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California restaurants are reportedly laying off staff and reducing hours for other team members in an effort to cut costs ahead of a California state law taking effect on April 1 that will raise fast-foot workers’ hourly wage to $20. In the months leading up to the wage mandate, California eateries, particularly pizza joints, have established a plan to cut jobs, according to state records obtained by The Wall Street Journal. Pizza Hut and Round Table Pizza — a Menlo Park, Calif.-founded chain of 400 pizza parlors, mostly on the West Coast — have said they plan to lay off...

The Heritage Committee of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) announced on Sunday that one of the newest entries on the organization's list of global heritage sites is Tel a-Sultan in Jericho. The UNESCO member states decided that the tel will be considered a "Palestinian world heritage site." The decision was made in a vote that took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The UN clarified that there are Jewish and Christian sites near the site that are not included in the list - but there is a value to protect them. Tel a-Sultan, also known as Tel Jericho,...

Former Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ), a candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that former President Donald Trump was a “liar and a coward” for claiming he is being indicted for other Republicans.At a campaign rally, Trump said, “Every time the radical left Democrats, Marxists, Communists and Fascists indict me, I consider it to be a great badge of honor and courage. I’m doing it for you. I’m being indicted for you. Better me than you, right?”Anchor Jake Tapper said, “Great badge of honor and courage. Better me than you. What do...

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has enacted new regulations that will require “zero emissions” trains to be introduced after 2030, focusing on a sector often seen as a “green” alternative to cars and trucks. The San Francisco Chronicle reports: Under the new regulations, zero-emissions models will be required for all switch, industrial and passenger locomotives built after 2030 and for all freight line locomotives built after 2035. Any non-zero emissions locomotive that is 23 years old or more will not be allowed to operate in the state past 2030. The regulations also require train operators to open a spending...

SAINT PAUL, Minn. (CITC) — Minnesota is the latest state to join a growing national trend of public schools with zero students meeting grade level in mathematics, and its two largest cities are accounting for the bulk of the declines. Minnesota-based think tank The Center of the American Experiment (CAE) conducted an analysis of state test scores from the 2021-22 academic year. Traditional public schools, online public schools and charter schools were all evaluated to determine where students are struggling to recover from pandemic-related learning losses. CAE's findings concluded that while declines were evident statewide, two of Minnesota's largest public...

There is a lot of speculation about the recent number of sudden deaths we read about in the news. I'm wondering, what have you witnessed in your own life? Here's what I've seen. 2 years ago, 26 year old brother of a friend died suddenly. Last year my uncle had a stroke. Last week a student from my daughter's school died. Nothing definite, but really makes me think "hmm". What about you? Have you seen anything that seems unusual like this in your life?

The Chinese Communist Party, through its state propaganda outlets, insisted that it would not relent on its brutal lockdown and quarantine policies known as “zero Covid” on Monday, apparently responding to, but not acknowledging, protests in major cities nationwide over the weekend. Beijing has insisted on “zero Covid” for nearly three years, abruptly trapping people in their homes and often leaving them without food or basic medicine. The Chinese government announced its first deaths attributed to a Chinese coronavirus infection in six months last week – three people over the age of 87 – meaning that, by the regime’s own...

White House coronavirus response coordinator Ashish Jha on Sunday indicated China’s “zero COVID” strategy is not realistic. During an appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” anchor Martha Raddatz asked Jha about demonstrations in cities across China over the weekend protesting the strategy, which seeks to isolate and eliminate every COVID-19 case, leading to lockdowns for millions of residents in recent months.

BEIJING, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Chinese cities from Wuhan in central China to Xining in the northwest are doubling down on COVID-19 curbs, sealing up buildings, locking down districts and throwing millions into distress in a scramble to halt widening outbreaks. China on Thursday reported a third straight day of more than 1,000 new COVID cases nationwide, a modest tally compared with the tens of thousands per day that sent Shanghai into a full-blown lockdown earlier this year but enough to trigger more restrictions across the country.

David Maraniss has no use for "birthers." In a recent interview, he dismissed their beliefs as "preposterous" and wonders why they cling to them, since "every fact and document leads in another direction." Yet the one core belief that has united the birther community -- if there be such a thing -- is that Obama dissembled when he talked at both the 2004 and 2008 Democratic Conventions about his parents' "improbable love" and "abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation." Birthers have known for years that there was no Obama family, that the couple never lived together, that Obama...

