Major Car Rental Bars Israeli Executive From Renting

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On Saturday evening, Dov Bergwerk arrived at the Avis branch on West 76th Street and Broadway. Accompanied by his wife Ruth, the Bergwerks were planning to join friends for dinner in Westchester. Mr. Bergwerk, a senior vice president and general corporate counsel at the Israeli pharmaceutical giant Teva, got out his driver’s license, reservation number and “Wizard” loyalty card – he’s rented from Avis dozens of times before – and anticipated the usual smooth transition into a nondescript mid-sized sedan . . .

A reservation agent named Angelline declined to honor Mr. Bergwerk’s reservation, saying that it was company policy not to recognize Israeli documents. Stunned, Mr. Bergwerk explained that he had rented from Avis many times, including a car from that very same office on Thursday, November 19 – only two days earlier.

Mr. Bergwerk asked Angelline to access the profile attached to his Wizard card, which shows that he is an executive at a giant multinational company who has no regulatory issues and has rented from Avis, including at that very branch, many times without incident. She refused. They argued.

Eventually, a manager was called. Shamoura took the side of her reservation agent, also refusing to honor Mr. Bergwerk’s reservation or recognize his documents. Stunned and stranded on a Saturday night in New York, Mr. Bergwerk called the Avis main number and got through to customer service. The representative confirmed to him that the Israeli license was an acceptable form of ID and also mentioned that he could show his passport to ameliorate any ID concerns the on-site employees had. Mr. Bergwerk put the customer service representative on the phone with Shamoura, the branch manager, and at this point the story evolved. She now claimed that she was declining to rent the Bergwerks a car not because of the insufficient documents but because Mr. Bergwerk had “argued about the way I was being treated in front of other customers,” according to Mr. Bergwerk . . .

The Observer asked Mr. Bergwerk if he felt that, in the heart of Manhattan’s progressive activist community, he was being singled out for being an Israeli. (Read more from “Major Car Rental Bars Israeli Executive From Renting” HERE)

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After Taxes, a $4,800 Salary Grants Nearly Same Take-Home Pay as a $21,000 Salary

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After taxes and entitlement program benefits are accounted for, a single parent with a salary of $4,800 earns nearly the same take-home pay as a single parent with a $21,000 salary, according to a report from the Tax Foundation.

The report, titled “Income Tax Illustrated,” evaluates two examples of a single-parent family with one child. In one example, a single parent earns $4,800 in annual salary before taxes, but after accounting for entitlements, this family’s take-home earnings climbs to $22,090. Benefits included in this calculation comes from Medicaid, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, food stamps, and the Housing Choice Voucher program . . .

“As low-income households earn more money, not only do their tax burdens grow rapidly, but they also receive fewer benefits from federal social assistance programs,” the report says. “In fact, individuals who move to higher paying jobs sometimes end up with less overall disposable income, after taxes and transfers” . . .

“The federal government’s system of taxes and assistance programs for low-income families is not very well-designed,” said Scott Greenberg, an analyst at the Tax Foundation. “For households making under $30,000, there are a number of transfer programs and tax credits that phase out simultaneously, making it difficult for these families to increase their take-home incomes by moving to a higher-paying job.” (Read more from “After Taxes, a $4,800 Salary Grants Nearly Same Take-Home Pay as a $21,000 Salary” HERE)

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Toddler Dies After Siblings Lock Her in Oven

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Two Houston 3-year-olds who were left home alone Thursday locked their 19-month-old sister in an oven, turned it on and killed her.

Child Protective Services records reviewed by KTRK show one child put J’Zyra Thompson in the oven and the other made it “hot.” The baby reportedly kicked the oven door while inside. Attempts to resuscitate Thompson, who had multiple burns, were unsuccessful . . .

J’Zyra’s mom, Racquel Thompson, left her four kids – all under the age of 5 – home alone while she and a boyfriend got food at Domino’s Pizza and filled a prescription at Walgreens, police said.

Frederick Price is the father of at least two of Thompson’s children, and said he may be J’Zyra’s dad, but never took a paternity test to find out. He told KTRK that he hadn’t seen the children in months after failed attempts to contact Thompson . . .

