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Nazi Symbols Discovered at Great Barrington Lake Front

Police are investigating an incident of racist slurs and hateful images that were carved into the sand at Lake Mansfield’s swimming beach. The images include at least four large swastikas, racist slurs against Black people, anti-gay slurs and expletives.

James Garzon was having his morning coffee at the beach Wednesday when he looked down and spotted the images. The names Wallace and Clare were also carved into the sand.

Garzon said the culprits clearly had used children’s toys — a yellow sand fork and a green shovel — to make the racist display.

He took photos and immediately sent them to town officials. Great Barrington Police Chief Paul Storti said he is investigating the case.

These weren’t the photos Garzon was hoping to take this morning on his routine walk. “The lake is like a mirror,” he said, “there were some geese and ducks.”

Today there was pain. “It’s about the community. That’s what hurts,” he said.

Finding out who carved the images might prove difficult. There are no surveillance cameras at the beach, and the crime happened overnight. Storti said he is working with security from Bard College at Simon’s Rock who monitor the area.

The last publicly reported incidents of hateful graffiti in town were a swastika carved into a bathroom stall at Simon’s Rock in 2019, and another painted on the side of a church in 2020. Last year officials investigated a swastika painted on a section of a rail trail in Adams. Other racist graffiti in the county in recent years includes the N-word painted on the garage door of a Lanesborough man in 2018.

Swastika Uncovered at a New York State University

The State University of New York Cortland president on Tuesday evening notified campus of “racist and antisemitic” graffiti found in a building on campus.

According to an email sent out by SUNY Cortland president Erik Bitterbaum, the “n-word” and a swastika were discovered in a men’s bathroom located inside the Old Main building.

“SUNY Cortland condemns threats and symbols of hate in the strongest possible terms,” said Bitterbaum in his email, noting the University Police Department (UPD) is currently investigating the incident and is working alongside the campus’ Institutional Equity and Inclusion Office.

“Perpetrators will be met with the most severe sanctions available,” Bitterbaum said via email. “Please know Cortland is committed to maintaining an environment where students, faculty, staff and all members of our community can safely pursue their dreams.”

“SUNY Cortland is proud of its diverse community and its ongoing efforts to nurture an inclusive campus climate. On behalf of the university, I want to remind you there is no place for actions of bias, racism or hate at SUNY Cortland,” Bitterbaum said. “These behaviors will not be tolerated. The university remains steadfast in its support of people from all faiths, races and backgrounds.”

Elderly Jewish Woman Choked, Called "F-cking Jew" by Fort Lauderdale Condo Office Manager

UPDATE September 18, 2023: An elderly Fort Lauderdale woman is upset following a decision by the Broward County State Attorney Ashley Moody’s Office to not to press charges against the condominium manager who attacked her and mouthed an antisemitic slur.; more here.

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An elderly couple is speaking out after a disturbing confrontation between condo manager Raisa Mendoza and a resident in her 70s. The office manager choked her and called the elderly lady a “f-cking Jew.”

Speaking with 7News on Wednesday, Martha Arnold said it was bad enough that she was physically attacked, but it’s what she said the manager told her that may have been even worse. “I was petrified when I saw her so close to me,” she said.

Martha, 71, said she’s terrified to go home after the attack at the door of an elevator on the property, which was caught on surveillance video. “I was screaming like a madwoman,” she said.

Martha and her husband, Martin Arnold, live at Ocean Summit on Galt Ocean Mile in Fort Lauderdale.

On March 16, Martha said, she was wearing her headphones listening to music and heading up to her condo. “I was coming from the pool area after I did my exercises, like I do every morning,” she said.

When the freight elevator didn’t arrive, she moved to the resident elevator. That’s when, she said, Raisa Mendoza attacked her.

“I feel this hand pushing inside my body and screaming, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God.’ The first thing I said was, ‘Don’t push me,'” said Martha, “and I face this hand, raising towards me, and she strikes me.”

The building’s guard stepped in between, but it didn’t end there.

