Reporters have to get quotes approved by White House before publishing

 

White House reporters are ​seething over a policy that requires them to submit quotes from interviews with Biden administration officials to the communications team for approval, editing or veto, according to a report on Tuesday.

The White House is demanding that reporters who conduct interviews with administration officials do so under conditions known as “background with ​quote approval,” Politico reported. ​

The information from the interview can be used in a story, but for a reporter to be able to attach a name to the quote, ​the reporter must transcribe the comments and send them to the communications team, the report said. ​

At that point, the White House can approve them, edit them or veto their use. ​​

Politico’s West Wing Playbook, which reported the practice, acknowledged that it participated in the arrangement when it did a piece about speechwriter Vinay Reddy that was up against a deadline.

And the report noted that the Obama administration and the Trump administration also used the arrangement, but the Trump communications team deployed it less often than the Biden White House.

The exercise is a carryover from the Biden presidential campaign and one that is irking White House reporters. ​

“The rule treats them like coddled Capitol Hill pages and that’s not who they are or the protections they deserve,” ​one reporter told Politico.​

“Every reporter I work with has encountered the same practice,” ​another reporter said.

But while individual reporters have fumed over the arrangement, there​ has yet to be a coordinated response against it among the White House pool. 

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH,, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US IN THESE DIFFICULT TIME

GOP Finally Dump Liz Cheney From Top Post

 

House Republicans ousted Rep. Liz Cheney from her post as the chamber’s No. 3 GOP leader on Wednesday, punishing her after she repeatedly rebuked former President Donald Trump for his false claims of election fraud and his role in fomenting the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

Meeting behind closed doors for less than 20 minutes, GOP lawmakers used a voice vote to remove Cheney, R-Wyo., from the party’s No. 3 House position, a jarring turnabout to what’s been her fast-rising career within the party.

She was Congress’ highest-ranking Republican woman and is a daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, and her demotion was the latest evidence that challenging Trump can be career-threatening.

Cheney has refused to stop repudiating Trump and defiantly signaled after the meeting that she intended to use her overthrow to try pointing the party away from the former president.

“I will do everything I can to ensure that the former president never again gets anywhere near the Oval Office,” she told reporters.

Cheney’s replacement was widely expected to be Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., who entered the House in 2015 at age 30, then the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. Stefanik owns a more moderate voting record than Cheney but has evolved into a vigorous Trump defender who’s echoed some of his claims about widespread election cheating.

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH,, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US IN THESE DIFFICULT TIME

Facebook bans popular Jewish academic for post denouncing Hitler tweet

 

n the midst of the over 1,000 rocket attacks against Israel, well known Jews speaking out against a flood of anti-Semitic social media posts are being censored by popular sites such as Facebook.

The latest example is Gad Saad, a Jewish Lebanese-Canadian evolutionary psychologist and host of the popular Youtube channel, “The Saad Truth.”

Saad, the author of The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense, was blocked by Facebook after sharing his denunciation of a May 11 tweet by a Pakistani celebrity quoting Adolf Hitler.

The tweet, by actress and reality TV personality Veena Malik, quoted Hitler saying “I would have killed all the Jews of the world… but I kept some to show the world why I killed them.”

The tweet has been retweeted over 700 times, quoted over 2,600 times and liked over 2,500 times.

Saad posted on Facebook a photo of his retweet of Malik’s Twitter post with the caption “I see this every day. Every day.”

The post was banned by Facebook and Saad was “temporarily blocked” from posting with his account.

Saad replied, “Last night, I posted a tweet of a horrifying person who was hailing Adolf Hitler. I was trying to show the horrors of Jew-hatred.”

He added, “I’m a Lebanese Jew who escaped religious persecution in the Middle East. I fight against all bigotry, but I know firsthand about Jew-hatred having lived in the Middle East.”

“I shared this tweet to demonstrate the vile and endemic Jew-hatred that is normalized by individuals such as this person. All hatred is deplorable, but Jew-hatred is unique in that in many places in the world it is considered laudable,” he said. “You banned me! I shared a tweet to demonstrate the ugliness of genocidal Jew-hatred (as a Jewish person), and I get banned?!” he said.

Facebook sent Saad the following message:

“You recently posted something that violates Facebook policies, so you’re temporarily blocked form using this feature. For more information, visit the Help Center. To keep from getting blocked again, please make sure you’ve read and understand Facebook’s Community Standards. This block will be active for 3 days more.”

