire occurred just around 6:47 pm on Saturday, authorities said.
AP reported that Con Edison officials later said they were working to restore electricity to customers and businesses primarily on Manhattan’s Upper West Side by midnight. Most customers had their powered restored by 10:45 pm.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement that although no injuries have been reported “the fact that it happened at all is unacceptable,” and the Department of Public Service will investigate the 4 hours long blackout.
In Iowa, stumping for the White House in 2020, New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio said in a tweet posted at 11:48 pm on Saturday night “Power was restored to remaining customers. I want to thank all of our first responders, the men and women of the NYPD, FDNY and @NYCEmergencyMgt for their hard work tonight — and every New Yorker for responding to the black out with that trademark NYC grit and toughness.”
When the lights went out early Saturday evening, thousands of people streamed out of darkened Manhattan buildings, crowding Broadway next to bumper-to-bumper traffic, according to an AP report.
People in Hell’s Kitchen began directing traffic themselves as stoplights and walking signs went dark.
Authorities in Somalia say the death toll from Friday’s attack on a hotel in the southern Somali port city of Kismayo has climbed to 33.
By: Mohamed Olad Hassan
Ahmed Mohamed Islan, also known as Madobe, the president of the Jubbaland regional administration, said another 56 people were wounded.
“Our valiant security forces have ended the hotel attack after long hours of battle with the evils, and eventually protected many innocent people who were holed up in their hotel rooms,” Madobe said in a statement.”
Madobe said “those killed in the attack included two journalists, a presidential candidate for upcoming regional elections, and a U.N. agency staff member. He said “Kenyans, Americans, a Briton, Tanzanians and a Canadian were among the dead”.
VOA News reported that security officials in Kismayo said that at least four terrorists who carried out the attack were also killed by security forces.
Hospital sources contacted by the VOA Somali Service reported the death of three more civilians caught in the cross fire.
Mohamed Ibrahim Mo’alimuu, general secretary of the Federation of Somali Journalists, said among the two journalists killed in the attack was, Hodan Naleyeh, a 43-year-old Somali-Canadian who is the founder of online service Integration TV. Her husband, politician Jama Farid, was also killed in the attack.
The other journalist, Mohamed Sahal Omar, was a reporter for a local SBC TV in the city.
“Naleyeh was a role model for Somali female journalists. In her recent TV episodes, she focused on the positive stories of the life in Somalia, female entrepreneurship, the country’s reconstruction process and the beauty of the motherland that is often ignored by the international media. Her death has saddened us,” said Mo’alimuu.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned the attack, his spokesman said Friday.
Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo has described the attack as “one of the wicked and the cowardly attacks by terrorists against Somali people.”
“We express our condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the attack and wish a swift recovery to the injured,” Farmajo said in a statement.
“The attack shows how the enemy of the Somali people are willing to target innocent civilians regardless of where they are,” the president said.
The attack on Friday evening began when an explosives-laden car detonated at the front entrance of the Asasey Hotel, a popular meeting spot for regional officials and visitors from the diaspora. Militants then stormed inside and opened fire.
At the time the hotel was busy with meetings and a gathering by regional politicians and clan elders who were discussing a forthcoming regional election.
It took more than seven hours for security forces to end the hotel siege by cornering the militants before they were eventually killed.
The Islamist group al-Shabab has claimed responsibility. Al-Shabab frequently carries out bombings in the capital, Mogadishu, and other parts of Somalia against government, military and civilian targets.
The attack in Kismayo, about 485 kilometers south of Mogadishu, came amid preparations for regional elections. The port town once served as a major stronghold for al-Shabab militants. (VOA)
The weekend after July 4th is always significantly quieter; however, most Hampton hotels are sold-out and the prices continue to be exorbitant with a room at Baron’s Cove in Sag Harbor costing more than $1,200 per night on a discounted site. The best buy of the weekend is the Chequit, a charming inn located on Shelter Island that has a room available for $380-as long as you don’t mind taking a ferry to the other Hamptons. As for what to do, this weekend is jam-packed as the gala season swings into high gear with more than four exciting events on Saturday alone including:
1. The Parrish Art Museum Midsummer Party Gala-one of the premier events of the summer- held at the Parrish Museum at 279 Montauk Highway will gather over 500 artists, philanthropists, business leaders and world guests in support of the Parrish. This year will be honoring Louise and Leonard Riggio and Maya Lin. Some regulars in prior years include: Don Lemon, Ronald Lauder, Jeff Koons, and Agnes Gund. The night starts with cocktails at 6:30 PM and dinner from 7:30-9:00 PM. Tickets can be purchased for $1,500 per person with young patron tickets available for $500. The after-party which starts at 10 PM will be hosted by Larry Millstein with tickets for $200. To purchase tickets go to parrishart.org or call 631-283-2118.
2. Saturday July 13th the South Fork Natural History Museum is holding its 30th Anniversary Gala Benefit from 6-10 PM. The event taking place at 377 Bridgehampton at Sag Harbor turnpike begins with a cocktail reception at 6 PM which contains a special tasting menu created by world renowned chefs. This year will honor Dr. Demian Chapman, who was the leading cat conservationist until his death in 2018, as well as Trammell Crow and Greg Manocherian. The dinner will be catered by Elegant Affairs and the entertainment provided by Livingston Taylor all for the reasonable price of $450. Tickets can be purchased by calling 631-537-9735 or sending an email to [email protected].
3. The philanthropic Fishels are opening up their estate for the third weekend in a row for the 15th Annual Waxman Foundation’s “Hamptons Happening.” Beginning at 6:30 PM and ending at 10:30 PM guests will be transported to Asia, Europe, Spain, Latin American and the Middle East with cuisine so amazing you will be begging for more. The wine and liquor tastings will be equally spectacular as you enjoy the culinary delights while listening to the music of Pat Farrell and the Cold Spring Harbor Band. Honorees include chef Lidia Bastianich, fashion designer Nicole Miller, hotel owner (Baker House 1650) Antonella Bertello, and restaurant owner (Southampton Social Club) Ian Duke. Tickets can be purchased for $425 for adults and $200 for professionals 30 years or younger. For more information contact the office at 212-867-4502 or emails can be sent to waxmancancer.org.
