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Wie politischer Außenseiter, Sander Gerber, spielte eine Schlüsselrolle bei der Beendigung von PA’s Martyrs ‘ Pension Pläne. Im Februar, Sander Gerber, Chief Executive von einem New Yorker Hedge-Fonds, montiert die Bühne auf eine einflussreiche jährliche Versammlung von konservativen Aktivisten und gewählten Beamten aus den Vereinigten Staaten. “Danke für die Gelegenheit, etwas überraschend zu teilen, was ehrlich gesagt ich nicht wusste”, sagte Gerber in seinem Vortrag auf der konservativen politischen Action-Konferenz (CPAC), die sich selbst der “Geburtsort” des modernen Konservativen beschreibt. Gerber, trug eine schwarze Kipa, fuhr fort, das Publikum über das “Pay to erschlagen”-Programm der palästinensischen Autonomiebehörde zu erziehen, ein System, das im palästinensischen Gesetz kodifiziert wurde, das finanzielle Zahlungen und Renten plant, verurteilt Terroristen und die Familien der Palästinenser, die Gewalt gegen Israelis oder Amerikaner begehen. Die US-Steuerzahler foots einige der Rechnungen für die Zahlungen und Pensionen Pläne als Teil von America’s rund $400 Millionen ein Jahr ausländische Beihilfen Paket für die palästinensischen Gebiete. Aber vielleicht nicht lange, wegen einer Rechnung, die sich schnell in den Senat Stock. Bekannt als The Taylor Force Act-benannt in Erinnerung an die Texas-Native und West Point Graduate, die in den Tod von einem palästinensischen Angreifer gestochen wurde, während Besuch in Tel Aviv in 2016-die Gesetzgebung, die seit Erhalt von Belang Unterstützung, wurde durch den Senat verabschiedet Ausschuss für auswärtige Beziehungen am vergangenen Donnerstag mit einer 17-zu-4-Abstimmung. Sollte es passieren, würde die Rechnung der staatlichen Abteilung zu zwingen, die Mittel für die PA, wenn Sie leitet alle Mittel gegen Terroristen oder ihre Familien. Die PA wäre auch verpflichtet, “glaubwürdige Schritte” gegen Anstiftung zu Gewalt gegen Israelis und Amerikaner zu ergreifen. Am Montag, Senat Minority Leader Charles Schumer fügte seinen Namen als Co-Sponsor der Rechnung, Zementierung der zweigliedrigen Unterstützung für die Gesetzgebung und fast sicher, dass es Gesetz werden wird. Wer, dann ist Sander Gerber, der Mann, den viele glauben, war dazu beigetragen, die P.A. Praxis der Zahlungen und Pensionspläne für Terroristen und ihre Familien in die Öffentlichkeit zu bringen? Die ehemalige und 1989 ansässige Universität von Pennsylvania ist...
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At about 1pm on Sunday a transformer near Jay street blew out, interrupting subway service between downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn. Despite the temporary nature of the failure directly effecting service on the A, C, E, F and G lines, other lines far from the source of the trouble experienced delays as well. Not only did the outage disrupt subway signals causing delays to mass transport throughout the city, above ground three buildings in the Red Hook Houses , the largest public housing project in Brooklyn, were also affected. Emergency workers from Con Edison and electricians from the New York City Housing Authority arrived to the area to resolve any issues. One resident on life-support required help. Governor Andrew Cuomo asked the state to look into the extent of responsibility Con Edison bore for the transformer’s failure. “ConEd must be held accountable for the multitude of issues with their infrastructure that are too frequently impacting the lives of millions of New Yorkers,” the governor said. By about 3pm everything was once again up and running as usual, although system failures seem to be occurring with more regularity recently. This past summer was especially difficult in terms of delays, meltdowns and...
