Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) revealed on Friday that law enforcement in Margate, Fla., a city within his district, recently arrested a former felon in possession of a rifle, suppressor, and body armor. The suspect was apprehended “not far from my home,” Moskowitz noted, and was reportedly found with a manifesto containing antisemitic rhetoric and naming Moskowitz as a target. Describing the incident as a “potential plot on my life,” Moskowitz stressed the seriousness of the situation but refrained from sharing further details, citing an ongoing investigation. He confirmed that multiple agencies, including the Margate Police Department, U.S. Marshals, FBI, Capitol Police, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, are involved in the case. Moskowitz, who previously served on the Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump, expressed concerns about security for members of Congress when they are in their home districts. “I am deeply worried about congressional member security and the significant lack thereof when we are in the district,” he said, adding that protecting his family remains his priority regardless of political differences. Several lawmakers voiced their support for Moskowitz following the incident. Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.) condemned the act as “despicable,” saying, “Political violence has no place in our country.” Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) also responded, calling the incident “deeply disturbing and unacceptable” and emphasizing the need for strict action against antisemitism and hate. The American Jewish Committee released a statement thanking law enforcement for their swift response and standing in solidarity with Moskowitz. “Political violence is never acceptable,” the organization said. Moskowitz concluded by acknowledging the challenges of public service, noting, “Serving my constituents is a great honor, but it has put my family in danger.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
In the middle of a Berlin hotel cafe, Masih Alinejad raises her voice and starts singing at the top of her lungs in Farsi, as waiters turn to watch along with the three German government bodyguards assigned to protect her. “I blossom through my wounds and my scars,” she translates the lyrics as. “Because I am a woman. I am a woman. I am a woman.” Alinejad was expressing her defiance and asserting her right to express herself following the news of Iranian murder-for-hire plots to kill her and Donald Trump that were disclosed by the U.S. Justice Department. She said that some Iranian women had been jailed for singing. The Iranian American human rights activist, who was in Berlin on Saturday to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall together with other human rights activists from around the globe, told The Associated Press in an interview that despite the shock of the news, she felt more determination than ever to continue fighting for women’s rights in Iran. “They want to get rid of me. When they want me dead, it means that I’m doing something. I’m hurting them so bad,” Alinejad, 48, said, referring to the Iranian government. “I’m echoing the voice of powerful women and that scares them.” She raised her hand in a defiant fist repeatedly during the interview. On Friday, the U.S. Justice Department said that it was charging a man who said he had been tasked by a government official before this week’s election with planning the assassination of Trump. Investigators were told of the plan by Farhad Shakeri, an accused Iranian government asset who spent time in American prisons for robbery and who authorities say maintains a network of criminal associates enlisted by Tehran for surveillance and murder-for-hire plots. Shakeri is at large and remains in Iran. Two other men — identified as Jonathan Loadholt and Carlisle Rivera by the U.S. Justice Department — were arrested on charges that Shakeri recruited them to follow and kill Alinejad, who has endured multiple Iranian murder-for-hire plots foiled by law enforcement. The Justice Department alleges that the two men spent months conducting surveillance on her and, during their efforts to locate and kill her, shared messages about their progress and photographs. Around February, they traveled to Fairfield University in Connecticut, where Alinejad was scheduled to appear and took photos of the campus. Around April, Shakeri sent Rivera a series of voice notes discussing their efforts to locate and kill her, the Justice Department said in a statement Friday. In one voice note, Shakeri told Rivera that “you gotta wait and have patience to catch her either going in the house or coming out, or following her out somewhere and taking care of it,” the statement said. “It’s scary. But at the same time, I was very pleased that the U.S. law enforcement is protecting me,” Alinejad said, recounting her call with American security officials. “The same person who was trying to kill President Trump was assigned to kill me as well. I mean, that’s a badge of honor,” she added. In Tehran, Esmail Baghaei, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, rejected the report and called it a plot by Israel-linked circles to make Iran-U.S. relations more complicated, the official IRNA news agency reported. Alinejad […]