4. St. Jude’s will be fighting childhood cancer with its “Hope in the Hamptons” annual benefit held at 2 Uncle Leos Lane in Water Mill. The event was founded in 2015 by Dave and Sue Birdsall whose grandson, Drew, was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 2 and underwent 3.5 years of grueling chemotherapy. As a way to give back to the hospital more than $1.6 million has been raised since 2015. Beginning at 5:30 PM and lasting until 10:30 PM guests will be entitled to farm fresh fare, live and silent auctions, world class horse jumping and musical entertainment. Tickets can be purchased for $300 and attire is country chic. For more information call 212-379-1600 or email [email protected].
Report: ‘Everything required to enrich uranium to weapons grade could be quickly reconstituted’
By: Adam Kredo
Iran never ended critical nuclear weapons work at a controversial underground military bunker that remains operational to this day and able to “enrich uranium to weapons grade” levels. That is according to a new watchdog report that has reignited calls for the Trump administration to close loopholes that have permitted the Islamic Republic to continue its most contested nuclear research.
The new report, issued by the Institute for Science and International Security, confirms suspicions long held by the international community that Iran never dismantled its Fordow research site, as it was required to do under the landmark 2015 nuclear deal. The findings have further fueled concerns about Iran’s march towards nuclear weapons, particularly in light of the country’s recent threats to enrich uranium, the key component in a bomb, to levels approaching 20 percent purity.
The latest evidence of Iran’s continued weapons research has reignited a battle between congressional Iran hawks and the Trump administration, which continues to provide Tehran with a series of sanctions waivers permitting it to continue work at Fordow. Hardliners in Congress have called for an immediate end to these waivers in light of Iran’s efforts to blow past restrictions on the amount of highly enriched uranium it stockpiles inside the country.
“The Fordow uranium enrichment facility has never been repurposed, as promised in the JCPOA,” the acronym used to refer to the nuclear deal, according to the latest watchdog report. “Everything required to enrich uranium to weapons grade could be quickly reconstituted in the underground portion of the facility.”
“Fordow is potentially part of Iran’s current threats to progressively go to higher enrichment levels and increase its stocks of enriched uranium, and if conducted there, Fordow’s underground tunnel complex is fortified to withstand aerial bombardment,” the report states. “Fordow now includes semi-indigenous nuclear equipment production and potentially illicit procurement at the newly expanded support area, the former which was not likely intended by the JCPOA, and the latter which is prohibited.”
Secret documents seized from Iran by Israel corroborate evidence that Tehran sought, from at least 2002, to produce weapon-grade uranium to create one to two nuclear weapons per year.
“There is no doubt it could be reconstituted to fulfill that purpose,” the report concluded.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) said the latest report on Iran’s work at Fordow should compel the Trump administration to stop issuing waivers, which have permitted continued nuclear work at the site.
“Today’s report once again demonstrates that the catastrophic Obama Iran nuclear deal created enormous danger for Americans and our allies,” Cruz said in a statement. “Fordow is a military bunker the Ayatollahs dug out of the side of a mountain so they could build nuclear bombs.”
“Under the nuclear deal, it was supposed to be converted but it never was. Instead, Iran used the time and the billions they received from the deal to expand the facility, possibly in violation of restrictions in the deal itself,” Cruz said. “The Trump administration should immediately cancel the civil-nuclear waivers it has been issuing, which allow Iran to continue building up Fordow and other nuclear sites.”
A State Department spokesperson told the Washington Free Beacon the administration will not stand by as Iran marches closer to the nuclear redline.
“The Iranian regime uses its nuclear program to extort the international community and threaten regional security,” the official said, speaking only on background. “Nuclear brinksmanship will not strengthen Iran’s position, but instead lead to further isolation and pressure.”
U.S. officials do not recognize Iran’s right to enrich uranium “at any level,” the official said, hinting at possible revocation of the sanctions waivers that have allowed work to continue at Fordow.
“The world’s top sponsor of terrorism can never be allowed to enrich uranium at any level,” the official said. “We will continue to impose maximum pressure on the regime until it abandons its destabilizing behavior, including proliferation-sensitive work.”
“Iran should realize that negotiating leverage will no longer be measured in kilograms of uranium or dollars per barrel, but rather in its willingness to end its destabilizing activities, including by abandoning a path to nuclear weapons,” the official said.
One veteran Republican congressional official who works on Iran issues told the Free Beacon that GOP hawks on Capitol Hill are starting to openly question the Trump administration’s commitment to upholding tough sanctions on Tehran.
“This is becoming clownish. The President already said that new sanctions are coming. Every day there’s a new story about how Iran is violating the deal,” the source said, speaking only on background. “People up here are starting to ask who inside the administration is holding up the response.”
Meanwhile, international nuclear inspectors on Thursday confirmed that Iran has been illicitly housing radioactive materials. This is the same facility that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed last year as a key source for Iran’s nuclear buildup.
As tensions between the U.S. and Iran have escalated since the downing of an American drone, Iranian leaders have vowed to continue openly breaching nuclear enrichment restrictions.
“Enhancing nuclear enrichment levels to 20 percent could well be the next move by Iran in case Europe failed to provide Tehran with the promised merits under the nuclear deal,” a spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization confirmed to the country’s state-controlled media.
“The level of Iran’s [uranium] enrichment has exceeded 3.67 percent and at present the purity level of the produced materials is nearly 4.5 percent,” the official was quoted as saying.
Iran is pressuring European nations to create backdoor financial vehicles meant to skirt the toughest U.S. sanctions, a demand U.S. officials have described as nuclear extortion. (Washington Free Beacon)
Education Minister Rafi Peretz (Flash90/Yonatan Sindel)
Education Minister Rafi Peretz sparked a sharp reaction with his comparison.
