NYC Health Dept. Warns: Mask Up Indoors; Tripledemic Has Arrived

 

The New York City Health Department is urging New Yorkers to use “high quality masks” when indoors and in crowds outdoors due to a rise in the number of cases of COVID-19, RSV and influenza, described nationwide as a “tripledemic.”

The country has seen rising levels of hospitalizations for the viruses in recent weeks 80 percent of hospital beds nationwide filled, most of them with people suffering respiratory ailments, according to federal data published Wednesday.

“Hospitalizations for flu continue to be the highest we have seen at this time of year in a decade,” CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a briefing Tuesday. One day earlier, she told NPR News, “There has already been at least 8.7 million illnesses, 78,000 hospitalizations and 4,500 deaths from flu.”

Thirty-one jurisdictions in the United States, which includes states, major cities and territories, reported a “very high” level of flu activity, and 16 report “high” levels in the last week of November, according to the CDC.

Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan issued an advisory this weekend urging city residents to get vaccinated for COVID-19 and the flu, even if they have previously received inoculations.

Those at increased risk of catching the viruses include people ages 65 and older, infants, those with weakened immune systems and/or underlying medical conditions, pregnant women and those who are not up to date on their vaccinations.

All were urged to wear KN95 and KF94 masks or even an N95 respirator and to limit attendance at large gatherings.

“The holiday season is about togetherness and there is a way to gather safely – even as respiratory viruses in our city are unusually high,” Vasan said in a statement.

“It starts with protecting yourself. Vaccination and boosters are critical but so are common sense precautions like masking when indoors or among crowds and staying home if you don’t feel well. Also, get tested before getting together, and get treated quickly if you test positive. We want everyone to have a happy and – most of all – healthy holiday.”

udge Denies DOJ Request to Hold Donald Trump in Contempt

 

A federal judge on Friday denied the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) request to hold former President Donald Trump in contempt for allegedly failing to comply with a grand jury subpoena.

The Belzer Rebbe's "moifis"(miracle) ...... A Chassidishe Drug Dealer Miraculously Freed

Loose Translation

A Chassidishe Jew , a Belzer Chussid from London that was arrested for selling drugs was suddenly freed. This story, that started 8 years ago ,was finally brought to a jury, which found him guilty as charged. 

Last Monday the Judge sentenced him to 21 months in jail, and said that he was giving him a lenient sentence because the Chassid was having medical issues.

But this past Thursday night, with the Chassid already in  jail , his attorney received a call from the Judge stating that he decided that he is conducting a new hearing on Friday..

At that hearing the Judge sentenced him to 4 months of house arrest, that would only be in effect during evening hours. The Chussid then asked the Judge if it could start at 10:00pm as he had a shiur in shul. The judge miracuously gave in to his request.

Belzer Chassidim say that the Belzer Rebbe said when he was arrested that he would be freed immediately. 

לאנדאן - א חסיד'ישער איד פון לאנדאן וועלכער האט זיך פארפלאנטערט מיט די אינסטאנצן נאכן פארקויפן מעדיצינען אונטערן טיש, איז אין א זעלטענער און העכסט איבערראשנדע אנטוויקלונג באפרייט געווארן פון א טורמע אורטייל. די פרשה וועלכע ציט זיך שוין 8 יאר איז לעצטנס געקומען צו א ענדע ווען א זשורי האט אים געפונען שולדיג, און א ריכטער האט אים פארגאנגענעם מאנטאג צוגעטיילט 21 מאנאטן טורמע זאגנדיג אז ער רעכנט זיך מיט דעם איד'ס שוואכער געזונט צושטאנד. 

 

אבער שוין נאכן אנהייבן דינען דעם טורמע אורטייל האט דער אדוואקאט דאנערשטאג נאכט ערהאלטן א רוף פונעם ריכטער אז ער האט זיך בארעכנט צו אפהאלטן א פרישער הירינג דעם קומענדיגן (פרייטאג) אינדערפרי, וואו ער האט געטוישט דעם אורטייל צו בלויז א סימבאלישע 4 חדשים הויז ארעסט אין די נאכט שטונדן! דער ריכטער האט אפילו נאכגעגעבן דעם איד'ס פארלאנג די הויז ארעסט זאל זיך ערשט אנהייבן 10:00 צו קענען מיטהאלטן דעם נאכט שיעור אין ביהמ"ד... די געשעעניש האט ווי פארשטענדליך ארויסגערופן וואונדער ביי יעדן און בעלזער חסידים דערציילן אז דער בעלזער רב שליט"א האט שוין מבטיח געווען באלד נאכן באשולדיגונג אז ער וועט באפרייט ווערן.