Donald Trump lavished Christopher Wray with praise when he named him FBI director in 2017, introducing him as an “impeccably qualified individual” and a “model of integrity.” So much has changed in the seven years since. With Trump poised to reclaim the White House, Wray’s days as director may be numbered. Though the director’s job carries a 10-year term, Trump’s blistering and repeated criticism of his own appointee raises the likelihood that Trump would either replace Wray upon taking office or that Wray would leave on his own to avoid being fired. Such a move would give Trump a chance to reshape the FBI’s leadership in his own image at a time when he’s threatened to pursue his own political adversaries. “He enjoys the work, he’s committed to the bureau, he’s an outstanding public servant — but I don’t think he’s going to lobby for the job,” Gregory Brower, a former FBI official who served as director of congressional affairs until 2018, said of Wray. “If the new president wants to replace him, then that’s what the new president’s going to do,” he added. “Based on what Trump has said in the past, I think it’s likely we’ll see that.” Trump’s transition office did not return an email seeking comment. An FBI official said Wray was continuing to oversee the bureau’s day-to-day operations — including visiting the FBI’s election command post multiple times this week — and was planning with his team to lead the workforce into the next year. The official, an executive who interacts with Wray on a day-to-day basis, was not authorized to discuss the details publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Trump hasn’t spoken publicly about Wray in recent days but he’s known to take a particularly keen interest in the FBI and Justice Department in part because his first term and post-presidency life were shadowed by investigations, including two that resulted in indictments now expected to wind down. The positions are being closely watched because whoever occupies them may be confronted with Trump’s stated desire to seek retribution against opponents, even though longstanding guardrails would complicate such plans, and because the FBI is facing more global threats than any time in recent memory. A recent Supreme Court opinion conferring broad immunity on former presidents could also embolden Trump to demand particular Justice Department investigations, as occurred in his first term. Wray was nominated in June 2017 to replace James Comey, the FBI director Trump inherited from President Barack Obama and then fired amid an investigation into ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign. A well-regarded Republican lawyer who served as a senior Justice Department official in the George W. Bush administration, Wray was recommended to Trump by Chris Christie after representing the then-New Jersey governor in an investigation into the closing of the George Washington Bridge. “In 2017, the president wanted an FBI director with bipartisan support and a reputation for integrity who would maintain a low public profile and defer to the Attorney General,” Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general at the time of Wray’s appointment, said in an email to AP this week, It didn’t take long for Wray to provoke Trump’s ire. In 2018, he broke with Trump over the administration’s declassification of information related to FBI […]
President-elect Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has returned to advise the president-elect on formulating his new administration, Yisrael Hayom reported on Sunday morning. Kushner, one of the leading figures in Trump’s first term, was involved in many of its successes, including the Abraham Accords. According to the report, which quotes a source familiar with the matter, Kusher is already actively involved in planning Trump’s second term. Although Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump have mainly avoided political and public activities during the Biden term, Kushner spoke up about a month ago, slamming the Biden administration for its policies regarding Israel and the Middle East. Kushner’s influence on Trump is especially significant following the latter’s announcement that two pro-Israel figures who were influential during his first term, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, will not be joining his new administration. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
While inflation and immigration emerged as the dominant themes in this year’s presidential race, another issue was prominent in the minds of voters for both major candidates: the stakes for democracy. Half of voters identified democracy as the single most important motivating factor for their vote. That was higher than the share of voters who answered the same way about inflation, the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border, abortion policy or free speech, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 voters nationwide. Notably, backers of Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump, the president-elect, saw the issue from different perspectives. About two-thirds of Harris voters said the future of democracy was the most important factor for their votes. No other topic — high prices, abortion policy, free speech or the potential of the first woman to be elected as president — was as big a factor for her supporters. Harris especially leaned into this messaging toward the end of her campaign: She said Trump was a threat to undermine the country’s founding ideals and she called him a fascist. The sentiment was supported by former members of the first Trump administration who warned about his fitness for office. Trump refused the peaceful transfer of power while lying about his loss in the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden. And on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump also directed a mob of his supporters to the Capitol after telling them to “fight like hell.” Audrey Wesley, 90, of Minneapolis cited Trump’s legal cases and his disregard for the law as one of the reasons she supported Harris. “Our system is broken,” she said. Wesley said one of the things that troubled her most was Project 2025, a detailed conservative blueprint for the next Republican administration. Trump has said he had not read the report, even though many members of his first administration had a hand in creating it. “That’s very scary as to what he wants to do,” Wesley said. The idea that democracy is under attack also motivated Trump voters, but in starkly different ways. About one-third of his supporters said democracy was the most important factor for their vote. A further