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FORMER POLISH DIPLOMAT APPOINTED AS DIRECTOR OF POLISH JEWISH HERITAGE ORGANIZATION

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The Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland (FODZ), a partnership of the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO) and the Union of Jewish Communities in Poland, is pleased to announce the appointment of Piotr Puchta to the position of Director.

Mr. Puchta will spearhead FODZ’s efforts to recover, preserve, and commemorate physical sites of Jewish significance and cultural heritage throughout Poland and to educate Polish youth about the rich history of Jews in Poland. Mr. Puchta will also lead FODZ’s efforts in the handling of restitution claims pertaining to real estate owned by prewar Jewish religious communities, especially synagogues and cemeteries. FODZ was established in 2002.

Mr. Puchta comes to FODZ following more than 30 years of distinguished service at Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, focusing on the Middle East.  For the last three years, Mr. Puchta served as Ambassador-at-Large at the Department of Africa and the Middle East for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw.  Previously, he served in Israel, Egypt, and the Palestinian Authority, including as Ambassador of Poland to Egypt from 2009 to 2013.  From January 2014 to March 2016, Mr. Puchta was Chairperson of the Polish delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). The IHRA unites governments and experts to strengthen, advance, and promote Holocaust education, remembrance worldwide, and to uphold the commitments of the 2000 Stockholm Declaration.

“We are looking forward to Mr. Puchta bringing his expertise to further FODZ’s essential mission of restoring and commemorating Poland’s vibrant prewar Jewish life,” said Gideon Taylor, WJRO Chair of Operations and Co-Chair of the FODZ Board of Directors. “We warmly welcome him to the organization and will be working closely with him.”

“Mr. Puchta’s extensive experience and leadership skills will advance FODZ’s work in Poland in the many communities where there is a vital need to preserve Jewish cultural heritage,” noted Alicja Kobus, Co-Chair of the FODZ Board of Directors. “FODZ is grateful that he will be heading up the organization for his work with historical Jewish preservation but also importantly, for his commitment to educate Polish students about the rich history of Jews in Poland.”

“I am honored to join FODZ in leading an organization that has a well-established mission to preserve the dynamic Jewish heritage of Poland,” said Piotr Puchta, Director of FODZ.   “I believe preserving these meaningful memories will help connect both Jews and Poles and will have special significance for future generations.”

Approximately 3,300,000 Jewish people lived in Poland prior to the war. About 90 % of Polish Jews were murdered during the Holocaust.  It is estimated that about 10,000 currently live in the country.

Rabbinical Alliance of America Recognition of Gay Marriage – Prohibited

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The Rabbinical Alliance of America – Igud HaRabonim, representing nearly one thousand Orthodox rabbis serving throughout the United States – emphatically censures any attempts to recognize gay marriage as being a legitimate construct within Jewish religious belief and practice.

Recently, progressive activists calling themselves Orthodox rabbis have advocated on behalf of Orthodox Jewish gay marriage. This contradicts the Torah teachings of the Bible, Talmud and subsequent Jewish legal codes to this very day and age.

According to the Torah, marriage exists only between man and woman, and intimate relations are permitted only in the framework of such a marriage. This is clear and undisputed. Anyone claiming to the contrary invalidates the authority of his rabbinic actions.

Barring extenuating circumstances that must be discussed with a competent Orthodox rabbi, as a matter of Jewish law, no Jew may attend a gay wedding nor invite community members to a gay wedding.

Rabbi Yehoshua S. Hecht, presidium chairman of the RAA/Igud, stated, “Judaism is a teaching of life. It instructs us to love every person and every Jew, regardless of sexual orientation – as does the Almighty, whose concern for every person is manifest. All Jews are welcome in our communities.” He added, “Our love and concern for others go hand in hand with our acceptance of the Torah’s teachings.”

RAA/Igud affirms that every Jew is religiously obligated to follow the Torah’s laws. There is no justification to change the Torah in order to satisfy the needs of individuals or to fit contemporary cultural attitudes.

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Past generations have attempted to do so and failed because this course of action is misguided. The teachings of the Torah must guide us, and not vice versa.

Observing the Torah’s commandments is often a counter-cultural activity. In this confusing culture in which we reside, we distinguish ourselves from general society in our attitudes toward food, education, entertainment and much more.

Our family lives are different, as is our behavior in our marital lives. In our attitudes toward homosexuality, we likewise find ourselves in a counter-cultural position.

We remain strong in our beliefs despite demands that we embrace and celebrate that which the Torah prohibits. This is something that we are never allowed to do

Trump brings Iran to its knees!

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Pictured above is Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. Photo Credit: Al Jazeera

One of President Trump’s major talking points leading up to his election in 2016, was that he would immediately seek to punish Iran for its bucket-load of worldwide terrorist activities by voiding the Obama inspired Iranian Nuclear Deal formally referred to as the JCPA. He did just that as one of his first acts in the White House, ignoring the weeping and wailing of the radical Left, including Jewish legislators, who claimed such an action would lead to an angry, hostile Iran who would feel no restraints in immediately developing a nuclear device and, as they promised to, use it to obliterate Israel. Not so. Now Mr. Trump has gone one step further by designating the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRG), the elite fighting force of that nation, as a “foreign terrorist organization.”

This will surely initiate responses from those who originally were against punishing Iran for its worldwide actions of terror. In its statement to the press, the State Department listed many reasons for this action to combat Iranian terror. A pronouncement from president’s spokesperson noted that the IRG provides funding, equipment, training and logistical support to terrorist groups including Hezballah, Hamas, the Palestinian and Islamic Jihad. It also has been directly involved in terrorist plots in nations such as Germany, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Turkey and Kenya, to name just a few. They (the IRG) have now been pinpointed by Trump as the merchants of death exported to do the dirty work of Iran.

The President’s Press Secretary noted: “This action sends a clear message to Tehran that its support for terrorism has serious consequences. We will continue to increase financial pressure and raise the costs on the Iranian regime for its support of terrorist activity until it abandons its malign and outlaw behavior.” It’s about time a nation not only had the guts to speak the truth about this deadly,Jihadist regime but had the moral strength to follow it up with actions to bring it down to its knees. And we did it!

This attack on the IRG is merely the second step in Trump’s efforts to defang Iran from its capabilities to wreak havoc around the world. Its military, led by this elite group is now engaged in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen. He walked out of the Iran deal nearly a year ago and was immediately attacked by the Left crying that it would bring nothing but problems for to our country and our allies in the Middle East. Rather, it’s apparent that Trump’s move to stand up to Iran has paid off handsomely to the safety and welfare of the entire world, including those nations of the European Union whose underlying concerns were merely the loss of their financially rewarding trading partner, Iran. Foolishly, they see no further than securing contracts with the nation that seeks their destruction.

