Heimishe Clinic Under Investigation No Longer Offering Covid Vaccines

 A network of health clinics owned by a Hasidic man and serving a number of Hasidic communities in Brooklyn and upstate New York which is is under investigation for administering COVID-19 vaccines to members of the general public, is no longer giving out shots.

The NY Post sent a reporter Sunday to ask for an injection, but was told they no longer offered it, and the clinic posted a sign on their front door saying “No Vaccines”.

As reported on VIN News, the New York State health commissioner Howard Zucker announced the investigation into ParCare Community Health Network on Saturday, saying in a statement that the clinics may have obtained the vaccines “fraudulently” and administered doses to members of the public “contrary to the state’s plan.”

ParCare operates six clinics, including in Williamsburg, Borough Park and Bensonhurst in Brooklyn and in Monroe, New York, the Orange County town that encompasses the Satmar village of Kiryas Joel. Throughout the pandemic, those Orthodox neighborhoods have drawn attention for having many people not wear masks and for holding large events such as weddings in violation of state rules.

ParCare which is owned by Satmar activist Gary Schlesinger released a statement saying they they are fully cooperating with the probe.

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH, IT MEANS A LOT ESPECIALLY IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMES! 

Trump signs COVID-19 relief bill with $600 stimulus checks.....” Congress voting on a separate bill to “increase payments to individuals from $600 to $2,000.”

 President Trump on Sunday signed a $2.3 trillion COVID-19 relief and government funding bill that includes $600 stimulus checks for most Americans, after refusing to accept the deal for days.

The nearly 5,600-page bill passed the House and Senate by overwhelming margins on Monday night, just hours after its text was released.

Trump signed it several days after saying the legislation was a “disgrace” and calling on Congress to up the relief payments to $2,000 and scale-back spending. 

In a statement Sunday night, the president said he would ask for millions in dollars of spending to be removed from the bill. 

“I will sign the Omnibus and Covid package with a strong message that makes clear to Congress that wasteful items need to be removed,” Trump said. 

While the president insisted he would send Congress “a redlined version” with items to be removed under the rescission process, those are merely suggestions to Congress. The bill, as signed, would not necessarily be changed.

The bill authorizes direct checks of $600 for people earning up to $75,000 per year. The amount decreases for higher earners and people who make over $95,000 get nothing.

There’s an additional $600 per child stimulus payment.

The bill also creates a new $300 weekly unemployment supplement and replenishes a forgivable loan program for small businesses. It includes protections against evictions and money for COVID-19 vaccine distribution and cash-strapped transit systems. But the legislative package also includes measures unrelated to the pandemic, such as creating new criminal penalties including prison time for violating copyright laws with online streaming.

In his statement, Trump said that President Trump on Sunday signed a $2.3 trillion COVID-19 relief and government funding bill that includes $600 stimulus checks for most Americans, after refusing to accept the deal for days.

The nearly 5,600-page bill passed the House and Senate by overwhelming margins on Monday night, just hours after its text was released.

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH, IT MEANS A LOT ESPECIALLY IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMES! 

379,000 Israelis vaccinated; 98,916 over the past day.

 

Israel continues to lead the international community in coronavirus vaccinations. A little over a week after the mass vaccination campaign began, approximately 379,000 Israelis have received the treatment, with 98,916 individuals vaccinated over the last day alone.

Health Minister Yuli Edelstein tweeted this morning: "Beginning of the second week of the vaccination campaign - 100,000 vaccines administered daily and a total of 379,000 people vaccinated to date."

"The Ministry of Health, medical clinics, hospitals, and Magen David Adom deserve all the credit. And most of all - thank you, citizens of Israel, for coming out to vaccinate. We will continue as we've begun and even boost the pace of vaccination," Edelstein added.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has set a goal of 150,000 daily vaccinations over the coming week. "I talked to heads of companies supplying us with the vaccines over the weekend and told them our goal was to reach 150,000 vaccines a day by the end of the week. It's fantastic that we're on pace to set a world record. I asked them to try and get the speed of delivery up to the national vaccination rate, and they said they thought it was possible," he said.

The Ministry of Health, for its part, said it considered the target rate feasible and one that could even be surpassed. It also announced the expected opening of some-250 vaccination complexes in the coming days.

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH, IT MEANS A LOT ESPECIALLY IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMES! 

UAE officials considering to let UN agency for "Palestinian refugees" "gradually disappear."

 Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are working together to terminate UNRWA, the United Nations' agency for “Palestinian refugees”, i24NEWs reported Sunday, citing the French newspaper Le Monde.

The US, which was previously UNRWA's largest contributor, cut a full $300 million in funding to the agency in 2018, leaving it and asking other countries to help fill the gap.

After the US decision to pull the funding, UNRWA has relied on oil-rich Gulf kingdoms, including the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to plug the budgetary hole. However, according to Le Monde, the UAE has not transferred any funds yet this year.

According to the report, Emirati officials are considering to let the agency to "gradually disappear."

The agency did not return i24NEWS' request for comment.

Created in 1949, UNRWA supplies aid to more than three million of the five million registered “Palestinian refugees” in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and territories assigned to the Palestinian Authority.

