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In her upcoming book, “Something Lost, Something Gained: Reflections on Life, Love, and Liberty,” Hillary Clinton, former US Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, sharply criticizes Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu for his perceived lack of accountability regarding the Hamas attack on October 7 of last year. The book is scheduled for release in the US on Tuesday, with The Guardian publishing excerpts from an advance copy on Thursday.

Clinton contrasts Netanyahu with Golda Meir, whom she regards with admiration for her leadership during the Yom Kippur War. Clinton highlights Meir’s blend of “humor and gravitas” and notes that Meir accepted responsibility by resigning and agreeing to an inquiry into the war’s failures. In stark contrast, Clinton accuses Netanyahu of “taking zero responsibility” and resisting calls for an election or stepping down from his position.

The critique of Netanyahu forms part of a larger discussion in the book about Clinton’s tenure at Columbia University, where she began her role as a professor of practice at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) in 2023. Columbia University has seen significant anti-Israel demonstrations since the October 7 attack, including protests outside Clinton’s class in recent weeks.

Clinton recounts her experiences with students on both sides of the conflict, describing the campus atmosphere as “tense with shock and grief.” She reflects on the “blank stares” she received when explaining to students that “if [then-Palestinian Authority chairman] Yasser Arafat had accepted the deal offered by my husband in 2000 for a state that the Israeli government was prepared to accept, the Palestinian people would be celebrating their 23rd year of statehood.”

At Columbia, Clinton observed that many protesters were “earnestly heartbroken” over the events of October 7 and their aftermath. However, she also noted that some used the situation as a pretext to promote antisemitic slogans, such as “From the river to the sea.” Clinton reiterates her previous call on MSNBC for Netanyahu to resign.

{Matzav.com}

Russia on Friday accused six British diplomats of spying and said it decided to expel them, while the U.K. said the “completely baseless” move came weeks ago and was linked to its action in May to revoke the credentials of an attaché at the Russian Embassy and limit Moscow’s diplomatic activities in London, The latest East-West tensions unfolded as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer visits Washington for talks that will include Ukraine’s request to use Western-supplied weapons to strike targets inside Russia. Russia’s Federal Security Service said in an online statement that the Foreign Ministry withdrew the British envoys’ accreditations, and Russian TV quoted an FSB official as saying it was decided to expel them. The FSB said it received documents indicating the diplomats were sent to Russia by a division of the U.K.’s Foreign Office “whose main task is to inflict a strategic defeat on our country,” and that they were involved in “intelligence-gathering and subversive activities.” It did not identify the six diplomats. The FSB warned that if other diplomats are found to be carrying out “similar actions,” it “will demand early termination of their missions” to Russia. Russian TV said the six diplomats had met with independent media and rights groups that have been declared “foreign agents” — a label Russian authorities have actively used against organizations and individuals critical of the Kremlin. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a statement that the diplomats were carrying out “subversive actions aimed at causing harm to our people.” “We fully agree with the assessments of the activities of the British so-called diplomats expressed by the Russian FSB,” she added in an online statement. “The British Embassy has gone far beyond the limits outlined by the Vienna Conventions.” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said breaking off diplomatic relations with the U.K. was not on the table right now. In calling the Russian allegations “completely baseless,” the U.K. Foreign Office said the expulsions happened weeks ago, linking them to Britain’s decision in May to revoke the credentials of an attaché at Moscow’s London embassy and to impose a five-year time limit on all Russian diplomats in Britain. “The Russian authorities revoked the diplomatic accreditation of six U.K. diplomats in Russia last month, following action taken by the U.K. government in response to Russian state-directed activity across Europe and in the U.K.,” the Foreign Office said in a statement. “We are unapologetic about protecting our national interests.” In May, the U.K. expelled Russia’s defense attaché in London, alleging he was an undeclared intelligence officer, and it closed several Russian diplomatic properties in Britain that it said were being used for spying. About a week later, Russia reciprocated and expelled Britain’s defense attaché. Expulsions of diplomats — both Western envoys working in Russia and Russians in the West — have become increasingly common since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Last year, the Russian news outlet RBC counted that Western countries and Japan expelled a total 670 Russian diplomats between the start of 2022 and October 2023, while Moscow responded by expelling 346 diplomats. According to RBC, that was more than in the previous 20 years combined. On his way to visit the U.S., Starmer said Britain does not “seek any conflict with Russia.” “Russia started this conflict. Russia illegally invaded […]

Adina Moshe, freed from Hamas captivity as part of the November hostage deal, shared startling details of her 49-day ordeal, speaking to Army Radio on Thursday.

