The US Department of Justice has announced charges for nearly 350 suspects in a sweeping bust linked to healthcare fraud. Among them are scores of medical professionals accused of scamming federal programs and private insurers.
The DOJ went public with the nationwide takedown on Wednesday, saying it had filed charges against 345 defendants across 51 federal districts, including more than 100 doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers.
“These defendants have been charged with submitting more than $6 billion in false and fraudulent claims to federal health care programs and private insurers,” the department said in a statement, noting that a flurry of different federal agencies took part in the investigation, led by the DOJ’s criminal division.
[The fraud included] more than $4.5 billion connected to telemedicine, more than $845 million connected to substance abuse treatment facilities, or “sober homes,” and more than $806 million connected to other health care fraud and illegal opioid distribution schemes across the country.
The lion’s share of the fraud was linked to “telemedicine” – in which doctors remotely diagnose and treat patients via phone or video chat. According to Department of Health and Human Services Deputy Inspector General Gary Cantrell, “bad actors” in the industry often use “aggressive marketing techniques” to mislead patients about their medical needs, and then “bill the government for illegitimate services” at exorbitant fees.
Some 86 suspects involved in the practice were slapped with charges across 19 districts, in some cases paying “illegal kickbacks and bribes” to medical companies that participated in the scheme. Others are accused of submitting false claims to Medicare and other government insurers.
More than a dozen defendants were indicted for making false claims related to drug rehabilitation centers, including physicians, facility owners and “patient recruiters” – or those paid to seek out drug addicts in order to enroll them into treatment clinics to keep the fraud scheme going. Many of the patients were subjected to “medically unnecessary” drug screenings, allowing treatment centers to bill insurers for thousands of dollars per test. They also charged for therapy sessions that never actually took place, while some of the doctors involved handed out unneeded medications, at times to “entice” patients to remain in treatment. Many of those patients were later shopped around to other clinics in exchange for illegal kickbacks.
Some doctors also provided illicit prescriptions for highly addictive opioid drugs – which include morphine, oxycodone and fentanyl – some 30 million doses of which were handed out by physicians without medical justification.
The DOJ alleged another $800 million in fraud in connection to other attempts to swindle Medicare and Medicaid, as well as other government and private insurance programs, indicting 240 additional suspects.
The massive fraud bust highlights a number of controversies surrounding the broader US healthcare apparatus, including the ongoing opioid epidemic – which has claimed some 450,000 lives in the US since 1999, according to the CDC – sky-high costs for medical care and health insurance, as well as overall poor management of the system.
While ‘Medicare for all’ continues to be a rallying cry for American progressives, who’ve called to expand the program designed for the elderly to all citizens, opponents of state-provided healthcare argue government intervention only raises costs and lowers quality, some pointing to the inflated premiums that resulted from the former president Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act.
Japan’s Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) has shut down all trading for a full day due to a systemwide technical error. Though the exchange says the glitch is unrelated to hacking, it has yet to say when trading will resume.
The TSE said it would halt trading for all of Thursday as it works to resolve the system failure, which was detected some two hours before markets were set to open, adding that it “sincerely apologizes for any inconvenience caused to investors.”
A spokesperson for the exchange’s operator, the Japan Exchange Group, says the error was not caused by a hack, but offered few other details, declining to provide a restart time.
The glitch is not the TSE’s first technical problem, occasionally encountering other errors over the years, though trading is rarely outright halted. Thursday’s computer failure marks one of its largest since 2005, when the exchange was forced to close markets for more than four hours due to a buggy system upgrade.
The Nagoya Stock Exchange, Fukuoka Stock Exchange and Sapporo Securities Exchange – which all use the TSE’s system – have also shuttered trading for the day, according to local media.
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Federal law enforcement officials have refused Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler's demand to revoke their deputization of city police to help quell violent protests, saying local authorities have failed to deter attacks on officers.
“Officers have been repeatedly assaulted with bottles, bats, sledgehammers, lasers, rocks and other weapons of convenience,” US Attorney Billy Williams and US Marshal Russ Burger said Wednesday in a statement. They added that “violent, senseless and criminal acts” have been committed during three months of Black Lives Matter and Antifa protests in Portland, including attempts to burn down public buildings.
Rioters have been able to attack police with impunity because they aren't held accountable by local leaders and prosecutors, Williams and Burger said. “Portlanders and Oregonians in general are sick of the boarded-up buildings and dangerous conditions prevalent in downtown Portland due to a lack of leadership,” the statement went on. “We call upon citizens of this city and state to denounce violence, demand accountability and work together to end the violence.”
The Trump administration began federally deputizing some state police in late July after an agreement with Governor Kate Brown to protect federal property after pulling out Washington's law enforcement teams. The move was designed to provide a measure of accountability because state police were then able to arrest rioters on federal charges rather than turn them over to be released without prosecution by Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt.