breakdown of the survey found that 9 in 10 Harris voters who indicated democracy was the single most important factor in their vote were somewhat or very concerned that electing Trump would bring the country closer to authoritarianism. About 8 in 10 Trump voters felt electing Harris would bring the country closer to authoritarianism. “Democracy voters” who supported Harris and Trump were equally concerned that the opposing candidate’s views were too extreme. The findings followed a consistent pattern in recent surveys by AP VoteCast and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. While democracy’s future has been one of the few crossover concerns among a fractured electorate, people have differed on why they are worried about it and who is responsible for the threat. Debbie Dooley, 66, and a co-founder of the tea party movement, had several important factors in her voting decision, all leading to concern over what would happen to the country under another Democratic administration. “I think it was Thomas Jefferson who said when people fear their government, there is tyranny,” she said. “We had tyranny under the Biden-Harris machine.” Dooley, a […]
One of 43 monkeys bred for medical research that escaped a compound in South Carolina has been recovered unharmed, officials said Saturday. Many of the others are still located a few yards from the property, jumping back and forth over the facility’s fence, police said in a statement. The Rhesus macaques made a break for it Wednesday after an employee at the Alpha Genesis facility in Yemassee didn’t fully lock a door as she fed and checked on them, officials said. The monkeys on Friday were exploring the outer fence of the Alpha Genesis compound and were cooing at the monkeys inside. The primates continued to interact with their companions inside the facility on Saturday, which is a positive sign, the police statement said. Alpha Genesis CEO Greg Westergaard relayed that efforts to recover all the animals will persist throughout the weekend and for as long as it takes, the statement said. The monkeys are about the size of a cat. They are all females weighing about 7 pounds (3 kilograms). Alpha Genesis, federal health officials and police all said the monkeys pose no risk to public health. The facility breeds the monkeys to sell to medical and other researchers. Alpha Genesis provides primates for research worldwide at its compound in Yemassee, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Savannah, Georgia, according to its website. (AP)
Fed up with high prices and unimpressed with an economy that by just about any measure is a healthy one, Americans demanded change when they voted for president. They could get it. President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to topple many of the Biden administration’s economic policies. Trump campaigned on promises to impose huge tariffs on foreign goods, slash taxes on individuals and businesses and deport millions of undocumented immigrants working in the United States. With their votes, tens of millions of Americans expressed their confidence that Trump can restore the low prices and economic stability they recall from his first term — at least until the COVID-19 recession of 2020 paralyzed the economy and then a powerful recovery sent inflation soaring. Inflation has since plummeted and is nearly back to normal. Yet Americans are frustrated over still-high prices. “His track record proved to be, on balance, positive, and people look back now and think: ‘Oh, OK. Let’s try that again,’ ” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former White House economic adviser, director of the Congressional Budget Office and now president of the conservative American Action Forum think tank. Since Election Day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has skyrocketed more than 1,700 points, largely on expectations that tax cuts and a broad loosening of regulations will accelerate economic growth and swell corporate profits. Maybe they will. Yet many economists warn that Trump’s plans are likely to worsen the inflation he’s vowed to eradicate, drive up the federal debt and eventually slow growth. Trump policies could boost inflation The Peterson Institute for International Economics, a leading think tank, has estimated that Trump’s policies would slash the U.S. gross domestic product — the total output of goods and services — by between $1.5 trillion and $6.4 trillion through 2028. Peterson also estimated that Trump’s proposals would drive prices sharply higher within two years: Inflation, which would otherwise come in at 1.9% in 2026, would instead jump to between 6% and 9.3% if Trump’s policies were enacted in full. Last month, 23 Nobel-winning economists signed a letter warning that a Trump administration “will lead to higher prices, larger deficits, and greater inequality.” “Among the most important determinants of economic success,” they wrote, “are the rule of law and economic and political certainty, and Trump threatens all of these.’’ Trump is inheriting an economy that, despite frustratingly high prices, looks fundamentally strong. Growth came in at a healthy 2.8% annual rate from July through September. Unemployment is 4.1% — quite low by historic standards. Among wealthy countries, only Spain will experience faster growth this year, according to the International Monetary Fund’s forecast. The United States is the economic “envy of the world,” the Economist magazine recently declared. The Federal Reserve is so confident that U.S. inflation is slowing toward its 2% target that it cut its benchmark rate in September and again this week. Americans are deeply unhappy with prices Consumers, though, still bear the scars of the inflationary surge. Prices on average are still 19% higher than they were before inflation began to accelerate in 2021. Grocery bills and rent hikes are still causing hardships, especially for lower-income households. Though inflation-adjusted hourly wages have risen for more than two years, they’re still below where they were before President Joe Biden took office. Voters took their […]
