WASHINGTON — The Republican plan to nearly double the standard deduction as part of a sweeping tax overhaul appears to be a windfall for average Americans because it would allow them to shield thousands of additional dollars from taxes. But don’t start planning how you’d spend those savings yet. Another untouted proposed change that would […]
US President Donald Trump is “betraying” US commitments to refugees for nearly halving the number the country will allow in this year from 2016, the major Jewish immigrant advocacy group HIAS said. Trump administration officials said Wednesday that the United States will cap the number of refugees at 45,000 for fiscal year 2018 — the
HIAS balks at Trump cap number on refugees Read More »
International, USAWASHINGTON — Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, President Donald Trump’s first Supreme Court appointee, on Thursday drew protesters to the Trump International Hotel when he gave his first major speech in Washington there to a conservative education group. Several progressive groups accused Gorsuch of undercutting the court’s appearance of impartiality. They said he may be required
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USANFL players across the league have spoken out against President Donald Trump’s comments from last week in Alabama, but Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is the league’s biggest star to comment on the issue. Rodgers took to Instagram on Wednesday with a picture of he and his teammates locking arms during the anthem, and
Aaron Rodgers speaks out, sends a clear message on national anthem protests Read More »
Sports & Competitions, USAAn elementary school librarian in Massachusetts exceeded her authority when she rejected a shipment of Dr. Seuss books donated by first lady Melania Trump, the school district said. The White House is recognizing schools across the country with programs that achieve “high standards of excellence” to receive 10 Dr. Seuss books in honor of National
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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, USAPresident Donald Trump lifted US shipping restrictions on storm-battered Puerto Rico for 10 days Thursday, temporarily removing a legal obstacle blamed for slowing the disaster relief response to Hurricane Maria, the White House said. A 1920 law that restricts shipments between American ports to US-owned and operated cargo ships has been preventing foreign-flagged ships from
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USASenator Ben Cardin (D-MD), the top Democrat on the Senate”s Foreign Relations Committee, is urging the Trump administration not to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal, despite being one of a handful of Senate Democrats who opposed the deal to begin with, JTA reported on Wednesday. “If we violate a UN resolution, in the
Democratic Senator to Trump: Don’t cancel Iran deal Read More »
Middle East, USASam Nunberg, a former aide to Donald Trump from 2011 to 2015, speaks to Newsmax TV on April 6, 2017 (screen capture) WASHINGTON — Sam Nunberg has a “strange relationship” with Donald Trump. If anyone knows what it’s like to go through the wringer with America’s mercurial president, he does. Currently an independent public affairs
Jewish aide who helped launch Trump’s campaign sees him dropping early positions Read More »
USADavid Friedman, the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, said on Thursday that he believes Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria are part of Israel. “I think the settlements are part of Israel,” Friedman said in an interview with the Hebrew-language Walla website. “I think that was always the expectation when Resolution 242 was adopted in 1967.
‘The settlements are part of Israel’ Read More »
Middle East, USASeveral swastikas were found drawn on message boards outside two dormitory rooms in the same residence hall at Brandeis University. Public safety officers removed the images, officials at the Jewish-founded nonsectarian university said this week in a letter addressed to “Members of the Brandeis community.” Get The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition by email and
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Science, Medicine, & Education, USAHundreds of protesters gathered outside of the Qatari embassy in Washington Thursday to protest the Hamas terror group”s refusal to return the bodies of two slain IDF soldiers killed in 2014, and demand that the Qatari government pressure Hamas to release their bodies to Israel. Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul were killed during Operation Protective
‘Israeli soldiers’ bodies are not bargaining chips’ Read More »
Middle East, USABy Ira Sharkansky JERUSALEM — Uncertainty. This is an appropriate theme in this season of Yom Kippur. While the conventional emphasis that day is personal atonement, we might also see its implication for thinking about our communities’ sins, accomplishments, and problems. Nothing is certain. The possibility of disease and accidents are close to all of
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International, Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USALOS ANGELES — Hugh Hefner, the incurable playboy who built a publishing and entertainment empire on the idea that Americans should shed their puritanical hang-ups and enjoy sex, has died. He was 91. He died of natural causes at his home, the Playboy Mansion, according to Teri Thomerson, a Playboy spokesperson. Hefner was the founder
Hugh Hefner, Playboy founder, dies at 91 Read More »
Obituaries & memorials, USABy Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO—Morris Casuto, the retired executive director of the San Diego Region’s Anti-Defamation League, suggests that in retrospect San Diego’s quarter-century-long battle over the Mt. Soledad Cross was a win for civil government. Originally, the large Latin cross atop Mount Soledad was upon public property. Several levels of courts declared that
The Mt. Soledad cross case in retrospect Read More »
Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, San Diego County, USA