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Yesterday we reported how the mastermind of the 2001 Sbarro Pizzeria bombing, Ahlam Tamimi, might be brought to justice in the U.S. for the killing of two American citizens (among a total of 15 people killed). Tamimi currently lives in Jordan, where she is a TV announcer, after being released in the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange in October 2011. She continues to brag about her role in planning the suicide bombing, including scouting the location, which she chose because of the crowds and presence of religious Jews. She helped guide the suicide bomber to the location. Her only regret is that she didn't kill more people.

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In the video below, college students are asked for their thoughts on President Trump's Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Their responses sound like they came right off a Democratic Party memo: "DeVos isn't qualified for the position!" and "Anyone but her would have been a better choice!" and "She doesn't know what she's talking about!" Then the interviewer asks the same students for their thoughts on policies like school choice and vouchers for low income families - policies embraced by DeVos - and the students agree with them.

Rachel Maddow has a history of claiming big scoops which then flop. There was the debunked 2012 big scoop about supposed GOP wrongdoing in Michigan. And the 2014 big scoop that the Koch Brothers were behind Florida groups pushing drug testing for welfare recipients, which was not true. We covered the Florida non-scoop big scoop, Rachel Maddow’s come undone with Koch Derangement Syndrome.

North Korea has threatened America with "merciless" attacks due to the continued drills between our military and South Korea. From Reuters:
North Korea said the arrival of the U.S. strike group in the seas off the east of the Korean peninsula was part of a "reckless scheme" to attack it. "If they infringe on the DPRK's sovereignty and dignity even a bit, its army will launch merciless ultra-precision strikes from ground, air, sea and underwater," the North's state news agency KCNA said.

President Donald Trump's promises to overhaul regulations and the tax codes along with positive sale outlooks have raised optimism among U.S. CEOs. The Business Roundtable conducted its CEO Economic Outlook Index, "a measure of expectations for revenue, capital spending and employment," found that the optimism jumped to 93.3. That's a jump of 19.1 points and the most since 2009.

The 2001 Sbarro Pizzeria suicide bombing in Jerusalem for me has been one of the place markers in the history of terrorism, one of those reference points which changed everything. Other such "before and after" points, to me, are the 1972 Munich Massacre of Israeli athletes (1972); the bombing of the Beirut Marine Barracks (1983), the World Trade Center attacks (1993 and 2001); and the videotaped beheading of Daniel Pearl, February 1, 2002. We have written many times about the Sbarro bombing, you can view them all in our Sbarro Pizzeria Bombing tag.

The top European Union court has ruled that employers can ban the Islamic headscarf from the workplace. From the BBC:
The European Court of Justice (ECJ), ruled on Tuesday morning that employers are allowed to ban workers from the "visible wearing of any political, philosophical or religious sign" including headscarves. The ruling was prompted by the case of a receptionist who was fired from security company G4S in Belgium for wearing a headscarf to work.

Alliance Defending Freedom recently visited the campus of UW-Madison and asked students when it's OK to refuse to do business with someone. Two hypothetical situations presented to students sounded fine to most but a third caused quite a bit of discomfort. Should a designer be forced to work with Melania Trump? Of course not, most students respond. Should a Muslim singer be able to refuse a Christian church's request for service. Most students agree.

New York State has been trying to raise teacher standards in order to solve the problem of low graduation and literacy rates in minority school populations. That makes sense - how can an academically unqualified teacher be expected to help raise academic success among students. These increased standards were meant to help minority students by ensuring that qualified teachers were not limited to wealthier districts. One of the key components of the push for higher teacher qualifications was a literacy test. The test is just one of several tests prospective teachers need to pass. That literacy test survived a court challenge in 2015.  A federal judge found that the test, unlike prior tests, was not discriminatory:

If you haven't seen OMB Director Mick Mulvaney in action, do yourself a favor and watch the video here. On today's Morning Joe, Mulvaney showed himself to be smart, well-spoken, undefensive and down-to-earth as he systematically demolished Mika's, and by extension, the CBO's, claims about the Trump admin's health care proposal. Before Mulvaney appeared, the panel had engaged in extended hand-wringing over the loss of coverage that the CBO has projected. Mulvaney made three telling points:

It was the most infuriating, heartbreaking, conversation on abortion this Insurrectionist has seen. On his Monday night Fox News show, Tucker Carlson asked Planned Parenthood Executive VP Dawn Laguens six ways to Sunday how she feels about aborting fetuses after five-and-a-half weeks, at which point the baby's heartbeat can be heard. But no matter how he framed it, Laguens refused to answer, hiding behind a series of canned responses about a women's right to choose, etc. At one point, Tucker said, "I'm asking you a human question, and hope you'll favor me with a human answer."

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has released its analysis of the House Republican Obamacare replacement bill, which estimates that millions will lose coverage, but will bring down costs. The report has many people freaked out, with some saying its proof that repealing Obamacare will harm Americans. Most major media outlets and Democrats have failed to mention that many of those would "lose" coverage will do so because they choose to opt out. The AHCA repeals one of Obamacare's worst features -- the individual mandate.

Trump promised to deviate from the Beltway status quo. Forget taking a salary or spending all of his time in Washington, Trump announced months ago he'd do neither. In his first interview with 60 Minutes, Trump said:
“Well, I’ve never commented on this, but the answer is no,” Trump said. “I think I have to by law take $1, so I’ll take $1 a year. But it’s a -- I don’t even know what it is.” Stahl reminded the president-elect, “[That’s] $400,000 you’re giving up.” Again, Trump answered, “No, I’m not gonna take the salary. I’m not taking it.”

Saturday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer popped into the local Apple Store. While there, he was ambushed by a woman who filmed the encounter. Relentlessly, she fired question after question, never even pausing to allow him to respond. Though nothing about the ambush suggests she was wanting dialogue. Spicer was pelted with questions like "How does it feel to work for a fascist? Have you helped with the Russia stuff? Are you a traitor too? Are you a criminal as well? Do you feel good about lying to the American people?" Politely and mostly ignoring the woman, Spicer smiled and responded only to say, “It's such a great country, it allows you to be here. Thank you.”