Neoconservatives die hard, and Paul Wolfowitz, one of the leaders of this school of thought, is no exception. The former deputy defense secretary during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars has reemerged in the spotlights, calling on the new administration to assert a bold American stance in the Middle East and expressing reserved optimism about President…
Conservative pundit Ann Coulter got some surprising backing over the weekend from Bernie Sanders, the ultra liberal Democratic senator whose views are almost diametrically opposed to hers. He came out to her defense after students threatened to disrupt Coulter’s planned speech at the University of California Berkley. “Obviously Ann Coulter’s outrageous ― to my mind,…
Sebastian Gorka, President Trump’s top counterterrorism aide, stormed out of a panel discussion on cybersecurity and “fake news” at Georgetown University on Monday after some students silently protested him and others asked him pointed questions. Gorka, a former adjunct professor at Georgetown, has come under heavy criticism in recent months for his longstanding ties to…
(JTA) — Much ink has been spilled on Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner’s experience, their effect on the president, even their personalities — but none of us actually know all that much about them. Well, that’s John Oliver’s take on President Trump’s two key advisers at least. The comedian spent most of his HBO show…
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Americans for Peace Now has canceled its annual trip to Israel over the country’s new anti-boycott law. The law passed last month by the Israeli Knesset bars entry to foreigners who publicly call for boycotting the Jewish state or its settlements. Americans for Peace Now is concerned that trip participants could be stopped at Ben…
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel signed a deal with China to bring in 6,000 construction workers after agreeing they would not work in West Bank settlements or eastern Jerusalem. Israel’s housing minister, Yoav Galant, and the Chinese vice minister of commerce, Fu Ziying, signed the agreement on Sunday in Jerusalem. Israel’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday that…
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is the forefront of shaping the policy and liaising with House Republicans who will have to pass it into law. “So we’re in very good shape on tax reform,” Trump said at a rally in Wisconsin last week. “We’re going to surprise you. Right, Steve Mnuchin? Right?” Mnuchin has previously said…
(JTA) — Holocaust survivors praised the termination of Allianz’s sponsorship of an annual Florida golf tournament. Survivors, who say the international insurance company still owes an estimated $2 billion in unpaid claims to them, have been protesting the annual PGA seniors tournament held in Boca Raton since 2011. Allianz has sponsored the tournament for the past 11 years….
Casino mogul and Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson is angry at “chaos” in the Trump White House — and has refused to provide any more funds to groups backing the president since he took office, Politico reported Monday. Adelson is reportedly upset that Trump, despite his campaign promises, has thus far failed to move the U.S….
(JTA) — The World Jewish Congress elected Argentine businessman Adrian Werthein as president of its Latin American branch, the Latin American Jewish Congress. Werthein was elected Sunday at the WJC’s Plenary Assembly in New York City to succeed Jack Terpins, who has led the organization since 2001 and became its first honorary president. He is the first Argentine…
Ivanka Trump has earned a new moniker from a German newspaper: the first whisperer. The epithet from the Berliner Zeitung reflects anxieties about whether Ivanks Trump and husband Jared Kushner will have a role in pushing the Trump White House to the center. “Is she going to bring her father on a moderate course, as…
