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Pence Calls Iran Deal “Disaster” – Pledges to Move Embassy by 2019 at Knesset Speech

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Vice President Mike Pence said Monday that the United States would no longer certify the Iran nuclear deal, and said that President Trump has instructed the State Department to begin preparations for moving the American embassy in Israel, and said the embassy would open before the end of 2019.

Pence’s address to the Israeli Knesset made him the first senior official in a decade to speak before the Israeli parliament. The last US leader to address the Knesset was President George W. Bush, who spoke at the Knesset in 2008 to mark the 60th anniversary of Israel’s establishment.

The Speech is available in it’s entirety  by clicking here: Mike Pence speaks to Israeli Parliament 

Pence, a long-time backer of the Jewish state, arrived in Israel aboard Air Force Two Sunday evening, kicking off a three-day visit to Israel – his first since he took office last January.

In a speech peppered with Biblical references, Holocaust imagery, fallen Israeli soldiers including Yoni Netanyahu, brother of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and a traditional Jewish blessing for thanksgiving uttered in halting Hebrew, Pence delivered a message of religious faith and the confluence of American and Israeli values as a foundation for the US – Israel relationship “as allies and cherished friends.”

“All who cherish freedom and seek a brighter future should cast their eyes here to this place and marvel what they behold,” Pence said.

As expected, the beginning of Pence’s speech was interrupted by members of the Joint List party, who were escorted from the Knesset plenum after brandishing signs criticizing Trump’s policy vis-à-vis Jerusalem. But the protest did little to derail an address that outlined a US policy that closely aligns with Israel’s security and international interests. He praised Israeli leaders for their willingness to negotiate with the Palestinians, and called on the Palestinian leadership to return to the negotiating table.

At the same time, however, Pence took a veiled dig at former President Obama, referring  to “radical Islamic terrorism” (a phrase that Obama administration officials strenuously avoided) before describing the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Obama’s signature foreign policy achievement, as “ill conceived” and a “disaster” that President Trump would no longer certify.

“The United States will never compromise the safety or security of the State of Israel… The Iran nuclear deal merely delays the day (that Iran will acquire nuclear weapons). and added that any peace deal with third parties would ensure Israel’s ability “to defend itself, by itself.

“I make a solemn promise to the people of Israel and the Middle East: The United States will never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon,” Pence said.

During his address, Pence vowed that the US would “never allow” the Tehran regime to possess nuclear weapons – a message meant not only to reassure Israeli leaders, but also Sunni Arab states across the Middle East concerned by President Barack Obama’s efforts to reach out to Iran.

In October, President Trump announced that he would not recertify Iranian compliance with the JCPOA, setting in motion a process requiring Congress to either reinstate sanctions on Tehran, or alter the sanctions regime.

“Unless the Iran nuclear deal is fixed President Trump has said the United States will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal immediately,” Pence said

During his speech, the Vice President also touched on the planned relocation of the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the capital city of Jerusalem. While he gave no firm date or location for the new embassy, he stated that the move would be completed before the end of 2019.

“In the weeks ahead, our administration will advance its plan to open the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem – and that United States Embassy will open before the end of next year,” said Pence.

 

 

“The Fake News” Awards

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Fake News Awards

Wednesday Evening president Trump revealed the winners of the “Fake News Awards” , his humorous gimmick he is using to ramp up his attack  on  the  press who he feels has unfairly maligned his presidency.

The event gathered so much attention, the GOP.com website actually crashed.

CNN was the biggest “winner” of the evening, grabbing four “Fake News” honors.  The New York Times was singled out twice, and Newsweek and Time Magazine were mentioned once.

The Times took the criticism in good spirit and devoted its entire editorial page to Trump’s supporters on Thursday, while Buzz feed, a left leaning website joked that “they were robbed” after not receiving any mentions.  The Washington Post in an editorial was quoted as saying that the “awards fell flat” and “it was a loosely formed idea”.

Here are President Trump’s Fake News Awards:

  1.  The New York Times’ Paul Krugman claimed on the day of President Trump’s historic, landslide victory that the economy would never recover.
  2. ABC News’ Brian Ross CHOKES and sends markets in a downward spiral with false report”. (Ross incorrectly reported in early December last year that during the 2016 presidential campaign, the president had told Michael Flynn to make contact with Russian officials before the election. ABC News retracted the story and suspended Mr Ross for his “serious mistake”.)
  3. CNN FALSELY reported that candidate Donald Trump and his son Donald J. Trump, Jr. had access to hacked documents from WikiLeaks.”
  4.  TIME FALSELY reported that President Trump removed a bust of Martin Luther King Jr. from the Oval Office.”.

     5.“Washington Post FALSELY reported the President’s massive sold-out rally in Pensacola, Florida was empty. Dishonest reporter showed picture of empty arena    HOURS before crowd started pouring in.”

  6.CNN FALSELY edited a video to make it appear President Trump defiantly overfed fish during a visit with the Japanese prime minister. Japanese prime minister actually led the way with the feeding.”

 7.CNN FALSELY reported about Anthony Scaramucci’s meeting with a Russian, but retracted it due to a ‘significant breakdown in process.’”

 8.Newsweek FALSELY reported that Polish First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda did not shake President Trump’s hand”.

 9.CNN FALSELY reported that former FBI Director James Comey would dispute President Trump’s claim that he was told he is not under investigation”.
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10.The New York Times FALSELY claimed on the front page that the Trump administration had hidden a climate report.”

11..“And last, but not least: ‘RUSSIA COLLUSION!’ Russian collusion is perhaps the greatest hoax perpetrated on the American people. THERE IS NO COLLUSION!”

 

 

 

Professionelle Erstellung vonseiten Websites.

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Dieses ist kein Geheimnis, falls sich Leuten in dieser modernen Welt zunehmend herauf der Ermittlung nach der oder jener Information deinem Internet verteilen. Und dasjenige ist schlüssig, denn heutzutage haben mehrere Unternehmen des weiteren Organisationen ihre eigene Internetseite im Netzwerk. Um ein interessantes Produkt oder Gute angebot für diese eine, Dienstleistung zu finden, müssen die Menschen keine Zeit für Kontakt haben zu unterschiedlichen Geschäften ferner Organisationen aufwenden, sondern lediglich auf die Website untersuchen und alle notwendigen Informationen erhalten. Gewiss gewinnen mit diesem Sinken diejenigen Unternehmen, die ihre eigene Darstellung im Datenautobahn (umgangssprachlich) haben.

