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Federal Reserve officials at their most recent meeting welcomed recent signs that inflation is slowing and highlighted data suggesting that the job market and the broader economy could be cooling. Both trends, if they continued, could lead the Fed to cut its benchmark interest rate in the coming months from its 23-year peak of 5.3%. The minutes of the Fed’s June 11-12 meeting, released Wednesday, showed that the policymakers saw several factors that could further ease inflation in the coming months. These factors included the slower growth of wages, which reduces pressure on companies to raise prices to cover their labor costs. The policymakers also pointed to several cases of retail chains and other businesses lowering prices and offering discounts, a sign that customers are increasingly resisting higher prices. Yet the officials also said more evidence was needed to demonstrate that inflation was returning sustainably to the Fed’s 2% target. They signaled that they were in no rush to reduce borrowing costs. The minutes of the Fed’s meetings sometimes provide key details behind the policymakers’ thinking, especially about how their views on interest rates might be evolving. The financial markets are eagerly awaiting more clarity about the likely timetable for the Fed to begin cutting its benchmark rate. Rate cuts by the Fed would likely lead, over time, to lower borrowing costs for mortgages, auto loans and credit cards as well as business borrowing, and could also boost stock prices. In a noticeable shift from previous minutes, the officials cited concerns that a further cooling of the job market would likely lead to layoffs. So far, slowing demand for workers has mostly appeared in the form of fewer job postings. Their stated concern about a possible increase in layoffs suggests that the Fed needs to more fully consider both its policy goals: Stable prices and full employment. That is a shift from the previous two years, when the Fed was focused solely on curbing inflation, which reached a four-decade high in 2022 of 9.1%. “The vast majority of participants assessed that growth in economic activity appeared to be gradually cooling, and most participants remarked that they viewed” the central bank’s benchmark rate as high enough to slow growth and inflation. After last month’s meeting, Fed officials issued a statement saying that inflation had resumed declining toward their 2% target. But they also scaled back their expectations for rate cuts this year, from three cuts to just one. At a news conference, though, Chair Jerome Powell downplayed the forecast for a single cut and said either one or two cuts were equally plausible. Four of the 19 policymakers said they envisioned no rate cuts at all this year. The remaining 15 officials were nearly evenly split between one and two cuts. On Tuesday, financial markets drew encouragement from remarks Powell made during a monetary policy conference in Portugal. Powell said the Fed had made “quite a bit of progress” toward bringing inflation back to 2%. Consumer price increases were persistently high in the first three months of the year, he noted, but in April and particularly May, inflation resumed the steady decline that had begun in the second half of 2023. In the latest Fed minutes, many of the officials also noted that lower- and moderate-income households are “encountering increasing strains […]

Former President Barack Obama is privately expressing concerns that President Biden’s already-rough road to re-election is looking more difficult than ever following his nightmare performance at last week’s debate.

From The Washington Post:

Former president Barack Obama has privately told allies who have reached out to him that President Biden’s already tough path to reelection grew more challenging after his shaky debate performance on Thursday — a harsher assessment of the presidential race than his public comments, according to several people familiar with his remarks.

Obama separately spoke directly with Biden by phone after last Thursday’s debate to offer his support as a sounding board and private counselor for his embattled former vice president, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. It is unclear how directly Obama addressed Biden’s performance and his path to reelection on the call.

“President Biden is grateful for President Obama’s unwavering support since the very start of this campaign as both a powerful messenger to voters and a trusted adviser directly to the president,” Lauren Hitt, a spokeswoman for the Biden campaign, said in a statement.

The new WaPo report casts doubt on Obama’s X post following the debate; an attempt at damage control.

“Bad debate nights happen,” Obama wrote. “Trust me, I know. But this election is still a choice between someone who has fought for ordinary folks his entire life and someone who only cares about himself. Between someone who tells the truth; who knows right from wrong and will give it to the American people straight — and someone who lies through his teeth for his own benefit. Last night didn’t change that, and it’s why so much is at stake in November.”

