🇺🇸 **Trump order would ban most transgender troops from serving**
<https://archive.fo/0AHau>

President Donald Trump is issuing an order to ban transgender people from serving in the military except under “limited circumstances,” following up on his calls to ban transgender individuals from serving.

The White House says retaining troops with a history or diagnosis of “gender dysphoria” — those who may require substantial medical treatment — “presents considerable risk to military effectiveness and lethality.”

Trump received recommendations from Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in February for dealing with transgender individuals serving in the military.

Trump surprised the Pentagon’s leadership in a 2017 tweet when he declared he would reverse an Obama-era plan to allow transgender individuals to serve openly.

His push for the ban has been blocked by several legal challenges, and the Pentagon began allowing transgender recruits to seek enlistment in January.
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🇺🇸 🇮🇷 **Nine Iranians Charged With Conducting Massive Cyber Theft Campaign on Behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps**
<https://archive.fo/b08rD>

An Indictment charging Gholamreza Rafatnejad, 38; Ehsan Mohammadi, 37; Abdollah Karima, aka Vahid Karima, 39; Mostafa Sadeghi, 28; Seyed Ali Mirkarimi, 34; Mohammed Reza Sabahi, 26; Roozbeh Sabahi, 24; Abuzar Gohari Moqadam, 37; and Sajjad Tahmasebi, 30, all citizens and residents of Iran, was unsealed today.

he defendants were each leaders, contractors, associates, hackers-for-hire or affiliates of the Mabna Institute, an Iran-based company that, since at least 2013, conducted a coordinated campaign of cyber intrusions into computer systems belonging to 144 U.S. universities, 176 universities across 21 foreign countries, 47 domestic and foreign private sector companies, the U.S. Department of Labor, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the State of Hawaii, the State of Indiana, the United Nations, and the United Nations Children’s Fund.

Through the defendants’ activities, the Mabna Institute stole more than 31 terabytes of academic data and intellectual property from universities, and email accounts of employees at private sector companies, government agencies, and non-governmental organizations.

The defendants conducted many of these intrusions on behalf of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s (Iran) Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), one of several entities within the government of Iran responsible for gathering intelligence, as well as other Iranian government and university clients.
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🇸🇦 **Saudi Arabia opens its airspace to Israel for first time ever as Air India flight bound for Tel Aviv ends a 70-year-old ban**
<https://archive.fo/oquWx>

Saudi Arabia opened its airspace for the first time to a commercial flight to Israel on Thursday with an Air India route flying non-stop between New Delhi and Tel Aviv - a sign of a behind-the-scenes improvement in ties between the Arab kingdom and the Jewish state.

The Air India 139 flight landed at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport after 7-1/2 hours and flew over Saudi for around three hours, marking a diplomatic shift for Riyadh that Israel says was fuelled by shared concern over Iranian influence in the region.

It comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described relations with the Arab world as the 'best ever', with common concerns over Iran drawing them closer together.

Riyadh, which does not recognise Israel, has not formally confirmed granting the Air India plane overflight rights. And while the move ended a 70-year-old ban on planes flying to or from Israel through Saudi airspace, there is as yet no indication that it will be applied for any Israeli airline.
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🇺🇸 **Trump: Border wall construction will start on Monday**
<https://archive.fo/UP0C7>

President Trump said Friday that construction of his promised border wall would start "immediately" after signing the omnibus spending bill, which included $1.6 billion in funding for the wall.

"We're going to be starting work literally on Monday," Trump said during an event Friday at the White House. "We have a lot of money coming to the border."

Although the White House requested $25 billion in funding for wall construction, lawmakers included just $1.6 billion in the final version of their omnibus. That money can only go to fencing, however, and cannot be used to build a concrete wall anywhere along the border.

"Not happy with $1.6 billion for the wall," Trump said. Still, Trump described the sum as an "initial down payment" on the wall that would allow his administration to begin building it right away. "This is short term funding, but it's immediate," Trump said.
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🇫 **Gun Maker Remington Seeks Bankruptcy Protection**
<https://archive.fo/3WJNI>

Firearms maker Remington Outdoor Co. sought bankruptcy protection Sunday, in the face of a heavy debt load, falling sales and lawsuits tied to Sandy Hook school shooting.