After the ban, Saad tweeted, “I am losing hope. @Facebook has banned me for sharing a tweet of a person who was endorsing Hitler. The Lebanese Jew gets banned for speaking out against endemic Jew-hatred.”

Facebook has long come under fire for failing to remove actual Holocaust denial content, with a 2020 article in Forbes magazine highlighting a study which found that Facebook failed to remove “numerous well-known Holocaust denial pages from its platform and algorithms.”

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH,, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US IN THESE DIFFICULT TIME

You Would be surprised How Old Your Onion Is .....

 

how onions get to stores pic.twitter.com/0377lEPp1i

— BuzzFeed Food (@BuzzFeedFood) May 10, 2021

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH,, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US IN THESE DIFFICULT TIME 

Chassidishe Guy Can Bark Like a Dog and Tweet Like A Bird

 

טאלאנט pic.twitter.com/8WsEvdbqE7

— Hasidic2 (@hasidic_1) May 10, 2021

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH,, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US IN THESE DIFFICULT TIME 

Orthodox Jewish woman reveals her 10-YEAR struggle to divorce her husband despite them living apart for over a decade

 

An Orthodox Jewish woman from New York City has earned widespread support after revealing that she has been trying to get to get a divorce for over ten years — all because her husband refuses to grant her one under Jewish law. 

Chava Herman Sharabani separated from her ex-husband, Naftali Sharabani, over a decade ago, but has been unable convince him to give her a 'get,' a document that terminates a marriage under Jewish law — which has left her unable to date or remarry.  

Though Chava has still not succeeded in obtaining a get, the 30-year-old teacher and mother-of-two has drummed up immense online support and awareness — and has prompted more women to come forward with their own stories, including 17 who have managed to finally get out of their marriages with help from the #FreeChava movement.

Chava married Naftali in 2006. They went on to have two daughters, but it was not a happy arrangement.

The marriage was not good, to say the least,' she said in a video on Instagram discussing her plight. 'I was dealing with an abusive husband constantly.'

In 2010, after four years of marriage, Chava packed up her kids and left, moving in with her parents.

'When I went to a lawyer, they said, "OK, this seems like an easier case. This should end soon. We just have to figure out just visitation."' 

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH,, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US IN THESE DIFFICULT TIME

Frum Deputy National Security Adviser Anne Neuberger Getting Flack For Breaking With FBI Policy on Ransom Payments

 

Cybersecurity experts condemned the White House after senior officials broke from the FBI's advice that companies should not pay ransomware demands, saying instead it was instead a decision for the private sector. 

Specialists in computer security fear the lure of easy corporate money could trigger a fresh wave of attacks even as gas stations run dry in the wake of the Darkside attack on a major fuel pipeline.

James Knight, of Digital Warfare Corp, told DailyMail.com: 'I think it is incredibly foolish that they even suggested it.

'It may be something that has to be done in practice – but to say it live was ridiculous. Absolute stupidity.'

The U.S. cybersecurity community has been poring over the attack on Colonial Pipeline to learn just how members of the Darkside hacker group were able to access its systems.

Colonial Pipeline shut down its 5,500-mile pipe network on Friday and has not said whether it paid a ransom.

White House officials addressed the issue during a briefing on Monday.

'We recognize that victims of cyberattacks often face a very difficult situation,' said Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser for cyber.

'And they have to just balance off, in the cost-benefit, when they have no choice with regard to paying a ransom.'

She said officials had not told the company what to do.

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH,, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US IN THESE DIFFICULT TIME

Anti- Israel Protests taking place across US ..Pack Up Guys

 

Israeli and Palestinian supporters clashed in New York City on Tuesday evening amid escalating violence overseas between the two bitter enemies which has left at least 38 people dead in the Middle East. 

Footage taken outside the Israeli consulate in Manhattan shows protesters fighting over barricades as police struggle to keep the two groups apart. Consulate workers were sent home earlier in the day due to safety fears. 

Other video clips show fights breaking out in the streets of New York City as punches are thrown. One man was pictured covered in blood after he was hit with a chair during the bitter confrontations. 

Elsewhere, demonstrations took place in Washington DC and Los Angeles as hostilities between Israel and Hamas escalated overnight. Additional protests are expected across the U.S. on Wednesday. 