In reality, Trump’s sanctions have exacerbated Iran’s financial crisis by undermining their support for terrorist groups now operating in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and in Palestinian dominated areas. These forces are not being paid what they were promised by Tehran. Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader, has voiced complaints to his paymasters blaming American sanctions for the payroll problem. Trump’s actions in breaking the deal Obama glad-handed with the Mullahs also generated a renewed interest on our part to dig into Hezbollah’s criminal activities which were scandalously ignored prior to his taking office. In order to appease Iran, Obama looked the other way at this terror group’s involvement in drug dealing, money laundering and assassinations.

The pressure of the sanctions on the ordinary citizens of Iran has also awakened the Green Party, those young people who took to the streets in 2009 to oppose the harsh religious practices of their leaders, to speak out and take to the streets, not only demanding the meeting of basic necessities such as food, fuel and housing but also insisting that the government stop funding foreign military ventures while the economic situation at home gets worse. Harsher sanctions will increase the public’s pressure to give in to America’s demands. A “no win” situation for the failing Islamic government.

One has to wonder if former President Obama, while largely silent on Trump’s moves against Iran, is not active behind the scenes, giving aid and comfort to his buddies in Tehran? It takes us back to the late Senator Teddy Kennedy’s obvious treasonous actions back in 1983 when he sent a memo to the Kremlin giving them advice on how to intervene in our 1984 elections in order to topple then President Reagan. It is not out of the question that Iran might be stalling until the 2020 elections to see if Trump is defeated and then with a new, more friendly government under Obama’s domination, they could again be free to complete their creation of a worldwide Caliphate.

After all, Democrats Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris both have promised to bring that deal back to life if elected. And you can be certain that the other Democrats running against them share that thought. Should we then be a bit concerned that Iran may take a stab at attempting to use whatever means they have at their disposal to work diligently against Trump’s re-election? Collusion? After all, they have everything to gain by dealing once again with a friendly president.

Iran is a hot potato issue. It stands on the brink of becoming a nuclear power with leaders as crazy as those of North Korea. We are proud that our administration has pushed Iran against the wall at no heavy cost to us or our allies. By crippling and bringing down the deadly leadership of Iran, the better off and safer the Middle East and we will be. We feel that more pressure on Iran will lead to its present government’s downfall and eventually for its peaceful electorate to regain authority and with that democracy, in that nation. Go for it Donald!

Bibi Holds Lead in Tight Election Results; Pledges to Form Right Wing Gov’t

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As the polls officially closed on Tuesday evening in Israel, the Likud’s Netanyahu claimed victory, tweeting, “The right-wing bloc led by the Likud won a clear victory. I thank the citizens of Israel for their trust. I will begin forming a right-wing government with our natural partners tonight.” Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party also declared victory, posting, “We won! The Israeli public has had its say!” Photo Credit: Shutterstock

As the polls officially closed on Tuesday evening, Israel media outlets predicted a tight finish for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party and his primary challenger Benny Gantz’s Blue and White faction.

Netanyahu claimed victory, tweeting, “The right-wing bloc led by the Likud won a clear victory. I thank the citizens of Israel for their trust. I will begin forming a right-wing government with our natural partners tonight.”

Blue and White also declared victory, posting, “We won! The Israeli public has had its say!”

AP reported as of 3:05 am Wednesday in Israel that incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared victory in the national elections as exit polls clearly showed his Likud party gaining ground on its main rival.

Addressing a jubilant gathering of supporters early Wednesday, Netanyahu praised them for an “almost inconceivable achievement.”

Exit polls put Likud and the rival Blue and White parties in a tight race. But recent projections appear to be giving Likud a slight lead and in a stronger position to form a majority coalition in the 120-seat parliament.

In a speech repeatedly interrupted by cheering supporters, Netanyahu said that “I was very moved that the nation of Israel once again entrusted me for the fifth time, and with even greater trust.”

He vowed to establish a right-wing nationalist government.

Earlier in the day Israel’s Kan news’ exit poll predicted that Likud would take 36 seats, while Blue and White would end up with 37 seats.

Meanwhile, Channel 13‘s poll showed Likud capturing 36 seats, and Blue and White also garnering 36 seats.

Finally, Channel 12’s poll showed Gantz’s Blue and White taking 37 seats, and Netanyahu’s Likud getting only 33 seats.

One of the biggest stories of the evening was the failure of two new parties, the New Right, headed by Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked failed to collect enough votes to meet the minimum threshold to enter the Knesset. Photo Credit: Shutterstock

One of the biggest stories of the evening was the failure of two new parties, the New Right, headed by Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked, and Moshe Feiglin’s Zehut party, failed to collect enough votes to meet the minimum threshold to enter the Knesset. If the final tally proves exit polls were correct, this means the New Right and Zehut will be left out of the next government, regardless of who is tasked with forming the government or who is named prime minister.

Amir Ohana, the first Likud MK to arrive at the party’s election event in Tel Aviv, said that earlier on Tuesday he was “very optimistic.” Asked by The Times of Israel what has changed since, he replies: “Rumors. The rumors that are going around are not good.”

With half an hour left until polls close, Blue and White leaders each released separate videos calling for a last-ditch get-out-the-vote effort.

They all stressed that the party is “just one and a half seats away from victory,” with Benny Gantz saying that they were on the way to “making history.”

Moshe Ya’alon is a co-founder of the Blue and White party and is former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces. Photo Credit: Shutterstock

But stressing that they need more support in order to win outright, each made a plea for the public to help them, with the three generals, Gantz, Ya’alon and Ashkenazi, using military language as if managing an IDF operation. “Get to it,” Ya’alon says. “You have three seconds to move,” barks Ashkenazi. “Charge forward,” orders Gantz, the commander.

A senior Palestinian official says Israelis had voted “no to peace” after exit polls following the country’s general election showed its left-wing parties were badly defeated. “Israelis have voted to preserve the status quo. They have said no to peace and yes to the occupation,” senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat says in a statement.

INN reported that Right Parties Union Otzma Yehudit candidate Itamar Ben-Gvir called on voters to flock to the polls so that no leftist government will be formed.

In response to reports of low voter turnout in Judea and Samaria, Ben-Gvir said, “If the right-wing public doesn’t want its home bulldozed, they had better make haste rush to the polls.”

Gabi Ashkenazi, also from the Blue and White party was the Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces from 2007 to 2011. He was the fourth Mizrahi Jew to become Chief of Staff of the IDF. Photo Credit: Wikipedia

He said, “the Trump Plan is around the corner and if there isn’t a 100% voter rate on the Right, Netanyahu will join Gantz instead of us and a leftist government will be formed.”