More over at The Washington Post:

 

{Matzav.com}

Only a handful of people know the location of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, according to sources from the terror group who spoke with London-based newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat. “A very small circle of no more than two or three people at most knows his whereabouts and secures his various needs, as well as ensuring his communication with the movement’s leaders inside and outside,” one source told the paper. Despite Israeli efforts to target Hamas leaders, Sinwar remains elusive. The source added, “[Israel] failed to reach many of the first and second-tier leaders [of Hamas] on the political and military levels, but it tried to assassinate some of them, some of whom were injured, and some of whom survived and came out unharmed from bombing operations in different areas and targets, but Sinwar is not among them.” The sources did not disclose whether Sinwar is hiding above ground or in tunnels. In February, the Israel Defense Forces released footage allegedly showing Sinwar walking through a Gaza tunnel with family members in October. According to the report, Sinwar is unwilling to consider exile as part of a deal. “Sinwar is thinking of two options, with no third option as long as he is alive — either to fulfill the resistance’s conditions of stopping the war, the withdrawal of the occupation forces, and completing an honorable exchange deal, or to obtain the honor of martyrdom,” a source said. “Beyond that, in his personal thinking, there are no other options. Such a proposal [exile from Gaza] is fundamentally unacceptable for Sinwar, and he cannot even think about it.” This stance shuts down the possibility that Israel consider a deal involving Sinwar’s exile from Gaza, as has been previously reported. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

According to a new report in Asharq Al-Awsat, a London based Arabic paper, only three people know the location of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

According to the report, Hamas sources emphasized to the publication that Sinwar remains up to date on every development in the war and ceasefire negotiations, despite remaining in hiding.

According to retired US General Jack Keane of the Institute for the Study or War, Sinwar likely left Rafah and is now hiding in Khan Younis.

Sources told the paper that: “A very small circle [of people] know his location,” adding that the small group consists of “no more than two or three people, who provide for his various needs and maintain his communication with the other leaders of the movement.”

According to Colin Clarke, of the NY based Soufan Group and the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, Sinwar is: “likely still in Gaza, deep within the tunnel network and surrounded by hostages to secure his safety.”

Clarke added that Sinwar likely relies on hand deliveries of paper correspondence, delivered by trusted couriers, to avoid electronic detection of his location.

“Sinwar is someone who is out for his own survival,” Clarke added. “It’s his ultimate goal, like a cornered rat.”

{Matzav.com}

A man charged with killing a Detroit synagogue leader during a violent overnight encounter denied any role Wednesday, telling jurors that he never entered her home but had discovered and touched her bloody body outdoors. Michael Jackson-Bolanos repeatedly said “absolutely not” when his attorney asked if he broke into Samantha Woll’s townhouse and stabbed her last October. Woll’s slaying immediately raised speculation about whether it was some type of antisemitic retaliation amid the Israel-Hamas war, though police quickly knocked down that theory. Jackson-Bolanos acknowledged that he didn’t call police to report what he had found. “When I realized she was dead I wanted nothing to do with the entire situation,” he told the jury. “I’m a Black guy in the middle of the night breaking into cars and I found myself standing in front of a dead white woman. That doesn’t look good at all.” His testimony was a dramatic moment in a trial that has mostly centered on circumstantial evidence. Police said Jackson-Bolanos’ jacket had spots of Woll’s blood. While there is video of him walking in the area, there’s no evidence of him being inside her home. Woll, 40, was found outside her home, east of downtown Detroit, hours after returning from a wedding. Investigators believe she was attacked inside the residence but got outdoors before collapsing. She was stabbed multiple times and had head wounds. Jurors saw pictures of blood smeared on the floor of her townhouse. Jackson-Bolanos told the jury that he was tugging on car doors at 4 a.m. to try to find unlocked vehicles when he saw Woll’s body. His story suggested how her blood could have ended up on his coat. “I didn’t shake the body,” he said. “I just checked the neck — no air, no breath or nothing. Once I realized I just touched a dead person I just grabbed the bag and I left.” Jackson-Bolanos, who has past criminal convictions, said he feared calling police because he didn’t want to explain what he was doing in the middle of the night. It took weeks for police to settle on Jackson-Bolanos. Investigators first arrested a former boyfriend who made a hysterical call to 911 and told authorities that he believed he might have killed Woll but couldn’t remember it. Jurors saw video of the sobbing man’s encounter with police last November in a parking lot. “I had motive and opportunity and I don’t know what the third one is but I probably had that, too,” he told officers. But the man, who had been under treatment for depression, testified at trial that he had no role in Woll’s death. “I believe now it was an adverse reaction to a medication,” he said of delusions. Woll’s sister, Monica Rosen, said she had told police soon after the slaying that another man had been stalking Woll. But she testified that she was in shock at the time and “had no basis to use those words.” “My sister was the epitome of good. She had no enemies to my knowledge,” Rosen said. Woll was president of the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue. She was also active in Democratic politics, working for U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin and state Attorney General Dana Nessel. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Woll was a “beacon in her community.” The trial, which […]

