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Israel: Human Rights Watch Has Lost All Legitimacy

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Israel’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon slammed Human Rights Watch (HRW) after one of its senior officials lent support to anti-Semitic conspiracy theories involving Israel. Photo Credit: Shutterstock

Israel’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon slammed Human Rights Watch (HRW) after one of its senior officials lent support to anti-Semitic conspiracy theories involving Israel.

Sarah Leah Whitson, Executive Director of the HRW Middle East and North Africa Division, on Sunday retweeted an article published by the Electronic Intifada, a virulent anti-Israel site, which claimed that Israel was running a campaign against Labour party head Jeremy Corbyn in the United Kingdom by drumming up accusations of anti-Semitism against him.

In her retweet, she wrote “Why is this Israel interference in domestic UK politics acceptable? Is it only a problem when Russia does this?” relating to alleged Russian meddling in elections in several countries.

Corbyn has been mired in anti-Semitism scandals and accusation of support of terrorism since taking the helm of UK’s biggest opposition party. A 2018 poll found that 86 percent of British Jews, and a majority of the general British public, believe Corbyn is an anti-Semite.

Nahshon responded to her allegation by stating that HRW “has lost all legitimacy when it comes to Israel.”

“Obsessive hatred and conspiracy theories worthy of the worst anti-Semites,” he charged on Twitter.

Daniel Schwammenthal‏, of the American Jewish Committee (AJC), tweeted sarcastically that “the Middle East director of HRW supports conspiracy theory that claims Israel manufactured the Labour Anti-Semitism crisis. Obviously, there is no connection between such views and the obsession of Human Rights Watch with the world’s only Jewish state.”

Whitson later claimed that “some friends on Twitter have said they think my tweet is open to misinterpretation and bears clarification” and that her tweet “commented only on the Israeli government’s problematic promotion of an app in the UK.” She was relating to a pro-Israel app which Electronic Intifada claimed was connected to the Israeli government, an assertion she accepted without question.

She then stated that “rising anti-Semitism is clearly an important issue in the UK, the US and many other places, and one that authorities, political leaders and all of society need to take seriously. So is hatred against many different religions and minority groups. We must all call out discrimination and hatred of every kind wherever we see it.”

HRW has incurred broad criticism for its anti-Israel stance, while its activists have called Israel an apartheid state and promoted anti-Israel boycotts.

HRW has issued reports claiming businesses operating in Judea and Samaria contribute to Israel’s violation of human rights and has called on them to cease their activities there or face boycotts.

HRW has also published several reports that were highly critical of Israel, especially after wars or periods of clashed with Gaza-based Arab terrorists. It accused Israel of committing war crimes during a counter-terrorism campaign against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2014. Israel has rejected the findings of the reports.

(TPS)

Suspect Arrested in Murder of Ori Ansbacher; New Details Emerge About Slaying

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Ori Ansbacher, of blessed memory, a volunteer at a youth center in Jerusalem, had walked to the Jerusalem forest to be alone after an argument when she was murdered. Photo Credit: Instagram

The Shin Bet released new details regarding the gruesome murder of 19-year-old Ori Ansbacher in the Jerusalem forest last week.

According to the Shin Bet, 29 year-old Hevron native Arafat Afariah set out with a knife. When he saw Ansbacher in the Jerusalem Forest, he stabbed her multiple times in the chest and killed her.

The investigation is at its height and the majority of the details are under a gag order.

Ansbacher, a volunteer at a youth center in Jerusalem, had walked to the Jerusalem forest to be alone after an argument when she was murdered. Afariah was arrested on Saturday by Israeli special forces in a mosque in Al Bireh, a village near Ramallah.

Prime Minister Netanyahu said following Afariah’s arrest that “I congratulate the Shin Bet security services and the Israel Police that within a few hours captured the abominable murderer who murdered Ori Ansbacher. Israel’s long arm reaches anyone who harms us and we will settle accounts with them.”

“In my name and on behalf of the people of Israel, I wish to express my condolences to the Ansbacher family and to strengthen them with their great grief.”

Police published a rare statement on Friday evening denouncing rumors on social media regarding how Ori Ansbacher was killed.

“Since the murder that took place on Wednesday, various reports have been published, particularly on social media about the circumstances of the murder, including irresponsible horror descriptions,” the statement said.

“We make it clear that these publications are baseless, and harm both the dignity of the victim and the honor of the family, while misleading the public, and we call on the public not to spread false rumors or disinformation about the murder.”

While the police did not say which rumors are false, messages rocketed around Israel on Friday describing contradictory circumstances of Ansbacher’s death. The 19 year-old Tekoa native was killed on Wednesday in Jerusalem’s Ein Yael forest, allegedly by 29-year-old Hevron native Arafat Afariah.

The Shin Bet security service said that Afariah set out from Beit Jalah armed with a knife on Wednesday and attacked Ansbacher, killing her.

Ansbacher was laid to rest Friday afternoon.

Hundreds gathered at the Tekoa cemetery in the eastern Gush Etzion area south of Jerusalem to pay their respects to Ori Ansbacher, whose remains were found in the Ein Yael area next to the Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem Thursday night.

Ansbacher’s body was found stripped naked, with signs of extreme violence on the body. She was declared dead at the scene.

Ansbacher is survived by her parents, Rabbi Gadi and Noa Ansbacher, and her siblings Tama, Tal, David, and Shuva.

The victim’s parents mourned the death of their daughter earlier Friday, calling her a “sensitive soul” with an enormous capacity for giving.

“She was a holy soul who sought meaning, a sensitive soul towards every person and creature, and with an endless desire to help make the world a better place.”

             (INN)

Minimum Wage Laws Destroy Our Economy

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The Socialist/Progressive/Lunatic legislators and governors of NJ & NY have set in motion a $15 per hour minimum wage base for their hard working entrepreneurs to contend with. Photo Credit: Shutterstock

If you’re a 17 year old high school dropout with absolutely no working skills, move to New Jersey or New York. The Socialist/Progressive/Lunatic legislators and governors of these states have set in motion a $15 per hour minimum wage base for their hard working entrepreneurs to contend with. Jersey Governor Phil Murphy just signed such a bill into law. The Garden State is the 4th to jump on the minimum wage-boost bandwagon. Sadly, New York, California, Massachusetts as well as the District of Columbia have already phased in higher minimum wage rates. And we think this idea of attempting to create an immediate “middle class” is similar to the Stalin 5-Year Plans that crippled the working enthusiasm of its citizens and economically brought down Soviet Russia to its knees.

Be prepared for the same right here in the land where leading Leftists seem to blindly follow the well-worn blueprints of internal destruction so willingly. But not all in the liberal bastion of the Garden State are jumping up and down for joy. During the hearings for the bill, several business owners testified that the new bill could lead to business layoffs and increased moves toward total automation. Many expressed fear that with the onset of another recession, the new higher wages for their unskilled employees would lead to serious problems for them. In other words, these employers would either have to fire workers or go out of business. Republican NJ State Senator, Declan O’Scanlon rightly prophesied “The amount of job loss that we are going to see among small businesses will be tragic.”