Remington filed for chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., with plans to hand over control of the company to its creditors—including Franklin Resources Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s asset-management division—in exchange for wiping much of its debt from its balance sheet.

The bankruptcy filing brings to an end private-equity backer Cerberus Capital Management LP’s investment in the gun business. The buyout firm acquired Bushmaster Firearms International in 2006, and in 2007 it paid $118 million for Remington and assumed $252 million of its debt. Cerberus later formed the Freedom Group Inc., a holding company comprised of Bushmaster, Remington and other firearms makers.
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🇷🇺 🇺🇸 **Diplomats ousted: US, Europe punish Russia over spy case**
<https://archive.fo/7sbUQ>

The United States and more than a dozen European nations kicked out Russian diplomats on Monday and the Trump administration ordered Russia's consulate in Seattle to close, as the West sought joint punishment for Moscow's alleged poisoning of an ex-spy in Britain.

Warning of an "unacceptably high" number of Russian spies in the U.S., the Trump administration said 60 diplomats would be expelled — all Russian intelligence agents working under diplomatic cover, the U.S. said. The group includes a dozen posted to Russia's mission to the United Nations who the officials said were engaged in "aggressive collection" of intelligence on American soil.

"This is the largest expulsion of Russian intelligence officers in United States history," said U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman.

The American penalties were echoed by announcements in European capitals across the continent, including those in Russia's backyard. All told, 18 countries were ousting more than 100 Russian spies, British Prime Minister Theresa May said, in addition to 23 already kicked out by the U.K.
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🤔 **Orlando nightclub shooter’s father was FBI informant, court documents say **
<https://archive.fo/ZxpBz>

The father of the 29-year-old who killed 49 people at an Orlando nightclub in the summer of 2016 was an FBI informant who came under scrutiny himself after investigators found receipts for money transfers to Turkey and Afghanistan in the wake of the mass shooting, recently filed court documents show.

The revelation came in documents filed by attorneys for the shooter’s wife, Noor Salman, who is on trial in Orlando on allegations that she aided and abetted her husband’s attack and obstructed law enforcement’s investigation into it.

“It is apparent from the Government’s belated disclosure that Ms. Salman has been defending a case without a complete set of facts and evidence that the Government was required to disclose,” defense attorneys wrote.

Seddique Mateen — the father of Omar Mateen — was an FBI informant at various points between January 2005 and June 2016, court documents say. Salman’s defense attorneys wrote that Seddique Mateen also had sent money to Turkey for a “substantial period and just one week before the attack,” and that in November 2012 an anonymous tip alleged that he was seeking to raise between $50,000 and $100,000 to help fund an attack against the government of Pakistan.
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<:thinkkike:361809126436634634> **Murder of elderly woman in Paris probed as anti-Semitic**
<https://archive.fo/ScjXU>

French authorities say the killing of an elderly Jewish woman in Paris is being investigated as an anti-Semitic murder. The woman, identified in French media as Mireille Knoll, was **stabbed at least 11 times and her body was set on fire.**

The Paris prosecutor's office said Monday two suspects have been put in custody. It said it is asking investigating judges to charge the pair with premeditated murder of a vulnerable person for anti-Semitic motives.

The office also asked for the suspects to be jailed pending trial.

Leading Jewish group CRIF said the 85-year-old woman was slain last week in Paris' eastern 11th district. The victim had reportedly escaped a round-up of Jews in Paris during World War II. The group says a neighbor who had previously made anti-Semitic statements was one of the people under arrest. They didn't confirm reports that the man was Muslim.
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🇺🇸 **Holocaust Studies Mandatory In Kentucky Schools Due To Push By Catholic Teacher**
<http://archive.fo/Sr14R>

Advocacy by a Catholic middle school teacher helped convince the Kentucky legislature to make teaching about the Holocaust mandatory in public schools.

The state Senate on Wednesday unanimously passed the Ann Klein and Fred Gross Holocaust Education Act. The House passed the bill earlier this month, the Jewish Louisville Community reported. Gov. Matt Bevin is expected to sign the legislation into law. New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Florida, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and California are states that require some measure of Holocaust and genocide education, according to the report.

