While in the process of clearing out a homeless camp near the East Bottoms in Kansas City, police discovered a complex of elaborate tunnels and holes that were being used as shelter.
According to community interaction officer, Jason Cooley, “one of the tunnels probably went 20 to 25 feet underground towards the back and veered off in another direction about six feet or so, and there was some bedding and some candles. It was kind of in a little hill and probably four feet beneath the surface.”
The Kansas City Starreported that “another tunnel dropped about five feet into the ground before shooting off laterally for seven or eight feet.”
Many of the holes were concealed. At least one had wood stacked around it and others were bare earth. PVC pipe provided ventilation. What especially concerned Cooley was a pile of recently soiled diapers, indicating the presence of children.
Apparently, this campsite was only one of three such Obamatown’s police have recently discovered.
Mark Levin told the sad story of Maurice Harris of Miami, who was murdered after two heavily armed intruders invaded his house. He was shot while fighting to keep them from entering his eleven year old daughter’s room.
As the family was unarmed and as Levin noted, there isn’t a single gun control law being discussed that would have done anything to keep these animals from getting the weapons they had.
“The idea for instance, that these two heavily armed rabid dogs would submit to a background check, and fill out a form, and send it in to the government….it’s so absurd. It’s preposterous,” Levin proclaimed.
All of the gun proposals being considered by Democrats would have only applied to Maurice.
For crime stories with happier endings, go here and here.
Via Tony Katz, Talkers.com announced yesterday that WVKO, a small station with a progressive talk format, will cease operations because of a lack of support from Democrat campaigns – including Obama’s and others in the left-wing community.
“It is with great sadness I must inform WVKO’s listeners that once again, Progressive Talk will be silenced on the Columbus airwaves. Our one-year lease on the station is about to expire, and at this time there is no way that we can continue operating the station. So as of midnight on Sunday, December 16th, the new operators will be airing a gospel format on WVKO. Once again, we had a good run with the station, and we were happy to in some small way contribute to the success that the Democrats enjoyed in November.
Unfortunately, it was not a two-way street, and lack of advertising support from the Obama campaign all the way down to local races ensured that we will be unable to continue into the new year.
I put my time, money, heart and soul into doing what I believed to be important for the country, but those who benefited most from our efforts chose to spend their campaign dollars elsewhere.
Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice….Well, we can’t get fooled again. Also, a number of advertisers who supported the station in the past chose to turn their backs on us this time. I can’t say why, since they would not return our calls. I want to thank our advertisers, supporters and you the listeners for everything, and i hope that Progressive Talk can somehow return to Columbus in the future.”
Keeping in line with their views on how the economy works, it’s very likely their cheapskate listeners felt that progressive radio should be free. A valuable lesson for anti-Capitalist lefties to learn, of course is - nothing is ever free. As Katz notes “someone must pay to keep the lights on” (etc..)
Perhaps, this is why progressive radio fails abysmally almost everywhere it’s tried.
Soon, a dozen or so left-wing blogs were reporting the same thing – Memorandum shows a number of collectivist blogs signing on to “the Breitbart folks faked the violence” meme. According to one blogger: Breitbart Folks Appear to Fake Violence in Lansing:
When I saw this video-claiming that a “violent mob” destroyed the tent the Koch brothers had paid for in front of the Michigan Capitol-I knew right away it was likely a false flag. After all, Stranahan, James O’Keefe’s buddy, first posted it.
…one eyewitness tells MSNBC.com he thinks there may be more to the story. Thomas Duckworth, a Michigan resident and lifelong union member, said he’d been at the AFP tent earlier in the day, when he noticed a man in an NRA hat. Later, he said, he saw the man deliberately loosening the ropes holding the tent up. Duckworth acknowledged that labor supporters had cheered the tent’s collapse, but suggested that AFP had deliberately helped initiate the it, in order to depict their adversaries as an unruly mob.The progressive communications group Progress Michigan also conducted an interview with Duckworth. You can find the video on their YouTube page.
A photo of Duckworth is credited to an MSNBC’s writer, but was taken inside the Progress Michigan offices, suggesting that the two organizations coordinated.
Thomas La Duke’s first video shows the inside of the tent as an incredulous La Duke and Steven Crowder are holding up a corner as the unionistas bum rushed the tent for the first time. An AFP official can be heard outside the tent speaking through a bullhorn asking the union thugs to respect their right to free speech and their property rights and repeatedly asking that they “please step away from the tent.” La Duke claims the tent was rushed three times before it came down.
This video of the back of the tent was filmed in the area where Crowder got punched. La Duke didn’t catch that shot because he was focusing on the lil fella who was kicking in the corner of the tent.
In one of the videos, a unionista can be heard yelling that AFP people should have been ‘Aborted” and laughing about it.
The State police showed up AFTER the tent had come down.
La Duke: “NONE of the videos is edited so that the leftists pushing that crap can kiss it.”
