The deep, intense misreading of my disgust as simply a product of my inferiority, my status as genitalia to be raped and fucked, a set of ‘holes’ as opposed to a person, a human being, someone who exists beyond their wants and needs and deep, terrorist hatred.
You can call them trolls. I call them terrorists.

They aim to frighten me, to terrorise me into silence, into making me feel intimidated and scared for my very humanity, my very existence. They aim to make a thing, something to be fucked. They aim to remove anything from me that makes me a human in their discussion. To normalise their hatred as a joke, as something funny. This is hate speech. They aren’t disagreeing with me over ‘feminist views’ or making clever satire, they are terrorising and humiliating me on account of my biology. This is a hate crime.
A hate crime against women is as serious as a hate crime against any race, orientation or religious/ethnic group.
So I’ll ask you this, lawmakers, legislators, politicians:
What are you going to do to protect us?





Feminism

--------------------------------

🇺🇸 **University of Texas to Treat Masculinity as a 'Mental Health' Issue**
<http://archive.fo/vsqlI>

The program is predicated on a critique of so-called “restrictive masculinity.” Men, the program argues, suffer when they are told to “act like a man” or when they are encouraged to fulfill traditional gender roles, such as being “successful” or “the breadwinner.”

Though you might enjoy “taking care of people” or being “active,” MasculinUT warns that many of these attributes are actually dangerous, claiming that “traditional ideas of masculinity place men into rigid (or restrictive) boxes [which]... prevent them from developing their emotional maturity.”

“If you are a male student at UT reading this right now, we hope that learning about this helps you not to feel guilty about having participated in these definitions of masculinity, and instead feel empowered to break the cycle!” the program offers.

The program is currently without leadership, but not for long. The school is in the process of hiring a “healthy masculinities coordinator” to run the program, and a school official tells PJ Media that some hopeful hirees are interviewing for the position later this week.

While many schools now have similar programs, this appears to be the first run directly out of a Counseling and Mental Health Center. Though the school seems to justify this by claiming that masculinity can cause men to lash out at other people and themselves, the school did not respond to a request for comment to clarify.

There is no evidence that masculinity itself contributes to violence. Universities that run similar programs, such as UNC-Chapel Hill and Northwestern, have admitted that their programming isn’t supported by any evidence.
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🇨🇦 Joke about 'Indian with STDs' at Broncos tribute concert stings Indigenous attendees
http://archive.fo/mpzFa

"Indian boy, shake it for me, boy, shake it for me, boy, shake it for meeeeee," sang Williams. "Shake it from the river, shake it from the trees, shake it for the Indian with STDs."
The last line provoked a loud reaction from the audience.
"What?" Ree then responded in apparent mock outrage.

"If we shook up some people and got them talking about issues affecting local minorities, then that is the definition of raising awareness. We certainly do not want one joke or comment to colour this event and all of the healing and incredible giving spirit it evoked."

Country Thunder Music Festivals, which organized the concert, said it had not received complaints about the joke.
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🇺🇸 **Illinois - Unarmed Social Workers To Replace Security Guards At Schools**
<http://archive.is/ZLwXx>

Lawmakers in Illinois voted to pass a plan to replace armed security officers with unarmed social workers. The Illinois House voted to pass the new legislation with some changes that put schools in jeopardy. The new legislation seeks to provide additional funding to schools that replace armed security officers with unarmed social workers and behavior therapists to keep order in the hallways.

The irresponsible changes dangle funding as an incentive to put children's lives at risk. Doing so invites more gun violence since kids will know there are no guns to defend the students. When another school shooting takes place at one of these schools that prioritized funding over student and faculty safety Democrats will be calling for more gun control.

