🇮🇱🇮🇷 **Netanyahu appears to say war with Iran is common goal**
*NBC News* - <https://archive.fo/O48ah>

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu startled Iranians and even the White House on Wednesday with a strident call for Israeli-Arab action against the government in Tehran that was translated by his office as urging "war with Iran."

Although Israeli officials tried to soften the reference by altering the English translation, the provocative comment was likely to further the perception that Israel, its Gulf Arab neighbors and the United States are interested in using military action to topple the government of Iran. It comes at a particularly delicate moment, as the Trump administration uses a U.S.-organized summit in Warsaw and this week's 40th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution to try to rally the world against the government in Tehran.

Netanyahu, in a short video recorded on the sidelines of the summit, emphasized the significance of Israeli and Arab officials appearing in the same venue, noting that the summit was "not in secret, because there are many of those."

Netanyahu's office also tweeted his statements on its English-language Twitter account, and used the word "war." Shortly after, as Netanyahu's comments ricocheted around the world, the tweet was deleted and replaced with another one that changed it from "war with Iran" to "combating Iran."

What is important about this meeting – and it is not in secret, because there are many of those – is that this is an open meeting with representatives of leading Arab countries, that are sitting down together with Israel in order to advance the common interest of combating Iran.
— PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) February 13, 2019
----------------

Original (deleted) tweet

🇮🇱🇺🇸 **Pro-Israel Lobby Caught on Tape Boasting That Its Money Influences Washington**
*The Intercept* - <https://archive.fo/B6IBP>

The debate over the influence of pro-Israel groups could be informed by an investigation by Al Jazeera, in which an undercover reporter infiltrated the Israel Project, a Washington-based group, and secretly recorded conversations about political strategy and influence over a six-month period in 2016. That investigation, however, was never aired by the network — suppressed by pressure from the pro-Israel lobby.

In November, Electronic Intifada obtained and published the four-part series, but it did so during the week of the midterm elections, and the documentary did not get a lot of attention then.

In it, leaders of the pro-Israel lobby speak openly about how they use money to influence the political process, in ways so blunt that if the comments were made by critics, they’d be charged with anti-Semitism.

David Ochs, founder of HaLev, which helps send young people to American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual conference, described for the reporter how AIPAC and its donors organize fundraisers outside the official umbrella of the organization, so that the money doesn’t show up on disclosures as coming specifically from AIPAC. He describes one group that organizes fundraisers in both Washington and New York. “This is the biggest ad hoc political group, definitely the wealthiest, in D.C.,” Ochs says, adding that it has no official name, but is clearly tied to AIPAC. “It’s the AIPAC group. It makes a difference; it really, really does. It’s the best bang for your buck, and the networking is phenomenal.” (Ochs and AIPAC did not immediately return The Intercept’s requests for comment.)

(Great undercover video in original link - Spicy)
----------------

🇺🇸 **Michael Avenatti accused of hiding millions of dollars from bankruptcy court**
*LA Times* - <https://archive.fo/0RNH9>

Michael Avenatti hid millions of dollars from the court overseeing his law firm’s bankruptcy and used much of the money for personal compensation, a former partner alleges in new court records.

The firm, Eagan Avenatti, was required by law to file monthly reports on its income and spending during the year when it was under U.S. Bankruptcy Court protection from its creditors, starting in March 2017. Avenatti signed the reports under penalty of perjury as the firm’s managing partner and majority owner.

But the reports did not disclose that Avenatti opened six bank accounts that received millions of dollars in legal fees during the bankruptcy, his former partner claims in court documents filed Tuesday night.

The reports also divulged nothing about the personal compensation to Avenatti, which would have required permission from the bankruptcy trustee, the court papers allege.

Avenatti used some of the money for personal expenses such as $14,236 in rent for his Century City apartment, a $3,640 payment on his Ferrari, $16,000 to Passport 420, an Avenatti company that owns a Honda jet, and tens of thousands of dollars in bills for his troubled coffee company, Global Baristas, the records show.

The court documents were filed by Jason Frank, a former lawyer at Eagan Avenatti who has been trying for eight months to collect a $10-million judgment that he won against the firm. Frank’s court papers allege that Avenatti’s bank maneuvers were an unlawful effort to dodge his firm’s creditors.

“This includes brazen acts of bankruptcy fraud,” Frank’s lawyer, Scott H. Sims, wrote in the court papers.

Avenatti denied wrongdoing.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Amazong Drops HQ2 Plans NYC**
*Breitbart* - <http://archive.is/gJieJ>

“After much thought and deliberation, we’ve decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens. For Amazon, the commitment to build a new headquarters requires positive, collaborative relationships with state and local elected officials who will be supportive over the long-term,” the company said in a statement. “While polls show that 70% of New Yorkers support our plans and investment, a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City.”

New York Mayor Bill De Blasio recently told lawmakers at a state budget hearing on local government funding that the type of high-paying jobs the Amazon deal could bring to Queens are the kind the city needs to expand its technology sector. Amazon has said it would bring at least 25,000 and as many as 40,000 jobs to the Long Island City neighborhood over 10 to 15 years.
--------------

Yeah but dont they want the state to pay for their building and all.kinds of tax breaks? They will lose money in the long run

a few bil in tax breaks over 10yrs, the income tax with all those employees is multiple times more the state would collect, and I'm willing to bet Amazon wouldn't shut their hq2 in Long Island city in 10yrs once the tax breaks are over, and amazon was going to invest heavily in the local community, all sorts of programs, they wanted way more, like Oscar Cortez and local politicians were screaming we want Union WORKERS, meanwhile it's an office space, no manual labor.