However, it is also notorious for its anti-Israel activities. During the 2014 counterterrorism Operation Protective Edge, Hamas rockets were discovered inside a school building run by UNRWA.

Likewise, a booby-trapped UNRWA clinic was detonated, killing three IDF soldiers. Aside from the massive amounts of explosives hidden in the walls of the clinic, it was revealed that it stood on top of dozens of terror tunnels, showing how UNRWA is closely embedded with Hamas.

Israel has long regarded UNRWA as an impediment to a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian Arab conflict.

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH, IT MEANS A LOT ESPECIALLY IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMES! 

Watch: Security forces during arrest of terrorist suspect in murder of Esther Horgan

Border Police on Monday released footage of Yamam counterterror forces in action during the arrest of the PA Arab suspect in the murder of Esther Horgan in the Reihan Forest about a week ago.

The footage shows the forces carrying out searches in the village of Turah Al-Garbiyeh in the Jenin area, and entry into the home of the suspect during his arrest. 

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH, IT MEANS A LOT ESPECIALLY IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMES! 

280,000 Israelis vaccinated in first week

 

Health Minister Yuli Edelstein delivered an update Sunday morning on the first week of Israel's vaccination campaign.

"We continue to increase. We are finishing the first week of vaccinations with an incredible number of 280,000 people vaccinated, 68,000 of them over the weekend," the minister noted.

"We continue to provide vaccinations for you, we continue to protect Israel," he added.

Israel will begin its third lockdown tonight at 5 PM in the hope that the vaccination campaign will result in this being the last lockdown.

Data from the Health Ministry show that during the day that ended last night at midnight, 2,630 new coronavirus infections were diagnosed in Israel. During the day, the results of 64,662 tests were obtained. The rate of positive tests was 4.1 percent.

399,642 people infected with the virus have been diagnosed in the State of Israel since the beginning of the pandemic. 3,210 people have died from the disease so far. There are currently 35,525 active coronavirus cases in Israel.

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH, IT MEANS A LOT ESPECIALLY IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMES! 

Evidence does not equal evidence

 Type “ketchup” into the Amazon search box and you will get 510 results. 510. For a tomato paste. If you’ve attempted to purchase anything online recently, you've likely experienced overchoice - a phenomenon in which people have a difficult time making a decision because they’re faced with too many options.

Do I want sugar-free ketchup? Or perhaps organic? Brand name? Or generic? The upside-down plastic bottle is certainly practical...but aren't the old-time glass bottles more classy? When experiencing overchoice, making a decision suddenly becomes overwhelming due to the many potential outcomes and risks that may result from making the wrong choice.

Now the particular brand of ketchup that adorns your dinner table may not be all that important. But there are numerous choices that involve the big life decisions as well. When buying a house, nobody’s criteria is “it should be a house”. There are different types of houses, with different qualities, and of course, different prices.

In the world of medicine, our “ketchup” is evidence. If you want to prove a point, promote a treatment, or convince your colleagues that a certain medication is more effective than another, you'll have to prove it. And, similar to ketchup, physicians recognize that evidence comes in all shapes and sizes. This may appear to be self-evident fact (the idea that there are different levels of evidence), but it seems that many people are unaware of this.

I was recently discussing the Covid-19 pandemic with a friend and he pointed out that “masks trap bacteria in our mouths and cause infections”. I found this to be an interesting point and probed. “Wow. Where did you hear this from?” I asked. “Oh, I just came up with it, and it made sense to me”. Non-expert opinion. The lowest form of evidence (i.e. no evidence at all). That is one of many corona-related non-evidence based opinions.

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH, IT MEANS A LOT ESPECIALLY IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMES! 

Will Biden Administration End the Abraham Accords?

 

Reuven Azar, head of the foreign policy division at the National Security Council and dipolmatic adviser to the prime minister, is currently in isolation after returning from the historic trip to Morocco as part of the political and economic agreements were signed between the two countries.

In an interview with Arutz Sheva, the senior adviser clarifies that this is a special relationship, and that the agreements constitute a kind of 'renewal of contact.' "Although this was done within the framework of the 'Abraham Accords,'" he explained, "the Moroccans feel that in fact the connection has never been severed and that they are pioneers of the [Arab world's] connection with Israel."

Azar noted that many members of the Israeli delegation felt great excitement during the visit because of their personal or family connection to the Morocco Jewish community and emphasized the special excitement he saw on the face of Israel's National Security Adviser Meir Ben Shabbat. "I've been working with him for two and a half years and I've never seen him get so excited. It was a special milestone for him."

Azar said that Ben Shabbat's speech in Moroccan was broadcast on Prime Time on all Moroccan networks and that many people told him that they were very excited about it.

"The connection that the Ben Shabbat, was able to create is very special," he said.

Addressing the agreements themselves, Azar said that they are a direct result of Prime Minister Netanyahu's policies to reach "peace through strength and power" as well as the Trump Administration's "thinking outside the box."

"There is regional cooperation," he added. "Once you bring the allies of the United States closer together, it creates added value for the states and for the United States and also transmits power in the face of opponents who threaten stability."