Federal deputization was expanded to most of the Portland Police Bureau's crowd-control unit, including 56 officers, ahead of a right-wing demonstration in the city last weekend. With fears of dangerous clashes between demonstrators and counter-protesters, the idea was that federal charges would allow for harsher penalties against members of the Proud Boys and other right-wing protesters if they committed crimes.
But Wheeler may have miscalculated in thinking that the deputizations would only apply for last weekend, until a state of emergency declared by the governor was lifted. City Attorney Tracy Reeve said in a letter to Williams that with the emergency declaration ended last Sunday, the city “withdraws its consent to this deputization effective immediately.”
But unbeknownst to Wheeler, the deputization designations were made through the end of this year and couldn't be revoked without approval from Williams. The same deputizations were applied to 22 Multnomah County Sheriff's Office deputies.
Williams and Burger said cross-deputizations wouldn't be canceled for any local or state officers. “Law enforcement and law-abiding citizens of Portland have endured months of nightly criminal violence and destruction,” they said. The Feds have indicted dozens of alleged rioters, including some who had been released by local prosecutors.
Wheeler has blamed President Donald Trump for causing the violence by “creating hate and division,” but anarchist riots continued long after federal forces were withdrawn from the city. The violence has been so severe that Wheeler announced earlier this month that he's leaving his upscale home in the Pearl District after protesters firebombed his condominium building.
The acrimony between local and federal governments reached the point that the city fined the federal government more than $500,000 for erecting a fence outside the US courthouse in Portland to help defend it from arson attempts and other attacks. The fine was $528,000 as of August 3 and was increasing by $48,000 for each day the fence stayed up. The fence blocked a bike lane, creating a public hazard, a city official said.
Oregonians have been frustrated by the seemingly never-ending demonstrations. Two-thirds of Oregon voters disapprove of the protests in Portland, according to a poll done earlier this month by DHM Research. A poll of Portland Police Bureau employees found that 62 percent of respondents wanted the federal deputizations to be expanded to all officers, and 34 percent wanted the existing deputizations to be maintained through December. Only 4 percent wanted the deputizations to be revoked immediately.
A poll of the @PortlandPolice rank & file (sworn officers, cadets, and staff) shows the vast majority want the @USAO_OR to expand deputization of ALL sworn officers in Portland. Portland is TIRED of Antifa's reign of terror. It is time to put these criminals in jail. #BidenRiotspic.twitter.com/v92TauQ0km
Twitter users cheered the decision to keep the federal deputizations in place. “This man has caused enough damage,” one commenter said of Wheeler, adding “The less he has a say in things, the safer all Oregonians are.” Another said, “Bet he tries to circumvent it by firing those officers deputized. What a scummy mayor.”
Good, this man has caused enough damage. The less he has a say in things the safer all Oregonians are.
Author Douglas Karr found it astonishing that assault on an officer would be treated differently based on a jurisdictional issue. “Assault is assault,” he tweeted. “They should all go to jail for a long time.”
It’s bizarre to me that an assault on a law enforcement officer would be treated any differently depending on what department the police belong to. Assault is assault, they should all go to jail for a long time.
California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom has approved the creation of a task force to examine paying reparations to the descendants of slaves, the first such proposal ever passed by a state government.
Newsom signed AB 3121 into law on Wednesday, creating a nine-member task force to study possible reparations for black Americans. While the governor lamented that the legislation hadn’t been passed “decades ago,” he hailed the bill for establishing a “paradigm that we hope will be resonant all across the United States.”
“This is not just about California, this is about making an impact, and a dent, across the rest of the country,” Newsom said moments after signing the bill.
CA just became the first state in the nation to mandate the study and development of proposals for reparations.
Our past is one of slavery, racism, and injustice. Our systems were built to oppress people of color.
While the bill itself commits the state to no particular payments, it will launch a task force to consider how reparations could be implemented in California. The task force is required to hold its first meeting by next June, and will submit its recommendations to the government one year later, which will not be binding.
The law also does not specify what form the reparations must take, proposing various alternatives to direct cash payments, such as forgiving student debt, financing job training or other public works projects.
Though California is the first state government to pass such legislation, similar proposals have been floated by lawmakers in Texas, New York and Vermont, but none have yet passed. On a more local level, city administrations in both Asheville, North Carolina and Providence, Rhode Island both approved measures related to reparations in July. The Asheville City Council passed its plan unanimously, mandating payments in the form of public investments, while Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza signed an order vowing to create a framework for reparations in the future.
California’s history with slavery is somewhat ambiguous. While the state constitution explicitly prohibits both “slavery” and “involuntary servitude,” records suggest chattel slavery was largely practiced in the open – namely after the gold rush of the mid-1800s, which brought thousands of white settlers out west, many bringing slaves with them.
“California has come to terms with many of its issues, but it has yet to come to terms with its role in slavery,” said Assemblywoman Shirley Weber (D-San Diego), who authored the reparations bill. “We’re talking about really addressing the issues of justice and fairness in this country that we have to address.”
