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For months, Israel has been forcing Palestinians in northern Gaza to starve on a tiny fraction of their regular daily calorie needs, a report finds as experts warn of an unprecedented widespread famine across the region.

A new Oxfam analysis has found that, since January, people in northern Gaza have had access to less than 12 percent of the 2,100 calories they need per day on average. This is equivalent to an average of only 245 calories per day — fewer calories than are in a can of fava beans, or about a single cup of cooked rice.

“Before the war, we were in good health and had strong bodies,” one mother who is trapped in northern Gaza told Oxfam. “Now, looking at my children and myself, we have lost so much weight since we do not eat any proper food, we are trying to eat whatever we find — edible wild plants or herbs daily just to survive.”

The lack of food is being caused by Israel’s blockade of all forms of humanitarian aid into Gaza, which is only expected to get worse in coming weeks. Israel has informed the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) that it will no longer allow any food shipments into northern Gaza. Meanwhile, after Israel bombed a convoy of international food aid workers with World Central Kitchen earlier this week, killing seven of them, a number of other food aid groups have announced that they are stopping their efforts in Gaza because of the high risk of being killed by Israeli forces.

This downturn in food aid shipments comes as international food insecurity researchers have warned that half of the population of Gaza, or about 1.1 million people, are at imminent risk of famine, with the entire population already facing a food crisis. Israel’s famine campaign in Gaza has no precedent in modern times in terms of speed and severity, experts have repeatedly warned, and dozens of children have already starved to death as Israel’s genocide goes on.

read more: https://truthout.org/articles/palestinians-in-northern-gaza-only-have-access-to-245-calories-a-day/

When Tamera Hutcherson was arrested on January 8 in Dallas, she says, she was ordered by a woman officer to remove her hijab and lift up her shirt with the instruction: “Lift up your top like it’s Girls Gone Wild.” When she did, her waist beads — worn as part of a deeply-held spiritual belief — were revealed, and the officer allowed her to continue wearing them.

But then, she says in a new lawsuit, she was escorted to take a mugshot. Another officer, a man, ordered her to remove her hijab again, this time in view of both men officers and inmates. She tried to explain that she wore her hijab — a head covering — for religious reasons but was ignored. Hutcherson eventually complied but was shaking and crying so violently that the photograph had to be taken three times just to capture an in-focus image.

Hutcherson was arrested alongside two other women wearing hijabs that day — Donia El-Hussain and Nidaa Lafi — after participating in a protest demanding that the Biden administration call for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. The three women have filed a civil lawsuit against Dallas County, the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office and the individual officers involved, saying their religious garments were unlawfully removed for mugshot photos. The Dallas County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Huma Yasin, the lawyer representing El-Hussain, Hutcherson and Lafi, said she hopes this legal action prompts policy changes.

read more: https://19thnews.org/2024/04/women-dallas-lawsuit-hijabs-mugshots/

Get ready to encounter more XXS and XXL Pokémon in the Sizable Sizes event! Plus, shiny Wimpod debuts, and take part in raids for Kartana and Celesteela, which can be shiny for the first time!

Starts Thursday, April 4, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. local time

Ends Tuesday, April 9, 2024, at 8:00 p.m. local time

read more: https://pokemongohub.net/post/event/sizable-surprises-event/

Pokémon GO’s April Community Day Classic featured Pokémon is Bagon! Bagon is making a return as a Community Day Pokémon, this time giving Trainers an opportunity to evolve to a Salemence that knows the Dragon charged attack Outrage.

Bagon will be appearing more frequently in the wild. If you’re lucky, you may encounter a Shiny one! Catch Bagon to complete event-themed field research rewarding encounters with Bagon, Pokéballs, Stardust and more.

Bagon Community Day Classic takes place on Sunday, April 7th, 2024, from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. local time.

read more: https://pokemongohub.net/post/event/bagon-community-day-classic-april-2024/

The once-beloved children’s author is working herself up over Scotland’s new bias law.

U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has jumped to defend J.K. Rowling, who is once again using her one wild and precious life to post obsessively about transgender women instead of doing literally anything else with her hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Harry Potter author took to X, formerly Twitter, on April 1 to share her thoughts on Scotland’s new Hate Crime Act, which went into effect the same day. The law criminalizes “stirring up hatred” related to age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, trans identity, or being intersex, as the BBC reported. “Stirring up hatred” is further defined as communicating or behaving in a way “that a reasonable person would consider to be threatening or abusive” against a protected group. The offense is punishable by imprisonment of up to seven years, a fine, or both.

In response to the legislation, Rowling posted a long thread naming several prominent trans women in the U.K., including Mridul Wadhwa, the CEO of the Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre, and activist Munroe Bergdorf. Since it was April Fool’s day, Rowling decided to commemorate it by sarcastically affirming the womanhood of all the people she named in her thread. In the same breath that she said that a convicted child predator was “rightly sent to a women’s prison,” she also called out a number of trans women making anodyne comments about inclusion, seemingly implying that trans identity is inherently predatory.

read more: https://www.them.us/story/jk-rowling-rishi-sunak-social-media-trans

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A man wanted just two slices of cheese on his sandwich, so when his wife used three slices in his grilled cheese sandwich, he became irate.