Heutzutage ist die Website die Darstellung dieses Unternehmens im Netzwerk, Reklame für dies Unternehmen des weiteren seine Waren und das großes Charakteristisch für sein Image. Dies ist Prinzip von Diesen Kunden ferner Partnern, die Möglichkeit von Onlineverkauf des weiteren Beratung ferner vieles wichtige. Und dies sind bei weitem nicht alle Vorteile moderner Webseiten. Letztendlich ist eine Internetauftritt ein großer Schritt in der Entwicklung website kostenlos erstellen ohne anmeldung eines Unternehmens und einer Organisation. Viele Geschäftsleute sind immer wieder daran interessiert, wo Jene die Erstellung einer Internetseite (Englisch, um die Internetauftritt zu bestellen) zu dem erschwinglichen Taxe bestellen sachverstand. Natürlich ist es viel rentabler ferner zweckmäßiger, dies in spezialisierten Internetagenturen zu tun. Darüber hinaus wird der Prozess der Herstellung der Ressource von dem professionellen Mannschaft von Spezialisten, bestehend aus Programmierern, Designern, Optimierern, Textern und anderen, durchgeführt. Dieser Kunde kann anhand eines Portfolios oder eines Teilweise der Bewertungen die Qualität der schon fertiggestellten Web-Studio-Werke kennenlernen. Wohl beginnende Organisationen schätzen diesen Ruf und versuchen, die Arbeit so sehr effizient denn möglich abgeschlossen erledigen, obwohl die Kosten für ihre Dienstleistungen nicht hoch sind immer wieder.

Große Webstudios können sicherstellen, dass alle Kundenanforderungen berücksichtigt werden, die kompetenteste ferner attraktivste Darstellung der Page auf allen Geräten und ihre Effektivität in Beschaffenheit von Businesspromotion, unabhängig vonseiten Thema und Spezifität. Bemerkenswert ist, falls die Entwicklung von Projekten hier dauernd in kürzester Zeit erfolgt. Gleichzeitig können Geschäftsinhaber sofort eine weitere Werbung jetzt für die Internetseite im Netzwerk bestellen, die Zielgruppe versuchen und die Anzahl der Verkäufe erhöhen. In der Tat ist natürlich die Bestellung einer Website in der modernen Erde nicht so schwierig. Solche Dienste werden von Studios und privaten Spezialisten erbracht. Sie bringen ein Projekt von beliebiger Komplexität, Abwechslung und Thematik entwickeln. Sofern Sie Bargeld sparen bedürftig, sollte der Kunde herauf die beginnenden Internetagenturen acht geben°. Trotz der geringen Kosten versuchen die Meister, die Arbeit qualitativ und zuverlässig zu erledigen. Wenn das Budget das Ihnen ermöglicht, ein teureres Produkt zu erhalten, zu tun sein Sie gegenseitig an erfahrene und perfekte Organisationen auf die andere seite legen.

Professionelle Website-Erstellung ermöglicht dieses Ihnen, einen neuen Hinschauen auf Das eigenes Geschäft zu schmeißen. Ein kompetenter Transfer darüber hinaus ein virtuelles Flugzeug ermöglicht es, darüber hinaus in dieser Ruhezeit dieses spürbares Einkommen zu erzeugen. Eine erfolgreiche Website ist echt der Autoschlüssel zu einem erfolgreichen Geschäft. Aber was bestimmt welchen Erfolg jener Website? Vorhanden ist es bestimmten Kriterien, die helfen, allen Erfolg des Projekts über bestimmen? Vor allem Webdesign und technische Lösung. Bedeutsam sind auch die Beratung der Beihilfe und deren Förderung. Professionelle Erstellung von Websites ist natürlich unmöglich des weiteren ohne 1 kompetenten Marketingansatz. Worüber unterhalten wir gerade? Entwickler jener Ressource müssten sich dieser Erstellung dieser Site nähern, um die Ressource über schaffen, die Zielgruppe erhöht des weiteren mehr und mehr Profit bringt, und eine elektronische Broschüre ist natürlich überhaupt in keiner weise das, was wir erfordern. Die beste Phase jener Arbeit sollte sein, die Besonderheiten des Geschäfts des Kunden, die Bekanntschaft via der Zielgruppe, das Studieren der Konkurrenten zu kennenlernen. Auf jener gleichen Schicht werden Geschäftsziele festgelegt. Die professionelle Erstellung von Websites bietet die Möglichkeit, Schlussfolgerungen darüber über ziehen, herauf was jemand sich konzentrieren soll, uff (berlinerisch) welche Materialien die Sites zu setzen sind, was auf der Hauptseite über platzieren ist echt, welche Schlüsselwörter zur Optimierung der Internetauftritt usw. operieren. In den ersten Phasen ist eine professionelle Erstellung von Webseiten ohne ernsthafte Arbeit in keiner weise vorstellbar Webdesign. Das Gestaltung der Internetseite ist seine Kleidung, für die Jene sich getroffen werden. Aufgrund der tatsache der Gegebenheit, dass es jeden Tag eine zunehmende Anzahl vonseiten des identisch sein Themas vorhanden ist, konzentriert sich der Benutzer, um bei weitem nicht verwirrt über sein, uff (berlinerisch) die Beihilfe, die schöner aussieht. Je teurer dasjenige Design erscheint, desto zuversichtlicher wird das sein. Taktvolle rücksichtsnahme vor allen Erfolgreichen, die genug Barmittel für teures Webdesign bestizen. Professionelle Erstellung von Webseiten – Arbeitskapazität von allen ohne Ausnahmefall von Elementen einer Internetseite, bequem ferner klar für alle Navigation, bequeme Strukturierung der Informationen.

India Greets Bibi Like Royalty; PM Hails Modi as “Revolutionary Leader”

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Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, second from left, talks with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Netanyahu and his wife Sarah, second from right, arrive at Palam airport in New Delhi Sunday. Netanyahu arrived for his first visit to India to expand defense, trade and energy ties. On Tuesday, Netanyahu told an audience at the Raisina Dialogue conference in New Delhi that, “the strong survive, the weak don’t survive, you make peace and alliances with the strong.” Photo Credit: Saudi Gazette
Netanyahu praised his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi and commended Modi’s landmark visit to Israel last July. “Your visit to Israel broke ground,” Netanyahu said. “You were the first leader of India to come to Israel in 3000 years, I hope it will not take long for your next visit. I want to tell you that we believe in India as much as you believe in Israel.”

“The strong survive, the weak don’t survive, you make peace and alliances with the strong,” Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said at the Raisina Dialogue conference in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Speaking on the third day of his six-day trip to India, Netanyahu became the first foreign leader to speak at the policy conference, saying that in order to achieve military power, nations had to first achieve economic power.

Netanyahu also praised his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi and commended Modi’s landmark visit to Israel last July. “Your visit to Israel broke ground,” Netanyahu said. “You were the first leader of India to come to Israel in 3000 years, I hope it will not take long for your next visit. I want to tell you that we believe in India as much as you believe in Israel.”

Netanyahu also talked to the conference, titled Managing Disruptive Transitions: Ideas, Institutions and Idioms, about what it takes to manage India’s disruptive transition into an economic superpower:

At the Raisina conference in New Delhi on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said, “If you want to be an economic power, you must reduce and simplify taxes, and cut bureaucracy. The main job of both India and Israel is to cut this bureaucracy so companies can get on with the business of doing business.”