Let’s talk about the effects of such a raise on people. Because teenagers and young adults hold a disproportionately large share of low wage jobs, they figure to be among the hardest hit during a business downturn, to be pushed out by their employers cutting their hours or requiring them to (heaven forbid) take on more responsibilities during working hours. We’ve heard policy makers blame high crime in cities such as Chicago on steep poverty and unemployment.

Wouldn’t a high minimum wage that would surely reduce job opportunities for the youth exacerbate social problems? And what about these higher wages acting as an incentive for kids to leave school to earn $30,000 per year and therefore prematurely ending their formal education that would enhance their skills? And what about those who have climbed the hourly wage ladder to $15 per hour by their hard work and learned skills? What wage hikes would they demand? Might not these motivated harder workers willingly take on more responsibilities for a few extra bucks and shove aside the less skilled ones? And basically, what 40 year old family man worth his salt, after years on the job, is still toiling for minimum wage? Minimum wage jobs are entry level positions.

In short we feel that raising the minimum wage is artificially tinkering with the economy. Basically, those voting to do so have rarely held jobs in the commercial sector and have never had to deal with the problems of running a business. Let them spend some time in shipping rooms or on the loading docks to learn about those whose lives they are dealing with and then have them re-think messing with the economy. A little bit of reality wouldn’t hurt.

Letters to the Editor

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Should Taxpayers be Concerned?

Dear Editor:

How Governor Cuomo finds funding to finance his $100 million worth of transportation projects should be of concern to taxpayers. To pay back the $1.6 billion dollar federal loan and $1 billion State Thruway Authority Bond which financed the $3.9 billion Tappan Zee Bridge along with several hundred million in contractor final bills, tolls starting in 2020 will double. They will possibly go higher over the next few years.

The MTA paid for Positive Train Control on the Long Island and Metro North Rail Roads by a $967.1 million Railroad Rehabilitation Improvement Financing loan from the Federal Rail Road Administration. It is a 22-year loan at 2.4 percent interest. The loan will have to be paid back over future MTA Five Year Capital Plans.

The MTA had to borrow most of the $3 billion which paid for LIRR Main Line Third Track and part of Second Avenue Subway Phase 2 to increase its 2015–2019 Five Year Capital Plan from $29 to $32 billion. Cuomo still owes the MTA most of his promised $8.5 billion contribution to help finance the full $32 billion.

The Governor would pay for his 25% share of the $13 billion no frills or full $29 billion Gateway Tunnel project via a Federal loan.

When it comes to paying for all his $100 billion worth of transportation promises, Cuomo reminds me of Wimpy who said “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.” Taxpayers and MTA riders will deal with higher fares, taxes, more debt and borrowing in coming years to cover the costs for all of his transportation improvements. Cuomo doesn’t believe in pay as you go, balanced or transparent budgets.

Sincerely,

Larry Penner

(Larry Penner is a transportation historian, advocate and writer who previously worked 31 years for the Federal Transit Administration Region 2 NY Office) .


Remembering the Legacy of Anne Frank

Dear Editor:

As I stood outside Anne Frank’s childhood home in Frankfurt, Germany, it was easy to meditate on her life. The perfect weather contrasted the melancholy twist in my heart. A calm, sunny, summer day, with a pleasant breeze passing through, rustling the grass. Not a person walked on the street, in a beautiful, quiet suburb not far from the city center. If you weren’t looking for it, you could walk by here without ever having realized it the famous family that it once belonged to. The only indication is a green plaque on the fence, as the house is still in use as a private residence – not a museum. Standing in front of Anne’s house will only make you think in “What If’s?”

What if she survived..?

What happy life was she deprived of?

She could still be living today, at age 90, if she wasn’t murdered in the Shoah. Perhaps she would be in this house still, a prolific writer, happily enjoying her life. But no. Civilization was denied the chance at knowing the person and writer young Anne would’ve became. Her story became the one that encapsulated the horror and tragedy of the 6 million lives destroyed in the Holocaust.

Her story comes to life upon visiting her homes. The Anne Frank home in Amsterdam, saved in 1957 of demolition, is visited by millions of eager tourists ever year. They are hungry for the truth, to see how Anne lived, to see where she was torn away from, like a page out of her diary. The importance of preserving her homes is central to preserving and teaching her story. Without proof, without evidence of her existence, it will be denied.

And without Anne, the Holocaust in its entirety can be denied too. Her story alone protects the dignity of the 6 million who were lost, and allows us to viscerally feel the anguish, sorrow, and grief that comes from mourning the life of someone murdered. Children across the world learn, and are captivated by the story of Anne, an important introduction central to fully comprehending the Holocaust.

I leave the neighborhood slowly, wondering how I can best defend her legacy. A painting of Noah’s Arc is coincidentally (?) nearby, lightening the mood. The story of Noah will be here for as long as us Jews are here to tell it—and Anne’s story, too. Her story must be told and retold, until everyone has learned it.

Sincerely

Aaron Toch


Clothing Pantry at LI Shul

Dear Editor:

I am contacting you regarding an upcoming event at Beautiful Memories Gemach located in Young Israel of New Hyde Park; we are a clothing pantry specializing in business and formal wear and we regularly assist those in need from NYC and Long Island by providing free gently used and even new clothing for business purposes and special events.

On Sunday, March 17 we will be having an open to the public sale, with profits to offset the costs of running the Gemach. Visitors will be able to shop from a selection of new and like-new formal wear (including bridal/bridesmaid/mother of the bride, prom, Bat Mitzvah, etc) as well as business clothing, vintage finds, jewelry, accessories, shoes and more. Many items are new-with-tags and designer, all available at outstanding value.

If you would be interested in sharing this event, more information on the Gemach can be found at beautifulmemoriesgemach.org. I am attaching the event flyer, and information can also be found at https://patch.com/new-york/queens/calendar/event/20190317/500250/ladies-shopping-extravaganza-benefit-shopping-day

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely

Ilana L. Mele

Americans Make Record Job Gains as Media Suffers Record Job Losses

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Verizon, which through a series of bad business decisions had inherited the Huffington Post, cut 7% or 800 jobs in its media division. HuffPo dumped its health and opinion section, along with various reporters. Vice Media is laying off 10% or 250 employees from its global staff.

What’s bad for the media is good for America

The winter freeze might have shut down entire cities, but it couldn’t slow down job growth as the economy roared through the cold and shattered projections with 304,000 non-farm jobs in January.

There were job gains everywhere from transportation (27,000) to health care (42,000) to hospitality (74,000). Under Trump, construction gained 338,000 jobs in 12 months while manufacturing picked up 261,000 jobs in that same period. There was good news for many industries, but bad news for one.

The media is freezing colder than the polar vortex with thousands of lost jobs in January and February.

Gannett, the giant behind USA Today and many local lefty papers such as the Arizona Republic, the Detroit Free Press and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, fired 400 employees.