The plan was proposed by Democrat Rep. Emanuel "Chris" Welch after hearing from advocates who argue that investing in mental health resources is the best way of treating the epidemic of violent attacks. This approach certainly carries some merit but not at the expense of the safety of student's lives. Welch's plan was backed by 16 other House Democrats and would allow schools to apply for an optional grant if they promise to reallocate funding for school law enforcement to mental health services.
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🇺🇸 **Students walk out of classrooms nationwide to show support for Second Amendment **
http://archive.is/EDxja

Hundreds of students on Wednesday walked out their classrooms in support of the Second Amendment as a direct response to a recent walkout organized by the survivors of a deadly school shooting in Parkland, Fla., which inspired thousands to stand together in protest of gun violence.

More than 300 schools in 40 different states registered for "Stand for the Second" — a 16-minute student walkout organized by New Mexico 18-year-old Will Riley.

Students from California High School in San Ramon and those from Grand Ledge High School in Michigan walked out of class in droves around 10 a.m. while other protesters at schools like Waukee High School only had a handful of like-minded teens join in the demonstration.
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🇺🇸 **US ‘freezes funding’ for White Helmets as group’s Douma chem attack claim falls apart **
<http://archive.fo/T5nz7>

As the reputation of the controversial militant-linked White Helmets continues to crumble, even the US State Department seems to be having second thoughts about supporting the group, reportedly placing a freeze on its funding.

The State Department’s support for the White Helmets is “under active review,”according to a CBS News report. The group reportedly hasn’t received funding in weeks, but neither has it received formal confirmation that Washington’s financial assistance has come to a complete halt. This would mean a significant blow for the group, as the money accounts for about one-third of the White Helmets’ overall funding.

An internal State Department document cited by CBS said that its Near East Bureau needed confirmation from President Donald Trump’s administration by April 15 in order to approve funding for the White Helmets. If that wasn't received, the department would initiate “shut-down procedures on a rolling basis.”

The report comes amid major controversy surrounding the White Helmets, after residents of Douma, Syria, testified in The Hague at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The hearing centered on the alleged chemical attack that was used as a justification for the April 14 strikes by the US, Britain, and France.
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🇺🇸 **NSA triples collection of U.S. phone records: official report**
<http://archive.fo/RP2cA>

The U.S. National Security Agency collected 534 million records of phone calls and text messages of Americans last year, more than triple gathered in 2016, a U.S. intelligence agency report released on Friday said. The sharp increase from 151 million occurred during the second full year of a new surveillance system established at the spy agency after U.S. lawmakers passed a law in 2015 that sought to limit its ability to collect such records in bulk.


The spike in collection of call records coincided with an increase reported on Friday across other surveillance methods, raising questions from some privacy advocates who are concerned about potential government overreach and intrusion into the lives of U.S. citizens. The 2017 call records tally remained far less than an estimated billions of records collected per day under the NSA’s old bulk surveillance system, which was exposed by former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden in 2013.

The records collected by the NSA include the numbers and time of a call or text message, but not their content. Overall increases in surveillance hauls were both mystifying and alarming coming years after Snowden’s leaks, privacy advocates said.

The government “has not altered the manner in which it uses its authority to obtain call detail records,” Timothy Barrett, a spokesman at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which released the annual report, said in a statement. “We expect this number to fluctuate from year to year,” he said.
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🇺🇸 ❗ **New Bipartisan Bill Could Give Any President the Power to Imprison U.S. Citizens in Military Detention Forever**
<https://archive.fo/pPPEj>

A bipartisan group of six lawmakers, led by Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Tim Kaine, D-Va., is proposing a new bill that would greatly expand who the president can place in indefinite military detention, *all in the name of restricting presidential power*. If the Corker-Kaine bill becomes law as currently written, any president, including Donald Trump, could plausibly claim extraordinarily broad power to order the military to imprison any U.S. citizen, captured in America or not, and hold them without charges essentially forever.

Kaine himself has explained that they authored the bill because “for too long, Congress has given presidents a blank check. We’ve let the 9/11 and Iraq War authorizations get stretched. … Our proposal finally repeals those authorizations and makes Congress do its job by weighing in on where, when, and with who we are at war.”

