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Sen. Bill Hagerty to Fed Board nominee Dr. Stephen Miran: “I applaud the President for nominating you. You’ve been very clear that you want… the Fed to get out of the political arena it’s been operating in… I very much appreciate that.”

FDNY members are currently operating at a 3-alarm fire at 108 Taylor Street on Staten Island.

Rep. Jeffries on investigation into Fed Gov. Lisa Cook: “The Department of Justice continues to try to weaponize the federal government against people who have declined to bend the knee to Donald Trump and his extremism. We will not be intimidated by the Department of Justice.”

Syrian media reported that an international coalition airstrike targeted a vehicle en route to Aleppo Airport.

Sen. Mark Warner: “You’re saying the Biden Administration politicized all of the [COVID] data?!?” RFK JR.: “Yeah! … They fired all of the people who questioned the orthodoxy!”

Zelenskyy: Trump is not happy that Europe buys Russian oil. Among others there are two countries, Hungary and Slovakia.

In the past week, the Air Force intercepted five UAVs and two ground-to-ground missiles launched from Yemen.

RFK JR. scorches Sen. Ron Wyden: “You’ve sat in that chair for how long — 20, 25 years? — while the chronic disease in our children went up to 76%, and you said nothing. You never asked the question, ‘Why is this happening?'”

RFK JR.: “[CDC] changes were absolutely necessary adjustments to restore the agency to its role as the world’s gold standard… The people at CDC who oversaw [COVID] — who put masks on our children, who closed our schools — are the people that will be leaving.”

Zelenskyy: Putin will be forced for peace. We need to take away from the Russian war machine. Their means to produce weapons.

As RFK JR. enters Senate hearing, reporters ask if he will resign, while supporters chant “We love you Bobby”

During a Thursday call with European leaders as part of the Coalition of the Willing, President Trump urged them to halt their purchases of Russian oil, a White House official confirmed.

During an appearance on Newsmax TV’s “The Chris Salcedo Show” Wednesday, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) blasted Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, describing him as a “disgusting, racist bigot.”

The day before, at a press conference, Pritzker had commented on the treatment of immigrants. “In a circumstance where they’re simply celebrating their heritage, they shouldn’t be interrupted in this way. This is the aim of this government. They don’t actually care if you’re here and undocumented, they just care if your skin color is a little off of theirs and that you’re Latino, they’re going to just target you. All of us need to speak up and speak out about the assault on just regular residents who are following the law, who are going to work, paying their taxes, who’ve been around in our city for ten, 20, 30 years. We ought to be protecting those people. And if they want to celebrate Mexican Independence Day, they ought to be able to do that without being terrorized by ICE.”

Responding to that statement, Cruz said on the program, “Yeah, look, I got to say, I had not heard that particular clip. Chris, you really know how to piss me off. What a disgusting, racist bigot J.B. Pritzker is. You and I are both Latino and listen, I don’t want to get between J.B. Pritzker and the Domino’s Pizza line, but I’ll tell you what I am willing to get between is him and his open doors for every human trafficker, every drug trafficker, every MS13 and Tren de Aragua gang member.”

WATCH:

{Matzav.com}

⏰ The raffle is almost over, and the drawing is just around the corner — making this your very last chance to enter! For only $36, you could take your entire family to Yerushalayim for Succos with 7 round-trip tickets, 11 days of luxury accommodations, and $1,000 spending money, or choose $12,000 cash instead. Don’t wait — once it’s over, it’s over. Enter now and grab your chance today!

The Haifa District Attorney’s Office on Thursday filed an indictment against a resident of Baqa al-Gharbiyye, an Arab town in northern Israel, for pledging allegiance to Islamic State (ISIS) and planning an attack on Israeli security forces. In a joint statement, the Israel Police and Shin Bet warned that the case highlights a “worrying rise in Israeli Arab involvement in terrorism, influenced by the ongoing war.” The suspect, 25-year-old Najib Dick, was arrested in recent weeks. Investigators said he joined ISIS after swearing allegiance, watched ISIS content online—including execution and beheading videos—and, amid his increasing religious fervor and the war in Gaza, began considering an attack on Israeli security forces. This case follows a series of recent indictments tied to ISIS support. In May, two brothers and a 15-year-old from Arara were charged after allegedly pledging allegiance to ISIS, contacting a Syrian handler for instructions on building explosives, and planning a car bomb attack in Tel Aviv. Two months earlier, a 17-year-old from Jisr a-Zarqa was indicted for repeatedly pledging allegiance to ISIS and plotting an attack in Hadera. Police found documents on bomb-making in his possession at the time of his arrest. (YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

More than 1,000 present and former staffers at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have endorsed a public letter calling on Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to step down from his position as Health Secretary.

