Trump cuts ties with WHO

US President Donald Trump on Friday said he was severing ties with the World Health Organization, signaling the end of hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to the UN agency as the deadly coronavirus pandemic rages on.

As Europe speeded along the path to reopening after months of crippling lockdowns, Trump’s move is likely to spark dismay, especially in other parts of the world where the outbreak has yet to reach its peak.

Russia recorded a record number of deaths on Friday and several nations in Latin America are bracing for difficult weeks ahead, especially Brazil, where the toll has soared.

Last month, Trump suspended funding to the WHO, accusing it of not doing enough to curb the initial spread of the novel coronavirus and being too lenient with China, where the global outbreak began late last year.

On Friday, he made that decision permanent — a dire one for the UN agency’s finances as the United States is by far its biggest contributor, having given $400 million last year.

“Because they have failed to make the requested and greatly needed reforms, we will be today terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization,” Trump told reporters.

The Republican leader said the US would be redirecting funds previously allocated to the WHO “to other worldwide and deserving urgent global public health needs.”

“The world needs answers from China on the virus. We must have transparency,” Trump said.

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AMERICA PLUNGES INTO CRISIS ......

A global pandemic has now killed more than 100,000 Americans and left 40 million unemployed in its wake.
 Protests — most of them violent — have once again erupted in spots across the country over police killings of black Americans.

America’s persistent political dysfunction were laid bare this week, as the coronavirus death toll hit a tragic new milestone. 

 Together, the events present a grim tableau of a nation in crisis — one seared by violence against its citizens, plagued by a deadly disease that remains uncontained and rattled by a devastating blow to its economy.

“The threads of our civic life could start unraveling, because everybody’s living in a tinderbox,” said historian and Rice University professor Douglas Brinkley. 

In the days after a 46-year-old black man died in the custody of Minneapolis police in an incident caught on video, demonstrators took to the streets. In that city, a police precinct was breached and set ablaze, along with other businesses. In Colorado, shots were fired near the statehouse. At a protest in Louisville, seven people were shot.

Authorities announced charges of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter against the officer in the Minneapolis case Friday — which observers saw as a development that might quell some of the immediate unrest.

The protests that erupted in Minnesota spread to places like Columbus, Phoenix, Denver and Louisville, which recently experienced a controversial police killing when officers serving a warrant shot and killed a 26-year-old EMT inside her home. More demonstrations broke out Friday evening across the country, including in the District.

“I was amazed watching people who were out,” said Raoul Cunningham, head of the NAACP branch in Louisville. “To me, it made clear that we’re at a period of time like we’ve never faced before.”

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12,000 New York Nursing Home Residents Killed by Covid-19..... Should Cuomo Be Charged for Murder?

Patricia Castillo remembers when the Newfane Rehab and Health Care Center, where her mother lived, notified her that a patient had just been admitted from a nearby Niagara County hospital with COVID-19.

Jill Sawyer, whose father lived at the same nursing home, remembers getting notified, too. “It was just a death sentence,” said Sawyer. The virus raced through Newfane, killing Castillo’s mother and Sawyer’s father and 24 other residents.

“My father was only 70 years old,” Sawyer sighs, and he was still “shuffling around and calling me 20 times a day.” Now, she says the phone doesn’t ring and she misses that.

COVID-19 has killed at least 11,000 to 12,000 nursing-home and assisted-living residents in New York, nearly double what the state admits to. And as the deaths mount, so have the lies and cover-ups.

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Alte Raskin ..Bais Rivka teacher gives birth during pandemic, still finds time for students ..

Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish community was hit particularly hard by the coronavirus crisis and Bais Rivkah teacher Alte Raskin was in the thick of it all — while caring for her newborn son.

Raskin, 27, a member of the Hasidic sect of Chabad, was expecting a lengthy maternity leave in an empty house with her three girls in school. But when she gave birth on March 18, just as the coronavirus crisis was beginning to sweep New York, she knew that wouldn’t be possible.

She took six short weeks off while another teacher taught her seventh-grade students and at first, she was nervous to get back to work.

“It’s a whole new thing, I just had a baby, I don’t have so much energy to put into trying to figure out a whole new module of learning and teaching,” Raskin said of the work.

“The first few days were totally overwhelming. I was like, ‘What am I doing? I maybe should just not go back this year. Maybe this is just not a good idea.’ I have kids, my kids are [doing] online school. They need people all day to troubleshoot them and run around. Plus, I’m postpartum, right, I’m exhausted I could barely move.”

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Chag Shevuois Samaich

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Going To Cost Alot More To Go To Lakewood.....Major Toll Hikes Approved On New Jersey Turnpike & Garden State Parkway

It is going to cost a LOT more to travel on two of New Jersey’s tolled highways later this year. The New Jersey Turnpike Authority commissioners voted on Wednesday unanimously to raise tolls this September, NorthJersey.com reports as per WPST.

