Sunday, March 3, 2024
New bill would make illegal immigrants eligible for first time homebuyer loans
Joaquin Arambula, a Democratic assemblyman from California, introduced Assembly Bill 1840 earlier this year, which could create an alternative way for illegal immigrants to achieve homeownership.
The bill is set to expand eligibility criteria for a state loan program to expand these loans to include undocumented migrants that are first-time buyers.
Arambula’s update to the bill states, "an applicant under the program shall not be disqualified solely based on the applicant’s immigration status."
"It’s that ambiguity for undocumented individuals, despite the fact that they’ve qualified under existing criteria, such as having a qualified mortgage [that] underscores the pressing need for us to introduce legislation," Arambula told the LA Times.
Susan Sarandon at NYC Pro-Hamas Protest barks ‘our enemy is silence’
Susan Sarandon speaks at “Millions March for Palestine” in Washington Square Park pic.twitter.com/jH0ka2OfyO
— Katie Smith (@probablyreadit) March 2, 2024
Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon addressed the crowd at a Pro-Hamas protest in Washington Square Park Saturday afternoon – where she urged attendees to disrupt “the narrative of the powerful.”
“Our enemy is greed, and our enemy is silence,” the 77-year-old actress told the hundreds of protestors who braved the rain and the wind for the Millions March for Palestine, according to a video shared by independent journalist Katie Smith.
“The silence of those who look away when you see crushed children, starving babies, wailing mothers, fathers digging through the rubble to try to find their families…this is unacceptable!” she continued.
Sarandon has been a regular at anti-Israel events in New York City since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023.
In late November, the “Dead Man Walking” star was dropped from a top Hollywood talent agency after telling one rally that Jews in the United States are “getting a taste of how it feels to be Muslim in America” in the wake of the Oct. 7 terror attack.
Dems stick together while Republicans Throw Each other Under the Bus
Three examples of how today’s Dems play by the cutthroat rules formerly ascribed to leaders of the Soviet Union: What’s mine is mine, what’s yours is negotiable.
First, despite a historically-narrow House margin and internal splits, Republicans took the rare step of expelling one of their own, George Santos, after he was indicted on federal charges.
A Democrat, Tom Suozzi, recently won the special election for the New York seat.
By comparison, Dems control the razor-tight Senate, but there was no push to expel one of their own, New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, who was indicted on more serious charges, which included being a foreign agent.
Second, consider how each side views impeachment.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Dem-controlled House ginned-up charges against Trump over Ukraine during his presidency, and produced two articles of impeachment.
Both were approved, with only two Dems voting no on the first and only three voting no on the second.
On the second Trump impeachment, after Jan. 6, 10 Republicans joined all Dems in voting yes and GOP Rep. Liz Cheney was a chief architect of the House hearings that followed.
Now Republicans have the House, but struggled even to impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas for his refusal to secure the border.
The first vote failed in a tie, a second vote succeeded by one vote as three Republicans joined all Dems voting no.
Notice how Dems, whatever their differences, stick together for the big votes?
As for impeaching Joe Biden over his corrupt family schemes, the GOP had trouble getting a majority of its members just to support a formal impeachment inquiry.
All Dems voted no.
During hearings, Dems try to derail witnesses and downplay testimony, and unite in defending the president despite evidence Biden participated in the schemes.
No matter that testimony and bank records show he got money from his brother Jim Biden, who got it from foreign clients.
There is no Dem version of Liz Cheney willing to break ranks, nor is there enough GOP support to even consider an impeachment vote.
Ruthless politics
Third, there’s the unprecedented move to prosecute and bankrupt Trump, with indictments and civil cases coming from New York, Georgia and federal authorities — all led by Democrats.
In addition, numerous blue states outrageously considered or tried to ban Trump from appearing on ballots.
The Supreme Court is expected to rule soon on the matter.
Lest anyone think the legal assault is organic, The New York Times reported two years ago that Biden was unhappy that Attorney General Merrick Garland had not prosecuted Trump.
Soon, Garland saluted and obeyed.
On the Georgia case, chief prosecutor Fani Willis hired her lover and appears to have lied about it under oath.
Records show Willis & Co. spent days in the White House, suggesting Biden aides helped direct prosecution of his Republican opponent.
That’s the united, ruthless front Republicans are up against, and it’s why Trump, and only Trump, is the last candidate standing.
In Times Square Police blocked from reaching car with grenade by Pro-Hamas protestors
An NYPD bomb squad was prevented from reaching an Uber where an inert grenade was found in Times Square byPro-Hamas protesters yesterday (Saturday), the New York Post reported.