Southern California firefighters on Saturday were gaining ground on a wildfire that ravaged more than 130 structures as gusty winds subsided with favorable weather conditions expected through the weekend. The Mountain Fire in Ventura County held at 32 square miles (about 83 square kilometers) and was 17% contained, Fire Operations Section Chief Clint Swensen said. The fire broke out Wednesday and exploded in size amid the arrival of dry, warm and gusty northeast winds, forcing thousands of residents to flee and threatening 3,500 structures in suburban neighborhoods, ranches and agricultural areas around the community of Camarillo. Red flag warnings indicating conditions for high fire danger expired in most of the region Thursday. Smoky air hung over the area Saturday because of fairly light winds ranging between five and 10 mph (eight and 16 kph), the very conditions that were aiding firefighters, said Ryan Kittell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. “It’s very favorable for the weekend,” Kittell said. “Good for firefighting efforts but not great for air quality.” Some forecasts showed winds returning to the area Tuesday but not to the extent seen last week, Kittell said. The region northwest of Los Angeles has seen some of California’s most destructive fires over the years. The Mountain Fire swiftly grew from less than half a square mile (about 1.2 square kilometers) to more than 16 square miles (41 square kilometers) in little more than five hours on Wednesday, with gusts topping 61 mph (98 kph). Gov. Gavin Newsom has proclaimed a state of emergency in Ventura County. (AP)
A frightening incident unfolded in Crown Heights on Shabbos afternoon when a masked man attempted to grab a young child from his father. At approximately 3:30 PM, a Crown Heights resident was walking with his two children when an unknown man crossed the street and suddenly attempted to take one of the children. The father quickly reacted, confronting the man, who immediately released the child and retreated into a nearby building at 451 Kingston Avenue. The suspect’s motive remains unclear, but authorities are taking the incident seriously, particularly as it follows a recent string of antisemitic attacks in the area over the past two weeks. Crown Heights Shomrim and the NYPD are collaborating to identify the suspect. Investigators believe they are close to locating the man involved. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
From Pennsylvania to Florida to Texas, areas with high numbers of Hispanics often had little in common on Election Day other than backing Republican Donald Trump over Democrat Kamala Harris for president. Trump, the president-elect, made inroads in heavily Puerto Rican areas of eastern Pennsylvania where the vice president spent the last full day of her campaign. Trump turned South Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, a decadeslong Democratic stronghold populated both by newer immigrants and Tejanos who trace their roots in the state for several generations. He also improved his standing with Hispanic voters along Florida’s Interstate 4 corridor linking the Tampa Bay area — home to people of Cuban, Venezuelan, Nicaraguan, Colombian and Puerto Rican origin — with Orlando, where Puerto Ricans make up about 43% of the local Hispanic population. Trump was the first Republican since 1988 to win Miami-Dade County, home to a sizable Cuban population and the country’s metropolitan area with the highest share of immigrants. It was a realignment that, if it sticks, could change American politics. Texas and Florida are already reliably Republican, but more Hispanics turning away from Democrats in future presidential races could further dent the party’s “blue wall” of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, that had helped catapult it to the White House before Trump romped through all three this time. The shift might even make it harder for Democrats to win in the West, in states such as Arizona and Nevada. Harris tried to highlight the ways Trump may have insulted or threatened Latinos. Trump, in his first term, curtailed the use of Temporary Protected Status, which Democratic President Joe Biden extended to thousands of Venezuelans, and tried to terminate the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. He also delayed the release of relief aid to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria in 2017 until nearly the end of his term, having long blasted the island’s officials as corrupt and inept. Once he returns to the White House, Trump has pledge to stage the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. That could affect millions of families in mixed-status homes, where people who are in the United States illegally live with American citizens or those with legal residency. But the Democratic warnings did not appear to break through with enough voters for Harris. Now the party must figure out how to win back votes from a critical, fast-growing group. “Trump, he’s a very confounding figure,” said Abel Prado, a Democratic operative and pollster who serves as executive director of the advocacy group Cambio Texas. “We have no idea how to organize against him. We have no idea how to respond. We have no idea how to not take the bait.” Ultimately, concerns about immigration did not resonate as much as pocketbook issues with many Hispanics. About 7 in 10 Hispanic voters were “very concerned” about the cost of food and groceries, slightly more than about two-thirds of voters overall, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 voters nationwide. Nearly two-thirds of Hispanic voters said that they were “very concerned” about their housing costs, compared with about half of voters overall. Trump had a clear edge among Hispanic voters who were “very concerned” about the cost of food. Half said he would better handle the economy, compared with about 4 in […]