Newsom’s decision to sign the proposal into law was hailed by a number of locals, including rapper and LA native Ice Cube, who thanked the governor for giving it the green light.
Some residents were up in arms over the bill, however, questioning whether it would “change the past,” while others insisted they would not pay reparations for historical abuses they find abhorrent and had no role in.
“Respectfully, how will this change the past or help the future? Will the indigenous people of this state receive reparations? They seem first in line in my books!” one netizen wrote.
I have not had slaves nor do I support it.
I will not pay for anyones reparations.
Other critics noted that despite the fact California is already “broke” – while also dealing with widespread homelessness, power outages and rampant wildfires, among other issues – the governor still “can't spend taxpayers’ cash fast enough.”
Newsom announces that California is going to consider paying reparations for dependents of slaves. Is this a decision supported by California residents or an arbitrary act ramrodded by Newsom? Never mind California was a free state. They can't spend taxpayers cash fast enough.
California is broke and homeless on fire and can barely keep the lights on but they have time and money for reparations to those who never suffered slavery. RECALL YOUR GOVERNOR OR YOUR STATE WILL BE FOREVER LOST!
A militia group called the Oath Keepers that counts cops, soldiers and veterans is spoiling for war – or so an alarmist profile portraying its members as trigger-happy white supremacists claims, ramping up pre-election fear porn.
Capitalizing on a wave of sensationalistic stories about “white supremacists” and militias menacing America, the Atlantic has shined a spotlight on the Oath Keepers – a decade-old group with members in every US state, some two-thirds of whom hail from law enforcement or the military, which vows to defend the country from “all enemies foreign and domestic.” Armed and dangerous, the group believes the US is currently in a civil war and is spreading that gospel to active-duty servicemembers and cops, the outlet warned on Wednesday.
The organization neither calls itself a militia nor espouses racist ideology, as the Atlantic somewhat grudgingly admitted. Its president, Stewart Rhodes, reminded the writer “We’re not f***ing white nationalists,” pointing out that the term has become an all-purpose smear unconnected to its literal meaning. “Everybody on the right is [called] a white nationalist,” he said.
That didn’t stop the writer from describing the group as an unhinged, paranoid crew of far-right gun nuts who hate leftists and non-whites and believe the US is under attack by hostile elements, all but plagiarizing from the Southern Poverty Law Center’s entry on the Oath Keepers. The group is described as “based on a set of baseless conspiracy theories about the federal government working to destroy the liberties of Americans,” a line which hasn’t aged well in the era of coronavirus lockdowns. Ironically, it was the SPLC that forwarded a leaked 25,000-strong Oath Keepers membership roster to journalists, affirming the group’s paranoia.
The writer sat in on an Oath Keepers meeting in which Rhodes calls Antifa and other rioters “insurrectionists” and declares “we have to suppress that insurrection,” warning the agitators are “eventually… going to be using IEDs.”
Us old vets and younger ones are going to end up having to kill these young kids. And they’re going to die believing they were fighting Nazis.
The Oath Keepers were banned from Twitter earlier this month for supposedly violating its rules against “violent extremist groups” after Rhodes claimed Black Lives Matter and Antifa were terrorists engaged in an “open communist insurrection” and urged Trump to deploy the National Guard across the country, calling the “street assassination of a Trump supporter in Portland” the “first shot” of a civil war.
While the group has a black vice president and has denounced both right-wing provocateurs the Proud Boys and the alt-right in general, its aesthetic and general political orientation have gotten it lumped in with more unsavory groups. In an era where many Americans are leery of speaking ill of Black Lives Matter – with good reason, as those who’ve lostjobs or universitypositions can attest – the group has not hesitated to condemn them as “Marxists,” and for those unfamiliar with the many militia groups in the US, most bands of burly gun-toting men look alike. They have not hesitated to threaten violence against rioters and believe November's election will bring massive unrest, a view shared by their further-right counterparts.
While the media continue to hold up right-wing militias as the number-one threat to the nation, Rhodes for his part insisted the real threats were leftist militias like the John Brown Gun Club and the Not F***ing Around Coalition – plus, of course, Antifa, which the FBI continues to insist does not actually exist even as President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr denounce its members as domestic terrorists.
For better or worse, the constant harping on the militia threat has taken root in the American psyche – paranoid liberals seeing white supremacists under every rock recently mistook the “P” on Portland police officers’ hats for a logo of right-wing provocateurs the Proud Boys when it actually stood for “police.” Trump was ordered to condemn the group during Tuesday’s presidential debates, and when he ordered them to “stand back and stand by,” it was bafflingly interpreted as an endorsement.
Authorities in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania admitted that a laptop and several memory sticks used to program voting machines were stolen from a warehouse, but insisted that the integrity of the election is not in question.
Election officials scrambled to investigate the theft from an East Falls warehouse and make sure the machines would not be compromised on election day, after city authorities confirmed the theft to the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper. They initially refused to do so, according to the Inquirer, until the paper told them it intended to run the story based on anonymous sources briefed on the incident.