But thanks to a combination of sloppy drafting and clear reluctance to take the executive branch head-on, Corker and Kaine’s proposed AUMF could do the opposite, handing genuinely tyrannical powers over to the president. Christopher Anders of the ACLU characterizes the bill as “a legislative dumpster fire.” This matters because the Corker-Kaine AUMF allows the president to decide that he has the power to use force against any “organization, person, or force” essentially at will, by designating them as associated with previously named enemy groups.

As the ACLU’s Anders points out, there’s nothing in the Corker-Kaine AUMF that prevents a president from naming an American organization or individual to the list. And where the executive branch has the power to use force, three presidents have now either proclaimed, or at least refused to disavow, that they also have the power to use the military to indefinitely detain U.S. citizens without charges.

So that’s the extraordinary peril that Americans would face under the Corker-Kaine AUMF. It was bad enough with the 2001 AUMF, when U.S. citizens could be imprisoned forever if they had some connection to 9/11. The NDAA made it worse by expanding this to any connection to Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and “associated forces.” But the Corker-Kaine AUMF would give the president the power to seize anyone on earth, including Americans, just by sending a piece of paper to Congress asserting that a person or organization is associated with an already-named terrorist group. And like the 2001 AUMF and the NDAA before it, the Corker-Kaine AUMF does not prohibit the executive branch from using the military to apprehend and detain Americans in the U.S. itself.

Worst of all, the Corker-Kaine AUMF, like the one passed in 2001, has no sunset clause. If passed, repealing it would likely require supermajorities in both houses of Congress, so it could outlive all of us. The executive branch would potentially be able to hold prisoners without charge forever.
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🇺🇸 **How Buzzfeed’s ‘Data-Monster’ Leveraged User Data To Fuel Super PACs, Target Voters**
<https://archive.fo/JB3DP>

BuzzFeed partnered closely with multiple Democratic and anti-Trump super PACs in 2016 to target its own users with dozens of political advertisements that were not in accordance with its own policies, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation.

Former BuzzFeed Vice President Rena (((Shapiro))), who led the website’s native political advertising team during the 2016 election, described candidly in a pair of unearthed interviews how she partnered closely with political groups to create ads that harnessed the data BuzzFeed collects on its audience of over 650 million people to solve their “ultimate need, which is to get elected, to get their message out there, or to canvas people together to create impact around a cause.”

“This is a data monster that we’re working with here at BuzzFeed, and it’s awesome to harness that power to everyone’s advantage in the political space,” (((Shapiro))) said in December 2016 on “Digital Politics with Karen Jagoda.” Shortly after being hired to lead BuzzFeed’s politics and advocacy division, (((Shapiro))) stated publicly that her job at the viral news and entertainment site was to help political candidates win.

But as it turns out, only some in the political space were given the opportunity to partner with BuzzFeed’s viral marketing team to create custom political ads that, according to (((Shapiro))), are “based off of mounds and piles and troves of data and information that we have as far as how people are interacting and engaging with content.”

BuzzFeed raised eyebrows in June 2016 when it announced it had canceled a $1.3 million advertising agreement with the Republican National Committee due to disagreements with then-candidate Donald Trump’s “offensive statements.” Doing business with any group that supports Trump, BuzzFeed founder (((Jonah Peretti))) said after canceling the RNC ad buy, would be “hazardous to our health.”

“We don’t run cigarette ads because they are hazardous to our health, and we won’t accept Trump ads for the exact same reason,” Peretti said. And (((Shapiro))) made clear that BuzzFeed’s work with the super PACs meant the website had skin in the game trying to defeat Trump at the ballot box.

