Senators of both political parties questioned Tuesday whether the White House’s request for $2.5 billion is enough to prepare the United States for a possible coronavirus outbreak, even as President Donald Trump said the virus is “very well under control” here. “If you low-ball something like this, you’ll pay for it later,” Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., told Trump’s top health official, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. The two faced each other at a budget hearing that turned into a forum for assessing U.S. readiness in the face of a rapidly evolving international health threat.

By Monet Binder, Esq.

The National Transportation Safety Board says the driver of a Tesla SUV who died in a Silicon Valley crash two years ago was playing a video game on his smartphone while his vehicle was being controlled by a partially automated driving system. Chairman Robert Sumwalt said at the start of a hearing Tuesday that systems like Tesla’s Autopilot cannot drive themselves, yet drivers continue to use them without paying attention. “If you own a car with partial automation, you do not own a self-driving car,” Sumwalt said in opening statements.

At the age of five Yanky fell on his head onto a hard surface, and since then he suffers from brain damage and lives in a wheelchair, with severe epilepsy and muscular dystrophy. He needs to be carried everywhere, he cannot speak and needs constant supervision by a parent, severely limiting their ability to provide parnossa for the other 12 children in the family. The Bituach Leumi only pays for part of Yanky’s care, but he still needs therapists and medications that are not included in the the Israeli National Insurance benefits. Yanky is now 15 years old, too old to be carried around, yet he cannot carry himself. They live on the third floor of the building; any trip outside needs a few strong people to carry the wheelchair down the steps and into the street.

The Israeli taxi app Gett is being sued for $58.5 million (NIS 150 million) on charges of discrimination due to providing customers with an option to filter out Arab drivers. A “Mehadrin” option based in Jerusalem offered through the Gett app allows customers to order a taxi with a shomer Shabbos driver. The class-action lawsuit claims that the Mehadrin option discriminates against Jerusalem’s Arab taxi drivers, most of whom drive on Shabbos, a Channel 12 News report said. “They give it a religious title,” said Attorney Assaf Pink to the Guardian. “But, in fact, this is a proxy for a racist service that provides taxis with Jewish drivers.

In a rare and unusual recording that was published by BeChadrei Charedim news site, Hagaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky is heard making an extremely strong statement against the leader of the Shuvu Banim group, Rabbi Eliezer Berland. The recording came about after a student of Rabbi Berland got into a verbal fight at a Kollel where he learned and sent a question to Hagaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky regarding the correctness of the words of the other student. Rabbi Kanievsky replied: The other student is correct. This Rabbi Berland is crazy.” Rav Kanievsky is known to weigh each word carefully as thousands listen to him and follow his opinions closely.

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An 11-year-old girl toting a loaded AR-15 assault weapon appeared Monday at a legislative hearing with her grandfather, who is supporting a proposal that would allow visitors to Idaho who can legally possess firearms to carry a concealed handgun within city limits. Charles Nielsen addressed the committee that voted to send the legislation to the full House as Bailey Nielsen stood at his side with the weapon slung over her right shoulder, but did not say anything. “Bailey is carrying a loaded AR-15,” Charles Nielsen told lawmakers. “People live in fear, terrified of that which they do not understand. She’s been shooting since she was 5 years old. She got her first deer with this weapon at 9. She carries it responsibly. She knows how not to put her finger on the trigger.

Bernie Sanders prepared to face a new wave of attacks from his presidential rivals as Democrats met again on the debate stage Tuesday night, perhaps their final prime-time opportunity to change the direction of the 2020 nomination fight. Almost all of the six other candidates set to debate in South Carolina went after Sanders in the hours leading up to the 8 p.m. EST affair. Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, highlighted Sanders’ call for a government-financed health care system as an example of his “polarization.” Former Vice President Joe Biden accused Sanders of trying to undermine President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection. And former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg assailed Sanders’ record on gun control.

The press recently villifed high-interest financing as exploitative and predatory. Yet, savvy entrepreneurs use these tools to prosper. Here’s the truth. “Merchant cash advance.” “High-interest loans.” “Short-term loans.” “Bridge loans.” For business owners and individuals looking for quick, alternative funding sources, the names and loan types are many. No wonder most confuse them all as one big bad thing. As always, knowledge is clarity. Let’s review. Merchant cash advance: High on interest AND flexibility. Merchant cash advances are paid back through a percentage of future credit card earnings, and are therefore not considered loans. Based on this technicality, the industry remained largely unregulated during its inception in 1998.