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After six-months of renovations, the 53rd Street station in Brooklyn is open for business. Commuters expressed a mixture of pleasure, bewilderment and disappointment at the changes they found. For $72 million three R lines stations got facelifts as part of Governor Cuomo’s plan to re-do and upgrade 33 stations overall. Travelers were happy to see glass barriers, bright lights, beautiful new art, and even USB ports at the Sunset Park station. What they weren’t quite as glad to see was something new: leaning bars. One commuter said, “I was wondering what it is.” She is a nurse, and because she is on her feet all day long she would, “rather have benches instead of this leaning thing.” It seems several people had the same reaction to the leaning bars. The trains on the R line are notoriously interspersed, often ten minutes between trains. Often called the “Rarely line,” several commuters voiced their preference for a comfortable place to sit. Without benches homeless people have nowhere to lie down, say some. Joe Rappaport, executive director of the Brooklyn Center for Independence, a non-profit organization supporting those with disabilities, said the design of the leaning bars is “incredibly unwelcoming,” and uncomfortable. “People who travel who have disabilities or just get tired sometimes need a bench to sit on, not a wall to lean against,” Rappaport said. “You want to lean, you can lean. There’s a wall in the subway station.” There is also disappointment that much needed elevators have not yet been installed. An elevator would be helpful not only to those with disabilities, but also to the elderly and people with children in strollers. At the moment, the Metropolitan Transit Authority has the budget to install elevators and escalators in 19 stations. The MTA defends its decision to install the leaning bars, asserting that none of the benches that were there before were taken out. “These bars were adopted for the convenience of subway users, providing them with options while taking up very little floor...
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Uncertainty is the enemy of financial markets and the investors that rely on them. But it is not just uncertainty that gives investors the jitters. According to Chuck Cumello of Essex Financial Services, this year politics seems to be influencing investors more than he has personally seen in 30 years of portfolio management. Instead of a calm sense of security emanating from Washington DC, the political vitriol and divisive language coming from the country’s capital has clients’ emotional life veering from “fear” and “greed” and back again. The almost constant tension and political volatility is adding a task or two to the job description of financial advisors, Cumello states. When clients want to act on their visceral reactions to the distressing play-by-plays and unceasing drama of White House intrigues, financial managers are forced to rush in and remind them that despite their gut reaction to the latest headlines, the world is neither about to end nor on the verge of the greatest economic opportunity in history. They must play the part of counselor, or even therapist, to calm them down. As Cumello put it: “Trying to help clients stick to the agreed-upon long-term plan to help them achieve their financial and life goals can be challenging under “normal” circumstances. One would be hard pressed to use the word ‘normal’ in our current political climate.” Cumello, who is the CEO and president of Essex Financial, says that these trying times can be an opportunity for advisors to solidify their relationships with their clients. As Cumello put it in his thoughtful and thought-provoking article: “The best advisors always use times of stress or instability to cement their relationships with their clients. They never shy away from difficult or challenging conversations; they embrace them and use these events as opportunities. An opportunity to reinforce and clearly prove the critical role they play in their clients’ lives. An opportunity to review their client’s financial plan and to fully engage their clients on their agreed-upon commitments to achieve the...
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Jehovah’s Witnesses are sold off close to their last bits of Brooklyn real estate in the wake of their relocation to Upstate New York. The most recent sale was of their Brooklyn Heights, 12-story, 97-unit apartment building for $58 million. The sale of 97 Columbia Heights was to a Los Angeles-based investment firm, Hawkins Way Capital, which also purchased another Witness building for $18 million, located at 119 Columbia Heights, just up the street. 97 Columbia Heights, close to 89,000 square-feet, was purchased by the Witnesses when it was still under construction in 1986. The Witnesses also put up for sale what is their last empty lot in Brooklyn, located at 1 York Street, just north of the Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn Heights. The lot’s price is not listed, but it is estimated to be worth about $54 million, with about 189,000 to 250,000 square-feet of buildable space on 52,000 square-feet. That comes to about $300 per build-able...