The 72-year-old disclosed her encounters with fellow Israeli hostages Yarden Bibas and Ofer Kalderon from Kibbutz Nir Oz, whom she saw confined behind bars within the underground tunnels, providing a grim glimpse into their conditions and her efforts to improve their situation.

“I approached in complete darkness,” she recalled. “When I asked why they were confined, they said they don’t know. But when I inquired if they had confronted Hamas, it became clear they had.”

Moshe described her cautious approach to advocating for her fellow captives: “After two days, I approached the commander of the unit assigned to guard us. I told him I’d heard Hebrew voices and said, ‘They’re from Nir Oz.’ He was surprised at my knowledge.

“I urged him to bring them to us, and after two days, he allowed both to join us for an hour,” she continued. “They were then returned to confinement, but the next day, he permitted a two-hour visit.”

The Bibas family is widely known in Israel and internationally for the footage of their kidnapping from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, showing mother Shiri Bibas terrified and looking around helplessly while clutching both of her ginger-haired sons, then a 4-year-old and a 9-month-old-baby. More images of that day were released months later of Shiri and her two children in Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip.

Responding to a question about Yarden’s knowledge of his family’s fate, Moshe said: “He told us he had left the safe room to face the Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7. Shiri and the children stayed behind. He said, ‘I truly hope they weren’t found because the attackers in my house caught me and took me to the terrorists’ meeting point at the kibbutz, then to Khan Yunis.’

“That is what he believed for quite some time. Eventually, I asked our Hamas guards if Shiri and the children were also being held. They said it would take time to find out. From the start, I worked to establish good relations with our captors. I realized this approach could benefit us all.”

Ofer Kalderon was taken to Gaza along with his daughter Sachar, then aged 16, and son Erez, then aged 11. The footage of Erez being dragged away by Hamas terrorists has become one of the symbols of the Oct. 7 attack. Sachar and Erez were released after 52 days in Hamas captivity, while their father is still held in Gaza.

“The day after my release, a Shin Bet investigator came to question me,” Moshe continued.” They didn’t know much about the tunnels. She asked me to describe them, and I realized it’s not something you can simply see—it’s about how it feels. I told her it’s an enormous, complex maze beneath the entire Gaza Strip.

“When I left the hospital, they sent a Shin Bet engineer to see me,” Moshe added. “She wanted me to draw the tunnel layout. I explained I was not an artist and offered a verbal description, but she insisted on a visual representation. I tried my best to illustrate it, but it’s an almost infinite network. I detailed everything—the phone lines, power supplies, booby traps, confinement areas—things they couldn’t have imagined existed.”

(JNS)

Palestinian rioters targeted Neve Tzuf (also known as Chalamish) in the Binyamin region of Shomron on Thursday, throwing Molotov cocktails at the village.

The attack resulted in a rapidly spreading fire, forcing the evacuation of residents in the first few houses near the edge of the community.

It took two firefighting planes and several firefighting teams to bring the blaze under control. The terrorists responsible for the attack fled towards the nearby village of Deir Nidham.

Deputy Commander Ido Peretz of the Binyamin Regional Fire Station detailed the response: “Due to our knowledge of the area and understanding of the threats, numerous teams were dispatched from the Binyamin Regional Fire Station, as well as assistance from neighboring stations in the Yehuda and Shomron district and inter-district support.”

He added, “This is a forest located within the town, and at this time, the fire is moving with the help of the winds. A pair of firefighting planes from the Elad squadron are on their way to the location to assist in extinguishing the fire.”

By Thursday afternoon, there was no longer any danger to residents, but the nearby forest was badly damaged and there was tremendous damage to ecological systems and wildlife.

The Neve Tzuf leadership appealed for immediate action, urging the army to “immediately close Route 450, which cuts through the neighborhoods of the town, to Palestinian traffic and prevent another disaster.”

The town’s statement concluded: “We support the IDF and security forces in their fight against terrorism and in defending the residents.”

This is not the first time that Neve Tzuf has been targeted. In 2016, another Palestinian arson attack struck the town, destroying 23 homes and causing severe damage to several others.

A statement from Neve Tzuf administration back then highlighted the ongoing threat: “The light punishment given to the terrorists who carried out the attack serves as inspiration for every copycat terrorist. With the simple means of a Molotov cocktail, they cause immense damage that takes many years to repair, if it can be repaired at all.”

Thursday’s attack was yet another incident in the escalation of violence perpetrated by Palestinian terrorists in Yehuda and Shomron.

