Controversial rapper Azealia Banks made a brave (read: “ill-advised”) announcement concerning the 2016 election via her Twitter last night:

 Ok so, I think I'm ready to admit that I'm going to vote for Donald Trump. — azealiabanks (@AZEALIABANKS) February 1, 2016

 And she has an alliterative (if not substantive) argument in favor of doing so:

 I think Trump is the only one who truly has the balls to bust up big business. Hilary is too tied in with them and Bernie has no clout. — azealiabanks (@AZEALIABANKS) February 1, 2016

 And maybe some of you aren’t convinced by Trump’s big business-busting balls, so Banks rattled off a little over a dozen more reasons why #Trump2016 is the logical choice. Among the more persuasive:

 The other candidates are simply … "Them hoes over there" #thots — azealiabanks (@AZEALIABANKS) February 1, 2016

 Just because Hilary Clinton and Bernie sanders say nice things about minorities doesn't mean they actually mean them — azealiabanks (@AZEALIABANKS) February 1, 2016

 Politicians have been saying "nice" things about colored folks and we've still been getting fucked. — azealiabanks (@AZEALIABANKS) February 1, 2016

 I only trust this country to be what it is: full of shit. takes shit to know shit so we may as well, put a piece of shit in the White House — azealiabanks (@AZEALIABANKS) February 1, 2016 ||||| The seed for this crawl was a list of every host in the Wayback Machine

 This crawl was run at a level 1 (URLs including their embeds, plus the URLs of all outbound links including their embeds)

 The WARC files associated with this crawl are not currently available to the general public. ||||| Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks to reporters at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016, following a meeting with President Barack Obama. (AP Photo/Manuel... (Associated Press)

 WASHINGTON (AP) — Here are the latest developments from the 2016 race for president, less than a week out from the Iowa caucuses. All times local.

 9:40 p.m.

 Two super PACs supporting Sen. Ted Cruz's presidential campaign are offering to donate $1.5 million to charities that help veterans if Donald Trump will debate Cruz head-to-head before the Iowa caucuses.

 The political action committees, Keep the Promise I and II, are proposing a one-hour debate to be held in Iowa on or before Jan. 31, the day before the caucuses, with a moderator chosen by the candidates.

 Cruz himself sent a letter to Trump Wednesday inviting him to debate in Sioux City, Iowa, on Saturday night. The Cruz campaign suggested conservative radio hosts Mark Levin, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh as possible moderators.

 Trump dismissed Cruz's proposal earlier Wednesday. He is skipping Thursday's night's GOP debate amid a feud with debate host Fox News Channel.

 ___

 9:25 p.m.

 Bernie Sanders' campaign says it's willing to go along with Hillary Clinton and ask the Democratic National Committee to add another presidential debate before the New Hampshire primary. But there's a catch.

 Sanders' campaign is requesting three additional debates in exchange for the proposed New Hampshire debate Feb. 4. The campaign wants one each in March, April and May and it doesn't want any debates to be held on a Friday, Saturday or holiday weekend. Sanders' campaign wants all three Democratic candidates to be invited.

 Clinton said in a phone interview with MSNBC earlier Wednesday that she was "anxious" for another debate, adding, "Let's try to make it happen."

 Sanders' campaign has been resistant to the Feb. 4 proposal because the DNC hasn't sanctioned the debate.

 The DNC has said it's sticking with its debate schedule. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley supports adding another debate.

 __

 9:15 p.m.

 Bernie Sanders is taking a jab at Hillary Clinton, pointing out to his supporters that she is raising money at a Philadelphia investment firm on Wednesday night instead of campaigning in Iowa. He says, "Frankly, I would rather be here with you."

 Clinton's campaign responds that the former secretary of state also met with nearly 50 black ministers during her stop in Philadelphia "to discuss the issues important to the African-American community." She held an event in Adel, Iowa, earlier in the day.

 Clinton flew from Iowa to Pennsylvania on Wednesday to attend a fundraiser at the firm of Franklin Square Capital Partners. The event featured a performance by rocker Jon Bon Jovi.

 Sanders was speaking to about 1,100 people in Mason City with five days remaining before the leadoff Iowa caucuses. He was introduced by actress Susan Sarandon, who said issues were more important than gender. She also took a swipe at Clinton, saying, "It's one thing to be for gay rights and marriage when everyone else is for it."

 __

 8:50 p.m.

 New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says Donald Trump's decision to skip Thursday night's GOP debate reminds him of "a 13-year-old arguing."

 The Republican presidential candidate says he didn't "whine and moan" when he was booted from the mainstage ahead of one debate, but "acted like a leader."

 Christie says the next president should not be "a person that when one thing goes sideways, when one thing seems not fair, they're just going to walk away and take their marbles and go away."

 Christie was holding a town hall event at a bar in Dubuque with five days left to the Iowa caucuses.

 He is hoping to beat expectations in the state to build momentum heading into the friendlier state of New Hampshire.

 __

 8:35 p.m.

 Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is blasting Republican rival Donald Trump for a second night in a row over his decision to skip Thursday's presidential debate and again challenging him to a one-on-one contest.

 Cruz on Wednesday challenged Trump to debate him Saturday night in Sioux City, Iowa.

 Cruz says if he and Trump can't agree on a moderator for a debate, they should take questions directly from Iowans.

 Cruz told gathered supporters that "it's not really that Donald is afraid of me. He's afraid of you. He doesn't want to answer questions from the men and women of Iowa about how his record doesn't match what he's selling."

 Trump earlier Wednesday laughed off Cruz's call to debate, saying in a message on Twitter that if they did it the contest should be held in Canada. where Cruz was born.

 ___

 8:25 p.m.

 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is defending his decision to skip Thursday's Fox News debate, saying he was "not treated well" by the network.

 Trump said in a Wednesday interview on Fox that he doesn't mind debating, but "I just don't like being used."

 He says television networks have made millions of dollars in advertising on debates he's participated in.

 Trump disputed the notion that he is hurting his candidacy by not being on the debate stage. He says Republicans already have had debates and "at some point you've got to start doing other things."

 Trump plans to instead headline a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, raising money for military veterans. He says the event will be "tremendous."

 ___

 8:15 p.m.

 Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump told a campaign rally in South Carolina that he has "not been treated fairly."

 But he didn't get into details about his decision to skip Thursday's GOP debate amid an ongoing dispute with host network Fox News.

 Trump is the only GOP contender who has left Iowa and New Hampshire this week to campaign in South Carolina.

 The lead-off Iowa caucuses are Monday, followed by New Hampshire's primary Feb. 9 and South Carolina's Feb. 20.

 Trump reminded the hundreds of supporters gathered a farm Wednesday night outside Columbia that he'll return to Iowa on Thursday to host a fundraiser for veterans groups.

