Showing posts with label Associated Press. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Associated Press. Show all posts

Friday, July 26, 2019

'In God We Trust' Going up at South Dakota Public Schools - Associated Press

'In God We Trust' Going up at South Dakota Public Schools
07-25-2019
RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — When students return to public schools across South Dakota this fall, they should expect to see a new message on display: "In God We Trust."
A new state law that took effect this month requires all public schools in the state's 149 districts to paint, stencil or otherwise prominently display the national motto.
The South Dakota lawmakers who proposed the law said the requirement was meant to inspire patriotism in the state's public schools. Displays must be at least 12-by-12 inches and must be approved by the school's principal, according to the law.
Associated School Boards of South Dakota executive director Wade Pogany said schools are complying with the law in different ways.
"Some have plaques. Other have it painted on the wall, maybe in a mural setting," Pogany said. In one school "it was within their freedom wall. They added that to a patriotic theme."
The Freedom From Religion Foundation, based in Madison, Wisconsin, which has legally challenged the motto's inclusion on U.S. currency, alerted its South Dakota members to contact their legislators to express opposition to the law.
"Our position is that it's a terrible violation of freedom of conscience to inflict a godly message on a captive audience of school children," foundation co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor said Wednesday.
Pogany said the school boards' association was OK with the legislation as long as it provided legal protection.
"One of our concerns was that this would be contested. So we had asked the legislature to put a 'hold harmless' clause into the bill. The state would then defend the schools and pay the cost of the defense," Pogany said.
Administrators at Rapid City Area Schools have finished stenciling the motto on the walls of its 23 public schools. The law doesn't provide funding for installing the message. Stenciling the motto cost a total of $2,800 at Rapid City schools, spokeswoman Katy Urban told the Rapid City Journal.
In May, a group of students from the district's Stevens High School suggested to the school board an alternate version of the motto they designed that includes the names of Buddha, Yahweh and Allah — as well as terms likes science and the spirits. The student group Working to Initiate Societal Equality, or WISE, told board members that the standard motto appears to favor Christianity over other religions.
"To my knowledge there's been no discussion among the board about any alternative," Urban said.
"In God We Trust" was adopted when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation in 1956. According to the U.S. Department of Treasury website it first appeared on paper money the following year.

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Justice Department Launches Antitrust Probe of Big Tech - Associated Press


Justice Department Launches Antitrust Probe of Big Tech
07-23-2019
The U.S. Department of Justice opened a sweeping antitrust investigation of big technology companies and whether their online platforms have hurt competition, suppressed innovation or otherwise harmed consumers.
It comes as a growing number of lawmakers have called for stricter regulation or even breaking up of the big tech companies, which have come under intense scrutiny following a series of scandals that compromised users’ privacy.
President Donald Trump also has relentlessly criticized the big tech companies by name in recent months. He frequently asserts, without evidence, that companies such as Facebook and Google are biased against him and conservative politicians.
The Justice Department did not name specific companies in its announcement.
The focus of the investigation closely mirrors a bipartisan probe of Big Tech undertaken by the House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust. Its chairman, Rep. David Cicilline, a Rhode Island Democrat, has sharply criticized the conduct of Silicon Valley giants and said legislative or regulatory changes may be needed. He has called breaking up the companies a last resort.
Major tech companies already facing that congressional scrutiny declined to comment on the Justice Department’s probe.
Amazon had no comment. Facebook also did not have an immediate comment.
Google directed requests for comments to the testimony its director of economic policy, Adam Cohen, made to the House Judiciary Committee last week. Cohen reiterated the company’s benefits to consumers.
Apple referred to comments from CEO Tim Cook, who told CBS last month he doesn’t think “anybody reasonable” would call Apple a monopoly.
Shares of Facebook, Amazon and Apple were down slightly in after-hours trading.
One antitrust expert believes the DOJ investigation may prompt regulators to interpret U.S. competition law in new ways.
University of Pennsylvania law professor Herbert Hovenkamp said the companies may have been their abusing market power by collectively buying hundreds of startups in recent years to devour their technology and prevent them from growing into formidable rivals.
Traditionally, antitrust regulators have only sought to block acquisitions involving large companies in adjacent markets. But Hovenkamp says U.S. antitrust law is broad enough for regulators to consider the potential damage wrought by relatively small deals, too.
Earlier, the Washington Post reported that the Federal Trade Commission will allege that Facebook misled users about its privacy practices as part of an expected settlement of its 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal.
The federal business watchdog will reportedly find that Facebook deceived users about how it handled phone numbers it asked for as part of a security feature and provided insufficient information about how to turn off a facial recognition tool for photos.
Advertisers were reportedly able to target users who provided their phone number as part of a two-factor authentication security feature.
The FTC didn’t respond immediately to a request for comment. 
Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. 

