House Democrats are trying to rein in President Donald Trump’s clemency powers on Thursday as they advance legislation that would discourage pardons for friends and family and prevent presidents from pardoning themselves. While the bills are unlikely to pass the GOP-led Senate, Democrats say a response is necessary after Trump used his clemency power to come to the aid of allies he believes have been mistreated by the justice system, including longtime confidant Roger Stone. Trump this month commuted Stone’s prison sentence for crimes related to the Russia investigation. The move to shield Stone from prison was a dramatic example of Trump’s willingness to exert presidential power over criminal cases, including ones prosecuted by his own Justice Department.

China launched its most ambitious Mars mission yet on Thursday in a bold attempt to join the United States in successfully landing a spacecraft on the red planet. Engines blazing orange, a Long March-5 rocket took off under clear skies from Hainan Island, south of China’s mainland, as space enthusiasts gathered on a beach across the bay from the launch site. “This is a kind of hope, a kind of strength,” said Li Dapeng, co-founder of the China branch of the Mars Society, an advocacy group. He watched with his wife, 11-year-old son and 2,000 others on the beach. Launch commander Zhang Xueyu announced to cheers in the control room that the rocket was flying normally about 45 minutes later.

“Yosef, where’s the money I left in the drawer.” “Ma, you were sleeping and I had a trip this morning so I took it.” “Where’s my phone, Atara?” “Ma, I’m playing games on the phone.” “Where are my car keys?” “What do you mean. You weren’t home, so I went out with my friends.” Does everything belong to everyone here? Everyone is entitled? These scenes repeat themselves everyday. A child takes something without permission and assumes you’ll be okay with it. Can you end the entitlement, for good? Enter Mrs P, the developer and teacher of the HarmoniUs method. Since 2005, Mrs. Rachel Plaut has been guiding parents to create homes where harmony, tranquility and respect reign supreme. She founded HarmoniUs, a practical program that gets right to the root of interpersonal issues.

About 50 employees of Israel Railways have contracted the coronavirus and about 300 employees are in quarantine, Kan News reported on Thursday. The large number of employees who are ill or in quarantine is causing a considerable amount of difficulty for the company to keep the trains running on time. “If the current rate of infection continues, the company will soon be unable to function and it is possible the government will force us to cease operations,” Israel Railways wrote in a letter to its employees on Thursday. Many employees who contracted the virus are in positions that are essential for the proper functioning of the trains, such as conductors, managers and maintenance workers.

The global pandemic and U.S. protests are forcing a pullback by advertisers on Twitter, but it’s also led to an unprecedented surge of users. Average daily user growth spiked 34% in the second quarter, the company said Thursday, the largest jump in users ever recorded by the company. In an earnings call, CEO Jack Dorsey addressed an embarrassing hacking incident last week that compromised the accounts of high profile users, saying he felt “terrible” about it. Shares of Twitter bounced 6% higher. But the company took a huge tax hit to earnings, posting a net loss of $1.2 billion, or $1.56 per share, in the April-June period, compared with profit of $1.1 billion, or $1.43 per share, a year earlier.

President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he has scrubbed his planned Republican National Convention scheduled for Florida next month, citing a “flare-up” of the coronavirus. Trump’s formal renomination will still go forward in North Carolina, where a small subset of GOP delegates will still gather in Charlotte, North Carolina, for just four hours on Aug. 24. Florida was to have hosted four nights of programming and parties that Trump had hoped would be a “four-night infomercial” for his reelection. “It’s a different world, and it will be for a little while,” Trump said, explaining his decision. “To have a big convention is not the right time,” Trump added.

Shared values. Individualized attention. Professional success. At Touro, we provide a path to achieve your career goals. When you start your journey at Touro’s Lander Colleges, you’ll experience a quality education, engaged faculty members, and direct pathways to our respected graduate and professional programs. Learn the skills and gain the experience and credentials without sacrificing your commitment to your Jewish values. Meet the students who make more happen at Touro.
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A New York City police officer and two other men were arrested on drug charges after an investigation that was sparked by a fatal overdose on Long Island. Joseph Recca, 28, was arrested Tuesday on charges of drug possession and sales, official misconduct and unauthorized use of a computer, Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy Sini said. Recca resigned from the New York Police Department shortly after his arraignment Wednesday. “This is an NYPD officer who, along with two co-conspirators, was allegedly involved in operating a local drug distribution network in our community, which is very disturbing,” Sini said.

The mayor of Portland, Oregon, was tear-gassed by U.S. government agents late Wednesday as he stood at a fence erected to protect a federal courthouse during another night of protests against the presence of the agents sent by President Donald Trump to quell the city’s ongoing unrest. Mayor Ted Wheeler, a Democrat, appeared slightly dazed and coughed and said it was the first time he’d been tear gassed. He put on a pair of goggles someone handed him and drank water but did not leave his spot at the front and continued to take gas as the protest raged — with demonstrators lighting a large fire between the fence and the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse amid the pop-pop-pop sounds of the federal agents deploying tear gas and stun grenades into the crowd.

Three out of four Americans, including a majority of Republicans, favor requiring people to wear face coverings while outside their homes, a new poll finds, reflecting fresh alarm over spiking coronavirus cases and a growing embrace of government advice intended to safeguard public health. The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research also finds that about two-thirds of Americans disapprove of how President Donald Trump is handling the outbreak, an unwelcome sign for the White House in an election year shaped by the nation’s battle with the pandemic. More than four months after government stay-at-home orders first swept across the U.S., the poll spotlights an America increasingly on edge about the virus.