 It will be held at the same time as the debate just two miles away.

 ___

 7:30 p.m.

 Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is calling billionaire Donald Trump's decision to skip Thursday night's Republican debate, and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's subsequent one-on-one challenge an "interesting sideshow."

 But he told an audience of mostly young people and families with children at a West Des Moines sports bar Wednesday evening that "this is serious. We cannot lose this election."

 Rubio is trying to refocus the discussion in the intensifying race ahead of Monday's Iowa caucuses, with jabs at the two rivals seen to be vying for first place.

 He spoke to the gathering of about 400 supporters after a day spent largely cooped up in his hotel preparing for Thursday's debate.

 The debate preparation Thursday marks a detour from what has been a torrid pre-caucus tromp through the state.

 He'll resume a bus tour Friday and plans to fly around the state for appearances Saturday and Sunday.

 ___

 7:10 p.m.

 Bernie Sanders says he has no intention of going negative on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton even as the two remain in an increasingly tight race just days head of the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses.

 Sanders was on Capitol Hill Wednesday after a meeting with President Barack Obama earlier in the day. He told reporters he has "never run a negative ad" in his life and will not do so against Clinton.

 He says he's proud of running a positive campaign.

 Sanders also was asked about GOP front-runner Donald Trump's decision to skip Thursday night's Republican debate on Fox News, but did not respond as he walked away from reporters.

 ___

 6:15 p.m.

 Donald Trump's campaign has formally announced plans to host a special event at the same time as Thursday's presidential debate.

 The move follows the Republican front-runner's promise to boycott the Fox News debate. He's been upset with Fox over what he calls unfair treatment from debate moderator Megyn Kelly and a sarcastic tweet from the network.

 The campaign issued an advisory Wednesday night with details for what it's calling a special event.

 Just as the prime-time debate begins Thursday at 9 p.m. EST, Trump is scheduled to appear at Drake University in Des Moines at an event the campaign says will benefit veterans.

 The appearance will be just two miles from where his Republican rivals gather for the debate.

 ___

 6 p.m.

 Aides to Donald Trump say South Carolina Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster will introduce and endorse the billionaire businessman at a Wednesday rally outside Columbia.

 McMaster's nod gives Trump the backing of a longtime South Carolina politician widely viewed as an establishment Republican.

 He previously served as state GOP chairman and has been an ally of Sen. Lindsey Graham — a failed 2016 White House hopeful and fierce Trump critic.

 Polls conducted by Fox News and Winthrop University in early December showed Trump with a strong lead in the first Southern primary state.

 ___

 4:20 p.m.

 Bernie Sanders says he and President Barack Obama talked foreign policy, the economy and "a little bit of politics," during their first extended sit-down since the Vermont senator's presidential campaign jolted the race for the Democratic nomination.

 Sanders spoke to reporters in the White House driveway after the 45-minute meeting Wednesday.

 The White House said the president considered the 45-minute meeting a chance to discuss ways the two could work together, to reminisce about the thrill of campaigning in Iowa and to talk broadly about the state of the 2016 race.

 The long-discussed meeting between Obama and his sometime critic was a moment for the president to display public neutrality in the heated and unexpectedly tight primary race to replace him. And rebut suggestions he's in the can for Sanders' rival Hillary Clinton.

 Sanders says the president has been "even handed" in his treatment of the candidates.

 ___

 4 p.m.

 Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid and Republican counterpart Mitch McConnell aren't in Iowa or New Hampshire, but can't avoid questions about the presidential race.

 The two leaders gave lighthearted responses Wednesday when asked by Capitol Hill reporters to discuss the campaigns.

 Reid joked that he's "kind of pulling for Donald Trump," while McConnell avoided discussion of the White House contest altogether. McConnell said he wouldn't start talking about it because "there'd be no place to end the discussion."

 When asked if the Senate GOP could work with a President Trump, McConnell answered "good try," adding that they're "anxious to have a Republican president but not at all sure who that's going to be yet."

 Reid told reporters he's "watching with pleasure the Republicans fumbling around," but later stood on the Senate floor and proclaimed in a more serious tone that "the danger of a Donald Trump candidacy to our country is not a joke."

 ___

 3:15 p.m.

 Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee's campaign released a parody video based off singer Adele's 2015 hit song "Hello" ahead of Iowa's Feb. 1 leadoff caucus.

 Huckabee's campaign released a 3.5 minute online video Wednesday entitled "Hello, Huck," with satirical lyrics sung over the Adele's hit, with direct jabs to Democratic contenders Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. He doesn't mention any of his GOP rivals by name.

 "Iowans are not for sale," the song says. "They're stubborn and picky. There's just no difference between Obama and Hillary."

 "Hello from caucus night. If Bernie wins I'm gonna die. This crazy circus, it's gone coo-coo-ca-choo, and Huckabee is the guy who's long overdue."

 Huckabee, who is lagging in the polls behind others in the crowded GOP field, previous ran for president in 2008. He won the Iowa caucus that year, but did not win his party's nomination.

 ___

 1:40 p.m.

 An Iowa man has been arrested on charges that he threw tomatoes at Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a campaign stop at the University of Iowa.

 Hayley Bruce, a University of Iowa spokeswoman, says 28-year-old Andrew Joseph Alemao was charged Tuesday with disorderly conduct after officers say they saw him throwing two tomatoes toward Trump during a speech. It wasn't clear whether the tomatoes hit anyone.

 Secret Service and University of Iowa police officers arrested Alemao, and he was booked into the Johnson County Jail.

 Johnson County Jail officials say Alemao was released Wednesday morning without bond.

 ___

 1:00 p.m.

 Hillary Clinton says she wants the Democratic National Committee to add another presidential debate before the New Hampshire primary and urging Bernie Sanders to join her on stage.

 Clinton says in a phone interview with MSNBC that she's "anxious" for another debate, adding, "let's try to make it happen." She says she wants DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the other campaigns to support another debate.

 Sanders' campaign has said it has no plans to do so because the DNC hasn't sanctioned the debate. The Vermont senator's campaign has said it wouldn't want to jeopardize its participation in two debates planned for after the New Hampshire primary in Wisconsin and Florida.

 The DNC has said it's sticking with its debate schedule.

 Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley supports adding another debate.

 ___

 12:25 p.m.

 Snow is being forecast in Iowa for early next week, but people gathering for the presidential caucuses likely won't be hindered.

 Mindy Beerends, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Des Moines, says there could be rain and a little snow during the caucuses, set to begin at 7 p.m. Monday, but early projections show no accumulating snow until early Tuesday.

 Weather is always an unpredictable factor of the caucuses, which typically draw hundreds of thousands of Iowans to precinct gatherings to choose presidential candidates and conduct political party business.