By: WIN Staff
Education Minister Rafi Peretz has caused controversy with comments he made that massive assimilation by Jews is tantamount to another Holocaust.
His statement was made at a cabinet meeting a week and a half ago but was first disclosed on Tuesday by Channel 13 diplomatic correspondent Barak Ravid.
Quoting from the cabinet transcript, Ravid reported that Peretz said: “The extent of assimilation among North American Jewry and in the world is like a second Holocaust. We’ve lost six million Jews since then like that.”
Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz then said: “Assimilation is not a critical problem. First of all, we have to stop dismissing the Jews who live in America and who see themselves as Jewish historically and culturally and not just religiously.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu followed, saying “I am disturbed by the demographic trend among U.S. Jewry. There is a distancing from Judaism by a large segment of the Jews and it’s very hard to influence it.”
After the education minister’s comments were made public, Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) tweeted, “It’s inconceivable to use the term ‘Holocaust’ to describe Jews choosing to marry non-Jews.”
“It trivializes the Shoah. It alienates so many members of our community. This kind of baseless comparison does little other than inflame and offend,” Greenblatt said.
Peretz has only recently entered his new position, having been appointed education minister by Netanyahu to serve in the transition government.
Peretz is an Orthodox Jew. But his comments drew ire even from other observant Jews.
Former Likud MK Yehudah Glick, who is also Orthodox, tweeted: “It would be expected of the education minister to think twice before speaking out and to leave the Holocaust out of comparisons.”
Glick added parenthetically in his Twitter post. “(Who is Hitler in this comparison?)” (World Israel News)
“My strong advice to the Iranians would be not to take any further steps that would break the terms of the agreement, not to acquire a nuclear weapon,” said Johnson.
By: WIN Staff
British MP Boris Johnson, considered a frontrunner to replace resigning Prime Minister Theresa May at the helm of the Conservative Party, says that he is a “passionate Zionist” and that “wild horses wouldn’t keep me away” from visiting the Jewish State as British premier.
Johnson was quoted in “the only Jewish media interview of his campaign to become prime minister,” which appeared in the British Jewish News.
On Iran, Johnson said he is “prepared” to consider sanctions against the Islamic Republic on the heels of its announcement that it has begun enriching more uranium than permitted under the terms of the 2015 nuclear agreement reached with world powers, including Britain.
“My strong, strong advice to the Iranians would be to cease this madness, not to take any further steps that would break the terms of the agreement, and not to acquire a nuclear weapon,” stated Johnson.
“I think that there are enough tensions in that region without triggering a nuclear arms race, whose consequences would be very hard to foresee, and which would certainly pose very difficult choices for any Israeli government,” he told the Jewish News, adding that “as Prime Minister, I’d make sure we continue to do everything we can to constrain Iran’s disruptive behavior in the region.”
In the interview, Johnson was asked about having characterized the 2014 Israeli military campaign in Gaza against the Hamas terror organization as “disproportionate.” At the time, he served as mayor of London.
In response, he said that he understood “why Israel reacted in the way that it did, and I understand the provocation and the outrageous behavior that occasioned that response…Israel has a right to respond, Israel has a right to defend itself…I just joined with those who say ‘I want the Israeli response to be proportionate.’”
Johnson maintained that he “could see the logic” in moving the British Embassy to Jerusalem but believed that “the moment for us to play that card is when we make further progress,” the Jewish News reported.
He said that he agreed that the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel is part of an anti-Semitic “syndrome,” adding that “anybody who knows anything about it knows that actually, the boycott and disinvestment movement will probably hit hardest Palestinian community people who are in jobs, are benefitting from Israeli investment, Israeli farming, whatever.”
Johnson condemned the Palestinian policy of paying salaries to terrorists. “I think it’s ludicrous that there should be any kind of financial incentive or compensation for terrorist activities,” he said. (World Israel News)
A who’s who of conservative groups gathered at the White House Thursday to discuss how to deal with reports and stories from social media.
But social media giants Twitter and Facebook were not in attendance. They reportedly had not been invited.
The event comes amid wide-ranging criticisms of the companies.
By: Michelle Quinn
Some argue the social media companies are silencing conservative voices. Others say they are not doing enough to protect users from misinformation and offensive posts.
One area of agreement: The tech firms are powerful and control important conduits of information and commerce. There is mounting antitrust scrutiny and calls for looking into whether they should be broken up.
President Trump is a frequent user of Twitter; using the platform to both tout his administration’s work and attack his opponents.
“The White House will be hosting a very big and very important Social Media Summit today,” he tweeted ahead of the event. “Would I have become President without Social Media? Yes (probably)!”
President Trump has increasingly criticized the three big social media firms — Facebook, Twitter and YouTube — for what he says is censorship and bias against conservative voices.
All three companies have denied targeting conservative users when enforcing their community standards.
In May, the White House asked people to submit stories to a site detailing their experiences.
“Earlier this year the White House launched a tool to allow Americans, regardless of their political views, to share how they have been affected by bias online. After receiving thousands of responses, the president wants to engage directly with these digital leaders in a discussion on the power of social media,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement Tuesday afternoon.
The site is now closed, but a message remains telling visitors that “social media platforms should advance freedom of speech. Yet too many Americans have seen their accounts suspended, banned or fraudulently reported for unclear ‘violations’ of user policies.”
The summit is for “digital leaders” interested in “a robust conversation on the opportunities and challenges of today’s online environment,” the White House said when it announced the event.
Among those who were reportedly invited to attend the summit were Florida Republican Party Vice Chair Christian Ziegler and members of conservative groups such as the Heritage Foundation and Turning Point USA.
It is important for people to learn about how social media sites moderate content, said Jillian York, director for international freedom of expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital civil liberties organization.
The social media companies are “not getting it right” and are taking down speech that they should not, she said. But the Trump administration’s assessment of conservative bias is not right either, she added.
“The default should be to leave content up,” she said. “Take down should be reserved for truly dangerous circumstances.”