🇺🇸 **Trump Declares National Emergency to Build Border Wall**
*NY Times* - <https://archive.fo/ffgYX>

President Trump declared a national emergency at the border on Friday to access billions of dollars to build a border wall that Congress refused to give him, transforming a highly charged policy dispute into a fundamental confrontation over separation of powers.

In a televised announcement in the Rose Garden, Mr. Trump said he would sign the declaration to protect the country from the flow of drugs, criminals and illegal immigrants coming across the border from Mexico, which he characterized as a profound threat to national security.

“We’re going to confront the national security crisis on our southern border and we’re going to do it one way or the other,” he said. “It’s an invasion,” he added. “We have an invasion of drugs and criminals coming into our country.”

The declaration will enable Mr. Trump to divert $3.6 billion budgeted for military construction projects to the border wall, White House officials said. Mr. Trump will also use more traditional presidential budgetary discretion to tap $2.5 billion from counternarcotics programs and $600 million from a Treasury Department asset forfeiture fund.

Combined with the $1.375 billion authorized for fencing in a spending package passed by Congress on Thursday night, Mr. Trump would then have about $8 billion in all to advance construction of new barriers and repairs or replacement of existing barriers along the border this year, significantly more than the $5.7 billion that Congress refused to give him.
----------------

🌎 **International "fake news" committee to demand testimony from tech giants**
*CBS News* - <https://archive.fo/SnI4M>

An unprecedented group of international lawmakers investigating "fake news" is set to demand a public meeting with an extraordinary collection of leaders from the world's largest tech companies. The "International Grand Committee" — a collection of members of parliaments from countries around the world investigating disinformation, fake news and election meddling — is set to hold its second hearing on May 28, in Ottawa, Canada.

On Monday, the committee will invite Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Eric Schmidt, the former executive chairman of its parent company, Alphabet, Apple CEO Tim Cook and COO Jeff Williams, and WhatsApp cofounder Brian Acton.

The list, which was confirmed to CBS News by the committee's chair, Canadian Member of Parliament Bob Zimmer, includes several of the world's wealthiest people, who control the most dominant companies in computing and social media.

For the committee's first hearing in London on Nov. 27, Facebook sent Richard Allan, the company's vice president for public policy and a member of Britain's House of Lords, who sat next to an empty chair reserved for Zuckerberg. Zimmer said for the next meeting, the committee will not settle for lesser regional representatives.

"One thing that will not be acceptable that I want to have on the record is that Canadian representatives are not going to suffice," Zimmer said. "They're not the real voice of leadership in the companies, so we're looking at getting specifically the names mentioned to come."

The lawmakers, who attended the November, hearing hail from the U.K., Canada, Brazil, Latvia, Argentina, Ireland, Singapore, France and Belgium. Zimmer said this time around they will also invite U.S. lawmakers to attend.
----------------

🇺🇸 **De Blasio rips into AOC’s Amazon opposition: Working people ‘want jobs’**
*NY Post* - <http://archive.is/so7ON#0%>

A hot-under-the-collar Mayor Bill de Blasio tore into Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Friday as he blistered both the online giant and local politicians who opposed bringing it to Queens. “As a progressive my entire life — and I ain’t changing — I’ll take on any progressive anywhere that thinks it’s a good idea to lose jobs and revenue because I think that’s out of touch with what working people want,” the mayor said on WNYC radio.

City and state politicians promised Amazon $2.5 billion in tax credits, a $500 million state construction subsidy and the ability to sidestep the city’s laborious zoning process to bring the company’s promised new campus and its 25,000 jobs to the Long Island waterfront.

The audio clip, played by WNYC host Brian Lehrer as he questioned Mayor de Blasio over Amazon’s shocking decision to withdraw, set the mayor on a tear. “I came up watching the mistakes of progressives of the past, unfortunately what happened in this city when it almost went to bankruptcy in the 1970s,” said a boiling de Blasio. “I saw all the times progressives did not show people effective governance and all the times progressives made the kinds of mistakes that alienated working people.”
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🇺🇸 **Former Trump adviser Stone ordered to appear in court over Instagram posts**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/H4u17>

Roger Stone, a former political adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, was ordered on Tuesday to appear in court this week over Instagram posts that chastised and appeared to threaten the judge presiding over his criminal trial.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said Stone would need to show cause at a hearing on Thursday as to why the posts did not violate a gag order in the case or the conditions of his release.

Stone, who is free on a $250,000 bond and is free to travel to certain U.S. cities without the court's permission, has pleaded not guilty to charges of making false statements to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Stone's attorneys filed a formal apology with the court on Monday, after he posted a photograph on Instagram of Jackson alongside what appeared to be the crosshairs of a gun.

He later deleted the image and reposted it without the crosshairs before removing it again, according to other media outlets.

Next to the close-up image of Jackson's face, Stone said Jackson was an "Obama appointed Judge who dismissed the Benghazi charges" against Hillary Clinton. He also accused Mueller of being a "Deep State hitman."

