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De Blasio Flew Home From Vacation on $3M Counterterrorism Plane

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The NYPD used a $3 million counterterrorism plane to get Mayor Bill de Blasio back and forth from his Canada vacation to New York for an event Thursday, according to The New York Post.

The mayor had to fly back to pay tribute at a memorial service in the Bronx for a lawn enforcement officer who was murdered, Detective Miosotis Familia, according to The New York Post. De Blasio is taking a weeklong vacation in Quebec.

“NYPD is transporting him in their plane,” de Blasio spokesman Eric Phillips told The Post.
“Their plane” is a Cessna 208 Caravan that cost roughly $3 million and was picked up by the department in 2017, sources said to The New York Post.

The high-tech aircraft has special sensors that can detect at a distance radioactive material used to make “dirty bombs,” The New York Post reports.

Police sources were skeptical of the necessity of the plane in this situation.

“It is very unusual to go on an international flight to go pick up the mayor,” one source said.
“I think it’s excessive, because that wasn’t what that plane was designed to do. It’s designed for counterterrorism measures. To go to Canada to get the mayor? It’s excessive.”

Sources said the aircraft is kept at MacArthur Airport on Long Island. Data from flight-tracker website FlightAware shows a Cessna Caravan with a tail number previously identified by Wired.com as belonging to an NYPD “spy” craft flying from MacArthur at 6:36 a.m. Thursday and landing at Montreal-Trudeau Airport by 8:18 a.m.

The plane departed Montreal less than an hour later and landed at Westchester County Airport near White Plains at 10:58 a.m., The New York Post reports.

By noon, the mayor was speaking at a street co-naming for Familia. The plane later departed Westchester for Montreal at 1:48 p.m., arriving at 3:34 p.m., records show as reviewed by The New York Post.

The trip to Canada was a departure from the plane’s normal pattern of two- to three-hour flights starting and ending at MacArthur, data shows.

“The NYPD, as a longstanding matter of policy, does not comment on specific details regarding the protection of elected officials,” a spokesman said.

“However, careful consideration is made to ensure that the work of the security detail has no impact on other NYPD operations.”

Canadian Woman Goes Public With Trudeau Groping Allegation

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A former journalist spoke out on Friday about her allegation that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau groped her nearly two decades ago before his life of politics, Yahoo News reports.

“I issue this statement reluctantly, in response to mounting media pressure to confirm that I was the reporter who was the subject of the Open Eyes editorial, published in the Creston Valley Advance in August of 2000,” Rose Knight said in a statement to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

She spoke of the original Canadian report on the allegation, which said that the then-28-year-old Trudeau made an apology to the reporter back then, Yahoo News reports.

He also said “I would never have been so forward” if he knew she was a reporter.

“The incident referred to in the editorial did occur, as reported. Mr Trudeau did apologize the next day. I did not pursue the incident at the time and will not be pursuing the incident further. I have had no subsequent contact with Mr Trudeau, before or after he became prime minister,” Knight said.

Knight said she will not be commenting further on the issue, according to CBC.

The statement came a day after Trudeau again defended himself against the allegation that he groped a journalist during a music festival in the western city of Creston, British Columbia in 2000, Yahoo News reports.

In an email on Friday, Valerie Bourne, the former publisher of The Advance, said she spoke privately with the woman on the day of the incident, according to The Seattle Times.
She said the reporter told her that the incident involved “an inappropriate touch which in the context of today would be called ‘sexual’ in nature,” according to The Seattle Times.
Bourne believed the reporter and also that she had not been satisfied with Trudeau’s responses.
“Trudeau has now acknowledged that he thinks he proffered an apology to her, but he tempers the acknowledgment by saying that if he did so, it was because he sensed that she was not comfortable with their interaction at that event,” she wrote in the email. “His latest interview is still a tap dance around the questions put to him by reporters and in Parliament.”

Unpaid Taxes Could Cost Americans Passports

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If you didn’t pay your taxes and want to go on a trip out of the country, you may be in for bad news like hundreds of thousands of other Americans. Americans with more than $51,000 in overdue tax debt could be denied new or renewed passports because of a 2015 law that requires the Internal Revenue Service and State Department to deny passports those individuals, according to The Hill.

A spokesman from the tax agency told The Wall Street Journal that up to 362,000 Americans are in the category for outstanding debt for whom the State Department should deny passport applications or renewals.