Are there concerns about the change in the US Administration?

"Obviously there are always concerns," Azar replied, "but the trend is a clear trend and we expect that under every administration there will be American support for the expansion of the normalization of between Israel and the Arab states."

However, Azar added that the change of government in the United States and the Biden administration's policy toward Iran may put pressure on countries to join the Abraham Accords. "It could work both ways," he explained, "because as the fear grows, many countries may see Israel as a bulwark against threats in the region. So that does not mean the process will stop but it may intensify. On the other hand, if there is a situation where the Iranians become very strong and threatening as bullies and no one will stop them, the fear may increase."

What's next for the Abraham Accords?

"There are other countries that are quite jealous of what is happening and would like to jump on the bandwagon," Azar says. "Each of them has its own considerations. I think there is potential for the process to continue."

Azar added that there are many agreements now on paper, and that the change will come when the practical agreements are implemented on the ground. "Once they see that things are implemented, and economic prosperity takes place there will be a greater temptation to join and jump on the bandwagon."

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH, IT MEANS A LOT ESPECIALLY IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMES! 

Covid Grabs Another Rosh Yeshiva .... Rosh Yeshivah Kol Torah HaRav Shalom Povarsky Niftar

Yeshivas Kol Torah was engulfed in mourning on Motzei Shabbos when the bitter news reached the yeshivah of the petira of HaGaon HaRav Shalom Povarsky, who served as one of the yeshiva’s Roshei Yeshivah for decades.

The Rosh Yeshivah, z’tl, 85, was taken to Hadassah Ein Kerem on Wednesday due to breathing difficulties caused by the coronavirus. His condition deteriorated and at the end of the week, he was sedated and ventilated and on Shabbos, he was niftar.

HaRav Povarsky was born in Europe, the youngest son of the late Rosh Yeshivah HaGaon HaRav Yehoshua Dovid Povarsky, z’tl, Rosh Yeshivas Ponevezh and author of Yeshuas Dovid. When he was four he moved with his parents to Eretz Yisrael.

As a bochur, HaRav Povarsky learned in Ponevezh. After he was married, he served for years as a Rosh Mesivta in Yeshivash Be’er Yaakov before becoming one of the Roshei Yeshivah of Ponevezh.

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH, IT MEANS A LOT ESPECIALLY IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMES! 

The End of "The Squad?"

 

“The Squad” may be no more.

Despite a new class of progressives coming to Congress next term, the band of leading liberal firebrands — led by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota — is likely to dissolve, insiders say. 

“I think the idea of ‘The Squad’ is going to go away, and I think that it is going to be fascinating to see how [AOC] shares the spotlight of progressivism,” one senior Hill staffer told The Post.

Ocasio-Cortez, 31, and her crew, including Michigan’s Rashida Tlaib and Massachusetts’s Ayanna Pressley, have been chummy power players since 2019, when they frequently sat together for joint appearances and interviews.

But with the pending departure of their most vocal critic, President Trump, and newly elected reps with their own agendas, there will be less to tie the group together, the source offered.

Newcomers like Ritchie Torres, a pro-Israel backer, has said he wouldn’t sign up for “Squad” duty. 

Two other leftists — Jamaal Bowman, who recently called capitalism “slavery by another name,” and Mondaire Jones, who, along with Torres, is the first openly gay black member of Congress — could look to seize the spotlight for themselves. 

“The idea of ‘The Squad’ — as ‘The Squad’ — may really shift and change and you might see cleavages there because the pressures and interests wont be as unified as they were under Trump,” the source said.

Omar raised eyebrows when she appeared to take a shot at AOC for getting the coronavirus vaccine before the elderly and frontline workers.

Ocasio-Cortez was vaccinated live in an Instagram story to her 8.2 million followers Dec. 18.

Two days later, Omar took to Twitter to slam Congressmembers who were vaccinated ahead of frontline workers or the elderly. 

“It’s now clear that we don’t have enough vaccines for everyone and there is shortage of supply, we have to prioritize those who need it most,” Omar wrote Dec. 20. “That’s why it’s disturbing to see members be 1st to get vaccine while most frontline workers, elderly and infirm in our districts, wait.”

Omar’s father died of coronavirus complications in June.

The next day, Ocasio-Cortez spoke out about her decision to get the vaccine, after Kentucky Senator Rand Paul cited her as someone who shouldn’t have been among the first wave of inoculations. 

“Gee, maybe if the GOP hadn’t spent so much time undermining public faith in science, masks,& COVID itself, I wouldn’t have to weigh the potential misinfo consequences of what wld happen if leaders urged ppl to take a new vaccine that we weren’t taking ourselves! [sic],” she tweeted.

Another former “Squad” source said Omar wasn’t calling AOC out, and even claimed Omar probably didn’t know her colleague was getting the vaccine when she made her remarks.

“The broader message that this carries is this fantasy that there is some sort of orchestrated squad that is doing anything at all resembling strategic things for anybody other than themselves,” the source claimed.

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH, IT MEANS A LOT ESPECIALLY IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMES!