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The former Republican governor of Pennsylvania also said the problem will not go away so long as ISIS remains a powerful force in the Middle East. |
“They’ll continue to have problems if ISIS continues to run freely — and they are, in spite what the president says — and get further and further embedded into Syria and Iraq,” he said. |
Ridge advocated building a safe zone in Syria for refugees displaced by the violence. |
“And I do think that the global community — in addition to figuring out how they’re going to handle it militarily — owes these people, owes these people the development of significant refugee camps until the internal situation can be resolved,” he said. |
“And until we do that, shame on all us, because we let this cancer grow.”<|endoftext|>By Joshua Krause |
For the past two years the families of the victims who died at Sandy Hook have been seeking to satisfy their own warped sense of justice. In December of 2014 they filed a lawsuit against the Remington Arms company, because one of their AR-15 rifles was used in the mass shooting. If you’re unfamiliar with this case, you may be wondering why gun companies haven’t been sued into oblivion by countless families who have lost loved ones to various violent crimes. |
The reason why has to do with what’s known as the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. This law prevents gun manufacturers from being subjected to frivolous lawsuits, like the one Remington is currently facing. These companies can’t be held liable for the actions of their consumers, certainly no more than a car company is responsible for road rage, or an alcohol company is responsible for accidents. |
The only stipulation in this law is known as “negligent entrustment.” If a gun company or gun store knowingly sells a weapon to a person who is clearly insane, intoxicated, or would obviously commit a crime, then they can be held liable for any damages that person causes. These Sandy Hook families believe that the way Remington advertised this weapon, makes them liable under the negligent entrustment clause. |
Because they advertised this weapon to civilians, a weapon that is normally used by the military, who only give it to people who are properly trained and vetted to use it, they are responsible. And because they used violent video games like Call of Duty to advertise it, they are responsible. These families are basically saying that Remington’s advertising attracts violent people, or that they knowingly sold weapons to people they knew were unfit to operate them. |
Of course that ignores the fact that Adam Lanza didn’t buy the gun, but actually stole it from his mother, and it ignores the fact that there are plenty of rifles purpose-built for civilians that do the same exact thing as an AR-15. It also ignore the fact that there are plenty of civilian rifles that are far more lethal than an AR-15, and that rifles are very rarely used for any crime. Anyone who actually owns and uses firearms knows that this lawsuit is absolutely ridiculous, and should be thrown out. |
Unfortunately it hasn’t been thrown out. The reason why this lawsuit has been up in the air for two years, is because the courts have been trying to decide if Remington can even be legally sued in the first place. And now our court system has made a decision.<|endoftext|>The USDA has confiscated Ned, a severely underweight male elephant from circus trainer Lance Ramos, aka Lancelot Kollman. Only the second elephant to have been confiscated by the USDA, Ned was taken from Ramos for failure to comply with the Animal Welfare Act and was placed with The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. |
Kollmann has a long history of offenses and operated under his father’s USDA license until it was permanently revoked in 2000 after an elephant killed a circus worker. The same elephant suddenly died several days later. When four big cats in Kollman’s care died after deworming medication was administered without veterinary supervision, he was cited by the USDA.[social_buttons] |
Additionally, Kollmann has also been cited by the USDA for failure to provide veterinary care to injured animals; causing trauma, harm, and lesions to an improperly restrained jaguar; unsanitary conditions; and failure to provide adequate shelter and clean water. In July 2000, the USDA initially denied a permit to Kollmann, stating, “You were responsible for or participated in violations that resulted in the revocation of [your father’s] USDA license.” |
Kollman’s history of animal abuse and neglect has prompted PETA to contact Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, which currently leases tigers from Kollman. “Animal suffering is rife among trainers who supply animals to circuses, but this trainer’s record of animal mistreatment makes him one of the worst offenders,” says PETA Director Debbie Leahy. “By doing business with Kollmann, Ringling continues to give animal abuse a stamp of approval.” PETA has also encouraged the USDA to pursue criminal charges against Kollmann and to revoke his exhibitor’s license permanently. |
As for Ned, he will reside only temporarily in his private facility at The Sanctuary. “We are working closely with other professionals to ensure that as soon as Ned’s health improves he can be relocated to his permanent home. Our focus over the next many weeks will be on Ned’s recovery,” stated Carol Buckley, Sanctuary Executive Director. The Elephant Sanctuary has been developed to provide a place for traumatized elephants to recover from the debilitating experience of captivity and is designed specifically for old, sick or needy elephants that have been retired from circuses and zoos. |
Photo Credit: Photo Credit: curly_exp( l)osure on Flickr under Creative Commons license.<|endoftext|>A disappointed Felix Baumgartner exited his capsule on Oct. 9, 2012 after the flight was aborted due to high winds. Credit: Red Bull Stratos. |
Windy weather in New Mexico likely won’t improve for a few days, and so the Red Bull Stratos team is targeting Sunday, October 14 for the next try for Felix Baumgartner to attempt a record-breaking freefall where he could break the sound barrier with his body. Meteoroligsts ruled out flights for today, Wednesday, and Thursday. The winds were the problem on Tuesday when the launch of the helium balloon that was to bring Baumarter to 36.5 km was aborted. |
“As we inflated the balloon and got Felix into the capsule at about 11:42 a.m., we experienced a gust of wind that took us above 40 km/h at the peak of the balloon,” said Red Bull Stratos Project Director Art Thompson, adding the gust had dangerously twisted the balloon in a way that could have damaged the delicate polyethylene material. “The integrity of the balloon at that point is really unknown and unacceptable to use for manned flight because we were not sure what would happen as we launch. Our biggest problem was the wind at the 230 meters level.” |
Wind speeds cannot exceed 5km/h or there is a chance the envelope could tear when the support team tries to release it. “We knew that we only had a small window today which we finally did not hit,” added Thompson. |
The 43-year-old extreme jumper said he was surprised by the decision to abort the flight on Tuesday but optimistic he will still get his chance to break the 52-year-old record set by U.S. Air Force Colonel Joe Kittinger, who jumped from 31.3 km (102,800 ft). Kittinger is working as an adviser for Baumgartmer, and was the CAPCOM during the preparations for Tuesday’s attempt. |
“I want this to happen this year,” Baumgartner said. “We’ve made it so far. There’s no turning back. We’re here, we’ve got the helium and we’re good to go. Whether that’s tomorrow or the first day next week, I don’t really care.” |
The current schedule shows a 6:30 MDT (12:30 UTC) time for the launch attempt on Oct. 14. Universe Today will post a live feed of the jump on our website. |
The partially inflated balloon during the Oct. 9 attempt was tossed around by the wind, forcing an abort to the launch. Credit: Red Bull Stratos<|endoftext|>Buy Photo IUPUI Chanellor Nasser Paydar waves his American flag he got when he became an American citizen in 1992, as he speaks during a Naturalization Ceremony for the newest American citizens at IUPUI, Thursday, April 27, 2017. This was the first naturalization ceremony to be held at an Indianapolis College or University campus. The almost 100 new citizens came from 38 countries. Paydar told of his experiences becoming an American, immigrating from Iran. (Photo: Kelly Wilkinson/IndyStar)Buy Photo |
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) is making the jump from the Summit League to the Horizon League, the school officially announced Wednesday morning. |
It's official, IUPUI will join @HorizonLeague, effective July 1. Will compete in HL this coming fall. More to come. pic.twitter.com/5tRxh7lm5Y — IUPUI Jaguars (@IUPUIJaguars) June 28, 2017 |
The move comes after Valparaiso left the Horizon League for the Missouri Valley Conference, and brings the Horizon League back to 10 schools. |
IUPUI was part of the Summit League (formerly the Mid-Continent Conference) since moving to Division I in 1998. |
The Summit League is left with eight teams, but will have nine teams once North Dakota joins for the 2018-19 school year.<|endoftext|>Very few people really love Enterprise, the Star Trek prequel series that aired for four years. Until its final season, this show seemed to be struggling with the worst elements of both prequels and sequels, given its confusing time-travel storyline. But on the Blu-ray special features, the show's creators blame the studio. |
Top image: The Light Works |
According to the featurettes on the recently released Enterprise Blu-ray sets (via PopMatters and AICN), creators Rick Berman and Brannon Braga had a very different plan in mind for Enterprise. Berman and Braga wanted the whole first season of Enterprise to be basically the same as the flashback episode "First Flight," in which we see Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) on Earth, working as a test pilot and trying to get a space mission together. The whole first season would have been about getting the ship and crew assembled, while dealing with the Vulcans. And stuff like the Klingon crash-landing on Earth (in the pilot, "Broken Bow,") would have happened over the course of the season. |
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Instead, Paramount and UPN insisted that Berman and Braga had to get the Enterprise crew out into space in the first episode, so the series could hew more to the traditional Star Trek format, the producers claim in a new roundtable interview segment on the Blu-rays, plus a featurette called "Uncharted Territory." Not only that, but it was the studio that insisted the producers had to include the Temporal Cold War, making the show both a prequel and sequel to the other Star Trek series — because the studio suits were nervous about making a pure prequel. (On one Blu-ray feature, Bakula says he constantly gets people asking him what happened to the Temporal Cold War. Braga says he found the Temporal Cold War "strangulating.") |
Other horrifying/fascinating details (via AICN): One studio executive pitched the idea of having a different "boy band" board the Enterprise and perform every week. Also, Bakula says he made an angry phone call to Braga over the Riker/Troi-centric series finale, and Braga now regrets that episode. Braga says he sometimes chafed under Berman's leadership and their relationship has become "complicated" since Enterprise was cancelled. |
Also, showrunner Manny Cotto had amazing plans for Enterprise season five, including making the Andorian Shran (Jeffrey Combs) into a regular. Braga says, "I always thought season four should have been season one," a sentiment many fans can probably agree with.<|endoftext|>Nic Volker, 9, has an average of 100 seizures a day. "He used to have to wear a helmet all the time," says his mom, Amylynne Santiago Volker. "Because they'd just throw him right off his feet." |
Now, Nic has learned to tell when they're coming on. "He knows when there's an aura, to lay down on the couch. That way he won't fall down," Volker says in a phone call with The Huffington Post on Thursday. |
Still, the seizures have a huge effect on his life. Since being diagnosed last year with a type of intractable epilepsy known as Doose Syndrome, Nic's tried at least half a dozen medications, none of which seemed to help. His cognitive abilities have declined sharply. He had to stay back a year in school. He barely sleeps at night. But at least he's alive, Volker says. "It's scary, because one seizure can be fatal," she explains. |
Now, Nic is taking an anti-seizure drug called felbatol (also known as felbamate), which "is one of the most dangerous ones out there," Volker says. That's because it can cause the fatal bone marrow disease aplastic anemia. But the Volkers opted to try it, because it "was the only one that doctors thought might control his seizures," Volker says. |
It did, for about a year. "But now it's losing its efficacy," Volker says. Brain surgery, which works for some epileptics by removing the brain tissue that causes seizures, won't work for Nic. "His seizures come from multiple parts of his brain, so our doctors ruled that out right away," Volker says. |
There is a drug, however, that's thought to be relatively safe and that could help Nic and others like him, but it's currently illegal in Wisconsin and throughout most of the U.S. That drug is cannabidiol, also known as CBD oil, a non-psychoactive (meaning it doesn't produce a "high") extract from the marijuana plant. |
The cannabis extract was famously featured in the CNN documentary "Weed," which first aired in August. In the film, a 6-year-old Colorado girl named Charlotte Figi, who suffers from a rare seizure disorder, is shown benefiting from legal CBD oil. Animal studies and other anecdotal evidence back up advocates' claims that the drug is a viable treatment for some seizure disorders. |
Volker said she watched "Weed" in August and began doing her own research into CBD oil. She knew there was a broader medical marijuana bill in the Wisconsin legislature, but didn't think it had a chance of passing. "And anyways, it didn't include people under 18," Volker said. |
So this past fall, Volker met with her assemblyman, Rep. Robb Kahl (D-Monona), and told him about her son's situation. Kahl already knew a little about Nic: When the boy stayed back a year at Winnequah Elementary School, he ended up in first grade with Kahl's daughter. |
"After meeting with Amylynne in the fall, we did our own digging on CBD oil and decided we had to do something," Kahl told HuffPost in a phone call this week. |
So Kahl drafted a bill, AB 726, that would legalize cannabidiol to treat seizure disorders like Nic's. Kahl quickly sought a Republican co-sponsor for the bill, Rep. Scott Krug (R-Wisconsin Rapids). "As a member of the minority party you won't get anything through unless you have the support of the other side," Kahl explained. |
He and Krug introduced the CBD oil extract bill in early February. It quickly picked up a number of co-sponsors on both sides of the aisle and was overwhelmingly approved by an Assembly committee last week. The Wisconsin Medical Society recently came out in support of it, too. |
Kahl says he kept the bill's focus as narrow as possible in order to get it passed. Because any measure that allows for weed to be legally grown in Wisconsin would likely be struck down by conservative lawmakers, Kahl says Wisconsin's CBD oil would have to be imported if his bill passes. Importation would require federal approval, which the Food and Drug Administration has given elsewhere. |
But whether the measure can pass into law this year is unclear. Wisconsin's legislative session is almost over, and the bill still has to be voted on in the House and Senate. "There's a lot of bills vying for that last amount of floor time," explains Gary Storck, co-founder of Is My Medicine Legal Yet, a nonprofit advocating for legal medical cannabis. "I'd say it's unlikely [that it will pass this year], but this bill has surprised me already so I wouldn't completely rule it out." |
Also unclear is whether the state's Republican governor, Scott Walker, would sign it. Walker said recently that Wisconsin wasn't quite ready for full marijuana legalization, but a bill as specific as AB 726, that has bipartisan support like AB 726 does, might stand a chance. "Once it's made it that far, and it's so narrowly worded," Storck says. "I wouldn't rule it out that he could sign it." |
Walker did not respond to a request for comment. |
As for the Volkers, they will keep fighting for their son, whatever the cost. Amylynne Volker said she hasn't been able to work because taking care of Nic is a full-time job. The family's total medical costs for Nic are about $6 million, Volker says. "Insurance pays for some. But we'll be paying for a while. I mean, we'll be poor for the rest of our lives," she says. "But obviously he's worth it, for him to be alive. He's priceless."<|endoftext|>Republican David Vitter |