The Palm Beach Postreported that the St. Lucie County canvassing board somehow missed the noon deadline, today to file election results to the Division of Elections, prompting the Murphy Campaign to declare Murphy the winner in the Congressional race for FL Dist 18.
Under Florida law, the final certified results were due from all of the state’s 67 supervisors of elections today. If the results do not arrive on time, the certified unofficial results submitted last Sunday stand. Those results have Murphy winning by 0.58 percent. A spread of less than 0.5 percent would have triggered an automatic recount.
Although results have not been certified, final numbers released by the canvassing board today show West with 52,704 votes in St. Lucie County and Murphy with 65,841. These tallies, added the final results from Martin and Palm Beach counties give Murphy the win with 50.16 percent of the vote to West’s 49.51 – a spread of .65 percent.
“Today at noon, it became clear Patrick Murphy will be officially certified as the next congressman from the 18th Congressional District,” Anthony Kusich, Murphy for Congressman campaign manager, said in a prepared statement issued around 12:40 p.m. “The voters have spoken and Patrick Murphy is once again the clear winner. It is beyond time to put this campaign behind us and put the interests of the people of the Treasure Coast and Palm Beaches first.”
Said attorney Gerald Richman, a member of Murphy’s legal team: “All Patrick Murphy wanted was to follow the law. They absolutely missed it (deadline). Whatever it is, it is. We just want the law to be followed.”
But Murphy’s lawyers had attempted, yesterday,to get the 19th Circuit Court Judge to disallow the retabulation of early votes agreed to by the St. Lucie County Canvassing Board and West for Congress campaign manager Tim Edson released the following statement:
“In a last-ditch effort to suppress the vote, Murphy’s lawyers submitted sloppy and incomplete papers to the Court this morning to try to strong-arm the judge into preventing today’s retabulation already underway. The Murphy team’s motion is procedurally and substantively lacking. With every action attempted, Murphy demonstrates a complete lack of respect and utter disregard for the voters of St. Lucie County.
Murphy’s efforts bring to mind the dark times in our nation’s history when politicians tried to manipulate the law to suppress the votes, and we are appalled by Murphy’s apparent contempt for the voting rights of citizens to have their ballots accurately and fairly tabulated.
Murphy knows there are votes that have not been counted, but he’s taking legal action to ensure the results are certified anyway. Perhaps the Justice Department should investigate Murphy’s attempt to steal himself a seat in Congress at the expense of the voters in St. Lucie County.”
After today’s missed deadline, the Palm Beach Postreportsed that Tim Edson wants the Secretary of State Ken Detzner and Gov. Rick Scott to sort out the mess.
Edson said other problems arose this morning. The recount showed 900 voters cast ballots in precinct 93, where there are 7 registered voters, Edson said.
In a prepared statement released around 2 p.m. this afternoon, Edson said: “Today’s actions cast an even greater cloud of suspicion over the results of St. Lucie County than existed before. Consequently, the highly suspect results will be submitted to the Secretary of State today — even though the canvassing board has already admitted they may contain serious errors.
***
West supporters, upon learning that the deadline was missed, have crowded into the ballot-counting area shouting “Count our vote!” Others have made public comments to elections officials, blaming them for ending the recount last night at 10 p.m. because the security system in the vacant shopping mall where the ballots are being counted would be triggered if the counting continued.
Two of the three members of the canvassing board, County Judge Kathryn Nelson and Marc Traum, and County Attorney Heather Young have been sitting at a table in front of the agitated crowd, allowing those gathered to make their comments but saying nothing in response.
Charles Krauthammer didn’t mince words tonight when asked what he thought Obama’s second term is going to look like. He said since Obama didn’t campaign on ideas, anything large or important (his popular vote win will be very small) he will go back to what he is – a man of the left and he will try to push his agenda through with what he thinks is a mandate and we will be right where we were a year ago with the debt ceiling argument, next year, and the problem is the country will slide because I don’t see give on either side, particularly with a President who has a very weak mandate for a second term.
Krauthammer’s take on Obama’s reelection was so depressing, he (a licensed psychiatrist) offered to write prescriptions for the Fox audience. He ended on a more positive note about the next wave of Republican standard bearers who are promising conservatives as opposed to a Northeastern liberal Republican.
“Early this morning Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents assigned to the Brian Terry Station were involved in a shooting near Naco, Ariz. Preliminary reports indicate one agent has died from his injuries and another sustained non-life threatening wounds. The injured agent has been airlifted to the hospital. Names are being withheld pending notification of next of kin. More updates will follow as appropriate. The incident investigation is being led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office.”
The Brian Terry Station is of course named after the agent whose murder abruptly ended the Obama regime’s reckless and deadly Operation Fast and Furious because Fast and Furious weapons were found at the scene.
Time will tell if the guns from this crime will be linked back to Fast and Furious.