“She lunged herself toward my neck, and she pushed me forcefully,” said Martha, “very hard towards the elevator, smashed my head, smashed my back, and at the same time, she has her hand on my thing here,” she adds, wrinkling her collar.

She immediately called police.

NGO StopAntisemitism shared the footage of the attack with their followers on Twitter.

“You have to look at the video in slow motion to note that she was pushing up and impacting on her windpipe,” said Martin.

Police arrived and took statements. Martha said she looked at the office manager and told her…

“‘Don’t you ever do that again,’ and the police turned to look at me, and she put her two hands right here and she says,” Martha says, covering the sides of her mouth and whispers, “‘You [expletive] Jew.’ By her calling me effing J, that was a big shock for me.”

In an email sent to the condo association, Martha told the association how the office manager mouthed the antisemitic remark and asked for the surveillance video from her office.

“We don’t understand the reason for the attack,” said Martin, “unless it’s an ethnic attack on us as Jews.” .

The condo association released a statement that read, “The office manager is still employed and the condo association cannot comment on the specifics of the investigation, as police and the State Attorney’s Office is investigating and we are monitoring that closely.”

This, as the Arnolds say they can’t return home.

“The enemy is inside of my house,” said Martha. “She has the keys of our apartment.”

“I think it’s fair to say that my wife suffers from [post-traumatic stress disorder],” said Martin. “She’s really frightened. It’s really affecting her.”

Martha said that before the attack, she hadn’t spoken with the office manager in months, and she’s shocked that she still has her job.

Fort Lauderdale Police have handed over their investigation to the State Attorney’s Office, who will now decide on charges.

Vandals Continue to Deface Des Moines Park with Antisemitic Graffiti

Vandals continue to deface a Des Moines park with racist and antisemitic graffiti, spray painting “GOD HATES F*GS AND JEWS”.

"It's frustrating to see it happen again and again," said Justin Hummel, who lives near Woodlawn Park.

Hummel and his family love to play at the park. But this weekend, vandals struck. They painted obscene homophobic and antisemitic phrases.

Public works crews were called in on Easter Sunday to cover it up. But soon after, the vandals returned and painted the same graffiti a second time late Sunday night.

"It's sad and disappointing, and hopefully people will stop," Hummel said.

"You put just a few words out there like that and it has the ability to harm people," Des Moines Police Sgt. Paul Parizek said.

Police are frustrated too. Similar graffiti appeared last December. The phrasing of that vandalism was very close to the Easter weekend crime.

The city has a security camera at the park, but often it only picks up dark images that make it hard to identify the criminals.

Police plan to step up patrols and ask neighbors to help.

"If you see something that doesn't look right, if there is something suspicious going on late at night, give us a call," Parizek said.

Minneapolis Police Investigate Antisemitic Imagery Unearthed at Elementary School

Authorities are investigating after "vulgar and antisemitic" language and images were graffitied onto school and park property in Minneapolis.

In a letter, Minneapolis Public Schools informed families of the vandalism that they say occurred Monday evening at Waite Park Elementary School.

The MPS Grounds Department is working with the Park Board to remove the graffiti as quickly as possible.

"Waite Park finds this behavior to be inappropriate and inexcusable," Waite Park Principal Rochelle McGinness said. "We are committed to providing a safe, welcoming and inclusive environment to our families."  

White Supremacist Group 'GDL' Continues to Harass Nashville Community with Antisemitic Flyer Drops

Homeowners shared a video showing antisemitic flyers being handed out in Nashville neighborhoods.

Neighbors said disturbing flyers placed inside plastic baggies were thrown onto dozens of yards all along Beechwood and Rosewood avenues, but some say the hate didn’t stop here.

“Disgust and anger,” Rosane Awbrey said.

Awbrey said her neighbor’s surveillance camera captured showing someone driving by throwing things out of their car.

“My first thought was whoever is doing this is one sick person,” Awbrey said.

In the video taken at around 10 p.m. Friday, you see someone driving a car slowly down Beechwood Avenue.