Following the murder of three Israelis at the Allenby border crossing this past Sunday, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called for a significant policy shift.

“The war we are in is not only against Gaza and Hezbollah [in Lebanon], it is also in Yehuda and Shomron,” Ben-Gvir said. “Just last week, I asked the prime minister to also include victory in Yehuda and Shomron among the goals of the war. I will continue to fight for this to happen.”

The situation has become increasingly dire, with more than 3,200 attacks in the region during the first six months of 2024. Last week, the Yesha Council held a series of protests by Jewish residents demanding enhanced security measures and a cracking down on terrorists.

Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan said, “This fight is a fight for our very existence here. It is inconceivable that while half of the residents of Yehuda and Shomron are mobilized in the north and south [against Hezbollah and Hamas, respectively], the security of their families will be abandoned.”

The Israel Defense Forces has initiated a policy shift. Yehuda and Shomron is now classified as a “combat zone,” elevating it to the country’s most critical front after the Gaza Strip.

This reclassification has led to intensified military operations. In late August, the IDF launched “Operation Summer Camps” in northern Shomron, marking the most extensive military action in the region since “Defensive Shield” during the Second Intifada in 2002. The operation involved the deployment of two brigade combat teams in the Jenin camp and Tulkarem for an extended period.

(JNS)

Two men have been charged with burglary over the theft of an artwork by street artist Banksy that was taken in a smash-and-grab raid on a London gallery. The Metropolitan Police force said Friday that Larry Fraser, 47, and James Love, 53, are alleged to have taken “Girl with Balloon” from the Grove Gallery on Sunday night. The suspects appeared at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court on Thursday and were ordered detained until their next hearing on Oct. 9. Surveillance camera footage showed a masked man smashing a glass door before dashing in and taking the picture from a wall. Police said they have recovered the work, which is valued in court documents at 270,000 pounds ($355,000). Nothing else was reported stolen. The stolen work is one of several versions of “Girl with Balloon,” a stenciled image of a child reaching for a heart-shaped red balloon. Originally stenciled on a wall in east London, the picture has been endlessly reproduced, becoming one of Banksy’s best-known images. Another version partially self-destructed during a 2018 auction, passing through a shredder hidden in its frame just after it was purchased for 1.1 million pounds ($1.4 million) at Sotheby’s. The self-shredded work, retitled “Love is in the Bin,” sold for 18.6 million pounds ($25.4 million at the time) in 2021. Bansky, who has never confirmed his full identity, began his career spray-painting buildings in Bristol, England, and has become one of the world’s best-known artists. His mischievous and often satirical images include two policemen kissing, armed riot police with yellow smiley faces and a chimpanzee with a sign bearing the words, “Laugh now, but one day I’ll be in charge.” His paintings and installations sell for millions of dollars at auction and have drawn thieves and vandals. This summer a series of animal-themed stencils showed up around London. One of them, a howling wolf on a satellite dish, was removed by a masked man less than an hour after it was confirmed as authentic. An image of a gorilla at London Zoo and piranhas in a police sentry box in London’s financial district were both removed by the authorities for safekeeping. (AP)

ABC has firmly rejected claims that Vice President Kamala Harris was given any prior knowledge of the questions she would face during her debate with former President Donald Trump.

“Absolutely not,” an ABC News representative told The Daily Beast in an official statement.

“Harris was not given any questions before the debate.”

Additionally, the network clarified that none of Harris’ team had any communication with the debate moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis, in the lead-up to the debate, which took place in Philadelphia on Tuesday night.

The clear denial from ABC follows accusations from Trump, who criticized the debate as being “unfair” and “rigged,” suggesting that Harris may have been tipped off in advance about the questions she would be asked.

“I watched her talk, and I said, ‘You know, she seems awfully familiar with the questions,’” Trump remarked during an interview on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends,” just hours after the debate.

Before the event, ABC’s debate guidelines explicitly stated that “no topics or questions will be shared in advance with campaigns or candidates.”

Trump and his campaign have consistently alleged that Harris was given an unfair edge during their first – and likely only – debate earlier this week.

Following the debate, Trump quickly criticized ABC and the moderators, accusing them of frequently correcting him and not holding Harris to the same standard, calling the debate a “three on one” situation.

“It was a rigged deal, as I assumed it would be, because when you looked at the fact that they were correcting everything and not correcting with her,” Trump said.

“It was a three-on-one — that’s OK, I’ve had worse odds before, but never so obvious,” Trump added, referring to the moderators.