“This matter should not deter Philadelphians from voting, nor from having confidence in the security of this election,” Mayor Jim Kenney, a Democrat, said in a statement.
BREAKING: Memory sticks used to program Philly’s voting machines were stolen from elections warehouse w/ @Elaijuhhttps://t.co/4E2mpXJsBs
As of Wednesday evening, it wasn’t clear when exactly or how the equipment was taken, if there are any suspects, or how the missing technology might be used. The memory sticks are used to program the machines ahead of the election, including setting the design of the ballots. Some of them are also used to tally the electronic votes for unofficial result reporting. It was unclear which of the memory sticks were taken.
The laptop itself is not used in programming the machines, but belonged to the on-site employee of Election Systems & Software, the Nebraska-based company that supplies Philadelphia’s voting machines. The account on it was locked to prevent misuse, the authorities said.
Parallel to dealing with the theft, the Inquirer noted Philadelphia officials were also “working to contain the fallout for fear of how President Donald Trump and his allies might use the news to cast doubt on the integrity of the city’s elections.”
Philly Election Official says City Hall is NOT a public building!! TRUMP observer thrown out of City Hall! what are they doing?? pic.twitter.com/QufmAfdSIA
On Wednesday, a Trump campaign staffer posted a video of being denied access to the election commission offices and told it was not a “public place.” The campaign also cited the incident in a lawsuit seeking poll watcher access to satellite sites where early voting is taking place. The Inquirer said Trump “falsely” claimed the poll watchers were being blocked, saying they were not yet “certified” in Philadelphia.
This is the letter sent on behalf of The Trump campaign threatening a lawsuit against The City by Weds if Trump poll watchers cannot gain access to satellite election offices. pic.twitter.com/sb89FIgJXt
Democrats have pushed for universal mail-in voting for months, citing the coronavirus pandemic. Trump has pointed out that changing the rules and methods for tallying votes on short notice is leaving the election open to potential fraud. The party, and their nominee Joe Biden’s campaign, have been putting pressure on social media platforms to censor any criticism of voting methods as disinformation.
Philadelphia is overwhelmingly Democrat. Trump carried Pennsylvania in 2016 by a slim margin of votes over Hillary Clinton.
Earlier this week, the conservative outlet Project Veritas published a video of staffer for Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) ballot-harvesting and promising money for mail-in votes. Omar has denied that the man works for her.
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Israel's parliament has adopted new legislation which severely limits the right to protest amid the pandemic. The law, however, seems to have added new fuel to months-long protests over PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s alleged corruption.
The controversial, government-backed legislation was adopted on Wednesday following a heated all-night debate in the Knesset.
The edict, which forms part of a second national lockdown that kicked off on September 18, bans Israelis from holding protests farther than 1 km (0.6 miles) from their homes in a move said to be essential to help curb the alarming rates of coronavirus spread in Israel.
Critics of the measure have alleged that the move was actually politically-charged rather than actually required to battle the epidemic. “What's the next step? Banning the opposition leader from addressing parliament?” opposition leader Yair Lapid said in a tweet.
In Tel Aviv & in Jerusalem, protests against Netanyahu's efforts to ban the protests/ pic.twitter.com/zyOgj9SkWZ
The legislation, however, has apparently had an opposite effect as scores of people took to the streets of Israeli cities on Wednesday evening, defying the new rules and venting off their anger over Netanyahu’s policies.
Hundreds of people are protesting in Tel Aviv against prime minister Netanyahu. The reason, he try to avoid citizen to protest! pic.twitter.com/3rATUJuF9i
Israel has endured months of anti-government protests, primarily focusing on the alleged corruption of the PM. Netanyahu has been entangled in several criminal probes and the protesters have called for his resignation. The coronavirus crisis – and its handling by the government – have generated further dissatisfaction.
The country has recently faced a major spike in coronavirus cases. Israel has registered more than 245,000 confirmed cases, including some 1,500 deaths, the latest statistics by Johns Hopkins University shows.
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A federal judge has rejected a request to repeal statewide restrictions on religious gatherings in Colorado, insisting the coronavirus still poses too great a risk to residents. The move was scorched by civil liberties advocates.
US District Judge Christine Arguello ruled this week that allowing such gatherings would “present a high risk of harm to the state of Colorado as well as the public in general,” declining to overturn a 175-person limit on religious events imposed by Governor Jared Polis.
“Numerous courts have considered, and persuasively rejected, nearly identical arguments,” Arguello wrote in her decision, referring to the case brought by plaintiff Liberty Counsel, a religious freedoms organization.
The state has the responsibility to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 virus, which is made more difficult when case numbers increase. The relief Plaintiff requests has the potential to increase case numbers significantly.
Representing Colorado televangelist Andrew Wommack, Liberty Counsel has argued the governor’s health orders are unconstitutional and discriminatory against religious groups, observing that authorities have allowed secular activities, such as “mass gatherings of protesters throughout the state,” to proceed “with no social distancing or other health precautions.”
