Democratic boss warns AOC not to challenge Chuck Schumer

 

Don’t do it AOC!

That’s the warning New York’s Democratic party boss has for the sophomore Congresswoman, who is rumored to be mulling a primary challenge to US Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer.

“I think it would be a primary driven by ambition more than by need,” Jay Jacobs told The Post. 

“Chuck Schumer has been a progressive force in the state for decades,” added the chairman of the state Democratic committee. “She has a constituency that admires her and supports her, and they’re in her community, and I think it would be a loss for them if she were to do that.”

And he would beat her, he said.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would “absolutely” lose a challenge if she went head-to-head against the veteran Democratic lawmaker, said Jacobs — who noted he’s yet to meet the Queens rep.

“We’ve never met. I would look forward to doing that,” he said. “I am open to that at any time.” 

There has been speculation for months Ocasio-Cortez, 31, may try to unseat US Senate minority leader Schumer, 70, in 2022 — chatter she hasn’t tamped down.

Asked point blank earlier this year about challenging Schumer, AOC responded “I don’t know,” according to Politico.

“I don’t know if I’m really going to be staying in the House forever,” she told Vanity Fair in October. 

She raised eyebrows again earlier this month after saying she wished to see “new leadership in the Democratic Party.”

President Trump has even chimed in on a potential Ocasio-Cortez-Schumer battle, snarking AOC would “kick his ass,” in a primary.

AOC and Schumer did not return messages.

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Heimishe Brooklyn clinics Cause Huge Chillul Hashem and face criminal probe over unauthorized COVID-19 vaccines

ParCare CEO Gary Schlesinger is pictured earlier this week receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.

A health-care network with clinics in Boro Park, Bensonhurst and Williamsburg is under a criminal investigation for giving unauthorized COVID-19 vaccines, officials said Saturday.

ParCare Community Health Network “may have fraudulently obtained COVID-19 vaccine, transferred it to facilities in other parts of the state in violation of state guidelines and diverted it to members of the public,” state Health Commissioner Howard Zucker said in a news release.

The statement came hours after The Post questioned a state health department spokesman about ParCare giving the coveted inoculations.

The network’s actions appear to violate the state’s plan to administer the limited supply of vaccines first to frontline healthcare workers, along with nursing home residents and staffers, Zucker said.

The state controls where, and to whom, the vaccine is distributed — and there isn’t enough for those who are supposed to be at the front of the line.

“The supply of COVID-19 vaccine remains limited and has not yet met demand among the groups prioritized for initial vaccination,” Dr. Jane Zucker, the city Health Department’s assistant commissioner for immunizations said Thursday.

Officials did not say how Schelsinger may have obtained the vaccine.

ParCare claimed it had received 3,500 doses of the Moderna vaccine, news site BoroPark24 reported Dec. 21.

“Hundreds of patients were already vaccinated today, and people are still coming in,” Gary Schlesinger, the CEO and president of ParCare, told the news site.

Schlesinger also said he expected to have vaccinated 500 people in Boro Park that same day.

ParCare, which also has locations in East Harlem, Crown Heights and Kiryas Joel, set up a website, parcarevaccine.com, where residents could register for the vaccine.

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“You have to be on that list,” Schlesinger told BoroPark24, adding he expected to get more vaccines every day. “Once you are on the list, we have to vet to make sure that you are either a healthcare worker, are over 60, or have underlying conditions. We will not give the vaccine to people who are not eligible for this first batch of the shots.”

The vaccine is supposed to be given free of charge. ParCare’s website, though, asks those interested in receiving it for their insurance information. The network accepts Medicare, Medicaid, and most other insurance plans, the company said.

Schlesinger was seen in a photo tweeted Tuesday by the Rabbinical Alliance of America getting vaccinated himself, although he does not appear to be in a group that qualifies.

ParCare brazenly tweeted photos Monday showing boxes of the Moderna vaccine wrapped with ice packs and then in a refrigerator. 

“ONE SMALL INJECTION CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY!” it tweeted.

Schlesinger is politically well-connected in the Orthodox Jewish community. He has cultivated ties to Mayor de Blasio, Attorney General Letitia James, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, and Brooklyn borough president and mayoral candidate Eric Adams, sources said.

He claims on his Facebook profile to have worked for the Bloomberg for Mayor campaign in 2009. His social media is full of photos of him with politicians, including President Trump. On Twitter, Schlesinger called de Blasio’s liaison to the Jewish community, Pinny Ringel, a friend.