“If you want to be an economic power, you must reduce and simplify taxes, and cut bureaucracy. The main job of both India and Israel is to cut this bureaucracy so companies can get on with the business of doing business,” Netanyahu said.

The prime minister closed his speech by reiterating the importance of the alliance between Israel and India, as well as between democracies in general. “The alliance of democracies is important to secure our common future. I believe possibilities are endless. In this visit, we have discussed how we can strengthen our two nations in civilian, security and in every area.”

On Monday, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that his country and Israel will scale up their partnership and take it to “soaring new heights,” at a press conference in New Delhi.

Subsequent to a face-to-face meeting between the two leaders, Modi said “our discussions were marked by convergence to accelerate our engagement and to scale up our partnership.”

“In Prime Minister Netanyahu, I have a counterpart who is equally committed to taking the India-Israel relationship to soaring new heights,” Modi added.

Israeli PM Netanyahu and Indian PM Modi meet with the orphaned Moshe Holtzberg in Israel in July of 2017

Modi described the talks as “wide-ranging and intensive, marked by a desire to do more.” He said that Israel and India wanted to strengthen cooperation in agriculture, science and technology and that he had invited Israeli defense companies to produce in India.

Netanyahu, for his part, hailed Modi as a “revolutionary leader” and described India as a country that “abounds with creativity and scientific technology.” Netanyahu said he was “filled with hope that this new era of India-Israel relations will bring unprecedented benefits to both nations and all of humanity.”

Meanwhile, Israel and India signed nine agreements Monday in the fields of cyber security cooperation, petroleum and natural gas, aviation agreement, film co-production, research into homeopathic medicine, space technologies, metal air batteries and concentrated solar thermal technologies.

As was reported by Yaakov Lappin in an article for the Jewish News Service, Israel’s defense industries have been supplying ever-increasing numbers of cutting-edge weapons and platforms to India’s military. Last April, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) announced a $2 billion sale of medium-range, surface-to-air missile defense systems to the Indian Army. IAI’s Barak 8 air defense system, which can detect threats that are more than 60 miles away, is in service in the Indian Navy.

Another prominent development in bilateral defense ties is a $525 million order from India for the purchase of Spike anti-tank guided missiles produced by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems—a deal that was initially canceled by India for reasons relating to the country’s “Make in India” policy, but which was reportedly revived shortly before Netanyahu’s visit.

“India has deep defense cooperation with Israel,” Vinay Kaura, an assistant professor of international affairs and security studies at the Sardar Patel University of Police, Security and Criminal Justice in Rajasthan, India, told JNS.

“This has been a mutually beneficial relationship,” he said. “India has diversified its arms purchases while getting highly advanced weapons. Israel has benefited substantially monetarily….Israel has been a very reliable supplier of military spare parts to India during time of crisis. India has also turned to Israel to upgrade some of its Russian-origin military equipment.”

Netanyahu’s visit, which comes six months after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Israel, “will further deepen the already close defense ties,” said Kaura.

Additionally, he argued, “There are many advanced American weapons systems that India could not access directly. India could get these weapons through Israel.”

On the political front, it was reported by the Chabad.org web site that the surviving son of the Orthodox Jewish couple that was murdered in the Mumbai, India attack by terrorists in 2008 has returned to his former home after 10 years with Prime Minister Netanyahu. Moshe Holtzberg, the son of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg lives in Israel now with relatives. Chabad has reported that one of the objectives of the trip is for Moshe to help unveil plans for a state-of-the-art Living Memorial in honor of his parents who were dispatched to Mumbai as Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries.

Moshe Holtzberg, who is now a 12-year-old yeshiva student, will join Netanyahu, who will unveil a plaque honoring his parents at Nariman House, the building in the bustling Colaba district of India’s largest city that houses the Chabad center. The plaque will serve as the cornerstone for the Living Memorial.

Designed to educate and inspire people of all backgrounds to act for the betterment of themselves, their communities and the world, the Living Memorial will include the apartment where the Holtzbergs lived, as well as the floor where most of the murders occurred. On the top floor, from where one can see the sites of the other terror attacks that swept through Mumbai, will be a reflection garden that will focus on and recognize all the victims of the attacks.

“Inspired by the universal teachings of the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—the Living Memorial is designed to show how every individual has the ability and responsibility to make the world a better place,” said Rabbi Yisroel Kozlovsky, co-director, with his wife, Chaya, of Chabad-Lubavitch of Mumbai.

Since arriving in 2012, the Kozlovskys, based out of a small house in Mumbai set out to reestablish Chabad’s activities and services in the region, to its pre-2008 levels, and rebuild Nariman House, which was still in disrepair following the terror attack and the subsequent Indian commando raid. Amid much celebration, Chabad of Mumbai formally reopened Nariman House in 2014. It serves as the nerve center for Chabad’s work in the city, and home away from home for local members of the community and visitors from around the world.

Moshe was invited to visit his former home by Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi during the premier’s maiden visit to Israel in July; it was then that Netanyahu invited the boy to join him on this trip to India, the first by an Israeli prime minister in 25 years.

Edited by: Arthur Popowitz
(TPS, JNS & Chabad.org)

 

NYC Officials Respond To Trump’s Controversial Comments on Immigrants

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City Council Speaker Corey Johnson (pictured above) and Council Member Mathieu Eugene (D-Flatbush, East Flatbush, Ditmas Park, Prospect Lefferts Garden), who is a Haitian-American, released a joint statement calling Trump’s racist and incendiary comments about Haiti and Africa an affront to the very values of the nation and of the American dream.

President Donald Trump reportedly referred to Haiti, El Salvador, and various African nations as “s***hole countries” during immigration reform talks with Congressional lawmakers on Thursday, January 11, triggering disgust and outrage from dozens of elected officials — many of them in Brooklyn and New York City.

Trump allegedly asked “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” in response to a suggestion to renew Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for immigrants who moved here after their home countries were devastated by natural disasters and/or war.

The alleged comment that has been dominating the headlines of cable TV news programs for days came on the eve of the eighth anniversary of the earthquake that devastated Haiti and its residents.

According to the Washington Post, which spoke to several people in attendance at the meeting, Trump then singled out Haitians for ire, asking “Why do we need more Haitians? Take them out [of any deal],” and expressed a desire to increase immigration from Western European and Asian countries instead.

“I condemn @realDonaldTrump disparaging remarks referring to #Haiti and #African Nations as #shithole countries. We demand an apology for his insensitive & ignorant racist remarks,” wrote Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte (D-Flatbush, Ditmas Park) on Twitter. Bichotte, a Brooklyn native, is the first Haitian-American woman elected into office in New York City.

Fellow Haitian American elected official, Republican Congressmember Mia Love of Utah, also spoke out, noting that people like her parents sought the American Dream and that “The president’[s] comments are unkind, divisive, elitist, and fly in the face of our nation’s values. This behavior is unacceptable from the leader of our nation.”