The incident occurred when an Uber driver looked in his back seat after dropping off a passenger on 42nd Street and saw a grenade there.
The police were summoned to the scene, but could not reach the vehicle as quickly as hoped due to an pro-Hamasl protest happening at the time, dubbed the 'Millions March for Palestine.'
Multiple anti-Israel protestors were arrested for blocking the police vehicle from reaching the area. The incident became violent as riot police attempted to move demonstrators out of the way so the bomb squad vehicle could reach the car containing the grenade.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry posted a video of the incident on X and wrote, "Happy Saturday to all! Except the people who thought it was a good idea to block an NYPD ESU vehicle on the way to a bomb threat call. They will be spending their Saturday where they belong - in jail!"
After the arrests, police were able to cordon off the Uber vehicle and secure the grenade, which was found to be inert.
Happy Saturday to all! Except the people who thought it was a good idea to block an NYPD ESU vehicle on the way to a bomb threat call. They will be spending their Saturday where they belong - in jail! pic.twitter.com/C0adj5waUj
— NYPD Deputy Commissioner, Operations Kaz Daughtry (@NYPDDaughtry) March 2, 2024
Gantz Flying To US Without Approval, Netanyahu Is Furious
National Unity chairman Benny Gantz is flying to Washington on Motzei Shabbos for a series of meetings with US officials.
Gantz is scheduled to meet with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan as well as senior members of Congress. Reuters reported that he is also meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris.
According to a Ynet report, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is furious as Gantz planned his trip without the prime minister’s approval and contrary to government regulations, which “requires every minister to approve his travel in advance with the prime minister, including approval of the travel plan.”
According to Netanyahu’s associates, “the Prime Minister made it clear to Minister Gantz that the State of Israel has only one prime minister.”
Following his trip to Washington, Gantz will fly to London for a series of “high-level meetings,” his office said.
Muslim Shouting “Death To Jews!” Stabs Chareidie In Zurich ..Laughed While being Arrested
A Charedi man in his 50s was stabbed in the city of Zurich in Switzerland on Saturday night. The victim, who suffered serious injuries, was evacuated to a local hospital for treatment.
According to an eyewitness who was at the scene, the stabbing is an antisemitic hate crime. Other reports indicated that the assailant, a 15-year-old teenager, yelled "death to the Jews" or "death to Israel" during the attack.
The police later arrested the attacker. Local news websites reported the attacker laughed when he was arrested.
Local authorities confirmed that a man was stabbed in Zurich did not provide additional information about his identity.
The incident comes amid the sharp rise in incidents of antisemitism in recent years.
On Friday, a man wearing a kippah was attacked as he was leaving a synagogue in the 20th arrondissement of Paris. The attacker called him a "dirty Jew", before punching and kicking him.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said that "great efforts are being made to catch the perpetrator of this serious crime."
Elsewhere in Europe, a Jewish man was verbally accosted by a Muslim man in the London underground. The incident took place after the Muslim passenger set opposite the Jewish one, noticed he was wearing a kippah, and began to confront him.
Moments later, the Jewish man asked if the Muslim passenger had a problem. The Muslim passenger replied, “Your religion kills Muslims,” which caused a heated exchange in which the Muslim passenger repeated his accusations and pointed out the kippah the Jewish passenger wore.
The Jewish passenger accused the Muslim passenger of antisemitism, and claimed that the Muslim passenger did not properly know him.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday announced 54 million pounds in new funding to protect Jewish communities against antisemitism over the next four years.
The announcement comes after Jewish advisory body the Community Security Trust (CST) said earlier this month that Britain recorded thousands of antisemitic incidents after the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas in October, making 2023 the worst year for UK antisemitism since its records began in 1984.
The Jewish community gathered to recite Tehillim for the victim on Motzei Shabbos for the recovery of the victim.
Meir Tzvi ben Sarah.
Saturday, March 2, 2024
In this Crazed State.. The AG Letitia James sends Nassau County cease-and-desist order over trans sport ban, threatens legal action
New York Attorney General Letitia James sent a cease-and-desist order to Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman Friday, demanding he rescind an executive order prohibiting transgender athletes from competing in girls' and women's sports in the area.
In a press release issued by the Attorney General’s office, the executive order Blakeman signed last week was slammed as discriminatory and a violation of New York’s Civil and Human Rights Laws.
"The executive order discriminates against transgender women and girls simply for being who they are, and against teams that include transgender women and girls on their rosters, in clear violation of New York’s Civil and Human Rights Laws," the press release states.
