MP David Amess Who Was Murdered by Muslims remembered as a great friend of the British Jewish community and of Israel.

 The UK Jewish community reacted with shock upon learning of the murder of longtime MP Sir David Amess.

Amess, 69, died of his injuries after being stabbed multiple times at a constituency meeting in East London on Friday.

A 25-year old terrorist was arrested on suspicion of murder after armed police charged into the church where the meeting had been taking place. A knife was found at the scene, reported Reuters.

Condolences poured in from a wide spectrum of Jewish community groups who were horrified and expressed their grief.

“We are devastated to hear the news of the murder of Sir David Amess MP. Such violence is an intolerable affront to our democracy and must be met with the full force of the law. We will never forget Sir David’s long and deep friendship to our community. Our hearts go out in profound sorrow to his wife Julia and children Katie, Sarah and David Jr,” Marie van der Zyl, president of the Board of Deputies, said in a statement.

The Jewish Leadership Council tweeted: “We are shocked by the news that Sir David Amess MP has passed away. He always had a very strong and warm relationship with his local Jewish community. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time.”

The Community Security Trust said they were "shocked and saddened.

"Our thoughts and condolences are with his family at such a terrible time," they wrote.

As we usher in Shabbat this afternoon, we will have the family of Sir David Amess MP in our prayers," UK Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said. "Such an attack on an elected parliamentarian is an attack on the whole country. May he his memory be for a blessing.”

United Synagogue CEO Steven Wilson said that “the news of the murder of Sir David Amess is horrific and chilling."

"Democracy is a cherished right and one we can never take for granted," Wilson said. "I know all US members and colleagues will join me in sending condolences to Sir David’s family who are in our prayers.”

The All Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism said it was “devastated to learn of the death of our friend and colleague Sir David Amess MP."

They added: "A long-standing and active member of the APPG Against Antisemitism, he was an excellent public servant. He will be sorely missed. Our thoughts are with his friends and family.”

Conservative Friends of Israel called Amess "a hugely popular and respected MP and a great friend of Israel."

Noting that he was a "parliamentary officer of CFI in the 1990s," the group was "deeply saddened by the news" of his death, and said that "parliament will be a lesser place without him."

"Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends. His memory should be a blessing," they said in a statement.

Besides his longtime relationship with the Jewish community, Amess led a lengthy campaign to have a statue of Raoul Wallenberg erected for his work saving thousands of Jews during the Holocaust. The statue eventually was put up next to the Western Marble Arch Synagogue in 1997.

He also signed the Holocaust Educational Trust’s book of commitment in Parliament.

Israeli authorities prevent Lev Tahor members from reaching Iran

 

Israeli authorities have thwarted an attempt by around 150 members of the Lev Tahor cult to flee to an area near the Iran-Iraq border, Asharq Al-Awsat reported.

According to the Middle East Monitor, "dozens" of families in the cult were prevented from fleeing to Iran, where they had applied for asylum.

Kikar Hashabbat reported that at least three people left the main Lev Tahor group and moved to another location in Guatemala, due to concerns over entering Iran.

One of Lev Tahor's leaders told Kikar Hashabbat, "We will yet reach Iran, because in Guatemala, they are chasing after us."

Last week, families from Lev Tahor were seen in an airport, attempting to leave for Iran. According to the reports, the families' heads told security officials at the airport that they want to leave the country because they feel persecuted. The families also explained that due to their troubles in Guatemala, they plan to request asylum from Iran, but the airport security officials did not allow them to board the plane.

Orit Cohen, whose brother is part of the Lev Tahor cult, told 103 FM Radio that there are approximately 150 children, some of whom are not registered since they were born into the cult.

"No one knows, they have no passports, they switch their identities, names, and passports. Fourteen-year-old girls give birth," she told the radio station.

Cohen added, "Our families are trapped, they have no possibility of contacting us. We're all very worried about them, because this will be final."