“Somebody was going around tossing these antisemitic panelists,” Awbrey said.

Hours later dozens of homeowners say they found these flyers covered in anti-Jewish messages placed inside plastic bags thrown onto their yards.

StopAntisemitism, the Jewish advocacy organization tracking similar antisemitic flyer drops, has attributed the leaflets to the Goyim Defense League. The league is run by white nationalist Jon Minadeo II. Minadeo and his group have spent the last few weeks harassing the communities of Nashville.

“How dare they come into this lovely neighborhood and try to poison it with their veil message,” Awbrey said.

Homeowners said some neighbors even have holocaust surviving family members so after reporting what happened to Metro Police, a few people went around collecting the flyers to stop others from seeing them.

“This kind of hatred and antisemitic crap, pardon my French, does not need to be happening,” Awbrey said.

While police search for the people responsible Awbrey says she is praying for these kinds of crimes to stop.

“The world is so full of tragedy and sorrow, so I don’t know why they’re trying to stir up more trouble,” Awbrey said.

Anyone with information on the people responsible for these flyers is asked to call Metro Police.

Threatening Antisemitic Graffiti Discovered at California Elementary School

Hamilton Elementary School in Anza was defaced with death threats and racist graffiti last week and now parents and teachers are calling for action.  

Racial slurs and swastikas, along with other graphic images, were spray painted on the street and the school itself.  

While the incident happened during spring break, it’s unclear exactly when the vandal or vandals hit the school. A spokesperson with the Hemet Unified School District said the incident occurred last Tuesday. Officials at the school said they learned about the graffiti on Wednesday and notified law enforcement immediately, before cleaning up the hateful messages on Wednesday and Thursday.  

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, however, paints a different picture, saying deputies were not notified about the racist graffiti until Monday.  

While the timeline is unclear, one source with a close connection to the school, who did not want to be identified, said the incident is concerning because he has a loved one at Hamilton Elementary. He believes school administrators attempted to cover up the incident by having the graffiti cleaned up before the sheriff’s department could respond.  

“The most concerning thing to me is that there were three specific students named out and then underneath their names, it said, ‘Y’all f—ing die.’ And the fact that there was no message sent out to any of the parents or staff members at all and there’s no police presence today…within the community up here, there’s known supremacist groups up here. I haven’t seen anything like this up here before,” the man told KTLA’s Shelby Nelson.  

District officials said that anything that might have been captured on the school’s surveillance cameras was turned over to the sheriff’s department, along with images of the graffiti. Hemet Unified also posted a notification about the incident on their website today.  

As for the threats targeting the three students, another parent told KTLA that the names were of kids who attend Hamilton High School down the street.  

Many parents in the small community did not want to speak on camera, saying they fear retaliation, but others said they were shocked that they weren’t notified about the racist graffiti and threats over spring break.  

“It doesn’t surprise us at all,” Philip Harrison, a parent, told KTLA. “Anza has been known for years to be very racist and picking sides of color.”  

In response to criticism about how the district has handled the incident, Hemet Unified released a statement that read in part: 

“An active investigation is underway by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and any specific threats will be handled by law enforcement.”

NYPD Investigating Jewish Woman's Window with Israeli Flag Smashed

The NYPD's hate crimes task force is investigating after someone hurled concrete through a Jewish woman's apartment window. 

A piece of plywood now covers Rochelle's front window. The last time this Bronx mother looked through the glass, she was preparing Shabbos on Friday. 

"I noticed a young man crossing, from the corner of my eye, holding something in the back," said Rochelle. 

She claimed footage shows the moment a man walked up and hurled something through her second-story window. The heavy slab of concrete missed her by inches. 

"I actually just froze for a split second and stood there because there were shards of glass on my sweatshirt," she said. Rochelle believes the man targeted her window for the Israeli flag and pro-Israeli sticker she displays. "This was a hate crime," she said. 

Overall, NYPD data shows hate crimes are down so far in 2023. But last month, antisemitic hate crimes spiked 50 percent compared to last year and made up the majority of hate crimes reported in the city. 