Over 60,000 Haitians have TPS status, many of whom have lived, worked, and raised families in the United States for decades. Around 5,400 of these individuals live in New York City, many of them in Brooklyn’s Flatbush, Canarsie, Crown Heights, and East Flatbush neighborhoods, as well as Queens’ Cambria Heights, Queens Village, Springfield Gardens, Jamaica and Rosedale.

The issue of TPS protections came up seven weeks ago when Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Elaine Duke announced that it would not be renewed and Haitians had 18 months to leave.

It then came up again on December 23 when the New York Times reported that back in June of 2017, Trump said Haitian immigrants “all have AIDS” and that Nigerian immigrants would never “go back to their huts” once allowed entry in to the United States.

Back then, the White House flatly denied that account was true.

However, White House spokesperson Raj Shah did not dispute this latest account, instead defending Trump as championing “those who can contribute to our society, grow our economy, and assimilate into our great nation.”

Shah continued, adding that, “Certain Washington politicians choose to fight for foreign countries, but President Trump will always fight for the American people.”

That did little to curb criticisms of Trump as “racist” by world leaders and U.S. officials alike.

“Dear @realDonaldTrump, your bigotry is showing,” tweeted Congressmember Yvette D. Clarke (D-Crown Heights, Flatbush, East Flatbush, Brownsville, Midwood, Sheepshead Bay).

“During the campaign then-candidate Trump vowed to be a champion of the Haitian people,” Clarke noted at a Flatbush community meeting in December. “Is this what he meant?”

Clarke had also previously responded to Trump’s alleged “AIDS” comment by stating that “If true, this serves as yet another example of Donald Trump’s ignorance. These comments, and the racism that inspires them, are reprehensible.”

City Council Speaker Corey Johnson and Council Member Mathieu Eugene (D-Flatbush, East Flatbush, Ditmas Park, Prospect Lefferts Garden), who is a Haitian-American, released a joint statement calling Trump’s racist and incendiary comments about Haiti and Africa an affront to the very values of the nation and of the American dream.

“The country is deeply divided, and the President should be focused on bringing unity by creating the spirit of trust and respect and putting an end to the cruel and senseless immigration raids that are tearing families apart. The United States is and always will be an immigrant nation, and even as President Trump continues to dehumanize the very people who make our country great, New York City will continue to stand strong and defend our status as a sanctuary city,” they said in their statement.

By: Heather J. Chin
(Kings County Politics)

 

CUNY’s John Jay College to Stop Accepting $$$ from Koch Brothers

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John Jay University had maintained a positive relationship with the Koch Brothers in the past. In 2016, a university donation pamphlet listed both the Charles Koch Foundation, as giving between $50,000 and $100,000, in addition to the nonprofit Charles Koch Institute, listed as contributing between $10,000 and $25,000

The president of City University of New York’s John Jay College announced they will no longer solicit donations or accept any help from the Koch Brothers, after activist faculty have decried the Koch brother’s politically conservative and libertarian political advocacy.

20 activist faculty at John Jay formed a group called “Koch Concerns Coalition”, the NY Post reported.

John Jay University had maintained a positive relationship with the Koch Brothers in the past. In 2016, a university donation pamphlet listed both the Charles Koch Foundation, as giving between $50,000 and $100,000, in addition to the nonprofit Charles Koch Institute, listed as contributing between $10,000 and $25,000. Mark Holden, the Koch Industries general counsel called the president of John Jay university Karol Mason “his friend”, at the “Smart on Crime” conference held at John Jay Hall a few years ago.

Charles and David Koch, who control Koch industries, the second largest privately held company in the United States, have long been ideological enemies to those on the political left. For decades the Koch brothers have advocated and financially contributed towards free market leaning politicians, think tanks and other groups. The Koch brothers have contributed to 34 political and policy organizations in total. They have become political “bogeyman” to those opposing their economic ideals.

Ironically, they have long advocated for more libertarian leaning Republican politicians who are more socially liberal on issues such as abortion, gay marriage and have been advocates of criminal justice reform. The “Smart on Crime” conference which was held at John Jay, brought together political think tanks of both the left and the right to discuss the “overcriminalization” of Americans and such issues as mass incarceration of minorities, “victimless crimes” and reforming drug laws.

The Anti-Koch movement reaches far beyond John Jay College. A nationwide non-profit called “Un-Koch my campus” helps activist students and faculty at universities start campaigns aimed at rejecting any philanthropic assistance from the Koch Brothers non-profit groups and foundations directed towards their university.

The decision to reject any charitable money from the Koch Brothers comes at a time where CUNY schools have serious financial problems. The NY Times reported in 2016 that many CUNY campus suffer from technical problems with elevators, escalators and copy machines that are frequently out of order. Computers and other equipment often do not work in classrooms and wi-fi signals barely function. Also reported were college library budgets being slashed , class sizes drastically increasing , and the hiring of professors slowing down. The Times reported that a class on cardiac rehabilitation, lacked essential materials such as inhalers and carbon dioxide masks.

By: Grant Coleridge

 

De Blasio Skewered By Media For Suing Oil Companies Over Global Warming

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Fox News host Tucker Carlson called out de Blasio for his past helicopter use, singling out an incident when he used a police helicopter from Brooklyn to Queens.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday stood side-by-side with environmentalists as he unveiled his plan to sue five oil companies for damages supposedly caused by man-made global warming.

De Blasio blames five major oil companies, including ExxonMobil, for damages caused to New York City by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The mayor wants companies to pay for the damages and for future projects to make the city more resilient to flooding and storm surge.

But while environmentalists applauded de Blasio’s anti-oil effort, it fell flat among media outlets that have been covering his repeated use of SUVs and helicopters. Outlets were quick to point out de Blasio’s own hypocrisy when it came to fighting global warming.

New York Times writer Jim Dwyer pointed out the NYC mayor “regularly rides around town in an SUV” In fact, de Blasio regularly cruises around with a fleet of SUVs, including when he goes to the gym.

Dwyer pointed out that shortly after the announcement, de Blasio attended a prayer breakfast. His entourage left the gas-guzzlers “running while the mayor was inside, for about two hours,” Dwyer wrote.

The New York Observer called de Blasio an “Imperial Hypocrite.” the outlet pointed out that de Blasio has made excuses for taking a fleet of SUV’s to the gym five days a week. De Blasio’s fleet regularly includes GMC Yukon XL and a Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid, which only gets 20 miles per gallon.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson called out de Blasio for his past helicopter use, singling out an incident when he used a police helicopter from Brooklyn to Queens.

Former New York Times reporter Andrew Revkin, who now writes for ProPublica, pointed out that de Blasio has opposed policies environmentalists believe can cut emissions linked to global warming.

Revkin also asked a very important question: who used all the oil de Blasio is blaming for damaging New York City?