Apple Scared of the Chinese Remove App for the Quran

 

Apple has removed a popular Quran app from its Chinese app store at the behest of state censors, according to the company behind the app. 

Quran Majeed — a reader app for the Muslim sacred text with nearly one million users in China — was removed from Apple’s Chinese app store at the request of the Cyberspace Administration of China, the app’s developer told The Post on Friday. 

It’s unclear exactly why Chinese authorities allegedly asked Apple to remove the app, but the country’s government is known to discriminate against Muslims. China has demolished mosques, imprisoned Uighur Muslims in detention camps and allegedly forced Muslim women to undergo abortions in what some of the country’s critics say is a campaign of genocide. 

Apple did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the app’s removal, which was first reported by the BBC. 

“Quran Majeed app was removed from the China app store,” said Hasan Shafiq Ahmed, a spokesperson for the Pakistan-based developer behind the app, in an email to The Post. “Apple advised us to contact the Cyberspace Administration of China.” 

“We are trying to get in touch with [cyberspace administration] and relevant Chinese authorities to move forward so Quran Majeed app can be restored,” he added. 

Bill Gates's Daughter Marries Nassar a Muslim

 

Bill and Melinda Gates walked with their daughter, Jennnifer, late Saturday afternoon ahead of her lavish nuptials at her Westchester County horse farm. 

She reportedly had already tied the knot with Nayel Nassar in a Muslim ceremony Friday night.

Muslims Now Killing British MPs

 

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, right, and Leader of the Labour Party Sir Keir Starmer, second from right, carry flowers as they arrive at the scene where a member of Parliament was stabbed Friday, in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, England, Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021. David Amess, a long-serving member of Parliament was stabbed to death during a meeting with constituents at a church in Leigh-on-Sea on Friday, in what police said was a terrorist incident. A 25-year-old Muslim was arrested in connection with the attack, which united Britain's fractious politicians in shock and sorrow

Leaders from across the political spectrum came together Saturday to pay their respects to a long-serving British lawmaker who was stabbed to death in what police say was a terrorist-related attack by a Muslim. His death has reopened questions about the security of lawmakers as they go about their work.

The slaying Friday of the 69-year-old Conservative member of Parliament David Amess during a regular meeting with local voters has caused shock and anxiety across Britain’s political spectrum, just five years after Labour Party lawmaker Jo Cox was murdered by a far-right extremist in her small-town constituency.

“He was killed doing a job that he loves, serving his own constituents as an elected democratic member and, of course, acts of this are absolutely wrong, and we cannot let that get in the way of our functioning democracy,” British Home Secretary Priti Patel said after she joined others, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson, to pay tribute to Amess at the church where he died.

Patel said she has convened meetings with the Speaker of the House of Commons, police departments and U.K. security services “to make sure that all measures are being put in place for the security of MPs so that they can carry on with their duties as elected democratic members.”

On Saturday, in an echo of the political unity that emerged after Cox’s murder, Johnson of the Conservatives, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, Keir Starmer, and the non-partisan speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, arrived at the church where Amess died and laid flowers.

Amess was attacked around midday Friday during his constituency meeting in a church in Leigh-on-Sea, a town 40 miles (62 kilometers) east of London. He suffered multiple stab wounds. Paramedics tried without success to save him. Police have arrested a 25-year-old British Muslim Terrorist for the attack.

The Metropolitan Police has described the attack as terrorism and said its early investigation “revealed a potential motivation linked to Islamist extremism.” It did not provide details about the basis for that assessment. As part of the investigation, officers were searching two locations in the London area.

In "Kiryat Sefer" They are Now Protesting Phone Stores Who sell only "kosher" Phones Unless they pay them off

The same thing is happening in Bnei-Brak, where they are now protesting with violence stores that carry "kosher" Phones exclusively! 

See video below where someone calls Rav Landau the Rav of Bnei-Brak who says he is in favor of protests without explaining why but says he is  against "violence", he then brushes off  the caller and refuses to talk to him ...