The statement, issued under the banner of Save HHS, charged Kennedy with undermining the well-being of Americans while also assisting in what they described as constitutional violations. Copies of the letter were forwarded to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, the Senate Committee on Finance, and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

“We swore an oath to support and defend the United States Constitution and to serve the American people. Our oath requires us to speak out when the Constitution is violated and the American people are put at risk,” the letter declared. “Thus, we warn the President, Congress, and the Public that Secretary Kennedy’s actions are compromising the health of this nation, and we demand Secretary Kennedy’s resignation.”

The document also outlined what it said were Kennedy’s specific failings, among them dismissing CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez, selecting appointees hostile to MRNA vaccines, and opposing the use of coronavirus shots.

“Rescinding the Food and Drug Administration’s emergency use authorizations for COVID-19 vaccines without providing the data or methods used to reach such a decision,” the letter charged. “Disparaging the American Academy of Pediatrics for recommending the COVID-19 vaccine in children.”

Responding to the criticism, HHS Communications Director Andrew Nixon told ABC News that the CDC “has been broken for a long time” and emphasized that “sustained reform and more personnel changes” would be needed to rebuild confidence in the institution.

“From his first day in office, [Kennedy] pledged to check his assumptions at the door — and he asked every HHS colleague to do the same,” Nixon’s statement continued. “That commitment to evidence-based science is why, in just seven months, he and the HHS team have accomplished more than any health secretary in history in the fight to end the chronic disease epidemic and Make America Healthy Again.”

In addition, Kennedy authored an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday in which he accused the CDC of having wasted “public trust,” noting that he had been appointed by Trump to “restore that trust and return the CDC to its core mission.”

{Matzav.com}

Hundreds of bodies have been recovered from houses destroyed by a major earthquake in Afghanistan last week, pushing the death toll to over 2,200, a Taliban government spokesman said Thursday. A 6.0 magnitude quake struck several provinces of the mountainous and remote east on Sunday night, levelling villages and trapping people under rubble. The majority of casualties have been in Kunar, where many live in steep river valleys separated by high mountains. Taliban spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat, who provided the updated casualty figure of 2,205, said rescue and search efforts were continuing. “Tents have been set up for people, and the delivery of first aid and emergency supplies is ongoing.” The rough terrain is hindering relief efforts. Taliban authorities have deployed helicopters and airdropped army commandos to help survivors. Aid workers have reported walking for hours to reach villages cut off by landslides and rockfall. Funding cuts are also having an impact on the response. The Norwegian Refugee Council said it had fewer than 450 staff in Afghanistan whereas it had 1,100 in 2023, the date of the last major quake in the country. The council only had one warehouse remaining and no emergency stock. “We will need to purchase items once we get the funding but this will take potentially weeks and people are in need now,” said Maisam Shafiey, the communications and advocacy advisor for the council in Afghanistan. “We have only $100,000 available to support emergency response efforts. This leaves an immediate funding gap of $1.9 million.” Humanitarian organizations have called the latest disaster a crisis within a crisis. Afghanistan was already struggling with the impact of climate change, particularly drought, a weak economy and the return of some 2 million Afghans from neighboring countries. (AP)

After a week of hospitalization and recovery, the Belzer Rebbe was released Thursday afternoon from Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Yerushalayim. He returned to his residence in Kiryat Belz to continue resting and recuperating following surgery on his leg performed on Sunday.

Upon his arrival back home, chassidim greeted him with heartfelt singing of “Ki Orech Yamim Ushenos Chaim.” For the time being, there will be no kabbalas kahal during the month of Elul, with future schedules to be announced by the chassidus.

During the Rebbe’s hospitalization, Belzer chassidim poured out their hearts in prayer for his recovery.

The Rebbe also received a personal visit from his brother-in-law, the Vizhnitzer Rebbe, who was at Hadassah for medical treatment of his own.

All are asked to continue their tefillos for Rav Yissachar Dov ben Miriam.