Rochelle said she's sharing her story as a warning, not to instill fear. "Be more of who you are and not be ashamed of who you are," she said. 

Rochelle's Israeli flag isn't going anywhere. 

Jewish Students Continually Harassed with Nazi Salutes at Massachusetts Middle School

School officials at Jabish Brook Middle School have opened an investigation into alleged antisemitic incidents at the school, including the use of the Nazi salute, by a large number of students. 

The investigation was announced by Brian Cameron, superintendent of Belchertown Public Schools, in an email sent to parents April 3, following complaints made to the district by multiple parents. 

The Belchertown School District condemns the use of racist and derogatory language and symbolism which is a blatant violation of school policy, and more importantly our community’s core values,” Cameron wrote in the email. “No one should ever have to come to work or school and experience discrimination and bigotry in any form.” 

During a Select Board meeting April 3, the same day Cameron sent the email to parents, a letter from one parent who filed a complaint with the school was read during the meeting by board member Jennifer Turner.

The parent, who was not named at the meeting, detailed how her child told her that up to 50 students at the school had been performing the Nazi salute and intimidating Jewish students with references to gas chambers and the Holocaust.

“These are not isolated events. They have been occurring for months,” the letter reads. “These individuals are performing hate acts and seek the spotlight while doing it.”

According to the parent’s letter, the school’s investigation has so far uncovered video footage, Instagram posts, and group Google Docs made by the offending students that verify the claims.

Heidi Gutekenst, chairwoman of the Belchertown School Committee, said the school has currently identified fewer than 10 students who have participated in the incidents, but that the investigation was ongoing due to the large number of students believed to have taken part.

“Nobody’s been expelled, but there have been consequences,” she said. “We’re including this in our racial equity educational program. It’s a broad spectrum of a lot of things, but this is one of them.”

In an email sent to one of the parents and obtained by the Gazette, the school’s principal, Thomas Ruscio, said that remedial actions were being taken by him and the school’s assistant principal, Sarah Strout.

“Mrs. Strout has been working on the student incident and both corrective and restorative disciplinary action,” Ruscio wrote in the email. “We are also looking at implementing an educational response to our eighth grade students.”

In a separate email obtained by the Gazette, school guidance counselor Jennifer Parker said she had met with some of the students who had shared offensive material to have discussions about why such content is harmful.

“These discussions about the impact of their words and deeds, the need to think through their role in perpetuating hateful content, and the need to become allies in the fight against all forms of hate has been reinforced,” Parker said. “I will continue with these conversations, and will urge our admin to replace our current advisory curriculum to include more explicit instruction in fighting bias and hate, racism, anti-semitism and homophobia.”

“When we, as Jews, experience antisemitism, we must respond not just with what we stand for, but what we stand against,” said Nora Gorenstein, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts, in a statement put out in late March announcing her organization’s partnership with FCAS. “We must educate others and stand proud of our culture and faith.”

More Antisemitic Graffiti in New Hampshire

Less than two weeks after the Fish and Game Department had covered a swastika spray painted on the wall of an old railroad trestle, more racist remarks and symbols surfaced on Sunday at the same spot, discovered by a local resident walking his dog.

This time, a row of three pinkish-red swastikas followed words expressing hatred for Jewish and Black people – including the use of the n-word – at a walkway near the Merrimack River, just north of one of two parking lots used at the Sewalls Falls Multi-Use Recreation Area in Concord. Obscene images were also included with the hate speech.

Other towns such as Franklin, Hopkinton, and Allenstown have experienced similar criminal behavior recently, but catching someone in the act has proven to be difficult for police without security cameras.

The first incident in Concord was committed last month near the Sewalls Falls Bridge, where a Concord police officer on patrol noticed the offensive symbol, a lone black swastika.

The Sewalls Falls Dam is owned by the state, and thus Fish and Game were called in and within a few days had covered the offensive word with dark paint.

Then came the most recent vandalism, which added more words and symbols. That graffiti had not been covered by mid-afternoon Monday. Fish and Game officials were unavailable for comment.