Ben-Gvir added: “The public in Judea and Samaria is a community of self-sacrifice, but if they don’t want to be expelled from their homes, they must go out and vote and get everyone out now to the polls.”

An exit poll published by Channel 13 News showed the Likud and Blue and White parties tied at 36 seats while the right-wing bloc won 66 seats in total.

According to the poll, the Labor, Shas, Hadash-Ta’al and United Torah Judaism parties will each receive seven Knesset seats, while the United Right, New Right, Kulanu, Meretz, and Yisrael Beiteinu parties would receive four seats each.

The United Arab List-Balad, Gesher, and Moshe Feiglin’s Zehut party failed to clear the electoral threshold, the poll found.

The poll was conducted by Professor Camille Fox, as was reported by INN.

The Channel 13 poll greatly differed from another exit poll conducted by News 12.

According to the News 12 poll, the Blue and White party won the greatest number of seats with 37. The Likud party finished second with 33 seats.

United Torah Judaism won seven seats, Labor six, Hadash-Taal six, United Arab List-Balad six, Yisrael Beiteinu five, United Right five, Meretz five, and Kulanu won six seats, according to the poll.

Two key Netanyahu coalition allies have endorsed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for an additional term as Prime Minister, following Tuesday’s general election.

Shas chairman and Interior Minister Aryeh Deri and Kulanu chief, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon both spoke with Netanyahu after the polls closed at 10:00 p.m. Tuesday night, vowing to recommend Netanyahu as the next Prime Minister, according to an INN report. Photo Credit: United With Israel

Shas chairman and Interior Minister Aryeh Deri and Kulanu chief, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon both spoke with Netanyahu after the polls closed at 10:00 p.m. Tuesday night, vowing to recommend Netanyahu as the next Prime Minister, according to an INN report.

To secure the premiership, a candidate must show the president that he or she has the backing of 61 MKs in the 120-member Knesset.

Exit polls released Tuesday night show the Likud with 33 to 36 seats, compared to 36 to 37 for the center-left Blue and White party.

Shas is projected to win between six and seven seats, while Kulanu is expected to win between four and five.

Both parties would be required to support Netanyahu as Prime Minister for the Likud to form a right-wing government and avoid a deadlocked Knesset or unity coalition with Blue and White.

A third party chairman, however, has refused to speak with either Netanyahu or Blue and White chief Benny Gantz.

Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avidgor Liberman has turned down calls from both Netanyahu and Gantz, saying he would wait until after the actual vote count comes in.

Blue/White: 37; Likud: 33; Ra’am: 6; Hadash/Ta’al: 6; Labor: 6; Meretz: 5; Shas: 6; Aguda: 7; Right Union: 5; Kahlon: 4; Liberman: 5. Gesher, New Right, Zehut out.

Final resultsare expected to arrive on Wednesday morning.

New Right Chairman Naftali Bennett issued a statement saying “Friends, don’t let your spirit fall. Leadership is tested in difficult moments. We have patience, faith, and nerves of steel. “The New Right will pass, and it will pass well. We’re certain of the justice of our path.

“Ayelet and I say to all our supporters: You’re the most amazing team there is! Soon we’ll be down to meet our wonderful supporters.” One report said only 600 votes are missing for Bennett to pass the threshold.

Prime Minister Netanyahu in his first response said: “The right-wing bloc led by the Likud won a clear victory, and I thank the citizens of Israel for their trust.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu has already talked to party leaders about entering the coalition, his people said.

In Israel, the president is the one who assigns the task to the lawmaker he feels is best positioned to form a viable coalition.

There has been much speculation as to who would receive the president’s recommendation, given that polls project the right-wing bloc earning more seats collectively.

“The deliberations and hearings will take a long time. Right now we are facing forward: Building a right-wing government is dependent on the immunity law that I spoke about a few weeks ago – it’s necessary to build trust among all the Knesset members that we will be able to build this coalition for the whole term. I’m calling on all the right-wing parties to join and support this effort,” MK Bezalel Smotrich said.

“The Zionist religious way won out and proved that it is bigger than any one person. We expect the prime minister to declare in a non-two-faced way, that he intends to form a right-wing government, and we see ourselves as senior partners in it,” a joint statement from the right-wing alliance said.

Moshe Feiglin’s libertarian-nationalist Zehut party has suffered a major upset, earning only 4 seats in i24NEWS’s poll and failing to breach the electoral threshold in others — significantly lower than projections in the run-up to the vote. Photo Credit: Shutterstock

Moshe Feiglin’s libertarian-nationalist Zehut party has suffered a major upset, earning only 4 seats in i24NEWS’s poll and failing to breach the electoral threshold in others — significantly lower than projections in the run-up to the vote.

Netanyahu could overtake Israel’s founding father David Ben-Gurion as its longest-serving prime minister if he is re-elected for a fifth term, according to a BBC report.

The 69-year-old Israeli leader has put forward tough messages on security, which is one of the election’s key issues.

He also made a significant announcement in the final days of the campaign, suggesting a new government would annex the liberated lands of Judea and Samaria, which Israel won in the 1967 war.

The settlements are located in the heart of Israel’s biblical homeland and are considered illegal under international law, although Israel justifiably disputes this oft repeated yet erroneous claim.

Netanyahu is also facing allegations of corruption which he denies. He says he is a victim of a political “witch hunt” aimed at influencing the election.

His main challenger, Benny Gantz, is a retired lieutenant-general who formed the Blue and White in February, promising to unite a country that had “lost its way”.

The 59-year-old former chief of staff of the Israeli military can rival Netanyahu on security and is promising cleaner politics.

In Historic Move, Trump Designates Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps as a Foreign Terrorist Org

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President Trump has decided to designate the Iranian regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) to counter Iran’s global campaign of terrorism

President Trump has decided to designate the Iranian regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) to counter Iran’s global campaign of terrorism. “This unprecedented step, led by the Department of State, recognizes the reality that Iran is not only a State Sponsor of Terrorism, but that the IRGC actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft,” President Donald Trump said in a statement Monday morning. “This designation will be the first time that the United States has ever named a part of another government as a FTO.” The designation takes effect on April 15th.

The Iranian regime lives and breathes Islamic extremism, which it seeks to export through its global jihad terrorist network. The IRGC sits at the center of that terrorist network. It provides funding, equipment, training, and logistical support to terrorist proxy groups, including most notably Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria. The IRGC has American blood on its hands, going as far back as bombings in Beirut at the Marine barracks in 1983 and at the U.S. Embassy annex in 1984. The IRGC also caused casualties to U.S soldiers in Iraq by providing roadside bombs to its proxies.