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Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Israeli PM Favors Naming Envoy to Christian World - CBN News Associated Press

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israeli PM Favors Naming Envoy to Christian World
10-14-2018
CBN News Associated Press
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s prime minister says he favors appointing an envoy to the Christian 
world, a sign of Israel’s efforts to foster close ties with its Christian allies.

Benjamin Netanyahu spoke Sunday at a meeting in Jerusalem of visiting journalists from Christian 
media, where he was warmly received by reporters. He welcomed the idea suggested by one journalist 
to appoint such an emissary as “a great idea.”

The summit reflects the strengthening ties between Israel and the evangelical Christian world. Israel 
has come to rely on widespread evangelical support in recent years, a move that has raised concerns 
among some Jews in Israel and abroad.
“A great alliance with the evangelicals is something we do not apologize for,” Netanyahu said. “We 
have no better friends in the world.”

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. 

Monday, September 17, 2018

GOP Senator May Block Kavanaugh Confirmation After Woman Claims Sexual Attack - CBN News Associated Press

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) is on the Senate Judiciary Committee and could block Kavanaugh 

from advancing.
GOP Senator May Block Kavanaugh Confirmation After Woman Claims Sexual Attack
09-16-2018
CBN News Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump's nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme 
Court was thrust into turmoil Sunday after the woman accusing him of high school-era sexual 
misconduct told her story publicly for the first time. Democrats immediately called for a delay in a 
key committee vote set for this later week and a Republican on the closely divided panel said he's 
"not comfortable" voting on the nomination without first hearing from the accuser.

The woman, Christine Blasey Ford, told The Washington Post in her first interview that Kavanaugh 
pinned her to a bed at a Maryland party they attended in the early 1980s, clumsily tried to remove her 
clothing and put his hand over her mouth when she tried to scream.

"I thought he might inadvertently kill me," Ford said. "He was trying to attack me and remove my 
Misconduct

Ford, 51 and a clinical psychology professor at Palo Alto University in California, says she was able 
to get away after a friend of Kavanaugh's who was in the room jumped on top of them and everyone 
tumbled.

Kavanaugh, 53 and a federal appeals judge in Washington, on Sunday repeated an earlier denial of 
Ford's allegation.

"I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation. I did not do this back in high school or at any 
time," Kavanaugh said through the White House.

The allegation first came to light late last week in the form of a letter that has been in the possession of
Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, for some 
time.

The committee recently concluded four days of public hearings on the nomination and the panel's 
Republican chairman, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, scheduled a Thursday vote on whether to recommend 
that the full Senate confirm Kavanaugh for a lifetime appointment to the nation's highest court.

Democrats, led by New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, immediately called for it to be postponed, though 
Republicans gave no indication Sunday that they would accede to the calls by Democrats, most of 
whom already publicly oppose Kavanaugh.

A spokesman for the Senate Judiciary Committee said late Sunday that Grassley is trying to arrange 
separate, follow-up calls with Kavanaugh and Ford, but just for aides to Grassley and Feinstein, before 
Thursday's scheduled vote.

But Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a committee member, told The Washington Post and Politico in interviews
 Sunday that he's "not comfortable" voting for Kavanaugh until he learns more about the allegation. 
Flake is one of 11 Republicans on the committee, whose 10 Democrats all oppose Kavanaugh. A 
potential "no" vote from Flake would complicate Kavanaugh's prospects.