The State Department confirmed what the IRS spokesman said to the Wall Street Journal that some passports were already denied under the enforcement, as the IRS sends the names of those with outstanding debt in batches to the agency.

For the time being, agency officials said that they are just denying applications for new or renewed passports and were not revoking passports from any Americans with outstanding debt, The Hill reports.

The new law’s effects are already noticeable, according to an IRS spokesman, who told the Journal that 220 people had handed over $11.5 million to repay their full debts as of late June, while 1,400 others had set up payment plans to reduce their debts.

IRS Division Commissioner Mary Beth Murphy added to the Wall Street Journal Journal that one debtor in particular had paid $1 million in tax debts specifically to avoid passport denial.

The law contains some exceptions, including for victims of identity theft and those claiming “innocent-spouse” relief or who live in a federally declared disaster zone, according to The Hill.

Critics of the plan, including National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson, say the notices to debtors tend to arrive when the State Department is notified of the taxpayer’s debt, wleaving not enough time to resolve tax issues before passport problems occur.

Germany Helping A Community Fight Anti-Semitism

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Germany is giving more state benefits to the Central Council of Jews in Germany for the first time since 2011, which will also help combat anti-Semitism, according to Israel National News.

In a joint statement issued Friday, Central Council President Josef Schuster and the federal minister of the interior for building and community, Horst Seehofer, announced that the annual state support for the Jewish umbrella organization would be raised from 10 million euros to 13 million euros, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Seehofer’s concern focused on “the rise in anti-Semitism in our society,” according to the Central Council that “faces increasing challenges” that the funding will help meet. “Whoever threatens our Jewish citizens threatens all of us,” Seehofer said.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports that Schuster, who emphasizes school-based programs to fight anti-Semitism, called it “a good day for Germany’s Jewish community.”

The news happens as anti-Jewish incidents in Germany are on the rise, both from the far right and by Muslims. There have been calls for increased attention to fighting anti-Semitism in schools, especially since 2015, when more than a million refugees of Arab Muslim background entered Germany, according to the Israel National News.

The Central Council remained cautious and expressed concern that some of the refugees may subscribe to anti-Semitism, homophobia and misogyny, according to Israel National News.

Germany researchers almost always find that a quarter of the population holds anti-Semitic views, with people in the right wing committing the most related crimes. Rates of anti-Semitic episodes in Germany have remained more or less constant since 2003, according to Israel National News.

The Central Council acts as an umbrella for approximately 80 Jewish communities of an array of Jewish denominations. It supports cultural and social programs, such as the continued integration of the former Soviet Jews who have moved to Germany since 1990. There are currently about 100,000 registered members of Jewish communities and about the same number who are not affiliated, including several thousand Israelis, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

In 2003, Germany signed its first contract with the Central Council, which made it like Catholic and Protestant communities with the legal power they wield. The government pledged 3 million euros annually to help the Jewish community meet its infrastructural needs back then, which since increased to 5 million euros in 2008 and 10 million in 2011, Israel National News reports..

According to Friday’s statement, the increased funding will enable the Central Council to expand its work in the areas of Jewish integration, the fight against anti-Semitism and promotion of Holocaust remembrance, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Cuomo Keeping Trump Donation Despite Cynthia Nixon’s Demands

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Gov. Andrew Cuomo does not plan to return $64,000 in campaign donations from previous campaigns received from President Donald Trump. The pushback comes in response to attacks from his Democratic primary rival Cynthia Nixon who wants to turn it into an issue.

“No, not at all. I’m going to be deeply critical of him and keep the contributions,” Cuomo said following a Brooklyn event.

The contributions happened between 2001 and 2009, according to The New York Post, further contextualizing by adding that he first ran for governor in 2002 and was state attorney general in 2009.

Nixon remains an underdog but is showing that her bite may be a little more powerful than Cuomo expected. After longtime powerful Democrat Joseph Crowley lost his primary in shocking fashion, Nixon has some extra motivation as she believes maybe she could be one of the next underdogs to dethrone a powerful establishment Democrat.

“Andrew Cuomo will take donations from anyone,” Nixon said in a fundraising pitch as supporters looked on. She added that “everyone from the Koch Brothers to fossil fuel companies have contributed, so we weren’t surprised to find out that Donald Trump has donated $64,000 to Cuomo.”

Trump donated to both parties during his time as a private citizen, in what now almost seems like a past life of his as a notorious New York tycoon personality and reality television star.

Nixon sent a fundraising pitch with a goal of raising her own $64,000 by midnight Thursday, The New York Post reports.