As Special Representative for Iran and Senior Adviser to the Secretary of State Brian Hook explained on Monday, “The IRGC has been threatening American troops almost since its inception. And whenever we impose sanctions on Iran, it’s usually followed by a range of threats. What endangers American troops in the Middle East is an IRGC that operates with impunity and never has its ambitions checked in the Middle East. We’re taking an entirely new approach to this of significant sort of sustained maximum economic pressure to deny the IRGC and the Iranian regime of the revenue that it needs to conduct its foreign policy.”

The IRGC has sustained itself financially over the years through its deep penetration into virtually all major facets of Iran’s economy, including its black markets. Countries, companies and individuals that do business with the IRGC and the many enterprises it controls are supporting what Mohsen Sazegara, a founding member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and now a U.S.-based dissident described, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, as “something like the Communist Party, the KGB, a business complex, and the Mafia.” Add to that sinister profile a well-funded global terrorist enterprise.

President Trump’s decision to designate the IRGC as a whole as an FTO builds on previous steps taken against the IRGC. In 2007, the IRGC’s “elite” paramilitary Quds Force was subjected to terrorism-related Treasury sanctions for providing material support to the Taliban, Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command. The Quds Force has been the leading arm of the IRGC used to export the Iranian regime’s brand of Islamic extremism and to support terrorist groups to that end.

However, while the Quds Force is the tip of the IRGC’s spear, it is far from being the entire spear. The IRGC has five branches (Ground Forces, Air Force, Navy, Basij militia, and Quds Force special operations) in addition to a counterintelligence directorate and representatives of the regime’s Supreme Leader. The IRGC oversees the Iranian regime’s ballistic missile program. In October 2017, the U.S. Treasury labeled the IRGC itself as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist for its activities “in support of the IRGC-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) … for providing support to a number of terrorist groups, including Hizballah and Hamas, as well as to the Taliban.”

President Trump has now upped the ante further by designating the IRGC altogether as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in its own right, based on the finding that the IRGC meets the legal criteria of engaging “in terrorist activity or terrorism” which “threatens the security of United States nationals or the national security of the United States.”

The IRGC has moved from being treated as a supporting actor in providing backing for terrorism that its proxies undertake to an organization branded as directly engaging in terrorism itself. As Secretary of State Mike Pompeo put it in his remarks to the press on Monday, “The IRGC will take its rightful place on the same list as terror groups its supports: Lebanese Hizballah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hamas, Kata’ib Hizballah, among others, all of which are already designated as foreign terrorist organizations.”

The IRGC’s designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization triggers the provisions of a law making it a federal criminal offense punishable by up to 20 years in prison for any person in the United States or subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to knowingly provide material support or resources to a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. Material support or resources include any property or service, money, financial services, lodging, training, expert advice or assistance, safehouses, false documentation or identification, communications equipment, facilities, weapons, lethal substances, explosives, personnel or transportation.

The prohibition against providing material support or resources to the IRGC as a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization would appear to preclude any individual or company subject to U.S. jurisdiction from doing business with any individuals or entities affiliated with any part of the IRGC and/or the vast pieces of the Iranian economy it controls. Secretary of State Pompeo offered some direct advice that Iran’s friends in Europe should heed: “If you’re the general counsel for a European financial institution today, there is more risk. I think this will require more diligence be done by every business that is considering doing things that are even now second and third orders removed from what you might think of as a traditional connection to the Iranian economy.”

President Trump’s latest move adds even more economic pressure on the Iranian regime and its principal arm for the spread of terror in the name of jihad. It has further isolated this arm, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, placing it in the same rogues’ gallery of designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations as ISIS and al Qaeda. The designation strips away any pretense that the IRGC serves any legitimate governmental function whatsoever or that it will not hesitate to use its control of vast sectors of the Iranian economy to feed the terrorist monster it has created and nurtured.

President Trump is forcing other countries to make a choice. Either join the United States in combating the increasing danger that the Iranian regime poses to peace and security through maximum economic pressure or the United States will be willing to go it alone as the leader of the free world. Anyone who gets in the way will do so at their own peril.

            (Front Page Mag)

Trump Fires Secret Service Director, Picks James Murray as Replacement

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Secret Service Director Randolph Alles stepped down from his position Monday less than a day after Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen resigned.

Secret Service Director Randolph Alles stepped down from his position Monday less than a day after Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen resigned.

Alles, who reports to the DHS Secretary, was reportedly told last month he would be asked to depart, according to ABC News.

“United States Secret Service director Randolph ‘Tex’ Alles has done a great job at the agency over the last two years, and the President is thankful for his over 40 years of service to the country,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.

“Mr. Alles will be leaving shortly and President Trump has selected James M. Murray, a career member of the [United States Secret Service], to take over as director beginning in May.”

President Trump called Ms. Nielsen to the White House over her failure to reduce the number of migrants both entering the country unlawfully and those requesting asylum at ports of entry. The president essentially said to Ms. Nielsen, “Why should I keep you?” said one administration official.

“Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen will be leaving her position, and I would like to thank her for her service. I am pleased to announce that Kevin McAleenan, the current U.S. Customs, and Border Protection Commissioner, will become Acting Secretary of @DHSgov,” Mr. Trump tweeted around 5 p.m. on Sunday.

The president announced later announced that Kevin K. McAleenan, the Customs, and Border Protection commission, would become his Acting Homeland Security secretary.

“I hereby resign from the position of Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), effective April 7th, 2018 (sic),” Ms. Nielsen said in her resignation letter. “Despite our progress in reforming homeland security for a new age, I have determined that it is the right time for me to step aside.”

“I hope that the next Secretary will have the support of Congress and the courts in fixing the laws which have impeded our ability to fully secure America’s borders and which have contributed to discord in our nation’s discourse,” she continued. “Our country – and the men and women of DHS – deserve to have all the tools and resources they need to execute the mission entrusted to them.”

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Francis Cissna and Office of the General Counsel’s John Mitnick are also expected to leave the department soon.

“By the end of the week, more than half of the department’s agency heads could be gone with the positions vacant or with acting [personnel],” one official told ABC News.

The decision to remove Alles was reportedly unrelated to an incident last week in which a Chinese national was arrested after entering Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida while in possession of electronics which included a malware-infected thumb drive.

“Secret Service has done a fantastic job from Day 1. Very happy with them,” Trump said after the Mar-a-Lago incident.

Alles previously led Air and Marine Operations for Customs and Border Protection, and he is a 35-year Marine Corps veteran.

            (Washington Free Beacon)

Judge Refuses Bond for Terror Suspect in Foiled Maryland Plot

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Federal prosecutors argued in a court appearance Tuesday that there are no conditions under which 28-year-old Rondell Henry could be freed and be assured of returning for future court appearances, and that he represents a threat to the community.

A man in the state of Maryland, accused in an alleged Islamic State-inspired terror plot to run down pedestrians with a truck, has been ordered held without bond.

Federal prosecutors argued in a court appearance Tuesday that there are no conditions under which 28-year-old Rondell Henry could be freed and be assured of returning for future court appearances, and that he represents a threat to the community.

Prosecutors allege Henry stole a truck from a suburban Washington shopping mall last month and drove around looking for terror targets.

After failing to breach security at Dulles International Airport, Henry is accused of driving to the National Harbor in Maryland — a Potomac River walkway lined with shops and restaurants, highly popular with tourists. But in the court filing, prosecutors say Henry did not find a large enough crowd for his desired act and decided to wait until later.

Police arrested Henry the next morning after he climbed out of a docked boat in which he hid all night and jumped over a security fence.

The government says Henry planned to drive the stolen truck over pedestrians. He allegedly told police, “I was just going to keep driving and driving and driving. I wasn’t going to stop.”

Prosecutors allege Henry was inspired by the 2016 IS truck attack in Nice, France, that killed 86 people.

They say Henry has a “hatred for those who do not practice the Muslim faith” and wanted to emulate those he saw in videos beheading civilians and fighting overseas.

Stolen truck

In its criminal complaint, the government said that on March 26, the Alexandria Police Department in Virginia received a report about a leased U-Haul truck that was stolen from a nearby mall.

The driver who rented the truck initially reported seeing a man in a blue BMW follow the U-Haul off Interstate 395 and park in a space near the U-Haul at the mall. When police arrived at the mall, they found the BMW still parked there and discovered it was registered to Henry.

A day later, the stolen U-Haul was found in National Harbor, a bustling development along the Potomac in Maryland across from Alexandria, Virginia, that features bars and restaurants, shops, a Ferris wheel, a luxury hotel and residential apartments.

Video surveillance showed Henry parking and getting out of the truck. He was arrested the next day.

Prosecutors say that Henry has harbored “hatred” for those who do not practice the Muslim faith and was allegedly inspired by videos he watched of foreign terrorists.

Specifically, they said he was inspired by the 2016 terrorist attack in Nice, France, in which a man drove a truck at high speed into crowds, killing 86 people, and for which Islamic State claimed responsibility.

Henry “walked off his job in Germantown, Maryland, in the middle of the day, determined to walk down the extremist path,” the government alleged in court papers.

“Recognizing that his older four-door sedan would not cause the catastrophic damage that he desired, the defendant drove around the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area looking for a larger vehicle to steal.”

            (VOA News)

NYers Believe DeBlasio’s Chances of Becoming Prez are ‘Slim to None’

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New Yorkers apparently believe that Mayor Bill de Blasio has two chances to become president of the United States: slim and none. Photo Credit: Shutterstock

New Yorkers apparently believe that Mayor Bill de Blasio has two chances to become president of the United States: slim and none.

And slim just left town.

A new Quinnipiac University poll had to have burned the mayor: approximately 76 percent of respondents recommended that he give up his dream of living in the White House. Only 18 percent, less than one in five, thought he should continue.

From March 27–April 1, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,077 New York City voters with a margin of error of +/- 3.8 percentage points, including the design effect.

“The latest rejection came as the mayor planned a fundraiser in Boston on Friday for his federal political-action committee, followed by a trip Saturday to Nevada, the third state to vote in the Democratic presidential nominating contest,” the New York Post reported.

“Mayor Bill de Blasio’s flirtation with a 2020 White House bid is prompting a rare moment of unity among New Yorkers. Three-quarters of them say, ‘Mr. Mayor: Don’t do it,’” Quinnipiac polling analyst Mary Snow told the newspaper.

Those same New Yorkers felt New York would suffer if de Blasio continued campaigning for the presidency, by a 47-32 percent margin. Just 42 percent of voters gave a thumbs up to his performance as mayor; 44 percent had the opposite opinion.

“Mayor Bill de Blasio’s flirtation with a 2020 White House bid is prompting a rare moment of unity among New Yorkers. Three-quarters of them say, ‘Mr. Mayor: Don’t do it,'” said Mary Snow, polling analyst for the Quinnipiac University Poll. “As New York City First Lady Chirlane McCray’s mental health program comes under scrutiny, she too is getting an anemic job approval rating similar to Mayor de Blasio’s score.”

“Another New Yorker in the national spotlight, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is proving less polarizing on her home turf of New York City. She only represents one district in the city, but slightly more than half of New Yorkers approve of the job she’s doing,” Snow said.

Politico was just as direct, noting, “Some say the 2020 field, a dozen-strong and growing, leaves no room for de Blasio, who’s long struggled to fashion a national persona comparable with past leaders of the country’s largest city, like Rudy Giuliani or Michael Bloomberg. Many note that he has too many glaring, unresolved problems at home. Others say the never-truly-popular de Blasio, whom a top Hillary Clinton backer once called “insufferable,” lacks charisma.”

The news site continued, “The idea of a de Blasio candidacy is “f—-ing insane,” said one former aide, laughing out loud. Another self-described friend of the mayor called the idea “idiotic.”

Report: NY’s Sloan Kettering Violated Policies on Financial Conflicts of Interest

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An outside review appears to indicate that top management at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center violated policies on financial conflicts of interest more than once, according to the New York Times. Photo Credit: mskcc.org

An outside review appears to indicate that top management at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center violated policies on financial conflicts of interest more than once, according to the New York Times.

Those actions helped create “a culture in which profits appeared to take precedence over research and patient care,” the Times said.

The report’s findings come in the wake of several months during which rumors about the top brass’s connections to drug and health care companies.

The report “It concluded that officials frequently violated or skirted their own policies; that hospital leaders’ ties to companies were likely considered on an ad hoc basis rather than through rigorous vetting; and that researchers were often unaware that some senior executives had financial stakes in the outcomes of their studies,” the Times noted.

The external review was carried out by the law firm Debevoise & Plimpton. Researchers conducting studies were often unaware of the connected financial stakes held by leadership, the report said.

Last week, Memorial Sloan Kettering said it had put in place brand new policies and procedures regarding its employees’ financial relationships with outside companies, ProPublica and the Times reported

The new policy requires “the creation of a board committee to focus on overseeing conflicts,” according to the web site fiercehealthcare.com. It also requires the hospital to disclose financial interests of faculty and researchers on its website.

“MSK previously barred senior executives from serving on the boards’ of for-profit health- or life sciences-related companies. It also blocked MSK board members from investing in or serving as a board member of an MSK spinoff,” the web site reported. “The response comes months after it was revealed multiple executives held financial ties to drug and health care companies. That also prompted the resignation of the chief medical officer of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, José Baselga, M.D., who failed to disclose millions of dollars he was paid by drug and healthcare companies in dozens of research articles published in recent years.”

“The controversial revelations coming out of Memorial Sloan Kettering have also had an impact on other high profile cancer institutions,” suggested endpts.com, “including the Boston-based Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Seattle-based Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center — both of whose executives sit on corporate boards — and are reassessing their norms related to financial ties, according to NYT/ProPublica.”

The publication HealthLeaders told its readers that there are three primary takeaways: first, that “an independent audit concluded that Sloan Kettering officials frequently violated or skirted their own policies.” Second, that the hospital leaders’ ties to companies “were likely considered on an ad hoc basis rather than through vetting.” And third, researchers “were often unaware that some senior executives had financial stakes in the outcomes of their studies.”

Cuomo: Private Sector Loses Confidence that Gov’t Will Support Biz Community

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Spooked by New York’s loss of Amazon's Long Island City headquarters, those in the private sector have lost confidence in the effectiveness of government to support the business community. Photo Credit: 6sqft.com

Businesses in New York are frightened that their legislators will sell them down the river, according to Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Spooked by New York’s loss of Amazon’s Long Island City headquarters, those in the private sector have lost confidence in the effectiveness of government to support the business community.

Cuomo made these comments while speaking to civic leaders and businesspeople. He added that more companies who would have been ripe for economic development arrangements with New York may now opt out of them.

“It cost us 25,000 jobs, and it also cost us credibility,” said the governor to attendees of the Association for a Better New York. “I can’t tell you how many businesses that I’m trying to bring to New York now say to me, Am I going to get Amazoned? Are they going to do to me what they did to Amazon, where we had a full agreement, and an agreement signed, and then it became a political hot potato because some politicians thought they could score political points?”

Cuomo made a point to verbally savage Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who made public her feeling that the $3 billion incentive package offered to Amazon — including $2.5 billion in tax relief from the city and state and a $500 million construction grant — would be better spent on schools and in-city transportation.

“‘We’re going to give Amazon $3 billion.’ Why would we give Jeff Bezos, the richest person in the world, $3 billion? We didn’t give Amazon anything,” Cuomo said. “It was a lie. It was just a lie. It was political, it was just political. You can’t reason with people who don’t want to reason. It was just knee-jerk politics, and ‘Amazon is rich’ and ‘We’re anti-corporate’ and ‘We’re anti–rich people.'”

Turning his attention to the Public Authorities Control Board, Cuomo referred to “the threat to use the state approval process, and politicize the state approval process, to stop Amazon. They’re just supposed to look at the numbers to make sure that that authority can pay for the debt. What they did is they said ‘We’re going to use that position to politically stop the project because we don’t like the project.’ That was a threat to violate the law.”

Clearly, Cuomo’s rage over the loss of Amazon’s HQ shows no signs of petering out. Back in February, he took aim at fellow Democrats, calling the internet retailer’s rejection the “greatest tragedy” he has seen since he’s been in government.

His colleagues wasted no time returning fire. Senate majority spokesman Michael Murphy put out a public statement calling it “unfortunate that Governor Cuomo is once again failing to accept any responsibility for this failed deal. The Governor should spend less time with baseless attacks and attempts to divide Democrats and more time fixing his flawed economic development process so we can move forward and help business and the community thrive.”

‘Rise Up Ocean County’ Anti-Semitic Facebook Page Threatens Lakewood Jews

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"We need to get rid of them like Hitler did," read one Facebook Post from the group Rise Up Ocean County. The page says it is against overdevelopment, but state officials think it’s a thin veil for anti-Semitism. PHOTO CREDIT: Shutterstock

New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal wants Facebook to take a look at a threatening page that Grewal’s office said poses a danger to Orthodox Jews in the Lakewood area, the Asbury Park Press reports.

The Facebook page in question is called Rise Up Ocean County and has been around since at least last year. Off the bat, officials across the county identified the group as being anti-Semitic, which is made pretty clear when you go beyond the group’s claim that members just want to prevent the over-development of property in Lakewood and throughout all of Ocean County.

Facebook has been okay with letting this page stand despite the anti-Semitic messaging, and that’s why some state officials started to show worry and wrote to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg about how there is a page that is being used to further “negative stereotypes and conspiracy theories about Orthodox Jews.”

The state attorney general said “Far too often, we have seen how hateful comments can escalate to hateful conduct” He added “Our Division on Civil Rights is committed to fighting this rising tide of hate, and we’ll continue taking proactive steps to make New Jersey a more welcoming community for people of all backgrounds and faiths.”

Division of Civil Rights Director Rachel Wainer Apter was one of the writers of the letter and showed some examples of what kind of rhetoric was being shared on this supposedly benign page.

“We need to get rid of them like Hitler did,” one post said, referring to the Orthodox Jews.

“I live on the edge of Toms River and Lakewood and the gang war has begun. I have my mac11 loaded,” another post claimed, showing why this page is more than just anti-Semitic and is actually a threat to the community. Apter did not ask for Facebook to do anything specifically but does want to make sure that something is done in order to protect the Jews of Ocean County from this violent vitriol.

The Facebook page isn’t just some obscure place where a few people hang out on the internet every so often. About 10,000 people follow the page, and the identities of the administrators are unknown.

The Asbury Park Press explained how “In February, after page administrators twisted the words of an infamous quote decrying complacency among Germans that allowed the Holocaust and the genocide of millions of Jews, the Lakewood Township Committee and Ocean County Board of Chosen Freeholders issued resolutions condemning Rise Up Ocean County. Rise Up Ocean County also apologized for misusing the quote.”

Lakewood has become a hot spot for Orthodox Jews in recent years, especially as prices in places like New York become unworkable. With the growing population of Orthodox Jews has unfortunately come a rise in hatred against them. New Jersey is home to a surprising number of hate groups, especially in the more isolated and desolate areas of the state, like areas more inland of Toms River and Lakewood like in the Pinelands.

Ocasio-Cortez Blames Judge Jeanine for Death Threat Against Rep. Omar

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Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, blamed Judge Jeanine Pirro on Sunday, who hosts Fox News' "Justice with Judge Jeanine," for death threats against anti-Semitic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. Photo Credit: Shutterstock

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, blamed Judge Jeanine Pirro on Sunday, who hosts Fox News’ “Justice with Judge Jeanine,” for death threats against anti-Semitic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, who has recently been criticized in New York for the city losing a proposal from Amazon to bring 25,000 new high-paying jobs, linked remarks made by Judge Pirro about hijabs conflicting with the U.S. Constitution, to the criminal case against a New York man who was arrested for threatening to kill Rep. Omar.

