“Would [you] rather fight 100 duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck?” - A senator, asking the really tough policy Qs at Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation hearing. Gorsuch didn’t give enough of a duck to answer.

LONDON

THE STORY

Yesterday, five people were killed in a terrorist attack near the British parliament.

WHAT HAPPENED?

First, a car drove into several people on Westminster Bridge, near Parliament. Three people died and dozens more were injured. Then, a man got out of the car and fatally stabbed a police officer while trying to enter Parliament. Police shot and killed the attacker. And Parliament went into lockdown mode. It’s still unclear who the attacker was, but police have arrested seven people and are calling it terrorism.

WHAT ARE PEOPLE SAYING?

British Prime Minister Theresa May condemned the attack and said that Parliament’s getting back to business immediately because the city won’t be “giving in to terror.” And President Trump said the US will help the UK bring “those responsible to justice.”

theSKIMM

This is the worst terror attack in London in over a decade. And it comes after multiple terror attacks in Europe in recent years, a few of which have also involved vehicles ramming into crowds (see: attacks last year in Germany and France). Those attacks were linked to ISIS.

REPEAT AFTER ME...

WHAT TO SAY WHEN YOU’RE CC’D ON AN EMAIL THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU…

Am I supposed to be on this? Yesterday, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) - head of the House Intelligence Committee - said that the intelligence community’s been “incidentally” listening in on some of Team Trump’s phone calls. Reminder: earlier this month, President Trump said that former President Obama wiretapped Trump Tower last year ahead of the election. The FBI later said ‘hmmm, there’s no evidence to support that claim.’ Then yesterday, Nunes said the intelligence community actually picked up convos between Trump’s transition team and some foreigners after the election. Nunes said this happened during legal surveillance of those foreigners. It’s apparently not unusual for Americans to get tangled up in surveillance if they’re chatting with foreigners the US is keeping an eye on. Unclear what these convos included or where any of this info is from. In other news keeping the White House up at night…yesterday a network of conservative groups backed by the Koch Brothers - billionaires who fork over a LOT of cash for conservative campaigns- pretty much told House Republicans not to vote for the party’s new healthcare plan. That vote goes down today. Not a healthy sign.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT…

Germany. Yesterday, the German cabinet said ‘ja’ to a bill that would erase convictions of thousands of gay men. Because for decades, it was illegal for men in Germany to have sex with each other, and the Nazis led a major crackdown on gay men during WWII. Then in the late 60s, Germany technically decriminalized homosexuality but the law wasn’t officially axed until the 90s. And tens of thousands of men were still thrown in jail after the war. Now, Germany’s saying ‘is it too late to say sorry?’ The new law would overturn any post-WWII conviction and give thousands of dollars to each of the convicted men who are still alive. Germany’s not the only one feeling not-so-great about its past. This follows a similar law adopted in the UK in recent months. Slow. Clap.

WHAT TO SAY WHEN YOUR FRIEND SIGNS YOU UP FOR A 6AM BOOTCAMP CLASS…

Not down with this. AT&T and Verizon are saying the same. Yesterday, both companies said they’re pulling a lot of ads from Google over concerns that those ads have been running next to hate speech content. This all started last week when a report came out that said ads from major companies and the British gov were showing up alongside YouTube videos with extremist content. Crikey. YouTube is a part of the Google fam. Cue some big-time customers (think: HSBC, McDonald’s) pulling their Google ads. So earlier this week, Google said ‘our bad’ and changed up its ad policy to give brands more control over where their stuff shows up. The company also promised to keep a closer eye on extreme content. But AT&T and Verizon are saying ‘not good enough.’ And Google’s wishing it could just Google the solution.

WHAT TO SAY WHEN YOU MEET SOMEONE YOU’VE STALKED ON INSTA AND ASK ABOUT THAT TRIP THEY TOOK 57 WEEKS AGO…

Foot, meet mouth.

THING TO KNOW

Encryption: When info or data is converted into code. This is what protects your digital life from getting hacked. Skimm HQ uses this new service for our projects. It lets different teams collab on a project even when they’re OOO - and encrypts the data at all times.

NO EXCUSES: IMMIGRATION

It’s been five weeks since we launched No Excuses: Immigration. Millions of you got informed on our site. theSkimm’s version of the US citizenship test was taken almost 500,000 times. Skimm’bassadors joined in on No Excuses dinner parties across the country. Zero of you made excuses.

PS: Last call for theSkimm’s version of the US citizenship test. If you haven’t put your American history knowledge to the test, git er done.

SKIMM LIFE

Skimm A lost her keys and locked herself out of her apartment. So she called her landlord. And got herself these. Because adulting can be hard. Want some more things to make it easier? Here you go.

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