“There is no constitutional justification to treat nonreligious gatherings better than religious gatherings,” Liberty Counsel founder and chairman Mat Staver said in a statement on Tuesday. “The First Amendment gives preferential treatment to the free exercise of religion.”
The virus does not discriminate between nonreligious and religious gatherings, but Gov. Jared Polis does.
The group has appealed Aruguello’s ruling, still hoping to overturn the 175-person limit on religious events, despite the judge’s insistence that similar cases have previously failed in court.
Similar religious restrictions have been brought in states around the US, triggering a number of legal challenges from civil liberties advocates and faith organizations. Most recently, a Baptist church in Washington, DC sued Mayor Muriel Bowser for discriminating against religious groups with the city’s Covid-19 rules. While that suit also made mention of nationwide protests against police brutality, the church argued that both demonstrators and worshippers are protected by the First Amendment and cannot be hampered with restrictions.
To date, Colorado has recorded more than 70,000 coronavirus infections and some 2,000 deaths since the pandemic erupted in the US last spring, according to data gathered by Johns Hopkins University. Nearly 7.3 million cases have been tallied nationwide, along with more than 206,000 fatalities.
Azerbaijan claims to have killed or wounded more than 2,000 Armenian troops during fierce fighting in the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region. Armenia had disputed such high numbers.
Around 2,300 "enemy personnel" have been killed or wounded since fighting broke out on Sunday, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry reported. Officials added that an Armenian S-300 air defense missile system was destroyed at the frontline in Karabakh, along with around 130 tanks and more than 200 artillery pieces.
Yerevan had previously denied Baku's claims of killing hundreds of its soldiers. Armenia's Defense Ministry spokesperson Shushan Stepanyan said that 16 servicemen were killed.
Officials in Nagorno-Karabakh, a self-declared republic within the borders of Azerbaijan that is closely allied with Armenia, meanwhile, reported that 80 of its soldiers were killed.
Heavy fighting broke out on September 27 after both sides blamed each other for violating the 1994 ceasefire agreement. The clashes continued throughout Wednesday morning as Azerbaijan accused Armenia of shelling the town of Tartar in the west of the country. At the same time, Stepanyan said that artillery fire continued along the entire frontline in Karabakh. She added that two Azeri drones were shot down over Karabakh's capital Stepanakert.
Azerbaijan is openly backed by its longtime ally Turkey, whose leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan demanded that Armenia ends its "occupation" of Karabakh. On Tuesday, the Armenian military claimed that its Su-25 fighter jet was shot down by a Turkish F-16. Both Ankara and Baku denied this.
The century-old conflict in Karabakh was reignited when the large Armenian-populated enclave broke away from Azerbaijan during the breakup of the Soviet Union. A truce was signed after several years of bloody warfare, under which Nagorno-Karabakh became de facto independent from Baku.
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Pennsylvania State Representative Wendy Ullman and Governor Tom Wolf were caught joking off camera about taking their masks off just before they spoke at a press conference touting the need to defend Obamacare during Covid-19.
Just as Ullman was preparing to speak behind the podium on Tuesday at a press conference north of Philadelphia, Wolf can be heard off camera to her left, saying: "So Wendy, I'm gonna take, I'm gonna take my mask off when I speak."
Ullman walks toward Wolf, off camera, and says: "I will as well, just, I'm waiting so that we can do a little political theater."
Wolf replies, "OK," and the two Democrats share a laugh. Ullman then walks back toward the podium and finishes her sentence, saying, "so that it's on camera."
Ullman then took her mask off from behind the microphone, just before she spoke. Wolf did the same when it was his turn to speak. They called the press conference to speak about the need to protect Obamacare from being dismantled, especially amid the pandemic, by blocking Supreme Court justice nominee Amy Coney Barrett from being confirmed by the US Senate.
Pennsylvania has had some of the tightest Covid-19 restrictions, including a mask mandate that was tightened on July 2. Wolf's lockdown orders were so strict, in fact, that a federal judge earlier this month ruled them unconstitutionally arbitrary and overreaching.
Public anger over the restrictions likely added to the backlash over Tuesday's hot-mic moment. "I enjoyed your political theater," one Twitter user said in response to a tweet by Ullman about the presser. "Meanwhile, families and businesses suffer." Another said: "Pelosi, Feinstein, now this. Rules for thee, but not for me."
Jondavid Longo, mayor of Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, was also stung by the "political theater," saying: "The destruction of the livelihoods of millions of Pennsylvanians is no laughing matter, and we don't find this entertaining."
@TomWolfPA I enjoyed your political theater, meanwhile families and businesses suffer.
Eric Trump joined in the conversation: "I hope every person in Pennsylvania sees this video! The governor is killing your state's economy for 'political theater.'"
Former director of national intelligence Richard Grenell agreed, saying: "The Pennsylvania governor is purposely hurting the economy to score political points."