Stone later posted a statement on his account saying the photo was not intended to threaten the judge or disrespect the court. He also said the image was not of cross hairs, but rather, the "logo of an organization" often featured in many photos.

A representative from the U.S. Marshals Service, the law enforcement arm of the federal justice system, did not immediately have a comment when reached on Tuesday.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Covington High student's legal team sues Washington Post**
*Fox News* - <https://archive.fo/2fK1a>

Attorneys representing the Kentucky high school student involved in a confrontation that went viral on social media last month announced Tuesday that they were suing The Washington Post for $250 million in compensatory and punitive damages.

The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Kentucky, accused The Post of practicing "a modern-day form of McCarthyism" by targeting Nicholas Sandmann and "using its vast financial resources to enter the bully pulpit by publishing a series of false and defamatory print and online articles ... to smear a young boy who was in its view an acceptable casualty in their war against the president."

Washington Post spokesperson Kris Coratti told Fox News in an email that the paper was "reviewing a copy of the lawsuit, and we plan to mount a vigorous defense."

The lawsuit claims The Post "ignored the truth" about the incident and says the paper "falsely accused Nicholas of ... 'accost[ing]' Phillips by 'suddenly swarm[ing]' him in a 'threaten[ing]' and 'physically intimidat[ing]' manner ... 'block[ing]' Phillips path, refusing to allow Phillips 'to retreat,' 'taunting the dispersing indigenous crowd,' [and] chanting, 'Build that wall,' 'Trump2020,' or 'Go back to Africa,' and otherwise engaging in racist and improper conduct. ..."Sandmann's attorneys accuse The Post of publishing seven "false and defamatory" articles about the incident between Jan. 19 and 21 and claim the paper "knew and intended that its false and defamatory accusations would be republished by others, including media outlets and others on social media."
----------------

🇺🇸 **Jussie Smollett Was Involved In Creating Racist Letter, Which Later Led To Attack, Sources Say**
*CBS Chicago* - <https://archive.fo/rNLhp>

The two brothers involved in the Jussie Smollett attack told police that Smollett was behind creating a racist letter that was sent to the actor on the set of his show, “Empire,” according to two sources with first-hand knowledge of the investigation.

And when that letter did not get a “bigger reaction,” Smollett orchestrated the attack a week later with the two men–Ola and Abel Osundairo, sources said. Also Tuesday, sources said the two brothers were seen on a ride share video camera before being dropped off near the location of the attack

Smollett received a letter containing a white powder Jan. 22. The letter was mailed to Chicago’s Cinespace Studios, where the show “Empire” is filmed. The letter prompted a HAZMAT response. CPD says the “white substance” was later determined to be aspirin.

The note was crafted with letters apparently cut out from magazines to form words. The pieced-together message contained racial and homophobic threats directed at Smollett. A magazine is one of the pieces of evidence retrieved from the brother’s home last week during a search conducted by CPD. Investigators also recovered a book of stamps.

CBS 2 Brad Edwards reports, the State’s Attorney Kim Foxx has recused herself from the case. Acting State’s Attorney for the investigation will now be First Assistant State’s Attorney Joseph Magats.

Chicago police say the FBI is handling the investigation surrounding the letter, because that’s a **federal-level concern.**
----------------

🇺🇸 **Google says the built-in microphone it never told Nest users about was 'never supposed to be a secret'**
*Business Insider* - <https://archive.fo/he58a>

In early February, Google announced that its home security and alarm system Nest Secure would be getting an update — users could now enable its virtual assistant technology, Google Assistant.

The problem: Nest users didn't know a microphone even existed on their security device to begin with.

The existence of a microphone on the Nest Guard (which is the alarm, keypad, and motion sensor component in the Nest Secure offering) was never disclosed in any of the product material for the device.

On Tuesday, a Google spokesperson told Business Insider the company had made an "error."

"The on-device microphone was never intended to be a secret and should have been listed in the tech specs. That was an error on our part," the spokesperson said.

Google says that “the microphone has never been on and is only activated when users specifically enable the option.”
----------------

🇺🇸 ** FBI plotting to keep DNA of ENTIRE population on file to create ‘nation of suspects’**
*Daily Star* - <https://archive.fo/he58a>

President Donald Trump has signed the Rapid DNA Act into law which means the police can routinely take DNA samples from people who are arrested but not yet convicted of a crime.

The law, which was signed in 2017 and comes into effect this year, will require several states to connect Rapid DNA machines to Codis – the national DNA database controlled by the FBI.

These machines, which are portable and about the same size as a desktop printer, are expected to become as routine a process as taking fingerprints.

But John W. Whitehead from The Rutherford Institute believes it is a sinister development which will make everyone a suspect.

Speaking to Daily Star Online, he said: “The fact of the matter is that these machines are not full-proof.

“But we could look at a situation in which someone could be arrested, have their mouth swabbed and then be charged within hours after generating a DNA profile.

“We are looking at the erosion of the concept of innocent before proven guilty because it will allow police to go on fishing expeditions.

“When you sit on a park bench, you shed DNA. That is now up for grabs by police who could swab it, and run it through a DNA database. If they find a match, or if misconduct occurred anywhere in the vicinity where your DNA was found, you might find yourself charged with a crime you never committed merely because you happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“People who are just seen as suspicious could have their genetic makeup stored in a criminal database.”