New York City is not the first to sue oil companies over global warming. A handful of California local governments sued oil companies for selling fossil fuels that allegedly made sea level rise and extreme weather worse.

De Blasio’s anti-oil effort also includes a plan to divest New York City’s pension fund from fossil fuels over the next five years. Again, it’s a policy wholeheartedly endorsed by environmental groups, but one that doesn’t mean much if you continue to use oil to get from place to place.

By: Michael Bastasch
(The Daily Caller)

 

Enraged Man Attacked by Ex NY Gov Spitzer Files NYPD Report 

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Former Governor Elliot Spitzer has cascaded downhill in recent days as his bellicosity has been revealed on a number of public occasions

A Manhattan resident who claimed last week that former Governor Elliot Spitzer threatened to stab him in the privates during a verbal altercation at an extravagant restaurant has officially filed a police report, according to the NY Post.

Jamie Antolini was dining with potential business partners at Avra Madison Estiatorio when Spitzer overheard Antolini praising philanthropist Kenneth Langone, one of the founders of Home Depot and a long time foe of Spitzer, The Jewish Voice reported last week.

After listening to the conversation Antolini was having, Spitzer allegedly got belligerent and ended up screaming: “I’m going to f-king stab you with a f-king knife in the c-ck”.

Authorities said Jamie Antolini filed a complaint with the 19th prescient on Friday.

“The people I was with are still in shock, I just don’t understand how anybody can make those comments”, Antolini said.

Antolini is being represented by lawyer Joseph Murray, who is also representing Svetlana Travis Zakharova, the high priced escort who allegedly was threatened by Spitzer during a phone conversation.

“I believe that there may be many more victims of Eliot Spitzer’s threatening, bullying and otherwise abusive tactics who will come forward when the ‘steamroller’ is finally arrested by the NYPD,” said Murray.

Svetlana Travis Zakharova recently met with the NYPD to discuss a short phone recording allegedly between her and Spitzer that captures a man threatening her life, The Jewish Voice reported last week.

You ***** bitch. You piece of **** and then you fucking destroy my life,” the man is heard saying. The recording continues with the man, whom Zakharova claims is the former governor saying: “You know what’s going to happen to you? You’re going to be dead.”

Spitzer was having ongoing liaisons with the Russian Escort, which eventually ended up with accusations of Spitzer choking her in a hotel room and Zakharova allegedly extorting Spitzer in excess of over $40,000 to keep her from going to the media and Spitzer’s family about the pay to play arrangements they had.

Zakharova recently served 90 days jail for a forgery charge involving stealing rent money from an ex-lover. As part of the agreement, the high-priced seductress didn’t have to admit to extorting $400,000 from Spitzer by threatening to go public with their affair, The Jewish Voice Reported.

By: Austin Myers

 

NYU Prof Files Suit After Being Ousted for “Non-PC” Speech

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NYU Professor Michael Rectenwald, (pictured above) who has been branded politically incorrect, is now suing the college and four fellow professors for calling him everything from a drug addict to Satan, as reported by the NY Post.

NYU Professor Michael Rectenwald, who has been branded politically incorrect, is now suing the college and four fellow professors for calling him everything from a drug addict to Satan, as reported by the NY Post. The 58-year-old liberal studies professor said that the 20 “hateful” e-mails against him turned his once-pleasant academic life into a nightmare and has jeopardized his career. “I’ve been universally shunned by the entire department,” he said. “In academia, to be called a ‘racist’ and a ‘sexist’ is like the kiss of death.” In his defamation lawsuit filed on Friday in Manhattan Supreme Court, Rectenwald asserts that “malicious” statements appeared in an e-mail thread that blasted out over five days in May from school accounts to more than 100 university staff members. He says the school did nothing to stop the “nasty screed”. The suit seeks unspecified monetary and punitive damages.

Back in September 2016, the professor opened an undercover twitter account with the name “Deplorable NYU Prof”. He spoke out against the overly liberal and PC culture with increasingly popular use of “safe spaces” and “trigger warnings” on campus and universities across the country. After he identified himself, in an interview for the school newspaper, 12 members of NYU’s ‘Liberal Studies Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Working Group’, a group of liberal-studies students and staff, published a letter claiming Rectenwald was “guilty of illogic and incivility.” In October, NYU forced Rectenwald to go on paid leave for the semester. When he returned to his post in January 2017, he says he was ill-treated and slandered in the department.

He says after his return, Associate professor Jacqueline Bishop called him the “short pants boy they call the devil” as well as a “coward,” “punk *ss” and “Adderall-filled bully.” She accused him of coming to staff meetings “high and incoherent with your tongue sticking out the side of your mouth,” as per the suit. Rectenwald says, former assistant professor Theresa Senft also “mocked” him in a mass e-mail to the dean and the entire liberal-studies department. He says Professor Carley Moore allegedly accused him of an “ongoing campaign to silence and harass anyone who seeks to challenge his delusional, narcissistic and drug-fueled narrative.” Further, adjunct professor Amber Frost called him a “right-wing misogynist.”

“It’s very painful to be accused of things that you haven’t done and have no basis in fact,” he said in tears. As per the Post, Rectenwald pleaded with NYU’s human resources to relocate him to the Russian-studies building three blocks away, which they did in September. “I felt unsafe” in my department, he said. He also said that he is worried he will not have his contract renewed when it ends. “The renewal committee will be drawn from the faculty, which has been utterly contaminated now by these statements,” he said.

NYU spokesman John Beckman commented to say, “This lawsuit is without merit”.

By: Ellen Can

 

 

Touro College Spends $70M on “Dorm Space” at Posh West Side Address

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One West End, the nearly finished 42-story mixed-use tower, is owned by a joint venture between Silverstein Properties and Elad Group
Touro College prides itself as the largest Jewish-affiliated private university in America, with 30 locations in four countries, and 18,000 students collectively. The enrolled student body is said to be 71 percent female.

Touro College has purchased a 67,000-square-foot condominium unit, for use as a dormitory for the Lander Woman’s College. The school has agreed to pay just below $70 million for the space at One West End, which the developer had intended to sell as office space, as per the Post. “We looked at other properties in the neighborhood, but this was the best deal out there that met our needs,” said Jeffrey M. Rosengarten, Senior Vice President for Operations of Touro College and University System, in an emailed statement to the Jewish Voice.

“In the tradition of fostering an exceptional academic experience and rewarding living environment, Lander College for Women and the Anna Ruth and Mark Hasten School are invested in consolidating our student residences allowing for a more integrated campus experience. This is a goal we have been working to accomplish for many years and will be of crucial benefit for current and future students,” said Dr. Marian Stoltz-Loike, Vice President and Dean of Lander College for Women (LCW)/The Anna Ruth and Mark Hasten School.