As the business side of BuzzFeed worked with anti-Trump super PACs in a bid to help elect Democrats, BuzzFeed News covered Trump in an aggressive manner. In late 2015, BuzzFeed editor-in-chief (((Ben Smith))) gave the go-ahead to his political reporters to call Trump a racist in news reports. “It is, for instance, entirely fair to call him a mendacious racist, as the politics team and others have reported clearly and aggressively: he’s out there saying things that are false, and running an overtly anti-Muslim campaign,” Smith told BuzzFeed News reporters.

“BuzzFeed News’s reporting is rooted in facts, not opinion; these are facts,” Smith said.
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🇷🇺 **Vladimir Putin sworn in for a fourth term as Russian president**
<https://archive.fo/iwkKG>

Vladimir Putin took the oath of office for his fourth term as Russian president on Monday, promising to pursue an economic agenda that would boost living standards across the country. In a ceremony in an ornate Kremlin hall in Moscow, Putin said improving Russia’s economy following a recession partly linked to international sanctions would be a primary goal of his next six-year term.

“Now, we must use all existing possibilities, first of all for resolving internal urgent tasks of development, for economic and technological breakthroughs, for raising competitiveness in those spheres that determine the future,” he told thousands of guests standing in the elaborate Andreevsky Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace and two adjacent halls. “A new quality of life, well-being, security and people’s health – that’s what’s primary today,” he said.

Although Putin has restored Russia’s prominence on the world stage through military actions, he has been criticized for inadequate efforts to diversify Russia’s economy away from its dependence on oil and gas exports and to develop the country’s manufacturing sector. “Russia should be modern and dynamic, it should be ready to accept the call of the times,” he said.
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🇦🇺 **Doctors raise alarm about ancient virus: 'Prevalence is off the charts' in Australia**
<https://archive.fo/gbs3h>

An ancient virus infecting residents across Australia's Northern Territory is leaving death and despair in its path, and doctors are now calling for greater efforts to stop the spread of infections. The rates of human T-cell leukemia virus type 1, or HTLV-1, infection are exceeding 40% among adults in remote regions of central Australia, with indigenous communities being the hardest hit, especially in the town of Alice Springs.

"The prevalence is off the charts" in Australia, said Dr. Robert Gallo, co-founder and director of the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, whose laboratory was the first to detect HTLV-1 in 1979 and publish the finding in 1980. Yet "nobody that I know of in the world has done anything about trying to treat this disease before," said Gallo, who is also co-founder and scientific director of the Global Virus Network and chairs the network's HTLV-1 Task Force. "There's little to almost no vaccine efforts, outside of some Japanese research," he said. "So prevention by vaccine is wide open for research."

HTLV-1 -- an ancient virus whose DNA can be found in 1,500-year-old Andean mummies -- can spread from mother to child, particularly through breastfeeding; between sexual partners, through unprotected sex; and by blood contact, such as through transfusions. Because it can be transmitted through sex, it's considered a sexually transmitted infection, or STI. The virus is associated with myriad serious health problems, such as diseases of the nervous system and a lung-damaging condition called bronchiectasis, and it weakens the immune system. HTLV-1 is sometimes called the cousin of the human immunodeficiency virus, HIV.
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🇺🇸 **Spotify Removes R. Kelly Music From Its Playlists As Part of New Hate Content & Hateful Conduct Policy**
<https://archive.fo/69gmE>

Beginning today (May 10), Spotify users will no longer be able to find R. Kelly's music on any of the streaming service's editorial or algorithmic playlists. Under the terms of a new public hate content and hateful conduct policy Spotify is putting into effect, the company will no longer promote the R&B singer's music in any way, removing his songs from flagship playlists like RapCaviar, Discover Weekly or New Music Friday, for example, as well as its other genre- or mood-based playlists.

"We are removing R. Kelly’s music from all Spotify owned and operated playlists and algorithmic recommendations such as Discover Weekly," Spotify told Billboard in a statement. "His music will still be available on the service, but Spotify will not actively promote it. We don’t censor content because of an artist’s or creator’s behavior, but we want our editorial decisions -- what we choose to program -- to reflect our values. When an artist or creator does something that is especially harmful or hateful, it may affect the ways we work with or support that artist or creator."