Is it any wonder that kids had enough of this crap?

Below is a photo of a guy who follows Chareidim going to buy phones and then harasses them

There is a video where you can see a bochur in a phone store who has had enough of this "terrorist" and slaps him across the face, I won't show it since I don't want the ID of the bochur to go public.

This Past Friday was the 865th Anniversary of the Rambam's Ascent to the Har Habayis

In the above photo, you can clearly see the Rambam's writing in his own handwriting stating that he went up to the Har Habyis. He was accompanied by his father, his brother Dovid and the Chief Rabbi of Akko.

I already talked about this previously and here is the translation of the Rambam's writing about this episode.

 BTW the Rambam mentions this at least 3 times and made a Yom Tov every year on the 6th of Chesvan to commemorate this event .

"In the 26th year of Creation, We left Akko to go up to Yerushalyim under dangerous conditions, and we entered the Great Holy Building; we prayed there on Wednesday the 6th day of the month of Cheshven.I vowed that  I will celebrate this date as a holiday, with prayer, food, drink and happiness to Hashem,G-d should help me with everything to assist me in fulfilling my vows, Amein!And just as I merited to pray in its ruins, I and all of the Jewish people should merit to see in its rebuilding, soon, Amein!"

And in his famous Igeeret Timan, the Rambam repeats this visit for a third time:

יצאנו מן המערב,לחזות בנועם השם, ולבקר מקום קדשו 

" we left from the West, to glance at the Sweetness of Hashem and visited His Holy Abode."

Zera Shimshon Parshas Lech Lecha

 

The AP's report on the discovery of a First Temple era toilet omits Jewish references, while a NY Times Rosh Hashanah recipe evokes 'Canaanites,' not Israelites

 

News headlines last week reported on the rare archeological find of a private Kingdom of Judah-era toilet discovered in the remains of a luxurious mansion in Jerusalem. Haaretz noted the presence of dozens of bowls around the ancient lavatory, about which an Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) official speculated: “they held air freshener, an aromatic oil or incense – anything to make use of the facility less onerous” (“Biblical-era Toilet With Possible Air Fresheners Found in Jerusalem“).

While aromatic oil might have done the olfactory trick in the First Temple-period bathroom, all the fragrant incense in ancient Judah can’t conceal the stench of media reports that erase the long, rich Jewish history of ancient Israel.

The Associated Press’ short article last week on the unusual toilet find was a prime example of news media dumping on Jews’ ancient history in their ancestral homeland (“2,700-year-old toilet found in Jerusalem was a rare luxury“). The leading news agency cited the “rare ancient toilet in Jerusalem dating back more than 2,700 years” while diligently failing to note the historic period in question: the First Temple Period.

White House quietly removes sanctions on Iranian missile companies

 

An advocacy group that warns about the threat of a nuclear Iran has sounded the alarm after the US Treasury Department last week without explanation lifted sanctions on two firms that produced ballistic missiles for the Iranian regime.

United Against Nuclear Iran is questioning why the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFA) suddenly announced it would be removing sanctions on Mammut Industrial Group and its subsidiary Mammut Diesel.

Both companies were sanctioned in September 2020 for “providing support to an entity in Iran’s ballistic missile program.”

The Treasury Department said at the time that “Mammut Industries and Mammut Diesel are key producers and suppliers of military-grade, dual-use goods for Iran’s missile programs.”

“The delisting follows the July 2021 lifting of sanctions on three Iranians who were major shareholders and executives of the Mammut Industrial Group,” United Against Nuclear Iran said in a statement.

Real estate Guy Eldad Perry Gets shot to death in Rechovot While Leaving Shul

 

A prominent real estate businessman was shot dead Friday morning outside a synagogue in the central Israel city of Rehovot, with police reportedly believing the man had been mired in debt. In a separate incident, an Eritrean national was shot dead in south Tel Aviv Friday morning in a suspected conflict between criminals.

