USA

Seems like old times: Coalition squabbles

We’re up against a deadline. Presumably, if the Israeli government does not pass a budget today, the Knesset goes home and there’ll be an election, perhaps within three months. There have been several options, including a postponing of the deadline, and lots of discussion.  Perhaps an enactment of a 2020 budget, that’ll serve the country for the next week! [Ira Sharkansky, Ph.D]

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Ira Sharkansky, Middle East, USA

Senate approves bill on American hostages named for Robert Levinson

U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), and Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Chris Coons (D-De.), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.)  on Monday released the following statements on securing passage of the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act (S.712) as part of the end-of-year funding legislation approved by the Senate today. (Senate Foreign Relations Committee Press Release)

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International, Middle East, USA

The artist as ‘hooligan’ on exhibit at NYC’s Pace Gallery

The Hooligans is Ghenie’s fourth solo exhibition at Pace Gallery, comprised of nine paintings and three drawings, all produced during this last year. It is a sustained engagement with European painting, including J.M.W. Turner, the Impressionists, and post-Impressionists, particularly Van Gogh and Gaugin. Ghenie remarks in a statement about this new body of work: “When I look at the Impressionists, I have the strange feeling that I am looking at something very schizophrenic. Behind those harmless colorful landscapes there is an incredible, destructive force; camouflaged. It is an act of hooliganism.” [Sam Ben-Meir, Ph.D]

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Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Sam Ben-Meir, USA

US charges Libyan ‘bombmaker’ over 1988 Lockerbie attack

Washington (AFP) – The US Justice Department announced charges Monday against a Libyan former intelligence agent who allegedly built the bomb that exploded aboard Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland exactly 32 years ago. Attorney General Bill Barr said that “Abu Agela Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi” helped build the device that blew up the aircraft

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International, Middle East, USA

Jews, Muslims and Bacon (!) at a Christmas Party

Our Christmas party happened to fall on the sixth day of Chanukah, so I wanted to contribute. What I used to do at my school was bring in homemade sufganiyot using whole wheat flour with nutmeg mixed into the dough, fill them with jam and fry them up in coconut oil. These treats would be proudly presented in a basket with a sign that read “You don’t have to be Jewish to have a Happy Chanukah!” [Eric George Tauber]

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Eric George Tauber, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA

Russia could cut off U.S. food and water supply in next cyberattack, Romney says

Russia acted with impunity when it hacked U.S. government servers in a global cyber-espionage campaign and could do far more damage next time — like cutting off the nation’s water and electricity supply, GOP Sen. Mitt Romney said Sunday. Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the Utah senator said the massive cyberattack discovered earlier this

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International, USA

Good News From Israel (December 20, 2020)

In the December 20, 2020 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:

Israeli Covid-19 vaccine goes into Phase 2 trials as Israel rolls out the Pfizer vaccine.
Israel and Bhutan have established full diplomatic relations.
An Israeli smart color sensor can prevent massive food waste.
Israeli irrigation of rice crops saves water and the environment.
An Israeli company won a contract for its robots to clean a million solar panels.
Israel’s Wonder Woman won the first MTV “She-Ro” award.
A lost tribe’s return to Israel is one of three Israeli Chanukah “miracles”. [Michael Ordman]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Business & Finance, International, Jewish History, Jewish Religion, Michael Ordman, Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Science, Medicine, & Education, Sports & Competitions, The World We Share, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and Food, USA

Georgia’s Senate runoffs: Special interest PACs flood the zone

ATLANTA — Apart from the candidates themselves, political action committees have spent at least $150 million since the November general election to rally voters back to the polls for the Senate runoff, records show. While nearly two-thirds of that spending has come from super PACs connected to either Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell or Minority

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USA