Throughout the debate, Trump was fact-checked by the moderators at least five times.

In contrast, Harris was able to speak without interruption for the entirety of the 90-minute debate.

{Matzav.com}

Starting next year, China will raise its retirement age for workers, which is now among the youngest in the world’s major economies, in an effort to address its shrinking population and aging work force. The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, the country’s legislature, passed the new policy Friday after a sudden announcement earlier in the week that it was reviewing the measure, state broadcaster CCTV announced. The policy change will be carried out over 15 years, with the retirement age for men raised to 63 years, and for women to 55 or 58 years depending on their jobs. The current retirement age is 60 for men and 50 for women in blue-collar jobs and 55 for women doing white-collar work. “We have more people coming into the retirement age, and so the pension fund is (facing) high pressure. That’s why I think it’s now time to act seriously,” said Xiujian Peng, a senior research fellow at Victoria University in Australia who studies China’s population and its ties to the economy. The previous retirement ages were set in the 1950’s, when life expectancy was only around 40 years, Peng said. The policy will be implemented starting in January, according to the announcement from China’s legislature. The change will take effect progressively based on people’s birthdates. For example, a man born in January 1971 could retire at the age of 61 years and 7 months in August 2032, according to a chart released along with the policy. A man born in May 1971 could retire at the age of 61 years and 8 months in January 2033. Demographic pressures made the move long overdue, experts say. By the end of 2023, China counted nearly 300 million people over the age of 60. By 2035, that figure is projected to be 400 million, larger than the population of the U.S. The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences had previously projected that the public pension fund will run out of money by that year. Pressure on social benefits such as pensions and social security is hardly a China-specific problem. The U.S. also faces the issue as analysis shows that currently, the Social Security fund won’t be able to pay out full benefits to people by 2033. “This is happening everywhere,” said Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. “But in China with its large elderly population, the challenge is much larger.” That is on top of fewer births, as younger people opt out of having children, citing high costs. In 2022, China’s National Bureau of Statistics reported that for the first time the country had 850,000 fewer people at the end of the year than the previous year , a turning point from population growth to decline. In 2023, the population shrank further, by 2 million people. What that means is that the burden of funding elderly people’s pensions will be divided among a smaller group of younger workers, as pension payments are largely funded by deductions from people who are currently working. Researchers measure that pressure by looking at a number called the dependency ratio, which counts the number of people over the age of 65 compared to the number of workers under 65. That number was 21.8% in 2022, according to government statistics, meaning that […]

CNN looks less extreme when compared to the ABC News debate…

CNN’s Jake Tapper blasted Kamala Harris this week for failing to answer questions on the economy, immigration, and more during Tuesday night’s presidential debate.

Tapper unloaded on Harris, while the chyron read “Unanswered Questions in the Harris-Trump Debate.”

“Vice President Harris began the debate by PUNTING the first question on the economy,” Tapper said, before playing Harris’ epic dodge.

Tapper continued: “It went on from there. Despite the economy being the number one issue facing the country, the sitting Vice President generally reverted to talking points about a few of her policy proposals. Even Harris allies today are saying she needs to talk more about what she will do if elected.”

“On the border, another vulnerable issue for Harris, she also dodged,” Tapper said, before playing the clip and coming back to add “Okay, that wasn’t the question.”

Watch the clip below:

 