According to Hebrew media reports, an initial police probe indicated that the 44-year-old man parked his car next to an improvised synagogue on Mordehai Bashist Street in Rehovot. After the man exited his vehicle, an assassin approached him, confirmed his identity and shot him at close range.

According to eyewitnesses, the assassin then fled on a motorcycle. The victim was later confirmed to be well-known real estate businessman Eldad Perry.

“The wounded man was lying unconscious in the parking lot, suffering from gunshot wounds,” said Magen David Adom paramedic Alon Cohen. “We performed medical examinations but he was without vital signs and there was nothing left to be done other than to pronounce him dead.”

Police opened a murder investigation, launched a manhunt and set up roadblocks in the area.

According to Haaretz, Perry had recently found himself in considerable debt, due in part to a failure to fulfill guarantees made to clients. Court-ordered bankruptcy proceedings were reportedly being initiated against him.

The report said that the main suspicion is that the murder was committed because of Perry’s debts to organized crime-related figures.

A Letter to Misaskim from a Widow

112

"Chassidim on a Plane"

 

For Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur I had to be in the US, so I flew to the US a week before R"H and returned Monday Erev Succos.

Because of the tight schedule, I needed to fly direct and the timing had to be so so; so I flew Delta which accommodated my needs.

On the way back, the entire plane was Chareidie, specifically chassidim. 

During the flight, they got up to make minyanim. I went with the psak of Harav Eliyashiv who suggests you daven in your seat without joining the minyan. 

Suddenly, we hit turbulence, and the crew "begged" everyone to get back into their seats and buckle up. 

You guessed it.... אין קול ואין עונה

They totally ignored the crew and the pilot's warning, and even ignored when the crew got a Hebrew speaking passenger on the speaker system to "beg" them to get back to their seats. 

Mayhem broke out, as the stewardesses couldn't get the food carts back in the galley fast enough, since  the "daveners" were in the aisle refusing to move. Food and drinks were flying over the entire aisles and seats but the "Daveners" refused to budge.

Finally the pilot started to itemize the numbers of all the empty seats, and announced that those who bought those seats will be forever banned from flying Delta again.

When they heard that in English (suddenly they didn't need any translators) they abandoned G-d, and ran to their seats. 

Why am I writing this now?

I mentioned this story to a neighbor of mine and he said  that the  blog called "Rationalist Judaism" has horror stories of "Chassidim on a Plane"

and so I am copying a letter from one of his readers who describes her experience ..

I just flew to and from Israel... and I have never been more mortified to be Orthodox. The plane was trashed. The bathrooms wrecked. A flight attendant remarked that this route is always left this way, while after 15 hours to Japan, the plane is left spotless. Men crowded the aisles and blocked the passageways, forming a minyan even while being explicitly told that they could not do so A- because the seat belt sign was on and B- because of the pandemic. While attendants were buckled in because of turbulence, stopped food service because of turbulence, men were up and putting on tefillin even while flight attendants and the captain himself begged them to sit down and buckle up. They could not have cared less. It was as if they were deaf or above the rules or both. 

To describe myself as shocked is an understatement. It got to the point that I asked them who they were even praying to, who would possibly listen to their tefilot when they were causing us such humiliation and chillul Hashem. I don't know who to turn to to speak about this and I do not want to trash an entire community. But this was so so bad that if I myself was feeling such anger and animosity and close to posting videos I can't think that someone actually doing this who is not Orthodox is far off. In all seriousness, rabbis and Leadership needs to address this. If anyone has ideas as to who to turn to, please let me know.

Israel Must Do What It Needs to defend its Citizens and the Hell with the world!

 

This month’s anniversary of the 1953 battle of Qibya has triggered yet another outpouring of Jewish guilt. But Israel has no more reason to feel guilty about Qibya than the Allies do for bombing Dresden, Hiroshima, or Nagasaki.