Clara Tsao, a fellow at Mozilla, the maker of Firefox, said under U.S. law, providers of “interactive computer services” are allowed to exclude people from their online communities, to protect an online provider’s content-screening and editorial decisions and to provide standards of decency. (VOA)
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. today announced the indictment of PENNY BRADLEY, 54, a real estate developer, for residential mortgage fraud in which BRADLEY forged member signatures to illegally obtain millions of dollars. BRADLEY is charged in a New York State Supreme Court indictment with Residential Mortgage Fraud in the First Degree, Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, and two counts of Forgery in the Second Degree and Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Second Degree.[1]
“As alleged, Penny Bradley cashed in on her insider position and stole company funds to support her lavish lifestyle,” said Manhattan D.A. Cy Vance, Jr. “My Office is dedicated to protecting the integrity of our City’s residential mortgage market and holding those who attempt to undermine it criminally responsible.”
According to the indictment and documents filed in court, from 2014 to 2016, BRADLEY violated her duties as the managing member of 46 East 82nd Street LLC and stole company funds for personal expenses and unrelated business ventures. BRADLEY also used company property as collateral to obtain a loan for unrelated real estate investments, and forged member signatures to refinance debt encumbering the townhouse.
In March 2014, 46 East 82nd Street LLC was formed to acquire, renovate, and sell a townhouse located at 46 East 82nd Street. BRADLEY was the sole member of Norfolk Street Management LLC, the managing member of 46 East 82nd Street LLC. In that capacity, BRADLEY was solely responsible for managing the renovation and potential sale of the townhouse and safeguarding company money and property, including funds invested by members of 46 East 82nd Street LLC and two loans from Alpine Capital Bank.
Between 2014 to 2016, BRADLEY stole over $500,000 from 46 East 82nd Street LLC to pay for personal expenses and unrelated business debts. Personal expenditures included rent payments, vacations, monthly payments on her auto loan for her Range Rover, and monthly parking garage fees.
In 2015, BRADLEY obtained a personal loan from Global Payment Services Limited (“GPS”) to invest in unrelated real estate projects. To procure the loan, BRADLEY agreed to allow GPS to record a lien against the 46 East 82nd Street townhouse if she failed to pay $2.6 million by its maturity date. Subsequently, BRADLEY defaulted on the loan and GPS recorded a mortgage against the townhouse.
In 2016, BRADLEY attempted to refinance the GPS mortgage by encumbering the townhouse with a junior mortgage from Atlas Union Corp (“Atlas”). Atlas and First American Title Insurance Company (“First American”), the title insurance company insuring the loan, required the defendant to obtain a new company operating agreement executed by all the members of the company. In August 2016, BRADLEY falsely claimed that all the members were contacted and requested to close on the Atlas loan without submitting the new operating agreement; Atlas denied the defendant’s request.
Thereafter, in late August 2016, Atlas agreed to refinance the existing loans from both Alpine and GPS with a loan for $11.5 million to 46 East 82nd Street LLC. However, to obtain this loan, Atlas required the defendant to get written consent of a majority in interest of members of 46 East 82nd Street LLC.
On September 7, 2016, the defendant emailed her attorney the “Consent of Majority in Interest of Members of 46 East 82nd Street LLC” and its six signatures pages for purposes of closing on the Atlas loan. The signature pages included forged signatures of two LLC members. Two days later, on September 9, 2016, the defendant signed the required documents on behalf of 46 East 82nd Street LLC and certified as to the validity of the signatures on the Consent of Majority in Interest of Members of 46 East 82nd Street LLC document to close on the Atlas loan of $11.5 million.
In December 2017, the Atlas loan matured and 46 East 82nd Street LLC defaulted on the loan.
Assistant D.A. Jaime Hickey-Mendoza is handling the prosecution of this case under the supervision of Assistant D.A.s Judy Salwen, Principal Deputy Chief of the Rackets Bureau; Michael Ohm, Deputy Bureau Chief and Jodie Kane, Chief of the Rackets Bureau, as well as Executive Assistant D.A. Michael Sachs, Chief of the Investigation Division. Supervising Financial Investigator Wei Man Tang assisted with the investigation, under the supervision of Irene Serrapica, Deputy Chief of FAFI, and Robert Demarest, Chief of FAFI. Supervising Rackets Investigator Donato Siciliano, Rackets Investigator Samuel Morales, and Paralegals Madeleine Lippey and Maximilian Perkins also assisted with the case.
The U.S. Women’s National Team celebrated their second consecutive World Cup Soccer championship with a ticker tape parade in the famed “Canyon of Heroes” in New York City on Wednesday morning. Throngs of fans packed the streets of lower Manhattan to greet the squad led by Megan Rapinoe, who scored the winning goals in the final match against the team from the Netherlands.
Edited by: David Ben Hooren
People blew air horns, and waved American flags, and chanted “USA!” and “Equal Pay!” High above their heads, in accordance with ticker-tape-parade tradition, people threw confetti and shredded paper out of their windows.
“This group is so resilient, is so tough, has such a sense of humor — is just so bad-ass,” Rapinoe said as she praised her teammates.
NPR reported that the parade started at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning when Rapinoe, Alex Morgan, Rose Lavelle and their teammates embarked from Battery Park on the southern tip of Manhattan. From there, the parade moved north up Broadway to City Hall, where a banner declared, “One nation. One team.”
By the time they slowed to a stop at the corner of Broadway and Barclay St. near City Hall, the mood was one of joyful uproar — pandemonium under sunny skies, according to the NPR report.
“USA! USA! USA!” the crowd shouted, whenever the cheers let up. And referring to the players’ push to be paid on equal terms as the men, they also chanted a rhyming phrase: “Equal pay!”
At 10:30 a.m., many of the fans moved to chairs and bleachers outside of City Hall, where Mayor Bill de Blasio hosted a ceremony to mark the team’s second consecutive world championship and fourth overall. All of the athletes received a key to the city, according to the NPR report.
“This is America’s team, and we could not be more proud of our team, ” de Blasio said, noting the inspirational roles the women have played for young girls in the U.S.