Cuomo hasn’t missed many chances to criticize Trump as the governor runs for his second gubernatorial reelection, at a time when some also think he may be eyeing a run in 2020.

On Thursday, he even released an “open letter” to State University of New York Board Chairman Carl McCall and City University of New York Board Chairman Bill Thompson, both of whom are black, urging them to promote racial diversity after the Trump administration rescinded guidelines on using race in college admissions, The New York Post reports.

Cuomo’s campaign brushed off concerns and criticism from the Nixon camp.

“This is nothing more than a cheap distraction from a campaign gasping for air. No governor has fought harder against Donald Trump than Gov. Cuomo,” Abby Fashouer, Cuomo’s campaign spokeswoman said. She said that “in fact, Trump considered running against the governor in 2014. Gov. Cuomo is 100 percent focused on continuing to lead the fight against the Trump Administration and win the U.S. House and State Senate so we can keep families together, protect New Yorkers from Trump’s disastrous tax plan, safeguard our state’s environment and defend New Yorkers’ civil rights — and no press release is going to change that.”

Scientists Warn of Possible Banana Extinction

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Coming soon to store shelves near you, well, nobody really knows what grocery stores would do with all the extra space they’d have if there were no more bananas to sell. Experts say the types of bananas found in most stores may be in trouble as they get wiped out from diseases like Panama disease and Tropical Race Four. A special breed found in Madagascar could help scientists figure out how to keep the bananas alive, but only five of these trees are known to exist, The Daily Star reports.

Scientists are trying to quickly develop new banana varieties strong enough to survive widespread diseases currently plaguing the fruit globally.

Because bananas are clones, the disease is able to spread very quickly from one to another, and the bananas are all in close proximity. Bananas with some gene variations would possibly be able to survive and then pass on those genes to future generations, but that’s not the case here when every banana is the same and therefore just as defenseless.

It is currently wreaking havoc with crops in Asia, but that could spread to America and eventually rid the world of its supply.

Richard Allen, senior conservation assessor at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, told the BBC that the type of banana they’re now looking at in Madagascar “doesn’t have Panama disease in it, so perhaps it has genetic traits against the disease.” He added that “we don’t know until we actually do research on the banana itself, but we can’t do the research until it’s saved.”

The Madagascan variety isn’t suitable for eating, but researchers hope to create a new type of banana through cross-breeding, according to The Daily Star.

Logging, fires and farming could threaten those few remaining trees though.

In order to satisfy a market that mostly demands cookie-cutter products with predictable quality control, the Cavendish banana is most often found in American stores. A combination of qualities like decent shelf life, size, taste, etc. make it reliable. Even though other bananas exist, which can be different colors and have very different tastes, it’s easy to see how using the same exact type of banana for most of the country and much else of the world too could become a serious issue if a deadly parasite or pathogen spreads. It could wipe out entire areas where bananas grow.

Monoculturing can make the situation worse. Because most farms want to focus on growing cash crops, they will only grow one type of product instead of creating a polyculture of different types of crops where a mix of plants and other living creatures can come together and thrive. The benefit of the latter is that these little ecosystems can work together and be more resilient. This type of farming system also doesn’t put every egg in one basket, but sometimes the demand requires that a whole space is dedicated solely to producing one fruit, like bananas.

Rabbinical Alliance of America Calls for Care and Sensitivity in Discussing Shidduchim

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The Rabbinical Alliance of America — Igud HaRabbonim, with a membership of over 950 Orthodox Rabbis — calls for greater vigilance of community members in encouraging, and refraining from discouraging, proposed shidduchim (blind dates). The very word “shidduchim” can send shivers down the spine of a loving parent and a nervous single. The complex process of finding a mate, and thereby continuing the millennia-old chain of Jewish families, can be daunting. People rightly pray for help in finding a spouse, perform acts of kindness and charity in the merit of finding their match, seek advice and blessings from righteous people, and explore many possible avenues for finding the right person. All of this is important. The Almighty expects us to look toward Heaven for help. However, at the same time as we pray and search we have to be careful to avoid hurting others carelessly.

The challenge facing singles has been called a “crisis.” In recent years, a number of proposals have been suggested to lighten the burden. Some leading rabbis have encouraged young men to expand their sights by considering women slightly older than them, if they are not already doing so. Others have encouraged age parity regarding when young men and women start looking for their matches. Even if no single idea solves the problem, each can be taken as sound advice to make the shidduch search a little easier for many people.