*The bill requires every public middle and high school in the state to include in their curriculum instruction on the Holocaust and other acts of genocide, as defined by the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.*
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<:jew:348458300947431426> **Microsoft To Ban ‘Offensive Language’ & Monitor Your Private Account**
<https://archive.fo/PyaNy>

Microsoft is cracking down on what people say while using their services online. According to a new services agreement written by the company, the tech giant is planning to ban accounts that use “offensive language” and will go through your private data to “investigate” users.

In a March 1 release, Microsoft is warning customers using Office, Xbox, Skype, and other products that the company is prohibiting offensive language and inappropriate content starting on May 1. “Don’t publicly display or use the Services to share inappropriate content or material (involving, for example, nudity, bestiality, pornography, offensive language, graphic violence, or criminal activity),” Microsoft warns in a portion of their new codes of conduct.

Microsoft also added that the company plans on “investigating” users who are accused of violating the new policy and will block content from being sent to other people. “When investigating alleged violations of these Terms, Microsoft reserves the right to review Your Content in order to resolve the issue,” the new policy states.

Civil rights activist and law student Jonathan Corbett added that Microsoft’s May 1 agreement is just an excuse to police people’s behavior, even in private. “I can’t use Skype to have an adult video call with my girlfriend? I can’t use OneDrive to back up a document that says ‘f–k’ in it? If I call someone a mean name in Xbox Live, not only will they cancel my account, but also confiscate any funds I’ve deposited in my account?” Corbett questions in a blog post.
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🇺🇸 **Dems introduce bill to require background checks on ammunition sales**
<https://archive.fo/n8Gcu>

A pair of Democratic lawmakers are introducing legislation to require a background check for all firearm ammunition sales.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) said on Monday they had introduced the bill, known as the Ammunition Background Check Act of 2018, arguing it would help close a "loophole" in the current law.

"Ammunition sales should be subject to the same legal requirements as firearm sales, and that includes instant background checks. ... Closing this ludicrous loophole is a common-sense component of a comprehensive strategy to reduce gun violence," Blumenthal said.

Under the legislation, federally licensed sellers would run the checks for ammunition sales through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
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🇩🇪 **Germany: ISIS Beheading Videos “Spreading Like Wildfire” Amongst Migrants in Schools**
<http://archive.fo/oya41>

In an article entitled Our schools are out of control, Heinz-Peter Meidinger told BILD that the situation in some schools was becoming chronic, with increasing numbers of violent attacks on teachers creating the need for security guards at schools with migrant populations of 70 per cent and over.

Meidinger said that the attacks on teachers were primarily driven by cultural and religious attitudes held by Arab and North African **teens who do not respect women.** 😠

Anti-Semitic attacks on Jewish children are increasing too as more migrant children carry knives and pepper spray. “A Jewish girl was threatened with death by her classmates and time and time again there are anti-Semitic attacks in Berlin,” said Meidinger.

Asked whether the circulation of an ISIS beheading video in a school in Berlin was an isolated case, Meidinger responded that such incidents were now commonplace.

“Unfortunately, these are no longer individual cases, not even among very young students at elementary schools. Such incidents now exist at many schools in Germany. One thing is certain: Cruel violent videos in social networks have long since arrived in student life. In chat forums like WhatsApp, movies like the described ISIS beheading video are spreading like wildfire,” he said.
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🇸🇦 **Spread of Wahhabism was done at request of West during Cold War – Saudi crown prince **
<http://archive.fo/RZTwB>

The Saudi-funded spread of Wahhabism began as a result of Western countries asking Riyadh to help counter the Soviet Union during the Cold War, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told the Washington Post.

Speaking to the paper, bin Salman said that Saudi Arabia's (((Western allies))) urged the country to invest in mosques and madrassas overseas during the Cold War, in an effort to prevent encroachment in Muslim countries by the Soviet Union.

He added that successive Saudi governments had lost track of that effort, saying "we have to get it all back." Bin Salman also said that funding now comes mostly from Saudi-based "foundations," rather than from the government.