President Joe Biden on Wednesday awarded the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry to two Union soldiers who stole a locomotive deep in Confederate territory during the Civil War and drove it north for 87 miles (140 kilometers) as they destroyed railroad tracks and telegraph lines. U.S. Army Pvts. Philip G. Shadrach and George D. Wilson were captured by Confederates and executed by hanging. Biden recognized their courage 162 years later with the country’s highest military decoration, calling the operation they joined “one of the most dangerous missions of the entire Civil War.” “Every soldier who joined that mission was awarded the Medal of Honor except for two. Two soldiers who died because of that operation and never received this recognition,” Biden said. “Today, we right that wrong.” The posthumous recognition comes as the legacy of the Civil War, which killed more than 600,000 Union and Confederate service members between 1861 and 1865, continues to shape U.S. politics in a contentious election year in which issues of race, constitutional rights and presidential power are at the forefront. Biden has said that the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump was the greatest threat to democracy since the Civil War. Meanwhile, Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, riffed at a recent Pennsylvania rally about the Battle of Gettysburg and about the Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. The president said Wednesday that Shadrach and Wilson were “fighting and even dying to preserve the union and the sacred values it was founded upon: freedom, justice, fairness, unity.” “Phillip and George were willing to shed their blood to make these ideals real,” Biden said. Theresa Chandler, the great-great-granddaughter of Wilson, recalled for The Associated Press how the Union soldier had the noose around his neck on the gallows and spoke his final words. She said that Wilson essentially said that he was there to serve his country and had no ill feelings for the people of the South, but that he hoped for the abolition of slavery and for the nation to be united again. “When I read that, I had chills,” Chandler said. “We can feel that as a family and that we’re enjoying our freedoms today, what he tried to move forward at the time.” Brian Taylor, a great-great-great-nephew of Shadrach, said this was an opportunity for his ancestor to be remembered as “a brave soldier who did what he thought was right.” “I kind of feel that he was a bit adventurous, a bit of a free spirit,” Taylor said. Shadrach and Wilson are being recognized for participating in what became known as the Great Locomotive Chase. A Kentucky-born civilian spy and scout named James J. Andrews put together a group of volunteers, including Shadrach and Wilson, to degrade the railway and telegraph lines used by Confederates in Chattanooga, Tennessee. On April 12, 1862, 22 of the men in what was later called Andrews’ Raiders met up in Marietta, Georgia, and hijacked a train named The General. The group tore up tracks and sliced through telegraph wires while taking the train north. Confederate troops chased them, initially on foot and later by train. The Confederate troops eventually caught the group. Andrews and seven others were executed, while the others either escaped or remained prisoners of […]

The Israeli negotiating team has received Hamas’s proposed changes to the hostages-for-ceasefire framework outlined by U.S. President Joe Biden in May, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said late Wednesday.

The United States, Qatar and Egypt—the mediators—have conveyed “Hamas’s remarks on the outline of the hostages deal,” said Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s office in a joint statement with the Mossad.

“Israel is evaluating the remarks and will convey its reply to the mediators,” added the brief statement from Jerusalem.

An anonymous senior Israeli official subsequently told the U.S.-based Axios news outlet that while “important progress has been made, there is still a significant way to go with serious challenges.”

Even if Israel and Hamas enter into further negotiations, “it will be tough and not short,” the official said, adding that it could take “several weeks to reach an agreement if we move to detailed negotiations.”

According to the report, the Israeli negotiating team is expected to hold discussions with Netanyahu and Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant in the “coming days” to formulate a stance to Hamas’s response.

The Israeli government immediately accepted Biden’s proposal, which Netanyahu has claimed does not call for a permanent end to the war that started with Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre of more than 1,200 people in communities in southern Israel on Oct. 7, the wounding of thousands and kidnapping of as many as 250 others. The government says 120 hostages remain in Gaza.

However, an Israeli official said on June 17 that in its initial reply to the proposal, the terrorist group made “substantial changes” to the outline, which the U.N. Security Council had formally approved a week earlier.

Hamas demanded an end to the war and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces, the official said, adding that Jerusalem’s goals for the war still stand—the defeat of Hamas as a military and ruling power, the return of all hostages and the guarantee that Gaza cannot pose a threat to Israel.

‘Working very hard to find a formula’

Last week, a U.S. official confirmed for the first time that Hamas’s official response to the ceasefire bid amounted to a rejection. “They came back several weeks ago and rejected the proposal that was on the table,” said U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller on June 26

While Miller was the first U.S. official to characterize Hamas’s June 11 reply as a rejection of the terms, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had previously said it included changes that were “not workable.”

“A deal was on the table that was virtually identical to the proposal that Hamas made on May 6—a deal that the entire world is behind, a deal Israel has accepted. Hamas could have answered with a single word: ‘Yes,’” the top diplomat stated at a June 12 press conference in Doha.