Kelly is the only artist that Spotify specifically acknowledged would fall under this new public policy, though others may also be affected. Later on Thursday, Billboard was able to confirm that controversial rapper XXXTentacion had also been removed from playlists, namely the highly influential RapCaviar.
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🇸🇾 **28 Israeli jets fired about 60 rockets in overnight strikes on Syria – Russian MoD **
<https://archive.fo/g62PC>

Some 28 Israeli aircraft fired around 60 air-to-surface rockets in a massive overnight strike in Syria, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Syrian air-defense systems managed to intercept more than half of the missiles. A total of 70 projectiles, including 60 air-to-surface rockets and more than 10 surface-to-surface missiles, hit Iranian military targets and Syrian air-defense systems near Damascus and in the south of the country on Thursday morning, the Russian military said in a statement.

“28 Israeli F-15 and F-16 planes were involved in the attack,” the ministry said. “Syrian air-defense systems shot down more than half of the rockets as they repelled the Israeli attack.” Israeli forces bombed the Syrian territory for two hours between 1:45am and 3:45am local time on Thursday. The attack was carried out under the pretext of allegations that Iranian forces had earlier hit Israeli targets in the Golan Heights. The damage inflicted on Iranian military and Syrian civilian infrastructure by the airstrikes is being evaluated.

Earlier, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said that all its aircraft had safely returned after one of its most extensive attacks in years. Tel-Aviv claims that it was carried out in retaliation to 20 rockets launched at Israeli targets in the Golan Heights by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp’s Quds Force.

“Four of them were intercepted by the Iron Dome and the rest landed on Syrian territory,” the IDF said, according to Ynet, adding that the incident had resulted in no damage or casualties. The allegations were denied by a member of the Iranian parliament's commission, Abolfazl Hassan Beigi, who accused Israel of “lying,” as Iran has “no military presence” or bases in Syria, Sputnik reports.
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🇻🇦 **The devil is a big loser, but he still manages to trick people, pope says**
<https://archive.fo/Zg627>

The devil is “a loser,” but he still tricks people into giving him power, Pope Francis said. The devil “seduces us; he knows how to appeal to our vanity and curiosity and we buy it all,” the pope said May 8 during his homily at Mass in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae where he lives.

The day’s Gospel passage from St. John ends with Jesus telling His disciples “the ruler of this world has been condemned.” The phrase refers to the devil, Pope Francis said. With the resurrection of Jesus, the devil has been defeated, but he still pretends to have power and still tries to influence people.

“He has this ability to seduce,” the pope said. “That makes it hard to understand that he is a loser because he presents himself with great power, promises you many things, brings you gifts — beautiful, all wrapped up,” he said. “He knows how to seduce us with the package without letting us see what’s inside. He knows how to present his proposals to appeal to our vanity, our curiosity.”

Unfortunately, he said, too often “we like being seduced.” “We must be aware of the devil,” he said, and Jesus taught His disciples that the only way to do that was to watch, pray and fast.

And, Pope Francis said, it’s especially important that Christians don’t think they can approach the devil, see what he’s like and then just walk away unscathed. As one of the fathers of the Church wrote, the devil is like an angry, rabid dog that is chained up, he said.

People know when they are playing with fire, the pope said. They know when they are approaching that angry dog. “Please, don’t,” he said, before imagining a dialogue in which someone cries about having been bitten, but it turns out the dog was chained up and he had approached it, basically provoking the injury.
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🇸🇪 **Woman Who Campaigned for Keeping Moslems in the Country Raped by Moslems**
<https://archive.fo/MqGnl>

Is the diverse experience of being raped by a Moslem while another Moslem jerks it in your face multicultural enough for you? A Swedish woman was raped by an Afghan teenager while another masturbated and groped her breasts, a court heard.