 The bigger problem could be for the many campaign staffers and reporters in Iowa who want to leave after the caucuses. They could find their exit complicated by steadier snow Tuesday.

 ___

 12:00 p.m.

 President Barack Obama will welcome Bernie Sanders to the White House Wednesday with days to go until the presidential hopeful takes on Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination in the Iowa caucus.

 Sanders and his wife arrived to the White House earlier Wednesday ahead of the scheduled meeting with the president.

 The long-discussed meeting between the sitting president and his sometime critic is a moment for the president to display public neutrality in the heated and unexpectedly tight primary race to replace him — refuting suggestions that he's in the can for Clinton.

 For Sanders, it's a chance to show he's got some sway with a president still popular among Democrats.

 The president this week rebuffed suggestions that Sanders' upstart campaign is a reboot of his own battle against Clinton in 2008.

 ___

 10:00 a.m.

 Republican presidential contender John Kasich is turning his attention to Iowa after a flurry of activity has signaled he may be headed toward the top-tier victory he seeks in New Hampshire.

 The Ohio governor has planned town hall meetings in Davenport Wednesday and in Cedar Rapids Friday. He will also participate in the Republican presidential debate Thursday, which is in Des Moines.

 The Iowa caucuses are scheduled for Feb. 1.

 Kasich has focused most of his early attention on New Hampshire, where he's competing for votes from GOP moderates and independents against candidates including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio.

 Kasich landed endorsements in that contest from the Concord Monitor and the Boston Globe and some polling placed him second among New Hampshire voters behind Donald Trump.

 ___

 8:45 a.m.

 Ted Cruz is mocking Donald Trump's decision to skip Thursday's Fox News Republican presidential debate, taunting him on Twitter and creating an image of his face on the illustrated body of Disney tycoon Scrooge McDuck, sitting on top of bags of money.

 Cruz on Tuesday responded to Trump's decision to skip the debate in Des Moines by challenging him to a one-on-one debate, "mano-a-mano." Cruz is following that up on Wednesday with a satirical message on Twitter, linking to a clip of the song "Brave Sir Robin Ran Away" from a film by the British comedy troupe Monty Python.

 Cruz created an online petition showing a mock-up of Trump with the Disney character's body, sitting on bags of money, on top of a mountain of gold coins, encouraging supporters to "Tell Ducking Donald: Debate Ted Cruz."

 ___

 7:20 a.m.

 Donald Trump's presidential campaign manager Corey Lewandowski is accusing Fox News anchorwoman Megyn Kelly of being "completely obsessed" with his candidate, and says most people tuned in to the first FOX News Republican debate because Trump was on stage.

 His comments to ABC's Good Morning America Wednesday follow a statement by Trump a day earlier that he would not participate in the upcoming FOX News GOP debate, scheduled for Thursday.

 The feud between Trump and Kelly began during the first FOX News debate in August, when Kelly asked the candidate if previous, disparaging comments he has made against women reflect the temperament of a president.

 On Tuesday, Trump called Kelly a "lightweight reporter."

 Lewandowski said Wednesday that Trump will instead spend his time with wounded veterans in Des Moines, Iowa. The state hosts the country's lead-off presidential contest on Feb. 1. |||||

Write a summary.

– Three celebrities have weighed in on the 2016 presidential candidates ... well, mostly Donald Trump: Azealia Banks went on quite a rant Sunday night on Twitter, and though the rapper started off by saying she'd be voting Trump, the whole thing ended up being satire, Salon reports. Sample tweets: "I only trust this country to be what it is: full of s---. takes s--- to know s--- so we may as well, put a piece of s--- in the White House." And: "In conclusion, I think Donald trump is evil like America is evil and in order for America to keep up with itself it needs him." Kid Rock, though, appears to actually like The Donald. "I'm digging Trump," the rocker, who once campaigned for Mitt Romney, tells Rolling Stone. "My feeling: Let the motherf---ing business guy run it like a f---ing business. And his campaign has been entertaining as s---." Add Adele to the list of musicians not in favor of Trump, however—or at least not in favor of him using her music. After Trump played "Rolling in the Deep" at some of his Iowa rallies and Mike Huckabee released a parody of her new single, "Hello" (yes, really), Adele's spokesperson issued a statement noting that "Adele has not given permission for her music to be used for any political campaigning," per the Raw Story.


Here is a news article: Image copyright AFP Image caption The Nazis ran death camps in Poland during the brutal 1939-45 occupation

 Poland has summoned the US ambassador and demanded an apology over comments on the Holocaust by FBI director James Comey.

 The foreign ministry said Mr Comey had suggested in a Washington Post article that some Poles were accomplices.

 After the summons US envoy Stephen Mull said he made it clear the US believed "Nazi Germany alone" was responsible.

 Six million Polish citizens were killed by the Nazis during World War Two, half of them Jewish.

 'Falsification of history'

 In the Washington Post article on Thursday, aimed at raising education about the Holocaust, Mr Comey wrote: "In their minds, the murderers and accomplices of Germany, and Poland, and Hungary, and so many, many other places didn't do something evil.

 "They convinced themselves it was the right thing to do, the thing they had to do."

 The words sparked a storm of protest in Poland.

 Image copyright AFP Image caption James Comey made the comments in a Washington Post article on Thursday

 President Bronislaw Komorowski told Polish television the comments were an "insult to thousands of Poles who helped Jews".

 Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz said: "To those who are incapable of presenting the historic truth in an honest way, I want to say that Poland was not a perpetrator but a victim of World War Two. I would expect full historical knowledge from officials who speak on the matter."

 Ambassador Mull, who on Sunday attended ceremonies marking the 72nd anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising against the Nazis, said that any suggestion that "Poland, or any other countries other than Nazi Germany, bear responsibility for the Holocaust, is a mistake, harmful and insulting".

 After Sunday's summons he added: "I made clear that the opinion that Poland is in any way responsible for the Holocaust is not the position of the United States.

 "Nazi Germany alone bears responsibility. I now have a lot of work before me to make things right in this situation."

 But Mr Mull also said he believed the wider message of the article was that many people had either aided the Nazis or not done enough in response to the atrocities, including in the US.

 The Washington Post on Sunday published a column criticising Mr Comey's comments.

 The Nazis ran death camps in Poland during the brutal 1939-45 occupation.

 Correction 20 April 2015: In an earlier version of this report, comments made by the Polish ambassador to Washington were incorrectly attributed to Stephen Mull. ||||| FBI Director James Comey (Cliff Owen/Associated Press)

 The Polish ambassador to Washington has protested, the Polish president has protested, the speaker of the Polish parliament (to whom I am married) has protested — and the U.S. ambassador to Warsaw has apologized profusely. Why? Because James Comey, the director of the FBI, in a speech that was reprinted in The Post arguing for more Holocaust education, demonstrated just how badly he needs it himself.