The Israeli Knesset has approved legislation that will ban citizens from protesting more than one kilometer away from their homes, backed by the government as a measure against Covid-19, but decried as draconian by opposition MKs.
Passed 46 to 38 in the early hours of Wednesday morning after a marathon debate in the Knesset, the bill will place sweeping restrictions on demonstrations of any kind, banning citizens from attending protests held more than 1km (0.6 miles) away from their residence. The legislation was approved along with a “special state of emergency,” which will last for only a week before the ministerial cabinet will be required to re-approve the measures.
Standing with the opposition factions, two members of the Blue and White Party – part of the ruling coalition – also voted against the bill, MKs Miki Haimovich and Ram Shefa. The duo was cheered by opposition leader Yair Lapid, who asked in a tweet ahead of the vote: “What's the next step? Banning the opposition leader from addressing parliament?”
Lapid returned to head up the Yesh Atid Party after a brief stint as a senior Blue and White official last year. There, he worked closely with Benny Gantz, now Israel’s defense chief and “alternative prime minister” under a power-sharing deal reached with PM Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this year.
The new protest restrictions come amid weeks of large demonstrations against Netanyahu, in which citizens have voiced outrage over ongoing lockdown policies implemented to stem the spread of the coronavirus, as well as the PM’s corruption case, over which many have demanded his resignation. The PM has sought to downplay the protests, telling followers in a recent Facebook live appearance that “There have always been protests against me.”
They can continue protesting within 1,000 meters or near their homes. The problem is the spreading of the disease and the spreading of anarchy.
A significant protest was staged outside the Knesset itself on Tuesday, hours before the bill was passed, seeing convoys made up of hundreds of cars descend on the building. Violent scuffles erupted between police and demonstrators after the latter group attempted to hang a banner across the Knesset that said: “using coronavirus to bring dictatorship.” Three people were briefly detained during the fracas, but all have since been released.
“You will be responsible for the grave harm that is being done to equality and freedom of the citizens of the State of Israel,” one protest leader said of the lockdowns, addressing the government, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Blue and White MK Michal Cotler-Wunsh has pushed back at those charges, insisting the measures are needed during an “emergency situation,” and vowing that the government would safeguard “necessary checks and balances in democracy.”
With Israel leading in numbers of COVID-19 patients per capita, there must be a proportionate balance between the public’s health and civic rights.
To date, Israel has recorded more than 236,000 coronavirus cases and over 1,500 deaths, according to data gathered by Johns Hopkins University. The country’s extended containment policies come as infection rates remain high, particularly in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods, where social distancing has been followed less strictly.
The Israeli Knesset has approved legislation that will ban citizens from protesting more than one kilometer away from their homes, backed by the government as a measure against Covid-19, but decried as draconian by opposition MKs.
Passed 46 to 38 in the early hours of Wednesday morning after a marathon debate in the Knesset, the bill will place sweeping restrictions on demonstrations of any kind, banning citizens from attending protests held more than 1km (0.6 miles) away from their residence. The legislation was approved along with a “special state of emergency,” which will last for only a week before the ministerial cabinet will be required to re-approve the measures.
Standing with the opposition factions, two members of the Blue and White Party – part of the ruling coalition – also voted against the bill, MKs Miki Haimovich and Ram Shefa. The duo was cheered by opposition leader Yair Lapid, who asked in a tweet ahead of the vote: “What's the next step? Banning the opposition leader from addressing parliament?”
Lapid returned to head up the Yesh Atid Party after a brief stint as a senior Blue and White official last year. There, he worked closely with Benny Gantz, now Israel’s defense chief and “alternative prime minister” under a power-sharing deal reached with PM Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this year.
The new protest restrictions come amid weeks of large demonstrations against Netanyahu, in which citizens have voiced outrage over ongoing lockdown policies implemented to stem the spread of the coronavirus, as well as the PM’s corruption case, over which many have demanded his resignation. The PM has sought to downplay the protests, telling followers in a recent Facebook live appearance that “There have always been protests against me.”
They can continue protesting within 1,000 meters or near their homes. The problem is the spreading of the disease and the spreading of anarchy.
A significant protest was staged outside the Knesset itself on Tuesday, hours before the bill was passed, seeing convoys made up of hundreds of cars descend on the building. Violent scuffles erupted between police and demonstrators after the latter group attempted to hang a banner across the Knesset that said: “using coronavirus to bring dictatorship.” Three people were briefly detained during the fracas, but all have since been released.
“You will be responsible for the grave harm that is being done to equality and freedom of the citizens of the State of Israel,” one protest leader said of the lockdowns, addressing the government, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Blue and White MK Michal Cotler-Wunsh has pushed back at those charges, insisting the measures are needed during an “emergency situation,” and vowing that the government would safeguard “necessary checks and balances in democracy.”
With Israel leading in numbers of COVID-19 patients per capita, there must be a proportionate balance between the public’s health and civic rights.