Earlier this week, Axios reported that the Biden administration had proposed a change to Article 8 of the deal, which deals with talks regarding a “sustainable calm” in Gaza, set to commence after the implementation of the first stage of the three-stage agreement.

Jerusalem wants to retain the right to raise the demilitarization of Gaza and “other issues” during this stage, per the Axios report. Hamas, however, demanded that these talks focus solely on the number and identity of Palestinian terrorists to be released from Israeli jails in return for every living Israeli soldier or male hostage held in Gaza.

“The U.S. is working very hard to find a formula that will allow reaching a deal,” a source with direct knowledge of the talks told Axios, adding that the effort is being coordinated with Qatari and Egyptian mediators.

{Matzav.com}

The IDF is collecting data on working Chareidi youth, Kan News reported on Wednesday. According to the report, the IDF will try to meet the initial goal of recruiting 3,000 Charedim this year without creating a major clash with yeshivos. Therefore it collected information from income-tax data about Chareidim who are working and at the first stage, it will send draft orders to Chareidim who are not learning full-time. Following the Supreme Court’s ruling last week mandating the draft of bnei yeshivos and the halt of funding to yeshivos, the office of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara wrote a letter to the IDF demanding that it immediately implement the Court’s ruling. Baharav-Miara ordered the army to immediately draft 3,000 bnei yeshivos and warned the government not to continue funding yeshivos serving students eligible for the draft “directly or indirectly.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

President Joe Biden on Tuesday lashed out at former President Donald Trump and his Republican allies, labeling them as “stupid” and “really really dumb” for denying the existence of climate change. During a briefing on extreme weather at the D.C. Emergency Operations Center, Biden announced new measures to protect workers and families from the impacts of extreme weather. He also took aim at Trump and Republicans in Congress for attempting to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, which he called “the biggest climate protection bill ever.” “They deny climate change even exists,” Biden said. “They must be living in a hole somewhere. At the expense of the health and safety of their own constituents, they deny it exists.” Biden criticized every single congressional Republican for voting against investments that created jobs and combated climate change. He also slammed those trying to repeal climate provisions and kill jobs, calling it “outrageous” and “really stupid.” “Everyone who willfully denies the impacts of climate change is condemning the American people to a dangerous future, and either is really, really dumb or has some other motive,” Biden declared. “How can you deny this climate change, for God’s sake?” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Donald Trump and his campaign hope President Biden stays in the race, according to four people familiar with private discussions, believing they can beat him even with Trump’s felony conviction and other charges. But they are also ramping up attacks on Vice President Harris.

Publicly, Trump and his allies have dismissed suggestions that Biden could withdraw from the race, insisting that it is too late for Democrats to change course. Privately, they have started preparing for different possibilities, and feel it could be harder to beat another Democrat who is not Biden or Harris.

“I’m going to show up and I’m going to campaign whether it’s him or somebody else,” Trump said in a Monday interview with Richmond radio host John Reid, referencing polls showing him doing as well or better against other Democrats.

“The funny thing is we’re beating him badly in the polls, but nobody else is doing any better,” he added in an interview that aired Monday with radio host John Fredericks.

Letting Biden be the focus of attention is unusual for Trump, who is more accustomed to dominating the headlines. But he has laid low since the debate, with no public events scheduled. A running mate announcement is expected as early as next week, with the Republican National Convention to follow the week after.

The Trump campaign’s message to surrogates after last week’s debate was that Biden is the Democratic nominee, and Democrats are stuck with him, according to a Republican close to the campaign, who like others interviewed for this story, wasn’t authorized to speak publicly. Biden struggled through the 90-minute faceoff, setting off widespread alarm in his party.

“It sure seems they want Biden to stay on the ticket. They think he’s vulnerable, and they like where they’re at. You can see they are not excited at all about the prospect of him leaving the race,” said David Axelrod, a longtime top strategist to Barack Obama.

Trump advisers were privately stunned at how poorly Biden performed, people familiar with the matter said, believing he would be a stronger debater.

Taylor Budowich, who leads Trump’s outside PAC, said the clips from Thursday’s debate “would make for devastating campaign commercials.” But Budowich also said that Harris being the nominee “has the ad team cackling with excitement.” On Wednesday the PAC, known as MAGA Inc., circulated an attack on Harris, headlined, “Is Invasion Czar Kamala Harris The Best They Got?”

Biden’s campaign and the White House have insisted the president remains committed to running and are planning a fresh bout of campaign events and at least one television interview. The campaign announced raising $127 million in June, ending the month with $240 million cash on hand, compared to Trump’s $111.8 million raised and $285 million in the bank.