 In two poorly worded sentences, he sounded to Polish readers as if he were repeating the World War II myth that most drives them crazy: Namely, that somehow, those who lived in occupied Eastern Europe shared full responsibility for a German policy. Comey put it like this:

 “In their minds, the murderers and accomplices of Germany, and Poland, and Hungary, and so many, many other places didn’t do something evil. They convinced themselves it was the right thing to do, the thing they had to do.”

 There are a number of problems with that pair of weak sentences, starting with the vast difference between Germany and the rest. During the war, Germany had a state policy of exterminating the Jews. This policy involved not “accomplices” but hundreds of bureaucrats, tens of thousands of soldiers, train schedules and plans. Germany also encouraged the creation of collaborationist governments in other countries – Vichy France, for example – some of which used their own police officers to send their Jewish citizens into the German death camps.

 Germany also occupied Poland, but there was no Polish “Vichy.” During the war, there was no Polish state at all. Indeed, it was the absence of the Polish state that enabled the Germans to create a lawless, violent world, one in which anyone could be arbitrarily murdered, any Jew could be deported — and any Pole who helped a Jew could be shot instantly, along with his entire family. Many were. Millions of others died too – Polish intellectuals, priests and politicians were all Nazi targets.

 In the course of the war, most of Poland’s infrastructure, industry and architecture were destroyed. In that atmosphere, many people were frightened by or indifferent to the fate of the Jews, and some murdered in order to avoid being murdered. But that doesn’t mean that “in their minds” they “didn’t do something evil.”

 Although the circumstances were different, Germany’s leading role is equally clear in Hungary. The wartime government of Adm. Miklós Horthy did pass anti-Semitic legislation and did align itself with the Nazis. But the mass murder and deportation of the Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz began only in March 1944, when that government dissolved and was replaced with a straightforward German occupation. Once the Hungarian state had been dissolved, in other words, Hungary also became a lawless, violent zone where anything was possible.

 So no, it is not true, as Comey made it sound, that “murderers and accomplices” in Germany, Poland and Hungary and lots of other places were somehow responsible for the Holocaust. And no, it isn’t true that the Holocaust is a story of so many otherwise “good” people who “convinced themselves it was the right thing to do.”

 On the contrary, it’s a story about the power of fear, the danger of lawlessness and the horror that was made possible by a specific form of German state terror in the years between 1939 and 1945 – a terror that convinced many people to do things that they knew were terribly, terribly wrong. If the FBI director wants to take some lessons from Washington’s excellent Holocaust museum, that’s very admirable. But first he should make sure he’s understood what he’s seen. ||||| Visitors to the United States Holocaust Museum pass beneath a cast taken from the original entrance to the Auschwitz death camp, inscribed with the phrase Arbeit Macht Frei (Work Makes One Free). (Bill O'Leary/WASHINGTON POST)

 The writer is director of the FBI.

 This commentary is adapted from a speech given Wednesday at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s 2015 National Tribute Dinner.

 I believe that the Holocaust is the most significant event in human history. And I mean “significant” in two different ways.

 It is, of course, significant because it was the most horrific display in world history of inhumanity, one that simply defies words and challenges meaning. I was born into an Irish Catholic family in this great, wonderful and safe country, but the Holocaust has always haunted me, and it has long stood as a stumbling block to faith.

 How could such a thing be? How is that consistent with the concept of a loving God? How is that in any way reconcilable with the notion of a God with a role in human history? How could there possibly be meaning in life, when so many lives were snuffed out in such a fashion?

 I have asked those questions since I was a young teenager. I have asked them my entire life. I asked the same questions standing in the pit at Ground Zero in early 2002. I have asked those questions many times as I have confronted unimaginable suffering and loss.

 And I know I am in good company asking such questions. Last month, on a flight home from Eastern Europe, I reread Viktor Frankl’s wrenching “Man’s Search for Meaning,” in which he seeks to find meaning in suffering and loving, among other things.

 And going much farther back, back before I was a religious studies major in college, I recalled the voice from the whirlwind in the Book of Job, rebuking us for even asking the question “Why?” “How dare you!” the voice seems to say. “It is not for you to ask, it is not for you to know.”

 And yet I ask, as so many of us do. And I still don’t know.

 But I do know this: I know it is our duty, our obligation, to make sure some good comes from unimaginable bad. Not so we can comfort ourselves by saying, “Oh, that was worth it then.” That’s nonsense. That would be perverse. It will never be “worth it.”

 Instead, I believe it is simply our duty to do that, and I believe this is truth no matter where you come from on a philosophical or religious spectrum. Our obligation is to refuse to let bad win, to refuse to let evil hold the field. As Abraham Lincoln said on a field of unimaginable pain and loss, it is essential “that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain.” Our resolution does not justify the loss, but we simply cannot be alive and give up.

 There are so many ways to fight evil to ensure it doesn’t hold the field. Some do this through public service that can involve actual physical battles against evil; others by different kinds of service, including the service of teaching a world what happened, teaching a world what is true.

 The Holocaust was, as I said, the most horrific display in world history of inhumanity. But it was also the most horrific display in world history of our humanity, of our capacity for evil and for moral surrender.

 And that second significance is the reason I require every new FBI special agent and intelligence analyst to go to the Holocaust Museum. Naturally, I want them to learn about abuse of authority on a breathtaking scale. But I want them to confront something more painful and more dangerous: I want them to see humanity and what we are capable of.

 I want them to see that, although this slaughter was led by sick and evil people, those sick and evil leaders were joined by, and followed by, people who loved their families, took soup to a sick neighbor, went to church and gave to charity.

 Good people helped murder millions. And that’s the most frightening lesson of all — that our very humanity made us capable of, even susceptible to, surrendering our individual moral authority to the group, where it can be hijacked by evil. Of being so cowed by those in power. Of convincing ourselves of nearly anything.

 In their minds, the murderers and accomplices of Germany, and Poland, and Hungary, and so many, many other places didn’t do something evil. They convinced themselves it was the right thing to do, the thing they had to do. That’s what people do. And that should truly frighten us.

 That is why I send our agents and our analysts to the Holocaust Museum. I want them to stare at us and realize our capacity for rationalization and moral surrender. I want them to walk out of that great museum treasuring the constraint and oversight of divided government, the restriction of the rule of law, the binding of a free and vibrant press. I want them to understand that all of this is necessary as a check on us because of the way we are. We must build it, we must know it and we must nurture it now, so that it can save us later. That is the only path to the responsible exercise of power. |||||
A summary of this is?