McClatchy, another newspaper giant, which publishes the Miami Herald, the Kansas City Star and the Charlotte Observer, among many others, announced voluntary buyouts for 10% of its employees after having fired 3.5% of its staff or 140 employees back in August. Tronc, another publishing giant, has already been making major cuts at newspapers like the New York Daily News and the Los Angeles Times.

Reuters expects to cut 3,200 jobs or 12% of its global workforce, closing 55 offices by 2020. BuzzFeed fired 15% of its staff or 220 employees, wiping out its national security desk, most of its national news desk, LGBT team and entertainment team.

Verizon, which through a series of bad business decisions had inherited the Huffington Post, cut 7% or 800 jobs in its media division. HuffPo dumped its health and opinion section, along with various reporters. Vice Media is laying off 10% or 250 employees from its global staff. Mic’s staff was mostly let go back in November. And the bloodletting isn’t over. It’s just beginning.

Why is the media failing while the rest of the economy is thriving?

It used to be said that what’s good for General Motors is good for America. But what’s good for the media is bad for America. And what’s bad for the media appears to be remarkably good for America.

In 2009, as the economy was tanking, journalism school applications increased sharply. As the economy began to recover, J-School enrollment began to fall. Call it the Vulture Effect. Carrion eaters are attracted to death. When the death rate drops, they have to either learn to kill things or face extinction.

Consider the media’s destructive behavior of the last few years a classic example of CNN carrion eaters trying to trick the predators into fighting each other and making more carrion for them to feast on.

By 2016, the Bureau of Labor Statistics was projecting a 10% decline in employment for reporters and correspondents. After this winter, the BLS may need to sharply revise its estimates upward. Major media organizations are dumping 10% of their staff as a routine response to business model reverses.

The media does best when things are bad. It’s the same reason why Democrats have their strongest footholds in cities with massive poverty, gun violence and infant mortality. Or why starving children dig through the trash in Communist countries while the red billboards overhead tout Socialism.

Lefties claim that they want to make things better, but they only gain power by making things worse.

The media is terrible at trying to make good news happen. Its shrill insistence that the economy had recovered 5 minutes after Obama took the oath of office on a reflection in the mirror convinced no one. After 5 years, it had become a running joke with the flavor of late Soviet propaganda about wheat harvest percentages. But it can be quite effective at spreading bad news and convincing people it’s true.

Just look at how the media has managed to convince people that the global warming sky is falling, that Facebook trolls are a national security threat and that President Trump gets all his orders from Moscow.

If the media is going to make any money and gain any power, it’s got to go negative. But negativity is a tougher sell when times are good for most people. Except for the brooding vultures of the media.

A winter of Trumpian economic growth has been very bad for those birds.

The January media layoffs actually involve two different tracks of the industry. There’s the dead tree media track of the newspaper giants who have been steadily bleeding jobs ever since their customers realized that they didn’t need to pay twelve bucks a week and get ink smears on their hands just to read the local rewritten versions of the same lefty talking points from New York and Washington D.C.

And then there are the digital media operations fueled by venture capital cash that were going to be the Great New Hope of the mainstream media with slick snarky stories, their own in-house ad shops and lots of millennials writing about social justice outrages trending on social media for other millennials.

That’s the new media catastrophe. And the one that has occasioned the real wailing and tooth-gnashing.

“The BuzzFeed Layoffs as Democratic Emergency,” Farhad Manjoo shrieked in the New York Times. Farhad meant the other kind of “democratic”, but his headline was unintentionally correct. The media is a massive force multiplier for the Democrats. If it didn’t exist, national politics would look very different.

Imagine an America in which Democrats eavesdropping on Republicans, supporting cop killers, ISIS, Iran and infanticide weren’t met with immediate walls of media spin, lies, fake explainers and even more fake fact checks. Then imagine an America with a border wall, voter ID and a real War on Terror.

That’s a “Democratic emergency”. No question about it.

If the media falls, it will be the greatest moment for democracy since the fall of the Berlin Wall. The collapse of the Soviet Union revealed that the Evil Empire was really a bunch of boring bureaucrats who, through the magic of ideology and mass murder had acquired the ability to terrorize millions of people.

The unraveling of the media will reveal that the echo chamber that told us what to do and think, that cost hundreds of thousands of lives and trillions of dollars, that stole generations of progress and prosperity from a great nation, was really a bunch of otherwise unemployable Marxist grad students.

The media has blamed Google and Facebook for not giving it enough traffic. It’s redoubled its efforts to demand that the dot com giants give them even more money (Google and Facebook have already pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into the media), more privilege for their traffic and more power to censor conservative media under the guise of ‘fact checkers’ fighting a ‘fake news’ emergency.

Hatred has also been hurled at Gannett, McClatchy, Tribune, BuzzFeed, Bustle and Vice management which are pursuing merger and consolidation plans that will cost even more media jobs. They point to the profitability of some of these companies as proof that the layoffs are really capitalist greed.

Sure.

The digital media empires with their fake news, explainers and snarky social justice commentary were built by convincing investors that they could be as profitable as actual tech companies. BuzzFeed and the rest of the gang could have just shrugged and announced that failing to meet expectations would be the new reality. And that if their investors don’t like it, they can go and invest in tech startups.

Then in a year or two, it wouldn’t be a few hundred jobs being cut, but a few thousand.

Digital media is full of millennial socialists with an Ocasio-Cortez level grasp of economics who spend six figures on a useless degree in journalism from Columbia and are convinced that destroying Facebook will save them. Even though Facebook is the only reason that clickbait parasites like BuzzFeed even exist.

Finally, many in the media blame President Trump. In an ocean of economic prosperity, the media has become a desert island full of cannibalistic savages, devouring each other, while praying to Mueller.

But that’s not because of anything Trump did to the media. It’s about what he isn’t doing.

Obama’s divisive policies created social, cultural and economic insecurity across the spectrum. Trump’s politics have brought prosperity and economic security. And the media has refocused on stirring up insecurity among Democrats and Never Trumpers because they are its only remaining demographics.

The good times are here. And the media’s only customer base consists of people who don’t believe it.

A growing media indicates a loss of confidence by Americans. It shows that the divisive leftist tactics of the media are paying huge dividends in fear, uncertainty and doubt among ordinary people. A shrinking media however indicates that we are once again becoming an optimistic and confident nation.

The media’s loss of jobs is a very good thing. It’s a statement of confidence by Americans in America.

(Front Page Mag)

Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism.

Ilhan Omar’s Non-Apology for Her Virulent Anti-Semitism

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Photo Credit: Shutterstock

Will she make more anti-Semitic statements? Will the sun rise?

The anti-Semitism of hijabbed Muslim Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) has apparently gotten to be too much even for the inveterately anti-Israel Democrat Party leadership. “I unequivocally apologize,” Omar tweeted Monday, after party leaders including Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, James E. Clyburn and others publicly castigated her:

“Congresswoman Omar’s use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel’s supporters is deeply offensive. We condemn these remarks and we call upon Congresswoman Omar to immediately apologize for these hurtful comments.”