Andrea Mitchell (Andrea Mitchell Reports, MSNBC) discusses the origins of 'The Birther Movement' with Ben Smith (Politico Sr. Political writer) in 2013. Ben Smith traces 'The Birther Movement' to Hillary Clinton supporters when she was losing to Barack Obama in 2008. Andrea Mitchell appears somewhat flustered and shaken by this revelation and tries to tie it to Donald Trump and Republicans. "Ben Smith, thank you so much, from Politico for...reminding us of where this all started". (She doesn't appear all that thankful). Don't just save the link. Download and save this video for future reference. Hillary Clinton starts Birther Movement...

It will be interesting to see what they put in his "Presidential Library" about his early years, when he is out of office. In a country where we take notice of many, many facets of our public figures' lives, doesn't seem odd that there's so little we know about our current president, Barack Obama. For example, we know that Andrew Jackson's wife smoked a corn cob pipe and was accused of adultery; Abe Lincoln never went to school; Jack Kennedy wore a back brace; Harry Truman played the piano. As Americans, we enjoy knowing details about our newsmakers, but none...

Additional documents uncovered by WND support a previous report that President Obama's parents did not live together as husband and wife at the Honolulu address listed in birth announcements in two local newspapers. Both newspapers, the Honolulu Advertiser and the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, carried the announcement that Barack Obama Jr. was born Aug. 4, 1961, to Mr. and Mrs. Barack H. Obama, residing at 6085 Kalanianaole Highway in Honolulu, Hawaii. Additional research has established that the grandparents, Madelyn and Stanley Dunham, lived at 6085 Kalanianaole Highway, not Barack Obama Sr. and Ann Dunham. Moreover, Mr. and Mrs. Obama apparently did not...

There is so much that we are taking on faith with Barack Obama. Unqualified Reservations blog asks a question that has been asked in other places and in different ways. For example, what were Obama's grades at Columbia. This blogger asks a very basic question: was he even a student there? If so, why don't more people remember this leading contender for President? I know. I swore that my evil demagogic talents would go unused in this volatile, historic, and deliciously operatic election. And we'll certainly have a fun discussion after the event. At the moment, though, I find myself...

BEIJING, Oct 15 (Reuters) - China's COVID-19 measures are the best, most cost-effective and will continue to improve, a spokesman for the ruling Communist Party said on Saturday. "We firmly believe that the light is ahead and perseverance is victory," Sun Yeli told a news conference in Beijing ahead of the party's 20th congress. Sun was responding to a question about whether China risks being isolated from the rest of the world if it continues with its zero-COVID policy.

Former President Barack Obama admitted Friday that it had been a “mistake” not to support Iranian democracy protesters in 2009, when they rose up against their tyrannical regime in what was called the “Green Revolution.” At the time, Obama chose to remain quiet about the protests, as he hoped to preserve the regime, and the administration of radical, Holocaust-denying Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in the hope of pursuing negotiations toward a deal on Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

Yesterday, partial and trending documents were distributed on social networks in Arabic and English from an arrest carried out at the Nablus gate. One of the documents that was circulated is of a woman who was detained yesterday evening (Saturday night) after violently attacking police officers. Later, for some reason, she was released in the field in a short time and made a show of fainting under the auspices of medical teams of the Red Crescent who were there and allegedly cleared her for medical treatment. A few minutes later she was seen laughing with another woman in front of...

US inflation rose by a higher-than-expected 8.3% in August despite falling gasoline prices — adding pressure on the Federal Reserve as it decides whether to impose another super-size interest rate hike. The August reading of the Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index, a closely watched measure of the costs of goods and services, rose 0.1% compared to July. Economists had expected a slight month-over-month decline. American households remained under severe pressure. Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and gas prices, rose 6.3% year-over-year and 0.6% compared to July. Headline inflation ticked lower as gas prices continued to recede from record highs...

China has put several more of its cities and tens of millions of residents under new lockdowns, including the world’s largest wholesale hub and port cities. Many travelers are now stranded and struggling for food, production orders have been canceled, and businesses are closing because of the Chinese regime’s strict “zero-COVID” measures. According to Chinese media, since early August, a new wave of COVID-19 has swept through 25 of China’s 31 provinces, spanning from the southernmost Hainan Province to the Xinjiang region and Tibet in the west. World’s Largest Wholesale Hub Under Full Lockdown.. Yiwu city in the eastern Zhejiang...

The German newspaper Der Spiegel over the weekend revealed that not only did the U.S. monitor the cellphone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, it also allegedly utilized the American embassy in Berlin as a listening station by means of a windowless structure filled with hi-tech gadgetry on the roof to monitor cellphone and other sensitive communications.An Israeli intelligence analyst has now discovered similar mysterious white structures positioned on the rooftops of many key American embassies including in Beijing, Moscow, and Tel Aviv and published the photos to support his claims. While the structures appear to have a solid exterior, they...