– Angry Polish leaders have demanded an apology from the US ambassador after some ill-judged remarks on the Holocaust from FBI Director James Comey. "In their minds, the murderers and accomplices of Germany, and Poland, and Hungary, and so many, many other places didn't do something evil," Comey wrote in a Washington Post column. "They convinced themselves it was the right thing to do, the thing they had to do." Many Poles are infuriated by the suggestion they shared the blame for Nazi crimes, reports the BBC, which notes that around 6 million Polish citizens died during the 1939-45 occupation. "Poland was not a perpetrator but a victim of World War II," says Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz. "I would expect full historical knowledge from officials who speak on the matter." The American ambassador in Warsaw says suggestions that any country other than "Nazi Germany was responsible for the Holocaust are wrong, harmful, and offensive," adding that he thinks Comey's wider message was that there were people, even in the US, who "aided the Nazi criminals, or there were people who did not respond sufficiently," reports Reuters. In another Washington Post column, Anne Applebaum writes that it's wrong to call Poles "accomplices" because after the 1939 invasion of Poland, it was Germans who created "a lawless, violent world, one in which anyone could be arbitrarily murdered, any Jew could be deported—and any Pole who helped a Jew could be shot instantly, along with his entire family. Many were."


– "I'm going to go on camera and say George is not a racist" are words that Frank Taaffe now regrets saying about former pal George Zimmerman. Just two years ago, when the media frenzy was at a fever pitch following the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, Taaffe made an aggressive showing in front of the cameras, defending his neighbor and saying "[Zimmerman] became the victim," as reported by News 13. Now, as a grand jury hears a case this week to decide whether Zimmerman will face federal charges for violating Trayvon's civil rights, Taaffe—who testified before the grand jury yesterday—is saying that Zimmerman was probably in the wrong and just might be a racist after all, based on a mysterious phone call he received shortly after Martin's death, Raw Story reports. Taaffe didn't recognize the number, and the caller, who said his name was "George," made a racially charged comment about Martin, Taaffe says. At first Taaffe thought it was a prank—"People knew my phone number, so it could've been anybody," he tells WFTV. He's not sure if it was Zimmerman, but he finally told investigators about it in June to make "amends to the Martin family" after his own two children and a brother died recently, and to mend things with his surviving child, who was "ostracized" for his Zimmerman advocacy. (Taaffe's somewhat-confusing explanation of all this is shown in the video here.) He now thinks Zimmerman racially profiled Trayvon, saying, "In my heart of hearts, I do believe that." Even more bizarre: his own reported racist rantings and criminal rap sheet, according to a 2013 Mother Jones article.

Expand this summary.

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 In April 2012, two days before George Zimmerman was arrested for the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, he huddled with a fellow neighborhood watch volunteer, Frank Taaffe. According to Taaffe, who disclosed the meeting on Fox News, Zimmerman asked him to share “several talking points” with the media. Taaffe obliged. Indeed, as Zimmerman’s legal drama unfolded over the next year and a half, Taaffe emerged as his most visible and outspoken defender. He gave hundreds of interviews to media outlets, ranging from the New York Times to Fox News to CNN, and made near-daily appearances on cable news shows during Zimmerman’s trial.

 Taaffe used this platform to cast Martin as a drug-addled hoodlum and Zimmerman as a community-minded do-gooder (“the best neighbor you would want to have”) who had every reason to suspect the black teen was up to mischief. He also railed against Zimmerman’s critics, whom he accused of staging a witch hunt. “It’s really sad that he has already been convicted in the public media and has already been sentenced to the gas chamber,” he lamented in an interview with NBC’s Miami affiliate last year.

 Taaffe was hardly the ideal person to be weighing in on a case suffused with racial angst—or commenting on criminal-justice matters, period. A Mother Jones investigation has found that the 56-year-old New York native has a lengthy criminal record that includes charges of domestic violence and burglary, and a history of airing virulently racist views. Just last Sunday, he appeared on The White Voice, a weekly podcast hosted by a man named Joe Adams, who has deep, long-standing ties to white-power groups and has authored a manual called Save The White People Handbook. (Sample quote: “A mutt makes a great pet and a mulatto makes a great slave.”)

 During a previous White Voice appearance, on July 27, Taaffe argued that whites and blacks have no business mingling. (“They don’t want to be with us and we don’t want to be with them.”) Taaffe also opined that if Zimmerman had racially profiled Martin, he was justified in doing so because “young black males” had burglarized homes in their neighborhood. “What if I—a middle-aged white man—wore a hoodie and went through Trayvon Martin’s neighborhood?” he asked defiantly. Adams replied that “no sane white person” would dare walk down their “local Marcus Garvey Boulevard.”

 “I’d only be there for one or two things,” Taaffe shot back. “And I’m sure the vice squad would want to be interested in that.”

 “This trial is waking up white America, man,” Taaffe told The White Voice.

 Later, Taaffe accused African Americans of committing “self-genocide” by failing to address the “ills and diseases that are festering” in the black community—especially the absence of black fathers, which “leaves young black males growing up without direction.” And he bemoaned the fact that some white women choose to date black men, saying that they invariably end up becoming single mothers. “Guess who winds up paying the tab on that? You and me and the rest of America,” Taaffe grumbled. “It’s called entitlement, man. It’s called food stamps. It’s called welfare.”

 By the end of the show, Taaffe was so worked up that he was calling for a revolution. “This trial is waking up white America, man,” he said. “I’m fed up with the bullshit and the glad-handing to this one group of people who now control what we do and say. Come on, man, wake up America!”

 Taaffe’s private Twitter feed (@pinsones) also reeks of racial animus. In one tweet, he bashed Michael Skolnik, who directs hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons’ political operations, saying “how much nigga cock do u suck an one day or maybe u like it pounded up ur hebe ass.” In another he wrote, “the only time a black life is validated is when a white person kills them.”

 Asked about his history of racially charged remarks, Taaffe made no apologies. “There is a thing called First Amendment speech,” he said. “I have freedom to opine on current social issues, and I’m not going to be restricted.” He reeled off statistics about black crime and out-of-wedlock births. “I’m not going on some Tom Metzger-David Duke tangent,” he added. “I’m merely echoing the suppressed voices in this country that have been beleaguered by affirmative action and crimes committed by that particular group of people.”

 These kinds of extreme racial views infused Taaffe’s media commentary. He told the New York Times that his gated community had been burglarized by “Trayvon-like dudes with their pants down” and taunted his black fellow talk show guests with race-tinged jibes. On a recent episode of HLN’s Dr. Drew on Call, the topic turned to racial profiling. Taaffe shouted down a fellow panelist and launched into a bizarre diatribe: “You know, Whitey, us…we’ve had a little bit of slavery, too,” he said. “Back in 1964 or 1965, then-President Johnson signed an executive order; it was called affirmative action. And you want to talk about slavery?” Taaffe’s fellow guests seemed stunned that he’d been given a national platform to broadcast these ideas. “It’s like every word that comes out of his mouth is a turd falling in my drink,” said African American radio personality Brian Copeland. “I don’t understand why he’s allowed to go on like he does.”