NPR reported that the loudest cheers were for Rapinoe — who briefly handed the golden World Cup trophy to the young woman escorting her before dancing down the aisle.
“This is crazy. This is absolutely insane. Such at a loss for words,” Rapinoe said. She quickly added, “I mean, I’ll find them, don’t worry.”
Referring to the group’s diversity, Rapinoe said, “We have pink hair and purple hair. We have tattoos, dreadlocks. We’ve got white girls and black girls, and everything in between.”
“Straight girls and gay girls,” Rapinoe said. As the audience cheered loudly, she added, “Hey!”
“I couldn’t be more proud to be a co-captain” of the team, she said. “It’s my absolute honor to lead this team out on the field. There’s no other place that I would rather be — even in the presidential race,” she said to laughter and applause.
The penetration of the feminist and gay movements by pro-Palestine propaganda has borne the poisonous fruit of trees planted by shameless rewriting of history and even the Quran
By: Professor Phyllis Chesler.
One of the genuine feminist pioneers, an old friend, visited me while she was in New York for the recent LGBT events. She wore an armband with a Jewish star as did others. No one objected. (I did—too reminiscent of the Nazi insignia—but that’s another story). However, when she found herself right ahead of a row chanting the inevitable “From the River to the Sea Palestine will be Free,” she found it necessary to move away.
In 2004, Natan Sharansky asked me whether I thought that the feminist, left, and gay communities could be re-educated on Israel and anti-Semitism. I said that I did not think so—but that I’d try. Perhaps I did not try hard enough. As we all know, Jews, Jewish stars on rainbow flags, and the Israeli flag have been hotly challenged and exiled from a number of Gay Pride marches and conferences in the United States.
The gay magazine, Out celebrates the Stonewall riots fifty years later in it’s June-July issue. It claims a readership of more than 200,000 people. The latest and current issue features the magazine’s hopes about the next fifty years. This includes what ti considers accomplishments, among them “A Queer Smithsonian Museum.”
The magazine hopes that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will become “House Speaker and will immortalize the first queer dollar bill dedicated to the brave souls who lost their lives at Stonewall.” (I don’t think anyone did; could I be wrong?) Out’s future accomplishments include Abolishing ICE (but not restricting unfettered immigration), Abolishing the Military, Abolishing Prisons (but not crime), Legalizing Universal HealthCare, Legalizing prostitution as work, etc.
And then—out of nowhere, the magazine also hopes that “Judaism Will Decolonize Itself.” This entry was written by a Black Jew, Professor Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, whose black maternal ancestors were “enslaved in Barbados,” and whose father was a Russian Jew. On Twitter, she identifies as “queer and black” but not as Jewish. Prescod-Weinstein, a theoretical physicist, writes: “Jews need to engage in deep conversations about the very idea that we’re entitled to a homeland. The Israeli government denies Palestinian people the right to live or be there and has made very clear that Jewish people are to be treated as first-class, which of course means there are second-class citizens. That does not make a democracy. ….But also, let’s remove the borders around gender…If we decolonize ourselves from what we have been taught, adapted, miscarried under imperial and colonial rule—we can be free.”
No mention of the Torah, the Talmud, rabbinic learning, Jewish intellectuals, Israel’s—and Israeli’s—great accomplishments, Israel’s historical, religious and legal rights, Israel’s granting of asylum to Palestinians in flight from persecution in Gaza or on the ‘West Bank’ because they are homosexuals—and, of course, no mention of the ceaseless pogroms or the Shoah that made a return to our homeland a matter of existential survival.
Even more outrageous, this anti-Israel “decolonizing” propaganda is paired with the following: “Islam Will Return to its True Nature by Centering Justice.” It is written by the Organizers of Masjid Al-Rabia Muslim Community Center in Chicago, a gay and transgender friendly mosque founded by Mahdia Lynn, a “white bisexual transgender Muslim activist” who is shown wearing hijab. S/he states that “the role of imperialism in Islam” meant that “Christian Crusaders invaded Muslim lands and castigated the “permissive attitudes towards gender expression and homosexuality” that characterized Islam.
The Mosque Organizers now blame Crusader imperialism for the Islamic criminalization of “queerness.”
Has this author ever read the Qu’ran? Or the history of Islam from the 7th century until the Crusades began in 1095, three or four centuries later—after Muslims had killed an untold number of Christians and taken over or destroyed their churches.
Finally, the Chicago mosque organizers state: “Islam is a framework by which one can lead a better life.”
And Judaism is not?
The penetration of the gay movements by pro-Palestine propaganda has borne poisonous fruit. And please be advised: These marches are not feminist. The issues chanted, the banners held aloft, do not focus on abortion under siege, the equal rights amendment, or violence against biologically born women. It is pro-surrogacy and pro-prostitution which is not the view of abolitionist feminists who are themselves under siege and who are often viewed as “transphobic” for criticizing the physical violence against them by transgender activists who want no feminist analysis to limit them in any way.
Maybe, in a sense, all these Pride Marches are Odes to the Eternal Feminine, whereas many feminists are those who have demanded the right to make choices. (Israel National News)
Phyllis Chesler is a Ginsburg-Ingerman Fellow at the Middle East Forum, received the 2013 National Jewish Book Award,authored 18 books, including Women and Madness and The New Anti-Semitism, and 4 studies about honor killing, Her latest books are An American Bride in Kabul, A Family Conspiracy: Honor Killing and A Politically Incorrect Feminist.
Left to Right: Jacqueline Murphy, Andrea Wernick, Colleen Rein, Nurit Kahane, Bob Roberts, Gary Rein, Joel Wernick and Fred Stahl at Bilboquet Sag Harbor. Credit for all photos: Lieba Nesis
July 4th weekend in the Hamptons was more thrilling than ever as thousands descended on this enclave for the super wealthy. Sagaponack, which is located in Southampton, was recently named the richest zip code in America with a cost of living of $853,000 a year and a median sale price for a home of $5.5 million. While many weekend revelers were not homeown ers, they arrived in the Hamptons with money to spend and steam to blow off. The weekend started for many on Wednesday as crowds inhabited Jitneys, trains and helicopters to experience the busiest holiday of the year. Montauk bars and clubs were already filled to capacity on Wednesday as hordes of twenty somethings got an early start on the holiday partying. The 9:30 AM train on Thursday July 4th was filled to capacity with police forcing passengers off. Many had to take a later train which still allowed them to arrive on time for the two premier parties of the week: David Rosenberg’s Bridgehampton extravaganza; and
Warby Parker’s event in Amagansett.