However, Omar’s apology was more of an admission that she had gotten caught than a sign of a genuine change of heart.

Omar wrote:

“Anti-Semitism is real and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes. My intention is never to offend my constituents or Jewish Americans as a whole. We have to always be willing to step back and think through criticism, just as I expect people to hear me when others attack me for my identity. This is why I unequivocally apologize.

At the same time, I reaffirm the problematic role of lobbyists in our politics, whether it be AIPAC, the NRA or the fossil fuel industry. It’s gone on too long and we must be willing to address it.”

Omar’s second paragraph nullified her apology. She had claimed that AIPAC was paying American politicians to be pro-Israel; she made it clear in her apology that she still believes that. All her widely criticized anti-Semitic tweets, meanwhile, are still on her Twitter feed.

It all started when far-Left hate propagandist Glenn Greenwald tweeted: “GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy threatens punishment for @IlhanMN and @RashidaTlaib over their criticisms of Israel.” To that, Omar responded: “It’s all about the Benjamins baby.” The Forward’s Opinion editor, Batya Ungar-Sargon, then tweeted: “Would love to know who @IlhanMN thinks is paying American politicians to be pro-Israel, though I think I can guess.” Omar answered: “AIPAC!” And clearly she still believes it.

It isn’t hard to see how Ilhan Omar’s Congressional career will unfold: she will continue to repeat anti-Semitic tropes; she will blame jihad massacres on the US, Israel, and the victims; and she will continue to claim victim status when called out for her hatred. Omar is a far Leftist and a devout, Sharia-adherent Muslim; neither group is distinguished for mavericks or original thinkers. In fact, both are marked by an ideological lockstep that brooks no dissent, disagreement, or fair consideration of opposing ideas. That makes Omar’s future drearily predictable.

And so when considering the sincerity of Omar’s apology, it should be borne in mind that she wouldn’t be where she is today, in the House of Representatives, if her views were not widely shared among the very Democrat leadership that rebuked her Monday.

For it isn’t as if Omar’s anti-Semitic tweets from this week were something new. Before she was elected to Congress, she had denounced what she called “the apartheid Israeli regime,” and claimed that it Israel had “hypnotized the world” to ignore its “evil doings.” Nancy Pelosi either knew this or was criminally negligent when she named Omar to the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The Democrat Party during the Obama years hardened its stance against Israel. Omar was only able to rise in its ranks and gain a plum assignment as a first-term Representative not in spite of her anti-Semitism, but because of it. A January 2018 Pew Research Center poll found that only 27 percent of Democrats sympathized more with the Israelis than with the Palestinians.

This is extraordinary in light of the fact that both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas routinely incite hatred of and violence against Israel in their official media organs. They teach children that it is a good and noble thing to want to grow up and kill Jews. The Democrats have for years ignored this genocidal incitement, and approved of and even participated in the demonization of Israel in the international media and at the United Nations.

And so now the Democrats are appalled at their Muslim Representative’s Jew-hatred, and she is contrite? Do they really expect anyone to fall for this charade? It is noteworthy that while the cowardly Republican House leadership stripped Rep. Steve King (R-IA) of his committee assignments for a misquote, Omar has not been removed from the Foreign Affairs Committee. Nor will she be removed. She is exactly where the Democrat leadership wants her to be.

(Front Page Mag)

Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He is author of the New York Times bestsellers The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) and The Truth About Muhammad. His new book is The History of Jihad From Muhammad to ISIS. Follow him on Twitter here. Like him on Facebook here.

Double Standard for Historical Revisionism

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Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motor Company, devoted his life to two passions: making cars and demonizing Jews. When Hitler said, "I regard Henry Ford as my inspiration," he wasn't referring to his car manufacturing. He was referring to Ford's anti-Semitic ideology that eventuated in the genocide of six million Jews.
The periodical Ford published weekly — The Dearborn Independent — was a polite version of the Nazi newspaper, Der Stürmer. It was circulated throughout the U.S. and around the world.

Imagine if an American city continued to celebrate a prominent businessman who had published newspapers and books advocating overt racism and racial discrimination against Black people. Imagine if the Grand Wizard of the KKK had a picture of this man in his office and credited him with inspiring him to kill African Americans. Imagine statues and photographs commemorating the life of such a bigot. Imagine if a performing arts center was named after him and African American performers who wanted to appear in the city had to walk into a building bearing the name of this racist. The reaction would be immediate and uncompromising: all glorification of this racist must stop; statues and pictures must be removed; history must treat him as a pariah despite his positive accomplishments as a businessman.

Well, the city Dearborn, Michigan is celebrating such a racist bigot today. But no one is demanding that his images must be removed or his despicable history and ideology publicized. His name is Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motor Company.

Ford devoted his life to two passions: making cars and demonizing Jews. When Hitler said, “I regard Henry Ford as my inspiration,” he wasn’t referring to his car manufacturing. He was referring to Ford’s anti-Semitic ideology that eventuated in the genocide of six million Jews. A large photograph of Ford was prominently displayed in Hitler’s office. The periodical Ford published weekly — The Dearborn Independent — was a polite version of the Nazi newspaper, Der Stürmer. It was circulated throughout the U.S. and around the world.

Hitler believed that the popularity of Ford’s anti-Semitic screeds in America would encourage American citizens to support his anti-Semitic policies in Germany and through Europe. Thankfully he was wrong. Although there were anti-Semitic movements in the United States in the run-up to World War II — advocated by the likes of Father Charles Coughlin and to some degree Charles Lindbergh — once Pearl Harbor was attacked and the United States declared war on both Japan and Germany, anti-Semitism of the kind advocated by Henry Ford dried up. But Ford himself never changed his dangerous views.

Ford’s book, The International Jew, became a bestseller in many parts of the world and was cited at the Nuremberg trials as a work that turned many Germans and Austrians into anti-Semitic Nazi leaders and followers. Ford was the single most influential anti-Semite in the first quarter of the 20th century and beyond.

Father Charles Coughlin and to some degree Charles Lindbergh were notorious anti-Semites who lived in the Ford era.

Yet, according to the New York Times, Ford’s “name or likeness graces everything from the performing arts center to the manhole covers.” Bill McGraw, a historian of Dearborn, has written that “Ford’s attacks on Jews were distributed around the world before and after World War II and, alarmingly, they influence budding neo-Nazis today.”

The New York Times continues: “But Mr. McGraw also included in his report an article on how Mr. Ford’s descendants have consistently supported Jewish charities and cultural organizations…” These descendants should be praised for those contributions and not condemned for the sins of their ancestor. But the truth about Henry Ford must be told — to the residents of Dearborn and to the world.

Many buildings are named after Henry Ford, who remains Dearborn’s favorite son. It’s difficult to go anywhere in Dearborn without encountering the Ford name. Even buildings carrying the generic name Ford are based on his deeply flawed legacy. There is too much honoring of Henry Ford and too little educating about the horrible influence he had on promoting anti-Semitism and Nazism.

