Dow Down 11′th of Last 12 Trading Days; Up Only 1.8% for 2012

Posted by on 05/17/2012 No comments

‘Bloodbath’ is one way to describe Wall Street Today: Dow lost 156 points, 1.24% to close at 12,442. The Nasdaq lost 2.1% to close at 2,813, and the S&P500 lost 1.5% to close at 1,301. For the year, the Dow is up only 1.84% while the S&P is up 3.76%. The Nasdaq boasts an eight percent gain for 2012 and may rise more Friday if the Facebook FB shares will take off like a rocket.

A key drive to today’s bad market were a series of activity from Europe where Greece was downgraded deeper into Junk by Fitch, according to CNNMoney, and the rating agency sees as “probable” a Greece exit from the Euro.

Simcha Felder Says ‘Political Party is Irrelevant’ for Orthodox Jews

Posted on 05/17/2012 No comments

Brooklyn Daily: Albany re-mapped Brooklyn’s political landscape to include the new district — which political watchdogs call a super Jewish district because it will oversee right-leaning Orthodox Jews who tend to vote Republican.

But Felder, who is running as a Democrat but considers himself a political free agent — and hasn’t decided if he will caucus with Democrats or Republicans, who currently control the state senate, if he makes it to Albany — say these insiders couldn’t be more incorrect.

“It is a myth,” he said. “The Orthodox community has a history of voting for candidates they feel will be most helpful in delivering resources and services to their community. The political party is irrelevant.”

So far, Felder is running unopposed in the September Democratic primary, and he says he wants to keep it that way. “I’m hoping, with god’s help, that I don’t have an opponent,” he said. “But anybody who runs for office has to assume that they will have an opponent and I’m prepared for that.”

TIME COVER STORY: ‘King Bibi’ [Photo]

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TIME’s managing editor Rick Stengel: “Netanyahu is poised to become the longest-serving Israeli Prime Minister since David Ben-Gurion, the founding father of Israel. He has no national rival. His approval rating, roughly 50%, is at an all-time high. At a moment when incumbents around the world are being shunted aside, he is triumphant.” - Read the Time article

Brooklyn – Regarding My Media Work Last Night at the Weberman Event [Video]

Posted by on 05/17/2012 9 comments

A nationally-recognised gossip website popular among detractors of the low-crime rate Orthodox Jewish Community, suggests this morning that I misled the public as to what my role was at the event held last night in Williamsburg Brooklyn on behalf of a Mr. Weberman who was arrested fifteen months ago and is out on bail while still awaiting trial. The Editor writes “Orthodox PR flack Yossi Gestetner, [is] presented as a supporter of Weberman’s but almost certainly an undeclared paid spokesman for a group that is defending him.”

Following is the full statement that I submitted this morning to the Editor of that website clarifying my work last night: Read more »

Emergency Committee’s Bill Kristol Tangled After Praising Obama Re Israel Policy

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Tablet Mag Reports: Several observers were surprised Tuesday night to see Weekly Standard editor and all-around Republican macher William Kristol offer positive words for President Obama’s stances on Israel and Iran—especially given that he is one of three founding board members of the Emergency Committee for Israel, which has published advertisements and released a video in the past year taking Obama to task for, in the words of one ad, “us[ing] Israel like a punching bag.” Read more »

Audio: Rory Lancman of NY6 Dem Primary ‘Obama Iran Framework Unfair to Israel’

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NYDN: Kennedy Wife Committed Suicide Via Hanging!

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NYDN Reports: The “lost and alone” estranged wife of Robert  F. Kennedy Jr. hanged herself  Wednesday in a barn behind her  Westchester home — the latest tragedy to claim a member of the famed Camelot  clan. Mary  Richardson Kennedy, 52, was the mother of four children, the oldest 17 and  the youngest 11, was discovered by a family housekeeper, sources told the Daily  News..

The Kennedys, who married in 1994, split almost exactly two years ago in  what friends say was a devastating blow to Mary. The May 2010 divorce filing, coupled with the media frenzy following her  arrest for drunken driving three days later, started Mary Kennedy on a tragic  downward spiral that ended with her suicide on her Bedford property, friends  said.

Read more:

UNBELIEVABLE $1.6 Billion Green Energy CORRUPTION – Must See Video from House Hearing!

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Thirty second in you will start getting a picture what is being discussed.

