First, they came for the Anne Frank Halloween costumes, and I said nothing because they didn’t make anything in my size…

The costume, a blue button-up dress, is accessorized with a green beret and a brown shoulder bag.

It’s “reminiscent of the kind of clothing” young girls are likely to have worn in the 1930s and 1940s, said a product description below the image of a model — a brown-haired girl with a smile on her face and her hand on her waist.

For $25 (plus shipping), “your child can play the role of a World War II hero” on Halloween, it promised.

But the costume portraying Anne Frank, the Jewish teenager whose diary chronicled the horrors of the Nazi regime, was called offensive by numerous critics, including major advocacy groups. So Halloweencostumes.com, an online retailer, removed the item from its website, and its spokesman apologized, saying offending people wasn’t the company’s intention.


Poet attacked online by enraged high school students after her work appears on exam

Students have been told to apologise to an award-winning Indigenous writer by the head of the government agency that administers the HSC.

David de Carvalho, the chief executive of the NSW Education Standards Authority, condemned the treatment of Ellen van Neerven who was subjected to abusive comments and messages from students who had sat the English exam.

“I am appalled by the abuse of the author,” Mr de Carvalho told Fairfax Media. “This is a completely inappropriate response and I hope those involved see fit to apologise to Ms van Neerven.”

The controversy was sparked after students sitting the HSC English exam on Monday were asked to analyse Ms van Neerven’s poem Mango – one of three unseen texts included in section 1 of English Paper 1.

Students were asked to “explain how the poet conveys the delight of discovery”.

The delight of discovery you hate poetry.

A weird low-res version of the poem in question.


Totally Not-Gawker Blames the Irish in this Spicy Take

Amid the stories of DACA repeal, ICE ambushes at court hearings, and an immigrant snitch line gone haywire, you probably didn’t notice that earlier this month Paul Ryan and members of the Trump cabinet took meetings with an interest group trying to cut a deal for a special subset of America’s 11 million undocumented residents. They’re no SuperPAC, but what they lack in spending power they make up for in charming brogues—it’s the Irish! Every American’s favorite nationality for at least once a year!

Click through for some extra-special “I’m Irish, so it’s OK for me to be a hate-filled turdato.”