I’m not one for destroying or removing statues or other historical works of art, but I strongly believe that these images must be accompanied by contemporary descriptions of the evil deeds committed by those portrayed in the art. Removing the Ford name from Dearborn’s Ford Community & Performing Arts Center raises more difficult issues. There is no art, just honoring, in the selection of a name for a center. Henry Ford does not deserve to be honored. The question the good people of Dearborn should ask themselves is: What would you do if the center were named after Jefferson Davis? If the answer is that you would remove Davis’s name, then you should remove Ford’s. There cannot be differences between how anti-

Black, anti-gay, anti-women and anti-Jewish practitioners of bigotry are treated. There must be a single standard for historical revisionism.

(Gatestone Institute)

Alan M. Dershowitz is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law Emeritus at Harvard Law School and author of The Case against the Democratic House Impeaching Trump, Skyhorse Publishing, 2019.

February is Jewish Disability Awareness & Inclusion Month – A Reflection of Volunteers

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Jordan Margolis, a Pittsburgh native spending his gap year in Israel, volunteers weekly at ALEH’s residential facility in Jerusalem

For more than a decade, the Jewish world has known February by a different name: Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month (JDAIM). What began as a grassroots campaign spotlighting the importance of disability inclusion in Jewish spaces transformed into an influential international movement that promotes and inspires initiatives to make synagogues and community centers more accessible, programming that celebrates differences in Jewish schools, inclusive hiring practices in business and organizations, and so much more.

In its latest iteration, “acceptance” has been integrated into the JDAIM name to reflect a change in attitude and practice. This month, Jewish Disability Awareness, Acceptance and Inclusion Month aims to highlight the need for genuine acceptance of individuals with disabilities and the understanding that every person has something to contribute to our communities and the world, that our communities are not whole until all of us belong.

Driven by a desire to promote acceptance and true disability inclusion, thousands of Jews of every age have traveled from cities across North America to volunteer at ALEH, Israel’s network of care for children with severe complex disabilities. While each volunteer is introduced to ALEH in different ways, and each experience is truly unique, decades of volunteers have concluded their service with the assertion that they gained so much more from the experience than they gave, above all a newfound appreciation for humanity and new understanding of abilities.

“I was incredibly nervous because I had never worked with children with disabilities before, but everything changed for me the moment I walked through the door,” says Jordan Margolis, a resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who is spending his gap year at Yeshivat Netiv Aryeh and volunteers weekly at ALEH. “There’s was an energy that I had never felt before, and it drew me in. I know now that it’s a special blend of unconditional love and true acceptance.”

A veteran camp counselor, Margolis has a wonderful rapport with children, and enjoys helping young minds connect to Jewish life and tradition. But the idea of volunteering with children with disabilities caused him great concern initially, as he was unsure how he would communicate with the children in his charge.

“Over the last several months, I have learned that verbal communication isn’t the only way to connect with someone, and it’s not even the most powerful,” muses Margolis. “Every week, I dance, sing and play with the ALEH residents, and we communicate with smiles. These are deep and meaningful exchanges that are unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. It seems that I had to be silent, attentive and accepting to learn a more profound method of communication.”

Dr. Violet Esser, a retired dentist from Toronto, Canada, and a perpetual giver, also sees her annual two-month volunteering stint as an invaluable learning experience about inclusion and the power of the human spirit.

Every year, Dr. Esser spends the spring and summer months knitting blankets for the babies and toddlers at ALEH’s residential facility in Jerusalem and then travels to Israel for Chanukah to personally deliver the beautiful handmade blankets, often asking her children and grandchildren to accompany her so that they can also take part in the mitzvah. And because one good deed deserves another, ‘Super Savta’ – as she’s known to many in the organization – spends the next two weeks volunteering at ALEH’s rehabilitative village in the Negev looking after the toddlers in the special education school.

“It just feels right to spend my time in an environment where human dignity and the respect for each individual is of the essence, where they regularly accomplish the feat of converting disability into ability. Contributing as part of this team helps me become more sensitive towards others and is a great lesson in compassion, acceptance and humility,” said Dr. Esser, whose experience as a medical professional and a grandmother are always put to good use while volunteering with ALEH.

“As human beings, we can never be done learning and growing, and I always look forward to returning to my family after gaining such deep insights into the human condition.”

While volunteering in the Negev, Dr. Esser met a fellow Torontonian named James Skinner, an employee of the Ontario Government’s Ministry of Natural Resources, who spends most of his time fighting forest fires. Though he has always been involved in nature conservation and other good acts, in recent months, Skinner started to feel that something was missing from his job and his life, and he became anxious to find a way to “give back to people who needed care.”

Skinner, who had been exploring converting to Judaism, began attending the Village Shul in Glinton. During a Shabbat service, he learned about ALEH and decided to book his very first trip to Israel to lend a hand with Israel’s disability community and kickstart his conversion process. Though Skinner only intended to stay at ALEH for a month, he fell in love with the residents under his care – and became fast friends with Dr. Esser – and extended his trip by an additional month. He plans to take what he learned at ALEH back to Canada and volunteer with Torontonians with disabilities.

“The focus on integrating individuals with disabilities into the community is what spoke to me most and made it clear that I had to stick around and give more of my time, more of myself,” explained Skinner, who cared for a group of adult men with disabilities and also tended to ALEH’s therapeutic petting zoo.

“The service of firefighting is exciting and important, but it was always lacking that human connection. My volunteering experience with individuals with disabilities lit a fire in my soul and provided my first real glimpse into the beauty of humanity. When we internalize the fact that we are all created in the Divine image, and we all work together to assist, appreciate and elevate each other, our world becomes a near perfect place. That’s the world I want to live in.”

Association of Jewish Libraries Announces Sydney Taylor Book Award Winners

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“All-of-a-Kind-Family Hanukkah,” by Emily Jenkins, illustrated by Paul Zelinsky, published by Schwartz & Wade, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, won the Sydney Taylor Book Award in the Younger Readers category

Selections from a new addition to the ALA Youth Media Awards pantheon were revealed last Thursday. The 2019 winners of the Sydney Taylor Book Award, administered by the Association of Jewish Libraries, an affiliate of the American Library Association (ALA), were announced in Seattle, Washington.

The Sydney Taylor Book Award is named in memory of the author of the classic All-of-a-Kind Family series. The Award recognizes titles for children and teens that exemplify high literary standards while authentically portraying the Jewish experience.

“This is a watershed moment in the history of our awards,” said Chair Susan Kusel. “We are so thrilled that the Sydney Taylor Awards, and this year’s wonderful books that embody the best of Jewish children’s and young adult literature, are now included in the Youth Media Award announcements.”