VIDEO: Cameron Says Euro at ‘Make Up or Break Up’ Moment

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Iranian Official Calls for ‘Islamic Awakening’ to Destroy Israel

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An Iranian official called this week for an ‘Islamic Awakening’ movement to help Palestinian Authority Arabs “demolish the Zionist regime”, the IRNA news agency reported. The comments were made at a conference in Tehran in honor of Nakba Day – the day of catastrophe – which is what the Arabs call the English date of May 15, when the State of Israel was re-established with a declaration of independence in 1948. In a brief address at the end of the conference, the official, Hossein Shiekholeslam said, “In success of a revolution three major factors need to play effective roles, and they are the people, the leadership, and the school of thought, or ideology.” – Arutz Sheva

NYT: JPMorgan Chase Investments Lost Another $1 Billion in Recent Days

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The trading losses suffered by JPMorgan Chase have surged in recent days, surpassing the bank’s initial $2 billion estimate by at least $1 billion, according to people with knowledge of the losses. When Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan’s chief executive, announced the losses last Thursday, he indicated they could double within the next few quarters. But that process has been compressed into four trading days as hedge funds and other investors take advantage of JPMorgan’s distress, fueling faster deterioration in the underlying credit market positions held by the bank. – NYT Via CNBC

VIDEO: Biden Goes Nuts at Ohio Speech

Posted on 05/17/2012 No comments

Best Line: “My mother believed and my father believed, that if I wanted president of the United States, I could be, I could be vice president.”

NY – Strong Jewish Vote Showing In Ramapo Only District To Vote Down School Budget

Posted on 05/17/2012 2 comments

Voters in New York’s lower Hudson Valley’s fifty four school districts turned out yesterday to approve proposed budgets for the upcoming school year, with one notable exception:  Rockland County’s East Ramapo School District, which encompasses New Square and the greater Monsey area. With 22,000 private school students in a district that numbers 30,000 children, East Ramapo’s demographics are unlike any other school district in the United States.  The annual school budget vote, which also includes electing school board members, is always a highly contested event, with parents of yeshiva students coming out in droves to have their voices heard, and this year voters rejected the proposed $191.9 million budget by a vote of 7,798 to 5,742. – Read More at VINNews

Jewish Group Wants Europe to Tackle Far Right

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AP Via Fox News Reports: Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, was meeting with  Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas on Wednesday to seek his support for “emergency  measures” to protect the continent’s Jewish communities from violent hate  crimes.

Kantor would not give details of the measures that his organization plans to  propose, but they could involve passing legislation, sharing intelligence, and a  public awareness campaign about anti-Semitic threats.

In particular, Kantor expressed concern about Golden Dawn, a party that did  well during Greece’s May 6 election and whose leader claimed that Nazi  concentration camps did not use ovens and gas chambers to kill prisoners during  the Holocaust.

Kadima MK Gideon Ezra Succumbs to Lung Cancer at Age 73

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MK Gideon Ezra (Kadima) passed away early Thursday, succumbing to lung cancer at the age of 73. Ezra had been a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee as well as a special subcommittee that deals with classified information. - JPost

Afghanistan Mulls Islamic Bonds, Fearing Western Cash Cutback

Posted on 05/17/2012 No comments

Afghanistan, which has only a semblance of a capital market, intends to sell Islamic bonds as it braces for a possible sharp fall in Western financial support as the war against the Taliban winds down, a senior central bank official said this week. The official said the sale of short-term Islamic bonds, also known as sukuk, is still in the planning stage, but could be a new way of raising money for the government. – Reuters Via Yahoo

Former Assistant D.A. Critisizes D.A. Hynes’ Policy

Posted on 05/16/2012 No comments

Arnold Kriss

A former Brooklyn assistant district attorney who unsuccessfully challenged longtime incumbent D.A. Charles Hynes in 2005 said Hynes made a “pact with the devil” by agreeing not to publicize the names of ultra-Orthodox child-sex offenders.

Arnold Kriss, now a lawyer in private practice, was reacting to a New York Times investigation into Hynes’ practice of not publicizing the names of defendants in child sex-abuse cases in Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods.

Hynes told the Times he was doing this because revealing the defendants names would ultimately out the identity of the victims, due to the uniquely tight-knit nature of that community. The tactic has been criticized by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former mayor Ed Koch and several of the leading Democratic mayoral candidates. Read more »

Kruger Wants Kosher Meals In Prison

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Disgraced former Brooklyn State senator, Carl Kruger, sentenced last month for seven years in jail for corruption and bribery charges, now wants to serve his prison sentence in Otisville, NY – for religious reasons, no less.