The interview with the crown prince was initially held off the record. However, the Saudi embassy later agreed to led the Washington Post publish specific portions of the meeting.
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🇺🇸 **Chemotherapy-free ‘cancer vaccine’ moves from mice to human trials at Stanford**
<http://archive.fo/ZIcAU>

A recent Stanford cancer study that cured 97 percent of mice from tumors has now moved on to soliciting human volunteers for a new cutting-edge medical trial. The trial is part of a gathering wave of research into immunotherapy, a type of treatment that fights cancer by using the body's immune system to attack tumors.

"Getting the immune system to fight cancer is one of the most recent developments in cancer," (((Dr. Ronald Levy))), a Stanford oncology professor who is leading the study, told SFGATE. "People need to know that this is in its early days and we are still looking for safety and looking to make this as good as it can be."

The treatment is not a true vaccine that creates lasting immunity, but it does feature a vaccine-like injection carrying two immune stimulators that activate the immune system's T cells to eliminate tumors throughout the body. Each test subject receives a low dose of radiation plus two rounds of the injected agents, Levy said. No chemotherapy is involved.

The treatment does not work on all types of cancer, Levy said, because each type of cancer has a different set of rules regarding how it can be affected by the immune system. For the current trials, he is only looking for people with low-grade lymphoma regardless if they have been previously treated. He said Stanford is planning on running two trials by the end of the year with a total of about 35 test subjects.
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🇺🇸 **SF street fight interrupted by hit-and-run that leaves 1 man dead**
<https://archive.fo/C27VH>

A man plowed into five people with his vehicle Wednesday morning in San Francisco in a hit-and-run that left one person dead, police said.

Police initially said the incident came as a result of the driver getting into a fight with the five people around 10:30 a.m. near Illinois and 24th streets. However, officials have since revised their report to note that the pedestrians were fighting among themselves. It’s not clear if the driver was involved in the altercation.

One man died from the collision, while the conditions of the remaining four victims is not known. Authorities initially reported that four of the victims were taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.
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🇸🇦 **Saudi Prince Meets New York Rabbis in Rare Interfaith Gesture**
<https://archive.li/1zEvV>

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman met a group of religious leaders in New York, including two rabbis, a rare interfaith gesture for the de facto ruler of the conservative Islamic kingdom that allows negligible religious freedoms.

The 32-year-old heir to the throne, currently on a three-week tour of the U.S., met two Roman Catholic and three Jewish figures on Wednesday, the Saudi embassy in Washington said in a statement. Saudi Arabia enforces an austere interpretation of Sunni Islam, but Prince Mohammed has said he wants to ease the country toward “moderate Islam, open to the world and all religions.”

“The meeting emphasized the common bond among all people, particularly people of faith, which stresses the importance of tolerance, coexistence, and working together for a better future for all of humanity,” the embassy said. Although Prince Mohammed had recently met Christian figures, it marks the first time he’s announced a meeting with a Jewish religious leader.

Prince Mohammed’s meeting included Rabbi Richard Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism; Rabbi Steven Wernick, head of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism; and Allen Fagin, executive vice president of the Orthodox Union, the embassy said.

It’s not the first time a Saudi royal has met a rabbi; the late King Abdullah was photographed multiple times with New York-based Rabbi Marc Schneier.
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🇺🇸 **Scores of Girls Are Flooding The Parkland Shooter With Fan Mail**
<https://archive.li/w1r3f>

The Parkland, Florida mass shooter is receiving "stacks of fan mail and love letters" from "crazed girls," grown women and "even some men," the Florida Sun-Sentinel reports, and has no received hundreds of dollars in unsolicited contributions to help fund his prison needs.

Even creepier than the mere fact the shooter is receiving fan mail is, apparently, the letters' contents. Deputies at the Broward County jail, where the shooter is being held pending trial, report that he receives "cute greeting cards," "notes of friendship and encouragement," and plenty of lewd photos.

Some of the letters are part of coordinated letter-writing campaigns, organized on "groupie" Facebook pages dedicated to the shooter, which also sell bracelets and tee shirts members can wear to express their public support.

"There's piles of letters," Broward County Public Defender Howard Finkelstein told the paper. "I've never seen this many letters to a defendant. Everyone now and then gets a few, but nothing like this."