The 2019 Sydney Taylor selections are:

 

GOLD MEDALISTS

“Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster,” by Jonathan Auxier, published by Amulet Books, an imprint of Abrams, won the Sydney Taylor Book Award in the Older Readers category

“All-of-a-Kind-Family Hanukkah,” by Emily Jenkins, illustrated by Paul Zelinsky, published by Schwartz & Wade, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, won the Sydney Taylor Book Award in the Younger Readers category. In this meticulously researched Hanukkah story based on the classic children’s book All-of-a-Kind Family, poetic language and exuberant illustrations perfectly capture the emotions of each of the iconic sisters as they prepare latkes and celebrate the holiday on New York’s Lower East Side in 1912.

“Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster,” by Jonathan Auxier, published by Amulet Books, an imprint of Abrams, won the Sydney Taylor Book Award in the Older Readers category. Auxier masterfully weaves Jewish themes and characters into the story of Nan Sparrow, a chimney sweep in Victorian London, and her remarkable friendship with Charlie, the soot golem who saves her life.

“What the Night Sings,” by Vesper Stamper, illustrated by the author, published by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, won the Sydney Taylor Book Award in the Teen Readers category.

“What the Night Sings,” by Vesper Stamper, illustrated by the author, published by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, won the Sydney Taylor Book Award in the Teen Readers category. This beautifully illustrated novel tells the story of teen Holocaust survivor Gerta as she struggles to reconcile her identity and desires in the wake of tragedy.

 

SILVER MEDALISTS

Five Sydney Taylor Honor Books were also recognized. For Younger Readers, the Honor Books are “A Moon for Moe and Mo,”by Jane Breskin Zalben, illustrated by Mehrdokht Amini, published by Charlesbridge, and “Through the Window: Views of Marc Chagall’s Life and Art,” by Barb Rosenstock, illustrated by Mary Grandpré, published by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books.

For Older Readers, the Honor Books are “All Three Stooges,” by Erica S. Perl, published by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, and “The Length of a String,” by Elissa Brent Weissman, published by Dial Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers, a division of Penguin Random House.

For Teen Readers, the Honor Book is “You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone,” by Rachel Lynn Solomon, published by Simon Pulse, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing.

In addition to the medal winners, the Award Committee designated nine Notable Books of Jewish Content for 2019. More information about the Sydney Taylor Book Award and a complete listing of the award winners and notables can be found at www.sydneytaylorbookawards.org.

The Sydney Taylor Manuscript Award was also announced today, recognizing unpublished fiction manuscripts for ages 8-13. This year’s manuscript winner is Jessica Littman, author of “A Corner of the World.”

Winning authors and illustrators will receive their awards at the Annual Conference of the Association of Jewish Libraries, to be held in Los Angeles, from June 17-19, 2019. Gold and silver medalists will participate in a blog tourFeb.10-14, 2019. For more information about the blog tour please visit www.jewishlibraries.org/blog. An exclusive interview with the Sydney Taylor Book Award committee chair, Susan Kusel, may be heard on The Book of Life podcast at www.bookoflifepodcast.com.

Members of the 2019 Sydney Taylor Book Award committee are: Chair Susan Kusel, Temple Rodef Shalom Library, Falls Church, Virginia; Rena Citrin, Bernard Zell Anshe EmetDay School, Chicago; Shoshana Flax, The Horn Book, Inc., Boston; Rebecca Levitan, Baltimore County Public Library, Baltimore; Sylvie Shaffer, Capitol Hill Day School, Washington, D.C.; Marjorie Shuster, Congregation Emanuel, New York; and Rivka Yerushalmi, Jewish Women International Libraries, Silver Spring, Maryland.

The Association of Jewish Libraries promotes Jewish literacy through enhancement of libraries and library resources and through leadership for the profession and practitioners of Judaica librarianship. The Association fosters access to information, learning, teaching and research relating to Jews, Judaism, the Jewish experience and Israel. More information is available at www.jewishlibraries.org.

Israeli Image Shortlisted for Sony World Photography Award

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Detail from “Little Girl on a Fake Beach.” Copyright: © Daniel Gentelev, Israel, Shortlist, Open, Street Photography (Open competition), 2019 Sony World Photography Awards

Daniel Gentelev’s photo taken in Berlin is titled ‘Little Girl on a Fake Beach’ and is shortlisted in the Street Photography category

Israeli photographer Daniel Gentelev is one of 13 entrants shortlisted for an Open Photography Award in the Street Photography category of the 2019 Sony World Photography Awards.

His picture, “Little Girl on a Fake Beach,” was taken in Berlin.

Gentelev graduated from the photography department of Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem in 2011. Photo Credit: Bezalel Academy

“I stumble by this image completely accidentally. I saw the girl with the broom while watching her movements to clean the beach. It was a moment when you realize that you are yourself a manifestation of a great divine life within you. Yourself as a vehicle of consciousness and life so that it becomes transparent to something that is beyond speech, beyond words, to what we call transcendence,” he wrote.

Gentelev graduated from the photography department of Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem in 2011. In his third year he took part in Bezalel’s exchange program for merit students at the VSUP-Academy of Arts, Architecture & Design in Prague. His works have been published in several art magazines and group exhibitions in Europe.

The World Photography Organization announced that 326,997 entries were submitted across the four competitions of the 2019 Sony Awards, the highest-ever number to date. Category winners will be announced March 26, and the $5,000 Open Photographer of the Year prize winner revealed on April 17.

“As one of the world’s largest and most prestigious global photography competitions, the Awards annually celebrate and promote the best contemporary photography from the past year across a wide variety of photographic genres,” said the organization in its announcement of the shortlist.

This year’s Open and Youth competition judging was chaired by Rebecca McClelland, Photography Director & Head of Art Production for Saatchi Saatchi & Prodigious (UK). All shortlisted and winning images will be exhibited from April 18 until May 6, 2019 at Somerset House, London.

             (Israel 21c)

Whitney Museum in NYC Acquires Norman Lewis’ Masterwork; “American Totem”

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The Whitney Museum of American Art is pleased to announce that it has acquired Norman Lewis’s American Totem (1960), one of his most iconic paintings.

Lewis (1909-1979), who was born in Harlem, was a central but often under-appreciated figure in the Abstract Expressionist movement. One of the few African American artists associated with the New York School, he was the only black artist to participate in the 1950 closed-door sessions that Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline organized to define this burgeoning movement. Lewis also was a founding member of Spiral, a group that included Charles Alston, Emma Amos, Romare Bearden, and Hale Woodruff, among others. These artists were keenly concerned with how art might engage in questions of racial inequality and struggle, while remaining committed to discovering new formal and expressive possibilities in their work.

American Totem (1960) was made nearly a decade after Lewis’s first solo exhibition at the Willard Gallery in 1949, a period that earned him a reputation but neither the financial rewards nor exhibition opportunities of his peers. Transitioning from calligraphic forms that implied groups or processions, Lewis began a series of black-and-white paintings that explored the emotional and psychic impact of this turbulent historical moment in American history.

While the totem the painting evokes is the infamous hooded Klansman, the figure itself is composed of a multitude of forms resembling apparitions, skulls, and masks. The implication of Lewis’s work, painted at the height of the civil rights movement, is that terror is both representable and abstract, conscious and unconscious, visible and hidden.