The much necessitated new dormitory will replace and combine the two current Touro woman’s dorms. It is slated to open for students either in Fall 2018 or Winter semester 2019, according to Mr. Rosengarten. The future separate dorm entrance, and private lobby, will be on West 59th street and West End Avenue, situated within the five-building development known as Riverside Center. “Plans are ready and are in the process of being filed. We expect construction to begin in February, and we are already bidding the work out to contractors,” Mr. Rosengarten said.

One West End, the nearly finished 42-story mixed-use tower, is owned by a joint venture between Silverstein Properties and Elad Group. It has a concrete low-rise component wrapping around it. The space purchased, is on the South side of this component, which is otherwise primarily filled with 116 affordable rental units. Also in the low-rise component is 30,000 square feet of retail space leased by Morton Williams, the grocery chain. Two smaller retail blocks are still available there. The glassy, high-rise portion of the $500 million tower consists of 246 market-rate condo apartments, 75 percent of which have already been sold, as per Silverstein.

Mark Weiss from Cushman & Wakefield represented the sellers in the transaction. Also from Cushman & Wakefield, Richard Bernstein represented Touro in the sale. Mr. Weiss termed the sale as an “an innovative re-invention of the space”, to address “an enormous shortage of dormitory space in the city.” Weiss said in an emailed statement that Touro had been searching “intensively for sites”. He also said that Touro partially funded the deal with NYS Dormitory Authority Bonds. DASNY, the 72-year-old organization, touts itself as the nation’s largest issuers of low-cost, tax-exempt bonds for public agencies and private not-for-profit institutions.

Touro College prides itself as the largest Jewish-affiliated private university in America, with 30 locations in four countries, and 18,000 students collectively. The enrolled student body is said to be 71 percent female. The NY campuses have a total student population of 13,033; 6,834 of whom are undergraduates. The Landers School for Women is located at 227 W 60th St between West End Avenue and Amsterdam Ave. The annual cost of enrollment for students is estimated to be $33,230, as per Forbes. The school, established in 1970, accommodates students from all backgrounds and circumstances. It has continuously branched out adding Schools for professional specialties in the five boroughs, with several of the graduate schools located in Brooklyn. The school also took over the New York Medical College. Touro’s most recent addition has been the School of Dental Medicine in Hawthorne.

Back in June 2017, Touro College sold its Upper West Side building at 10 West 65th Street to Clipper Realty for $79 million. The 82,000 square foot property included an 82-unit multifamily property with rental apartments, and 53,000 square feet of air rights. As per Real Estate Weekly, that six-story pre-war building, located between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West, also included 46 apartments used by Touro College as dormitory space. The school had purchased the property in June 2008 for $44 million, bringing in a nice profit which clearly came to use in this acquisition. “The purchase is being financed through the proceeds of a building we sold at a favorable rate, which has allowed us to purchase this new property at One West End. Ultimately this was a wise acquisition for Touro, that will also enhance the student experience.”

By: Ilana Siyance

 

Bruce Ratner Drops Stake in Pacific Park to 5%; Sells to Greenland USA

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The 94-year-old book publisher, Simon & Schuster, has signed a new lease to stay at 1230 Sixth Avenue, where its name will remain etched on the building’s entry in bronze letters
Part of Rockefeller Center’s 19-building complex, the 1939 building is located between West 48th and West 49th streets in Midtown Manhattan. The new long term lease for an impressive 300,150 square feet in its eponymous building will begin in fall 2019

Bruce Ratner’s real estate development company is reducing its stake in the Pacific Park mega-complex, which it launched 13 years ago, to just five percent.

Sources told The Post that in the restructuring of shares, Greenland USA, Forest City New York’s partner on the giant Brooklyn project, will be increasing its stake from 70 percent to 95 percent. This will put the formerly Atlantic Yards under almost complete control of the subsidiary of China’s Greenland Group.

According to The Post, “Greenland intends to move forward swiftly with plans for a new apartment building at Atlantic and Sixth avenues, next door to Barclays Center, with a groundbreaking in 2019, sources said. The restructuring could be announced as soon as this week. It marks the latest twist in the drawn-out and contentious saga of Pacific Park, which has seen as much drama as most Nets games at the 5-year-old arena. With Greenland USA firmly in control, the long-delayed complex is likely to get a badly needed infusion of energy — and capital. Only four of 15 planned buildings have gone up 13 years after Ratner won city and state approval to create a new, 22-acre residential and recreational complex at the juncture of Atlantic and Flatbush avenues.”

The diverging priorities of the partners are plainly seen in this new arrangement.

Since coming into the US market in 2013, major projects have been supported by

Greenland USA in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Now the foreign firm is looking to make its mark in New York.

The Post reports, “For its part, since Forest City went public, it’s reduced its development activity to remain focused on already constructed assets — including a portion of the New York Times headquarters and the Frank Gehry-designed 8 Spruce St. apartment tower — both in Manhattan and Brooklyn’s MetroTech Center.

Ratner, 72, a scion of Forest City New York’s parent Forest City Enterprises, kick-started Pacific Park in 2005 and ran the New York division until 2013. His firm kept a 30 percent stake in the project after it sold 70 percent to Greenland USA in 2013 for a reported $200 million. The deal didn’t include Barclays Center or 461 Dean St., although both are part of the Pacific Park site.”

Even as a minority partner, Forest City will still continue to play a part in the development at Pacific Park.

However, the construction at the major development is currently stalled. According to The Post, “Signs of tension between Greenland USA and Ratner surfaced last June when Hu Gang, chief executive of Greenland USA, said he expected to break ground on two more buildings by the end of 2017. But in November, Forest City Realty Trust CEO David LaRue said his company had no timetable for new construction, citing anxiety over competition from 30,000 new apartments being built or planned in Brooklyn. Forest City stopped all work there, citing a $307.6 million accounting loss on the project. Greenland USA will be under pressure to meet a state-city deadline in 2025 to complete some 2,250 affordable housing units at Pacific Park.”

As of now, the development has seen the construction of only about 800 affordable housing units, which means Greenland has a long way to go before its deadline in seven years.

By: Mark Snyder

 

Bruce Ratner Drops Stake in Pacific Park to 5%; Sells to Greenland USA

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Bruce Ratner’s real estate development company is reducing its stake in the Pacific Park mega-complex, which it launched 13 years ago, to just five percent.

Bruce Ratner’s real estate development company is reducing its stake in the Pacific Park mega-complex, which it launched 13 years ago, to just five percent.

Sources told The Post that in the restructuring of shares, Greenland USA, Forest City New York’s partner on the giant Brooklyn project, will be increasing its stake from 70 percent to 95 percent. This will put the formerly Atlantic Yards under almost complete control of the subsidiary of China’s Greenland Group.