Another Republican member, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said he's willing to hear from 
Ford provided that it's "done immediately" to keep the confirmation process on track. Critics have 
accused the GOP of fast-tracking the process to get Kavanaugh on the court by Oct. 1, the first day 
of the fall term.

Senate Republicans, along with the White House, see no need to postpone voting over what they 
consider uncorroborated and unverifiable accusations, according to a person familiar with the situation 
but not authorized to speak publicly.

In considering their options Sunday, Republicans largely settled on the view that Ford's story alone 
was not enough to delay Kavanaugh's confirmation.

Grassley could invite Ford to testify, likely in closed session before Thursday. Kavanaugh would also 
probably be asked to appear before senators. The panel would also likely seek testimony from Mark 
Judge, Kavanaugh's friend and classmate who Ford says jumped on top of her and Kavanaugh. Judge 
has denied that the incident happened.

Republicans have not settled on the strategy, the person familiar with the situation said, but were 
weighing options, including doing nothing.

Republicans say the allegations have already cast a shadow over Kavanaugh but that it does not appear 
to be enough to change the votes in the narrowly divided 51-49 Senate. Key will be the views of Sens. 
Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who did not immediately comment publicly 
Sunday.

A spokesman for Grassley said Kavanaugh already went through several days of hearings and has been 
investigated by the FBI.

The White House has accused Feinstein, who revealed the letter's existence late last week, of mounting 
an "11th hour attempt to delay his confirmation." The White House has also sought to cast doubt about 
Ford's allegation by noting that the FBI has repeatedly investigated Kavanaugh since the 1990s for 
highly sensitive positions he has held, including in the office of independent counsel Ken Starr, at the 
White House and his current post on the federal appeals court in Washington.

Both Democratic and Republican senators questioned Feinstein's handling of the allegation. Feinstein 
on Sunday called on the FBI to investigate Ford's story "before the Senate moves forward on this 
nominee."

Kavanaugh's nomination has sharply divided an already closely divided Senate, with most Democrats 
opposing him and most Republicans supporting him.

But the allegations of sexual misconduct, particularly coming amid the #MeToo movement against 
sexual harassment, coupled with Ford's emergence could complicate matters, especially as key 
Republican senators, including Collins and Murkowski, are under enormous pressure from outside 
groups who want them to oppose Kavanaugh on grounds that as a justice he could vote to undercut 
the Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion in the U.S.

Ford told the Post that Kavanaugh and a friend - both "stumbling drunk," she says - corralled her into 
a bedroom during a house party in Maryland in the early 1980s when she was around 15 and Kavanaugh
 was around 17. She says Kavanaugh groped her over her clothes, grinded his body against hers and 
tried to take off her one-piece swimsuit and the outfit she wore over it.

Kavanaugh covered her mouth with his hand when she tried to scream, she says, and escaped when 
Judge jumped on them.

In the interview, Ford says she never revealed what had happened to her until 2012, when she and her 
husband sought couples therapy.

Portions of her therapist's notes, which Ford provided to the Post, do not mention Kavanaugh by name 
but say Ford reported being attacked by students "from an elitist boys' school" who went on to become 
"highly respected and high-ranking members of society in Washington."

Kavanaugh attended a private school for boys in Maryland while Ford attended a nearby school.

Ford's husband, Russell Ford, also told the newspaper that his wife described during therapy being 
trapped in a room with two drunken boys and that one of them had pinned her to a bed, molested her 
and tried to prevent from screaming. He said he recalled his wife using Kavanaugh's last name and 
expressing concern that Kavanaugh - then a federal judge - might someday be nominated to the 
Supreme Court.

The therapist's notes say four boys were involved, but Ford says that was an error by the therapist. 
Ford says four boys were at the party, but only two boys were in the room at the time.

Ford had contacted the Post through a tip line in early July after it had become clear that Kavanaugh 
was on Trump's shortlist to fill a vacancy but before the Republican president nominated him, the
 newspaper said.

A registered Democrat, Ford contacted her representative in Congress, Democrat Anna Eshoo, around 
the same time. In late July, Ford sent a letter through Eshoo's office to Feinstein. Feinstein said she 
notified federal investigators about the letter, and the FBI confirmed it has included the information in 
Kavanaugh's background file, which all senators can read.