Two brothers were arrested Thursday on charges that they assaulted a New York Times photographer inside the U.S. Capitol during a mob’s attack on the building more than three years ago. David Walker, 49, of Delran, New Jersey, and Philip Walker, 52, of Upper Chichester, Pennsylvania, also are charged with stealing a camera from the photographer during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. Philip Walker told investigators that he tossed a camera into a body of water on his way home from Washington, D.C., according to an FBI agent’s affidavit. Court records don’t name the photographer or identify her employer, but New York Times spokesperson Danielle Rhoades Ha confirmed that the affidavit refers to staff photographer Erin Schaff, who wrote about her experience at the Capitol. “We are grateful to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the FBI for their persistence in pursuing justice in this case,” Rhodes Ha said in a statement. “Independent, fact-based journalism is a cornerstone of democracy and attacks against reporters should be a grave concern to anyone who cares about an informed citizenry.” Philip Walker told the FBI that he believed the photographer was a member of “antifa,” a term for anti-fascist activists who often clash with far-right extremists at political protests. A livestream video posted on social media showed the photographer standing at the top of the East Rotunda Stairs just before the Walkers assaulted her and then ran down the staircase. Schaff recalled that two or three men in black surrounded her, demanded to know her employer and became angry when they grabbed her press pass and saw that she worked for The New York Times. “They threw me to the floor, trying to take my cameras,” she wrote. “I started screaming for help as loudly as I could. No one came. People just watched. At this point, I thought I could be killed and no one would stop them.” Schaff said police found her but didn’t believe that she was a journalist because her press pass was stolen. “They drew their guns, pointed them and yelled at me to get down on my hands and knees,” she wrote. “As I lay on the ground, two other photojournalists came into the hall and started shouting ‘She’s a journalist!’” Philip Walker was carrying what appeared to be Schaff’s photographic equipment as he fled, the FBI said. David Walker pushed the photographer again when she tried to pursue his brother and retrieve her equipment, according to the affidavit. A magistrate judge ordered David Walker to be released on $50,000 bail after his initial court appearance in New Jersey on Thursday, court records show. An attorney who represented Walker at the hearing didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The Walkers were arrested on complaints charging them with robbery, assault and other charges. Other rioters were charged assaulting an Associated Press photographer outside the Capitol during the riot. One of them, Alan Byerly, was sentenced in October 2022 to nearly three years in prison. Nearly 1,500 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Approximately 140 police officers were injured in the attack. (AP)

Lakewood, NJ – After nearly a decade of painstaking work, both phases of a comprehensive road project in Lakewood’s southern tip are now complete. The Vermont Avenue extension between Chestnut Street and Route 70 is now complete and open, creating a new thoroughfare for Lakewood motorists to reach Toms River and beyond.

Until now, there were only two –  Route Nine and New Hampshire Avenue.

The addition of this thoroughfare will, no doubt, improve traffic flow on roads throughout the area. The opening of this extension – and activation of its traffic signal – builds upon other improvements, including left turn lanes and signals at the Route 70 and Vermont Avenue intersection, and improved drainage. These are in addition to Chestnut Street improvements in the works at the County level, which are set to widen the roadway and improve traffic flow on that busy road.

Lakewood Township Engineer Terry Vogt of Remington and Vernick relates that the road leading to this day entailed several twists and turns. Chestnut Street is a County Road and Route 70 is a State Road. Building and improving the roads entailed the maneuvering of myriad environmental and regulatory obstacles and bureaucratic red tape.

But hard work and persistence ultimately paid off. Committeeman Meir Lichtenstein and other Township officials; Engineer Vogt and his team; among others; worked tirelessly until the project was completed in the most optimal manner. “We appreciate the faith and support we received from the Township at every step of this lengthy process,” says Mr. Vogt. “Like everyone else, we now look forward to improved traffic flow on our commutes through town!”

{Matzav.com}

New York – In a development that was received with great joy by the frum community, the New York Court of Appeals announced yesterday that it will hear the case against the education decree from the New York State Department of Education.

This is a very positive development in the decree that has been dragging on for several years, beginning with the regulations that the Department of Education introduced in September of 2022.

In March 2023, the PEARLS organization took the matter to court to fight it, and the judge accepted their arguments, stating that large parts of the regulations are illegal.

The state appealed this to the Appellate Division, which reinstated the regulations. PEARLS then brought the case to the highest court in New York, the Court of Appeals, though the chances of them agreeing to hear the arguments were quite slim.

Yesterday the good news arrived: the court accepted the case, and they will issue a ruling at the beginning of the next year, 2025.

The Court of Appeals rarely accepts cases, turning down the vast majority of petitions for review.