The Biblical book of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) was read by Jews during Sukkot. Even non-synagogue-going Jews know it’s verse “a time of war, and a time of peace” — thanks to the 1959 Byrds hit “Turn! Turn! Turn!” But it should be made clear that nowhere in Kohelet does one find a verse declaring that there’s “a time of guilt.” And there’s good reason for that.

US Announces Increase in Benefits for Social Security Recipients

 

The US Social Security Administration (SSA) has some good news for those who receive benefits: those payments will rise by nearly six percent by next year.

On Wednesday, the agency announced that its beneficiaries will see a 5.9 percent increase in their monthly benefit checks – about $92 per month — beginning in January.

This the largest increase in social security payments since 1982, according to SSA data.

Nearly 70 million people are affected by the decision, which came in response to a spike in inflation cause by bottlenecks in the supply chain, worker shortages and other COVID-19 pandemic issues.

The consumer price index rose by 5.4 percent in September over the previous year – the largest annual gain since 2008.

Satmar Newspaper Claims That "Iran is NOT close to having Nuclear Capabalities

 

The "Aronies" have a yiddish weekly called Der Blatt. 

In their by-line underneath the photo they proclaim:

"Ex- Mossad Chief says :

"Iran isn't anywhere close to developing a Nuclear bomb"

 What was the point of writing about this? 

Satmar has as much trust in what the Mossad says, be it someone working now for the Mossad or someone who no longer works there, as a mouse would trust a cat.

To Satmar, Zionists are a bunch of liars, they really don't care whether the guy was an ex- Mossad agent or a janitor, as long as what he said fits neatly into their crooked agenda.

So why the headline?

Not too long ago, R' Aron Teitelbaum went out of his way to support the disastrous Iran Deal that would hand nuclear weapons to murderers who vowed to wipe Israel off the map. He even asked his naive dumb uneducated sheep to write letters to their congressmen to have them vote for the Obama suicide pact!

Of course, his chassidim can't write English, (FYI they can't even write Yiddish,)so the Holy Rebbe who cares about all Jews and who like the Salvation Army does only "chesed", pre-printed the letters, distributed them to  his chassidim and all they had to do was put their "thumb-print" or an "X" on the bottom where they "signed"!

Well at the end of the day, even goyim saw that this deal is not only dangerous to Israel but to the entire safety of the world, and R' Aron came out looking like a bloody fool. He never retracted from his advocating writing the foolish letters, and never apologized to the Jewish people for this dumb and dangerous idea. 

His stance for opposing Netanyahu's speech in congress to stop the Iran deal, was basically to support the Black anti-semite who was president at the time, Hussain Obama, and he, R' Aron, of course being the anti-Zionist (though he married a Hebrew speaking Zionist) was opposed to Netanyahu giving that speech  even if the deal threatened over 6 million Jews living in the Zionist State, even at the cost that this deal could wind up G-d forbid wiping out the Jewish State!

G-d acts in funny ways, so to keep R' Aron busy and keep him from  engaging in other shenanigans that could destroy the Jewish State, G-d sent him an enemy in his own camp, R' Zvi Hersh Meisels, Shlitah, who happens to be his sister's son, to rebel against his "dynasty" in Bnei-Brak.לכבוש את המלכה עימי בבית

R' Tzvi Hersh, is busy taking control of all of Samar Real Estate in Bnei-Brak, even as I am typing this post.

But to keep the dumb sheep in line, and to take their minds off the "Great Satmar Rebellion"in Israel, his editor found an ex-Mossad guy, a leftist moron, who would sell all Jews living in Israel in exchange for a good Falafal, and who in an interview with an Al Jazira Arab reporter, said that Iran "is no where close to having a nuclear bomb"!

That statement vindicates R' Aron who said that all long!

Is Israel closing in on Iran?

 

Drone hovering over Hezbolla Fighters 

First, let's look at a report about another mysterious explosion at a hitherto secret base of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in late September.

Originally, the media reported that a fire had broken out at the base and later that an explosion had taken place that killed two members of the IRGC and wounded another.