The grandmother of at least one of the children lived in the same apartment complex as Thompson, but Thompson never informed her she was leaving to get food or asked her to watch the kids, according to CPS case workers. Price also said Thompson should have called him. (Read more from “Toddler Dies After Siblings Lock Her in Oven” HERE)

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At Least 12 People Overdose on Synthetic Marijuana in San Diego

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At least a dozen people became sick in San Diego Sunday after they apparently ingested a batch of synthetic marijuana, also known as “spice”, police said.

San Diego Fire Rescue Capt. Joe Amador told Fox 5 that the victims were mainly young people, including a 13-year-old. Amador said it was not immediately clear whether the victims took the drug voluntarily.

The station reported that the victims experienced symptoms varying from a bloody nose to seizures. Medical officers responded to multiple calls reporting sick patients in at least three locations in downtown San Diego . . .

San Diego police said the drug was being sold in black packages with blue dragons on the side. A police spokesman told the San Diego Union-Tribune that officers were trying to track down victims and witnesses, and were also warning the public about the overdoses in case others had purchased the drug in the downtown area. (Read more from “At Least 12 People Overdose on Synthetic Marijuana in San Diego” HERE)

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Majority of Americans Feel Like Strangers in Their Own Country

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A Super PAC tied to Ohio Governor John Kasich is annnouncing a new multi-million dollar effort to torpedo Donald Trump’s campaign for the Republican nomination.

Trump’s continued dominance of national and state-level polling has vexed the GOP establishment and pushed it to near-panic as voting nears . . .

Whatever failings there may be in his specific policies, Donald Trump’s campaign has tapped into a strong, visceral feeling of millions of Americans. Seeking to destroy Trump, the candidate, may further alienate the Republican party from a rapidly growing block of voters.

According to the Reuters survey, 58 percent Americans say they “don’t identify with what America has become.” While Republicans and Independents are the most likely to agree with this statement, even 45 percent of Democrats share this feeling.

More than half of Americans, 53 percent, say they “feel like a stranger” in their own country. A minority of Americans feel “comfortable as myself” in the country. (Read more from “Majority of Americans Feel Like Strangers in Their Own Country” HERE)

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Gowdy Heard What Obama Said About Syrian Refugees and Pulled the Pin on a Truth Grenade

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President Obama has taken up the cause of importing Syrian refugees into the U.S. with a vengeance, saying that they are harmless, despite the fact that some of the terrorists who killed over 100 in Paris are linked to Syrian refugees. Congressman Trey Gowdy isn’t remaining silent in the face of Obama’s claims.

As President Obama continues to push for a wide expansion of his program to import Syrian refugees into the U.S., Congressman Trey Gowdy, R – SC, is blaming the President’s policies for creating the Syrian refugee crisis in the first place.

According to The Hill newspaper, Gowdy addressed the issue as he chaired a meeting of the House Judiciary subpanel on immigration.

“The president says we’re scared of widows and orphans, with all due respect to him, what I’m afraid of is a foreign policy that creates more widows and orphans,” Gowdy said on Capitol Hill.

Gowdy is responding to Obama’s attack on Republicans who oppose the expansion of his refugee importation program delivered to reporters on November 18 where he called the opposition “political posturing.”

“Apparently they are scared of widows and orphans coming into the United States of America,” Obama said on Wednesday. “At first, they were too scared of the press being too tough on them in the debates. Now they are scared of three-year-old orphans. That doesn’t seem so tough to me.” (Read more from “Gowdy Heard What Obama Said About Syrian Refugees and Pulled the Pin on a Truth Grenade” HERE)

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This US City Has Been Flagged as Potential ‘Hotbed’ for Terror Recruiting

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Recent apprehensions of illegal immigrants from the Middle East and South Asia along the southern U.S. border have renewed security concerns in the region, amid claims that Phoenix in particular is becoming a “hotbed” for terror recruiting and activity.

One source told Fox News the FBI even briefed Phoenix police two weeks ago to notify them that the Islamic State is trying to recruit “high-school age students.”

Agents are on the look-out for any suspicious activity. Fox News has learned Border Patrol agents in Arizona caught three Saudi nationals last Saturday trying to evade a highway checkpoint. They were detained in an area considered one of the hottest smuggling routes in the U.S. and just a few miles from where, two days later, agents arrested five Pakistani nationals and one Afghani trying to enter the U.S. illegally.