Tolls will increase on the New Jersey Turnpike by staggering 36%, and on the Garden State Parkway fares will be raised by 27%, officials say. The hikes will pay for a $24 billion in projects on both roadways.

So here’s the breakdown of the increases:

• On the turnpike, passenger cars currently cost $13.85 to drive from Exit 1 to Exit 18W. That will increase to staggering $18.85 under the new rates.
• The parkway increases will mean that most toll booths will increase from $1.50 to $1.90. The Toms River toll will rise from 75 cents to 95 cents.
• Tolls collected at the on-ramps and off-ramps of the Garden State Parkway, which currently cost between 50 cents and $1.50, will increase to a range of 60 cents to $1.90.

The new toll rates will go into effect on September 13, unless they are vetoed by Governor Murphy.

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Watch Nutty Mika Brzezinski Say it's The Media's "Job To Control What You Think"

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Zera Shimshon ... Parshat Nasso

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Just hours after NYC crackdown, Boro-Park businesses are packed again

The crackdown didn’t even last a day!

Just hours after City Hall sent in the Sheriff’s Office, at least four Borough Park stores exposed by The Post for operating in violation of emergency coronavirus orders were back open — and, again, packed with maskless customers.

“Maybe it’s illegal to open it, but you have to understand, these stores are living things,” said Chaim Fogel, who stood outside of Tip Top, a crowded clothing store on 13th Avenue. “The economy is a living thing. If you see you’re going to die if you don’t do something, you do it, because what’s the alternative?”

Fogel conceded the shop needed to do a better job of managing the crowds and forcing people to wear masks.

The shop was one of at least four a reporter spotted Wednesday afternoon doing brisk business while staff and most customers failed to take protective measures, like maintaining social distancing and wearing masks.

The roster of open 13th Avenue storefronts also included party supply retailer ‘Party Shop,’ kids clothier ‘Pastel’ and womenswear shop ‘Miller’s Family Wear.’

Nor did the crackdown on businesses appear to deter large groups from gathering on the avenue or encourage those out to wear masks, which remained virtually unseen when The Post returned to the street after the crackdown.

Only one shop identified in the initial story, Toys4U, appeared to have heeded the knuckle rap from officials and sharply limited access to customers.

The toy store has remained open during the pandemic by getting into the bike repair business, one of the categories of work deemed essential by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive order.

“We’re a bike shop. A bike shop is allowed to be open. We’re not looking for a fight with the city,” owner Joseph Itzkowitz said Wednesday. “At least let us be open. We have to make a living.”

That’s a different tack for the retailer, which Post reporters spotted packed with customers buying toys and other non-essential goods on Monday and Tuesday.

City, state and federal health officials say that observing social distancing measures and wearing masks is essential to slow the spread of the coronavirus, which has killed more than 21,000 people in New York City alone.

Borough Park has been hit particularly hard.

City Health Department data shows that more than 200 people who live in the 11219 zip code have died from the pandemic and the area is suffering from one of the highest rates of COVID-19 cases in Brooklyn.

Outraged city officials promised they would be back to shut the businesses down again when The Post contacted them about the reopenings.

“This behavior is absolutely unacceptable and we will be taking further enforcement action,” said City Hall spokeswoman Olivia Lapeyrolerie.

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Mamaliga Is Just Right—for Shavuot

DIN: I have to admit that my father z"l made this on motzei Shabbos but we children wouldn't touch it ... he didn't use shallots, spinach ...or the cheeses 
so when I found this recipe, I wanted to share it.

Mamaliga, the national dish of Romania, has long been beloved by all Romanians—including Jews. Aaron Lebedeff’s famous Yiddish song “Roumania, Roumania” specifically mentions the dish. Evidently, when a Jewish Romanian met someone who he or she thought was Jewish, they would say in Yiddish, “Es mamaliga licht in punem,” meaning: When you eat mamaliga, it shows in your face.

This porridge, made from cornmeal, is often served with sour cream, diced raw onions, and feta cheese. Dairy restaurants, like Ratner’s in New York, served it, especially at the forthcoming holiday of Shavuot.

The late Judith Tihany, whom I knew as a fabulous Romanian Israeli cook and the mother of the restaurant architect Adam Tihany, made a yummy mamaliga layered with spinach, ricotta cheese, and shallots. Adam and I pieced the recipe together—him from memory, me from trying it out. Although I’m not Romanian, I love mamaliga and so does my whole family: It’s a perfect dish for Shavuot.

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Mamaliga

1. Saute the shallots in 2 tablespoons of the butter. Add the spinach little by little on top 

and saute until withered but still bright green. Set aside.

1. Pour 5 cups of water into a heavy saucepan and bring to a rapid boil. Add salt and then 

sprinkle on the cornmeal very slowly, stirring constantly with a long wooden spoon. Then reduce the heat to medium and continue stirring until the cornmeal is very thick and firm, about 15 minutes. When the cornmeal forms a ball and no longer sticks to the side of the pan but comes away cleanly from the side, spoon one third of it into a 9 by 9 casserole. Cover with the spinach, then melt the remaining butter and pour over the spinach.