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Jill Bloomberg, principal of Park Slope Collegiate high school has been absolved of accusations made against her contending that she was organizing and hosting on-campus Communist meetings. Officials of the Department of Education announced last week that after extensive investigation into the allegations, Ms. Bloomberg is completely clear of any wrongdoing related to the claims. The Office of Special Investigations did find Bloomberg guilty of other, unrelated infractions of minor rules. Michael Aciman, department spokesman, said that “appropriate disciplinary action will be taken” for her failure to get permission from the parents of students to show a documentary at school; to hire a substitute teacher without the proper authorization; and to offer a history class to fulfill a required government credit without getting permission. Bloomberg says the original accusations originated with an employee with something against her, stating that: “The DOE has admitted that they initiated an investigation against me based on allegations from a completely unreliable source,” she said. “Nonetheless, while finding the allegations of Communist organizing to be patently false, they are still threatening disciplinary action based on minor bureaucratic complaints from the same discredited source. Any disciplinary action is simple retaliation for our defense of our students, their civil rights and our advocacy for integration.” Jeanne Miller, Bloomberg’s lawyer, said that the claims the DOE brought against Bloomberg were wrong and are the equivalent of harassment. “They felt like they had to find something because they had fought so hard to do this investigation,” Mirer said. “Her reputation as a professional has been hurt by what is clearly a retaliatory action.” Some parents and employees at the school have supported Bloomberg. The New York Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to lawyers at the DOE asking them to drop the investigation....
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US District Judge Brian Cogan did not make accused drug lord “El Chapo’s” lawyers feel reassured about their eventual compensation at Monday’s Brooklyn hearing. When the hearing commenced Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was seen waving to his wife and twin daughters, who were viewing the proceedings from the second row of the public seating in the courtroom. The judge then informed Guzman and his lawyers that the government could not promise that the drug lord’s assets would not be seized, thus depriving the lawyers of their compensation. El Chapo, who has twice staged dramatic prison breaks in Mexico, is being tried in Brooklyn for heading up a multi-billion-dollar international drug trafficking ring which carried out multiple murders and kidnappings. He was extradited from Mexico in January, and has been held in solitary confinement in a prison in lower Manhattan. His lawyers are worried that if the government seizes Guzman’s money, there will be nothing left to pay them. Among Guzman lawyers is Jeff Lichtman, who was able to successfully defend the son of mafia scion John Gotti. The government has said it wants to collect $14 billion in drug money from El Chapo. Guzman’s lawyers argued that they want to alleviate the taxpayer’s burden of having to pay the public defenders the court would appoint, but only if they know in advance they will be compensated. After the hearing and Judge Cogan’s ruling, Lichtman said he still wanted to find a way to defend his client, who pleaded not guilty to charges of running a drug trafficking cartel that laundered billions of dollars and committed murder and kidnapping. The hearing lasted 15 minutes during which El Chapo turned to look at his family several times, with clear emotion in his face. He is scheduled to spend some time with his family for the first time in seven months this...
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In the 1840s two army soldiers who later fought for the South were stationed at Fort Hamilton, twenty years before the eruption of the bloody US Civil War. Those soldiers later became Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, among the most famous of the military men who fought on the side of the Confederacy. After the war was won by the North, the streets were named after these important generals in an act of reconciliation, according to an army spokesperson. But now four Brooklyn lawmakers, Representatives Yvette Clarke, Jerrold Nadler, Nydia Velazquez and Hakeem Jeffries are calling for the street names to be changed. They say they took their inspiration from the city of New Orleans, who took down statues of Lee and other Confederate officers in their city. “These monuments are deeply offensive to the hundreds of thousands of Brooklyn residents and members of the armed forces stationed at Fort Hamilton whose ancestors Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson fought to hold in slavery,” Clarke said. “For too many years, the United States has refused to reckon with that history. I commend the city of New Orleans for initiating this important and often difficult work. I will continue to petition the Department of the Army to contribute to that effort.” The army, however, had refused the request, saying that the streets were named after Jackson and Lee “in the spirit of reconciliation” and that they were honored as individuals and not as the representatives of any “particular cause or ideology.” “After over a century, any effort to rename memorializations on Fort Hamilton would be controversial and divisive,” acting Assistant Secretary of the Army Diane Randon wrote in a letter responding to the lawmakers’ pleas. Clarke says she is not going to give up so easily, retorting that “‘reconciliation’ was actually complicity by the North and the South to ignore the interests of African-Americans and enforce white supremacy, effectively denying the result of the Civil War for generations.” “We are still living...
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