Sixty-five women who knew Kavanagh in high school defended him in a separate letter, circulated by 
Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans, as someone who "always treated women with decency and 
respect." The effort around the pro-Kavanaugh letter began to take shape after his confirmation hearings
 earlier this month when rumors began to circulate, according to a person familiar with the situation 
who was not authorized to comment publicly. The signatures on the letter came together in about 24 
hours, the person said.

Ford told the Post she changed her mind about coming forward after watching portions of her story 
come out without her permission. She said if anyone was going to tell her story, she wanted to be the 
one to tell it.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

Monday, February 26, 2018

Church Leaders Close the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Tax Protest - Associated Press

Church Leaders Close the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Tax Protest
02-25-2018
JERUSALEM (AP) — The leaders of the major Christian sects in Jerusalem closed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built on the traditional site of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, for several hours on Sunday to protest an Israeli plan to tax their properties.
The Christian leaders responsible for the site issued a joint statement bemoaning what they called a “systematic campaign of abuse” against them, comparing it to anti-Jewish laws issued in Nazi Germany.
The Christians are angry about the Jerusalem municipality plans to tax their various assets around the city and a potential parliament bill to expropriate land sold by the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches. The churches, which are major landowners in the holy city, say it violates a long-standing status quo.
The Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic and the Armenian Apostolic leaders said the moves seemed like an attempt to “weaken the Christian presence in Jerusalem.”
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a major place of worship in Jerusalem’s Old City. Christians revere it as the site where Jesus was crucified and where his tomb is located, and its closing is highly unusual.
The Jerusalem municipality said it would continue to care for the needs of Jerusalem’s Christians and maintain their full freedom of worship. It said the church, just like other sacred sites in the city, is exempt from municipal property taxes and that will not change.
“However, hotels, halls, and businesses cannot be exempt from municipal taxes simply because they are owned by the churches. These are not houses of worship,” it said in a statement. “We will no longer require Jerusalem’s residents to bear the burden of these huge sums.”
Jerusalem is one of the country’s poorest cities, and the tax revenue from the properties is estimated to be tens of millions of dollars.
Separately, parliament is pursuing a bill that will appropriate lands in Israel sold by churches to anonymous buyers since 2010. The bill’s sponsor, lawmaker Rachel Azaria, said these questionable sales have plunged thousands of Jerusalem residents into uncertainty over their living conditions.
She said the bill was aimed to protect apartment owners against property speculators and had “nothing whatsoever” to do with the churches. “We have no intention ... to make them feel unwelcome,” she said.
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. 