Activists waving flags, banners and placards in support of both Palestine and Israel took the streets Tuesday. Tensions flared when the two groups met during their counter demonstrations. 

Officials said overnight that 35 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and three in Israel in the most intensive aerial exchanges for years.

The White House said on Tuesday that Israel had a legitimate right to defend itself from rocket attacks but applied pressure on Israel over the treatment of Palestinians, saying Jerusalem must be a place of coexistence. 

Former president Donald Trump posted to his website, saying that America 'will always strongly support Israel's right to defend itself' as he criticized President Joe Biden over the growing crisis. 

Israel carried out hundreds of air strikes in Gaza into the early hours of Wednesday local time, as the Islamist group Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups fired multiple rocket barrages at Tel Aviv and Beersheba.

One multi-story residential building in Gaza collapsed and another was heavily damaged after they were repeatedly hit by Israeli air strikes. Israel said it attacked Hamas targets, including intelligence centers and rocket launch sites.

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH,, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US IN THESE DIFFICULT TIME

Trump blames Biden ‘weakness, lack of support’ for strikes on Israel

 

Former President Donald Trump blamed the Biden administration’s “weakness and lack of support for Israel” for enabling the situation in which militant groups are launching a barrage of missiles from the Gaza Strip into Tel Aviv.

Trump said his administration was known as the “Peace Presidency “because Israel’s adversaries knew that the United States stood strongly with Israel and there would be swift retribution if Israel was attacked.”

“Under Biden, the world is getting more violent and more unstable because Biden’s weakness and lack of support for Israel is leading to new attacks on our allies,” Trump continued in the statement emailed from his office.

“America must always stand with Israel and make clear that the Palestinians must end the violence, terror, and rocket attacks, and make clear that the U.S. will always strongly support Israel’s right to defend itself.”

He went on to blast Democrats for continuing to “stand by crazed anti-American Rep. Omar, and others, who savagely attack Israel while they are under terrorist assault.”

Buildings were ablaze, sirens were blaring and explosions could be heard throughout Tel Aviv on Tuesday as terror group Hamas unleashed a volley of rocket fire on the city and throughout central Israel from the Gaza Strip. 

Alarms pierced the night as Israel activated its anti-rocket systems. 

Israeli Defense Forces tweeted Tuesday that one of the hundreds of missiles fired by Hamas struck a bus carrying civilians. 

Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar accused Israel of “terrorism” after it launched missile attacks into the Gaza Strip in response to the assault by Palestinian militants on Monday.

“Israeli air strikes killing civilians in Gaza is an act of terrorism. Palestinians deserve protection. Unlike Israel, missile defense programs, such as Iron Dome, don’t exist to protect Palestinian civilians. It’s unconscionable to not condemn these attacks on the week of Eid,” she tweeted on Monday.

Omar (D-Minn.) sent out her posting after the Gaza Ministry of Health announced the airstrikes led to 20 fatalities — with Israel announcing at least 16 were militants, according to ABC News.

A powerful pro-Israeli lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, on Tuesday said “Israel is under attack” and called on members of Congress to stand strong with the Jewish State, defend its citizens and condemn Hamas.

“In the last 48 hours, Israel has faced an onslaught of 600+ rockets fired indiscriminately at Israeli cities by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza. Hamas and other Iranian-backed terror groups are deliberately targeting Israeli civilians, seeking to injure and kill as many as possible​,” the group said in a posting on Twitter.

“America must stand with Israel as our ally defends its citizens from Palestinian terror​,” it said. ​

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH,, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US IN THESE DIFFICULT TIME

Israeli Supreme Court orders retrial of man convicted of murdering Israeli schoolgirl

 

Supreme Court Justice Hanan Meltzer has ordered Tuesday a retrial for Roman Zadorov, who is serving a life sentence for the brutal murder of 13-year-old girl Tair Rada in 2006.

The decision comes as a result of several requests for a retrial by Zadorov's attorneys, who claim they have new evidence that casts doubt on his conviction.

Rada was murdered in a bathroom stall at her school in Katzrin, the largest Jewish city in the Golan Heights, where Zadorov was working as a janitor.

The murder case has received extensive media coverage, due to the brutal way in which Rada was murdered and the continuing claims that Zadorov was not the one who killed her. Despite his conviction, some believe he confessed under duress and that the real murderer may still be on the loose.

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH,, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US IN THESE DIFFICULT TIME