“Understand when Jeanine Pirro goes on Fox + rallies people to think hijabs are threatening, it leads to this,” Rep. Ocasio-Cortez said Saturday evening on Twitter, quoting a tweet from CNN with a link to the story.

“Folks who imply we’re “bad” for politics, the party, the country, etc. have no idea the threats we deal w/ because of that kind of language,” she added. “Talk policy, not personal.”

Last month on her weekly cable news show, “Justice with Judge Jeanine,” Ms. Pirro questioned whether Rep. Omar’s hijab, a Muslim religious garment, is “antithetical to the United States Constitution.”

Fox News Channel suspended Ms. Pirro for two weeks.

Representative Omar has previously come under fire for making anti-Semitic remarks and invoking centuries-old anti-semitic tropes.

She accused Jewish Americans of having a “dual loyalty” to both the U.S. and Israel and said that support for the Jewish state was “all about the benjamins.”

Patrick W. Carlineo, the New York man charged with threatening to kill Rep. Omar, asked one of her staff members if she works “for the Muslim Brotherhood,” according to a criminal complaint released Saturday by federal prosecutors in the Western District of New York.

“Do you work for the Muslim Brotherhood? Why are you working for her, she’s a (expletive) terrorist. I’ll put a bullet in her (expletive) skull,” Mr. Carlineo said during a phone call to Rep. Omar’s office last month.

On Saturday, at the annual Republican Jewish Coalition conference in Las Vegas, President Donald Trump said that Rep. Omar “doesn’t like Israel.”

“Special thanks to Representative Omar of Minnesota,” Mr. Trump said, jokingly. “Oh, I forgot. She doesn’t like Israel. I forgot. I’m so sorry.”

After the phone call, Rep. Omar’s office referred the incident to the U.S. Capitol Police, who coordinated with the FBI in their investigation.

Mr. Carlineo is being detained pending a court hearing on Apr. 10, 2019 at 10:30 a.m. in front of U.S. District Judge Marian W. Payson.

“The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty,” the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Western District of New York, said in a statement.

NY’s Governors Island to be Serviced with 400 Passenger Ferry for Weekend Use

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The Trust for Governors Island said that it will begin operating the 400-passenger ferry, Governors 1, this June. The 132 foot-long, 40 foot-wide vessel, built for the trust by Blount Boats, has 800-horsepower engines and was designed as a double-ended steel monohull with one deck for passengers, according to a spokeswoman for the trust. Photo Credit: Shutterstock

The fleet of ferries servicing Governors Island has just doubled in size – to two.

The Trust for Governors Island said that it will begin operating the 400-passenger ferry, Governors 1, this June. The 132 foot-long, 40 foot-wide vessel, built for the trust by Blount Boats, has 800-horsepower engines and was designed as a double-ended steel monohull with one deck for passengers, according to a spokeswoman for the trust.

The ferry will initially deploy on weekends only, increasing the frequency of service to the island from twice to three times an hour, and carrying an additional 1,000 passengers per hour.

“During summer weekends the trust has been ferrying more than 1,200 passengers and vehicles between Manhattan and Governors Island; a second route between the island and Brooklyn will continue to be operated by a contractor,” reported Crain’s New York Business. The primary route for the new vessel will be between the Soissons Dock on the north tip of Governors Island and Battery Maritime Building at 10 South St. in Lower Manhattan.

“We have ambitious goals to make Governors Island a year-round hub for learning, innovation, arts and culture with an extraordinary car-free park that’s open, accessible and activated all four seasons,” said Michael Samuelian, president and CEO of the Trust for Governors Island, in a statement. “The state-of-the-art vessel will not just improve service to our growing visitor population, but it will greatly enhance access for our current and future tenants.”

Just last week, the Trust announced its six-month public season along with its full lineup of programming and activities. Beginning May 1, New Yorkers and visitors alike are invited to enjoy the Island’s open space with unparalleled views of New York Harbor, car-free recreational activities and an expansive calendar of events and public programs just a quick ferry ride from Lower Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn.

This year, Governors Island will be open daily from May 1 to October 31, with extended late-night hours every Friday and Saturday between Memorial and Labor Day. Ferries will be free for all visitors during the first week of the season, Wednesday, May 1 to Sunday, May 5, it said.

“We’re excited to kick off another season for New Yorkers to experience the culture and natural beauty of Governors Island,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “With a new ferry and extended hours, more New Yorkers will be able to enjoy the Island than ever before.”

“Governors Island continues to bring an easy and affordable escape to all New Yorkers right in the heart of the city,” added Samuelian. “We’re proud to continue to expand access to this Island oasis with the arrival of our brand-new ferry and even more evening hours this season. With new and improved dining options and even more cultural and educational partners from across the city, we are adding more and more amenities to complement the Island’s amazing views and vibrant park.”

Columbia U Professor Thinks Israel and Islamic State Are Mirror Images

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Columbia University has a professor who made his feelings about Israel known publicly. He used the social media account to equate Israel and the Islamic State. PHOTO CREDIT: Shutterstock

A Columbia University professor made some very disturbing comments on Facebook when he said that the only difference between Israel and the Islamic State is that there are pro-Israel supporters who will always defend at all costs the Jewish state’s “terrorist cause.”

Hamid Dabashi, a professor in the university’s Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies, wrote this post that was upsetting enough to cause an uproar on the campus, according to Vos Iz Neais News.

The “murderous thugs” of the jihadist group “conquered parts of Syria and declared a ‘caliphate,’” Dabashi said through his Facebook account. “Their ISRAELI counterparts meanwhile conquered parts of Syria and declared it part of their Zionist settler colony,” the post continued.

He also went on to say: “The only difference: ISIS does not have a platoon of clean shaven and well coiffured [sic] columnists at the New York Times propagating the cause of the terrorist outfit as the Zionists columnists do on a regular basis.”

Students Supporting Israel’s Columbia chapter spoke out against the comparison by saying in a statement “This kind of utterly despicable and repugnant statement is not to be expected from a tenured faculty holder in an Ivy League institution.”

Across the pond in the United Kingdom, there is also a problem of anti-Semitism, especially after the revelation that the candidate running for the National Union of Students’ executive committee also made the same false equivocation.

Columbia has had its fair share of problems for Jewish students and faculty recently. A Jewish professor was the target of anti-Semitic vandalism a few months ago. She walked into her office to discover two red swastikas and the slur “Yid” spray painted on the walls.