“When it comes to terrorism there are no coincidences, and that fact that three Saudi Arabians were detained in the same area … days before Pakistanis and Afghans were arrested in the same area isn’t coincidence,” said Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council.

The Border Patrol called the FBI, which responded with Homeland Security Investigations, and officials took custody of the Saudis. The three did not have required identification on them at the time but told agents they entered the U.S. on student visas to attend the University of Arizona. That turned out to be true. (Read more from “This US City Has Been Flagged as Potential ‘Hotbed’ for Terror Recruiting” HERE)

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Poll: Democrats, Even Clinton Supporters, Warm to Socialism

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Senator Bernie Sanders’s speech on Thursday explaining his democratic socialist ideology carried little risk among supporters and other Democrats: A solid majority of them have a positive impression of socialism, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll released this month.

Fifty-six percent of those Democratic primary voters questioned said they felt positive about socialism as a governing philosophy, versus 29 percent who took a negative view.

In an address Thursday afternoon at Georgetown University, Mr. Sanders argued that the redistribution of wealth was at the heart of the American social contract, seeking to link himself with the legacies of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Franklin D. Roosevelt. The applause he drew should come as little surprise: Sixty-nine percent of Sanders supporters see socialism in a positive light, versus just 21 percent who view it negatively.

Even most of those supporting Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination approve of socialism, 52 percent to 32 percent . . .

Over all, Democrats are just about as keen on socialism as they are on capitalism. In a Gallup survey from November 2012, 53 percent of all Democrats gave socialism a positive rating, while 55 percent did so for capitalism. (Read more from “Poll: Democrats, Even Clinton Supporters, Warm to Socialism” HERE)

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New ISIS Video Threatens Attack on White House

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The Dijla branch of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) released a new video depicting unidentified jihadists celebrating the recent attacks on Paris and vowing the attacks would “conclude with the so-called White House.”

In the video – titled “Paris Before Rome” — militants warn French President Francois Hollande, U.S. President Barack Obama “and those who follow in his footsteps” to expect more strikes . . .

“We began with you, and we shall conclude with the so-called White House. We shall turn it even blacker than our fire by the will of Allah,” a militants says in the video. “Better still … we shall blow it up just like we blew up the idols on this good land.”

The video surfaced one day after another ISIS video that makes reference to Times Square. In what appeared to be a threat directed at the U.S., Times Square was shown along with New York City taxis and several Midtown locations, interspersed with what appeared to be a man preparing an explosive device and strapping it to himself . . .

Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department is warning that St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Milan’s cathedral and La Scala opera house, as well as “general venues” like churches, synagogues, restaurants, theaters and hotels have been identified as “potential targets” in those two cities for terrorist attacks. (Read more from “New ISIS Video Threatens Attack on White House” HERE)

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While DC Debates Religion, Refugees, Iraqi Christians Feel Uncle Sam’s Boot

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Amid Washington’s raging debate over refugees and religion, more than two dozen Iraqi Christians who crossed into the U.S. from Mexico in hopes of joining their friends and families are being deported after their bids for religious asylum were rejected.

A total of 27 Chaldean Christians, driven from their homeland by Al Qaeda and ISIS, entered the country in April and May, hoping to join the thriving Iraqi Christian community in and around San Diego. But the door to America is being slammed on the 17 men and 10 women over what their supporters say are technicalities.

“These are families who were split up because of religious persecution, and now the government – which we love – is preventing them from being reunited,” said Fr. Michael Bazzi, of St. Peter Chaldean Catholic Cathedral, in El Cajon. “We wonder why, for thousands of Muslims, the door is open to America, yet Christians are not allowed to come.”

The Chaldeans are among tens and possibly hundreds of thousands of Christians from Iraq and Syria who have been displaced by fighting and persecuted by Al Qaeda, ISIS and even the Iraqi government. But because some had first gone to Germany before making their way to the border, and in some cases were deemed to not have been forthcoming about it on their applications for religious asylum, they were held at the Otay Detention Center in San Diego since entering the U.S. while their applications were considered. So far, 22 have been ordered out of the U.S. and the other five are awaiting a likely similar ruling.

“We will continue to seek to remove the ones who have been ordered removed,” Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lauren Mack told FoxNews.com. (Read more from “While DC Debates Religion, Refugees, Iraqi Christians Feel Uncle Sam’s Boot” HERE)

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