Khamenei’s niece gets 3 years in Jail for supporting protestors

 

The niece of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was sentenced to three years in prison after she publicly criticized the regime and expressed her support for the ongoing protests against the Islamic Republic, her lawyer said on Friday.

Farideh Moradkhani, who is part of a branch of Khamenei’s family that has long criticized the regime, was picked up by police on November 23 and has been held since.

Her lawyer Mohammad Hossein Aghasi tweeted that she was tried in a clerical court independent of the country’s judiciary and that only answers to the supreme leader, even though Moradkhani is not a cleric.

Trump criticizes Jewish leaders again .... No "Hakoras Hatoiv"

 

Former US President Donald Trump on Friday once again criticized US Jewish leaders, claiming they forgot he was the best US President for Israel.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump shared a link to an article by Jewish radio host Wayne Root, in which Root criticized American Jews for allegedly “gaslighting” Trump following his recent meeting with rapper Kanye West and white nationalist Nick Fuentes.

“Thank you Wayne – You are great but how quickly Jewish Leaders forgot that I was the best, by far, President for Israel. They should be ashamed of themselves. This lack of loyalty to their greatest friends and allies is why large numbers in Congress, and so many others, have stopped giving support to Israel,” Trump wrote in the post in which he shared Root’s article.

Trump came under fire in September after he criticized US Jews on his Truth Social platform and asserted that they do not appreciate what he has done for Israel.

Zera Shimshon Parshas Va'Yishlach

 

Peleg "buchrim" Have nothing to do so they come out to protest the Light Rail ..Learning Torah is not on the Agenda

 

Bobover 48 Rebbe Arrives at Kotel.. Police trying to prevent another Meron but the Bobover Chassidim will have none of that

 

מכות בין חסידי באבוב למשטרה בכותל

Biden Exchanges a Russian Blood-Thirsty Murderer for Brittney Griner who Hates America

 

WNBA star Brittney Griner was freed by Russia on Thursday in exchange for an infamous arms dealer who schemed to kill US pilots in Colombia — sparking outrage from critics who blasted the deal and called it a “surrender” by President Biden.

The 6-foot-9 basketball player — missing her iconic dreadlocks following nearly 10 months in Russian custody — was traded for “Merchant of Death” Viktor Bout on the tarmac of an Abu Dhabi airport in a dramatic scene reminiscent of Cold War prisoner swaps.

“She’s safe, she’s on a plane, she’s on her way home,” Biden said at the White House, where he was joined by Griner’s wife, Cherelle.

But the controversial deal left ex-Marine Paul Whelan languishing in a Russian prison on what the US has called baseless espionage charges.

“I don’t understand why I’m still sitting here,” Whelan told CNN from the penal colony where he’s being held.

“I am greatly disappointed that more has not been done to secure my release, especially as the four-year anniversary of my arrest is coming up,” Whelan, 53, told CNN.

“My bags are packed. I’m ready to go home. I just need an airplane to come and get me.”

Former White House national security adviser and American ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton also blasted the exchange.

“This is not a deal. This is not a swap. This is a surrender,” he told CBS News.

"And terrorists and rogue states all around the world will take note of this, and it endangers other Americans in the future who can be grabbed and used as bargaining chips by people who don’t have the same morals and scruples that we do.”

Laura Loomer gets Her Twitter Back

 

Over recent weeks, Elon Musk has proven to be serious about his intention to restore free speech to Twitter, and continues to reinstate Twitter accounts taken down by the previous management.

On Thursday, Twitter reinstated the account of Laura Loomer, a political activist who has been banned on Uber, Lyft, Uber Eats, & even getting her bank account shut down.

Loomer was banned in 2018, after she posted a tweet criticizing Rep. Ilhan Omar.

The tweet that caused her to be cancelled, was when Loomer called Omar “anti-Jewish”, and said she is a member of a religion in which “homosexuals are oppressed” and “women are abused” and “forced to wear the hijab.”

At the time, Twitter decided that Loomer violated their rules against hateful conduct.

Loomer never accepted the suspension, all the while maintaining that no rules were violated. “Everything I said is 100 percent true and factual. It’s not malicious, it’s not mean, it’s not hateful,” she said.

Around a week after the suspension, Loomer handcuffed herself to the front doors of Twitter’s New York headquarters, while wearing a Yellow Star of David and carrying a bullhorn and several printed-out tweets.

She told reporters she was protesting Twitter’s double standard of banning her for hateful coneduct, while allowing vicious Jew haters, such as anti-Semitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan to remain on the platform.

