Newark (United States) (AFP) – US President-elect Joe Biden received a Covid-19 vaccine live on television Monday in a campaign to boost Americans’ confidence in the jabs. The 78-year-old incoming president got the Pfizer vaccine at the Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware. His wife Jill received the shot earlier, the presidential transition team said. Biden […]
Biden receives Covid-19 vaccine live on TV Read More »
USA
For political junkies and journalists (two groups that sometimes merge), the month of January will be exciting. The U.S. Constitution sets January 3rd as the date for the new Congress to convene. As January 3rd falls this year on a Sunday, there has been some talk about delaying the opening of Congress until either Monday, the 4th, or Tuesday, the 5th, but it would take a bill approved by both Houses and signed by the President to bring that about. So, while it’s not impossible that the date still could be delayed, Sunday, the 3rd, looks like the day when the House of Representatives convenes to swear in such new members as Democrat Sara Jacobs of San Diego, and to elect the leadership of both parties. Two Californians — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarty of Bakersfield — will run for reelection respectively as the Democratic and Republican leaders of the House. With a narrower majority, and some disgruntled Democrats, especially in the Progressive wing of the party that includes U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Pelosi’s reelection, though favored, is not a sure thing. [Donald H. Harrison]
Month of January exciting for political junkies, journalists Read More »
Donald H. Harrison
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]
The artist as ‘hooligan’ on exhibit at NYC’s Pace Gallery Read More »
Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Sam Ben-Meir, USA
A 28-year-old man who confessed to carrying out a 2019 terrorist attack on a synagogue in Halle, Germany, has been handed a life sentence by a German court. A regional court in Naumburg determined that, once Stephan Balliet had served out the 15-year sentence, he would be subject to preventive detention. This is the maximum
German synagogue attacker handed life sentence for 2019 incident Read More »
International
Washington (AFP) – A statue of Robert E. Lee, a commander for the pro-slavery South during the US Civil War, was removed from the Capitol building early Monday, officials said, part of a reckoning with the country’s history of racism. “Last night, Virginia removed its statue of Robert E. Lee from the U.S. Capitol,” tweeted
Statue of Confederate general Lee removed from US Capitol Read More »
USA
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
US charges Libyan ‘bombmaker’ over 1988 Lockerbie attack Read More »
International, Middle East, USA
WASHINGTON: With one month to go until Joe Biden takes office, Donald Trump remains fixated on his failed bid to overturn the 2020 election — with his advisors reportedly floating the idea of invoking martial law, triggering outrage and disbelief in Washington. Trump has stayed largely out of sight as several hugely consequential matters play
Reports of martial-law talk in Trump meeting draw outrage Read More »
USA
In France, last night, a flood of antisemitic insults, threats, and violent comments were spread on social media.Their origin?Miss Provence April Benayoum, first runner-up in Miss France 2021 pageant, revealing on Saturday night during the final competition that she has an Israeli father in her follow-up thanks. “I have an array of origins: my mother
Miss France runner-up attacked online for saying her father is Israeli Read More »
International, Middle East, Sports & Competitions
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]
Jews, Muslims and Bacon (!) at a Christmas Party Read More »
Eric George Tauber, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Trivia, Humor & Satire, USA
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
Russia could cut off U.S. food and water supply in next cyberattack, Romney says Read More »
International, USA
Washington (AFP) – US lawmakers have reached a deal for a new package to boost the world’s largest economy, which has been battered by the coronavirus pandemic, congressional leaders announced Sunday. “We’ve agreed to a package of nearly $900 billion. It is packed with targeted policies to help struggling Americans who have already waited too
US Congress reaches deal on Covid-19 relief package Read More »
USA
I held the first three chapters of Turning Back in my hands in 1997. There were only three chapters written at that time. Yet, I knew someday I’d be holding this work between its covers, for I felt the prescient weight of the book resting in my hands at the time. I went ahead and encouraged Michael to develop this work into a full-fledged memoir. Taking pen in hand the thoughts poured out of him, composing one of the most illuminating and gifted memoirs I’ve ever read. I paired Michael with literary agent, Peter Rubie, who I had met many years ago. Together they made music. Peter, whose background is in investigative journalism, made Michael his subject, digging deeper and deeper into the memoirist’s unconscious thoughts. This was not an easy process for the author, for at times it was as arduous as deep psychoanalytic probing into the painful regions of human consciousness. To answer Rubie’s many editorial questions, Michael had to plow through his personal memories, his reflections, his reactions, and his analyses just in order to find the real truth behind the words. The memoirist had to reach his deepest level of literary expressiveness, a condition precedent for writing the story of his own coveted decision to journey back to the richness and fullness of religious life as set forth in the Jewish tradition of thousands of years. [Amy Neustein, Ph.D]
Michael Lesher tells his journey as a Baal Teshuvah Read More »
Amy Neustein, Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Religion
Inside a dusty and dark workshop on the banks of the Jaghjagh river in northeast Syria, Misak Antranik Petros uses an ancient pottery wheel to throw different shapes from clay. The 85-year-old Syrian potter of Armenian origin said his family has practised the craft for more than 450 years. “The profession was passed down from
Syrian potter preserves family’s 450-year-old craft Read More »
Middle East
The Palestinian foreign minister on Saturday urged Israel to return to talks based on a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, ahead of the transition to a new US administration. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki’s comments came in a joint statement with Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukry and Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi. In a
Palestinian foreign minister urges Israel to return to talks Read More »
Middle East