The shooter has not seen much of his fan mail, though. Defenders say they've kept most of his mail from him because he's on suicide watch, but also because they reserve the right to censor what he sees. So far, he's only asked for a Bible. and his lawyers have only read a handful of notes, from people offering him prayers for salvation.
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👽 **A 'Refugee Caravan' Is Headed to the U.S. and Getting Bigger Every Day**
<https://archive.fo/nNZR8>

An estimated 1,500 migrants from Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador started a month-long journey on Sunday to the United States, where they intend to seek political asylum. Organizers say the “refugee caravan” includes many women, unaccompanied minors, and entire families who are migrating through Mexico any way they can.

The migrants started their journey in Tapachula, Chiapas, near the Guatemala–Mexico border around 7 AM on Sunday. They walked, took public transportation, and hitchhiked their way to their first destination in the town of Huixtla, where many of the migrants camped outdoors. Their entire journey is more than 2,000 miles long.

Those participating in the caravan will attend workshops to prepare them to request asylum when they reach the U.S. The migrants are expected to reach U.S. points of entries in California sometime next month.
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<:jew:351904133470617610> **Israel to deport africans to western countries instead to where they came from**
https://twitter.com/AP/status/980774372829954049?s=20

🇺🇸 **YouTube shooter identified as animal rights activist who ranted about being censored by video-sharing company**
<https://archive.fo/kqb9F>

The woman behind a mass shooting at YouTube's headquarters has been identified as an animal rights activist who claimed the company censored her channel.

Nasim Aghdam, who also used the name Nasime Sabz on her Facebook, Instagram and personal website, injured three people before turning the gun on herself. Aghdam was pictured at a PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) rally in San Diego paper over the use of pigs in military training in 2009.

On her now defunct YouTube page, the 39-year-old described herself as "the Persian Azeri female vegan athlete and animal rights activist promoting VEGANISM, the healthy and humane way of living."

"Nasim is the well known and most famous animal rights activist in persian / turkish community."
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<:trump:284711336934375425> **President Trump orders National Guard to the Mexican border**
<https://archive.fo/1E7J0>

President Trump on Wednesday formally ordered the Pentagon and Homeland Security to deploy National Guard troops to the Mexican border to stem illegal crossings and drug trafficking.

“A key and undeniable attribute of a sovereign nation is the ability to control who and what enters its territory,” the president’s memo said. “The situation at the border has now reached a point of crisis. The lawlessness that continues at our southern border is fundamentally incompatible with the safety, security, and sovereignty of the American people. My administration has no choice but to act."

In an earlier tweet pledging action, Trump said: "Our Border Laws are very weak while those of Mexico & Canada are very strong. Congress must change these Obama era, and other, laws NOW! The Democrats stand in our way - they want people to pour into our country unchecked....CRIME!"
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🇺🇸 **Sex ads website Backpage.com seized by U.S. authorities: posting**
<https://archive.fo/fuXSv>

U.S. law enforcement agencies have seized the sex marketplace website Backpage.com as part of an enforcement action by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to a posting on the Backpage website on Friday.

A Phoenix FBI official said that there was “law enforcement activity” on Friday at the Sedona, Arizona home of Michael Lacey, one of the founders of Backpage.

Lawmakers and enforcement officials have been working to crack down on the site, which is used primarily to sell sex and is the second largest classified ad service in the country after Craigslist.

Backpage and advocacy groups have argued that the ads are free speech protected by the U.S. Constitution.

The U.S. Senate passed legislation last month making it easier for state prosecutors and sex-trafficking victims to sue social media networks, advertisers and others that fail to keep sex trafficking and other exploitative materials off their platforms.
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<:trump:284711336934375425> **Texas, Arizona deploying National Guard members to Mexican border**
<https://archive.fo/Xagx0>

Texas and Arizona announced plans Friday that both states are deploying troops to the Mexican border, just days after President Trump's order aiming to stop illegal crossings and drug trafficking.

The states would be the first to deploy troops since Trump's call for 2,000 to 4,000 National Guard members to guard the Southwest border.