1.  Cover with another layer of the polenta, then spoon on the feta and the ricotta cheese.
2. Cover with the remaining polenta, smoothing down. You can serve as is or refrigerate

 until ready to serve.

3. When ready to serve preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake about 20 minutes or until warm. Then serve with sour cream or yogurt on the side.

Yield: about 6 servings.

Mamaliga

6

shallots, diced

1/2

stick plus 2 tablespoons salted butter

10

ounces fresh spinach

1

teaspoon salt

3 1/2

cups coarse yellow cornmeal

1

cup feta cheese, broken into small pieces

1

cup ricotta cheese

1

cup sour cream or yogurt

Rush Limbaugh Says : Just waking up is a blessing'

Radio host Rush Limbaugh, who is battling advanced lung cancer, says the latest wave of treatment is leaving him "virtually worthless" and that "just waking up is a blessing."

"There have been many cycles, but this is the third wave, and this current wave, I have to tell you, is kicking my a**," Limbaugh said on his national broadcast Tuesday, his first on-air appearance since Thursday.

"For the last seven days, I have been virtually worthless, virtually useless. I haven't left the house. I haven't done much of anything except just try to rest and relax."

The 69-year-old talk-show star noted he was well aware such harmful effects might occur.

"Nothing is happening that was not told me to me," he explained.

"It's the cost. It's the price that you pay if you make the decision to go ahead and do treatment to try to prolong your life. I'm doing extremely well, all things considered, the fact that I'm even here today.

"Every day, I wake up and the first thing I do is thank God that I did," Limbaugh chuckled. "Just waking up is a blessing."

"I know many of you are praying daily and nightly. I happen to believe that they work. I believe that they are sustaining me, and I pray for the energy to be able to do this. But I have to be ... Folks, I have to be honest. I do not have the energy that I used to have."

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"Yolie" Roth the "Twitter Fact-checker" Claimed Trump Admin Are ‘ACTUAL NAZIS’

The Twitter official responsible for the platform’s fact-checking policy has tweeted that members of the Trump administration are “Nazis,” among other false and inflammatory statements on the platform.

Yoel Roth, whose official job title is “Head of Site Integrity,” explained the platform’s new policy in a May 11 blog post on “misleading information” on coronavirus.

“In serving the public conversation, our goal is to make it easy to find credible information on Twitter and to limit the spread of potentially harmful and misleading content,” he said.

Twitter appears to have applied that policy to a broader category of assertions, moving beyond COVID-19 to President Donald Trump’s claim on Tuesday that vote-by-mail would lead to more voter fraud — a prediction with which even some Democrats have agreed.

Subsequently, Twitter slapped a “get the facts” label on Trump’s tweets about voter fraud — and provided links to CNN and the Washington Post, two avowedly anti-Trump outlets that enthusiastically pushed the Russia collusion hoax.

Critics on Twitter, ironically, pointed out that Roth’s own tweets include exactly the kind of misleading and abusive content that Twitter’s policy purports to limit.

Roth has also defended his use of the homophobic slur “fag” on the Twitter platform:

As Breitbart News’ Allum Bokhari reported, Tuesday’s intervention is believed to be the first time that the company has used a fact-checking label on one of Trump’s tweets. It is not clear why Twitter chose a tweet about voting by mail.

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Kathy Griffin "The Freak" suggests Trump should take syringe with 'nothing but air'

Kathy Griffin was called out on Twitter Tuesday after suggesting that President Trump should take an empty syringe "with nothing but air."

As first reported by the Washington Examiner, Griffin had a graphic response to remarks President Trump made at a White House event dedicated to seniors suffering from diabetes, where he jokingly asked if he should be on "insulin."

"Syringe with nothing but air inside it would do the trick. F--- TRUMP," the comedian reacted.

The Examiner pointed out that "in medical procedures, air accidentally injected into the body's bloodstream through syringes or IVs can cause air embolisms, which can be fatal."

Griffin later doubled down on her tweet, responding to a tweet from the Examiner that noted that the injection of an air-filled syringe could be "fatal."

"I SURE DID, F---ER. #TrumpLiedPeopleDied," Griffin wrote.

A representative for Twitter told the Examiner the platform will "look into" Griffin's tweets as to whether or not they violate the company's terms and policies.

The former "My Life on the D-List" star sparked a firestorm of controversy in 2017 when she posed with a prop severed head of the president during the photo shoot, which resulted in losing her gig as a CNN host during the network's annual New Year's Eve special as well as numerous endorsements and canceled shows. She was also investigated by the Secret Service.

After initially apologizing, Griffin stood by her ISIS-inspired photo shoot and has since launched multiple projects inspired by the experience including a comedy tour and a documentary.

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Watch How They Make 10,000 Blintzes

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Harav Dovid Yoisef Makes Choizek of the Fake Mekubalim

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