John added that until recently the government was required to adhere to certain restrictions on how, when and where it could access someone’s DNA.

But now it has been changed with the US Supreme Court ruling and heralds in a loss of privacy, he claims.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Actor Jussie Smollett faces a felony charge for allegedly filing a false police report**
*CNN* - <https://archive.fo/fCPFk>

"Empire" actor Jussie Smollett faces a felony charge of disorderly conduct for allegedly filing a false report claiming two men attacked him last month, a Chicago Police Department spokesman tweeted Wednesday night.

Anthony Guglielmi said charges were approved by the Cook County State's Attorney Office and "Detectives will make contact with his legal team to negotiate a reasonable surrender for his arrest."

Filing a false police report is disorderly conduct, according to Illinois code. A class 4 felony is punishable by one to three years, the code says.

A bail hearing is anticipated for 1:30 p.m. CT Thursday, prosecutors said.

Smollett's transformation from victim to suspect in a reported attack that captured national headlines came on the same day that a high-ranking police source said Chicago detectives were working to obtain the actor's financial records.

A Cook County grand jury met Wednesday just weeks after the young actor reported being the victim of a hate crime on January 29.

Smollett's attorneys released a statement: "Like any other citizen, Mr. Smollett enjoys the presumption of innocence, particularly when there has been an investigation like this one where information, both true and false, has been repeatedly leaked. Given these circumstances, we intend to conduct a thorough investigation and to mount an aggressive defense."
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🇺🇸 **Once hailed as unhackable, blockchains are now getting hacked**
*MIT Technology Review* - <https://archive.fo/7jKub>

Early last month, the security team at Coinbase noticed something strange going on in Ethereum Classic, one of the cryptocurrencies people can buy and sell using Coinbase’s popular exchange platform. Its blockchain, the history of all its transactions, was under attack.

A hacker had somehow gained control of more than half of the network’s computing power and was using it to rewrite the transaction history. That made it possible to spend the same cryptocurrency more than once—known as “double spends.” The attacker was spotted pulling this off to the tune of $1.1 million. Coinbase claims that no currency was actually stolen from any of its accounts. But a second popular exchange, Gate.io, has admitted it wasn’t so lucky, losing around $200,000 to the attacker (who, strangely, returned half of it days later).

Just a year ago, this nightmare scenario was mostly theoretical. But the so-called 51% attack against Ethereum Classic was just the latest in a series of recent attacks on blockchains that have heightened the stakes for the nascent industry.

In total, hackers have stolen nearly $2 billion worth of cryptocurrency since the beginning of 2017, mostly from exchanges, and that’s just what has been revealed publicly. These are not just opportunistic lone attackers, either. Sophisticated cybercrime organizations are now doing it too: analytics firm Chainalysis recently said that just two groups, both of which are apparently still active, may have stolen a combined $1 billion from exchanges.
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🇺🇸 **Vile video reveals R Kelly with 14-year old: Star facing 70 years in prison as he is indicted on TEN counts of criminal sex abuse involving underage girls and a no bail arrest warrant is issued by Chicago cops **
*Daily Mail* - <https://archive.fo/AwzfF>

R Kelly has been charged with ten counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse by the Cook County State's Attorney Office.

Records obtained by DailyMail.com reveal that most of the counts he was charged with on Friday involved girls who were between the ages of 13 and 16 at the time.

The fourth, who claims that she was assaulted by Kelly in 2003, was over the age of 18 at the time of the alleged offense.

Kelly, 52, will appear in bond court on Saturday and then be formally charged on court on March 8, according to court records.

And on Friday afternoon, Chicago police were handed a no bail arrest warrant to bring in Kelly after a judge signed off on the order.

Kelly has previously denied all allegations of assault and abuse through his lawyer, who was unaware of the charges against his client when contacted on Friday afternoon.

Aggravated criminal sexual abuse is a Class 2 felony with a sentencing range of 3-7 years in prison. He faces up to 70 years behind bars if convicted.

These new charges come one week after the emergence of a rape tape that allegedly features Kelly and a minor.
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🇺🇸 **Construction begins on 30-foot-tall border wall in San Diego**
*AZ Family/AP* - <https://archive.fo/je64h>

Construction has begun on the fifth border wall project of Donald Trump's presidency, replacing up to 14 miles of barrier in San Diego.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Tuesday that the first panels are in place to replace a steel-mesh fence with steel bollards up to 30 feet high. SLSCO Ltd. of Galveston, Texas, was awarded the $101 million contract in December.

It is the second layer of barrier in San Diego. Work on replacing the first layer is nearly complete, which is also 14 miles long and made of steel bollards up to 30 feet high.

Construction began three days after Trump declared a national emergency to build his proposed border wall with Mexico. Lawsuits have been filed over the emergency declaration.
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🇦🇺 **The Londoner: Julian Assange closer to a journey home**
*Evening Standard* - <https://archive.fo/cvAwC>

Staff at the Ecuadorian Embassy have cause for celebration today with the news that they may finally be rid of their long-term house guest Julian Assange.

The Australian government has confirmed that the WikiLeaks founder has a new Australian passport after years without one, and could now return to his home country.