On Thursday, Loomer tweeted, “After getting BANNED on Twitter in 2018, and being digitally exterminated on nearly every other social media site, payment processor, Uber, Lyft, Uber Eats, & my own bank, I’M BACK!!!!! Elom Musk has finally unchained me from the doors of Twitter HQ! Thank you, Elon!”

2,200-year-old Greek sling bullet used against Jews in Hanukkah story found in Yavna

 

The archaeological site in Yavne, with the city in the background, in an undated photo released on December 8, 2022. (Assaf Peretz/Israel Antiquities Authority)

Some 2,200 years ago, a Greek soldier stood in battle in what is now the Israeli city of Yavne, aimed his sling at Jewish Hasmonean troops, and launched a projectile at them during battles that would later become part of the story of Hanukkah.

At least, that is one option suggested following the discovery in Yavne of a sling bullet made of lead and bearing a Greek inscription reading “Victory for Heracles and Hauron” — a possible attempt at psychological warfare against enemies.

The Israel Antiquities Authority, which revealed the finding, told The Times of Israel that the sling bullet was discovered about a year ago and has been studied since then. It timed the announcement for Wednesday, 10 days before Hanukkah.

The IAA said in a statement that the sling bullet found in Yavne’s major archaeological site is 4.4 centimeters (1.7 inches) long and around 2,200 years old. Its age places it around the time of the battles between the Seleucid army against the Hasmoneans, who were seeking to prevent the Hellenization of the Jews.

The researchers, however, acknowledged that it isn’t known in what context the slingshot was used, and that there was no conclusive evidence that it even belonged to a Greek soldier.

“It seems that we will not be able to know for sure if the sling bullet belonged to a Greek soldier, but it is not impossible that it is related to the conflict between the Greeks and the Hasmoneans,” said Pablo Betzer and Dr. Daniel Varga, who directed the excavation on behalf of the IAA, in the statement.

.Israel Ranked as the 5th Safest Country in the World to Visit

 

Despite recent terror bombings and rockets launched from Gaza, Israel is ranked as one of the safest countries for visitors, according to travel website The Swiftest.

Israel was ranked as the 5th-safest country in the world to visit, just behind Singapore, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.

According to The Swiftest’s scoring system, Israel is safer for tourists than the U.S., the UK and Japan.

The site compared the world’s top 50 countries for tourism and used metrics such as the murder rate, road traffic deaths, natural disaster risk, and deaths from unsanitary conditions in order to give each country a score.

Data on those risk rates was pulled from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Health Organization, and World Bank.

The least-safe countries in the world for tourism were listed as South Africa, India, Dominican Republic, Mexico and Brazil.

Countries received a grade, from A (excellent) to F (very poor) in a number of categories, along with an overall letter grade score summarizing the general safety situation of the country.

Israel earned an overall score of A for tourist safety, while the U.S. trailed behind with a C minus score.

The U.S.’ score was lowered by an F in the murder rate category, due to a high number of per capita homicides.

The U.S. State Department has a medium risk-level travel warning for Israel.

“Terrorist groups, lone-wolf terrorists and other violent extremists continue plotting possible attacks in Israel,” reads the warning on the U.S. site.

“Terrorists and violent extremists may attack with little or no warning, targeting tourist locations, transportation hubs, markets/shopping malls, and local government facilities. Violence can occur in Israel … without warning.”

According to recently released figures from the Tourism Ministry, some 2 million tourists visited Israel between January and October 2022.

The Ministry expects that 2.5 million people will have visited Israel by the end of the year after nearly two years of a pandemic-induced blanket ban on non-citizens, which devastated the local tourism industry.

In 2019, Israel reached an all-time tourism high of 4.5 million visitors.

AOC Under Investigation Over Possible Ethics Violations

 

AOC is being investigated by Congress over possible ethics violations.

The House Committee on Ethics is investigating NY Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, according to a statement the panel released on Wednesday.

The statement said that the panel will announce its course of action after its organizational meeting in the next Congress.

Although few details have been released, the socialist’s chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti has been accused of diverting more than $1 million in campaign donations into a slush fund controlled by two private companies registered to him.

A spokesperson for AOC said that she is confident that the case would be dismissed. “The Congresswoman has always taken ethics incredibly seriously, refusing any donations from lobbyists, corporations or other special interests,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

The Office of Congressional Ethics forwarded its inquiry into Ocasio-Cortez to the House ethics panel in June. Typically, when that office refers an investigation, it is because the office has reason to believe an ethics law was broken.