A ParCare ad claimed “the FDA authorized” the network to receive “a minimal number of COVID-19 vaccines.”

“The vaccines will be made available on a first-come, first-serve (sic) basis,” the ad says.
It adds the vaccines will be given “Only for people in the following categories,” and lists: “Elderly, high risk, underlying conditions.”

The state has not yet authorized the vaccine for anyone in those categories who lives outside of a nursing home, long-term care facility or group home.

One community member told The Post his father, in his 60s, received the vaccine at ParCare’s Williamsburg clinic.

“It’s known in the community you can get a vaccine if you want,” the resident said, adding “it’s a mystery” how the clinic obtained the supply.

“We take this very seriously and DOH will be assisting State Police in a criminal investigation into this matter. Anyone found to have knowingly participated in this scheme will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” the state health commissioner said.

In a statement released late Saturday, a ParCare rep said the network is continuing to operate while cooperating with the DOH investigation.

“During these unprecedented times, we have striven to provide critical healthcare services and administer COVID-19 vaccinations to those qualified to receive them under the New York State Department of Health’s guidelines, which includes frontline healthcare workers and first responders,” the statement said.

“Parcare Community Health Network has a long history of partnering with the City of New York to provide vital healthcare services to New Yorkers who need them most — including providing COVID-19 testing — especially for New Yorkers in medically underserved communities who’ve been hardest hit by COVID-19,” ParCare’s statement continued.

“As we actively cooperate with the New York State Department of Health on this matter, we will continue to perfom top-quality healthcare services to help New York come out of this pandemic.”

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Yocheved Gourarie is the 24 year-old Lady That Threw Herself Off "The Vessel Sculpture

A New York City woman scheduled her suicide note stating she was 'no longer in pain' to post on Instagram the day after she jumped to her death from the Vessel sculpture in Hudson Yards.  

Vessel Sculpture 

Yocheved Gourarie, 24, of Brooklyn, died December 22 after she fell from the 150-foot walkable sculpture at about noon, police told the Village Sun.

The next day, on December 23, her apparent suicide note was shared in a posthumous post on her Instagram account.

Gourarie noted that she had planned for her final post - a photo of herself with her face turned up toward the sun accompanied by a lengthy caption - to go live on social media in the wake of her death. 

At the top of the post, which was shared with her 891 followers, Gourarie added a warning in all capital letters, (see below)noting that the information in the post was 'sensitive and shocking' and suggested people 'sit down before reading' it.  

Gourarie then wrote: 'Hey. This is pretty surreal isn’t it? One might say uncomfortable. Jarring. Just close the app now if you want. I guess if you don’t know by now you should probably sit down.

'If you’re reading this, I’m gone. Either that or somehow incapacitated in the hospital so I can’t delete this scheduled post. I really hope I’m not though.'

Gourarie wrote that she didn't 'care to go into the reasons why I’m gone, but there are certainly more than thirteen,' referencing the popular young adult novel and Netflix TV series, 13 Reasons Why, about high school students in the wake of a classmate's suicide. 

Earlier posts on Gourarie's Instagram account made reference to the fact that she struggled with anorexia and depression, while also advocating for mental health.

In May 2019, she wrote that she had finally started seeking help for her depression and was 'Wondering whether I can change. Wondering whether I want to change. But there is one thing I do know: I am experiencing small joys again.'  

Several of her TikTok videos posted in recent months appeared to take a humorous approach to therapy sessions and also referenced overcoming suicidal thoughts. Her latest videos showcased her singing and solicited tips for improvement.  

In her final Instagram post, Gourarie wrote that she had scheduled a 'note to send to my parents posthumously' which included more details about her apparent decision to take her own life. 

She acknowledged that posting a public suicide note on Instagram might cause her parents pain. 

'I don’t want to do that, I just want to leave my last mark on this world,' Gourarie wrote.

'All of you have made my life so much more full, brighter, and happier than it would have been without you. Your support, your encouragement, your hugs, your invitations, your smiles, your texts, your tagging me in memes you think I’d find funny.'

She went on to say that 'None of you could have done anything - or done more - to prevent this from happening. You all did your absolute best and for that I am eternally grateful. I hope you can find some comfort in knowing I am no longer in pain.'

She ended the post by writing 'I love you.' 

According to her TikTok videos, Gourarie had traveled to Utah for inpatient treatment for her eating disorder in August and returned to New York City in late October, after having had her discharge date postponed by two weeks. 