On encouragement from leading educators, RAA/Igud offers the following proposal as a supplement to the many different ideas circulating. A young man or woman often finds that a friend is suggested to date someone whom that person has already dated. A well-intentioned person will want to share with a friend the information he or she has gathered during those unsuccessful dates. RAA/Igud strongly urges people not to share dating experiences. Doing so hurts your friend by inserting prejudgment into the equation. Your judgment is tainted by uncontrollable bias, placing a permanent stamp on someone based on your opinions. By inserting your

views and experiences, you can be destroying a match made in Heaven. No two people respond the same to an experience and a potential spouse may interact differently with your friend than with you. A disastrous date with one person should not ruin shidduch chances with all of that person’s friends.

Every person whom you date has hopes and dreams. They have loving parents who deeply care about their child’s shidduch prospects. Every word you utter should be said while keeping in mind that you are discussing someone beloved by family and by the Almighty. If you have any questions on whether to share your dating experiences, ask an objective rabbi. Saying the wrong thing could prevent the start of a beautiful Jewish family.

No individual can solve the “shidduch crisis” but you can help a few people start a Torah home by refraining from sharing your dating stories. If someone has a bad date, their response should be to think of a friend for whom this person might be a good match. Helping others helps you. The Almighty will give to you as you give to others. Pray for others, give to others, suggest dates to others and the Almighty will respond in kind.

The many community and shul rabbis of RAA/Igud call on educators and rabbis — roshei yeshiva, mashgichim, and mechanchim — to encourage those who are dating to take extra care in discussing their experiences. Every Jew deserves a fair chance at finding a shidduch. We pray that in the merit of greater care with our words and greater sensitivity for others we will see many more families sprout in happiness as people find their matches. May the “shidduch crisis” turn into the “shidduch kindness” speedily in our days.

Violence Directed Against Trump Supporters Escalates

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As predicted, since Maxine Waters declared her support for intimidating Trump administration members, the harassment and violence is spreading to average Americans who simply support Trump.

Over the last month several members of the Trump cabinet have been castigated and tossed out of public spaces. Kirstjen Nielsen, Secretary of Homeland Security was harassed and heckled at a Mexican restaurant in DC, followed by Sarah Sanders being refused service at a restaurant in Virginia.

“Let’s make sure we show up wherever we have to show up, And if you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them. And you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.”, representative Waters declared at a rally in Los Angeles a few weeks ago.  Her words have apparently sounded dog-whistles to rabid anti-Trump individuals, who are going beyond harassing, intimidating and embarrassing Trump administration officials; regular folks are being targeted.

Over the last few days, several despicable acts have been portrayed against Americans who support the president.

A 12 year old was attacked in a burger joint in Texas for simply wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat. He was verbally assaulted, his hat was stolen, and a drink was spilled at him.

In another incident  Florida man said he was punched in the face and dragged 30 feet with his arm trapped in a car by a man who was angry over the fact he had a Trump flag in his front yard.

While watching a fireworks display on his own property, Jeff Good was punched in the face and dragged 30 feet by his attackers after they drove by demanding he remove a Trump flag from his own property. When Good refused, the man allegedly punched him in the face. Good tried to punch back, but the man immediately drove off with Good’s arm still trapped in the car.

In another shocking report Harvard Law School professor, Alan Dershowitz  was threatened to be stabbed at Martha’s Vineyard by a rabid anti-Trump woman.

“At a party this week on Martha’s Vineyard, a woman said if Dershowitz were here tonight, I’d stab him through the heart,” said the Harvard Law School professor on Fox news

“This is a Martha’s Vineyard woman saying she would stab me through the heart,” he emphasized.

She was violently angry because Dershowitz is not in favor of impeaching Trump.

Below are reports of the 2 recent attacks against Trump supporters courtesy of WPTV and Fox News

Calls for World Leaders to Join Israel in Defeating the Iranian Menace

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Just a little over a year and a half ago, Israel was an internationally besieged, isolated nation facing the risk of being sacrificed to appease the Iranian Mullahs. The BDS Movement was in high gear and our outgoing President Obama even sent $2 billion in Euros and other foreign currency, some on actual pallets to Iran some of which to be used surely for terror against the Jewish State. Among its supporters there were many furrowed brows, concerned that the Obama friendly White House would continue its anti-Israel bent under Hillary.  But, November 8th turned that scenario upside down.

