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National
Defeat the Mandate March
Several thousand people marched in Washington, D.C., on Sunday against vaccine mandates. They called for “freedom” against the “tyranny” of forcing Americans to procure the Covid-19 vaccine.
A number of major U.S. cities including D.C., New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Boston have implemented citywide rules requiring residents to show proof of vaccination at certain establishments, such as restaurants and gyms.
The peaceful protest started around noon at the Washington Monument and headed to the Lincoln Memorial, where it remained while a series of speakers took to the steps to share their experiences of the past year and their reasons to call for an end to the vaccine mandates.
“Mandates and freedoms don’t mix, like oil and water,” one speaker said.
“Breathe. Inhale G-d, exhale fear,” another said.
Between 30,000 and 35,000 people attended the protest, demanding an end to vaccine mandates and passports and a call for reasonable debate and the power of informed consent.
“You’re going to hear a lot of people talk about on the left say this is a big, anti-vax rally – it’s people coming in to deny science,” march organizer Will Witt, an author and political commentator for nonprofit PragerU, said last week before the rally.
“But this march is about the mandate, and this march is about the Draconian measures that we’re seeing all across this country right now, especially in places like D.C., New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco.”
Sheldon Silver Dies at 77
Former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver died in federal custody this week at the age of 77.
An Orthodox Jew and Democrat who represented New York’s Lower East Side, Silver died at a hospital near Otisville Correctional Facility in upstate New York, where he had been serving a 6 1/2-year sentence on federal corruption charges. He had been treated for cancer and recently had back surgery at a federal prison hospital in Massachusetts.
Silver had been serving time for using his clout in state government to benefit real estate developers, who rewarded Silver by referring lucrative business to his law firm.
Silver’s 2015 arrest and conviction sent shockwaves through New York’s Jewish establishment, where he was well-known and generally highly regarded.
Silver first won a seat representing Manhattan’s Lower East Side in 1976.
He became Assembly speaker in 1994, a powerful position that made him one of Albany’s “three men in a room” negotiating annual budgets and major legislation with the governor and state Senate leader. He was known to observe Shabbos even during the marathon negotiation sessions that preceded annual budget deadlines and the end of legislative sessions.
In all, Silver served as speaker during the tenure of five New York governors, from Mario Cuomo to Andrew Cuomo.
“For more than two decades, he held back a tide of repressive legislation while advancing an agenda that provided equity, justice and opportunity for all,” Democratic Assembly member Kevin Cahill of the Hudson Valley said in a statement.
Silver gave up his leadership position following his arrest in January 2015 and lost his legislative seat
upon his first conviction that November.
Silver was furloughed from prison for several days in May before federal authorities denied him home confinement.
A federal judge in New York has ordered over $240,000 in North Korean bank assets be paid to the family of Otto Warmbier.
In the ruling, Judge Lawrence E. Kahn ordered $240,000 in seized assets from the Kwangson Banking Corporation, which is connected to the North Korean government, be transferred to the Warmbier family within 10 days.
Initially, Cindy and Fred Warmbier had sought over $1 billion in damages from the regime. In 2018, a judgement by a D.C. federal court found North Korea liable to pay the Warmbiers over $500 million.
Otto Warmbier, who was Jewish, was scheduled to undertake a studyabroad program in Hong Kong in early 2016 and decided to visit North Korea en route over the New Year period. He booked a tour with Young Pioneer Tours, a China-based budget tour operator that said that their tours were safe.
On December 29, 2015, Warmbier flew via Beijing to North Korea with his tour group, which included ten other U.S. citizens, for a five-day New Year’s tour. The group celebrated New Year’s Eve and returned to the hotel, where some continued to drink alcohol. Otto was accused of taking a propaganda poster from a staff-only area of the hotel at around 2 a.m. on New Year’s Day. He was arrested on January 2, 2016, at Pyongyang International Airport while awaiting departure from North Korea. Two guards tapped Otto on the shoulder and led him away.
Otto was then tried for committing a hostile act against the government. Following the hour-long trial, he was found guilty and sentenced to 15 years hard labor.
After 17 months of imprisonment, Otto was eventually returned to the U.S. in 2017, in a coma. An MRI found extensive brain damage and showed that his brain had been deprived of oxygen at some point in the past. Six days after his return to the U.S., Warmbier died.
In 2018, a U.S. federal court found the North Korean government liable for Otto’s torture and death, in a default judgment in favor of Warmbier’s parents after North Korea did not contest the case.
Changes to the SAT
The College Board on Tuesday announced a slew of new changes to its SAT college admissions exam. The new test will be given completely online.
“The digital SAT will be easier to take, easier to give, and more relevant,” said Priscilla Rodriguez, vice president of College Readiness Assessments at the College Board.
“We’re not simply putting the current SAT on a digital platform –we’re taking full advantage of what delivering an assessment digitally makes possible. With input from educators and students, we are adapting to ensure we continue to meet their evolving needs.”
Additionally, the new test will take two hours to complete instead of three.
Students can use calculators for the entire Math portion. Previous versions prohibited calculators in some sections.