The incumbent and his aides have sought to stay on the attack against Trump, hitting him over abortion and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, among other issues. On Monday, Biden responded to a Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity, saying it would leave Trump “more emboldened to do whatever he pleases” in a second term.

The Trump campaign expects he will be the Democratic nominee, Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said. “We are confident no matter what that we will be victorious in tying any Democrat on the ballot to Biden and to the Democratic Party,” she added.

The Trump campaign has begun airing ads suggesting Harris was celebrating Biden’s struggles, showing her laughing in a way that is meant to appear villainous and collapsing the Biden-Harris campaign logo to remove the president’s name. The campaign is also attacking other Democratic candidates for their past defenses of Biden, accusing them of covering up the president’s decline.

Republicans have indicated that they would attack any Democratic effort to replace Biden as an affront to Democratic primary voters and the democratic process.

“What would be a bigger threat to democracy than taking a candidate post primary, when millions of people, Democratic primary voters, have already voted and try to replace him at a convention with a few hundred Democratic leaders?” Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), a potential running mate, said after Thursday’s debate. “That is the biggest threat to democracy that’s been contemplated in American government in the last few years.”

Outside the campaign, lawyers at the right-wing Heritage Foundation researched ballot access laws in all 50 states to be prepared to oppose any effort to remove or replace Biden after he officially becomes the Democratic nominee.

“Our research has basically uncovered that it’s extraordinarily complicated and absolutely ripe for ample opportunities for litigation,” said Mike Howell, director of Heritage’s Oversight Project. “You got to dance with the girl you brought to prom. An American election can’t be made up as you go, and the fact that such a massive lie was told to the American people isn’t a convenient enough excuse to circumvent laws.”

“We like to live by the rule that when your opponent is in the process of committing suicide it’s best to stay out of the way,” said Ralph Reed, chairman of the Faith & Freedom Coalition. “I think after Thursday we’re going to leave the stage to Joe Biden and the Democrats who have organized themselves into a circular firing squad.”

Trump himself has been largely quiet this week, and some advisers said they want him to delay his vice-presidential choice as long as possible to let Democrats stew in their own troubles. Two people who have spoken to Trump in recent days say he continues to fixate on both Vance and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) as potential choices, while also mentioning other names, such as North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.

“He truly I don’t think has fully decided,” one person who has spoken to him repeatedly said.

Leavitt said: “Very soon President Trump will make an announcement on a vice presidential running mate who will be much more qualified and competent than Kamala Harris.”

Kellyanne Conway, a longtime ally of Trump, argued Trump didn’t need to say much about the debate. “The art of politics is to tell people what they can’t see, not what they can,” Conway said. “People simply can’t unsee what they saw in that moment.”

While Democrats have plunged into panic over Biden’s poor showing at Thursday’s debate and ability to execute the campaign or serve another four years, Trump has welcomed more favorable developments, with a Supreme Court decision that delayed and could possibly eliminate his criminal jeopardy. His lawyers secured a delay of his sentencing for his 34-felony conviction in New York until September, if at all, as the judge said he would consider the effects of Monday’s Supreme Court decision saying presidents are immune from prosecution for official acts.

Some Trump campaign staff have aired their glee at the Democratic meltdown by posting online taunts, sometimes profane, directed at Biden and his staff. But aides have also cautioned against getting cocky or endangering their own momentum.

“Right now the entire Biden reelection campaign is in a complete free fall,” Fredericks said in an interview on Tuesday. “All you have to do is get out of the way. Let ’em implode.”

(c) Washington Post

A fourth farm worker has been infected with bird flu in the growing outbreak linked to dairy cows, health officials reported Wednesday. The worker had direct contact with infected dairy cows on a northeast Colorado farm, state and federal health officials said. The man developed pink eye, or conjunctivitis, received antiviral treatment and has recovered. Three previous cases of human infection linked to cows have been reported in dairy workers in Texas and Michigan since March. Two of those workers also developed pink eye, while one had mild respiratory symptoms, In 2022, the first U.S. case of bird flu was detected in a Colorado farm worker exposed to infected poultry. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the new infection “does not change” the agency’s assessment that the risk to the general public remains low. Surveillance systems tracking flu in the U.S. have shown no unusual activity, officials said. However, people with prolonged contact with to infected birds or other animals, including livestock, or to their environments, are at higher risk of infection. The Colorado man was being monitored when he developed symptoms because of his work with dairy cows, according to the CDC. Tests at the state level were inconclusive, but samples sent to CDC tested positive. Full results of genetic analysis of the sample are pending. As of Wednesday, more than 135 dairy herds in a dozen states had reported infections with the H5N1 virus that originated in poultry, according to the Agriculture Department. (AP)

After Biden’s disaster of a debate performance, and more Americans than ever thinking he is unfit to serve another 4 years as president, some elected Democrats are preparing to call for Biden to drop out of the race.