Israel now sits as an equal partner with the United States as a threat to the continuation of the current Iranian regime and its leaders. There is not only a strong bond between the citizens of Israel and the U.S. but Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump seem to be reading out of the same play book. They are leading the charge to defang the Iranian leadership where it hurts, in the pocketbook and militarily. Oil is Iran’s major export. Cut the price of that liquid gold or take away its customer base and the regime falls into a financial Dumpster.  Increase the daily barrel output of oil, flood the market and the barrel price drops like a rock. Under Trump, the other major Arab oil producers in the region, the UAE, Kuwait and Arabia have unified against Iran and can increase production in a minute.

And let’s look at the Iranian people themselves. Back in 2009, street riots by the freedom demanding Green Movement protesting the bogus election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad resulted in the government’s crushing the young protesters with brutal force. Our President Obama remained silent. Not so today with the most significant protests in 9 years rocking Iran. Their state media reported last week that the death toll from clashes between young demonstrators and security forces had reached over 20. Hundreds of people have been arrested and activists are taking the rare step of publicly criticizing the country’s religious leaders.

 

A hint as to who is behind these outbursts of rioting can be gathered by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s accusation that the “enemies of Iran” are meddling in the country’s affairs. Our guess is that the United States and Israel are fomenting these rapidly growing street protests to undermine the terrorists in Tehran. The partnership between Trump and Netanyahu is now focused on removing Iran as a threat to world democracy by working within the country rather than overt military force. A super duo. 

And we’ve seen the brilliancy of Trump bringing once hostile nations together to stand strong against their common enemy, Iran. The tensions and hostility that sat seemingly for an eternity between Israel on the one hand and the nations of Egypt, Arabia, Jordan and the UAE seem to be evaporating. Apparently they now realize that they all face a common threat to their survival…..a nuclear armed Iran. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” The United States overtly and Israel very discreetly are training the military of these Arab nations to fight as a united force in the event of any breakout of hostilities with Iran. The umbrella over them; the force binding them together is America. Hopefully these countries will finally come to realize the benefits they can reap by creating a bond with Israel and the United States.

PM Netanyahu seems now to be the Energizer Bunny in traveling to Russia. Putin invited him to Moscow on May 9th to join him at the annual victory day Parade marking the victory over Nazi Germany and the PM also went to Moscow on January 29th where the two leaders went to the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in the capital for an event marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Hopefully these meetings will bring these leaders and their nations closer together. Israel could use another friend in the Security Council. Bibi will be visiting with Putin again next week. Surely on the agenda will be Iran and Syria where Russian forces are engaged.

 

In order to continue to improve Israel’s relations with Russia they must set guidelines to avoid accidental clashes between Israeli and Russian forces that both operate in Syria. Since intervening in the Syrian civil war on behalf of Assad, Russia has generally turned a blind eye to Israeli attacks on Iranian and Hezbollah forces. Netanyahu, now emboldened and supported by Trump feels confident that his voice and warnings to the combatants in Syria and Lebanon will be heard. He now can stand up one on one with Vladimir Putin and the rest of the world’s community. As an example of his newly found stature he called out Europe thusly on July 4th: “Here’s my message to the European leaders: stop funding the very regime that is sponsoring terrorism against you and against so many others. stop appeasing Iran!” He is now a respected diplomat with clout.

And Netanyahu also paid tribute to the alliance between his nation and the United States on July 4th at a reception at the newly opened American Embassy in Jerusalem. His words of sincere love for our country: “We’re grateful for America’s independence. We’re grateful for America’s strength. We’re grateful for America’s alliance with Israel.” And: “It’s freedom, liberty, democracy. These aren’t hollow slogans. they are the bedrock of western civilization. They’re the secret of America’s success and of Israel’s success. They’re the secret of our ingenuity – Israel’s and America’s – the big leaders of technology in the world.” Trump and Netanyahu, truly a bond made in heaven.

Alan Bergstein is the founder and president of the Judeo-Christian Republican Club in Florida and is a prolific writer.

Jewish WW2 Hero, Max Fuchs, Dies at 94

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Max Fuchs, an American soldier who helped lead a historic Jewish religious service in Germany during World War II, has died, the New York Times reports.

 

Fuchs was an Army rifleman who led the 1944 Shabbat service in Aachen alongside Army chaplain Rabbi Sidney Lefkowitz, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports. About 50 Jewish-American soldiers attended the Shabbat led by the man who died Tuesday at the age of 96, according to The New York Times. It was the first Jewish service broadcast from Germany since the rise of Hitler more than a decade earlier, broadcast throughout the United States and in Germany.