Sunday, February 18, 2018

Polish Jews Stunned, Scared by Eruption of Anti-Semitism - Associated Press

Polish Jews Stunned, Scared by Eruption of Anti-Semitism
02-17-2018
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Matylda Jonas-Kowalik has spent most of her 22 years secure in the belief that she would never know the discrimination, persecution or violence that killed or traumatized generations of Polish Jews before her. She once thought the biggest problem that young Jewish Poles like herself faced was finding a Jewish boyfriend or girlfriend in a country dominated by Catholics.
But an eruption of anti-Semitic comments in public debates amid a diplomatic dispute with Israel over a new Holocaust speech law has caused to her to rethink that certainty. Now she and others fear the hostile rhetoric could eventually trigger anti-Semitic violence, and she finds herself thinking constantly about whether she should leave Poland.
“This is my home. I have never lived anywhere else and wanted this to keep being my home,” said Jonas-Kowalik, a Jewish studies major at Warsaw University. “But this makes me very anxious. I don’t know what to expect.”
Poland’s Jewish community is the surviving remnant of a vibrant and diverse Polish- and Yiddish-speaking community that numbered 3.3 million on the eve of the Holocaust. Only 10 percent survived the German genocide, while postwar violence and persecution in the first decades of communist rule forced out many of the survivors.
Since communism’s collapse in 1989, Jewish life has been re-emerging, with young people feeling safe enough in Poland’s democracy to embrace a heritage their parents and grandparents had largely repressed.
Yet anxieties have been creeping in amid a global rise in xenophobia that was also felt in Poland.
A conservative party, Law and Justice, won power in Poland vowing to restore national greatness while also stressing an anti-Muslim, anti-migrant message. Jews — whose presence in Poland goes back centuries — were increasingly the targets of verbal hate on social media.
Matters escalated a few weeks ago when Israeli officials sharply criticized new Polish legislation that criminalizes blaming Poland as a nation for crimes committed by Nazi Germany. They accused Poland of seeking to use the law to whitewash the role of the Poles who helped Germans kill Jews during the war.
Polish authorities deny that. They say they just want to protect Poland from being depicted as a collaborator of the Nazis when the country was Adolf Hitler’s first victim and resisted the Nazis through nearly six years of war and occupation.
Amid Israeli criticism, a prominent Polish right-wing commentator used an offensive slur to refer to Jews. Rather than being punished, he was welcomed on TV programs, including a state television talk show where he and the host made anti-Jewish comments, including jokes about Jews and gas chambers.
The negative comments just kept on coming. A Catholic priest said on state TV that it was hard to like Jews, and his words were then quoted by the ruling party spokeswoman. An adviser to the president said he thought Israel’s negative reaction to the law stemmed from a “feeling of shame at the passivity of the Jews during the Holocaust.”
Commentators have also suggested that opposition to the Holocaust law was a cover for Jews wanting money from Poland, a reference to reparations that international Jewish organizations seek for prewar Jewish property seized by the communists.
Anna Chipczynska, the head of Warsaw’s Jewish community, said members feel psychologically shaken or even depressed, and that the hostile rhetoric has triggered hateful phone calls and emails and other harassment.
In recent events, two men tried to urinate in front of Warsaw’s historic Nozyk Synagogue and then shouted obscenities when security guards intervened. One Jewish community member found a Star of David hanging from gallows spray-painted outside a window of his apartment. A woman found the word “Zyd” — Polish for “Jew” — written in the snow outside her home.
Agnieszka Ziatek of the Jewish Agency for Israel said she has seen a spike in the number of Polish Jews inquiring about immigrating to Israel.
The current wave of discrimination comes just weeks before the 50th anniversary of an anti-Semitic campaign orchestrated by Poland’s communist regime in March 1968. That campaign began with rhetoric eerily similar to the things being said today and ended up with 20,000 Jews forced to relinquish their possessions and their Polish citizenship and flee the country.
Many liberal Poles are also shaken by the developments, which come amid what human rights officials see as a larger erosion of democratic standards. More than 8,000 people have signed a letter of solidarity to “our Jewish friends,” decrying what they call “a wave of hatred and disgusting language.”
Hanna, a 33-year-old Jewish woman from Warsaw, says she has finally understood the deep fears of her mother, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor who witnessed the 1968 persecution. She said her mother has always said Jews in Poland had to be mentally prepared to flee at little notice with just a suitcase.
“I always thought she was crazy,” said Hanna, who asked that her last name not be used because she, too, is now afraid. “Now I see that maybe my mom isn’t crazy. Maybe this is the circle of life and history is repeating.”
Jonas-Kowalik said she is thinking about continuing her studies in Sweden, but that even thinking about leaving is deeply painful. While some family members left Poland after the war and in the 1960s for the United States and Sweden, her immediate family chose to stay.
“If our grandparents and parents didn’t leave after World War II, and didn’t leave in 1968, it meant they overcame a lot of difficulties to stay,” she said. “The question is if we are able to do the same if we are ready for such a hard future.”
Mikolaj Grynberg, a writer, and photographer, said while young Polish Jews feel shocked and “lost,” he, at 52, has long been aware of Poland’s anti-Semitic undercurrent. While on book tours, Grynberg said people would sometimes ask him “why did you choose to write in our language?” as if he weren’t as Polish as they.
As the descendant of Warsaw Ghetto survivors, he has faced years of hateful emails and online messages and says he has been prepared psychologically for a return of bad times.
“Each time you have an anti-Semitic wave, there are Jewish people who leave,” Grynberg said. “It’s not just a whim: It’s about their fear. Jewish people know what can come after.”
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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