The passages featured in the Reading section will be shorter and will include only one question each. They will more closely resemble works that students are taught in their classrooms.
In another change, scores will be made available to students and their teachers in days instead of weeks.
The new digital-only version of the SAT will begin being distributed internationally in 2023, with U.S. distribution beginning in 2024.
Sinema Censured
The Arizona Democratic Party’s executive board on Saturday announced that it would formally censure Arizona Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema for voting to maintain filibuster rules.
Sinema and West Virginia’s Senator Joe Manchin were the only two Democrats to join Republicans in upholding the Senate’s 60-vote threshold to overcome a filibuster on legislation. The other Democrats had attempted to change Senate rules to allow legislation to pass with 51 votes.
In a statement, Arizona Democratic Party Chair Raquel Terán said, “While we take no pleasure in this announcement, the ADP Executive Board has decided to formally censure Senator Sinema as a result of her failure to do whatever it takes to ensure the health of our democracy.”
She added, “I want to be clear: the Arizona Democratic Party is a diverse coalition with plenty of room for policy disagreements, however, on the matter of the filibuster and the urgency to protect voting rights, we have been crystal clear. In the choice between an archaic legislative norm and protecting Arizonans’ right to vote, we choose the latter, and we always will.”
Sinema’s spokesperson Hannah Hurley responded, “During three terms in the U.S. House, and now in the Senate, Kyrsten has always promised Arizonans she would be an independent voice for the state – not for either political party. She’s delivered for Arizonans and has always been honest about where she stands.”
Problems with 5G Rollout
The U.S. government failed this week to avoid a collision between U.S. telecom companies and airlines over the rollout of 5G cellular networks.
The failure led to a last-minute scramble which threatened to cancel thousands of flights.
The 5G signals are liable to pose a risk to aircraft, but the concern has been dismissed by both the telecom industry and its regulator. On Tuesday, after international airlines threatened to cancel some U.S.bound flights, AT&T and Verizon Communications agreed to limit 5G signals near major airports.
According to the communications companies, real-world experience in other countries shows that aircraft are not disrupted by 5G signals. This view is backed by the Federal Communications Commission. It is not, however, backed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which is responsible for air safety.
“We have, in this case, two very different industries that have different ways of looking at risk, and I think over the last couple of months, we understand each other much better than we did before,” FAA Administrator Steve Dickson said last Wednesday. “Keep in mind, the telecommunications companies, we’re not their regulator.”
In 2019, FAA concerns grew after a research group flagged potential 5G interference issues. In 2020, the RTCA Inc. nonprofit group published test results, suggesting that altimeters may be vulnerable.
On Tuesday, AT&T and Verizon agreed that any cell tower within two miles of a major runway would not use 5G signals.
RIP NYPD Officer Rivera and Mora
New York police are mourning the death of Officer Jason Rivera, 22, after Rivera was shot and killed on Friday while responding to a domestic violence incident in Harlem.
A second officer, Wilbert Mora, 27, was critically injured in the same incident, NYPD reported. He succumbed to his wounds on Tuesday.
The shooter has been identified as Lashawn McNeil, who was also in critical condition. McNeil died on Monday from his injuries.
According to police, five NYPD officers have been shot this month, but Rivera was the first to die.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams plans to “immediately” reinstitute “a newer version of ... a modified plainclothes anti-gun unit.”
“I talked about this on the campaign trail,” the new mayor said. “Our team has done the proper analysis, and now we’re going to deploy that.”
On Sunday, Adams stressed, “We have to go after those laws that are not realistic on understanding what’s happening on the ground. We have to stop the flow of guns. We are removing thousands of guns off our streets, and it appears as though for every gun we remove from the street, five are coming in. That’s unacceptable.”
The gun used in Friday’s shooting was stolen from Baltimore in 2017, NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig noted.
Hundreds of NYPD officers stood shoulder-to-shoulder on Sunday as Rivera’s casket left the medical examiner’s office and the procession made its way to Riverdale Funeral Home in Inwood. He is scheduled to be buried on Friday.
Rivera joined the force in 2020. He was married only a few months ago.
Judge: NYS Mask Mandate Not Legal
On Monday, New York State Supreme Court Judge Thomas Rademaker ruled that the state’s mask mandate cannot be enforced, noting that the Department of Health didn’t have the legal authority to do so. The Mineola judge added that it is up to the state Legislature to decide.
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In response, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) hailed the ruling, which essentially scrapped the order reinstituted by Gov. Kathy Hochul amid concerns about a winter surge of COVID-19 cases.
The mandate, which remains in effect until February 1, covers businesses and venues and schools, public transit, homeless shelters, correctional facilities, nursing homes, and health care settings.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman signed an executive order earlier in January telling local school boards to vote on the mandate, instead of blindly enforcing it in area schools.
New York Republican Rep. Stefanik, the influential No. 3 GOP leader in the House of Representatives, slammed Hochul and called the ruling a “win for small businesses, parents, students, and the freedom of all New Yorkers.”
“(The) authoritarian mandates were crushing New York small businesses that already have faced unprecedented challenges throughout the COVID-19 pandemic,” she said in a statement.