 

“The emotion was tremendous,” Fuchs said of the service in an interview for the American Jewish Committee in 2009. “The soldiers had heard of all the atrocities. Most of them had families that perished in the Holocaust. We had so many of my family.”

 

A matter of chance gave Fuchs the opportunity to be the cantor. With no cantor in the Army division, Fuchs stepped in and did the job.

 

“Since I was the only one who could do it, I tried my best,” Fuchs told The Times.

 

Fuchs, a native of Poland, moved to New York at age 12 with his family. After the war he studied cantorial music and served as the cantor of the Bayside Jewish Center in Queens, and also worked as a diamond cutter in Manhattan, The Times reported.

 

Fighting in the war left Fuchs with nightmares, and he rarely spoke about his experience with his family, though he did hang a photograph in his home of himself leading the iconic service, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

 

A special segment from Jews in WWII about the defiant Shabbat can be found on PBS’s YouTube page with a video called GI JEWS Jewish Service Broadcast from WWII Germany.

 

 

I.C.E Protesters Become Unhinged As Woman Scales Statue Of Liberty

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A protestor forced an evacuation of Liberty Island when she committed her daring stunt of climbing the Statue of Liberty.

 

CNN reports that on July 4, in broad daylight, protesters gathered on Liberty Island and one woman “walked back and forth under Lady Liberty’s sandal and then sat down and appeared to unfurl a small flag or banner,” which appeared to be a call to abolish the government agency known as the United States Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

 

CNN reports that for about two hours, the protester stood her ground on the base of the statue, sometimes sitting under Lady Liberty’s foot. She wouldn’t come down until “‘all the children have been released,” which she said while also at times waving a t-shirt reading “Trump Care Makes Us Sick” and “Rise and Resist.”

 

The police eventually got her and took her away from the statue, luckily leading to a relatively peaceful and safe resolution.

 

In the wake of President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance”  enforcement of existing  immigration policy of  separating migrant children from their parents who were apprehended at the border, a popular but lesser known liberal desire to abolish the law enforcement agency has started gaining traction and may become part of a litmus test for Democrats who want to run for office. Some of the protests across the country regarding the agency have gotten to the point of practicing civil disobedience while a few cases of protest have gotten out of hand.

 

Some immigration policy protesters clashed with police in Philadelphia during a protest that had been mostly going well.

 

Once Philadelphia police and Homeland Security officers started telling protesters they could no longer block the garage doors of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, protesters locked arms in front of the doors. After three warnings, police began making arrests, and as one was being made, a chaotic clash with police happened, according to CBS Philadelphia.

 

Protesters camped out overnight outside the Atlanta City Jail in Georgia for a third day, eventually leading to a confrontation. Because the tents violated a city ordinance, a confrontation was inevitable, and this one turned violent.

“They refused and became belligerent, striking the officers,” Atlanta Police Maj. Rick Mason said.

 

One person went to jail, and no officers were hurt, according to police.

 

In another case, a U.S. Secret Service officer was injured in an assault while on patrol outside the White House on after an immigration rally, according to newly filed federal court records.

 

 

Mayor O.K’s Mocking Trump While Murder In London Skyrockets

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Activists will be able to fly a giant balloon that some are calling “Trump baby” now that the mayor of London is fine with the balloon flying near parliament during the president’s United Kingdom trip, Sky News reports.

 

London mayor Sadiq Khan’s Greater London Authority gave approval for the flight’s request after thousands signed a petition and a crowdfunding campaign raised more than £16,000 in order to make this effort possible.

 

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said that “the Mayor supports the right to peaceful protest and understands that this can take many different forms.”

 

The spokesperson added that the mayor’s “city operations team have met with the organisers and have given them permission to use Parliament Square Garden as a grounding point for the blimp.”

 

The protest group calls itself anti-fascist “art activists” and are now working with the Met and the Civil Aviation Authority to make sure the display happens safely.

 

Activist Leo Murray told Sky News: “We didn’t get off to the best start with the Mayor’s office over this, who originally told us that they didn’t recognise Trump Baby as legitimate protest.

“But following a huge groundswell of public support for our plan, it looks like City Hall has rediscovered its sense of humour. Trump Baby will fly!”

 

Describing Mr Trump as a “dangerous excuse for a president”, the group’s spokesperson, Nona Hurkmans, said: “We are just a small group of friends who set out to show that fascists are not welcome in the UK.