"In a cease-and-desist order sent today, the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) demanded that Nassau County rescind the order in five days or else face additional legal action."
James reiterated the threat of legal action in a statement released by the office.
"The law is perfectly clear: You cannot discriminate against a person because of their gender identity or expression. We have no room for hate or bigotry in New York," James said. "This executive order is transphobic and blatantly illegal. Nassau County must immediately rescind the order, or we will not hesitate to take decisive legal action."
Blakeman’s executive order prevents transgender athletes or teams with transgender athletes from using the county’s sports venues.
"What we are saying here today with our executive order is that if a league or team identifies themselves or advertises themselves to be a girls or women’s league or team, then biological males should not be competing in those leagues," Blakeman said at a recent press conference announcing the law.
Blakeman responded to Friday’s cease-and-desist notice on social media, indicating no plans to rescind the executive order.
"My EO stops the bullying of women and girls by transgender males who have many outlets to compete without putting the safety and security of females in danger," he said in a post on X.
"In Nassau we will continue to fight for females’ right to be safe, secure and have a level playing field to compete."
According to the cease-and-desist letter, the executive order will affect approximately 100 sites. In addition to threats of legal action, the attorney general is asking Blakeman to produce "any and all documents constituting the record supporting your decision to issue the Order."
Jewish singles flock to Philadelphia matchmaking conference ‘YentaCon’
A convention of matchmakers are helping young Jews make love, not war.
Leading “yentas” from New York and around the world descended on Philadelphia Thursday and Friday for the inaugural “YentaCon,” billed as the “first Jewish matchmaking conference” in the country designed to match members of the Tribe.
But these weren’t little old babushkas like in “Fiddler on the Roof.” These were next-gen millennial matchmakers, one as young as 25, delivering decidedly modern guidance, such as “Judaism and Sexuality,” to discerning singles.
“It’s the year of the yenta,” declared NYC yenta Bonnie Winston, who said that matchmakers are working overtime trying to pair up singles “looking for a Jewish connection” in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and amid a surge in antisemitism.
“We are all in one room to support one another, despite our differences, to help our Jewish clients find love,” she said to a sea of emphatic nods.
“The closer you get to Fiddler on the Roof-style matchmaking, the better it is,” said Ali Adler of “Matched by Ali,” adding that the emphasis on in-person, face-to-face meetups is back. “It’s as old-fashioned as you can get.”
At the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philly, one block from the Liberty Bell, it was kosher schnitzel, instead of cheesesteaks, on the menu — along with a healthy portion of kvetching, kvelling and kibbitzing.
The crowd, sporting “Yenta”-emblazoned fanny packs against a wall of heart-shaped balloons, included dozens of matchmakers and love coaches — both Hasidic and secular; rabbis both male and female; husband and wife matchmakers; black matchmakers, and one who’s part of a family of Lutheran ministers – with one mission: to help Jews meet and marry one another.
The female-heavy crowd, save for a few male matchmakers, including 31-year-old Nicholas Rosen of Washington Heights, plotzed when a phalanx of armed SWAT team guys entered the room for a security exercise and a matchmaker worth her weight screamed out, “Are they single?”
Indeed, the unofficial commandment, thou shalt get busy, was foremost on everyone’s minds. During Rabbi Yisroel Bernath’s session, “Kabbalah of Love,” the “Love Rabbi” reiterated the group’s mission, declaring, “The greatest thing since sliced challah is getting someone married.”
Matchmakers showcased their clients during PowerPoint presentations: the bachelor from NYC “with a beach house in East Hampton,” the “quirky cult Disney addict,” the “self-made VC,” and the holy grail of matches — the “single Jewish doctor.”
During Neisteter’s session on “Judaism and Sexuality,” discussions on the “sex-positive” aspects of Judaism inspired heated proclamations, “The Talmud says a man is obligated to satisfy his wife,” while another yenta chimed in, “It’s grounds for divorce if he doesn’t!”
Aleeza Ben Shalom, star of Netflix’s “Jewish Matchmaking,” told The Post she’s “reclaiming” the word yenta and “wants to spread a lot of seeds” to make Jewish connections. No Jewish singles during the evening took “spread your seed” edict too literally, as many left with only with a new phone number.
As one yenta put it, “When we have love and peace, we have hope — and we all need that,” Jewish or not.
Brooklyn high school is a haven for Hitler-loving hooligans who terrorize Jewish teachers and classmates,
The hateful procession was shocking even for Origins, a school rife with bias and bullying, insiders told The Post.
“I live in fear of going to work every day,” said global history teacher Danielle Kaminsky.