It was then revealed that the target was an IRGC missile development facility named Shahid Hemmat.

Satellite images from Israeli firm ImageSat International, which were released more than a week ago, showed that a quarter of the facility had been completely destroyed.

One could conclude from the released images that another attack with a drone or a so-called Quadcopter had taken place.

Saeed Khatibzadeh, a spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry, reacted to the explosion by blaming Israel, saying that "the war with the Zionist entity had already begun."

The spokesman accused Israel of state terrorism and of obstructing the resumption of nuclear negotiations with the US. Israel would like to prevent the resumption of these negotiations, according to Khatibzadeh.

Khatibzadeh also pointed to the "hundreds of bombs (nuclear weapons)" Israel allegedly possesses and said the Jewish state had never signed the treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Indeed, Israel never signed that treaty because the Jewish state has developed its nuclear weapons solely to use them as a purely defensive weapon in a last option scenario.

Iran, on the other hand, signed the treaty, but has been developing a nuclear weapon since at least 1987. It is now closer to the bomb than ever and, furthermore, will almost certainly use a nuclear weapon as an offensive weapon in a future war.

How Mark Zuckerberg spent Nearly Half a Billion Dollars on 2020 Election to Defeat Trump

 

During the 2020 election, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg spent hundreds of millions of dollars to turn out likely Democratic voters. But this wasn’t traditional political spending. He funded a targeted, private takeover of government election operations by nominally nonpartisan — but demonstrably ideological — nonprofit organizations.

Analysis conducted by our team demonstrates this money significantly increased Joe Biden’s vote margin in key swing states. In places like Georgia, when Biden won by 12,000 votes, and Arizona, where he won by 10,000, the spending likely put him over the top.

This unprecedented merger of public-election offices with private resources and personnel is an acute threat to our republic and should be the focus of electoral-reform efforts moving forward.

The 2020 election wasn’t stolen — it was likely bought by one of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful men pouring his money through legal loopholes.

De Blasio Kicks Out The author of the Declaration of Independence From City Hall

 

Still peeved that the city has no Confederate monuments he can remove, lame-duck Mayor Bill de Blasio is instead ousting Thomas Jefferson from City Hall’s Council chambers.

He hoped to do it on the down low, having his handpicked Design Commission quietly vote Monday to pack the 187-year-old statue (gifted to the city in 1834) off to the New-York Historical Society. Perhaps enough public outcry can stop it.

We’re talking about the guy on Mount Rushmore, the author of the Declaration of Independence, and a statue whose replica sits in the US Capitol.

Yes, Jefferson owned slaves — but he penned the words, “All men are created equal,” that led inexorably to the end of slavery.

City Councilman I. Daneek Miller (D-Queens) told The Post that “for us to really highlight such an individual is really not who we are as a council.” Our opinion of the council isn’t high, but we didn’t think it opposed to unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

How many more outrages will de Blasio try to pull off before he’s finally done?

Mom jailed after refusing to leave daughter’s side at hospital

 

A fiercely devoted Florida mom was thrown in jail because she refused to leave her daughter’s bedside in the hospital — and she’s “not sorry that I made them take me out of there in handcuffs.”

Lynn Savage, 70, was taken into custody on trespassing charges after she wouldn’t comply with visiting hours while her daughter, Amber, was recovering from brain surgery at UF Health North in Jacksonville, news station WKRC reported.

“I could not in good conscience and good heart leave her bedside not knowing how she was going to make it through the night voluntarily,” Savage told the outlet.

Savage said she had been at the hospital that day since 6:30 a.m. acting as an interpreter for her daughter, who is non-verbal and paralyzed on her left side from a stroke.

At one point, a doctor asked Savage to come into her daughter’s room in the intensive care unit to help calm her down after her operation.

“As soon as I approached the bedside, she was fine,” Savage told the outlet.

But when visiting hours ended at 7 p.m., a nurse told Savage that she had to leave.