 

The protests come at a time when a few of the mayor’s critics would rather him put his focus on domestic issues like the spike in murders. London police have investigated more murders than their New York counterparts over the past two months, according to statistics reviewed by The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

 

“The mayor is deeply concerned by violent crime in the capital — every life lost to violent crime is a tragedy,” a spokesperson for Mayor Sadiq Khan said in a past statement. “Our city remains one of the safest in the world.”

 

The Denver Post reports that Police and community workers say London’s surge in violence is partly driven by battles over control of the illegal drug trade and a “postcode war” among street gangs, with killings that are both random and calculated.

London has experienced a phenomenon of “acid attacks” where dangerous acid is tossed in the face of the victim. 465  attacks recorded in 2017, up from 395 the previous year and 255 in 2015. The attacks increased six-fold over six years.

 

Some have criticized London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who oversees London’s Metropolitan Police, though the British government funds most of the police budget. Its funding was cut by more than 20 percent since 2010.

 

The Denver Post reports that Khan said that rising crime is a national problem and “I can’t solve it by myself.”

 

 

Hot-Dogs & Fireworks Bring Americans Together

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Americans celebrated their nation’s 242nd anniversary of independence on Wednesday, with concerts, parades and a voracious display of hot dog-eating prowess in New York, as many cities and towns prepared for traditional fireworks displays after sundown,      Yahoo News reports.

 

At the White House, President Donald Trump hosted  a picnic for military families on the South Lawn during the afternoon, a few hours before fireworks were scheduled to light up the National Mall, according to Yahoo News.

 

Independence Day festivities scheduled for Washington featured a concert by the National Symphony Orchestra on the lawn of the Capitol. “Margaritaville” singer Jimmy Buffett, The Temptations, The Beach Boys and Luke Combs preformed , Yahoo News reports.

 

The Fourth of July holiday marks the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by congressional delegates in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776.

 

The document declared the young nation’s independence from Great Britain and advanced the principle “that all men are created equal,” and had “certain unalienable rights” including “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

 

More than two centuries later, however, it was the pursuit of hot dogs that defined the holiday at Coney Island on the waterfront of New York’s borough of Brooklyn, where Nathan’s Famous held its 46th annual hot dog-eating contest, according to Yahoo News.

 

Joey Chestnut once again dominated the competitive eating spectacle. The 34-year-old from San Jose, California, won his 11th “Mustard Belt” by downing an astonishing 74 wieners -topping the record of 72 he set last year, Yahoo News reports.

 

In the women’s division, Miki Sudo, 32, of Las Vegas, won her fifth title by putting away 37 hot dogs, according to Yahoo News.

 

Heat and humidity hung over the competition, as well as much of the country. The National Weather Service issued heat advisories for the Plains states eastward to the Mid-Altantic region. Temperatures were expected in the 90s with the humidity making it feel like 105 to 110 degrees Fahrenheit, Yahoo News said.

 

 

More than 3 million spectators and 12 million television viewers  watched 75,000 shells illuminate the night sky over the East River to the music of singer Kelly Clarkson.

 

Facebook Censors Patriotic Country Song

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Nashville-based Wes Cook Band on Monday wrote that the social media giant had prevented them from promoting their song, “I Stand for the Flag,” using the platform’s paid ads tool due to its political message, InfoWars reports.

 

“Our paid FB ads were denied and our reach thereby censored because this video contains ‘political content’. We believe Patriotism is not Political!” the band said in a Facebook post.

The song’s lyrics rally people of all walks of life to unite behind Old Glory, stating, “Don’t care if you’re black or white or who you love, I stand for the Flag, and the Flag stands for all of us.”

Other lyrics encourage unity: “You ain’t gotta pick a side. You can love your fellow man and still have pride,” and the video also shows people of all races celebrating America, according to InfoWars.

 

Screenshots showed Facebook did not accept the band’s request to boost the post, hindering the song’s circulation.

 

In a message to Fox News, Facebook claimed the band’s paid ad rejection was a mistake.

“We recently announced anyone running ads about political or other major national issues must include a ‘paid for’ label,” a Facebook spokesperson stated.

 

“After looking again, we determined that this ad doesn’t need that label. While this is a new policy, and while we won’t ever be perfect, we think knowing who is behind an ad is important, and we’ll continue to work on improving as we roll it out.”