NYPD Searching for Teens Surrounding Two Passover-Related Attacks

UPDATE April 20, 2023: A 12-year-old boy was arrested on Tuesday (April 18, 2023) after he and a couple of other teens shouted antisemitic slurs and threw rocks at two people in Far Rockaway earlier this month, police said.; more here.

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Police want to find a group of teens in connection with two separate antisemitic attacks in Queens last week.

The first victim was reportedly attacked Friday, the third day of Passover, near Caffrey Avenue and Mott Avenue. Police say the teens shouted antisemitic slurs while throwing rocks at the man.

One of the perpetrators allegedly flashed a razor at the man moments before a good Samaritan intervened, and the trio ran off. Police want to find a group of teens in connection with two separate antisemitic attacks in Queens.

Later that night, around 9:30 p.m., the group struck again. Police said they attacked a second man near Brookhaven Avenue and Beach 17 Street, where the suspects shouted similar remarks and pushed the victim.

The NYPD's Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating both incidents.

Antisemitic Easter Display in Poland Sparks Condemnation

In a harrowing antisemitic display in the rural town of Pruchnik is southeastern Poland, residents hung and burned a doll marked with Jewish stereotypes and a sign that says "Judas 2023".

A similar event happened back in 2019. The town's residents conducted a field trial for a doll named Yehuda Ishkir, which had the inscription JUDAS 2019. This ceremony, dating back to the Middle Ages, involved the residents holding a field trial for Yehuda a Keriot and subsequently sentencing him to death.

The execution took place via hanging, and the "corpse" was then paraded through the streets while children and adults beat it with sticks, delivering 30 blows. The ceremony ended with the residents burning the effigy, marking a disturbing conclusion to the event.

The incident sparked global condemnation, leading the municipality to announce the ending of the tradition. However, just last week, unknown individuals hung the same effigy on the outskirts of the town and set it ablaze. City officials had to intervene by removing the doll from the area.

In response to the event, Meir Bolka, who serves as the chairman of the organization for the preservation of Jewish heritage in Eastern Europe called J-nerations, as well as a research fellow at the Holocaust Research Institute at Bar-Ilan University, said that he feels like a broken record, repeating the same message over and over again. Bolka believes that the event should not cause shame to the Jewish people but rather to the Poles.

He argued that there is a critical gap in the Polish curriculum, and it is common knowledge that the Jews did not kill Jesus. Bolka emphasized the importance of teaching and repeating this fact to prevent Polish children from learning an incorrect version of their history.

"The recurrence of anti-Semitic incidents such as this, just a few weeks after the governments of Poland and Israel signed an agreement to normalize relations and restore youth travel to Poland, is deeply troubling," he said.

"It is apparent that the Polish government has failed to address the roots of this hatred towards Jews. While the Polish government expects Israeli students to learn about the suffering of the Polish people during the Holocaust, they must also teach that Jews, including those who visit Poland in the guise of Hasidic Jews, are not responsible for the death of Jesus.

"Although I hesitate to predict the future, it is evident that this issue requires serious attention and a meaningful response from the Polish government."

Sacramento State Advisor Under Fire for Nazi Salute During Antisemitic Podcast

Aaron Wall, Student Services Coordinator

Sacramento State leaders have denounced an incident of apparent antisemitism earlier this year at the university’s radio station, while also apologizing for the “failed” process used by students to report the actions.

Three students allege that in February, KSSU radio station student services coordinator Aaron Wall performed a Nazi salute. At the time, the students were recording an episode for their ongoing art history podcast. That week’s episode centered on World War II and antisemitism. Wall, who was assigned to the project as a sound engineer, reportedly made the gesture as Sacramento State senior Anya Thompson referenced Adolf Hitler. The State Hornet, Sacramento State’s student newspaper, first reported the incident on Thursday.

In unaired audio from the podcast, Wall can be heard saying, “Sorry, my bad. I shouldn’t have done that,” a few seconds after Thompson’s reference. Wall did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “We just sat there stunned,” said Thompson, who is Jewish and a studio art and art painting major. Thompson described what followed as a “jumbled mess.”

