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The left-wing Labor and the center-left Yesh Atid parties are mulling mass resignations from the Knesset to protest passage of the government’s judicial reform plan, and in the hopes of disrupting the completion of the legislative process. Rumors circulated Monday evening, following the Knesset vote backing two key measures of the judicial reform plan, that the Yesh Atid party is currently considering terminating its own representation in the Knesset via a mass resignation. MK Elazar Stern (Yesh Atid) confirmed that the party is indeed weighing such an option. Speaking with Galei Tzahal Tuesday morning, Stern said Yesh Atid is considering...

For the first time ever, Republican voters now back Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over former President Donald Trump, according to a new poll. The poll, which was conducted by YouGov America from November 9th to the 11th, following last week’s midterm elections, and published on Saturday, found that Republicans were generally disappointed with the outcome of the elections. ... When asked who they favor as the party’s nominee for the 2024 elections, 42% of Republicans and Republican-leaners said they prefer DeSantis, compared to 35% who prefer Trump. Ten percent said they favor neither candidate, while 13% said they were not...

Russian President Vladimir Putin underwent treatment for advanced cancer in April, according to a report quoting three high-ranking US intelligence officials. Newsweek published the report Thursday, citing information the three intelligence officials – who represent three different US intelligence agencies – shared from a recent White House assessment of the Russian leader’s health status. In late May, US intelligence officials put together their fourth comprehensive assessment of Putin’s medical condition. The three officials, from the office of the Director of National Intelligence, a retired senior Air Force officer, and a Defense Intelligence Agency official, said that Putin appears to have...

Former President Donald Trump joked about bombing Russia Saturday, saying the US should disguise its warplanes and use them for a mass attack, CBS News and the Washington Post reported. Speaking for 84 minutes at a gathering of some 250 Republican donors in New Orleans on Saturday, Trump said the US should bomb Russia heavily, then blame China for the incident to spark a war between the two countries. The US should “put the Chinese flag” on F-22 Raptor fighter jets, then “bomb the sh**” out of Russia, Trump joked, drawing laughs from those present, a source told CBS News....

The new Blue and White alliance of Benny Gantz’s Israel Resilience party and Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid faction would become the largest party in the Knesset if new elections were held today, a new poll shows – but the right-wing – religious bloc would retain a narrow majority. According to the poll, conducted by Maagar Mohot and published by i24NEWS and Israel Hayom Sunday evening, if new elections were held today, the Blue and White party of Gantz and Lapid would win 36 mandates. The Likud, by contrast, would gain a single mandate over its 2015 performance, winning a total...

Vice President Mike Pence’s address to the Knesset Monday afternoon, the first by a senior American official in a decade, was praised by a number of Israeli officials from across the political spectrum, who noted the Vice President’s pledge to bar Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and a time-table for the relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, however, expressed a more personal reaction to the speech, saying that he had been so touched by it as to have been moved to tears.

The White House is reportedly planning to accept Israeli demands for increased military aid, following pressure by the US Senate to sign a new Memorandum of Understanding laying out US support to Israel for the next decade. With the current Memorandum of Understanding set to expire in 2018, Israel has been pressuring the White House to enlarge the annual aid package from $3.1 billion to between $4-4.5 billion. Israel has stated that it must increase its military spending to cope with growing threats from ISIS and the Iranian regime following last year’s nuclear deal. …

David Rosenberg has outlined, in his latest letter, the 13 reasons with this so-called recovery is actually a depression. Rosenberg sums it up like this: This is what a depression is all about — an economy that 33 months after a recession begins, with zero policy rates, a stuffed central bank sheet, and a 10% deficit-to-GDP ratio, is still in need of government help for its sustenance. Each one of these 13 reasons is more damning and highlights the true state of the economy: caught in a liquidity trap with little way out.

David Rosenberg: The S&P Is Going To 850, And There Are 10 Leading Indicators That Are Rolling Over Right Now Vince Veneziani and Joe Weisenthal May 26, 2010, 10:56 AMA From this morning's Breakfast With Dave note, Rosenberg presents the basic argument that what goes up big will come down big: There have only been two other times when the stock market ran parabolically up from a low in barely over a year, as was the case this time around (+80% from March 2009 to April 2010): the 112% surge from June 1, 1932 to September 7, 1932; and the...

Gluskin Sheff economist David Rosenberg, formerly of Merrill Lynch, thinks the unemployment rate is going to at least 12 percent, maybe even 13 percent. Optimists, Rosenberg explains, underestimate the incredible damage done to the labor market during this downturn. And even before this downturn, the economy was not generating jobs in huge numbers. If he is right, all political bets are off. I think the Democrats could lose the House and effective control of the Senate. I think you would also be talking about the rise of third party and perhaps a challenger to Obama in 2012. So here is...