{Matzav.com}

Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, the powerful longtime leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel, pleaded not guilty Friday in New York on a 17-count indictment accusing him of narcotics trafficking and murder. Participating through a Spanish-language interpreter, Zambada didn’t speak, except to give brief answers to a judge’s standard questions about whether he understood various documents and procedures and how he was feeling — “fine, fine” he said. His lawyers entered the not-guilty plea on his behalf. Sought by American law enforcement for more than two decades, Zambada has been in U.S. custody since July 25, when he landed in a private plane at an airport outside El Paso in the company of another fugitive cartel leader, Joaquín Guzmán López, according to federal authorities. Zambada later said in a letter that he was forcibly kidnapped in Mexico and brought to the U.S. by Guzmán López, the son of the imprisoned Sinaloa co-founder Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. U.S. Magistrate Judge James Cho ordered Zambada detained until trial. His lawyers did not ask for bail and U.S. prosecutors in Brooklyn had asked the judge to detain him. Zambada sat quietly as he listened to the interpreter. Leaving court, he appeared to accept some assistance getting out of a chair and then walked out slowly but unaided. In a letter to the judge, prosecutors called Zambada “one of the world’s most notorious and dangerous drug traffickers.” “The defendant maintained an arsenal of military-grade weapons to protect his person, his drugs, and his empire,” they wrote. “His heavily armed private security forces were used as his personal bodyguards and as protection for drug shipments throughout Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, and beyond. Moreover, he maintained a stable of ‘sicarios,’ or hitmen, who carried out gruesome assassinations and kidnappings aimed at maintaining discipline within his organization, protecting against challenges from rivals, and silencing those who would cooperate with law enforcement.” That included ordering the murder, just months ago, of his own nephew, the prosecutors said. Zambada pleaded not guilty to the charges at an earlier court appearance in Texas. His surprise arrest has touched off fighting in Mexico between rival factions in the Sinaloa cartel. Gunfights have killed several people. Schools in businesses in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa, have closed amid the fighting. The battles are believed to be between factions loyal to Zambada and those led by other sons of “El Chapo” Guzmán, who was convicted of drug and conspiracy charges and sentenced to life in prison in the U.S. in 2019. It remains unclear why Guzmán López surrendered to U.S. authorities and brought Zambada with him. Guzmán López is now awaiting trial on a separate drug trafficking indictment in Chicago, where he has pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking and other charges in federal court. (AP)

Amazon is giving another pay boost to its subcontracted delivery drivers in the U.S. amid growing union pressure. Drivers who work with Amazon’s Delivery Service Partners, or DSPs, will earn an average of nearly $22 per hour, a 7% bump from the previous average of $20.50, the company said Thursday. The increase in wages is part of a new $2.1 billion investment the Seattle-based online retailer is making in the delivery program. Amazon doesn’t directly employ drivers but relies on thousands of third-party businesses that deliver millions of customer packages every day. The company also gave a pay bump to U.S. drivers last year. Last week, it also said it would increase wages for front-line workers in the United Kingdom by 9.8% or more. Amazon said the DSP program has created 390,000 driving jobs since 2018 and its total investments of $12 billion since then will help with safety programs and provide incentives for participating businesses. U.S. labor regulators are putting more scrutiny on Amazon’s business model, which has put a layer of separation between the company and the workers who drive its ubiquitous gray-blue vans. The Teamsters and other labor groups have argued that Amazon exercises great control over the subcontracted workforce, including by determining their routes, setting delivery targets and monitoring their performances. They say the company should be classified as a joint employer under the eyes of the law, which Amazon has resisted. However, labor regulators are increasingly siding against the company. Last week, a National Labor Relations Board prosecutor in Atlanta determined Amazon should be held jointly liable for allegedly making threats and other unlawful statements to DSP drivers seeking to unionize in the city. Meanwhile, NLRB prosecutors in Los Angeles determined last month that Amazon was a joint employer of subcontracted drivers who delivered packages for the company in California. If a settlement is not reached in those cases, the agency could choose to bring a complaint against Amazon, which would be litigated within the NLRB’s administrative law system. Amazon has the option to appeal a judge’s order to the agency’s board and eventually, to a federal court. (AP)

Rav Gershon Ribner, rosh kollel of Kollel Nesivos Hatorah and son-in-law of Rav Shneur Kotler, has succeeded in applying classical Talmudical analysis and methodology to understanding all areas of Yiddishkeit, bringing out its profundity and sense.

LISTEN:

The U.S. has approved $165 million in weapons sales to Israel to fund heavy-duty tank trailers, the State Department announced Thursday. The systems include spare and repair parts, tool kits and technical and logistics support. They are not expected to be delivered until 2027. Earlier this year, the U.S. announced a mammoth $20 billion weapons support package for Israel to include F-15 fighter jets. Like the tank trailers, those systems will not be delivered for several years and will not affect current Israeli military operations amid its 11-month-old war against Hamas militants in Gaza. The Biden administration has had to balance its continued support for Israel with a growing number of calls from lawmakers and the public to curb military support there due to the high number of civilian deaths in Gaza. It has curbed one delivery of 2,000-pound bombs amid continued airstrikes by Israel in densely populated civilian areas in Gaza. (AP)

At a campaign rally on Thursday, former President Donald Trump vowed to abolish taxes on overtime pay if he secures a second term in office.

“As part of our additional tax cuts, we will end all taxes on overtime,” Trump stated during the event in Tucson, Arizona.

He elaborated, “That gives people more of an incentive to work. It gives the companies a lot — it’s a lot easier to get the people.”