To date, Israel has recorded more than 236,000 coronavirus cases and over 1,500 deaths, according to data gathered by Johns Hopkins University. The country’s extended containment policies come as infection rates remain high, particularly in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods, where social distancing has been followed less strictly.
Chris Wallace’s moderation of the first presidential debate left a lot to be desired, with critics renewing calls for podcaster/comedian Joe Rogan to handle an upcoming event between President Donald Trump and his rival Joe Biden.
Minutes after Tuesday night’s debate ended, Rogan’s name was trending on Twitter with supporters saying he could have handled the night’s proceedings far better than Wallace, who struggled on multiple occasions to keep Trump and Biden from bickering and interrupting each other.
“Regardless who you’re pulling for, I think we can all agree that Joe Rogan would do a much better job moderating this thing than Chris Wallace,” Blaze Media CEO Tyler Cardon wrote in a tweet shared by the president.
Regardless who you’re pulling for, I think we can all agree that Joe Rogan would do a much better job moderating this thing than Chris Wallace. #Debates2020
This debate is such a sh*t show. If they’re just going to let Biden avoid questions and lie, then what the hell’s the point of a debate? Biden sounds like a radical leftist “Speak and Say” toy.
Many, on both the left and right, accused Wallace of losing control of the debate and going too easy on Biden.
“At times, it appeared as if Chris Wallace were pleading with Trump to respect the forum like a parent would plead with an out-of-control child to behave,” CNN’s Oliver Darcy tweeted, adding that Wallace “failed to meet the moment.”
At times, it appeared as if Chris Wallace were pleading with Trump to respect the forum like a parent would plead with an out-of-control child to behave. https://t.co/tUqIKDpMHvpic.twitter.com/Cx9vO5jjOW
“Chris Wallace obviously thinks he is being cool and intelligent when he is only being self-important and smarmy,” conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza added.
Let me let you all in on a little secret. Trump was the strongman in that debate.
But I do agree that he actually saved Joe Biden from making bigger gaffes when he got confused.
Not as much as Chris Wallace though, who played the role of guardian angel to Biden in times of need
This is exactly what Trump wanted, and Chris Wallace allowed too much of it. But there is a message inside the madness: If America doesn’t see what Trump is doing & say no, then this democracy is broken beyond what we already knew.
Trump himself appeared to believe Wallace was too biased, tweeting out an image of him “vs.” both the Fox News host and Biden shortly after the debate.
Rogan also posted about the debate on Instagram, saying, “You don’t need me to handle this ‘debate,’ you need @johnmccarthymma,” referring to the former mixed martial arts referee and current fight commentator.
Rogan previously stated on his podcast, ‘The Joe Rogan Experience,’ that he would be willing to host a presidential debate if Trump and Biden both came to Austin, Texas (where he now resides) and the event could be four hours long with no breaks.
Trump has stated he would be willing to participate, but many Biden supporters have said such a debate should not happen as Rogan is too supportive of the president – even though he’s criticized him heavily, and did not vote for him in 2016.
President Donald Trump made hay on issues of law and order at the Tuesday’s debate as Democratic challenger Joe Biden struggled to condemn this summer’s wave of riots when confronted with his lack of calls to end the violence.
Asked by moderator Chris Wallace whether, as leader of his party, he had called Oregon’s Democrat governor or Portland’s Democrat mayor to advise them on ending more than three months of violent protests, Biden said, “I don’t hold public office now. I’m a former vice president. I made it clear that violence should be prosecuted.”
Wallace pointed out that earlier in the debate, Biden had said “I am the Democratic Party right now,” and asked him again whether he had called leaders in Democrat-run Portland to offer guidance. “They can, in fact, take care of it if he [Trump] just stays out of the way,” Biden said.
Wallace then turned to Trump, asking if he would condemn white-supremacist and militia groups to help discourage violence. The president said, “Who would you like me to condemn? Proud Boys, stand back and stand by. But I’ll tell you what. Somebody’s got to do something about Antifa and the left because this is not a right-wing problem. This is a left-wing problem.”
Biden interjected, saying “Antifa’s an idea, not an organization. That's what his FBI director said.”
Biden: “Antifa’s an idea, not an organization.”
Trump: “you gotta be kidding me.” Point: TRUMP
Trump said, “You know what, he’s wrong...Antifa is a dangerous, radical group. You ought to be careful of them. They’ll overthrow you.”
the Proud Boys just made Trump's encouraging words for them -- uttered during a national televised debate -- into a graphic with their logo pic.twitter.com/Y5M6CkN2AH
The violent riots that the Trump administration has been blaming on the radical leftist ‘Antifa’ activists have accompanied the Black Lives Matter protests, which spread across the country after the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody. Trump has clashed with city and state leaders in Democrat-run areas as they resisted his efforts to send more federal forces to help quell the violence. While accusing Trump of inciting the unrest, Democratic politicians, including vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris, have encouraged the racial protests, and until the past several weeks, Biden had failed to speak out against the violence.