 CNN and its sister network, HLN, have repeatedly invited Taaffe to weigh in on legal and technical aspects of the Zimmerman case, from the implications of witness testimony to the meaning of forensic evidence, such as the grass stains found on Martin’s pants. Taaffe sparred on-air with attorneys about the finer points of criminal law and tangled with forensic experts—including Lawrence Kobilinsky, the chair of the science department at John Jay College of Criminal Justice—over whether the small quantity of THC in Martin’s blood could have made him violent. (Taaffe insisted that it could; Kobilinsky called this argument a “red herring.”)

 When Valerie Rao, Jacksonville, Florida’s chief medical examiner, testified during the trial that Zimmerman’s injuries were minor enough to be treated with Band-Aids—an assertion that cast doubt on Zimmerman’s claims that Martin had bashed his head repeatedly on the sidewalk—Taaffe appeared on the Nancy Grace show and argued that Rao was dead wrong. “George was experiencing trauma!” Taaffe insisted. “He was having many concussions with each blow to his head. And he was entering into a state of unconsciousness where he was seeing his life flash before him.”

 After the prosecution released surveillance video from 7-Eleven showing Martin behaving normally as he shopped for Skittles and Arizona Ice Tea just before his death, Taaffe went on HLN’s Jane Velez-Mitchell show and muddied the water. Something could have happened in the intervening minutes to change Martin’s mood, he argued. “Also, they found a cigarette lighter and $40 on him,” Taaffe said, ominously. “He wasn’t employed. You know, who gave him the $40?”

 Taaffe isn’t the first member of Zimmerman’s circle to be caught making racially charged statements. In March, Zimmerman’s brother, Robert Zimmerman Jr. (another outspoken defender), tweeted a photo of a black Georgia teenager who allegedly murdered a one-year-old boy with a gunshot to the face, alongside a picture of Trayvon Martin. Both teens were flipping off the camera. The caption read, “A picture speaks a thousand words. Any questions?”

 Taaffe has been arrested or faced criminal charges nearly a dozen times and logged at least two convictions.

 In Taaffe’s case, though, the comments about blacks’ supposed criminality are thick with irony. According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Orange County Clerk of Courts, Taaffe has been arrested or faced criminal charges nearly a dozen times and logged at least two convictions. Last year, Taaffe was taken into custody for driving under the influence. He pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of reckless driving related to alcohol use and received six months’ probation. He’s also been charged with battery and two cases of “repeat violence.” (Taaffe told Mother Jones that these were “frivolous” charges filed by “disgruntled” former coworkers.)

 Many of the other entries on Taaffe’s rap sheet stem from domestic-violence complaints filed by his second wife and their son. In 2000, he was arrested for burglary—the very crime he alleges “young black males” were committing in his community—after allegedly swiping some papers from his ex-wife’s home. Taaffe pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of trespassing, and was sentenced to nine months in prison*. According to police reports, he was later charged with stalking and with child abuse after his son, William, jumped out of a moving car, allegedly to escape his father’s angry, profanity-laced tirade. Taaffe maintains these charges stemmed from false complaints filed by his then-wife, who persuaded William to corroborate the accusations so she could get more assets in their divorce. “She used my son as leverage against me for her own personal and monetary gain,” he told Mother Jones.

 Taaffe—who has railed against absentee black fathers—was a marginal figure in the lives in his own children. Vincent, his eldest son from his first marriage, who died in a car crash last year, didn’t speak to him. (Taaffe says this was because Vincent was outraged over his involvement in the Zimmerman case: “I was ostracized by members of my own family for supporting George.”) William, who struggled with addiction and emotional problems after his parents’ brutal divorce, cycled in and out of rehab before dying of a drug overdose in 2008. According to a source close to the family who provided photocopies, he left behind an angst-filled notebook, with these words scrawled across the final pages: “Fuck you, Dad, I never thought a father could be so bad…I’m your son, the one you ditched.”

 Now that the Zimmerman trial is over, Taaffe has no plans to abandon his crusade. He recently launched a website, where he intends to blog about issues including affirmative action and criminal justice. And he has teamed up with The White Voice to peddle “Taaffe’s Got Your Back!” T-shirts, which feature a photo of Taaffe snarling and brandishing his fist. (“All of the profits go to Frank,” The White Voice‘s website notes.) Taaffe told Mother Jones that he’s also “looking into” the case of Michael Dunn, the Jacksonville man who is accused of fatally shooting an unarmed black 17-year-old at a gas station after arguing with the teen over loud music. “My work is not done yet. I have a myriad of cases that people are calling me to help them on,” Taaffe said. “If we all took the time to stand up for people who we believe in our heart of hearts were innocent, this country would be a much greater place.”

 Additional reporting by Lawrence D. Elliott.

 Clarification: Taaffe says he was sentenced to home confinement rather than prison. The Orange County Clerk of Courts office disputes this assertion, saying he was sentenced to 9 months in an Orange County, Florida jail. ||||| One of George Zimmerman's most outspoken supporters in the days surrounding his murder trial has changed course, testifying Wednesday in front of a grand jury that Zimmerman could have called him and made racially charged comments.

 In 2012, shortly after Zimmerman claimed he shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in self-defense in his Sanford gated community, friend Frank Taaffe said, "I'm going to go on camera and say George is not a racist."

 On Wednesday, Taffe, said he's had a change of heart, saying he testified against Zimmerman in front of the grand jury that will decide whether Zimmerman will face federal charges for violating Martin's civil rights.

 File Video: Neighbor says George Zimmerman 'is not a racist'

 Raw Video: Zimmerman supporter changes course, testifies

 Evidence Photos: Bloodied George Zimmerman, gun used in shooting

 Taaffe said his flip came after he got a call from an unknown number two years ago by a man claiming to be Zimmerman. He said the man made a racist comment about Martin, which he first thought was a prank call at the time, but now he's not so sure.

 Taaffe said he had already publicly defended Zimmerman on national television when the call came. He said he faced death threats, but claimed Wednesday that his personal losses have led him to identify more with the Martins.

 Taaffe now views the mystery call differently, he said.

 Taaffe said he told the FBI about the call in June, saying he now believes Zimmerman did racially target Trayvon, but he waffled about whether he believes Zimmerman was really the mystery caller.

