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Serving transgender troops have a reprieve until at least next February while a Defense Department panel decides how to implement the Trump White House ban. “Current transgender members will continue to serve throughout the military and continue to receive necessary medical treatment as prescribed by their medical provider,” Pentagon spokesman Col. Rob Manning told reporters on Friday. “Transgender services members whose term of service expires while the interim guidance is in effect may at the service member’s request, re-enlist under existing procedures.” Manning said a panel led by the Deputy Secretary of Defense and Vice Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff would decide how President Donald Trump’s August memo would be carried out, “consistent with military readiness, lethality, deployability and budgetary constraints and applicable law.” The panel will submit recommendations to Pentagon chief Jim Mattis no later than February 21, 2018. The ACLU has already launched a legal challenge of the ban, arguing that the ban violates the constitutional rights of transgender individuals by singling them out for unequal and discriminatory treatment. —Kimberly Dozier | |
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Google has allowed advertisers to reach people by searching racist and bigoted terms, BuzzFeed News reported on Friday. The site also suggests additional problematic terms when some are typed into its ad-buying tool, according to the report. For example, reporters typed “White people ruin,” as an advertising keyword and Google suggested they also target people searching, “black people ruin neighborhoods.” The site suggested the terms “the evil jew” and “jewish control of banks” after reporters searched “Why do Jews ruin everything.” Google, the world's biggest advertising platform, reportedly removed several of the keywords after reporters brought the issue to their attention. “This violates our policies against derogatory speech and we have removed it,” a Google spokesperson said. ProPublica reported Thursday that Facebook also allowed its advertisers to target people using terms like “jew hater.” | |
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The United States Army has reportedly canceled the enlistment contracts for hundreds of immigrant recruits, The Washington Post reported on Friday. Many enlistees who were part of the immigration recruitment program, which provides a fast-tracked path to citizenship, now face the possibility of deportation. Recruiters are allegedly cancelling the contracts of the immigrant recruits, many of which have waited years to join the Army, so they can instead focus on people who can more quickly enlist. “It’s a dumpster fire ruining people’s lives. The magnitude of incompetence is beyond belief,” said Margaret Stock, a retired Army officer. “We have a war going on. We need these people.” | |
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Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is defending a Utah business in a patent infringement lawsuit brought by a Kansas firearm accessories company, The Wichita Eagle reported Friday. Kobach, who is running for governor, is representing Modular Evolution as a private lawyer against Wichita-based B&T Industries. The lawsuit is the only open federal civil case Kobach is part of that doesn’t involve his position as secretary of state or his role vice chairman on President Trump’s Election Integrity Commission. | |
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“So much of what I thought I knew just turned out not to be correct,” says Lynn Novick, discussing what she learned while working on the upcoming documentary series “The Vietnam War,” which she co-directed alongside longtime creative partner Ken Burns. “In every aspect of this war, there are many, many misconceptions, and I certainly harbored many of them,” she tells Daily Beast Editor-in-Chief John Avlon in our interview. “So, it was really a process of just leaving the baggage at the door, and trying to trust people who know a lot more about this than we do.” View this cheat in a browser to see this video. Hear diverse perspectives from the war when PBS presents “The Vietnam War,” a new film from Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. Premieres Sunday, September 17, 2017 at 8/7c. | |
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A former St. Louis police officer was found not guilty Friday of murdering a black drug suspect after a high-speed car chase and crash, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Jason Stockley was charged last year with first-degree murder and armed criminal action for the December 2011 shooting death of Anthony Lamar Smith. The former officer waved his right to a jury trial. St. Louis Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson made the decision. Activists pledged disruptive protests ahead of the verdict’s announcement. Prosecutors said Stockley had planned to kill Smith, shooting him five times at close range and then planting a revolver in his car. The officer’s defense, however, said Stockley acted in self-defense. | |
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Police in London are conducting a major manhunt for a suspect who planted a bucket bomb on the packed District Line Tube during rush-hour Friday morning. No arrests have been made. At least 22 people were taken to local hospitals with wounds. Mayor Sadiq Khan, again summoned to address terror in his city, condemned the attack and “the hideous individuals who attempt to use terror to harm us and destroy our way of life. As London has proven again and again, we will never be intimidated or defeated by terrorism.” | |
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A judge ordered an Ohio man convicted of rape as a teen to be temporarily reinstated to the Youngstown State University football team, Sports Illustrated reported Friday. Ma’lik Richmond filed a federal lawsuit against the university Wednesday after it allowed him to walk on to the football team, but then banned him from playing for the season. The lawsuit accuses the university of being infected with an anti-male bias stemming from Richmond’s prior rape conviction. Richmond, then a player on Steubenville High School’s football team, spent 10 months in juvenile prison after being convicted in 2013 of raping a 16-year old girl during a party. The case received national attention after allegations that the rape was being covered-up in an effort to protect the football team. | |
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A Swedish politician said in a Facebook post that he was raped at knifepoint in July because of his left-leaning political views, BBC News reported. “I was brutally treated and raped at knifepoint on the pretext that I was a left-wing [expletive], that people like us like this, and finally that I was a traitor,” said Patrik Liljeglod, a group leader of the Left Party. Local media report investigators and forensics labs are working on case in central Sweden. Police spokesman Stefan Dangardt said “it is obviously a hate crime” if the alleged assault was motivated by Liljeglod's political beliefs. | |
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In a series of tweets early Friday morning, President Trump slammed the “loser” terrorist in London who set off an explosive during rush-hour on a train, while using the attack to bolster his travel ban against people from six Muslim-majority nations. “Another attack in London by a loser terrorist,” he wrote, just hours after at least 22 people were injured. Officials are still conducting a manhunt for the suspect, who has not yet been identified. “These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive!” Trump added. “Loser terrorists must be dealt with in a much tougher manner. The internet is their main recruitment tool which we must cut off & use better!” and “The travel ban into the United States should be far larger, tougher and more specific—but stupidly, that would not be politically correct!” | |
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