The victim reportedly campaigns against the deportation of migrants from Sweden and met the 18-year-olds outside a hotel bar on Boxing Day last year. Anwar Hassani and Fardi Hesari asked the woman, aged in her 40s, if she wanted to go back to their room, which is provided for unaccompanied minor refugees, in Ljungby, southern Sweden, just before 3.30am.

The victim told police that she was only interested in them as they were migrants from Afghanistan, saying Hassani asked her why she did not want to have sex after following them home.

It was also revealed in a police interrogation that Hassani asked Hesari in Farsi: ‘Aren’t you going to rape?’ The victim told police that Hesari began groping her breasts while masturbating, and Hassani suddenly penetrated her anally.
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🇺🇸 **US Air Force jets intercept 2 Russian bombers off Alaska coast**
<http://archive.fo/fWttJ>

A pair of U.S. Air Force stealth fighter jets intercepted two Russian nuclear-capable bombers Friday morning off the coast of Alaska, a spokesman for NORAD (North American Aeorospace Defense Command) told Fox News.

The approach by the two Tupolev Tu-95 Russian "Bear" aircraft marked the first time in just over a year that Russian bombers had flown that close to U.S. territory.

The F-22s monitored the Russian aircraft until the bombers left the ADIZ along the Aleutian Islands, heading west. At no time did the bombers enter North American sovereign airspace, said the NORAD spokesman, Canadian Army Maj. Andrew Hennessey.
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🇸🇪 **Muslims in Sweden Want “Allahu Akbar” Call to Prayer Broadcast Throughout the Country**
<https://archive.fo/zSUCi>

Prominent Muslims in Sweden are now demanding that the Islamic call to prayer be broadcast throughout the country after it was allowed in the city of Växjö. On Tuesday, Swedish police granted a mosque in the southern city of Vaxjo permission to broadcast the call to prayer, which commonly includes the refrain “Allahu Akbar,” over loudspeakers once a week. Some politicians criticized the decision, with Anna Tenje of the conservative Moderates asserting it risked “pulling the city further apart.”

Leader of the Christian Democrats Ebba Busch Thor, who campaigned against the decision, said “people shouldn’t have to hear it in their homes.” However, with three mosques in the country now being allowed to broadcast the call to prayer, Avdi Islami, spokesman of Växjö’s Muslim Foundation, said the call should be heard nationwide. “We want to call out at more places. There are many Muslims who are Swedish citizens, who have the same rights as everyone else,” he said.

As we reported in February, Sweden appointed a Pakistani Muslim migrant as the head of its national heritage board, with the individual admitting that he hasn’t “read anything about cultural heritage.” 44-year-old Qaisar Mahmood told a radio show that Sweden’s cultural traditions “hide hideous motives,” while expressing his intent to oppose Swedes who “want to protect the culture” and are resistant to change.
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🇮🇱 **Eurovision song contest won by Israel's Netta in Lisbon final **
<https://archive.fo/qrqzR>

Israel has won the Eurovision song contest with pop star Netta Barzilai’s quirky entry Toy. The Israeli performer was awarded 529 points, beating favourites Cyprus into second place. The 25-year-old was singing with the Israeli Navy Band when she entered and won the country’s Eurovision selection show HaKokhav HaBa. The catchy electronic dance song entry had emerged as an early favourite to win the contest before bookies shortened the odds on her rival Cyprus’s Eleni Foureira.