“One of Lewis’s most important paintings,” said Adam D. Weinberg, Alice Pratt Brown Director of the Whitney, “this acquisition will allow the Whitney to more effectively portray the complex history of American art at mid-century. Lewis’s painting suggests the power of an object to accommodate both reflection and action. We are thrilled that this work has entered the Whitney’s collection, and it would not have been realized without the generous leadership gift from Laurie Tisch, our longtime trustee and former Co-Chairman of the Board.”

Scott Rothkopf, Senior Deputy Director and Nancy and Steve Crown Family Chief Curator, stated: “Although the Whitney first acquired Lewis’s work nearly thirty years ago, our curators have spent almost a decade assiduously searching for the perfect painting to honor his extraordinary achievement within the context of our collection. We are excited to unveil American Totem to our audiences this summer.”

More recently, his work has also been celebrated in group exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (2010); The Jewish Museum, New York (2016); Haus der Kunst, Munich (2016); Musée du Quai Branly, Paris (2016); Royal Academy of Arts, London (2016); Detroit Institute of Arts (2017); Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis, MO (2017); The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC (2017); and elsewhere. Additionally, his work is part of the major exhibition Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, which debuted at the Tate Modern, London, in 2017.

Woody Allen Sues Amazon for $68M Over Movie Deal Gone Sour

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Famous film director Woody Allen wants damages of $68 million or more over Amazon’s decision to yank its deal with Allen over allegation that he sexually molested one of his kids, in 1992. Allen would have had four films featured on Amazon had the deal not fallen through. Photo Credit: Shutterstock

Famous director Woody Allen isn’t happy with the way he was treated by Amazon, enough so that he decided it’s time to take on this behemoth of an entity in court, according to The New York Times. Allen wants damages of $68 million or more over the company’s decision to yank its deal with Allen over allegation that he sexually molested one of his kids, Dylan Farrow, 7, in 1992. Allen would have had four films featured on Amazon had the deal not fallen through.

“That allegation was already well known to Amazon (and the public) before Amazon entered into four separate deals with Mr. Allen,” according to the lawsuit that Allen filed in a Manhattan Federal District Court. “And, in any event, it does not provide a basis for Amazon to terminate the contract. There simply was no legitimate ground for Amazon to renege on its promises.”

Allen’s case rests on his claims that the allegations gave Amazon an excuse to end their relationship by “referencing a 25-year old, baseless allegation against Mr. Allen.” No charges have been filed against Allen, and the director has continued to deny the allegations.

The Jewish Voice reported back in December 2017 about a Los Angeles Times opinion article that Farrow wrote with the title “Why has the #MeToo revolution spared Woody Allen?” The New York Times reported that the article led to a number of Hollywood figures to cut ties with Allen, including Greta Gerwig, Colin Firth and Peter Sarsgaard.

Amazon and Allen put out a movie back in 2016, so there was already an established relationship between the two. Amazon agreed to work with Allen on four of his films on August of 2017, according to the lawsuit. These are the films now at question in the lawsuit after Amazon decided to not distribute them anymore.

The Jewish Voice has reported about Amazon and its close relation to New York. The company said last year it had selected a site on Long Island City to place its 25,000 employees but didn’t buy any space for offices.

“The company’s brass had to endure a series of hearings in the City Council in recent weeks, in which politicians blasted Amazon’s record on labor issues and its refusal to accede to a unionization drive at its Staten Island distribution center,” reported Bloomberg News and Crain’s New York Business.

Farrow’s story also speaks to a larger movement that took over many news cycles in the past year and a half after stunning allegations of rampant and systemic sexual misconduct by movie mogul Harvey Weinstein shook not just the country but most of the world, helping to spark the #MeToo movement. Simply put, women want to be treated as equals, as human beings and not objects of entertainment to be controlled and manipulated by powerful men like Weinstein.

Lawsuit Brings Fear that Deal, NJ Beach Access Could be Limited

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Beachfront property is valuable, and it can also be controversial. There’s really no secret there. Just go ask anyone who lives near the water in Miami or anyone down the Jersey coast from Deal in Margate City, where residents fought with the Army Corp of Engineers over sand dunes. Now the American Littoral Society is taking legal action against Deal in an attempt to upend a rule from last December that would clear out the end of a street leading to the ocean so that landowners could develop the property for $1 million, Vos Iz Neais News reports.

The American Littoral Society advocates on behalf of the public and preserving land for the public’s use. It fears that a precedent could come out of this deal that could eventually lead to the selling off of more prime and pristine public coastal land to private and commercial development. It would become harder for people to access the beach, with these developments serving as a buffer between the road and the beach.

“It’s definitely not fair what they’re doing,” Matt Schwartz, a local surfer said while enjoying his sport in February. “It seems like they cater to one class of wealthy people here. I own a business and I pay taxes, and I should be able to walk on a public beach.”

Some people who have been around town for a while think that the days of Deal having no beach barriers could be numbered.

“In the 1850s, our courts recognized the value of street ends in providing the public access to the shore,” Andrew Provence said. “It is important to fight this new notion that street ends, Provence, Littoral Society’s lawyer, said that people have to not be swept away with promises of taking street ends and then vacating them “for the right price.”

The litigants talked about how people like surfers and fisherman use Neptune Avenue to access the beach. If the land is sold off, and if developers then block off beach access, then it impedes on the fishing and surfing and other beach activities that people have enjoyed throughout Deal’s history.

“Public access to the beaches and tidal waterfronts of our state is constantly under attack,” Tim Dillingham, the executive director, said. “We are taking this action to prevent the loss of this important public access way to the beach, and to ensure that other towns aren’t tempted to sell off the public’s rights to the highest bidder.” Deal’s position is that the area was never meant to be a beach portal.

As it stands, no development will be allowed to restrict sight lines of the beach and ocean, and some level of access to an area of boulders near the end of the property would be maintained too, according to the development agreement Deal made.

Deal says its agreement with the developer prohibits anyone from blocking visual access to the beach and ocean, and it maintains a 12-foot-wide strip of land enabling access to the end of the property where the boulders begin. That would preserve the existing level of access, the town maintains.

Sprint Files Suit Against AT&T; Claims Customers are Misled On 5G

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With the eminent rollout of 5G, a faster mobile wireless network, Sprint Corp already sued AT&T last week because Sprint believes AT&T is getting an unfair advantage by misleading people to think that the phones they were using took advantage of 5G when it fact that wasn’t the case. Photo Credit: Shutterstock

Things are getting feisty in the tech industry, even if consumers just want whatever device will have the best mobile internet. With the eminent rollout of 5G, a faster mobile wireless network, Sprint Corp already sued AT&T last week because Sprint believes AT&T is getting an unfair advantage by misleading people to think that the phones they were using took advantage of 5G when it fact that wasn’t the case, Vos Iz Neais reports.

Vos Iz Neais reports that AT&T users would have a logo appear on their phones that suggested they were on a 5G network, but Sprint said in its lawsuit that AT&T’s 5G Evolution is actually just running on a 4G network. This alleged problem happens on devices that run on Android and Apple operating systems.