Gourarie was a bright student, who was valedictorian of her graduating class at Shalhevet High School. She then graduated with a 4.0 GPA from Macauly Honors College at CUNY, according to the Village Sun.

She had spent the past two and a half years interning at New York City's National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene.  

Gourarie is now the second person to have apparently committed suicide by falling from the Vessel since it was opened in March 2019. 

In February, Connecticut college student Peter DeSalvo, 19, jumped from the top of the 16-story sculpture. 

 Call the toll-free 24-hour hotline of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255); TTY: 1-800-799-4TTY (4889) 

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China’s virus deceptions have been even worse than we thought

Fresh evidence published jointly by The New York Times and ProPublica confirms that Beijing has been trying to keep COVID-19 information from the rest of the world since the very start of the pandemic.

On Feb. 7, Li Wenliang, the doctor who blew the whistle on COVID-19, died of the disease he’d warned the world about. While working at Wuhan Central Hospital in China’s Hubei Province, he saw a new version of the severe acute respiratory syndrome known as SARS, which also originated in China in 2002.

As news of the 34-year-old doctor’s untimely death spread and grief went viral on social media such as Weibo and WeChat — Beijing set out to bury the truth.

“They ordered news websites not to issue push notifications alerting readers to [Li’s] death. They told social platforms to gradually remove his name from trending topics pages. And they activated legions of fake online commenters to flood social sites with distracting chatter,” the Times-ProPublica team reports. In all, the Hangzhou offices of Beijing’s Internet regulator, the Cyberspace Administration of China, issued more than 3,200 directives and 1,800 memos in its COVID-censorship drive — all leaked by the hacker group C.C.P. [Chinese Communist Party] Unmasked.

“At a time when digital media is deepening social divides in Western democracies,” the investigative team warns, “China is manipulating online discourse to enforce the Communist Party’s consensus.”

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In January, before the coronavirus had even been definitively identified, the CCP began working overtime to mislead the world about the truth to protect the party’s image as infections began soaring — even making the disease look less severe. As a result, the world lost its best chance of preventing the global pandemic.

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Zera Shimshon Parshat Vayigash

 

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BLM Crashes Festival For Kids With Cancer

It’s that time of year once again. The time for people to put aside

their differences and celebrate another year and a fantastic Christmas. For residents in West Allis, Wisconsin, Christmas is more than presents, it’s a time to decorate outlandishly and help raise money for children battling cancer. But this year it was something different as Black Lives Matter took it upon themselves to crash the Christmas tradition and remind people that Black Lives still matter.

Known as Candy Cane Lane, the celebration of life first started in 1984 when residents decided to collect donations for the MACC fund, also known as the Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer Inc. 

The collection was first started when one of the neighbor’s kids was diagnosed with cancer and has since grown into a city-wide event that attracts citizens from all over the state. The residents collaborate over the coming months to put on the display and all they ask in return are for small donations that will go towards finding a cure for childhood cancers.

As for the Candy Cane Lane Festival, the Black Lives Matter protestors decided that Black lives were more important than fighting cancer. 

While Christmas music played over the intercoms, the protestors marched and chanted using bullhorns, yelling at cars and onlookers as they passed by.

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My daughter is "FlatbushGirl" and I couldn’t be prouder

 

Adina Miles Sash, a US Orthodox Jewish activist and social media influencer a.k.a FlatbushGirl who spreads the message #frumwomenhavefaces. (Courtesy)

As the mother of Adina Sash also known as FlatbushGirl, I am still taken by surprise when people stop me on the street to give their opinions of Adina. Sometimes the feedback on her viral Instagram campaign is encouraging and heartwarming as people share how she has entertained them and also inspired them to think more critically about community issues. I feel overwhelming pride that she has found a space in their hearts. Other times I am stopped by complete strangers who feel that Adina needs to calm down and be less controversial. And my heart still swells with pride because my daughter is at the forefront of change.

I raised Adina to be independent, to know her strengths, and to use her voice. At a young age she was already questioning some of the messages she was receiving in her Bais Yaakov school, like how a girl’s hair should be a short length and that a woman’s role is to support her husband in learning. She had an uncanny ability to know when she was being indoctrinated by the system, and when she sensed nonsense, she always called it out.