The decision will now go to an appeals court and from there to the state Court of Appeals, which is the highest court in New York state.
Gov. Hochul vowed to fight the ruling and pursue all options to reverse the legal decision.
“My responsibility as governor is to protect New Yorkers throughout this public health crisis, and these measures help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and save lives,” she said.
Zeldin, who is running for governor, accused Hochul of being on a “power trip.”
“Hey Kathy, Masks are OPTIONAL!” Zeldin tweeted.
The state plans to appeal the decision. The mandate will remain in force until higher courts rule.
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Youngkin On a Roll
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, has made it clear during his first week in office that he is there to enact change, The Washington Post reported.
Youngkin, who has a two-point margin, has already drawn a lawsuit from parents in Chesapeake over his executive order ending mask mandates in public schools. His executive order banning teaching critical race theory or any “inherently divisive concepts” has spurred the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus to claim he is waging a “war on Black history.”
On Friday evening, Youngkin’s office issued a formal list of legislative priorities, specifying both bills and budget amendments that he aims to carry out. But the list requires action by the General Assembly and buy-in from Senate Democrats to become law.
Youngkin, meanwhile, has received at least 24 requests to headline GOP fundraisers in other states but has turned them down, an adviser said.
State Sen. Emmett W. Hanger Jr. (R-Augusta) said that Youngkin is “off to a good start.”
“The thing that impresses me about him is he’s a great salesman,” Hanger said. “Of course, he’ll have to at some point be realistic about the politics of the moment and work for what’s doable.”
Del. Lamont Bagby (D-Henrico), head of the Black Caucus, told the Post, “I can’t find any other word to describe it other than ‘dangerous propaganda.’ I am surprised that he’s doubling down on these bad
ideas, and I really was hoping that Virginia was far past this, but this administration is taking us back rather quickly.”
Frozen Border Crossing
Four people – two adults, a teen, and an infant – froze to death while being smuggled across the U.S.-Canada border.
The bodies were found approximately 40 feet from the border, as they were being smuggled into North Dakota from Canada.
According to the report, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers, together with law enforcement officers from the Department of Homeland Security, performed a traffic stop on January 19 on a 15-passenger van. During the inspection, the officers found two undocumented Indian nationals from Canada, the Manitoba Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said.
Law enforcement also encountered and apprehended five other undocumented Indian nationals crossing the border by foot, RCMP added. One of them was taken into custody wearing a backpack containing children’s items, the U.S. Department of Justice said. He told the authorities he was carrying the backpack for a family that had been traveling with him but that they had been separated during the night.
A search by RCMP and coordinated with U.S. Customs and Border Protection revealed the bodies of four people on the Canadian side of the border. The four were found “frozen,” Canadian authorities said, and it is believed they died of exposure.
DoJ quoted the group of travelers as saying that it took approximately 11 hours to cross the border. Two travelers were transported to a hospital with injuries.
The U.S. citizen from Florida who drove the van was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol and charged with one count of knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien had come to, entered, or remained in the United States in violation of law, having transported and moved or having attempted to transport and move such aliens.
3 Firefighters Killed in Baltimore
Three Baltimore firefighters have died and one remains in critical condition after battling a blaze in a vacant home early Monday in Baltimore, Maryland. The three-story townhouse partially collapsed while firefighters were fighting the fire. The four firefighters were trapped inside.
Lt. Paul Butrim, Firefighter/ Paramedic Kelsey Sadler, and EMT/ Firefighter Kenny Lacayo died. The fourth EMT/Firefighter, John McMaster, remains at the hospital in critical but stable condition. He is on life support.
Ironically, three firefighters were injured at the same location in 2015 battling a fire.
“This is a gut-wrenching tragedy for our city, the Baltimore City Fire Department, and most importantly the families of our firefighters. There are no words to describe the pain and the severity of the losses we have suffered today,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon M.Scott said.
2M Migrants Caught on Southern Border
A record nearly two million migrants have been apprehended attempting to illegally enter the U.S. from Mexico in 2021.
Of those, 178,840 of them were apprehended during the month of December 2021, official figures showed.
The number of migrants arriving in the U.S. dropped during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic but picked up later in 2020. It then jumped again following U.S. President Joe Biden’s entry into office.
Though the summer months usually mark a drop in the number of attempts to cross the border, approximately 200,000 attempted to illegally cross from Mexico into the U.S. over the course of July 2021, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said.
The arrivals pose a challenge to U.S. authorities, especially since the current administration has promised not to send unaccompanied minors back to Mexico.
Navy Jet Mishap
A U.S. Navy fighter jet attempting to land on an aircraft carrier in the South China Sea had a “landing mishap” on the ship’s deck on Monday that left seven sailors injured, including the pilot, according to the Navy.
The pilot of the F-35c fighter jet was able to eject safely and was recovered from the waters where the carrier, USS Carl Vinson, is operating.
The F-35C “had a landing mishap and impacted the flight deck and subsequently fell to the water during routine flight operations.”
“The pilot safely ejected the aircraft and was recovered by helicopter,” a statement added.
Of the seven sailors injured, four received medical treatment aboard