 "People knew my phone number so it could've been anybody," said Taaffe. "I brought it up and they wanted me to go on the record with what this alleged George said with this phone call from unknown destination."

 Taaffe said he hopes to make amends with the Martin family through his testimony but also admitted to Channel 9 he has a lot more to gain from his change of heart about Zimmerman. ||||| Tom DeLay: I have a ‘right’ to not serve gay sinners because they ‘undermine’ my religious liberty

 Court clerk won’t cough up transcript after Georgia judge and deputies call witness the N-word

 Texas cop caught on video punching Air Force veteran — after she says she’s pregnant

 Florida pastor rants: God wants men to rule women — but men can’t rejoice without being sued

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 Frank Taafe (WFTV)

 One of George Zimmerman’s most outspoken supporters has apparently changed his story.

 Frank Taaffe testified Wednesday before a grand jury that Zimmerman may have called him and made racially charged comments in a phone call shortly after he shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in February 2012.

 He told the grand jury that he received a call from an unknown number two years ago from a man who made racist comments about Martin.

 At the time, he thought it was a prank call and disregarded the comments, but now he suspects the call may have come from his neighbor and friend, Zimmerman.

 A federal grand jury is hearing evidence in the case to decide whether Zimmerman – who was acquitted of murder charges in the case – will face federal charges for violating the unarmed teen’s civil rights.

 Taaffe defended Zimmerman on national TV shortly after the fatal shooting, saying his friend was not a racist.

 He said he has received death threats for his defense of Zimmerman.

 Taaffe did not testify during Zimmerman’s previous trial.

 But he decided to tell the FBI about the call earlier this year after both of his sons died recently, which allowed him to identify more strongly with Martin’s family.

 Taaffe told investigators that he now believes Zimmerman targeted the teen due to his race.

 “In my heart of hearts, I do believe that,” Taaffe said.

 He said Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, should never have followed the teen he suspected of criminal wrongdoing.

 “If there’s a young man that’s not doing anything but talking on the phone, in the rain, sauntering about, let it go,” Taaffe said. “You know, that’s why we have law enforcement — let them handle it.”

 However, he cannot say for certain whether his friend made the remarks in the call.

 “People knew my phone number so it could have been anybody,” Taaffe said. “I brought it up and they wanted me to go on the record with what this alleged George said with this phone call from unknown destination.”

 Taaffe told reporters Wednesday that he hoped his grand jury testimony would “make amends” with the Martin family.

 He said his support for Zimmerman had caused his daughter, a U.S. Marine, to be ostracized – which had damaged their relationship.

 “I miss her and I love her,” Taaffe said. “She’s my only child I’ve got left.”

 Watch this video report posted online by WFTV-TV: ||||| A man who once called George Zimmerman a friend, speaking out in support of him before and during his lengthy trial, now says he’s had a change of heart.

 George Zimmerman’s former neighbor and fellow neighborhood watch volunteer says he wants to clear his conscience.

 Frank Taaffe says he now believes Zimmerman should have been found guilty in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

 He was once one of George Zimmerman’s most outspoken advocates, but now former neighborhood watch volunteer, Frank Taaffe says his opinion about Zimmerman’s not guilty verdict has changed.

 "What I know of George and his tendencies and also my opinion is that he racially profiled Trayvon Martin that night because if that had been a white kid on a cell phone, walking through our neighborhood, he wouldn’t have stayed on him the way he did and that’s a fact and I believe that in my heart," said Taaffe.

 This is very different from what Taaffe told News 13 numerous times after the shooting, including during an interview back in May 2012 when he said, "That George Zimmerman in a position in a volunteer role wanted to ensure the safety of the community he lived in and he became the victim."

 But today, Taaffe claims he just wants to clear his conscience, "I can only ask for the country to forgive me and today I believe that he racially profiled him based on the color of his skin. Reporter: Some people may wonder what does Frank Taaffe have to gain by doing this? Are you working on a book? No book. A TV show? No. I’m just working on me right now and getting right with God.”

 Taaffe says his brother’s death last month and the death of his two sons over the past two years has changed him.

 Taaffe says he has a message for Trayvon Martin’s parents, "I’m sorry that you lost your son, I know what that’s like and I wish things had been different."

 Both George Zimmerman and his brother Robert declined to comment.

 George Zimmerman was found not guilty of second degree murder last July. The Department of Justice has an open investigation into the death of Trayvon Martin, to see if any of his civil rights were violated.

  |||||


– Could a cure for peanut allergies be close? Australia's ABC reports that in a new study, 82% of participants saw their peanut allergies cured within the first 18 months of treatment. Four years later, 80% of the participants still showed no signs of an allergy, and 70% passed a further test meant to confirm long-term peanut tolerance, the Guardian reports. The research out of Australia's Murdoch Childrens Research Institute involved 48 children, some of whom were given an immunotherapy treatment and some of whom got a placebo. The children who still appeared to be cured four years later "had been eating peanut freely in their diet without having to follow any particular program of peanut intake," says Mimi Tang, the lead researcher. Tang, an immunologist and allergist, combined a probiotic with a method known as peanut oral immunotherapy—a high dose of the probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus was combined with peanut protein in increasing amounts. The probiotic is known to calm the immune system and reduce allergic reactions; the idea is to "reprogram" the way the immune system reacts to peanut intake, Tang explains. She hopes to have a product to market within five years, the Age reports. "For the first time, we could have products on the market that provide meaningful and long-lasting treatment benefits, which allow sufferers to eat peanut products without thinking about it, as part of a regular diet," says the CEO of a biotech firm working on a treatment doctors will be able to prescribe, per 9News. (Here's when and how you should feed your baby peanuts.)

Expand this summary.

A breakthrough Melbourne-made treatment that is providing a long-term cure for children with a deadly peanut allergy may soon be widely available.

 The experimental peanut-probiotic treatment led to 82 per cent of children who participated successfully being able to eat peanuts. Now, four years later, 80 per cent of those cured children are still eating peanuts.

 "These children have been eating peanut freely in their diet without having to follow any particular program of peanut intake in the years after treatment was completed," said lead researcher Professor Mimi Tang.

 The clinical trial was conducted at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne.

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 Link More than 80 per cent of children in the Melbourne trial were cured of their peanut allergy.

 Professor Tang hopes a product can be on the shelves in the next five years.

 "This changes sufferers' lives. They can now eat peanuts. Their lives change completely," she said.

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 "Our feedback is these kids are now going to parties without worry."

 The treatment combines a small amount of peanut flour with a very high dose of the probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus.

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 Link Professor Mimi Tang of the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute with Dr Graeme Wald. Photo: Supplied

 This bacterium, commonly found in small doses in yoghurt, is a known immune system modulator – it calms the immune system's response to things it would normally react to, reducing the severity of allergic reactions.