David Rosenberg Party in Bridgehampton
The Rosenberg party was a smash hit with more than 800 revelers attending this annual happening. Rosenberg had two ice cream trucks providing sweet treats, twenty minutes of fireworks and DJ’s that had the crowd dancing until 4 AM. Superstar hosts Richie Akiva and Maxwell Osborne brought in hundreds of their beautiful friends with 1 Oak manager Sheri manning the doors. Sheri, a beautiful brunette with long curly hair, is well known in the New York club circles for spotting the best and brightest and allowing them entry into Akiva establishments. Tonight, she held court as guests streamed in desperate to grab her attention. Who is David Rosenberg, was the question on everyone’s mind, and how does he afford to hold these annual opulent parties in St. Barths and the Hamptons where celebrities and supermodels fraternize with bourgeoise? The low key Rosenberg, grew up in Illinois and attended Skokie yeshiva and Ohio State before dropping out to start his tech company. Furthermore, he is a record producer who has collaborated with Jay Z and Russell Simmons and runs a massive debt collection company called Unifund. Rosenberg, is most proud of his commitment to Chabad as he attends services and donates generously to their programs having been raised in a fervently Zionistic home.
The Crowded Southampton Beach over July 4th
While there weren’t many Chabadniks in attendance at Rosenberg’s party Rabbi Marc Schneier and his wife Simi made a brief appearance. There were also a significant number of supermodel progeny with Presley Gerber, son of Cindy Crawford, and Peter Brant Jr., son of Stephanie Seymour, enjoying the evening as they fraternized with friends. Gerber donned a fisherman’s hat and massive tattoos while the 25-year-old Peter Brant Jr., who held a barbeque in his Sagaponack estate earlier in the day, looked impossibly elegant in a pantsuit combination as he continues his reign as one of the best dressed men on the planet. Last weekend, Brant hosted Tiffany Trump at his mansion and in prior years Prince Harry has played polo at his Greenwich estate. Some other billionaire kids in attendance included John and Andrea Catsimatidis, with Andrea recently featured in the pages of the New York Post as one of the all-time sexiest GOP leaders-giving knockout Kimberly Guilfoyle a run for her money.
Real Estate Mogul Neil Simon hosting party on his Yacht
“Housewives” Ramona Singer and Kelly Dodd were also hanging out by the Rosenberg pool, as Singer showed off her heavily toned figure while Kelly seemed subdued-perhaps due to her recent breakup with boyfriend Brian Reagan. Ramona and Kelly also attended the Warby Parker party which contained hundreds of revelers dressed in the Studio 54 theme; at approximately 2 AM guests were shuttled to a nearby pizza joint where DJ Ollie spun tunes for an excited crowd.
Surf Lodge in Montauk
Some other luminaries in town included Chuck Schumer who was seen at Tutto il Giorno in Southampton on Thursday where he was largely ignored by unimpressed diners. Schumer was rumored to be there for Lally Weymouth’s annual shindig in Southampton. Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner were also in the Hamptons presumably to once again attend Weymouth’s star-studded party and were reportedly residing at Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s $15 million Southampton estate. While there were dozens of Secret Service staying in Southampton hotels over the weekend they kept an extremely low profile with few aware of their significant presence.
Surf Lodge in Montauk
Lest you mistakenly conclude that private parties were the only way to go over the holiday, Montauk’s Surf Lodge and Southampton Social Club were the hotspots of the weekend with dozens of regulars and well knowns turned away from the overpacked Surf Lodge and Southampton Social charging a $60 cover charge as they hosted thousands of enthusiastic New Yorkers. In fact, nearly everyone I encountered in the Hamptons was from New York making it unnecessary to waste words with the query “where are you from”?
Bilboquet Sag Harbor
Friday night things were a bit slower as Hamptonites were trying to recuperate from the past two nights of heavy drinking. However, Saturday was full force with a 3 PM Ivan Wilzig barbeque starting off the busy day. Many of Wilzig’s attendees headed to Sag Harbor’s 9 PM fireworks viewed by hundreds on the yacht of real estate entrepreneur Neil Simon who generously opened up his boat with the caveat “no food allowed.” What were attendees to do but head to nearby restaurant Bilboquet where forty of my beautiful socialite friends were celebrating Jennifer Myles birthday including Maria Fishel, Jacqueline Murphy, Andrea Warshaw Wernick, Lauren Roberts, Jennifer and Ruth Miller and dozens of others. These energetic ladies turned the eatery into a makeshift disco as they danced excitedly to the DJ’s tunes. The Fishels were exhausted from hosting polo on their Bridgehampton estate earlier in the day and planning the Waxman Cancer event which will take place at their house next weekend. As the group exited Bilboquet, I headed to frozen yogurt mecca BuddhaBerry in Sag Harbor which is both nutritious and delicious and was unfortunately closed at the early hour of 11:30 PM. All wasn’t wasted as I bumped into comedian extraordinaire Elon Gold who has appeared on HBO and Netflix and graciously agreed to host a Chabad fundraiser in the Hamptons this summer.