Wednesday’s statement was attributed to acting Chair Susan Wild (D-Pa.) and Ranking Member Michael Guest (R-Miss.).

The House Committee on Ethics recently voted to extend the investigation, triggering Wednesday’s disclosure.

How to scrub your phone number and address from Google search

 

This is important to know in case any of your personal (NOT professional) information gets posted publicly. 

That means if your cell phone number that you don't want clients or anyone you don't know to have comes up in a Google search for your name, you can request this to be removed. 

 You can use this request feature if personal information has been shared (on a website you don't control or in a news story to harm you, for example) against your wishes.

 If you don't have a Google account, use this form to request information be removed from a Google search result. 

 If you do have a Google account, follow these steps.

 1. Go to Google.com and search for your name 

 2. Find the search result that includes personal information (email, phone number, or home address) you don't want to appear in this search result 

 3. Next to the link of every Google search result, you'll see three vertical dots, like this: Tap the three dots to request that Google remove information from a search result.

 4. Tap the three dots to reveal menu options 

 5. Tap Remove result 

6. Tap It shows my personal contact info

 7. Fill out the information (be sure to use the exact information shown on the search request) and submit your request. 

8. Click I'm done You'll receive an email confirmation that your request was submitted within a few hours. 

Requesting this be removed does not guarantee it, but it's helpful to try and remove any personal information you don't want online.

DemonRats Ignore The Biden Crooks and Investigate the Kushner family business dealings

 

Demonrats on a pair of congressional committees have launched an aggressive new effort to obtain information about whether Jared Kushner’s actions on U.S. policy in the Persian Gulf region as a senior White House adviser were influenced by the bailout of a property owned by his family business.

Citing previously undisclosed emails and other documents related to former president Donald Trump’s son-in-law, the committees on Monday night sent letters to the State and Defense departments requesting material that they say could shed new light on whether “Kushner’s financial conflict of interest may have led him to improperly influence U.S. tax, trade and national security policies for his own financial gain.”

Hatikva Played in Bahrain

 

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Did Arabs and Jews live in peace in 19th century Palestine?

 

from the Elders of Zion Blog

I saw once again today the assertion, in an academic paper, that Arabs and Jews lived quite well together in the late 19th century in Palestine. 

I looked at the footnote and it refers to a 2014 paper by Menachem Klein, which brings an impressive amount of evidence for cooperation between the Jews of Palestine and the Arabs, including Arabic words that became part of Palestinian Yiddish and Yiddish words that became part of Arabic, as well as evidence of the groups working together, even politically, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Whenever I read this sort of thing, I wonder how this jives with anecdotal evidence of derision and insults from Arabs to Jews in the 19th century. For example, John MacGregor published in 1870 that "Men in Palestine call their fellows 'Jew' as the very lowest of all possible words of abuse."  

In an 1824 letter from Rev. W. B. Lewis to the London Society, he writes, "Jerusalem is truly miserable, groaning under the tyranny of the oppressor. Jews...are subject to daily insults, and are shamefully and inhumanly oppressed." He then gives page after page of examples of Muslims treating Jews like garbage, stealing from them, the Ottoman authorities falsely accusing Jews and their Rabbinic leaders of petty crimes and torturing them and extorting obscene sums of money as fines. (See below)

James Finn, the British consul to Jerusalem from 1846-1863, says that Jerusalem Jews were forced to bury their dead at night: - "the usual practice is to pay the gate-keeper to let them out of the town in the middle of the night, and this from fear of having the dead disinterred by Moslems or Christians."

There were pogroms against Jews in 1834 in Hebron and Safed, in 1837 in Safed again, and in 1847 a Jewish boy was accused of a blood libel in Jerusalem.

How can we reconcile the stories of Arab abuse of and attacks on Jews in Palestine with the academics who claim that Jews and Arabs lived so cooperatively?

It appears that before the 1840s, the Jews were indeed treated like dirt. Then things started changing. 

The reason is that the increasing number of European Jews could appeal to their own governments for protection, starting in that decade. Different European powers even competed for influence in the Ottoman Empire and protecting Jews gave them more power. 

Oddly, in 1848 the Russians told their Jewish subjects that they would no longer be protected, and the British consul stepped in to be their protector. This protection made it much harder for Jews to be routinely harassed by the Arabs - being backed by European powers suddenly gave the Jews powers they hadn't had beforehand.

Only after the Jews came under the protection of European states did the Arabs start to treat the Jews with more respect. The Ottoman leaders were no longer able to mistreat most of their Jewish subjects out of fear of creating an international incident.