Trump explained that for employees working beyond 40 hours a week, “your overtime hours will be tax free.”

There was no immediate response from the Trump campaign when asked for more details about the proposed plan.

Following Trump’s comments, the Harris campaign criticized the idea, labeling it as “his latest snake oil sales pitch.”

“No matter how much he lies now, Donald Trump’s record and agenda are clear — as president, he stole millions of dollars of wages from the workers he purports to represent,” said Joseph Costello, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign.

The Harris campaign also highlighted a 2019 rule change on overtime pay under Trump’s administration, which they noted replaced a broader proposal from the Obama era.

Trump’s announcement came during his first rally since Tuesday’s debate with Vice President Kamala Harris. Nielsen reported that the debate drew over 67 million viewers, a significantly larger audience than the Arizona rally where Trump revealed his new proposal.

The Fair Labor Standards Act, passed in 1938, introduced the 40-hour workweek, established overtime pay guidelines, and ensured a minimum wage. Under the law, employees eligible for overtime must receive at least 1.5 times their regular hourly wage for those additional hours.

Earlier this year, the Biden administration introduced a rule raising the minimum salary threshold for workers to qualify for overtime pay, a move praised by advocates for helping low-income workers receive fair compensation.

In June, Trump also called for the elimination of taxes on tips, an idea echoed by Harris in a proposal last month.

Meanwhile, the Harris campaign has been advocating for an expansion of the Child Tax Credit. According to the campaign’s website, the expansion would “provide a $6,000 tax cut to families with newborn children” and emphasizes Harris’ commitment to ensuring that “no one earning less than $400,000 a year will pay more in taxes.”

{Matzav.com}

Former President Donald Trump plans to deliver remarks next Monday about cryptocurrency and the launch of the company World Liberty Financial, a crypto platform controlled by the Republican nominee’s sons Donald Jr. and Eric. His speech will come 50 days before Election Day, an extraordinary use of dwindling campaign time to promote a personal business. The Republican former president has long mixed his political and business interests and marketed sneakers, photo books and Trump-branded Bibles during his 2024 campaign. “We’re embracing the future with crypto and leaving the slow and outdated big banks behind,” Trump said in a video posted Thursday to X, the social media site that will also host his address on the subject at 8 p.m. EDT on Monday from his Mar-a-Lago home. As part of his presidential campaign, Trump has pledged to turn the United States into the “crypto capital of the planet,” raising red flags that he could use the federal government to help support a business tied to his family. Cryptocurrencies are forms of digital money that can be traded over the internet without relying on the global banking system. The trading often depends on online marketplaces that charge fees for transactions, so that the cryptocurrencies can be exchanged for U.S. dollars and other currencies. Trump opposed crypto during his presidency, but he has since warmed to the sector. He has suggested the government create a strategic reserve of Bitcoin and has vowed to block the creation of a Federal Reserve-administered Central Bank Digital Currency, a digital form of central bank money that would be available to the public. (AP)

A former advisor to both Bill and Hillary Clinton has urged ABC to conduct an internal investigation to determine if its news division tried to sway Tuesday’s presidential debate in favor of Vice President Kamala Harris.

Mark Penn, who served as a pollster and senior advisor to the Clintons from 1995-2008 and co-chairs the Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll, expressed his concerns on the “John Solomon Reports” podcast on Thursday. He emphasized that “suspicion is really quite high” and advocated for an independent review of ABC’s internal communications to uncover whether there was an effort to manipulate the debate’s results.

“I actually think they should do a full internal investigation, hire an outside law firm. I don’t know how much of this was planned in advance,” Penn remarked, as reported by Just the News. “I don’t know what they told the Harris campaign.”

He further elaborated, “I think the day after, suspicion here is really quite high, and I think a review of all their internal texts and emails really should be done by an independent party to find out to what extent they were planning on, in effect, you know, fact-checking just one candidate and in effect, rigging the outcome of this debate. I think the situation demands nothing less than that.”

Penn, alongside Andrew Stein, a former president of the New York City Council, co-wrote an editorial for The Wall Street Journal on Thursday. They pointed out that it seemed as though ABC News moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis, had pre-determined to fact-check only Trump, while allowing Harris’ claims to go unchallenged.

“[Harris] enlisted every charge ever leveled against Mr. Trump, regardless of the truth,” they wrote. “That included, to name a few, the false claims that he favors a national abortion ban and opposes in vitro fertilization, that he called neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Va., ‘very fine people,’ and that he threatened a ‘bloodbath’ if he loses the election. Each is untrue: Mr. Trump has made clear he opposes a national abortion ban. He favors IVF and has even said the government should pay for it. He condemned the Charlottesville neo-Nazis. And he predicted a financial ‘bloodbath’ for the auto industry if he loses and the Biden-Harris electric-vehicle mandates progress.”