Yacht Party in Sag Harbor
Sag Harbor has undeniably maintained preeminence over the Hamptons social circuit for the past couple of seasons. However, its’ lack of internet reception makes it nearly impossible to get an uber. The car services were booked for 1.5 hours and I found myself waiting an hour for an uber that charged over $100 to drive to the relatively close town of Southampton. At the conclusion of the long evening, I set my alarm early for Sunday in order to peruse the streets of Southampton, East Hampton, Sag Harbor, Montauk, Bridgehampton and Shelter Island with the winner of the day being Shelter Island’s “Sunset Beach”. The ferry which costs $1 per person and $20 roundtrip for a car runs every 5 minutes and arrives on the island approximately 10 minutes later. The island is a self contained universe with its own restaurants, hotels and businesses that contain a solitude absent from other Hamptons. Sunset Beach was a different story as this rocking spot hosted hundreds who dined at the restaurant and enjoyed the magnificent beach views. Getting an uber on the island is similarly difficult, but I was able to hitch a ride to the bus with the magnificent Libbie Mugrabi-whose nasty divorce hasn’t sullied her joyful spirit. Heading back to New York on the 10:30 PM $38 sold-out Jitney proved better than expected as I arrived in New York City two hours later ready to unwind after an exhilarating weekend.
In an indictment, Geoffrey Berman, a federal prosecutor in New York, accused Epstein of allegedly paying the girls hundreds of dollars for nude or partially nude massages that "increasingly were sexual in nature" at his mansion on New York's Upper East Side and at his estate in Palm Beach, Florida. Photo: Screen Shot
Jeffrey Epstein, a hedge fund billionaire with links to top politicians and celebrities, was charged Monday with running a sex trafficking ring that allegedly exploited dozens of underage girls. Photo Credit: Palm Beach County Sheriff
Jeffrey Epstein, a hedge fund billionaire with links to top politicians and celebrities, was charged Monday with running a sex trafficking ring that allegedly exploited dozens of underage girls, according to a VOA report.
In an indictment, Geoffrey Berman, a federal prosecutor in New York, accused Epstein of allegedly paying the girls hundreds of dollars for nude or partially nude massages that “increasingly were sexual in nature” at his mansion on New York’s Upper East Side and at his estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
VOA reported that the prosecutor said Epstein often paid some of the victims, some as young as 14, to recruit other underage girls that he then also abused from 2002 to 2005.
“The alleged behavior shocks the conscience,” Berman said of Epstein who was arrested on Saturday night when he flew back to the U.S. from Paris on his private jet. The prosecutor said that after Epstein’s arrest, investigators searched his New York home and found nude photos “of what appeared to be underage girls.”
Despite the fact that the allegations against Epstein stem from incidents that occurred more than a decade ago, Berman said, “We want to make sure the accusers have their day in court by bringing these charges,” according to a VOA report.
The 66-year-old Epstein faces two charges, conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and sex trafficking. If convicted, Epstein faces up to 45 years in prison, which Berman said, because of Epstein’s age, amounts to a life sentence. In a court appearance, Epstein pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Epstein is a well-connected financier whose friends have included two U.S. presidents, Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, and Britain’s Prince Andrew.
VOA reported that in 2002, years before he entered politics, then real estate magnate Trump told an interviewer, “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
Clinton often flew on Epstein’s plane to the Little Saint James island owned by Epstein in the U.S. Virgin Islands, as was reported by VOA. No one has alleged that either Trump or Clinton engaged in underage sex activities, although Andrew in 2011 was forced to quit his role as a British trade representative after a report surfaced that Epstein had arranged for Andrew to meet a 17-year-old girl.
Jeffrey Epstein’s Boeing 727 was known as the “Lolita Express.” Photo Credit: Fox News
The Daily Caller reported that former President Clinton said he “knew nothing” of billionaire Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged sex trafficking, according to a statement issued Monday.
“President Clinton knows nothing about the terrible crimes Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to in Florida some years ago, or those with which he has been recently charged in New York,” the statement read.
Clinton only took four trips aboard Epstein‘s private airplane and has “not spoken to Epstein in over a decade,” according to the statement.
Flight logs from 2015, however, put Clinton on the “Lolita Express,” Epstein’s private airplane, more than a dozen times. Many of these flights were shared with a woman who is believed to have been involved with getting underage girls to perform sex acts for Epstein and his friends, Gawker reported.
According to the report on the Daily Caller web site, “the Secret Service was involved in every part of the trips, Clinton’s statement read. The four trips “included stops in connection with the work of the Clinton Foundation,” the statement read.
Clinton has taken at least 26 trips on Epstein’s plane, according to a Fox News article in 2016.
Additionally, on some of the trips the Secret Service was absent, Fox News reported.
“Bill Clinton … associated with a man like Jeffrey Epstein, who everyone in New York, certainly within his inner circles, knew was a pedophile,” said Conchita Sarnoff, of the non-profit Alliance to Rescue Victims of Trafficking, according to Fox News.
I’m saying, sadly, that he (Clinton) is not telling the truth,” Sarnoff said. “First of all, Gerald Lefcourt, who was one of Epstein’s attorneys back during the original arrest and the original investigation, wrote a letter which has been made public.”
She added: “In that letter, Gerald Lefcourt claims that Epstein was one of the original funders of Clinton Global Initiative. He gave President Clinton four million dollars, according to a source who knows a story about that.”
Fox News reported that Sarnoff said she requested interviews with Clinton about the matter, but he “would not agree” to talk to her.
Clinton has been accused of sexual misconduct in the past, including by Juanita Broddrick, who says he raped her in 1978 (Clinton has denied this).
According to a report on the Vox.com web site, “Clinton took international trips on Epstein’s plane in the early years of his post-presidency, including a trip to several African countries with Kevin Spacey and Chris Tucker.”
Vox also reported that Trump allegedly attended Epstein-hosted events in New York and Florida, and Epstein patronized the Trump owned Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida.
On Tuesday, Trump said of Epstein, “I knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him. I had a falling out with him a long time ago, I don’t think I’ve spoken to him for 15 years, I wasn’t a fan.”
Epstein dodged significant jail time in Florida more than a decade ago when allegations against him of child sex trafficking first surfaced.
In that case, a federal investigation was halted when Epstein pleaded guilty to Florida state charges of a soliciting and procuring a person under 18 for prostitution. He ultimately served 13 months but was allowed to spend half of most days at his Palm Beach office on a work-release program, a disposition of the case that the Miami Herald newspaper called the “deal of a lifetime.”