Friday evening, Arizona's governor said he's planning to send about 150 troops next week, and the Texas Military Department, which oversees the state's National Guard branches, also announced its plans to deploy to the Southwest border.
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<:jones:346333940644052992> **S.C. Republicans introduce bill to consider secession over gun rights**
<https://archive.fo/T7f7b>

A group of Republican state legislators in South Carolina introduced a measure Thursday that would allow the state to secede from the United States if the federal government began to seize legally purchased firearms in the state.

The bill, which was referred to the state House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, would allow South Carolina lawmakers to debate whether to secede from the United States if the federal government were to violate the Second Amendment.

It states that "the general assembly shall convene to consider whether to secede from the United States based upon the federal government's unconstitutional violation of the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution if the federal government confiscates legally purchased firearms in this state."

The measure, introduced by GOP Reps. Mike Pitts, Jonathon Hill and Ashley Trantham, comes amid an intense debate over the nation's gun laws that was reignited in February after a deadly mass shooting in Parkland, Fla.

South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union in the lead up to the Civil War, withdrawing in 1860.
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🇮🇹 **Roman Jews and Israeli rabbis are ‘at war’... over artichoke ** 🇮🇱
<http://archive.fo/LP10s>

A centuries-old Italian way of cooking artichokes is apparently not to the taste of Israel's top religious authority, as it has rejected the dish as non-kosher. However, Rome’s Jewish community stand up for their beloved delicacy.

The row over an ordinary vegetable made the headlines after the Chief Rabbinate of Israel denounced the artichoke as not kosher last week. The deep-friend dish, known as Carciofi alla giudia, is popular among Rome’s Jewish community. It became controversial in Israel over its alleged impurity due to the presence of worms.

These cannot be cleaned out of the vegetable in order to make it kosher, and it therefore contradicts Jewish law, the Rabbinate’s Import Division head, Rabbi Yitzhak Arazi told Haaretz.

However, Rome's Jewish community responded with reluctance to yield to this view. They argued that their type of artichokes were tighter and more compact than the Israeli one, thus making it impossible for worms to penetrate them. Rome’s Jews insisted the vegetable is perfectly orthodox and explained that their recipe requires thorough cleaning in water with lemon, as well as preparation at high temperatures, which gives the worms zero chance of survival.

The simmering conflict has been dubbed by Israeli media as the “artichoke war,” and has caused a split among Italian Jews. Those in Rome are sticking to their 600-year-old tradition of preparing artichokes, while those in Milan have reportedly banned the signature dish from their menus, puzzling their customers.

“I’m a little worried about the souls of all the people that have been eating them over the centuries, I hope nothing bad happens to them,” said Umberto Pavoncello, manager of one of the kosher restaurants in Rome, Nonna Betta, which refused to change their menus.
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<:thinkingsmug:329982137279447040> **Pentagon strips Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria troop numbers from web**
<https://archive.fo/GeJda>

After months of review, the Pentagon has released a quarterly report of the number of troops serving overseas — minus any data it previously reported about the number of service members deployed in combat.

The Defense Manpower Data Center for years has reported quarterly the number of active duty, National Guard and Reserve forces assigned to each state and stationed at each country overseas.

The December report, however, just had blank spaces where Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan figures used to be.

An asterisk at the bottom said, “with ongoing operations, any questions concerning DoD personnel strength numbers are deferred to OSD Public Affairs/Joint Chiefs of Staff.”

They also stripped Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan numbers from the previously released September report, with the same disclaimer.
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🇺🇸 **Bank of America will no longer lend to companies that make ‘military-style’ weapons**
<https://archive.fo/Mkr0B>

Bank of America officially took sides in America’s gun debate Tuesday, announcing it would no longer make loans to companies that make “military-style” weapons.

The second-biggest U.S. bank announced Tuesday that it would drop current loan-customers Vista Outdoors, Remington and Sturm Ruger, and blackball any other manufacturer of assault weapons.