 Paired together, the probiotic mix encourages the immune system to gradually tolerate larger and larger doses of peanut flour.

 "Probiotics are very potent immune-modulating agents to shift the way the immune system responds. This particular probiotic has been shown in other situations to support tolerance-like responses. It creates an environment for the immune system to respond differently," Professor Tang said.

 About 3 per cent of babies are born with a peanut allergy. Peanuts are among the most-common causes of anaphylaxis with hospital admissions over the past decade increasing five-fold in children under four.

 In 2013 Professor Tang's team administered the therapy to 28 allergic children.

 The amount of peanut flour was slowly increased over about 18 months, allowing the children to build up tolerance. At the end of the original trial, 82 per cent of treated children were happily eating peanuts as part of a normal diet.

 In a follow-up study, researchers went back and re-tested those children for peanut allergy to determine if the treatment had lasted.

 It had. They found that four years later, 80 per cent of those cured children were still showing no signs of allergic reaction to eating peanuts.

 "These findings suggest our treatment is effective at inducing long-term tolerance, up to four years after completing treatment, and is safe," Professor Tang said.

 "It also suggests the exciting possibility that tolerance is a realistic target for treating food allergy. This is a major step forward in identifying an effective treatment to address the food allergy problem in Western societies."

 The institute will now work with a venture capital firm to fund the commercialisation of a treatment, which would involve doses of powder taken every day for 18 months.

 With AAP ||||| New research from the Murdoch Children's Research Institute may have found a cure for peanut allergies.

 The study found within the first eighteen months 82 per cent of participants were cured of their allergy.

 In a follow-up study four years later, researchers discovered 80 per cent of participants were still cured and showing no signs of allergy. ||||| Australian researchers hail breakthrough after ‘life-changing’ tolerance persists for up to four years

 Australian researchers have made a breakthrough in the treatment of peanut allergy in children.

 A small clinical trial conducted at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute has led to two-thirds of children treated with an experimental immunotherapy treatment being cured of their allergy. Importantly, this desensitisation to peanuts persisted for up to four years after treatment.

 The scariest thing about leaving home? My severe nut allergy Read more

 “These children had been eating peanut freely in their diet without having to follow any particular program of peanut intake in the years after treatment was completed,” said the lead researcher, Prof Mimi Tang.

 Peanut allergy is the most common cause of anaphylaxis, a life-threatening allergic reaction, and one of the most common causes of death from food allergy.

 To combat this Tang, an immunologist and allergist, pioneered a new form of treatment that combines a probiotic with peanut oral immunotherapy, known as PPOIT. Instead of avoiding the allergen, the treatment is designed to reprogram the immune system’s response to peanuts and eventually develop a tolerance.

 It’s thought that combining the probiotic with the immunotherapy gives the immune system the “nudge” it needs to do this, according to Tang.

 Forty-eight children were enrolled in the PPOIT trial and were randomly given either a combination of the probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus with peanut protein in increasing amounts, or a placebo, once daily for 18 months.

 At the end of the original trial in 2013, 82% of children who received the immunotherapy treatment were deemed tolerant to peanuts compared with just 4% in the placebo group.

 Four years later, the majority of the children who gained initial tolerance were still eating peanuts as part of their normal diet and 70% passed a further challenge test to confirm long-term tolerance.

 Allergies and food intolerances on flights – how do airlines react? Read more

 Tang said the results were exciting and had been life-changing for participants. “The way I see it is that we had children who came into the study allergic to peanuts, having to avoid peanuts in their diet, being very vigilant around that, carrying a lot of anxiety with that and, at the end of treatment and even four years later, many of these children who had benefited from our probiotic peanut therapy could now live like a child who didn’t have peanut allergy.”

 The results are published in the Lancet Child & Adolescent Health.

 If confirmed by larger clinical studies, the broader hope is that this treatment can have an impact on the high rates of food allergy among children.

 “This is a major step forward in identifying an effective treatment to address the food allergy problem in western societies,” Tang said. |||||


justinbieber Via Instagram Justin Bieber FaceTimes with Malala Yousafzai, in a photo he posted to Instagram.

 She's an international champion for girls' education rights who overcame a harrowing attack from Taliban forces in Pakistan.

 He's a Canadian pop star with hits like "Baby," a legion of young fans and several run-ins with the law.

 Justin Bieber is apparently aiming high in his efforts to woo yet another girl. The singer posted a photo of himself using FaceTime to video chat with activist Malala Yousafzai.

 "She has such an incredible story," Bieber, 20, wrote on Instagram Wednesday.

 "I can't wait to meet her in person and talk about how I can support her and the@malalafund. #love"

 Araya Diaz / Getty/Taylor Hill / FilmMagic The ‘All That Matters’ singer (l.) is apparently teaming up with the education activist’s Malala Fund.

 The pop star didn't give any more indication into how he got to chat with Yousafzai, 17, or what the pair will be partnering on, but his apparent interest in global affairs comes on the heels of another petty scandal involving the "Boyfriend" singer.

 Just last week Bieber was embroiled in an alleged scuffle with actor Orlando Bloom, over charges that he'd been romantic with Bloom's ex-wife, model Miranda Kerr.

 The "All That Matters" singer delivered Bloom a low blow when he posted photos of Kerr, 31, to his Instagram — and posted a photo of Bloom apparently crying. Both photos have since been taken down.

 Yousafzai, on the other hand, has been busy promoting her cause — sending girls to school all over the world through the Malala Fund — most recently in light of the kidnapped Nigerian school girls and Africa Summit. ||||| In a rather unexpected move, pop icon Justin Bieber took some time out from breaking the law and getting into altercations with Orlando Bloom to Facetime with youth activist Malala Yousufzai, who survived an assassination attempt by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in 2012.

 Yousafzai was just 15 when she was shot in the head while returning from school in Mingora, Pakistan, in October 2012. She had angered the fundamentalist group by writing about life under the Taliban for the BBC, and arguing that girls should be allowed to pursue an education.

 Bieber expressed a desire to help Malala's cause and meet the young activist in person.

 On Facebook, he shared a badly cropped photo of the chat, and wrote:

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What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– She could use the publicity for her cause, and he could use some press that doesn't involve fighting over girls or inadvertently fending off bear attacks. Which might explain this weird FaceTime pairing spotted by Pakistan's Dawn.com: Justin Bieber and teen activist Malala Yousafzai. In a Facebook post last night, Bieber writes that they connected via video chat: "Just got to FaceTime with Malala Yousafzai. She has such an incredible story. I can't wait to meet her in person and talk about how I can support her and the Malala Fund." The Daily News notes that Malala has been working to drum up publicity for her fund, aimed at educating girls around the world.