Kushner Cos., the real estate firm owned by the family of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, has received about $800 million in federally backed debt to buy apartments in Maryland and Virginia — the company’s biggest purchase in a decade.
The loan was issued by Berkadia, a lender co-owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and Jefferies Financial Group Inc., in a deal that’s backed by government-owned Freddie Mac, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named discussing the private transaction.
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Jared KushnerPhotographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
He called himself India’s watchman, even as minorities said they felt unsafe under his gaze. He boasted of his humble origins while doing favors for billionaires. He spoke the language of business, yet could not deliver enough jobs to Indians aspiring to a better life.
Despite those contradictions, Narendra Modi, India’s incumbent prime minister, led his party to a stunning election victory on Thursday, eviscerating the opposition and giving Hindu nationalists the strongest hand they have held in modern Indian history.
His mix of brawny Hindu nationalism, populist humility and grand gestures for the poor — like building tens of millions of new toilets — helped him become the first prime minister in nearly 50 years to win a majority in successive parliamentary elections.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India is the first Indian prime minister to lead his party to majorities in Parliament in back-to-back elections in nearly 50 years.CreditCreditAtul Loke/Getty Images
President Donald Trump’s administration proposed a new regulation on Friday that would wipe out Obama-era health care protections for transgender Americans.
President Barack Obama’s administration issued a rule in 2016 that health care providers receiving federal funding could not discriminate on the basis of sex and expanded the term “sex discrimination” to include gender identity — though a federal judge later blocked enforcement on the latter of these rules.
The Department of Health and Human Services said its proposal aims to align its definition with “the plain understanding recognized by the court.”
“The American people want vigorous protection of civil rights and faithfulness to the text of the laws passed by their representatives,” said Roger Severino, director of the Office of Civil Rights at HHS. “The proposed rule would accomplish both goals.”
The Trump administration notified Congress on Friday that it is invoking a rarely used provision in federal law to bypass congressional review of arms sales to Saudi Arabia, two Democratic senators said.
The administration is issuing an emergency declaration that will allow it to sell arms to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and others despite congressional objections, according to Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. Menendez said the administration did not cite a specific legal or practical reason for using the provision in the Arms Export Control Act other than to cite threats from Iran.
The U.S. electorate is the oldest it’s ever been and will keep getting older for at least four more decades.
Researchers call it the “demographic transition.” Americans over 65 are now the fastest-growing age group in the country. The U.S. Census projects that by 2035, the population past retirement age will outnumber the population under 18 for the first time in history. While younger, more diverse generations have captured the media narrative about U.S. politics, its defining feature in the future may be its oldest participants.
“As much as diversity is growing in the U.S., the baby boomer generation still has a lot of financial power, political power and consumer power,” said William Frey, a demographer and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. “There’s a lot of focus in the media on the younger generations, but in fact, the younger population is growing more slowly than seniors.”
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HuffPost
Due to increasing life expectancy, falling birth rates and the sheer size of the baby boom generation, today’s older voters have held on to political power longer than any previous generation in history.
The term Green New Deal might remind Americans of high-school history class. What was the original New Deal about, again? Most kids are taught that it was a decidedly left-wing project to end the Great Depression, a series of big-spending government programs such as the Public Works Administration, with its schools and stadiums. That impression colors the debate over the Democrats’ important new proposal: Conservatives warn of catastrophic federal debts while liberals insist that top-down investment was and is crucial to managing a disaster.
But the high-school narrative is not quite right. It leaves out the parts of the New Deal that encouraged private investment.
Film and Writing Festival for Comedy. Showcasing best of comedy short films at the FEEDBACK Film Festival. Plus, showcasing best of comedy novels, short stories, poems, screenplays (TV, short, feature) at the festival performed by professional actors.
Jared Kushner Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
Theresa May has announced she is standing down as Prime Minister on 7 June
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James' World 2 