According to a one House Democrat’s aid, 25 House Democrats are poised to call for the President to step aside. In addition, some donors have called for him to hand the reigns to someone else, and Democrats are wondering out loud if Biden still has it.

However, most beleive it will be Biden’s decision if he stays in the race or drops out.

One source said that Democrat legislators of competitive districs are getting hammered with questions by their constituents about the matter, and are considering writing a letter asking Biden to step aside. “It looks like the dam has broken,” the source said.

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett became the first Democrat in Congress to call for Biden to quit his campagin, telling NBC he hoped others would join him.

Meanwhile, influencial Democrat and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, admitted in an interview with MSNBC that it is fair to question Biden’s mental abilities, saying: “I think it’s a legitimate question to say, ‘Is this an episode or is this a condition?’ And so when people ask that question, it’s legitimate, of both candidates,”

A Reuters/Ipsos poll taken after the debate showed one in three Democrats think Biden should end his reelection bid.

Meanwhile, Biden has blamed his terrible debate performance on his travel schedule, despite the well publicized fact that he stayed in Camp David for a week, prepping for the debate.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday that Biden did not have an “episode,” just a bad night.

The White House also said that Biden had a cold the night of the debate.

{Matzav.com}

The IDF has demolished the home of Ahmed Dawabsha, a 21-year-old Palestinian accused of murdering 14-year-old Binyamin Achimeir in a West Bank terror attack in April. Achimeir went missing while shepherding near the outpost of Malachei Shalom on April 12, and his body was found the next day. Dawabsha, a resident of the West Bank town of Duma, was arrested on April 22 and charged with Achimeir’s murder last month. According to prosecutors, the attack was inspired by the Islamic State jihadist movement. The IDF demolished Dawabsha’s home in Duma overnight, citing a policy of demolishing the homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out deadly terror attacks, which aims to deter future terrorists. In addition to the demolition, six wanted Palestinians were detained in other West Bank operations. Since October 7, the IDF has arrested approximately 4,200 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including over 1,750 affiliated with Hamas. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

New audio of former President Donald Trump talking about his post-presidency career caught him boasting about his ability to pull big ratings no matter what anyone says they think of him. He says NBC would have him back in a flash to make whatever show he wanted because he would deliver them a blockbuster audience.

“You can be nice, or you can be mean. You can be evil. You can be horrible. You can be crude or elegant. There’s only one thing that matters and that’s ratings. If you don’t have ratings, it doesn’t matter,” he said. The audio was recorded by Ramin Setoodeh, who interviewed Trump for his new biography Apprentice in Wonderland.

In a clip aired on MSNBC, Trump continued: “If I went back to NBC right now to do something, they would do anything I wanted to do, showbiz wise… Because one thing I know about that business—and I learned more about that business than anybody else could learn in a short period of time. It’s about one thing: ratings. If you have ratings, you can be the meanest, most horrible human being in the world. There’s only one thing that matters: ratings.”

Read more at MSNBC.

A discharged soldier was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly murdering a Nukhba terrorist on October 7th and brought to the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, where the police requested an extension of his arrest, Channel 12 reported. According to the report, a police investigator accused the soldier: “You interrogated a terrorist in the field, then shot him in the head. That’s why you are suspected of murder.” The soldier replied: “I didn’t murder any terrorist but I eliminated the terrorists who shot at us.” The report was later taken down but not before it was quoted by every other media outlet. The police later slapped a gag order on the case and there are likely details that are unknown about the case. Some social media reports said that three soldiers were arrested. Channel 14 News journalist Yinon Magal quoted the soldier’s father as saying: “On October 7th, while half of the country was in shelters and half of the country was probably sleeping.. my son and another soldier he knows, without being called, quickly drove in their own to the south in order to help and save as many people as possible.” “They encountered terrorists in the Shaar Negev area. They eliminated some of them and even managed to rescue the wounded. The soldier who was with him was even injured in the incident while trying to rescue injured soldiers. Among other things, they risked a lot in order to prevent attempts to kidnap the bodies of soldiers who were in the field.” “Today we found out that there are delusional elements in our dear country who are trying in every way to demoralize our soldiers and instead of handing out medals to people who did the maximum while others didn’t even do the minimum, they are busy trying to discredit soldiers.” Dozens of Israelis showed up outside the court in Tel Aviv to protest the arrest. One of them explained, as quoted by Ynet: “This is a young man who went down to the south that morning, saved lives and saved the bodies of soldiers so that they wouldn’t be abducted. There is no connection here to the right or the left.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