Elizabeth Midlarsky, 77, has taught and researched the Holocaust at the Columbia Teachers College for nearly three decades.

She told CNN that she “almost passed out” when she discovered the graffiti and “was so shaky, I wasn’t sure I was going to make it.” Her shock and fear were so great that fellow staff members had to escort her home.

Midlarsky was similarly targeted in 2007, when she began publishing Holocaust research and took part in protests against an invitation to give a speech by Columbia to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, following his calls for Israel’s total destruction.

She reported that her office door was painted with a swastika that year, and that she received hate mail.

CNN reported that at the time, then Teachers College President Susan Fuhrman joined Midlarsky at a student-organized protest, saying, “We stand with our students, who have said ‘enough’ to hate crimes, and in this particular case, to a vicious swastika.”

The school also received criticism when a student felt threatened and bothered by students belonging to Students for Justice in Palestine. She also faulted the school for not doing its job to keep her safe. Ofir Dayan, the student facing this problem, is from Israel and was even an officer in the Israel Defense Forces, The New York Post reported. She told the newspaper that even all of her experience back home and with the IDF wasn’t adequate in getting her ready for what she would experience up in Manhattan at Columbia.

Schumer Seeks Fed Funds to Stop Smuggling of Fentanyl Through JFK Airport

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Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Sunday that he wants Congress to appropriate funding to stop the smuggling of fentanyl — a deadly drug — through John F. Kennedy Airport. Photo Credit: Shutterstock

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Sunday that he wants Congress to appropriate funding to stop the smuggling of fentanyl — a deadly drug — through John F. Kennedy Airport.

Mr. Schumer said that he wants at least one-third of the $16 million sum requested by President Donald Trump in the next budget to strengthen opioid detection at airports nationwide — sent to JFK.

“A lot of the Chinese fentanyl is sent through the mail. And where does most of it arrive? At the largest international mail-processing airport in the country — at Kennedy,” Mr. Schumer said Sunday at a Manhattan post office. “Then if it’s not detected it’s sent to various post offices where the drug dealers pick it up, lace the pills — the heroin, the other things — with deadly fentanyl. And you know the horror of the results.”

“Last year, more young people died of fentanyl than car accidents or anything else,” Mr. Schumer added. “So the bottom line is we’ve got to put a stamp ‘return to sender’ when deadly fentanyl arrives at JFK.”

“JFK should be our firewall in preventing fentanyl from being sent to the whole New York metropolitan area and the whole Northeast,” the New York Senator added. “We can’t do this too soon. Every day there’s more fentanyl coming in.”

An increasing number of blacks and Hispanics are dying from fatal overdoses on fentanyl, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

Non-Hispanic whites still have the most fentanyl overdoses, while the rate which Blacks have died from fentanyl overdoses has increased over 100 percent per year as of late.

From 2013 to 2016, fentanyl-related overdose deaths doubled each year, “rising at an exponential rate,” according to Merianne R. Spencer, the author of a CDC study released last month.

Fentanyl-related deaths from 2013 to 2016 increased on average 113 percent per year, according to Mrs. Spencer.

Jon DeLena, the Special Agent in Charge at the Drug Enforcement Agency’s New England Office, told NPR recently that one kilogram of fentanyl can be laced with other ingredients to make six to eight sellable kilograms of narcotics.

“I mean, imagine that business model,” Mr. DeLena said to one NPR reporter. “If you went to any small-business owner and said, ‘Hey, I have a way to make your product eight times the product that you have now,’ there’s a tremendous windfall in there.”

Drug dealers possibly could be adding fentanyl to cocaine and methamphetamine purposely to get their clients addicted to fentanyl, one expert told NPR.

“That’s something we have to consider,” said David Kelley, the Deputy Director of the New England High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. “The fact that we’ve had instances where it’s been present with different drugs leads one to believe that could be a possibility.”

NYC Dwellings Are Subject to the Highest Property Taxes in the Nation

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A report released by Comptroller Scott Stringer uses data from Crunchbase – a private company that tracks venture capital worldwide – to measure New York City’s standing among the world’s twenty largest global venture capital markets from 2008 to 2017. Photo Credit: Shutterstock

An annual property tax analysis by ATTOM Data Solutions, curator of the nation’s premier property database and first property data provider of Data-as-a-Service (DaaS), shows that single-family houses in New York City and its suburbs paid an overall average of $9,700 in 2018.

That was the highest among totals in metropolitan areas nationwide with populations of 2 million or more. San Francisco and Boston came in second and third, respectively

Westchester County, which boasts big-ticket towns like Scarsdale and Bronxville, led the way, with an average bill of $17,392. In 2017, that number was lower, at $17,179, but still above the new $10,000 limit on federal deductions for state and local levies. Following it, said ATTOM, were nearby Rockland County ($12,925) and Marin County in Northern California ($12,242).

Among the more than 87 million U.S. single family homes taken into account, property taxes levied on single family homes in 2018 totaled $304.6 billion, up 4 percent from $293.4 billion in 2017 and an average of $3,498 per home — an effective tax rate of 1.16 percent, according to ATTOM.

States with the highest effective property tax rates were New Jersey (2.25 percent), Illinois (2.22 percent), Texas (2.18 percent), Vermont (2.16 percent), and Connecticut (2.02 percent), ATTOM noted. Other states in the top 10 for highest effective property tax rates were New Hampshire (1.99 percent), New York (1.86 percent), Pennsylvania (1.79 percent), Ohio (1.69 percent), and Wisconsin (1.58 percent).

“Property taxes levied on homeowners rose again in 2018 across most of the country,” said Todd Teta, chief product officer for ATTOM Data Solutions. “While many states across the country have imposed caps on how much taxes can go up, which probably contributed to a slower increase in 2018 versus 2017. There are still many factors at play that can contribute to local property tax hikes, and without major changes in the way a community runs public services, tax rates must rise to pay for them.”

Among 219 metropolitan statistical areas analyzed in the report with a population of at least 200,000, those with the highest effective property tax rates were Binghamton, New York (3.19 percent); Syracuse, New York (2.89 percent); Rochester, New York (2.88 percent); Rockford, Illinois (2.83 percent); and Atlantic City, New Jersey (2.74 percent).

Among 1,408 U.S. counties with at least 10,000 single family homes, those with the highest average property taxes on single-family homes were largely located in the greater New York metro area, led by Westchester County, New York ($17,392); Rockland County, New York ($12,925); Marin County, California ($12,242); Essex County, New Jersey ($12,161); and Bergen County, New Jersey ($11,771).