Listen to our Top 10 Mama Rachel Songs In honor of the FREE Tefillah taking place at Kever Rachel by Yad L’Achim on her Yahrtzeit, we present to you the top 10 songs in her honor. On Tuesday – י”א חשון – November 12, Yad L’Achim is arranging a FREE Tefillah at Kever Rachel on her Yahrzteit led by Talmidei Chachamim and Rav Yaakov Ades. TO SUBMIT NAMES FOR FREE – CLICK HERE >>> Here are our top ten songs about Rachel Imeinu – Do you agree? Comments? Send us a WhasApp by CLICKING HERE or send us an email here: INFO@YADLACHIM.ORG Kol B’Rama – D’veykusThe classic – the original and most well known Mama Rochel – Abie RotenbergThe new classic Kol B’rama – Yossi Green Sung by the London School of Jewish Song – composed by a young Yossi Green מאמע רחל וויין – Moshe WeintraubYou know this tune – it’s sung Friday nights in Shuls across the world Mameh – Avraham FriedA favorite of Yad L’Achim’s graphic artist Schneur Mameh Rochel – Pinky WeberBeautiful live rendition Mama Rochel – Mordechai Ben DavidDid you know MBD had a Rachel Imeinu song? Vshavu Banim – Benny Friedman & Baruch LevineStunning song by Mosdos Kever Rachel Rachel – Shloime GertnerShloimie’s favorite song Kol Berama – Simcha LeinerA CHUPPAH CLASSIC
A suicide bomber blew himself up at a train station in restive southwestern Pakistan on Saturday, killing at least 26 people, including soldiers and railway staff, and wounding about 62 others, some critically, officials said. The attack happened when nearly 100 passengers were waiting for a train to travel to the garrison city of Rawalpindi from Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, according to Hamza Shafqaat, a senior government administrator. When asked about a security breach that led to the bombing, Shafqaat told reporters that “it is usually very difficult to stop such suicide attacks.” However, Shahid Nawaz, who is in charge of security at Quetta’s train station, insisted there was no breach as the attacker was disguised as a passenger and blew himself up among people at the station. TV footage showed the steel structure of the platform’s roof blown apart and a destroyed tea stall. Luggage was strewn everywhere. Most of the victims were taken to a state-owned hospital and some to a military one. Wasim Baig, a spokesman for the health department and police said over a dozen soldiers and six railway employees were among the dead at the station, where a walk-through gate has been installed to check whether anyone is carrying explosives. Still, there are multiple other entrances to the station without such security. A separatist group, the Balochistan Liberation Army, claimed the attack in a statement, saying a suicide bomber targeted troops present at the railway station. The outlawed BLA has long waged an insurgency seeking independence from Islamabad. A senior superintendent of police operations, Muhammad Baloch, said separatists frequently attacked soft targets. “When their people are arrested, they also attack in retaliation. We all have to fight this war. We are resilient. Our teams are here and trying to save as many lives as we can.” Police said some of the critically wounded passengers had died in the hospital, raising the death toll. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif denounced the bombing in a statement, saying those who orchestrated the attack “will pay a very heavy price for it,” adding that security forces were determined to eliminate “the menace of terrorism.” Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry also condemned the bombing and expressed its condolences to the families of the victims, as did the Russian Embassy in Islamabad. Saturday’s assault came a little over a week after a powerful bomb attached to a motorcycle exploded near a vehicle carrying police officers assigned to protect polio workers in the province, killing nine people, including five children who were nearby. In August, the BLA carried out multiple coordinated attacks on passengers buses, police and security forces across Balochistan, killing more than 50 people, mostly civilians. Oil- and mineral-rich Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest but also least populated province. It is a hub for the country’s ethnic Baloch minority whose members say they face discrimination and exploitation by the central government. Along with separatist groups, Islamic militants also operate in the province. The BLA mostly targets security forces and foreigners, especially Chinese nationals who are in Pakistan as part of Beijing’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative, which is working on major infrastructure projects. The group often demands the halt of all Chinese-funded projects and for workers to leave Pakistan to avoid further attacks. Last month, the BLA claimed responsibility for a suicide […]
The majority of strokes could be prevented, according to new guidelines aimed at helping people and their doctors do just that. Stroke was the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S. in 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and more than half a million Americans have a stroke every year. But up to 80% of strokes may be preventable with better nutrition, exercise and identification of risk factors. The first new guidelines on stroke prevention in 10 years from the American Stroke Association, a division of the American Heart Association, include recommendations for people and doctors that reflect a better understanding of who gets strokes and why, along with new drugs that can help reduce risk. The good news is that the best way to reduce your risk for stroke is also the best way to reduce your risk for a whole host of health problems — eat a healthy diet, move your body and don’t smoke. The bad news is that it’s not always so easy to sustain. Dr. Sean Duke, a stroke doctor at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, blames the forces in society that keep people sedentary and eating poorly, like cell phones and