Nicole Lindsay thought she could beat the holiday-week travel rush by booking an early-morning flight. It didn’t work out that way. “I thought it wouldn’t be that busy, but it turned out to be quite busy,” the Baltimore resident said as she herded her three daughters through Palm Beach International Airport in Florida. “It was a lot of kids on the flight, so it was kind of noisy — a lot of crying babies.” Lindsay said the flight was full, but her family arrived safely to spend a few days in Port Saint Lucie, so she was not complaining. Airlines hope the outcome is just as good for millions of other passengers scheduled to take holiday flights over the next few days. AAA forecasts that 70.9 million people will travel at least 50 miles (80 kilometers) from home over a nine-day stretch that began June 27, a 5% increase over the comparable period around the Fourth of July last year. Most of those people will drive, and the motor club says traffic will be the worst between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. most days. Federal officials expect air-travel records to fall as Americans turn the timing of July Fourth on a Thursday into a four-day — or longer — holiday weekend. The Transportation Security Administration predicts that its officers will screen more than 3 million travelers at U.S. airports on Sunday. That would top the June 23 mark of more than 2.99 million. American Airlines said Sunday is expected to be its busiest day of the entire summer; it plans more than 6,500 flights. TSA was created after the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and replaced a collection of private security companies that were hired by airlines. Eight of the 10 busiest days in TSA’s history have come this year, as the number of travelers tops pre-pandemic levels. The head of the agency, David Pekoske, said Wednesday that TSA has enough screeners to handle the expected crowds this weekend and through the summer. “We have been totally tested over the course of the last couple of months in being able to meet our wait-time standards of 10 minutes for a PreCheck passenger and 30 minutes for a standard passenger, so we are ready,” Pekoske said on NBC’s “Today” show. Peggy Grundstrom, a frequent traveler from Massachusetts who flew to Florida to visit her daughter and granddaughter, said the line for security in Hartford, Connecticut, was unusually long. “It was busier than I have personally seen in the past,” Grundstrom said. “But, you know, I prefer to fly unless it’s very local. I’m at a stage where I don’t want to travel in a car for long periods of time.” Passengers on a Delta Air Lines flight from Detroit to Amsterdam on Wednesday had to put their travel plans on hold for several hours when the plane landed in New York because spoiled meals were served in the main cabin shortly after takeoff. Delta apologized to passengers “for the inconvenience and delay in their travels.” (AP)

FRANCE – After several months of suffering in a secular institution, three innocent frum children are at risk of being joined by another three siblings. The drama began this winter when the French police swooped down on the home where a family from Eretz Yisrael was staying in Armentieres, France, and forcibly snatched three helpless children from their mother’s embrace.  Following their father’s placement in an institution due to emotional imbalances, the local authorities falsely deemed the mother neglectful and incapable of caring for her children. Maimon, 7, Esther, 5, and Shlomo, 3, were placed in a secular institution, alongside Arabs and other children, where they are being physically and emotionally abused. The authorities confiscated the yarmulkes of Maimon and his freshly-shorn brother, and had their peyos cut. When the oldest protested that the food they were served was non-kosher, he was placed on drugs to reduce his mental awareness and force him to give in. This Thursday  – July 4 a court hearing will be held in France to determine the fate of the 3 captive children, if they will IY”H return to live in a Jewish home, or C’V they must remain by Goyim – totally assimilated from Yidishkeit until they are 18 years old Rc”l. A massive Atzeret will be held in Beth Medrash Guovoha – Lakewood, today at 10:30 to Daven and say Tehilim and beg Hashem for mercy on the Jewish children in France, to bring them back to a Jewish home. Askanim involved in the case say that the only way to save these innocent children from definite shmad and return them to their family, is by way of a lengthy and costly legal process. The latest is that the authorities are now threatening to take away the remaining three children. Please daven for the mother, Rivka bas Gila, and her children – Maimon, Esther, Shlomo, Rochel Brocha, and Avrohom. To help the family and Askanim or to donate Click Here or call 646-718-9907

Contrary to prior anticipations, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz did not announce an initiative to pay Polish citizens victimized in World War II by the Nazi regime during a press conference on Tuesday with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

“There is no such gesture that would satisfy Poles, there is no sum of money that would offset all that happened during World War II. And here there is no dispute between us either,” Tusk said on Tuesday.

Scholz said Germany would “endeavor to provide support for the victims” without offering specifics.