Bank of America Vice Chairman Anne Finucanetold Bloomberg TV on Tuesday her bank has told those companies “it’s not our intent to underwrite or finance military-style firearms.”
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🔥 **Environmentalist Burns Himself To Death To Protest Fossil Fuels**
<http://archive.fo/gRpmP>

An environmental activist committed suicide on Saturday in a park in Brooklyn, New York, by setting himself on fire. The man was protesting the use of "fossil fuel" — which he said was leading to an environmental disaster in the world — when he poured gasoline on himself and burned himself to death in Prospect Park.

"David Buckel, 60, left behind a charred corpse and a typed suicide note that said he was burning himself to death using 'fossil fuel' to reflect how mankind was likewise killing itself, police sources said," reported the New York Post.

The New York Daily News said Buckel was a "nationally known advocate for gay rights and the environment" and said he opened his note to police by saying: “I am David Buckel and I just killed myself by fire as a protest suicide." He also said, “I apologize to you for the mess.”

The Post said Buckel also "famously served as lead attorney in a lawsuit involving transgender murder victim Brandon Teena, who was raped and then killed in 1993. His story was later told in the movie 'Boys Don’t Cry,' starring Hilary Swank as Teena.
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<:rip:332546718031806484> **F for GySgt R. Lee Ermey**
https://twitter.com/RLeeErmey/status/985651917870202883

**Full statement**

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🇺🇸 **No Joke: Judge Who Forced (((Cohen))) To ID Hannity Performed (((Soros))) Wedding**
<http://archive.fo/WjPdB>

The U.S. District judge who ordered Trump’s lawyer (((Michael Cohen))) to identify Sean Hannity had officiated billionaire (((George Soros)))’ wedding in 2013.

Judge Kimba Wood officiated the “non-denominational” wedding between (((Soros))) and his third wife Tamiko Bolton in 2013 in Bedford, New York. Suddenly, Wood’s decision to force (((Cohen))) to disclose his clients becomes clear.

Before Hannity was revealed as a client, (((Cohen)))’s attorney Stephen Ryan argued to Wood that one of (((Cohen)))’s clients was a “prominent” person who wanted to remain anonymous – as is his right – because it would be embarrassing to be revealed as (((Cohen)))’s client.

“I understand he doesn’t want his name out there, but that isn’t the law,” Judge Wood said. The Fox host took to Twitter on Monday to clarify his relationship with (((Cohen))).

“(((Michael Cohen))) has never represented me in any manner,” he tweeted. “I never retained him, received an invoice, or paid legal fees. I have occasionally had brief discussions with him about legal questions about which I wanted his input and perspective.”
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🇺🇸 **Press F**
https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/986389977465544705

🇺🇸 **Starbucks manager who made call resulting in black men's arrests no longer works for company**
<http://archive.fo/fcbqe>

The manager who called police on two black men who had refused to leave a Philadelphia Starbucks no longer works there, a company spokeswoman confirmed to ABC News today.

The news follows Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson’s comments this morning that he will order managers of the coffee giant's stores to undergo training on how to spot "unconscious bias" after witnesses said the men were arrested at a Philadelphia shop for doing nothing but sitting at a table.

Johnson, the chief executive officer, was in Philadelphia this morning, a day after protesters rallied Sunday at a downtown Philadelphia Starbucks, where the two black men, who have yet to be identified, were led out in handcuffs Thursday by police and accused of trespassing.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney slammed Starbucks for the incident, saying it "appears to exemplify what racial discrimination looks like in 2018."
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🇩🇪 **German theatre sparks anger by offering free seats to anyone wearing a Nazi SWASTIKA armband to watch a play titled Mein Kampf**
<http://archive.fo/wgXvU>

German prosecutors on Wednesday cleared a performance of a satirical play named after Adolf Hitler's book 'Mein Kampf' that promises free entry to spectators who wear a swastika. The theatre in the Bavarian lakeside town of Constance says it aims to show how easily people can be corrupted but the approach sparked numerous legal complaints.

Local prosecutors however on Wednesday said the premiere could go ahead on Friday, which marks Hitler's birthday in 1889, as well as the controversial swastika campaign. The theatre says on its website that those who pay for a ticket will be asked to wear a Star of David 'as a sign of solidarity with the victims of Nazi barbarism'.