According to interviews with multiple staffers, and a Jewish student’s safety transfer request, recent hate incidents include:
- A student painted a mustache on his face to look like Hitler, and banged on classroom doors. When someone opened, he clicked his heels and raised his arm in the Nazi gesture, security footage shows.
- Three swastikas in one week were drawn on teachers’ walls and other objects, a manager found.
- A 10th-grader told Kaminsky, 33, who is Jewish, “I wish you were killed.”
- Another student called her “a dirty Jew” and said he wished Hitler could have “hit more Jews,” including her.
- Students pasted drawings of the Palestinian flag and notes saying “Free Palestine” on Kaminsky’s classroom door. One scribbled note that said simply, “Die.”
The teen tormentors have so far faced no serious discipline under interim acting principal Dara Kammerman, who has done little beyond contacting parents in an effort to practice “restorative justice,” staffers said.
“She is perpetuating an antisemitic environment and a school of hate,” said Michael Beaudry, campus manager of the Sheepshead Bay building that houses Origins and three other schools. “The students continue these behaviors because they know there won’t be any consequences.”
In response, the city Department of Education said it will launch a probe: “There is currently no evidence that these claims are true, but we are investigating the claims.”
In a disturbing instance in late January, a group of boys came into Kaminsky’s classroom at the end of the day, and cornered her, laughing, she said.
“Miss Kaminsky, do you love Hitler?” one asked.
“I was so taken aback,” she said. “I did not respond, and they all gave the heil Hitler sign.”
Frightened, Kaminsky quickly left her classroom.
One boy waved to his friends to chase her inside the building, a scene captured on security footage, Beaudry said.
Bill Maher gives blistering monologue on Biden age: ‘Walks like a toddler with a full diaper’
Late night host Bill Maher offered a brutal send up of President Biden’s age — which included the comedian delivering a sample State of the Union address as the 46th president while using a walker.
Biden, now 81, should lean into his years and spend less time trying deny the obvious, Maher said.
“Instead of trying to refute all the too old to be president slams, Joe must embrace them. Stop with the ‘I’m sharper than ever’ nobody’s buying that. Don’t try to deny the age thing lean into it. Lean in, lean in like you’re eating soup,” Maher, 68, said.
Biden should dump TikTok and trying to look cool to younger voters, Maher said, and instead reach out to older people — a demographic he described as “the Matlock crowd.”
“Just admit it say yes, I’m bad with names and I walk like a toddler with a full diaper. I believe in democracy,” he continued. “So next Thursday when the President delivers the State of the Union. I say he should let his old fart flag fly.”
Maher then aired a skit of himself as Biden shuffling to a podium with a walker — named “Walker One” — and delivering an error-riddled address to Congress.
“My friends when I first came here as a senator Washington welcomed me with open arms, not the place to guy. And that is a virtue. You don’t want a young person in charge of our defense. We need a president who can stand up to Russia and say to its current president, Mr. Gorbachev, get off my lawn,” Maher quipped.
Questions about Biden’s age continue to dog his reelection campaign.
While his White House physicians insist Biden is fit as a fiddle, new questions have been raised since special counsel Robert Hur’s report which called the president an “elderly man with poor memory.”
Mohammed Murders a Frum Jewish Dentist in California
A 29-year-old man, Mohammed Abdulkareem, was arrested after shooting and killing an Orthodox Jewish dentist, Dr. Benjamin Harouni, at his practice in El Cajon, California, near San Diego.
According to police, Abdulkareem was a disgruntled patient and had rented a U-Haul pickup truck just an hour before the shooting.
The shooting occurred at Smile Plus Dentistry & Orthodontics on North Magnolia Avenue, where Abdulkareem allegedly opened fire with a handgun, killing one person and injuring a receptionist, Yareli Carrillo, 28, and a man in his 40s.
Abdulkareem was arrested just after 10pm on Thursday, and the firearm used in the shooting was recovered. The victim who died was found inside the office as the shooting was still ongoing and was taken outside by officers, where they attempted to perform lifesaving measures.
Misaskim of Los Angeles spent the night at the scene ensuring proper Kavod Hames.
Friday, March 1, 2024
Joseph Landa's squatter nightmare shows the madness of New York’s ‘tenant protections’
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| Retirees Susana and Joseph Landa are being terrorized by a squatter in their $2 million Queens home. |
One Queens couple’s real-life horror story exposes the insanity of New York’s housing laws.
Retirees Susana and Joseph Landa, both 68, thought they’d landed a gem last October when they bought a $2 million home in Douglastown, Queens, near a family who could help look after their adult son with Down Syndrome.