According to The Post, “Greenland intends to move forward swiftly with plans for a new apartment building at Atlantic and Sixth avenues, next door to Barclays Center, with a groundbreaking in 2019, sources said. The restructuring could be announced as soon as this week. It marks the latest twist in the drawn-out and contentious saga of Pacific Park, which has seen as much drama as most Nets games at the 5-year-old arena. With Greenland USA firmly in control, the long-delayed complex is likely to get a badly needed infusion of energy — and capital. Only four of 15 planned buildings have gone up 13 years after Ratner won city and state approval to create a new, 22-acre residential and recreational complex at the juncture of Atlantic and Flatbush avenues.”

The diverging priorities of the partners are plainly seen in this new arrangement.

Since coming into the US market in 2013, major projects have been supported by

Greenland USA in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Now the foreign firm is looking to make its mark in New York.

The Post reports, “For its part, since Forest City went public, it’s reduced its development activity to remain focused on already constructed assets — including a portion of the New York Times headquarters and the Frank Gehry-designed 8 Spruce St. apartment tower — both in Manhattan and Brooklyn’s MetroTech Center.

Ratner, 72, a scion of Forest City New York’s parent Forest City Enterprises, kick-started Pacific Park in 2005 and ran the New York division until 2013. His firm kept a 30 percent stake in the project after it sold 70 percent to Greenland USA in 2013 for a reported $200 million. The deal didn’t include Barclays Center or 461 Dean St., although both are part of the Pacific Park site.”

Even as a minority partner, Forest City will still continue to play a part in the development at Pacific Park.

However, the construction at the major development is currently stalled. According to The Post, “Signs of tension between Greenland USA and Ratner surfaced last June when Hu Gang, chief executive of Greenland USA, said he expected to break ground on two more buildings by the end of 2017. But in November, Forest City Realty Trust CEO David LaRue said his company had no timetable for new construction, citing anxiety over competition from 30,000 new apartments being built or planned in Brooklyn. Forest City stopped all work there, citing a $307.6 million accounting loss on the project. Greenland USA will be under pressure to meet a state-city deadline in 2025 to complete some 2,250 affordable housing units at Pacific Park.”

As of now, the development has seen the construction of only about 800 affordable housing units, which means Greenland has a long way to go before its deadline in seven years.

By: Mark Snyder

 

 

Minimum Wage Increases in NYS; Underemployment Also Rises

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“The headline number just shocks me. It is extremely high,” said Professor Constantine Yannelis at the NYU Stern School of Business, referring to the whopping figure of 1.6 million people

Effective January 1, 2018, small business owners across New York State must raise the hourly rate by $1.50, bringing the minimum wage up to $12. Minimum wage will gradually increase to $15 an hour throughout NYS, as per a law signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo last year, thanks in part to the $19 million spent by The Service Employees International Union who fervently pushed the agenda.

As reported by the NY Post, New York City workers are far from optimistic about the prospect. The prediction is that more workers will soon be underemployed with a dwindling number of work hours in their weeks. A new report by the Robin Hood Poverty Tracker, in association with Columbia University, shows that over 1.6 million people, or an astounding 45 percent of the local labor force (which was not represented in official government statistics), are struggling with underemployment and limited hours of work. The unearthing of New York’s hidden underemployment has delivered a shock even to experts. According to the Department of Labor, NYC unemployment rate is at 4.7 percent, and Underemployment, which includes the unemployed, discouraged and others, is officially at 8.7 percent. Robin Hood’s metric also counts workers who are working fewer hours than they would like.

“These new results underscore the fact that low-income New Yorkers don’t need just any job. What they need are good jobs that will provide enough hours, pay a living wage and help them move out of poverty,” said Steven Lee, a managing director at Robin Hood, the New York-based nonprofit founded by Wall Street titans to assist struggling communities.

“The headline number just shocks me. It is extremely high,” said Professor Constantine Yannelis at the NYU Stern School of Business, referring to the whopping figure of 1.6 million people. “The numbers for New York City probably understate the problem, in that people probably have to leave the city if they are underemployed,” he continued. NY’s cost of living is too high to stick around for people not making a decent income. According to government data, the number of local low-income workers in the past decade alone has more than doubled from 25 percent of the labor force up to a staggering 56 percent, since the end of the Great Recession through 2016. “There has been a significant hollowing out of the middle class in New York City over the past 20 years,” said Yannelis.

By: Hadassa Kalatizadeh

 

Cuomo: NYS Can Install Tolls Anywhere to Decrease Traffic Congestion

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Tolls on New York State thruway
Cuomo said, “We have the ability with technology to put tolling anywhere in the city — it’s not just the bridges, it’s just a gantry with a license plate reader that reads an EZ pass or a license plate. So we can put that anywhere. So we can be very flexible and variable so there are a lot of options.”

On Monday, January 14, Governor Andrew Cuomo gave serious thought to the creation of a congestion pricing plan for Manhattan. He said that the state has the authority to install tolls on any block in New York City.

At a press conference on a separate issue, Cuomo said, “We have the ability with technology to put tolling anywhere in the city — it’s not just the bridges, it’s just a gantry with a license plate reader that reads an EZ pass or a license plate. So we can put that anywhere. So we can be very flexible and variable so there are a lot of options.”

Rather than placing additional tolls on Manhattan’s bridges, FixNYC, the panel created by the governor to study congestion pricing, will call for a “zone” in the borough. Later this week, a report will be released by the commission with their detailed recommendations.

Cuomo said, “Really what you want to do is keep people out of the highly congested areas at the time of the highest congestion, and we now have the capacity to put up tolling machines on any corner, any block, to operate at any time. So the FixNYC commission, and I think they tend to be right, is talking about defining a zone and then charging for that zone.”

The governor explained that the funds collected by the new tolls would be used to assist the struggling subway system. The plan could bring in as much as $1.5 billion each year, according to congestion pricing advocates.

The Post reports, “Mayor Bill de Blasio has opposed congestion pricing, a strategy that dates back to a decade ago when it was first proposed by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg’s plan, which has been pushed by the Move NY advocacy group ever since, called for tolls on vehicles crossing the bridges or entering Manhattan’s central business district below 60th Street.”

Last year, in a discussion regarding congestion pricing, de Blasio said, “I’ve never been in favor of this strategy. I’ve never seen an example of it that I thought was fair.”

The Mayor is against the tolls, which he feels will hurt the average New Yorker. De Blasio favors a “millionaires tax” as an alternate way to help fund the city’s failing public transportation system.

By: Rebecca Gold

 

Brooklyn Man is Driving Force Behind New NYC Restroom Access Law

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The new law came about through the efforts of Williamsburg resident Yoely Drummer who was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease ten years ago.

Under a new law, all businesses that are open to the public and have two or more employees are now required to grant access to employee-only restrooms to anyone with IBD or other medical conditions that requires immediate access to a bathroom if there are no public facilities available.

Yoely Drummer, of Williamsburg founded the “Crohn’s and Colitis Support Group” seven years ago after his frustration with constantly not being allowed to use restrooms in stores like Duane Reed, which do not have public restrooms. Yoley suffers from Crohn’s syndrome.