Accused by Donald Trump multiple times of being controlled by a “socialist” party and the “far-left,” Joe Biden tried moving to the middle by rejecting the Green New Deal and the defund the police movement.
Biden confused many with his comments on not supporting the Green New Deal as he has spoken positively of the environmentalist plan put forward by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-New York) in the past.
Debating the topic of the environment, Trump defended rolling back EPA regulations put in place by the Obama administration and claimed Biden would hurt the economy with initiatives like the Green New Deal (which is estimated to cost trillions).
“The Green New Deal is not my plan,” Biden declared, saying he supports his own plan. Moments later, however, the former vice president said “the Green New Deal will pay for itself as we move forward.”
“Do you support the Green New Deal?” moderator Chris Wallace asked.
“No, I do not support the Green New Deal,” Biden clarified, likely previously referring to his “Biden plan,” but misspeaking.
Does Joe Biden know what he's talking about?
Joe Biden: "The Green New Deal will pay for itself as we move forward..."
*seconds later*
Chris Wallace: "Do you support the Green New Deal?"
What has also led to confusion is the fact that Biden has been supportive of the Green New Deal in the past, even calling it a “crucial framework” when releasing his own environmental plan. His running mate, Kamala Harris, was also a co-sponsor on the Green New Deal.
Joe Biden said tonight he does not support the Green New Deal, appearing to directly contradict his campaign website. Kamala Harris also supports the Green New Deal. pic.twitter.com/ns0nRnOfAI
Ocasio-Cortez jumped into the debate and re-solidified her support for Biden by claiming her “differences” with Biden are why she joined his “Climate Unity Task Force.”
This isn’t news, Kellyanne.
Our differences are exactly why I joined Biden’s Climate Unity Task Force - so we could set aside our differences & figure out an aggressive climate plan to address the planetary crisis at our feet.
Biden also rejected the defund the police movement, which has become a popular rallying cry with many Democrats, including Ocasio-Cortez.
Told by Trump he does not have the support of law enforcement and would defund police departments, Biden bit back by accusing Trump of being the one looking to defund police.
“I’m totally opposed to defunding the police officers,” Biden shot back. “They need more assistance.”
“Local police. The only one defunding, in his budget calls for a $400 million cut in local law enforcement assistance,” he added.
Biden has, however, expressed support for diverting funds for law enforcement agencies to other areas.
REMINDER: During a “Now This” interview, Joe Biden said he wants to defund the police.
Here’s the exchange⬇️
Ady Barkan: “Can we agree that we can redirect some of the funding [from the police]?”
Some accused Biden of not supporting the Black Lives Matter movement based on his blasting Trump for being the one “defunding” police.
I hate Biden's framing that the only one who supports defunding the police is Trump, and that actually Biden supports increasing their budget. Like spitting in the eye of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Pundits covering the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden struggled to contain their horror during their post-event analysis, dubbing the throwdown a “dumpster fire” and a “s**t show” live on TV.
President Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden took the stage at Cleveland’s Case Western Reserve University on Tuesday night, where the two clashed over 90 minutes of debate, seeing frequent interruptions, personal insults and meandering off-topic. Apparently unimpressed by the performance, CNN’s Jake Tapper dubbed the event the “worst debate I’ve ever seen” just seconds after it finished.
“We’ll talk about who won the debate, who lost the debate, but I can tell you one thing for sure: the American people lost tonight,” Tapper said immediately after the event, which he described as a “hot mess inside a dumpster fire inside a train wreck.”
“You just took the words out of my mouth,” replied correspondent Dana Bash.
You used some high-minded language, I’m just going to say it like it is: that was a s**t show. We’re on cable, we can say that, apologies for being a little bit crude.
Netizens quickly took notice of the explicit line, many voicing wholehearted agreement with Bash’s sentiment, while others merely found her use of vulgar language amusing.
Might be the truest statement of the night: CNN's Dana Bash: "That was a shit show. We're on cable. We can say that."
Commenters were mixed about what exactly made the debate so bad, however, with critics taking aim at both candidates, while some honed in on Fox News debate moderator Chris Wallace.
@TheFive Just want you to know. CNN said the debate was a Shit Show. In my opinion Chris Wallace was the Shit Show!! He became part of the debate and appeared to me to be on Biden’s side. Wallace is a Never Trumper
Going forward, one netizen suggested the candidates’ microphones should be muted while the other speaks to prevent interruptions, however some were at the point of giving up, one calling the entire event an “embarrassment to America” and arguing future debates should be cancelled “if the rest are just like that.”
There are 2 more debates scheduled between Biden and Trump. Mikes should be turned off to prevent interruptions such as we saw tonight by Trump. Somebody on cnn called it a shit-show. I agree.
That shit show was an embarrassment to America. They should cancel the other debates. If the rest are just like that we might as well declare the American experiment a failure.#USA#cnn#Biden#Trump