An official at Australia’s department of foreign affairs and trade confirmed yesterday that “Mr Assange does have an Australian passport”. The timing is good: last year he said that he feared Ecuador was seeking to end his asylum. He has been holed up in the embassy in Knightsbridge since the day he walked in, breaking his UK bail conditions, in 2012.

The Londoner called the embassy this morning and asked for a response to the news of the new passport. A member of staff initially said “no comment” but then added: “He has the right to do whatever he wants, but he doesn’t move on. He could stay here for ever.”
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🇺🇸 **Horrified mom discovers suicide instructions in video on YouTube and YouTube Kids**
*CBS News* - <https://archive.fo/ARTzW>

Video promoting self-harm tips -- spliced between clips of a popular video game — has surfaced at least twice on YouTube and YouTube Kids since July, according to a pediatrician and mom who discovered the video.

The suicide instructions are sandwiched between clips from the popular Nintendo game Splatoon and delivered by a man speaking in front of what appears to be a green screen — an apparent effort to have him blend in with the rest of the animated video.

"Remember kids, sideways for attention, longways for results," the man says, miming cutting motions on his forearm. "End it."

**The man featured is YouTuber Filthy Frank**, who has over 6.2 million subscribers and calls himself "the embodiment of everything a person should not be," although there is no evidence that Frank, whose real name is George Miller, was involved in creating the doctored video. He did not immediately respond to CBS News' request for comment.

When Free Hess found the video on YouTube last week, she posted it on her blog -- warning other parents to take control over what their kids may be watching.

"Looking at the comments, it had been up for a while, and people had even reported it eight months prior," Hess told CBS News on Friday.

Shortly after she published her blog post, YouTube took the video down, saying it violated the site's community guidelines, according to Hess.
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🇺🇸 **NYPD hate crimes task force investigating Nazi drawings found at an elementary school**
*CNN* - <https://archive.fo/nlzSO>

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has directed the State Police Hate Crimes Task Force to assist the New York Police Department in its investigation of Nazi drawings found Friday morning at an elementary school in Queens.

"I am appalled and disgusted by the Swastikas and other anti-Semitic symbols of hate that were scrawled in a Queens schoolyard," Cuomo said in a statement. "In New York, we have zero tolerance for such vile acts of anti-Semitism."

Dozens of swastikas, a Nazi eagle and the words "Hail Hitler" (sic) were found drawn in chalk on the pavement of PS 139's schoolyard.

Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz, who represents the district, told CNN her office received photographs from a resident in the apartment building next to the school and immediately informed the police. According to Koslowitz, the area is a predominately Jewish neighborhood.

"This was exceptionally scary today," Koslowitz said, describing the images as "horrible, just horrible."

Koslowitz told CNN she heard stories from her mother, who came from Poland, about anti-Semitic incidents in Europe in the last century. Koslowitz, who grew up in New York, said she never believed an act of this nature could occur in the city.

"This really just has to stop," she said. "There's no question about it being a hate crime."

There have been 36 anti-Semitic crimes reported in the city so this year, compared with 21 for the same time last year, according to a New York Times report, which cited police.

City Council member Chaim Deutsch, chairman of the council's Jewish Caucus, called for a bill that would "require educational outreach to teach about the impact of hate, bias, and anti-Semitism."

"This has gotten completely out of hand," Deutsch said in statement.
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🇺🇸 **Prosecutors Charge LGBT Activist with Burning Down Own Home with Pets Inside**
*Breitbart* - <https://archive.is/SH3g1>

The Detroit News reported Monday that law enforcement charge Joly, a transgender man from Jackson, Michigan, burned down her own home, killing five pets inside, in what was initially investigated by the FBI as an alleged hate crime in 2017. The newspaper, citing two individuals who worked along Joly at St. Johns United Church of Christ, where the Jackson Pride Center is based from, reported that Jolly, 54, had become “frustrated the controversy over gay rights had died down with the passage of the nondiscrimination law.”
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🇮🇳🇵🇰 **Nuclear-Armed India and Pakistan Face Off in Renewed Escalation**
*Bloomberg* - <https://archive.fo/5jL3B>

It’s the biggest escalation between South Asia’s nuclear-armed rivals in decades and with a bitterly contested national election in India just weeks away, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was quick to exploit his military’s air strikes on a terrorist camp inside Pakistan Tuesday.

Speaking to a huge, cheering crowd at an election rally in the state of Rajasthan, Modi twice stated that India was “in safe hands” and declared it a “glorious day,” without explicitly mentioning the attack.

India’s fighter jets destroyed a major terrorist camp in Pakistan early Tuesday “in the face of imminent danger,” Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said in New Delhi. More than 300 people were killed in the air strikes on militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed, according to an Indian official speaking on condition of anonymity.

Pakistan had its own version of events.

After scrambling its jets in response to India’s early-morning incursion across the border, it released photographs of missile remnants it said had fallen on unoccupied territory. Prime Minister Imran Khan’s office said Pakistan would respond “at the time and place of its choosing,” rejecting India’s claim that it had hit a terror camp or inflicted heavy casualties. “Once again the Indian government has resorted to a self-serving, reckless and fictitious claim,” a statement from Khan’s office said.

Facing the first major geopolitical challenge of his term, Khan directed the country’s armed forces and the public to “remain prepared for all eventualities.”