The plan would come following the previous Polish administration led by the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, which had demanded $1 trillion in war reparations, a request Germany dismissed, citing previous agreements between the two countries following the conclusion of the Second World War.

The delay in a decision reportedly derives from German legislative concerns about the size of the payment and the potential for other European countries to make similar demands.

Tusk denied disappointment in the delayed decision, saying that “these are all steps that go in the right direction” and that “the future will show whether my expectations and hopes are based on solid foundations.”

{Matzav.com}

State Attorney Amit Aisman asked Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara to launch a criminal investigation against National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir for allegedly inciting violence against the residents of Gaza, Kan News reported on Tuesday evening. According to the report, the request is intended to satisfy the International Court of Justice at the Hague that Israel is investigating Israeli officials for statements inciting “genocide.” The State-Attorney and Attorney-General’s Office responded to an inquiry on the matter by stating: “As the State of Israel informed the International Court of Justice in The Hague, all statements on the matter that could amount to a criminal offense are being examined. Contrary to the publication, no decisions were made on the issue by the heads of the law enforcement system.” The absurd request was condemned even within the state attorney’s office and no one believes that such an investigation would lead to an indictment. In fact, the request is so outlandish that a Walla reporter even jumped to Ben-Gvir’s defense, first clarifying how much he dislikes Ben-Gvir, saying, ‘there are a thousand reasons to dislike him” and describing him as “one of the most failed ministers in Israel’s history.” The reporter continued by saying that, “still, the State Attorney’s decision to open an investigation against Ben-Gvir is the kind of folly that is usually read in the stories of the sages of Chelm.” “It sounds absolutely crazy on the face of it. Let’s start with the obvious: it’s stupid. The few quotes that can be interpreted as ‘incitement to violence against the citizens of Gaza’ by Ben-Gvir are based on leaks from cabinet meetings. For example, it was published on this website that in November 2023, Ben-Gvir argued with the Prime Minister about the concept of ‘non-involved’ and claimed that ‘this old man who runs with a stick to abuse citizens, is he not involved? He is a terrorist! He is indeed involved.’ He later claimed at the same meeting that ‘those who distribute candy and encourage murder are involved, those who came to loot are also involved – terrorists.’ Is this incitement to violence against the residents of Gaza, or more like an opinion – not even that extreme relative to the man – that was heard as part of an entire discussion?” “Still, ‘inciting violence against the residents of Gaza’ – during a war in Gaza – is far from the worst thing he did during his term in government. In fact, he didn’t say anything more serious than Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz (‘No electrical switch will be flipped, no water break will be opened and no fuel truck will enter Gaza.’) or President Herzog who was quoted in The Hague as saying: ‘The rhetoric that civilians are not involved in the fighting is not true. We will fight until we defeat them.'” “Ben-Gvir did not incite violence against the citizens of Gaza any more than anyone else who sat in the cabinet at that meeting. Everyone discussed the violent way in which to respond to the violent attack that surprised Israel. Given that no one suggested attacking Gaza with flowers and candy bars, they all incited violence in the same meeting just like Ben-Gvir.” Ben-Gvir responded to the report by stating: “Unbelievable! The State Attorney is trying to prosecute an Israeli minister for ‘incitement’ […]

In an appearance on “Andrea Mitchell Live” Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., admitted it is fair to ask if President Joe Bien had “an episode” or if he has “a condition.”, after his performance on the debate stage.

Pelosi said it was up to President Joe Biden whether he should continue his campaign for President.

According to Pelosi, she has not witnessed any issues with Biden’s health, saying: “I have spoken to him regularly. Every time, he has been on the top of his game in terms of knowing the issues and what is at stake.

“We all have been in touch with people close to the president. It’s not a question of not having an opportunity to make our concerns known or have some questions answered.”

Nevertheless, as the election rapidly approaches, and Biden continues to trail in the polls, Pelosi said: “He had a bad night,” Pelosi said. “I think it’s a legitimate question to say, ‘Is this an episode or is this a condition?’ When people ask that question, it’s legitimate — of both candidates.”

Pelosi also tried to explain Biden’s debate catastrophe, saying: “It’s very hard to debate somebody when you have to undo or debunk everything they are saying,”

Pelosi expressed confidence in Biden, while also hinting that voters have reason to be concerned: “I trust his judgment,” Pelosi said. “I’m not a doctor. I can’t say what happens three, four years down the road. But … I think that he will continue to be a great president of the United States.”

Pelosi says Biden should agree to no-holds barred interviews with journalists to alleviate voters concerns.

“Just sit there and be Joe,” Pelosi said. “Show your values, show your knowledge, show your judgment, show your empathy for the American people. I think that that would be a great thing for him.”

{Matzav.com}