Angered at the sight of all the extra cheesiness, James DePaola became agitated and violent, yelling at the woman, Michele DePaola. According to WSB-TV, DePaola then ripped the landline out of the wall so his wife couldn’t call the police and reportedly screamed at her intensely. The couple’s 12-year old daughter who witnessed the incident called the police to the scene, according to Athens-Clarke County police.

James DePaola was charged with obstruction of a 911 call and criminal trespass/damage to property over what the police now refer to as “the grilled cheese incident”. DePaola has a history of “abusive behavior,” and was often “excessively critical and controlling of day to day things in life” like sandwiches, apparently.

read more: https://www.mediamatters.org/jesse-watters/fox-news-guest-decrying-migrant-crime-previously-arrested-after-getting-violent-over

The Charged Up Research Day is coming to Pokémon GO, with a focus on Electric type Pokémon! On March 3, 2024, you will be able to catch select Electric-type Pokémon, with an increased odds to encounter a shiny version of them!

read more: https://pokemongohub.net/post/event/charged-up-research-day/

Nex, a gender fluid trans teen is dead in Oklahoma. Their death comes after a year of transphobic bullying, in a school targeted by the biggest anti-trans influencers. When will it end?

The stories of transgender children being killed are among the hardest I am tasked with writing. I refer to them as stories because, regrettably, there have been multiple incidents over the past two years. Eden Knight, Brianna Ghey, Ariyanna Mitchell—names that will forever resonate with me—all young, tragically stripped of their lives in a world where individuals like them face relentless dehumanization and maltreatment by those holding power. This week, we have yet another name to add to a list already unbearably long from the first addition… Nex, a gender-fluid transgender high school student, was brutally attacked in an Oklahoma bathroom and lost their life, only a month after Chaya Raichik of Libs Of TikTok was appointed as part of a plan to “make schools safer” in Oklahoma.

The news emerged over the weekend through a post highlighting a student allegedly assaulted by three peers in a high school bathroom at Owasso High School West Campus. This post revealed that a student named Nex had been killed, criticized the media for deadnaming them (using their old name), and noted that their transgender status was being ignored. Now, following widespread attention drawn to Nex and their transgender status, their mother has provided more information to The Independent.

Though details about the specific incident remain sparse, we learned that Nex had been repeatedly bullied at school for being transgender and that the bullying erupted into violence toward them. In what has been described as a "physical altercation," Nex suffered a severe head injury in a high school bathroom at the hands of three girls. Allegedly, No ambulance was called, though Nex was taken to the hospital by their mother and was discharged. They succumbed to their head injury the next morning.

Twenty-five years ago, another LGBTQ+ student had their life taken from them too soon. Matthew Shepherd, who was horrifically beaten and left to die, also succumbed to his own severe head injuries. His death sparked a wave of awareness about how the demonization of gay people in the 1990s led to the killing of gay youth and the fear that so many LGBTQ+ people felt during the gay panics of the 1990s and early 2000s. His death changed things forever and eventually was cited in the passing of hate crime legislation.

Many look at Nex’s death and wonder if their legacy may also shine a light on the horrific consequences of the anti-trans panic sweeping the world today, fueled by a handful of hate accounts and influencers. According to an investigation by The Independent, Raichik targeted a teacher Nex had greatly admired through her anti-trans account, Libs of TikTok - the school was among the earliest targeted by the account. The account has since become infamous for making posts that are often followed by bomb threats and violence.

Concurrently, the state schools superintendent Ryan Walters put out a horrific video the following year calling transgender youth in bathrooms “an assault on truth” and dangerous to other kids. He has been a fierce opponent towards LGBTQ+ people in schools, even going as far as to demand a principal be fired for being a drag queen in his time off. He has also prevented students from changing their gender markers in school records, saying that he “did not want [transgender people] thrust on our kids.”

Just last month, Walters decided to appoint Raichik of Libs of TikTok to the Department of Education's library media panel. In the letter appointing her, Walters stated that Libs of TikTok was part of his plan to “make schools safer for kids.” Transgender children in Oklahoma and their family members, however, watched in horror as they have now learned what “safety” really means: the violent and brutal suppression of transgender people in the state, and the death of transgender children.

read more: https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/chaya-raichik-was-appointed-to-make?publication_id=994764&post_id=141878010

read more: https://www.theonion.com/trump-booed-at-furrycon-while-hawking-new-399-tail-1851271242

During a visit to lobby legislators on transgender issues, Senator Carden Summers (R) knelt down and told a child he would protect her. When he learned she was trans, he backed away.