With both nations able to demonstrate a show of military strength, it now gives diplomats a chance to try and ensure the situation does not further deteriorate.
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🇺🇸 **Bernie Sanders staff shake-up: Top strategists leave his presidential campaign**
*NBC News* - <https://archive.fo/vi9CL>

In a major shake-up to Bernie Sanders' just-launched presidential bid, some of his top strategists have left the campaign.

Tad Devine, Mark Longabaugh and Julian Mulvey, partners in a political consulting firm who all played leading roles in Sanders' 2016 campaign for the White House, are parting ways with the senator, citing creative differences.

"The entire firm has stepped away. We're leaving the campaign," Longabaugh told NBC News on Tuesday. "We just didn't have a meeting of the minds."

Devine, a veteran Democratic presidential operative, was a familiar presence on TV in 2016 as Sanders' chief strategist, responsible for setting the early direction of the campaign when few other Washington insiders believed the little-known Vermont independent could be a serious contender for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Longabaugh helped design and implement the campaign's delegate-hunting roadmap and negotiated with key outside players like the Democratic National Committee on issues like debates.

Mulvey helped craft the firm's ads for Sanders, including his best-known commercial, which featured the Simon & Garfunkel song "America."

All together, the firm produced 275 television, radio and digital ads for that campaign and was involved in much of the campaign's top decision-making.

"The campaign appreciates all the good work DML has done and wishes them well," Sanders' new campaign manager, Faiz Shakir, said in a statement, referring to the name of their firm.
----------------

🇺🇸 **U.S. House Democrats introduce sweeping 'Medicare for All' bill**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/EonEE>

Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives unveiled an ambitious proposal on Tuesday to move all Americans into the government's Medicare health insurance program, tapping into public frustration over the rising cost of healthcare that has become a key issue for the party as it seeks to gain control of Congress and the White House in 2020.

The bill, unveiled by Democratic Representative Pramila Jayapal from Washington state, would transition the U.S. healthcare system to a single-payer "Medicare for All" program funded by the government in two years. The legislation is the party's most high-profile and ambitious single-payer proposal in the new Congress and has more than 100 co-sponsors, many from the party's progressive flank.

It is unlikely to gain the support of any Republicans in the House or the Senate, who have derided single-payer healthcare as a socialist policy and oppose government interference in healthcare. It also remains unclear whether Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will bring the legislation up for a vote.

"Americans are literally dying because they can't afford insulin or they can't get the cancer treatment they need," Jayapal said on a call with reporters on Tuesday. "There are some things that should not be provided through the for-profit market."
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🇺🇸 **Pentagon spent nearly $8 million to treat 1,500 transgender troops since 2016**
*Usa Today* - <https://archive.fo/tElnE>

The Pentagon has spent nearly $8 million to treat more than 1,500 transgender troops since 2016, including 161 surgical procedures, according to data obtained by USA TODAY.

As of Feb. 1, 1,071 service members have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Public Health Service on active duty and in the reserve force.

Most of them are senior enlisted personnel, but there are 20 senior officers – majors and lieutenant commanders and higher – as well.

Overall, the troops represent a fraction of the total force of 2.1 million. The number of transgender troops serving who have not sought treatment through the military is not known.

Transgender troops and their medical and psychological treatment has been a flash point for controversy since President Donald Trump tweeted in July 2017 that he wanted to ban them from the military. In January, the question reached the Supreme Court, which ruled that a modified ban could take effect while lower court challenges continued.

On Wednesday, the House Armed Services Committee will hear testimony on the military's policy, which bans most troops with a diagnosis of gender dysphoria.

Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have blasted the Pentagon policy as bigoted. She invited transgender troops to Trump's State of the Union address this month.
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🇺🇸 **Gambino mob heir predicts Michael Cohen will get WHACKED in prison because 'inmates love Trump and hate rats'**
*Daily Mail* - <https://archive.fo/UiWCh>

An heir to the Gambino crime family has issued a stark warning to Michael Cohen, predicting that President Donald Trump's former personal attorney may face retaliation behind bars over his Congressional testimony.

'A message for Michael Cohen: He better keep his mouth shut,' Giovanni Gambino told DailyMail.com on Wednesday morning, blasting Trump's former fixer shortly before he publicly testified.

Giovanni, the 43-year-old son of late Sicilian mob boss Francesco 'Ciccio' Gambino and cousin to infamous crime boss Carlo Gambino, speculated that Cohen's withering testimony could have harsh consequences.

'Inmates love Trump, and hate rats. If he wants to get out alive, he better keep his mouth shut about Trump,' Giovanni said.

Cohen is due to report to federal prison in May. He has been sentenced to serve three years after pleading guilty to campaign finance violations, tax fraud, bank fraud and lying to Congress.
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🇺🇸 **Virginia first lady criticized for handing cotton to black students on mansion tour**
*Philadelphia Inquirer* - <https://archive.fo/DFC2Z>

A Virginia state employee has complained that her eighth-grade daughter was upset during a tour of the historic governor's residence when first lady Pam Northam handed a ball of cotton to her and another black child and asked them to imagine being enslaved and having to pick cotton.

"The Governor and Mrs. Northam have asked the residents of the Commonwealth to forgive them for their racially insensitive past actions," Leah Dozier Walker, who oversees the Office of Equity and Community Engagement at the state Department of Education, wrote Feb. 25 to lawmakers and to the office of Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat.