When Adina pursued a dual BA in psychology and English, I thought she’d follow in my footsteps as either a psychologist or college professor, with her ability to understand the human psyche and her incredible oratory skills proving that she could be either one. But she ultimately continued on with a Master’s degree in medieval literature, reading texts that most of us never knew existed. My daughter was clearly a nonconformist and freethinker, navigating a unique path.

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His usefulness over, the Dems will soon replace Joe Biden

 

If you think that Joe Biden's term as president will extend through a full four year term, there are a few used Dominion voting machines I'm offering to sell you at retail prices.

In fact, I'll make a prediction that his trusted staff of doctors, within a few weeks after the inauguration, if not sooner, will sadly come to the conclusion that Mr. Biden has developed some severe symptoms requiring him to resign his office and hand it over to his VP, Kamala Harris, who then assumes the Presidency.

Under the provisions of the 25th Amendment, enacted after President Kennedy's assassination, it appears that when Kamala assumes the role as President, she can nominate someone to replace her as VP. If you recall, back in 1974, after Nixon resigned and ford assumed the Presidency, Ford nominated Nelson Rockefeller to be his VP. More on this later.

Uneasy Democrats know that Biden must leave office as quickly as possible. He cannot face the simplest of questions from an exasperated media who covered for and helped catapult him into office. They're already pressing for some answers as to what Biden has planned to handle domestic and international problems. They can no longer ask him what his favorite flavors are or give him ready made questions about how he loves and believes in his son, Hunter.

They might even go so far as to press him on why his selection of cabinet and team of burned out advisors all seem to be retreads from the regimes of Obama and Clinton. Where are the new ideas to douse the fires of new situations?

Expect the snarling tigers at the gates, the leaders of Russia, China, North Korea and Iran to soon start testing him with military threats to our overseas allies to take advantage of an out-of-touch-with-reality, Biden. Our loyal friends in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Israel, Egypt, Arabia and Eastern Europe are holding their breaths awaiting the onslaught from their enemies. It's coming.

Joe Biden, though, has already exhausted his usefulness to the party. His job is done. He was loyal and played out his role from his basement, letting the obviously criminal mail in ballots, bogus voting machines and the Chinese Virus slide him into office.

He can no longer hide from view. He appears unable, not only, to give an unrehearsed vision of his plans to re-unite a severely divided country but as well, to soothe the anxieties of a world being strangled by the deadly virus. He still hasn't unveiled his blueprint covering the continual search for, distribution of and monitoring the efficacy of the myriad of mind boggling cures and preventatives now pouring out of labs.

He seems to be mentally at a stand still but will, it seems, be sworn in. But t he Democrats have no honor. They have used Biden; he's no longer an asset; he's a tragedy (to them) ready to happen. He has to be replaced. His recently "broken foot" incident was the beginning. Most probably, his wife, Jill, will break the news of his recently diagnosed "illness" and with an emotional performance to the world, will announce his resignation from office.

Look to Bernie Sanders, to be selected by Harris, to fill the chair of VP. After all, we can't have another woman or black in the White House and Bernie will win the hearts of the necessary radical Left to support the Harris Presidency. The coming Four Years are nearly upon us. May we pray for G-d's help in wading through them.

Alan Bergstein, lecturer and columnist, is an editorial writer for The NY Jewish Voice and a retired NYC school principal A father of four, he is a Korean War veteran and Jewish activist who is President of the Judeo/Christian Republican Club of Palm Beach County, Florida.

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Simon Cowell to join Israeli X-Factor show

 

The king of the reality music show concept, Simon Cowell, will star as a judge on the Israeli version of “X-Factor.”

Cowell will feature in the fourth season of Israel’s “X-Factor,” produced by Reshet 13. The network said work on the new season, with Cowell, would be getting under way “in the next few days.”

It will be the first time that Cowell will judge on the show he created, outside of the UK and the US.

“Over the years The X-Factor format discovered amazing talents from all over the world, I can’t wait to see what Israel has to offer,” said Cowell.

The role is a bit of a comeback for Cowell, reported Deadline.com, given that the music impresario underwent extensive back surgery following an electric bike accident earlier in 2020.

According to Deadline, Cowell was looking for new opportunities, given that “X-Factor” UK ran its course after 16 years and ran for three seasons in the US, with Cowell as a judge.

Past judges on “X-Factor Israel” have included rapper Subliminal, pop star Ivri Lider, vocalist Shiri Maimon, singer Moshe Peretz and supermodel Bar Rafaeli as host

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Watch Trump Sing "I Will Survive"

 

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