As evidence to show how consumers are being misled, Sprint pointed to a survey in which 54 percent of AT&T customers thought they were on a superior mobile network and that 43 percent of people believed an AT&T phone could use 5G mobile internet.

“We will fight this lawsuit while continuing to deploy 5G Evolution in addition to standards-based mobile 5G. Customers want and deserve to know when they are getting better speeds,” AT&T said as a comment responding to the lawsuit.

5G Evolution and the 5GE indicator can alert people to areas that have the higher speeds, AT&T said.

After years of negotiations and subsequent breakups, T-Mobile and Sprint merged companies. T-Mobile CEO John Legere, made a statement on Twitter saying, “I’m excited to announce that @TMobile & @Sprint have reached an agreement to come together to form a new company – a larger, stronger competitor that will be a force for positive change for all US consumers and businesses!” The combined company, which will take on the name T-Mobile, will consolidate the third and fourth largest wireless service providers in the country.

With a race in the wireless industry to build 5G networks, Verizon Communications picked up an advantage by outbidding competitor AT&T and acquiring wireless spectrum holder Straight Path for $3.1 billion back in 2017, helping the company lay the groundwork early for an eventual massive rollout of 5G.

The Jewish Voice also covered an electronics show in Las Vegas recently in which 5G presentations were given. Later in the day, the “New Frontiers in Mobile” keynote gave attendees a glimpse into the future of 5G. MediaLink Chairman and CEO Michael Kassan kicked off the keynote by declaring to the crowd that “CES 2019 is, for all intents and purposes, the dawn of 5G.” Kassan was joined on stage by AT&T Communications CEO John Donovan and the two discussed AT&T’s efforts to make 5G a reality.

Venezuela & NYC Apartments; A Match Made in Heaven for Financial Crimes

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These developments are rising out of the bribery and money-laundering accusations swirling around a Venezuelan media mogul, Raul Gorrin. Photo Credit: Wikipedia

While the world’s attention is on the country of Venezuela and its political turmoil, countries have to decide which leader and course of action to support. The decisions are difficult and important and cannot be taken lightly. Back here in New York, there’s a Venezuelan problem too, but this one is a much more clear cut-and-dried problem.

United States prosecutors said that some of Venezuela’s rich “boligarchs” have been using Manhattan real estate to run a currency-exchange scam that’s worth almost $2.5 billion, The New York Post reports. The assets are now “subject to forfeiture,” which could return over $40 million-worth of value to the American taxpayers.

These developments are rising out of the bribery and money-laundering accusations swirling around a Venezuelan media mogul, Raul Gorrin. He maintains close relations with Nicholas Maduro, the democratically elected but highly controversial Venezuelan president who is not viewed as the legitimate president by a number of countries like the United States. The idea of a “boligarch” comes from the Russian oligarch notion in Vladimir Putin’s Russia, a country primarily benefiting a few very wealthy people who are close to the president and tend to use corruption and state resources to acquire that wealth.

The scheme was spread across seven different properties, all of which boasted luxuries and amenities most people aren’t privileged enough to even know exist for the wealthiest of citizens. Expensive real estate is a convenient means for international criminals to attempt financial crimes, most commonly by dumping a ton of illegitimate money into real estate in order to launder it and reintroduce it into the system as “legitimate cash,” cash that had just been cleaned to obscure its illegal pathway.

Some of the properties that The New York Post flagged include a 47th-floor living space that had nearly 5,000 square feet of space and is across from the Museum of Modern Art. If such a prime property like that one doesn’t sound good enough, he also had a Billionaire’s Row property at 330 E. 57th St. They may seem like dream properties, but they were never intended for traditional living but rather an apparent currency-fixing scheme.

Another apartment — a full-floor home at 330 E. 57th St. — was purchased for $2.4 million in cash by a holding company controlled by Gorrin’s brother-in-law.

This scheme comes at a time when Venezuela is in turmoil, and the president said while addressing the nation last week “two weeks ago, the United States officially recognized the legitimate government of Venezuela, and its new interim president, Juan Guaido.”

The United States is joined by other Western powers like the United Kingdom in recognizing the self-proclaimed interim president of Venezuela Juan Guaido, while Turkey, Russia, China and many other states continued their support for the democratically elected President Nicolas Maduro.

Internet Site Reddit’s Ever-Increasing Value Now At $3 Billion

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Redditors, as users of the popular social-like website that gives users a wide range of groups to use in order to facilitate discussions about certain topics. Photo Credit: Shutterstock

Redditors, as users of the popular social-like website that gives users a wide range of groups to use in order to facilitate discussions about certain topics. People can learn about and discuss topics like sports or politics, and those broad categories would also have subgroups so that it’s easier to find more specific information and conversations. Investors hope Reddit could become a good company and investment, similar to Facebook after it went public, and now the company hit a valuation of $3 billion following $300 million of Series D funding, Pymnts reports.

Facebook and Google continue sucking up most of the digital advertising space. Recent layoffs at notable news organizations have highlighted this problem. A CNBC report said that Reddit plans to tap into that market and take away some of the stranglehold those two tech giants have on internet advertising.

Facebook users can see advertisements during their browsing experience and will notice that they’re targeted. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he didn’t want a website with advertisements back in the beginning days of Facebook. Internet-browsing consumers will also notice ads for products they searched for on Google following them around to seemingly every website. The full extent of what happens to the massive amount of data companies collect on users is not understood, but the market is clearly lucrative, if only a company could tap into it.

Advertising on Reddit isn’t as wild as it sounds. Pymnts notes that Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) tried reaching out to younger generations by advertising on Reddit. Toyota rolled out advertisements on Reddit in the past too. Pymnts found a number of investors who most people would recognize, from the rapper and entertainer Snoop Dogg to Fidelity, a financial services company. Tencent, a major Chinese player in the technology sector, pumped over $150 million into Reddit.

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman spoke to CNBC about the importance of tapping into advertising revenue and how the company planned to compete with the seeming juggernauts of Google and Facebook. “When we are talking about competing for ad dollars, of course we are talking about Facebook and Google, who take up the vast majority of ad spend,” Huffman said. “We are competing with anybody, or anywhere people spend their free time.”

While Reddit may not have congressional hearings to testify at because a foreign adversary manipulated its services for the sake of waging disinformation campaigns against entire countries, the company has had its fair share of problems that could scare off more investors. As a fairly open online forum, the likelihood of abuse increases, but that’s why Huffman said that his company is “free from abuse and other kinds of misbehaving.

“One of the things that’s been very important to us is that we can now assure advertisers that you are going to have a positive experience on Reddit and potentially even a new experience, a new way of connecting with customers,” Huffman said.

Reddit, which was founded in 2005, has at times been under the microscope for rampant harassment and abuse issues. Huffman said the company has implemented tools to combat this kind of behavior, and that he’s made a commitment to advertisers to make sure the platform is ”