Manhattan Federal Court Judge Jed Rakoff has forwarded a request sent by Kruger’s lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, to the Bureau of Prisons asking that the former state senator be sent to Otisville so he could have access to kosher food, the New York Post reported.

Judge Rakoff agreed to Kruger’s request to send him to Otisville “for religious and dietary reasons.”

The real motive of the rich politician is yet to be discovered, since of the 115 federal prisons, Otisville prison was named by the Forbes magazine as one of “America’s 10 Cushiest Prisons,” especially for observant Jewish inmates. Read more »

Mayor Koch Makes Robocalls For Rory Lancman in NY6

Posted on 05/16/2012 No comments

Politicker reports: Assemblyman Rory Lancman is going all out with former Mayor Ed Koch today. In addition to a press conference lampooning the status quo of Wall Street, a reader passes along a robocall Mr. Koch is doing on Mr. Lancman’s behalf.

“Hi, this is Ed Koch and I’m asking you to vote for my friend, Rory Lancman, for Congress,” he says in the call. “Rory Lancman served our country in the army and has been fighting for years to protect seniors and to hold Wall Street accountable and to level the economic playing field for you.” Read more »

For the Dow, ‘Recovery’ 2012 is Similar to Recession 2008

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Excluding today’s numbers, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up only 1.89% for all of 2012. compare this to the same time in 2008, the Dow was down only 2.1%. It’s hard to argue that he first half of 2008 was the “end of the world” and 2012 is the third year into a recovery, when a swing of less than four percent separates the two years for the Dow. Have also in mind that in 2011, the Dow was up only 5.5% versus a 6.4% gain in 2007.

Rangel Wishes Obama Would Hug And Kiss Him

Posted on 05/16/2012 No comments

“Do you think you need the president’s support this time around, congressman?” CNN’s Ms. Phillips asked. “Of course not,” Mr. Rangel replied, before quickly adding, “I would welcome it. But what did he really say, that I reached the end of my career. I’ve been here for 41 years, now going on 42. That he wished I leave with dignity. I have no question that I will and his wishes will be fulfilled. What did he say that was so derogatory if you take the words? Now, true, he didn’t hug and kiss me like I wish he would, but I don’t have any problem.” – Politicker

Is Rangel coming or going? (Dale Stephanos Illustration for the NY Observer)

Politifact: Biden’s Statement That Bush Did Zero Against Iran is False

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Politifact hits VP Biden for saying last week that there was no pressure against Iran when Bush left office: “It is true that multiple Security Council resolutions were passed during the Bush administration, but they only targeted specific individuals and companies involved in the Iranian nuclear program,” Beardsley, whose research includes the influence of U.N. Security Council resolutions, told us via email. “In contrast, U.N. Resolution 1929 (2010) imposes more general sanctions on Iranian arms, and the E.U. decided this year to impose an embargo on Iranian oil. A number of other countries have also increased their own bilateral sanctions against Iran in recent years.”

 Biden would have had a strong case for high marks on the Truth-O-Meter if he said what appeared to be his main point: the Obama administration has prodded the rest of the world to be tougher on Iran. But there is a disconnect with what the vice president actually said and U.N. resolutions passed against Iran during the Bush administration. The resolutions seem to be a little more than “virtually no international pressure on Iran.”  We rate Biden’s statement False.

Video: Muslim Brotherhood in America

Posted on 05/16/2012 No comments

David Horowitz sepaks about a new book “Muslim Brotherhood in America”

Number 2 Dem House Leader Hoyer Praises Berman for Israel Work

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Ron Kampeas Writes: We’ve covered the southern California face-off between Jewish Democratic Reps. Howard Berman and Brad Sherman. We’ve also noted how in ways subtle and not so, the House leadership has indicated it favors Berman, the senior Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. And how both congressmen are vying hard for pro-Israel money. Read more »

Charles Hynes Op-Ed in NYDN: ‘Its Obsurd To Say I Cover Up Orthodox Offenders’

Posted on 05/16/2012 No comments

Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes penned this Op-Ed in the NY Daily News: A person with knowledge of a crime should report that information to law enforcement authorities. There is no alternative. It is a civic duty, and in some cases, it’s the law.

In 2009, concerned that sex abuse was going unreported in the Orthodox Jewish community, I started Kol Tzedek (Voice of Justice), a program to address this problem.

From when I took office as district attorney in 1990 until the creation of Kol Tzedek, my prosecutors handled only a few cases a year of sex abuse in that community. Since the inception of Kol Tzedek, we have made 95 arrests; 53 cases have been adjudicated, with a conviction rate of 72%. Read more »