The editorial further stated, “Had the moderators turned to Ms. Harris after her lies and said, ‘That has been debunked,’ we might be having a totally different conversation about the debate, given how she tends to react when challenged. We would be saying she was having a good night until she couldn’t help herself and went too far. Mr. Trump would have been freed from having to spend so much time defending himself against false charges, and the country would have gotten to hear more of his plans for America.”

On the podcast, Penn, who is also president and managing partner of The Stagwell Group, suggested the Trump campaign should send a questionnaire to every voter that the American Civil Liberties Union had asked Harris to fill out during her time as a senator. In the questionnaire, Harris indicated support for gender surgeries for undocumented immigrants and defunding the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“It’s a 50-50 race,” Penn explained, according to Just the News. “He’s [Trump] got more obvious tools to get across the finish line than she does, and part of the thing here is that if the referees have their finger on the scale, it’s harder to, you know, break through, and overcome. And certainly, general media coverage has been fairly laughable.”

{Matzav.com}

The Justice Department is preparing criminal charges in connection with an Iranian hack that targeted Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in a bid to shape the outcome of the November election, two people familiar with the matter said Thursday. It was not immediately clear when the charges might be announced or whom precisely they will target, but they are the result of an FBI investigation into an intrusion that investigators across multiple agencies quickly linked to an Iranian effort to influence American politics. The prospect of criminal charges comes as the Justice Department has raised alarms about aggressive efforts by countries including Russia and Iran to meddle in the presidential election between Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, including by hacking and covert social media campaigns designed to shape public opinion. Iran “is making a greater effort to influence this year’s election than it has in prior election cycles and that Iranian activity is growing increasingly aggressive as this election nears,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen, the Justice Department’s top national security official, said in a speech Thursday in New York City. “Iran perceives this year’s elections to be particularly consequential in impacting Iran’s national security interests, increasing Tehran’s inclination to try to shape the outcome,” he added. The Trump campaign disclosed on Aug. 10 that it had been hacked and said Iranian actors had stolen and distributed sensitive internal documents. At least three news outlets — Politico, The New York Times and The Washington Post — were leaked confidential material from inside the Trump campaign. So far, each has refused to reveal any details about what it received. Politico reported that it began receiving emails on July 22 from an anonymous account. The source — an AOL email account identified only as “Robert” — passed along what appeared to be a research dossier that the campaign had apparently done on the Republican vice presidential nominee, Ohio Sen. JD Vance. The document was dated Feb. 23, almost five months before Trump selected Vance as his running mate. The FBI, the office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency subsequently blamed that hack, as well as an attempted breach of the Biden-Harris campaign, on Iran. Those agencies issued a statement saying that the hacking and similar activities were meant to sow discord, exploit divisions within American society and influence the outcome of elections. The statement did not identify whether Iran has a preferred candidate, though Tehran has long appeared determined to seek retaliation for a 2020 strike Trump ordered as president that killed an Iranian general. The two people who discussed the looming criminal charges spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because they were not authorized to speak publicly about a case that had not yet been unsealed. The Washington Post first reported that charges were being prepared. Justice Department officials have been working to publicly call out and counter election interference efforts. The response is a contrast to 2016, when Obama administration officials were far more circumspect about Russian interference they were watching that was designed to boost Trump’s campaign. “We have learned that transparency about what we are seeing is critical,” Olsen, the Justice Department official, said Thursday. “It helps ensure that our citizens are aware of the attempts of foreign […]

A man wearing a Palestinian pin was shot in the stomach after charging at pro-Israel demonstrators in Newton on Wednesday. The incident occurred during a small protest where about 10 individuals waved Israeli and American flags. According to footage shared by The Daily Wire, the assailant stood across the street, accusing the group of “defending genocide” and giving them the middle finger. He then charged across the street and tackled Scott Hayes, a 47-year-old Iraq War veteran, leading to a physical altercation. During the scuffle, Hayes, who was legally carrying a firearm, shot the man in the stomach. Following the incident, a second video shows Hayes providing medical treatment to the attacker, who is reportedly suffering from non-life-threatening injuries. Despite his legal possession of the gun, Hayes is facing charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and violation of a constitutional right causing injury, Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan told The Daily Wire. The investigation is ongoing. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)