But they have yet to move in, even as they’re stuck paying taxes and maintenance on the property.
Ben Flores, a former caregiver to the deceased previous owner, has been squatting on the property since January 2023, per court documents, and refuses to leave.
He’s even reportedly trying to rent out rooms in the house.
But city law grants “squatters rights” that frustrate any attempt to evict anyone who claims to have lawfully occupied a unit for at least 30 days; that let Flores call the cops on the Landas when they tried to enter the home they own along with an insurance inspector.
They’ve been to civil court five times to try to get him out; at a hearing in early January, he showed up without an attorney — which under the law halted proceedings, rather than forcing him to represent himself or forfeit.
More recently, he filed for bankruptcy, which under city law again blocks the owners from even continuing the case to get him out.
The Landas can’t even get another hearing until April; who knows what new “right” he’ll exploit by then?
Meanwhile, they’re stuck paying thousands in utility bills for the house: They say he’s vindictively left the windows open all winter.
And this case is far from unique: In early February, a pair of serial squatters trashed the Queens home where they had been living rent-free for nearly four years before fleeing, owing at least $48,000 in back rent. Other Queens landlords have struggled to evict tenants running brothels.
Then there’s the elderly Upper West Side couple abused by another rogue tenant in 2022 and drug-dealing squatters in a Bronx house in 2021.
Yet progressives in the Legislature keep pushing to pass “Good Cause Eviction,” a law that’d make it even harder to oust bad tenants statewide (while also imposing statewide rent control).
City and state, New York housing law goes so far to protect “tenants” that it enables the utterly unscrupulous — and the ideologues are looking to make it even easier for the abusers to turn innocents’ dreams into nightmares.
Shocking double standard of support for Ukraine and Israel
“The Ukrainians must stop fighting in case they defeat Putin.”
Have you heard any of our leaders say that in the last two years?
As Ukraine enters its third year of war it is striking how committed political leaders of all parties are to that war.
And not just here but across the West.
At home — Democrat or Republican — almost everybody is committed to arming Ukraine until victory.
They don’t want Ukraine to fight to a stalemate.
They don’t want it to stop just before winning.
They want it to beat Putin back.
So how strange it is that another war, involving a far closer ally, gets such different treatment.
The historian Niall Ferguson noted the curious double-standard this week after a visit to Israel.
In Washington, London and every other Western capital, political leaders are not saying that they will stick with Israel until it defeats Hamas.
They are not saying “Victory at any price and at any cost.”
Instead they are insisting that Israel stop its war against Hamas as soon as possible.
Charedi Draft Issue May Bring Down the Government
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| Dass Torah Confusion |
Until Feb. 26, the assumption was that the current Israeli government is stable.
“Yes, of course, there were the horrific events of Oct. 7, but who has an interest in quitting the government and causing it to collapse?” many politicians would have told you.
But on Feb. 26, everything began to change. Israel’s High Court ruled that the government must issue a defense by March 24 against a petition seeking the nullification of a Cabinet administrative decision from last June, in which the Defense Ministry was told not to enlist ultra-Orthodox yeshivah students until the government had passed a new law on the matter by the end of next month.
If the government does not manage to pass the law by March 31, young haredi men will have to be recruited and budget allocations for their yeshivahs will be stopped.
“We are at an unprecedented point. This is the first time that even the right wing is demanding to reach a recruitment agreement that is difficult for the ultra-Orthodox to digest,” Ishay Cohen, the political analyst at the Kikar Hashabat ultra-Orthodox news site, tells JNS.
“Until now it was opposition versus coalition; now parties in the right-wing government coalition are also demanding change. And that is why, even if the High Court demands that the ultra-Orthodox be drafted—it will not be criticized by parts of the coalition,” Cohen says.
Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (Likud) dropped a bombshell on Feb. 28 by announcing that he will agree to put forward an ultra-Orthodox draft law “only if all parts of the coalition agree to it”—meaning that Benny Gantz and his National Unity Party would have to support it.
Watch the elimination of the Palestinan Police "Terrorist" Officer
תיעוד חיסול המחבל המתועב שביצע את הפיגוע בעלי. pic.twitter.com/iywvD7JVSh
— הלל ביטון רוזן | Hallel Bitton Rosen (@BittonRosen) February 29, 2024
כורע ויורה: תיעוד חיסול המחבל בעלי
— ערוץ 7 (@arutz7heb) February 29, 2024
https://t.co/BaDeKt5DaX pic.twitter.com/fdWS8Xp04C
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