“I said, ‘I’m not going to leave. I want to stay here with my daughter. Can you call the doctor because the doctor is the one that wanted me here with her?'” she said.

“And [the nurse] said no, that they couldn’t do that. That COVID rules said that visiting hours were over at 7 and I had to leave.”

Security officers then came to the room and asked her to go.

100s Of Lev Tahor Members Traveling To Iran ..declare their loyalty and submission to the Supreme Leader and Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

 

Lev Tahor members outside the Guatemalan airport last week

Israelis with relatives in the Lev Tahor cult, who are currently trying to reach Iran, are terrified of the possible consequences of hundreds of Jews congregated in an area frequented by ISIS terrorists, close to the Iranian border.

 Hundreds of Lev Tahor members are attempting to leave Guatemala and move to Iran. Their Israeli relatives have urgently appealed to Israel’s Foreign Ministry to intervene and US relatives of cult members are appealing to the US State Department.

“If they reach the Iranian-Kurdistan border, it can lead to a mega political-security incident,” the relatives warned. “The Shalit deal will be like child’s play compared to this.”

Israel’s Foreign Ministry has appealed via the Israeli Ambassador to Guatemala Matti Cohen to Guatemalan Attorney General Consuelo Porras, to prevent the Lev Tahor members from leaving the country. They also requested that legal proceedings be advanced against the cult leaders, following the testimony of several Israeli and Canadian victims of the cult to Guatemalan authorities.

Biden's New America: US Records Highest Increase In Nation’s Homicide Rate In Modern History

 

Provisional data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, released early Wednesday, suggest the homicide rate for the United States rose 30% between 2019 and 2020. It is the highest increase recorded in modern history — and confirms through public health data a rise in homicides that so far had been identified only through crime statistics.

The previous largest increase in the US homicide rate was a 20% rise recorded from 2000 to 2001 because of the September 11 terror attacks, according to NCHS.

It is the largest increase in 100 years,” Robert Anderson, chief of the mortality statistics branch at NCHS, said.

“The only larger increase since we’ve been recording these data occurred between 1904 and 1905, and that increase was most likely — at least partly — the result of better reporting,” Anderson told CNN. “We had states being added to what we refer to as the death registration areas, so we were counting deaths in more areas over time. We didn’t have all states reporting until 1933.”

The new data show the US homicide rate increased from about six homicides per 100,000 people in 2019 to 7.8 per 100,000 in 2020, according to NCHS. Researchers at the center noted that the 2020 homicide rate of 7.8 is the highest recorded in the United States since 1995 but is still significantly lower than the rates in the early 1980s, which topped 10 homicides per 100,000 people.

“So, it’s obviously of concern but we’re not at the levels that we were at that time,” Anderson said. “We’re heading in the wrong direction though, for sure.”

California’s Gavin Newsom Bans Gas-Powered Leaf Blowers, Lawn Mowers

 

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill No. 1346 into law on Saturday, which moves to outlaw the sale of gas-powered equipment that uses small motors, primarily impacting the state’s landscaping industry. 

This law follows Newsom’s 2020 executive order that prohibits the sale of all gas-powered vehicles by 2035. 

According to the AP, “state officials say running a gas-powered leaf blower for one hour emits the same amount of pollution as driving a 2017 Toyota Camry from Los Angeles to Denver, a distance of about 1,100 miles.” 

The law prohibits the sale of small gas-powered off-road engines on or after January 1, 2024, or as soon as state regulators determine it is “feasible,” whichever date is later. The law further requires regulators to offer rebates for California residents who switch out their gas-powered equipment for new zero-emission alternatives. In addition, according to The Hill, $30 million is allocated to support professional landscapers in making the switch. The bill’s author, Assemblyman Marc Berman (D-Silicon Valley), told the LA Times: This is a pretty modest approach to trying to limit the massive amounts of pollution that this equipment emits, not to mention the health impact on the workers who are using it constantly.

However, critics of the law cite California’s increased costs to small businesses and the state’s widespread blackouts as significant flaws. 