{Matzav.com}

Rudy Giuliani, the onetime mayor of New York City, said in a Newsmax interview on Wednesday that he is recovering following a serious accident in New Hampshire last weekend that left him with a fractured vertebra.

Speaking on “Greg Kelly Reports,” Giuliani shared details about the crash, his injuries, and his appreciation for President Donald Trump’s announcement that he will be honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

“I am on the mend,” Giuliani told host Greg Kelly. “It was quite a hit. We got banged in the back. I have — technically, I have a broken back. It’s a fracture. It hurts, but it’s getting better. And I have about two or three weeks of rehabilitation.”

According to Giuliani, he and his aide Ted Goodman had stopped to assist a woman who appeared to be in danger and claimed she was a victim of domestic violence. Authorities later determined that she had actually assaulted a man and placed her under arrest, Giuliani said.

As Giuliani and his team began to leave the scene, another incident occurred.

“As we were driving away, we got hit in the back by a young woman,” Giuliani said. “I’m sure she was rubbernecking because there were police cars, ambulances, even a fire truck. She was going very, very fast … We got hit like hell.”

The impact left Giuliani with whiplash and a fractured thoracic vertebra. He explained that his seat belt kept him from being thrown forward.

“I was in terrible pain right away,” he said.

Not long after the crash, Trump announced that Giuliani would receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian award. On Truth Social, Trump praised his longtime ally as the “greatest mayor in the history of New York City” and an “equally great American patriot.”

Giuliani, who became a symbol of resilience during the September 11 attacks and later stood as one of Trump’s staunchest defenders, said the award gave him comfort and lifted his spirits.

“It’s a nice medal. I forgot what it looked like. I have to tell you, that cured me,” Giuliani said.

“President Trump takes some credit for curing me from COVID … and now he’s cured me of a fractured back, because the minute I got that award, all the pain went away. The hell with the pain.”

{Matzav.com}

Americans would save roughly $100 billion a year in interest costs if President Donald Trump’s campaign proposal to cap credit card interest rates at 10% were implemented, according to a paper published by Vanderbilt University on Thursday. Further, the banks and credit card companies would be able to withstand, and even still be profitable, if there were to be a national cap on interest rates. While limited in scope, the paper gives some academic backing to President Trump’s campaign promise. The paper found that banks would still be able to earn a profit on most of their customers even if credit card interest rates were capped at 15%, and if the banks continued to offer rewards and perks like points and airport lounge access. If interest rates were capped at 10%, the business model gets more difficult for the banks, but they could still make money off most card customers by cutting back on some rewards. Usury laws are as old as the Bible but have gotten traction again through Trump’s populist politics. When he was a candidate in the 2024 election, Trump proposed a temporary 10% cap on credit card interest rates. He has not spoken about it since the election. That said, politicians have seized on the idea. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders introduced a bill in Congress that would match Trump’s campaign proposal of capping interest rates at 10%. A similar bill was introduced in the House by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York. There are already some interest rate caps in effect in the U.S. The Military Lending Act makes it illegal to charge active servicemen and women more than 36% for any financial product. The national regulator for credit unions, the NCUA, has capped interest rates on credit union credit cards at 18%. The banking industry is adamantly against any caps on credit card rates. Historically, the industry has argued that any cap on interest rates would decimate the credit card business model and would threaten the viability of popular rewards and perks programs that millions of Americans use for free flights and hotel stays. It was this rhetoric that made Brian Shearer, the author of the report, start to look into the issue. Shearer previously worked at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as the regulator’s assistant director of policy planning and strategy, working under Republican and Democratic administrations. “I wanted to see if President Trump’s proposed cap could be taken seriously, and the idea appears that it could be seriously considered and it would not have the amount of downside that often the pundits assume there will be,” Shearer said. Americans are carrying more credit card debt than ever before, to the tune of $1.21 trillion, or roughly $6,400 per person. The average credit card interest rate is roughly 21%, according to data from the Federal Reserve. That’s significantly higher than a decade ago, when the average credit card interest rate was roughly 12%. Banks earn revenue from credit cards two different ways: the amount of money they charge merchants to process a credit card transaction, often referred to as interchange, and the interest and fees the banks charge customers. That could be the annual fee on a credit card, or the monthly interest that accrues when a customer carries a […]