It is *Israel’s fourth Eurovision win* after coming first in Paris in 1978, winning in Israel the next year and most recently groundbreaking performer (((Dana International))) who was the first ever trans winner of the contest took home the trophy in 1998. Accepting her prize in the Altice Arena in Lisbon, Netta told the Eurovision hosts: “I’m so happy, thanks for choosing difference, ***thank you for celebrating diversity”***

Fans were charmed by the ‘chicken dance’ moves of the choreography while some commentators have noted the song’s lyrics - “I’m not your toy / You stupid boy”- are apt for the first post #MeToo Eurovision. Shortly after her win the pop star Tweeted: “Thank you Europe”. Eurovision fan JK Rowling, who had been tweeting throughout the show, called Netta “a worthy winner”.
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🇸🇾 **Israeli-made weapons among arms handed over by militants in Damascus **
<https://archive.fo/rPZ3f>

Israeli-made landmines were found in a large trove of medium and heavy weapons handed over by rebels in southern Damascus, Syria's state media reported. Damascus has repeatedly accused Tel Aviv of aiding militants.

This is far from the first report of Israeli-made weapons being stockpiled by militants. In February, it was reported that the Syrian army stumbled onto warehouses that were stacked with weapons, some of which were Israeli-made, as they were inspecting the Al Boukamal and Al Mayadin areas in Deir ez-Zor, which was liberated by the Syrian forces from Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in the fall of last year.

Since the onset of hostilities in Syria, the Syrian military has repeatedly seized armaments and munitions with inscriptions in Hebrew. In April 2016, Syrian forces pulled over a vehicle packed with Israeli-made mines, mortars, rockets and hand grenades that were bound for an area controlled by ISIS in eastern Syria.

Israel says it provides humanitarian assistance to Syrian anti-government forces, but it remains largely silent on the apparent weapon supplies. Meanwhile, Haaretz reported in February that at least seven Sunni rebel groups in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights are being provided weapons and ammunition from Israel. Moreover, the amount of direct military assistance they receive is said to have been on the rise in the recent months.

This comes at the time of ramped up tensions between the two countries and just a few days after Israel launched a barrage of rockets at what it claimed were Iranian targets in Syria in retaliation for an alleged attack by Iran's Quds Forces against Israeli positions in the Golan Heights. Three people were killed and two were injured in the bombardment, which was condemned by Iran as a flagrant violation of Syria's sovereignty.
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🇦🇺 **7 Dead In Southwestern Australia Mass Shooting**
<https://archive.fo/JA5VB>

In Osmington, a town of just 135 people in southwest Australia, seven people were killed in what could be the largest shooting the nation has seen in more than two decades. According to the Associated Press, when police were called to the home at approximately 5:15 a.m. local time Friday, they found the bodies of three adults and four children.

"The bodies of two adults were located outside. Five bodies were located inside a building on the rural property," said Western Australia Police Commissioner Chris Dawson. "It appears that ... gunshot wounds are there, but I don’t want to go further than that, as two firearms have been located at the scene," Dawson added.

9 News Perth spoke with a family friend, Felicity Haynes, who claims to have heard multiple gunshots coming from the property in the early morning. The network quoted Dawson, who stated that a man made the emergency call that brought police to the property, however, the man’s identity has not been revealed.

The commissioner was circumspect about the incident, refusing to release the names and ages of the deceased, only revealing that officials were attempting to contact family members. Additionally, Dawson stated: "At this point in time, we don’t have any information to raise further public concern." The commissioner’s statement may indicate that the crime was a murder/suicide, according to multiple outlets, however, authorities have not released details to that effect.
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🇺🇸 **Hawaii volcano spurs new evacuations on Big Island after 18th lava fissure reported**
<http://archive.fo/hlZHe>

Three new fissures have opened on Hawaii's Big Island - bringing the total to 18 - spewing bits of bright red lava several hundred feet in the air and escalating fears of violent explosions to come, more than a week after Kilauea, one of the world’s most active volcanos, erupted.

Hawaii Civil Defense officials said they went door-to-door Sunday waking people up and telling them to evacuate. At least 36 structures, including 27 homes, have been destroyed since the eruptions began. The lava has covered more than 17 acres of land.