Epstein’s defense lawyers negotiated his plea deal with then U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta, appointed by Trump in 2017 as labor secretary in his Cabinet.
Acosta has defended the resolution of the case, in part because it required Epstein to register as a sex offender.
But this year, a judge reviewing the outcome of the case in Florida ruled that Acosta and his fellow prosecutors violated the law by not informing the victims in the case that they were resolving the case with the state charges as the federal investigation ended. The Department of Justice, which oversees federal prosecutors, has opened an investigation into whether the lawyers committed “professional misconduct” in the way they resolved the case.
On Monday, Berman, the federal prosecutor in New York, said he was not a signatory to the Florida agreement and that there was no legal impediment to bringing the new charges.
The townhouse that sits at the center of the Jeffrey Epstein underage sex scandal may soon be on the market. Located at 9 East 71st Street on New York City’s upper east side and priced at roughly $77 million, it is alleged that some of the abuse of which Epstein stands accused happened there. Photo Credit: Google Maps
In a related development, the townhouse that sits at the center of the Jeffrey Epstein underage sex scandal may soon be on the market.
Located at 9 E. 71st St. and priced at roughly $77 million, it is alleged that some of the abuse of which Epstein stands accused happened there.
“Epstein created a vast network of underage victims for him to sexually exploit, often on a daily basis, in locations including New York and Palm Beach,” prosecutors charged. “Moreover, Epstein knew that many of his victims were under 18, including because, in some instances, victims expressly told him they were underage.”
“Prosecutors have asked Magistrate Judge Henry Pitman to deny Epstein bail at a hearing later Monday because he is an “extreme flight risk.” Epstein is unmarried with no children or any known immediate family, the feds say. He has six residences, including his own private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, 15 cars and access to two private jets. In the past 18 months he has taken 20 trips abroad,” according to Crain’s New York Business.
On Monday, it was reported that investigators had taken possession of nude photographs of underage girls from the Manhattan townhouse. “That detail was disclosed by federal prosecutors on Monday as they unsealed an indictment charging Mr. Epstein with sex trafficking and made an appeal to other women who may have been abused by him to come forward,” said the New York Times.
The Times report continued, “Hundreds, and possibly thousands, of “sexually suggestive” pictures of nude or partially nude girls were found during a search of Mr. Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse on Saturday, conducted at roughly the same time the financier was arrested at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, prosecutors said. The cache of photos, some of which were discovered in a locked safe that also contained CDs with labels like “Girl pics nude,” demonstrate the predatory attitude that Mr. Epstein, a registered sex offender, had toward young women, prosecutors said in a detention memo filed on Monday.”
“The defendant, a registered sex offender, is not reformed, he is not chastened, he is not repentant; rather, he is a continuing danger to the community and an individual who faces devastating evidence supporting deeply serious charges,” prosecutors from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York wrote in their filing.
Epstein, wearing navy prison garb and without handcuffs, pleaded not guilty to the sex trafficking charges in Manhattan federal court on Monday afternoon.
“To us, this indictment is essentially a do-over,” Epstein attorney Reid Weingarten said. “This is the very stuff that was investigated by the feds in Florida.” The parties and judge agreed that Epstein will be detained until a detention hearing on Thursday,” noted CNN.
Former NYPD police commissioner Ray Kelly appeared on 970 AM’s “Cat’s round table” to discuss the mayor. Photo Credit: Shutterstock
Former Police Commissioner Ray Kelly went on a local talk show hosted by billionaire John A. Catsimatidis to discuss the current mayor’s plan to close Rikers Island and other current issues and parsed no words.
“Closing Rikers Island is a key piece of creating a smaller, safer and fairer criminal justice system in New York City,” de Blasio said in a statement on the Roadmap to Closing Rikers website. “It is the right thing to do, but will take time, the effort of many and tough decisions along the way”
Mayor Bill de Blasio has a 10-year plan to shutter the jail complex for good, and the City Planning Commission has begun the approvals process for his proposal to replace Rikers with smaller borough-based facilities, AM NY reported recently
“I would think it’s better to concentrate and better cover the place with cameras and monitoring devices at that site, as opposed to spreading it to locations throughout the city, which will only annoy and bother people in neighborhoods that worked hard to have a house, let’s say, and then to have a corrections facility right there in their neighborhood,” the former commissioner told Catsimatidis on radio station “The Answer” 970 AM WNYM “I think it’s just unfair. Really unconscionable.”
Kelly also discussed homelessness in the city which was exploded since the progressive mayor de Blasio has reigned over New York City the last 5 ½ years. Similar patterns of increased homelessness have occurred in other major cities ran by uber leftists, such as San Francisco, where a recent report indicated a 17% increase in homelessness over the last 2 years.
NYC has fared slightly better the last 2 years as he city’s street-dwelling homeless population has actually dropped each of the last two years — from a high of 3,892 in 2017 to 3,588 in 2019, according to Department of Homeless Services, as pointed out by the NY Post. Still this poses an important social problem. Over 57,000 currently live in NYC homeless shelters, according to DHS.
“If you walk through the city in Midtown, you get a sense of slippage,” Kelly said regarding the homeless. “It gives a bad message — a bad feeling — for where the city is… think we need public health services to be much more involved in dealing with these people on the street,” he said. “Let’s face it, you can’t have all your faculties if you’re living on the street, not willing to go to shelters, not willing to go to places that can take care of you, give you services.”, Kelly concluded on 970 AM WNYM.
The former police commissioner also discussed de Blasio’s criminal reform ideas such as eliminating cash bail and decriminalizing fare beating on the subways and bus system.
“I don’t understand some of these decisions. They’re just not based on logic,” he said. “Here we have the MTA saying that they are losing a quarter of a billion dollars to fare evasion, yet we are not arresting people who jump over turnstiles. It doesn’t make sense to me”, Kelly told the host John Catsimatidis on his program, called” Cats Roundtable”.
Catsimatidis, a well-known local billionaire who once ran for mayor recently purchased heritage radio station WABC 770 AM for only $12 million.