On Feb. 6, a group of families met to lobby senators on issues affecting the local transgender community in Georgia. One mother, Lena Kotler, decided to take her two children with her to give the topic a human face. While waiting to meet with Democratic Sen. Kim Jackson, who they had heard was a big supporter of LGBTQ+ rights, another senator passed by — Republican Sen. Carden Summers, the primary sponsor of the state’s bathroom ban bill. Little did he know that one of the children he would be interacting with, Aleix, 8 years old, was a transgender child.

According to Kotler and other families who were present, the senator stopped to say hello. That’s when Kotler spoke to Senator Summers about how she was there with her kids to “talk to legislators about keeping her kids safe.” Although she did not mention that one of her children was trans, they were present with LGBTQ+ signage - something the Senator apparently missed when he knelt down in front of Aleix and said, according to Kotler, “Well you know, we’re working on that and I’m going to protect kids like you.”

Kotler then replied, “Yeah - Alex is trans, and she wants to be safe at school, she wants to go to the bathroom and be safe.”

That is when, according to multiple witnesses, Sen. Summers stood up and fumbled his words, repeating, "I mean, yeah, I'm going to make sure she's safe by going to the right bathroom," continuing to use the correct pronouns for Aleix. When asked if he would make her go to a boy's bathroom, he then allegedly backed away, saying, "You're attacking me," turned around, and walked off quickly.

read more: https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/georgia-senator-vows-to-protect-girl?publication_id=994764&post_id=141716994

The suspect in the Texas megachurch shooting on Sunday was not transgender, officials have confirmed. But that hasn’t stopped Republican politicians and conservative media from pushing yet another “trans mass shooter” conspiracy theory.

The shooting occurred on February 11, when 36-year-old Genesse Ivonne Moreno allegedly opened fire in Lakewood Church, a large evangelical megachurch in Houston where Joel Osteen serves as senior pastor. Police say they shot and killed Moreno in the ensuing gunfight, during which two others were also “shot in the crossfire” and wounded, including Moreno’s seven-year-old son, according to the Associated Press.

Barely a day after the shooting, right-wing politicians and pundits lined up to claim Moreno was a deranged trans woman, based only on now-debunked evidence. On X, formerly Twitter, anti-LGBTQ+ propagandist Chaya “Libs of TikTok” Raichik claimed that the Lakewood shooting was “[a]nother act of trans terrorism,” and accused “the LGBTQ movement [of] turning youth into violent extremists.” Others swiftly followed suit: Missouri Rep. Josh Hawley wrote Moreno was “a transgender, pro-Palestine radical,” and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene simply called her “a trans from El Salvador.” Donald Trump Jr. and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz also boosted the claims on social media this week.

As The Advocate also noted, a Fox News article on Tuesday also claimed Moreno was transgender, but the article was later edited to walk back that claim, after police clarified there was no evidence to support it. (Raichik, Greene, and Cruz’s posts were still online at time of writing.)

The notion that Moreno was trans may have come from confusion over aliases police said Moreno used, as well as names under which she was previously charged. Analysis by the watchdog group Media Matters found that MSNBC also reported Moreno was trans on Tuesday, appearing to draw their information from initial police reports.

Multiple court records dating back as far as 2005 indicate that Moreno always identified herself as a woman regardless of her name, the AP reported, and an attorney who previously represented her said there was “no indication” she was trans. During a press conference this week, police also confirmed that Moreno was the biological mother of the seven-year-old who was critically injured in the shooting.

read more: https://www.them.us/story/the-right-is-once-again-spreading-a-rumor-that-the-lakewood-church-shooter-is-trans

Bill Eigel, a Republican gubernatorial candidate in Missouri, may not realize, but this is physically impossible.

A gubernatorial candidate in Missouri is arguing against abortion access for rape victims on the basis that it would technically allow babies to gain access to the medical procedure.

Republican Missouri State Senator Bill Eigel took the draconian (and idiotic) stance during a debate last week, over an amendment to the state’s already restrictive abortion ban. Missouri has only allowed abortions in the event of medical emergencies since shortly after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022. The new amendment, proposed by Democratic state Senator Doug Beck, would permit abortions for children aged 12 and under if they are victims of rape or incest, raising health concerns for child rape victims if their pregnancies were carried to term.

“You want to bring back the institution of abortion so that kids can get abortions in the state of Missouri. A 1-year-old could get an abortion under this,” Eigel said, according to the St Louis Post-Dispatch.

The uneducated response immediately called for a fact-check from Beck.

“I don’t know that a 1-year-old could get pregnant, Senator,” he retorted, before asking if Eigel was “OK” with the “forced birth of a child being raped.”

“I don’t support the institutions of rape or of incest. But your amendment doesn’t address those,” Eigel replied.

read more: https://newrepublic.com/post/178982/maga-republican-candidate-missouri-eigel-babies-abortion

archive: https://archive.ph/u3Pvw