The students filed a complaint through the university’s reporting process, with the goal of being assigned a new sound engineer. Thompson and her co-host Madeline Madrid said there was no option to select for antisemitism or discrimination against an ethnic or religious group. They were assigned a bias report officer who conducted interviews on the incident. In the weeks that followed, Thompson said they could not come to a resolution. In response to their request for a new sound engineer, the students were told that option was “unrealistic.”

“We don’t want (Wall) fired,” Thompson said. “We don’t want anything bad to happen. We just don’t want to work with him.” Nearly six weeks after the incident, and a day after the State Hornet story, school leadership responded to the gesture in a video statement by the university’s president, Robert Nelsen, and Associated Students, Inc. president Salma Pacheco. “That is not something that should happen in our campus,” Nelsen said in the video, released Friday afternoon. “It should not happen in this city. It should not happen anywhere. We will make sure it never happens again.”

Nelsen also said the university will fix the reporting process and “already knows what went wrong” with the students’ attempt to report Wall’s gesture. “To our students, you did everything right,” Pacheco said. “You went through the process. You filed a bias report. You did everything right and I am so sorry the process failed you.” Since Friday’s video statement, Thompson said conversations have improved. The students were recently told they can use a separate recording studio. Thompson hopes they will soon be assigned another sound engineer.

Brian Blomster, director of news and communications at Sacramento State, said Wall’s employment is being handled through the human resources department.

Crazed Man Defaces West Hollywood Fitness Center with Nazi Symbols

An LA man was caught in the act of defacing private property with antisemitic hate symbols at 1:35 p.m. today in front of the new John Reed Fitness at 8612 Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood.

WEHOville publisher Larry Block approached the man, who held a marker in his hand, to say, “Excuse me, is that proper?” but the man did not answer.

At that point, the man put down his marker and walked west on Santa Monica Blvd, leaving swastikas and Stars of David in his wake.

In March, similar markings were found outside of Z Pizza.

WWE Issues Apology for Using Auschwitz Footage in ‘WrestleMania’ Promo

WWE issued an apology Friday after facing backlash in recent days for using an image of the Auschwitz concentration camp in a promo video for a match that took place during WrestleMania 39.

The pro wrestling promotion has been under fire since the startling inclusion of a photo of Auschwitz was discovered in a video hyping the Rey Mysterio vs. Dominik Mysterio match after it aired on the Night 1 pre-show on April 1. After initially staying quiet on the matter, WWE addressed the controversy in a statement on Friday, confirming the image was promptly removed upon its discovery before apologizing for the offensive gaffe.

“We had no knowledge of what was depicted. As soon as we learned, it was removed immediately. We apologize for this error,” the statement read, per NBC News. 

The company’s response to the controversial promo comes nearly a week after the backlash began, with many fans up in arms after a tweet of the image went viral during the show. In the promo, the Auschwitz footage was featured as B-roll behind audio of Dominik Mysterio, whose character went to prison, saying, “You think this is a game to me? I served hard time. And I survived.”

As WWE faced waves of criticism in the days that followed, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum released a statement on Wednesday blasting the company for “exploiting the site.” According to multiple reports following the event, the Auschwitz footage was replaced with generic images of an empty jail cell with barbed wire prior to Night 2, and has been promptly removed from all replays of WrestleMania 39 Night 1.

“The fact that Auschwitz image was used to promote a WWE match is hard to call ‘an editing mistake’,” the Auschwitz Memorial stated in a tweet on April 5. “Exploiting the site that became a symbol of enormous human tragedy is shameless and insults the memory of all victims of Auschwitz.”

Oklahoma City Residents Disturbed by Latest Antisemitic 'GDL' Flyer Drop

Recently, residents in several Oklahoma City neighborhoods have been finding hateful antisemitic flyers on the foot of their driveways.

This week, each driveway on one Oklahoma City street had hateful antisemitic flyers inside zip-lock bags filled with dried corn to keep them from blowing away.