cheap, unhealthy food. “Our world is stacked against us,” he said. Here’s what to know about stroke and the new guidelines: What is a stroke? A stroke happens when blood flow to part of the brain is blocked or if a blood vessel in the brain bursts. That deprives the brain of oxygen which can cause brain damage that can lead to difficulty thinking, talking and walking, or even death. How eating healthy can reduce your risk for stroke Eating healthy can help control several factors that increase your risk for stroke, including high cholesterol, high blood sugar, and obesity, according to the heart association. The group recommends foods in the so-called Mediterranean diet such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains and olive oil, which can help keep cholesterol levels down. It suggests limiting red meat and other sources of saturated fat. Instead, get your protein from beans, nuts, poultry, fish and seafood. Limit highly processed foods and foods and drinks with a lot of added sugar. This can also reduce your calorie intake, which helps keep weight in check. Moving your body can help prevent strokes Getting up and walking around for at least 10 minutes a day can “drastically” reduce your risk, said Dr. Cheryl Bushnell, a neurologist at Wake Forest University School of Medicine who was part of the group that came up with the new guidelines. Among the many benefits: Regular exercise can help reduce blood pressure, a major risk factor for stroke. Of course, more is better: The heart association recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic or 75 minutes of vigorous activity — or some combination — per week. How you do it doesn’t matter so much, experts said: Go to the gym, take a walk or run in your neighborhood or use treadmills or stepper machines at home. New tools to reduce obesity, a risk factor for stroke Diet and exercise can help control weight, another important risk factor for strokes. But a new class of drugs that can drastically reduce weight have been approved by regulators, providing new tools […]
The Defense Department will appeal a military judge’s ruling that plea agreements struck by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, and two of his co-defendants are valid, a defense official said Saturday. The ruling this past week voided Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s order to throw out the deals and concluded that the plea agreements were valid. The judge granted the three motions to enter guilty pleas and said he would schedule them for a future date to be determined by the military commission. The department will also seek a postponement of any hearing on the pleas, according to the official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss legal matters and spoke on condition of anonymity. Rear Adm. Aaron Rugh, the chief prosecutor, sent a letter Friday to the families of 9/11 victims informing them of the decision. The ruling by the judge, Air Force Col. Matthew McCall, allowed the three 9/11 defendants to enter guilty pleas in the U.S. military courtroom at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and would spare them the risk of the death penalty. The pleas by Mohammed, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi would be a key step toward closing out the long-running and legally troubled government prosecution in the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. Government prosecutors had negotiated the deals with defense lawyers under government auspices, and the top official for the military commission at Guantanamo had approved the agreements. But the deals were immediately slammed by Republican lawmakers and others when they were made public this summer. Within days, Austin issued an order saying he was nullifying them. He said plea bargains in possible death penalty cases tied to one of the gravest crimes ever carried out on U.S. soil were a momentous step that should only be decided by the defense secretary. The judge had ruled that Austin lacked the legal authority to toss out the plea deals. The agreements, and Austin’s attempt to reverse them, have made for one of the most fraught episodes in a U.S. prosecution marked by delays and legal difficulties. That includes years of ongoing pretrial hearings to determine the admissibility of statements by the defendants, given their torture in CIA custody. While families of some of the victims and others are adamant that the 9/11 prosecutions continue until trial and possible death sentences, legal experts say it is not clear that could ever happen. If the 9/11 cases ever clear the hurdles of trial, verdicts and sentencings, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit would likely hear many of the issues in the course of any death penalty appeals. The issues include the CIA destruction of videos of interrogations, whether Austin’s plea deal reversal constituted unlawful interference and whether the torture of the men tainted subsequent interrogations by “clean teams” of FBI agents that did not involve violence. (AP)
President Joe Biden will host President-elect Donald Trump for a traditional postelection meeting in the Oval Office on Wednesday, the White House said Saturday. Such a meeting is customary between the outgoing president and the incoming president, and is meant partly to mark the start of a peaceful transfer of power under America’s democracy. But Trump, a Republican, did not host Biden, a Democrat, for a sit-down after the 2020 election, when Trump lost his reelection bid. Trump sought the presidency four years later, and this week he defeated Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat. Trump is the first former president to return to power since Grover Cleveland regained the White House in the 1892 election. The White House said Biden called Trump this past Wednesday to congratulate him and invite him to meet in the Oval Office. In a speech Thursday, Biden said he had assured Trump “that I would direct my entire administration to work with his team to ensure a peaceful and orderly transition. That’s what the American people deserve.” Their upcoming meeting is set for 11 a.m. (AP)