Drummer spoke with his local elected officials and was advised that the best way to create a legislative solution to the problem would be to enlist a Republican senator to take up his cause, Vozizneias reported.

The bill, which was sponsored by Senator Kemp Hannon of Long Island and co-sponsored by Senator Simcha Felder in the Senate and sponsored by Assemblywoman Amy Paulin in the Assembly, is sure to help a lot of people who suffer from these disorders.

The Crohn’s and Colitis Fairness Act would only be applicable during business hours and provided that using the restroom would not create any safety risks to the requesting individual or the place of business.

15 states already have a similar law on the books including Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Kentucky, Main and Maryland, to name a few.

Drummer said that the details of the bill would be finalized within 120 days after which time it would become state law.

Jews of Ashkenazic descent are five to seven times more likely to suffer from Crohn’s disease.

Get a letter from your doctor and save a copy of this new legislation on your phone so that if over the next few months you have an urgent situation you will have something to base your claims on and hopefully see better results,” , Senator Felder recommended.

Felder, who also suffers from Crohn’s also said “This bill is very important and very personal to me and while it wasn’t my idea once I was happy to come on board and provide my assistance in any way possible”.

Felder concluded : “ It just goes to show you that when they say ‘you can’t fight City Hall’ it just isn’t true. When dedicated people decide they want to do something and are persistent, they really can make things happen. The moral of the story here is that people should never give up.”

By: Victor Hazan

 

Israeli Startups Raised More than $5 Billion in 2017

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Israeli startups raised more than $5 billion in 2017, besting last year’s record of $4.8 billion, according to a year-end report by IVC Research Center.

Israeli startups raised more than $5 billion in 2017, besting last year’s record of $4.8 billion, according to a year-end report by IVC Research Center.

In the final month of 2017, funding news from Israel was topped by Sirin Labs’ raise of nearly $158 million in the initial offering of its virtual coin, SRN, to finance the development and production of a block chain technology-based phone named Finney.

The Swiss-headquartered company, with R&D in Tel Aviv, was founded in 2013 by Israeli entrepreneur Moshe Hogeg and Kazakhstan-born businessman Kenges Rakishev. Sirin recently signed on soccer star Lionel Messi as its brand ambassador.

Insightec of Haifa was not far behind, with a December raise of $150 million – the largest-ever private, pre-IPO fundraise for a medical technology company in Israel. Koch Disruptive Technologies of Kansas led the Series E round, which will help Insightec further commercialize its approved indications for noninvasive MRI-guided focused ultrasound procedures, as well as continue research in areas such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and brain tumors.

Lemonade completed a $120 million C round led by Softbank of Japan, bringing the total raised by the artificial intelligence-based insurance company to $180 million since its founding in 2015. Lemonade, headquartered in New York with a Tel Aviv development center, plans global expansion in 2018.

Vayyar Imaging, the 3D imaging sensor company whose technology makes it possible to see through objects, closed a $45 million Series C financing round co-led by Walden Riverwood and ITI with additional funding from Claltech and follow-on investment from Battery Ventures, Bessemer Ventures, ICV (Israel Cleantech Ventures), and Amiti. Vayyar, based in Tel Aviv and San Francisco, will use the funds to expand into new industries, grow its global team and diversify its sensing product offerings.

A $30 million funding round was completed by Atox Bio, a clinical-stage biotechnology company in Ness Ziona, Israel and Chapel Hill, North Carolina that is developing novel therapies for critically ill patients. The round was led by Arix Bioscience with participation from a variety of other investors and VC funds.

Leadspace, which offers an intelligence platform for B2B marketers, raised $21 million in Series C funding. The round was led by Arrowroot Capital and existing investor Jerusalem Venture Partners. The company has offices in Hod Hasharon and San Francisco.

Ra’anana-based Anodot added $15 million to the $8 million raised in a Series B financing round last September. Redline Capital Management led the additional investment, with participation from Aleph Venture Capital and Disruptive Technologies Venture Capital. Anodot’s AI analytics platform boasts customers including Comcast, Microsoft, Wix, Waze, AppNexus and AOL.

RDD Pharma of Tel Aviv, which is developing treatments for lower gastro-intestinal disorders, https://www.israel21c.org/a-molecule-that-could-control-continence/ closed a $9.5 million Series B round including $6 million from two new investors. Proceeds will help advance programs globally in anal fissure, fecal incontinence, radiation colitis/proctitis and pruritus ani.

A $5.2 million seed-funding round led by Intel Capital and Elron was reported by Alcide of Tel Aviv as it emerged from stealth mode to launch the industry’s first universal network security platform for the modern data center, including hybrid, multi-compute and multi-cloud data environments.

Guardian Optical Technologies of Tel Aviv raised $5.1 million in Series A funding from Maniv Mobility and Mirai Creation Fund to accelerate and expand development of its new standalone automatic system that combines video image recognition (2D), depth-mapping (3D) and micro- to macro-motion detection enabling automakers to produce safer “passenger-aware” cars.

Valooto raised $3 million in Series A financing from Cornerstone Venture Partners and Shaked Ventures. Valooto’s Customer Engagement Cloud has a customer base of thousands of salespeople. The company was founded in 2013 in Rishon LeZion.

Noveto Systems, which develops virtual earphones, has raised $2.5 million in its B round from the family fund of Vyacheslav Bresht and Daniel Jammer. CEO Tomer Shani and Noam Babayoff founded Noveto in 2011. The company has 12 employees in Petah Tikva. Noveto will display an advanced prototype of its product at the CES technology exhibition in Las Vegas next week.

MySizeID, developer of a personal sizing app for smartphones, raised $2.5 million from a public offering of its common stock in the United States. Based in Airport City, MySizeID trades on NASDAQ and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

Magdent, a portfolio company of The Trendlines Group in Misgav, completed an investment of $1.75 million from three angel investors. Magdent technology utilizes electromagnetic fields to stimulate, accelerate and improve bone formation and quality, and to prevent bone infections, leading to faster, more successful dental implant procedures. Magdent’s healing cap is sold in 22 countries.

Shoodoo Analytics, a startup based in Jerusalem’s VLX Ventures incubator, raised $550,000 in a seed financing round. The company is developing an Analytics-as-a-Service platform for advanced data and predictive analysis.

 

New funds for Israeli startups

Also in December 2017, seed-stage VC fund F2 Capital of Tel Aviv launched a new $50 million fund. F2, established in October 2016, backs Israeli frontier technology companies at the cross-section of big data, artificial intelligence and connectivity. F2 also operates The Junction, a commercial accelerator, in partnership with HP, MunichRe, SAP, Innogy, YBI, Deloitte and other multinational corporations, as an additional investment channel.

Fusion LA, the first accelerator for Israeli startups in Los Angeles, announced a $5 million financing round. The program offers free office space in Santa Monica, subsidized housing and a $20,000 investment in return for equity in the startups. The next batch of startups will enter next month.

By: Abigail Klein Leichman
(Israel 21C)