Several different notes contained antisemitic messages casting Jews as villains destroying society and promoting things like pornography and financial scandals.

The messages include slogans like: 

“Every single aspect of the media is Jewish” and “Every single aspect of the COVID agenda is Jewish.” 

Another disturbing flier with symbols and pictures said quote, “Every single aspect of the Jewish Talmud is satanic.” 

All of those messages, plus more information regarding those topics, were found on the fliers.  

NGO StopAntisemitism, one of the leading Jewish advocacy groups tracking the drops around the country has attributed these flyers to the white supremacist group, the Goyim Defense League. The league is run by Jon Minadeo II. Minadeo and his followers travel the country, harassing the Jewish communities and spreading dangerous and false propaganda intended to harm these communities.

Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt responded to the hateful messages and said quote, ”Freedom of speech sometimes allows statements that we find repugnant, but we have the same freedom, and it is our obligation to use it to answer those statements and stand with our Jewish friends and neighbors.”  

He also said, “The people of Oklahoma City condemn and reject all forms of hate and bigotry, especially antisemitism.” 

Ex-Florida Councilman Compares Duck Removal to Holocaust

Former Palmetto Bay Councilman David Singer has likely gone too far in his war against the village council and mayor comparing them to Adolf Hitler in a Facebook post Thursday and likening the removal and euthanizing of about 20 “aggressive” Muscovy ducks from Coral Reef Park to the extermination of six million Jews in the Holocaust on the Eve of Passover

“I heard today that Mayor Karyn Cunningham, Vice Mayor Leanne Tellum and Village Manager Nick Marano were looking for a final solution to the ducks in the Village of Palmetto Bay,” Singer posted on one of his Facebook community pages, What’s Happening in Palmetto Bay, with a photo of Hitler, a swastika on his arm. “You know who else was looking for a final solution?”

“He’s a schmuck,” said Councilman Steve Cody, who beat Singer in 2020. “It shows an incredible insensitivity,” Cody said, adding that it’s ironic because Singer is Jewish. “You would think he would know better. But he’s so determined to make his point and make it any way he has to that he doesn’t care.

Even Singer knew he went too far because, not long after the post, he changed the photo to one of three chickens with their heads cut off.

The ducks can’t be relocated, Cody explained. “Federal law says they are a nuisance species. If you have an aggressive one, you have to euthanize,” he told Political Cortadito. He blames the people who feed the ducks for making them aggressive and said if people left them alone, they could stay.

Swastika Painted Across Airman's Home at North Dakota Air Force Base

Graffiti that included a swastika, profanity, gang references and a racial slur was spray painted across the Minot Air Force Base home of an airman and his family last weekend and security forces are still searching for culprits, according to officials at the North Dakota base.

The incident happened early Saturday morning at the on-base duplex where Airman 1st Class Justin Rutledge and his wife MacKenzy have lived for more than a year.

MacKenzy Rutledge said she was up late with her son Friday night and left home at about 2 a.m. Saturday to purchase a beverage from the nearby shoppette. MacKenzy returned about 30 minutes later and found the garage door covered with the black spray-painted graffiti. The Rutledges share a driveway with their neighbor whose garage had some black squiggles painted on it.

But MacKenzy said she felt her family was targeted and she immediately called the base police about the incident. The Rutledges, who are white, requested to rent a different home at the base. In the meantime, she said civil engineers for the base have covered the graffiti with white paint.

Maj. Jhanelle Haag, Minot Air Force Base spokeswoman, said this is the only incident of graffiti at an on-base home in the past year. The base’s population is more than 12,000 people, including about 5,470 active-duty and Reserve service members assigned to Minot, she said.

“Minot Air Force Base has a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination of any kind,” said Col. Dan Hoadley, commander of the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot. “This type of behavior is abhorrent, unacceptable, and does not align with our Air Force core values.”

Hoadley said base security forces are investigating the incident. The Ward County Sheriff's Department and the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation have been called in to help with crime scene analysis.