Newly appointed Defense Minister Yisrael Katz spoke with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for the first time on Friday, during which the latter conveyed a sharp message regarding aid to Gaza, Channel 12 News reported on Motzei Shabbos. According to the report, Austin issued an ultimatum to the new Defense Minister, stating that Israel needs to significantly increase humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. Austin threatened that if Israel doesn’t increase aid to the “innocent” Gazan civilians, the U.S. will limit arms shipments to Israel. Katz responded by clarifying that Israel wishes to increase aid but Hamas repeatedly steals it and sells it for high prices. Since Israel wants to ensure that the aid is reaching the local population—without intermediaries—it is working with Arab countries to facilitate this. The Biden administration has insisted on repeatedly forcing Israel to feed its enemy, despite its awareness that Hamas steals the humanitarian aid, with its own efforts to provide aid ending in a colossal failure and even the death of one of its soldiers. (YWN’s Jerusalem desk is keeping you updated after tzeis ha’Shabbos in Israel)
The Democratic Party faces existential questions after Donald Trump’s resounding victory. One of the first: Who will lead it? Democratic National Committee chairman Jaime Harrison is not expected to seek a second term, opening a job that must be filled by March 1, according to the party’s bylaws. Who takes the position will speak volumes about how the party wants to present itself going forward and what issues members believe hampered Democrats against Trump in 2024. The incoming chair will also oversee the party’s 2028 nominating process, a complex and contentious exercise that will make that person central to the next presidential election. Harrison was derided for having backed President Joe Biden even as many Democratic voters questioned whether the president should run again. He was accused after Biden’s disastrous debate performance of pushing for a virtual roll call before Biden chose to withdraw. The early debate over Harrison’s replacement appears to be set on a clear dividing line: Do Democrats need an operative with clear skills and experience in reshaping the party’s infrastructure? Or does the party need a communicator who can respond to everything the Trump administration plans to do and can sell Democratic ideas to a public that rejected them at the ballot box? “They have to find someone from outside Washington who understands politics at the grassroots level,” said Howard Dean, a former chair who took the position after George W. Bush won a second term as president. Dean said he has received calls from members urging him to run, but he has no plans to do so. “The DNC is often a creature of Washington, which is a major problem. … You have to have a DNC that is big enough to include the whole country.” Top Democrats are scheduled to meet privately in Scottsdale, Arizona, in mid-December. Already, there is speculation among attendees that serious candidates would attend the meeting or at least be announced by then. In the wake of Tuesday’s thrashing, there is a sense, at least among some of the DNC’s rank-and-file, that the committee’s 440-plus voting members may be more likely to embrace an outsider with strong ties to the party’s formal establishment. Some also would want the new chair to fill a full-time role, which would present challenges to a current officeholder. “As the party looks to the future, we must be positioned for the important work of unifying and strengthening Democrats at all levels, and holding Trump’s Republican Party accountable for the harms it will inflict on the American people,” said Rosemary Boeglin, a spokesperson for the committee. “In the coming weeks, we will lay out a process for electing a new Chair to guide us on that path forward.” The potential candidates, from Beto to Buttigieg The more high-profile leaders on the minds of multiple top Democrats include Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, former Georgia lawmaker Stacey Abrams, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg; and Martin O’Malley, the former Maryland governor and current commissioner of the Social Security Administration. The lower-profile route features state party chairs Ken Martin, chairman of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and a vice chair of the national party; Ben Wikler, chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin; and Michael Blake, a former vice chair of the […]
An Israeli-Druze Maccabi soccer fan saved many Jewish Israelis from being attacked by Arabs during the pogrom on the streets of Amsterdam on Thursday evening. Melhem Asad, from a Druze village in the Upper Galil, flew to Amsterdam to watch the game between Maccabi Tel Aviv and AFC Ajax. When the violence began on the streets following the game, he acted heroically and spent hours on the streets trying to save his fellow Israelis. Speaking to Israeli media channels, Asad explained how although the police escorted the Israeli fans on the way to the game due to anti-Israel protests, they simply disappeared after the game. “Before the game, we were at Dam Square and there was good security,” he said. “But after the game ended, we left the stadium to return to the hotel and there was no security – nothing. We felt completely exposed.” “I heard people across the street speaking Arabic and scheming on how and where to attack the Israeli fans,” Asad continued. “They were saying, ‘Anyone wearing a Maccabi shirt and Israeli symbols is getting beaten to a pulp.’ I tried to confuse them in my language, to say that the Jews had left. I yelled in Arabic so they would think we were Arabs. I did everything to confuse them. I convinced them to go in the other direction.” “I then ran to warn Israelis to hide their Maccabi Tel Aviv shirts and not to speak Hebrew. I went to restaurants in the area and did it again three or four times. There were people on the ground who were getting beat up around me and I couldn’t help them. I was afraid. I ran between restaurants, alleys, wherever I thought Israelis were.” Asad elaborated that he was afraid because he felt the intensity of the Arabs’ hatred and how many of them there were. “I was afraid they would recognize me and kill me. The head of the council and my parents called me, worried about me, but I didn’t want to answer the phone so they wouldn’t hear me and see that I’m an Arab-Israeli and beat me.” He added that the violence reminded him of October 7 and the burning hatred the Hamas terrorists had for Israelis. “My heart was burning. Unfortunately, I couldn’t save everyone but I tried to warn as many Israelis as possible. I feel that G-d sent me at the right moment and to the right place to save those I could.” (YWN’s Jerusalem desk is keeping you updated after tzeis ha’Shabbos in Israel)
The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference case canceled any remaining court deadlines Friday while prosecutors assess the “the appropriate course going forward” in light of the Republican’s presidential victory. Special Counsel Jack Smith charged Trump last year with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate. But Smith’s team has been evaluating how to wind down the two federal cases before the president-elect takes office because of longstanding Justice Department policy that says sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris means that the Justice Department believes he can no longer face prosecution in accordance with department legal opinions meant to shield presidents from criminal charges while in office. Trump has criticized both cases as politically motivated, and has said he would fire Smith “within two seconds” of taking office. In a court filing Friday in the 2020 election case, Smith’s team asked to cancel any upcoming court deadlines, saying it needs “time to assess this unprecedented circumstance and determine the appropriate course going forward consistent with Department of Justice policy.” U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan quickly granted the request, and ordered prosecutors to file court papers with their “proposed course for this case” by Dec. 2. Trump had been scheduled to stand trial in March in Washington, where more than 1,000 of his supporters have been convicted of charges for their roles in the Capitol riot. But his case was halted as Trump pursued his sweeping claims of immunity from prosecution that ultimately landed before the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court in July ruled that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution, and sent the case back to Chutkan to determine which of the the allegations in the indictment can move forward. The classified documents case has been stalled since July when a Trump-appointed judge, Aileen Cannon, dismissed it on grounds that Smith was illegally appointed. Smith has appealed to the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where the request to revive the case is pending. Even as Smith looks to withdraw the documents case against Trump, he would seem likely to continue to challenge Cannon’s ruling on the legality of his appointment given the precedent such a ruling would create. (AP)
President-elect Donald Trump put billionaire Elon Musk on the line with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy when the Ukrainian leader called to congratulate the incoming U.S. president, according to a Ukrainian official with direct knowledge of the phone call. The person, who was not authorized to comment on the matter publicly, confirmed that Zelenskyy and Musk spoke during the call with Trump, but that Musk did not appear to be on the line for the entire conversation on Wednesday. Trump seemingly handed his phone over to Musk, the person said, and the Ukrainian president thanked the SpaceX owner for assisting his country with access to the Starlink satellite internet platform. The presence of Musk on the call highlights his influence in the president-elect’s circle. Trump has mused that Musk could have a formal role in his administration that focuses on government efficiency, raising questions about potential conflicts of interest given SpaceX’s lucrative government contracts. Trump’s interactions with Zelenskyy are being closely watched as he prepares to take over the presidency on Jan. 20 and has signaled a shift in Washington’s steadfast support for Ukraine against Russia’s nearly three-year-old invasion. Trump has promised to swiftly end the war and suggested that Kyiv should agree to cede some territory to Moscow in return for peace, a condition Zelenskyy has rejected. It was under Trump that the United States first sent weapons to Ukraine in its fight against Russia, in 2017. Those Javelin anti-tank missiles were crucial to Ukraine’s initial ability to fend off the full-scale invasion in 2022. President Joe Biden’s administration has sent tens of billions of dollars in military and economic assistance to Ukraine, drawing criticism from Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance, who are wary of U.S. involvement in foreign conflicts and suggested the money could better be spent domestically. Trump has promoted his good relationship with President Vladimir Putin and called the Russian leader “pretty smart” for invading Ukraine. He characterized Zelenskyy as “the greatest salesman on earth” for winning U.S. aid. Zelenskyy is one of dozens of world leaders, business executives and political leaders to speak with Trump, who has been at his private club and residence in Florida, in the days since he won the White House. The Trump transition said it would not comment on private meetings. Axios was first to report on Musk’s presence on the Trump-Zelenskyy call. (AP)