"But the actions of Mrs. Northam, just last week, do not lead me to believe that this Governor's office has taken seriously the harm and hurt they have caused African Americans in Virginia or that they are deserving of our forgiveness," she wrote.
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🇺🇸 **New York Boy, 12, Arrested After Anti-Semitic Graffiti Appears on Playground: 'Hail Hitler', 'No Jews Allowed'**
*NewsWeek* - <https://archive.fo/QimJj>

Police in New York have arrested a 12-year-old boy after anti-Semitic graffiti was found scrawled across an elementary school playground.

The chalk graffiti, which included dozens of swastikas and anti-Semitic messages including “Hail Hitler" (sic) and "No Jews Allowed,” were found at the school in the Queens area of the city on February 22.

The arrest of the boy, who has not been identified, was confirmed by NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot F. Shea.

“On Fri, 2-22-19, anti-Semitic graffiti was found throughout a Queens playground,” Shea tweeted. “The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force now have the suspect—a 12-year-old male—in custody. Great job NYPD Hate Crimes.

“No matter the face of hate, the NYPD, partnered with the community, has ZERO tolerance.”

The child has been processed as a juvenile and released to his family, Shea added.

Following the appearance of the graffiti, councilman Chaim Deutsch urged New York Mayor Bill de Blasio to take action on the rise of hate crimes against Jewish people in the city.

"Yet another act of anti-semitism in our city brings the total of anti-semitic hate crimes in our city to nearly 50 since the start of the new year,” Deutsch said in a statement reported by WABC.

“This has gotten completely out of hand. I urge Mayor de Blasio to immediately implement mine and Councilmember Mark Levine's bills that recently passed in the City Council, which would require educational outreach to teach about the impact of hate, bias, and anti-Semitism."
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🇺🇸 **WikiLeaks Veteran: I ‘Cooperated’ With Feds ‘in Exchange for Immunity’**
*The Daily Beast* - <https://archive.fo/yL6Lh>

Chelsea Manning isn’t alone.

Late Thursday, Manning revealed that she’s fighting a subpoena to testify before a grand jury that’s been investigating Julian Assange for nearly nine years. But Manning isn’t the only one being dragged into the aging probe of WikiLeaks’ first big haul. A former WikiLeaks volunteer who was also personal friends with Manning was subpoenaed last May. But unlike Manning, he did not fight the subpoena. He accepted an immunity deal offered by prosecutors.

It’s the second person in Assange’s broader orbit publicly known to have cooperated with prosecutors in their nearly decade-long pursuit of WikiLeaks.

Manning told the New York Times that she’s been subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia on March 5th. Manning, who was released from prison in 2017 on a clemency grant from Obama, vowed to fight the subpoena in court. “I am not going to contribute to a process that I feel is dangerous and could potentially place me in a position where I am forced to backtrack on the truth,” she told the paper.

She made good on that vow Friday morning by filing a motion to quash the subpoena, according to her attorney, New York lawyer Moira Meltzer-Cohen. “At the insistence of the clerk, the motion was filed under seal,” said Meltzer-Cohen in an email to The Daily Beast. “Our position is that litigation regarding the enforceability of a subpoena does not implicate grand jury secrecy, and we will move to have it unsealed. Chelsea, as you might expect, wants to bring some transparency to this process and hopes to be able to share the filing soon.”.
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🇺🇸 ** Ian McKellen: Bryan Singer, Kevin Spacey alleged abuse occurred because they 'were in the closet' **
*USA Today* - <https://archive.fo/HYqpn>

Ian McKellen is making some controversial comments about men who have been accused of sexual misconduct in Hollywood.

During a live recording of the #QueerAF podcast during National Student Pride 2019, the actor shared his reaction to the allegations against Bryan Singer and Kevin Spacey, two people he has worked with before.

He first noted that the director and actor weren't out during the time the alleged incidents occurred, and then he made a puzzling statement citing that as the cause of their alleged behavior.

"Most of them were in the closet. Hence, all their problems as people and their relationship with other people," he said. "If they had been able to be open about themselves and their desires, they wouldn’t have started abusing people in the way they’ve been accused."
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🇺🇸 **Alan Dershowitz suggests curbing press access to hearing on Jeffrey Epstein sex abuse**
*Miami Herald* - <https://archive.fo/i8bAS>

A court hearing on whether to unseal sensitive documents involving the alleged sex trafficking of underage girls by Palm Beach multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein — and the possible involvement of his influential friends — will play out in a New York City courtroom next week.

But it may happen behind closed doors, with the news media and public barred — at least in part.

An attorney for lawyer Alan Dershowitz wrote a letter to the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Tuesday, asking whether the media should be excluded from the proceeding because his oral arguments on behalf of his client could contain sensitive information that has been under seal.

The appeals court had not responded to his concern as of Friday, but if the hearing is closed during his lawyer’s argument, it would represent the latest in a long history of successful efforts to keep details of Epstein’s sex crimes sealed.