Andrew Bray, vice president of government relations for the National Assn. of Landscape Professionals, stated that zero-emission equivalents cost more than double the $7,000 to $11,000 price of gas-powered lawnmowers. 

According to the LA Times, Bray also said, “a three-person landscaping crew will need to carry 30 to 40 fully charged batteries to power its equipment during a full day’s work,” which is another major expense for California landscaping businesses.

Lapid With His Mistakes in Foreign Policy Slowly Destroying the State of Israel

 

When Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid received the mandate from then-President Reuven Rivlin to form a government after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was once again unable to form a parliamentary majority, he succeeded in luring right-wing stalwart Naftali Bennett away from his natural political partners. He did this by offering Bennett the only position that would get him to break away from the “national” camp: that of prime minister.

The move was a political masterstroke. Despite having promised over and over again not to partner with Lapid, Bennett grabbed the opportunity to take Israel’s top seat. He did so even with a rotation arrangement in place, which has Lapid scheduled to take the reins in August 2023.

The government that emerged from the above deal was the farthest-left possible alignment that could have been constructed. With every last left-wing member of Knesset, it has a razor-thin, one-seat parliamentary majority that, for the first time in Israeli history, relies on an anti-Zionist Arab party.

Lapid currently serves as alternate prime minister—with veto power over government initiatives—and as foreign minister. The unwritten arrangement between him and Bennett is that the latter will handle domestic issues, while the former will deal with foreign policy.

With Bennett and most Israelis focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccines and restrictions, Lapid has been free to operate without much attention or criticism from the media or general public. Since assuming office, however, he has overseen a number of highly questionable diplomatic moves.

Demented Biden pushing Israel to allow opening of consulate for PA in Jerusalem

 

The Clueless Biden administration is pushing Israel to allow it to open its consulate for the Palestinian Authority in Jerusalem, a US State Department official told reporters in regards to the meeting between Blinken and Lapid today (Wednesday).

The naive official pointed out that the US still backs the two-state solution and stresses the importance of preventing violence or unilateral steps.

"The Biden administration began with an outright commitment to a two-state solution and we intend to see this happen. We expect cooperation from both sides: this includes prevention of the annexation of territories, building settlements, destruction of property, incitement to violence, and halting payments to terrorist prisoners," the senior official said.

The naive official also said that the US intends to reestablish its nuclear deal with Tehran. “We have had many discussions with many of our allies, including with Israel, regarding America's relationship with Iran. We continue to consult closely with them as this process progresses."

"The United States has stated that it is interested in returning to the nuclear deal if Iran adheres to it and we are working to achieve that goal."

In acknowledgment of the anniversary of the Abraham Accords another state official states that Biden's administration supports normalizing relations between Israel and Arab Countries. "We believe that the Abraham Accords serve as proof of the pros of dissolving prior agendas and barriers between the nations. We are working towards expanding the agreement, possibly to include other Arab countries." She said.

Another issue to be discussed in the meeting today between Blinken and Lapid will be future relations between Israel and China, specifically in trade.

Creator of iconic Chabad menorah accused of child molestation

 

A new lawsuit claims that the man who crafted what might be the most famous menorah in the world sexually abused a young girl dozens of times in the 1990s and that a rabbinical court failed to hold him accountable.

The survivor of this alleged abuse, now a 36-year-old woman living in Israel, is trying to get possession of her abuser’s brass menorah, which is normally displayed during Hanukkah at the headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement in Brooklyn.

Her lawyer says that if she succeeds, she’d consider melting it down in a symbolic act against taboos that have kept cases like hers from being known.

The craftsman behind the 6-foot-tall menorah was Hirschel Pekkar (no pun intended). After he died in July, an obituary on a Chabad community news site described him as “a renowned Crown Heights silversmith who created the famous Menorah which stands each Chanukah in 770 Eastern Parkway,” referring to the address of the Hasidic movement’s headquarters.