 

Despite acknowledging the error, Breitbart notes Facebook has yet to rectify the situation, saying the situation ”remains to be seen if Facebook has actually fixed the problem or if the social media giant has been in touch with the band at all,” reports Warner Todd Huston. “Sources close to the matter say Facebook still has not rectified the issue despite its statement admitting it made a mistake and claiming it would reverse that mistake.”

 

Australian Eyewear Designers Use Concentration Camp Site For Commercial

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Australian-based Valley Eyewear firm was forced to apologize on Tuesday over its advertising video made on the site of Jasenovac concentration camp. The internet advertisement caused a storm of criticism online after being posted on the company’s social media accounts several days ago. Users have also called for a boycott of the company’s products, according to DW News.

 

The black and white video, which has since been removed, shows a male and a female model wearing Valley Eyewear sunglasses inside a bleak concrete room and walking around concrete structures, before cutting to a wide shot of the two walking away from Jasenovac’s Flower Memorial, according to DW News.

 

The easy to identify structure, designed by architect Bogdan Bogdanovic, was built in 1966 to honor the memory of the camp victims, DW News reports.

 

DW reports that the Jasenovac death camp in Croatia was run by the Ustasha, the fascist regime allied with Nazi Germany during World War II. Camp historians have determined the names of 83,145 killed at the site, including more than 20,000 children. Most of the victims were Serbs, alongside Roma and Jews. Some experts believe the total number of victims to be much higher, according to DW News.

 

According to screenshots of deleted Valley Eyewear posts, the company said the ad for their “Black” line of sunglasses was “filmed on location in Croatia at one of World War II’s most historic and darkest locations. JASENOVAC.”

 

Australian company Valley Eyewear has prompted outrage by publishing a sunglasses ad shot at Croatian World War II death camp Jasenovac. The firm told DW the photos were “taken completely out of context.”

 

 

Roe v. Wade: The Movie

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Actor Nick Loeb is apparently the co-director for a movie soon to hit big screens, but the subject matter is, shall we say, a little bit controversial. The movie will present a pro-life angle of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case that was settled decades ago.

 

Worrying about security and safety for the cast and crew, the movie was intentionally kept tight lipped. Loeb and Allyn have been shooting the film under a fake title so they also wouldn’t have issues finding shooting locations, The Hollywood Reporter reports. Even the names of key cast members have been hidden from the public eye.

The Hollywood Reporter can now report that two Supreme Court justices are played by a couple Jon Voight and Robert Davi, and other justices are played by Corbin Bernsen, John Schneider, Steve Guttenberg, William Forsythe, Wade Williams and Richard Portnow, all filling out a cast of prominent conservatives, a vocal minority within Hollywood.

Another actress confirmed to be in the film is former Fox News commentator and Clueless star Stacey Dash. She plays Mildred Jefferson, the first black woman to graduate from Harvard Medical School and the former president of National Right to Life, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Loeb describes struggles he’s had while shooting, including when he shot at Louisiana State University and was told they were “rejected due to our content, even though it will be a PG-rated film.” He added that “they refused to put it in writing, but they told us on the phone it was due to content.”

Even at Loeb’s alma mater, Tulane, he faced issues just for a day’s worth of shooting. The school newspaper reported on the fact that a pro-life film was being shot on campus, which eventually let to producers not being able to shoot even a second day, according to Loeb. The Hollywood Reporter notes that Tulane and LSU cited logistics as the problem.

A synagogue in New Orleans was meant to house extras and supplies, until the synagogue got wind of the project’s details. “Once they found out what the film was about, they locked us out. We had to call the police so that the extras and caterers could retrieve their possessions,“ Loeb says.

The production team struggled the whole time with casting. Actors left the project upon discovering its subject matter. “We had to replace three local actors, including one who was to play Norma McCorvey, even after she begged for the role,” says Loeb. McCorvey was known as Jane Roe in the landmark legal case.

The film even delves into Dallas District Attorney Henry Wadem, who prosecuted Kennedy-killer Lee Harvey Oswald’s assassin, Jack Ruby. McCorvey’s attorneys, Linda Coffee and Sarah Weddington are played, respectively, by Justine Wachsberger and Greer Grammer, Kelsey Grammer’s daughter, while Lucy Davenport plays famed Feminine Mystique author Betty Friedan, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Among the crew members who quit in protest was a costumer who left after two weeks “because of the subject matter and pressure from her peers,” says Allyn. Even the director, also a woman, quit on the first day of shooting, so Loeb and Allyn are co-directing. They are also producers, and they co-wrote the script, The Hollywood Reporter said.