Dershowitz, a professor emeritus at Harvard, constitutional law expert and criminal defense attorney, represented Epstein, who in 2008 received what many consider an unusually light sentence for sexually abusing dozens of girls at his Palm Beach mansion. Two women — one of whom was underage — have said Epstein and his partner, British socialite and environmentalist Ghislaine Maxwell, directed them to have sex with Dershowitz, 80, and other wealthy, powerful men. Dershowitz and Maxwell have denied the claims.
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🇦🇹 **Austria's Jews wary of far-right charm offensive**
*France24/AFP* - <https://archive.fo/e3JdR>

David Lasar's family is sadly not unusual among Austria's Jewish community in having lost several members in the Holocaust. But in one respect Lasar stands out -- his membership of the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe).

At its foundation, the FPOe was led by two former members of the Waffen SS, so 66-year-old Lasar's choice of political home might well be considered surprising.

Lasar says he initially joined in the late 1990s as the FPOe was "the only party close to the people, to employees and workers who had been forgotten by the left, while the centre-right was the party of capitalism and big business".

Now as an FPOe MP he says he has an added reason for throwing his lot in with the party.

"We are fighting tirelessly against anti-Semitism, especially anti-Semitism imported through immigration.

"We are the only party to be fighting against this, together with our partners in government," he says, referring to the centre-right People's Party (OeVP) of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.
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🇺🇸 **Lifestyles of the rich and socialist: Bernie Sanders has 3 houses, makes millions**
*Fox News* - <https://archive.is/rgMO0>

Notably, he owns three houses. In 2016, he bought a $575,000 four-bedroom lake-front home in his home state. This is in addition to a row house in Washington D.C., as well as a house in Burlington, Vermont.

The multiple homes, though, bring into question past statements -- like when he asked in 2017: "How many yachts do billionaires need? How many cars do they need? Give us a break. You can't have it all." Sanders has also earned more than $1 million annually in recent years, though he remains on the lower end of Senate Democrats in terms of net worth.
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🇺🇸 **'I'm not running': Hillary Clinton rules out 2020 bid for first time on camera in exclusive interview with News 12**
*News 12 Westchester* - <https://archive.fo/0Es7Z>

Hillary Clinton ruled out a 2020 presidential run for the first time on camera in an exclusive interview with News 12, pledging instead to take an active role by working with the candidates in the crowded Democratic field.

"I'm not running, but I'm going to keep on working and speaking and standing up for what I believe," she told News 12's Tara Rosenblum.

In her first local TV interview since the midterm elections, the former first lady and secretary of state opened up about 2016, 2020 and beyond. She expressed deep concerns about the state of American politics today -- and vowed to be vocal about those concerns.

"I want to be sure that people understand I'm going to keep speaking out," Clinton said. "I'm not going anywhere. What's at stake in our country, the kind of things that are happening right now are deeply troubling to me. And I'm also thinking hard about how do we start talking and listening to each other again? We've just gotten so polarized. We've gotten into really opposing camps unlike anything I've ever seen in my adult life."
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🇬🇧 **UK ‘porn block’ starts April 1 – but you can unlock it by handing over ID or buying £5 ‘porn card’ on your local high street**
*The Sun* - <https://archive.fo/CyS5m>

WATCHING free porn in Britain is about to get a lot trickier thanks to new rules that aim to protect children from online smut.

As early as next month, porn sites will be required to get proof of ID from UK residents before showing any X-rated clips.

That includes free porn sites like PornHub and YouPorn – which attract nearly 2billion visits a month between them worldwide.

They'll join a number of other sites in using the AgeID system, which requires users to verify their age via an official form of ID such as a driver's license or passport.

From April, when the new system is expected to launch, randy internet lurkers will be shown a non-pornographic "landing page", according to AgeID spokesman James Clark.

"When a user first visits a site protected by AgeID, a landing page will appear with a prompt for the user to verify their age before they can access the site," he told The Metro.

"Each website will create their own non-pornographic landing page for this purpose."

When someone first clicks on a site, they'll be asked to register with AgeID and verify their age using a Mobile SMS, credit card, passport, or driving licence.

Users will then be able to use their AgeID username or password to access all porn sites that use AgeID – though some may use different age verification systems.

Clark said: "It is a one-time verification, with a simple single sign-on for future access. If a user verifies on one AgeID protected site, they will not need to perform this verification again on any other site carrying AgeID."

The new rules were approved as part of the Digital Economy Act 2017.
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🇺🇸 **'Rape Day' computer game where players sexually assault and murder women amidst scenes of necrophilia and incest sparks outrage**
*The Daily Mail* - <https://archive.fo/ohNE4>

A new PC game that lets players rape and kill women as they progress through its story of 'violence, sexual assault, necrophilia and incest' is due to be released this month despite outrage.

The developer of 'Rape Day' claims the game is aimed at the 'four per cent of the general population [who] are sociopaths' and would enjoy playing a 'menacing serial killer rapist during a zombie apocalypse'.

Desk Plant, the one-man developer, even brags about its twisted story line in the description on gaming platform Steam.

It wrote: 'Annoy, murder and rape women as you continue the story. It's a dangerous world with no laws. The zombies enjoy eating the flesh off warm humans and brutally raping them but you are the most dangerous rapist in town.'

In a gruesome screenshot uploaded to Twitter, one scene showed the main character forcing a pistol into a young woman's mouth with the subtitles: 'I could blow your brains out and f*** your tight little p****right here.'

The game also included a disturbing scene of a zombie drowning a baby before 'mashing it up into pulp'.

Steam has put the game under review after being inundated with complaints following its release on February 19.
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