The Hawaii National Guard is prepared to use ground convoys and helicopters to help evacuate hundreds of residents stuck in the southeast corner of Hawaii’s Big Island should Kilauea make it impossible to get out, authorities said.
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https://www.nraila.org/articles/20180512/massachusetts-committees-to-vote-on-anti-second-amendment-bills

As early as next week, the Massachusetts House Ways and Means Committee will be hearing House Bill 3610 to allow firearms to be seized from individuals following baseless accusations without proper due process. The Senate Ways and Means Committee will also be hearing Senate Bill 2476 to restrict stun guns. Please contact committee members and urge them to OPPOSE H.3610 and S.2476. Click the “Take Action” button below to contact committee members and also call the House Ways and Means Committee at (617) 722-2990 and the Senate Ways and Means Committee at (617) 722-1481.

House Bill 3610, presented by Representative Marjorie Decker (D-25th Middlesex), would allow for the issuance of protective orders to infringe on Second Amendment rights based on third party allegations and little, if any, real evidence and limited due process for the respondent. The issuance of an order would result in the immediate suspension and surrender of any license to carry firearms and firearms identification card which the respondent may hold. The respondent would also be required to surrender all firearms and ammunition.

Constitutional rights should only be restricted with proper due process of law. The reasons for this are two-fold. It limits restrictions on constitutional rights to only serious convictions and adjudications that provide greater procedural protections to the accused, which results in more reliable proceedings. The Right to Keep and Bear Arms should not be treated as a second-class right and should only be restricted consistent with the constitutional requirements of due process. Further, for truly dangerous individuals, these bills do nothing to incapacitate the subjects of the orders, so their ability to harm others wouldn't be addressed by this bill.

Senate Bill 2476 would subject “electronic stun guns” and “electronic dart guns” to the same licensing requirements as handguns in order for citizens to “possess, purchase, carry, transfer, or otherwise utilize for defensive purposes.” In addition, it would require all electronic stun guns sold to have a mechanism that tracks the number of times the device has been fired. Such restrictions will only serve to increase the red tape and cost for law-abiding citizens to acquire these self-defense devices without affecting criminals. With the stun gun ban being struck down recently, it is time to allow law-abiding citizens to own and carry these devices for self-defense without any last-ditch efforts to deny or discourage the exercise of this right.

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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-waco-biker-shooting-charges-20180509-story.html

One of three bikers indicted on murder charges Wednesday stemming from a chaotic 2015 shooting outside a Texas restaurant is accused of killing a man who was also shot twice by police, according to ballistics evidence reviewed by The Associated Press.
The indictments against Glenn Walker and two fellow members of the Bandidos motorcycle club mark the first murder charges filed in connection to the melee that left nine bikers dead, 20 wounded and nearly 200 arrested outside a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco.

Investigators say the shooting was sparked by rivalries between the Bandidos and Cossacks motorcycle clubs ahead of a biker meeting. Waco police monitoring the gathering said officers opened fire after fights and gunfire broke out in the parking lot.
Walker is accused of fatally shooting Richard Kirschner, a Cossacks member. An autopsy report shows Kirschner was shot three times: once in the buttocks with a pistol and twice with a rifle in the right thigh and left knee.

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https://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanellis/2018/03/09/democrats-release-tax-hike-plan/#3f2c4be47b9e

an to improve the nation's infrastructure on March 07, 2018. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
This week, Congressional Democrats released a detailed tax hike plan that they promised to implement if given majority control of the House and Senate after the 2018 midterm elections. So much for the crocodile tears about the deficit--Democrats want to raise taxes not to reduce the debt, but rather to spend that tax hike money on boondoggle projects

As you might expect, hold onto your wallets. Here are the details:
Increase the top marginal income tax rate from 37 percent to 39.6 percent. This nearly 3 percentage point increase in the top personal rate is not only a hike in the top bracket levy, but it's also a direct tax increase on small and mid-sized businesses. The 30 million companies which are organized as sole proprietorships, partnerships, Subchapter-S corporations, and LLCs pay their business taxes on their owners' 1040 personal tax returns. Hiking the top tax rate is a small business tax increase.