Under German law, publicly displaying swastikas and other Nazi symbols is illegal, unless it is done as part of an artistic performance covered by constitutional guarantees of free speech. The region's (((German-Israeli Society))) has called for a boycott of the play named after the book which Hitler wrote in prison years before taking power.
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🇨🇦 Toronto restaurateur butchers deer hindquarter in front of animal-rights protesters who were targeting his restaurant.
http://archive.fo/qUdeI

Antler Kitchen & Bar is a small restaurant on Dundas Street West. Mr. Hunter, a co-owner, is both a hunter and forager. In addition to a pair of antlers that hang from the kitchen window (the first buck Mr. Hunter killed), the restaurant is decorated with photos of wild leeks and morel mushrooms foraged by Mr. Hunter and his business partner, Jody Shapiro.

One day in December, an employee at Antler picked up the chalk and wrote: “Venison is the new kale.” The sign caught the attention of Marni Ugar, who already had experience organizing animal-rights protests. Ms. Ugar, who runs a dog-walking business, A Bark in the Park, arranged a demonstration for Dec. 7. Over the winter, the protests grew larger and louder, activists chanting with megaphones outside the restaurant.

On Friday, March 23, each time the door opened, a shout of “murderer” reverberated through the restaurant. Mr. Hunter decided he’d had enough. The chef walked to the kitchen and brought back a cutting board, a knife and the hindquarter of a deer. He sanitized the table and then cut up the leg while protesters watched.

Ms. Ugar’s efforts have made a change. Since video of the protest and Mr. Hunter butchering the deer leg was posted online, the restaurant has seen a direct impact. Reservation requests are up.
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🇺🇬 **Uganda's President Wants to Ban Oral Sex, Says the "Mouth is for Eating" **
<http://archive.fo/uWqXv>

Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has issued what he calls a "public warning" against oral sex. The president claims the practice has been pushed on Ugandans by "outsiders," and argues that the mouth is solely for eating.

"Let me take this opportunity to warn our people publicly about the wrong practices indulged in and promoted by some of the outsiders," he told the press during an address. "One of them is what they call oral sex. The mouth is for eating, not for sex. We know the address of sex, we know where sex is," he continued.

According to the Daily Mail, back in 2014 Museveni stated that performing oral sex could cause people to get worms. "You push the mouth there, you can come back with worms and they enter your stomach because that is a wrong address," he is quoted as saying.

That same year he passed the "Anti-Homosexuality Act," which makes being gay illegal in Uganda, and makes it a criminal offense to not report someone for being gay.
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<:autism:292463076278665236> **Hans Asperger aided and supported Nazi child euthanasia programme, study says **
<http://archive.fo/smm7W>

The Austrian doctor after whom Asperger syndrome is named was an active participant in the Nazi regime, assisting in the Third Reich’s so called euthanasia programme and supporting the concept of racial hygiene by deeming certain children unworthy to live, according to a study by a medical historian.

Herwig Czech, from Vienna’s Medical University, has made the claim in an academic paper published in the open access journal Molecular Autism, following eight years of research into the paediatrician Hans Asperger.

But by unearthing previously untouched documents from state archives, including Asperger’s personnel files and patient case records, Czech has revealed a scientist who allied himself so closely with the Nazi ideology that he frequently referred children to the Am Spiegelgrund clinic, which was set up as a collecting point for children who failed to conform to the regime’s criteria of “worthy to live”.

Nearly 800 children died at the clinic between 1940 and 1945, many of whom were murdered under the notorious child “euthanasia” scheme.
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🇺🇸 **Immigrant Couple Fatally Tortured, Burned Vietnam Veteran For His Financial Information**
<http://archive.fo/xHRUP>

A terrible and heinous act of violence was perpetrated by an immigrant couple in Hanford, California against a 70-year-old Vietnam War veteran. The couple violently tortured veteran Kenneth Coyle for his financial information before killing him and burning his body in front of their children.

"They restrained him on a bed and beat him to get access to his bank account information, passwords, and other account information," Anderson said. After he was tortured, Coyle died of "blunt force trauma and suffocation." A few days after his death, the Mendozas drove Coyle's body to nearby Madera County and burned him in front of their children. "We know the children were taken to where the body was burned and watched the body burn," Anderson said.