It is an old story:

 Arabs respect power. When Jews were powerless, Arabs treated them like garbage. Only when they had some protection did the Arabs start to "live with them together in peace." Did the Arabs suddenly become philosemitic? Of course not. But they were practical: The Jews couldn't be attacked with impunity anymore.

And that is the story of Israel in a nutshell. When Israel acts weak, it invites Arab (now, Palestinian) derision and attacks. Acting strong is the only formula for peace. It isn't a peace based on love or friendship, but a peace based on respect. 

It is no different now than in was 200 years ago.

(Some information here comes from Arabs and Jews in Ottoman Palestine: Two Worlds Collide, by Alan Dowty.) 

___________________________________

Here are excerpts of the 1924 letter from W. B. Lewis with many examples of Arab oppression of Jews, most first-hand:

New York Slimes Walks Back False Report on Gaza Fishing Industry

 

New York Times Anti-semitic Cartoon

The New York Times has published an editor’s note correcting its false report that Gaza’s fishing industry is on the verge of collapse due to an Israeli blockade of the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave.

Using official Palestinian statistics, the media watchdog group Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) proved to the Times that the claim is false. CAMERA provided information indicating that the fishermen have more than doubled their annual catch in the last 15 years. In addition, the number of registered fishing boats has also more than doubled, according to Tamar Sternthal, director of CAMERA’s Israel’s office.

In a Nov. 27 article, “Amid Israeli Blockade on Gaza a Fishing Fleet Limps Along,” Times correspondent Raja Abdulrahim claimed the Israeli blockade has been “devastating for the Gaza Strip’s fishing industry.”

But CAMERA refuted the claim and provided the Times with research data from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics disproving the false statement.

On Dec. 3, the Times printed the editor’s note acknowledging the article omitted important context, leaving the impression that the industry has been devastated. “The current catch is higher than that in the early years of the blockade,” the note reads.

“CAMERA staff are doing the basic research that Times staff should be doing themselves,” stated Andrea Levin, executive director and president of CAMERA. “Abdulrahim’s story claiming Gaza’s fishing industry is collapsing falls completely apart when you look at the facts. But the Times’ impulse to run with any storyline blaming Israel subverts ethical reporting norms and leads again and again to these blunders.”

Dems Secure Senate Majority as Anti-Israel Warnock Wins Georgia

 

Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock on Tuesday beat Republican Herschel Walker by a margin of 51.3% to 48.7% in a runoff election, becoming the first full-term first Black senator from Georgia. Warnock, a Methodist pastor, and Medicaid activist, initially won his seat in a 2020 special election, defeating incumbent Republican Kelly Loeffler. His win gave the Democrats 50 of the Senate seats, and they ruled the chamber with the help of Vice President Kamala Harris who is the president of the Senate.

Chaidie Leaders of Meron now Attempting to Shift Blame on Police

 

  The senior officers said it will take time because of the huge crowd to get through! 

Why not focus on the actual issue of how FRUM leaders allowed this to happen to begin with?!?! They were warned of the potential disaster but, as usual, they knew better! They have blood on their hands!

In newly released recordings of police discussions which occurred during the hour prior to the Meron disaster in 2021, police can be heard warning their superiors of an impending catastrophe.

Israel’s Kan news revealed the jarring recordings from the half hour preceding the tragic disaster in which 45 people were trampled to death. Reporter Moshe Steinmetz says that the recording demonstrates that the Meron tragedy was not only the result of poor infrastructure and overcrowding, but was also a huge tactical failure on the part of police senior officials, who were warned by their subordinates that the situation was dangerous and they needed more backup forces but did not provide the necessary reinforcements to close the deadly bottleneck at the Dov bridge.

At 12:14 police officers at the bridge said that “its getting very crowded here, there are huge gatherings, people are jostling, come here now.” A similar warning was issued at 12:22, more than 20 minutes before the catastrophe. The warnings became more urgent as the catastrophe grew closer, and the local police headquarters queried what was going on. The police answered that they needed urgent backup, asking: Where are the sleeping officers?” Police further up at the Kohanim porch also noticed the unusual crush and asked for backup to close the porch and stop the masses from exiting the area.

One of the senior officers attempted to calm the juniors, stating “its because of the Hadlakah [Toldos Aharon] it will take at least another half an hour.” The police at the Kohanim porch succeeded belatedly in stopping people from descending but it was too late for the masses near the Dov bridge, who were already being crushed as they attempted to descend. The senior officers were still asking why reinforcements were needed while the juniors said that the entrances needed to be closed because “people are trampling one another.”