“According to investigations, ‘El Diego’ forms the link between this massacre and Fast and Furious,” an anchor read on air in Spanish Sunday evening, referring to two different mass killings drug cartel operatives used Fast and Furious weapons to conduct as Univision reported.
“When he [El Diego] was captured in Chihuahua in the summer of 2011, he was found with weapons that the American government had allowed to enter Mexico,” the anchor added. [...]
Mexican authorities have alleged El Diego is responsible for the murders of at least 1,500 people in Juarez and Chihuaha City, Mexico, according to the El Paso Times.
UPDATE:
Via Twitchy, we find Univision taking the lead on this story by asking the obvious question American News Agencies dare not ask:
That’s what Univision journalist Mariana Atencio is wondering. She also suggested the political implications could be “catastrophic” for President Obama.
Border patrol agent killed in Brian Terry's section. Could it be w Fast & Furious guns? Catastrophic for Obama one day before debate
Rep. Darrell Issa , R-Calif., released a statement calling an investigation into the shooting and cautioned about drawing conclusions before “relevant facts are known.”
“This shooting is a tragic reminder of the dangers the brave men and women who guard our borders face every day,” Issa’s statement read.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, called the fallen agent a fallen hero.
FOX 10 News reported that the Mexican bandits suspected in the killing were under investigation by the feds as part of Operation Fast and Furious. Video here.
Fox’s Special Report panel had a food discussion about Akin’s decision to stay in the race. Krauthammer, after expressing shock at how much in denial Akin’s in, suggested that a horse be put in his bed, but doubted that Akin would get the reference.
You want delusional, check out Akin’s tweets tonight:
I apologized but the liberal media is trying to make me drop out. Please stand w/ me tonight by signing my petition at akin.org/still-standing
So what did he do when he saw that he was down in the polls in Colorado? He hurried out there with the new Democrat heroine, Sandra Fluke – the living embodiment of “Julia”- to rally the base.
Caleb Bonham ofRevealing Politics interviewed some of the attendees after the extravaganza was over. These women are sadly typical Democrat voters – uninformed drones:
Revealing Politics has decided to play along with Obama’s distraction from the economy. We sent our resident “expert on female issues”, Caleb Bonham, to interview attendees. The results are shocking and hilarious.
Emails obtained by The Daily Caller show that the U.S. Treasury Department, led by Timothy Geithner, was the driving force behind terminating the pensions of 20,000 salaried retirees at the Delphi auto parts manufacturing company.
The move, made in 2009 while the Obama administration implemented its auto bailout plan, appears to have been made solely because those retirees were not members of labor unions.
The internal government emails contradict sworn testimony, in federal court and before Congress, given by several Obama administration figures. They also indicate that the administration misled lawmakers and the courts about the sequence of events surrounding the termination of those non-union pensions, and that administration figures violated federal law.
Delphi, a 13-year old company that is independent of General Motors, is one of the world’s largest automotive parts manufacturers. Twenty thousand of its workers lost nearly their entire pensions when the government bailed out GM. At the same time, Delphi employees who were members of the United Auto Workers union saw their pensions topped off and made whole.
The White House and Treasury Department have consistently maintained that the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) independently made the decision to terminate the 20,000 non-union Delphi workers’ pension plan. The PBGC is a federal government agency that handles private-sector pension benefits issues. Its charter calls for independent representation of pension beneficiaries’ interests.
So the Administration made a ruthless decision to benefit its union allies over non-union workers. And then claimed they had not made this decision at all; an “outside” group, the PBGC, had made the decision.
But it turns out Treasury “disinvited” the PBGC from discussions about the pensions, thus blocking them from making any of the decisions they are in fact supposed to handle. They weren’t even allowed in the room.
And now the Obamahoods who looted the pensions of these non union employees, are now calling Mitt Romney the reverse Robin Hood for stealing from the 99%?….
The White House believes it can win back depressed and economically stressed voters by turning President Obama into the storyteller-in-chief again. But victims of Obama’s Chicago politics don’t want to hear any more of his own well-worn tales of struggle and sacrifice. They’ve got their own tragedies to tell — heart-wrenching dramas of personal and financial suffering at the very hands of Obama.
Consider the real-life horror story of 20,000 white-collar workers at Delphi, a leading auto parts company spun off from GM a decade ago. As Washington rushed to nationalize the U.S. auto industry with $80 billion in taxpayer “rescue” funds and avoid contested court termination proceedings, the White House auto team schemed with Big Labor bosses to preserve UAW members’ costly pension funds by shafting their nonunion counterparts. In addition, the nonunion pensioners lost all of their health and life insurance benefits.
The abused workers — most from hard-hit northeast Ohio, Michigan and neighboring states — had devoted decades of their lives as secretaries, technicians, engineers and sales employees at Delphi/GM. Some workers have watched up to 70 percent of their pensions vanish.
John Berent of Marblehead, Ohio, lost one-third of his pension: “I worked as a salaried employee for GM (30 years) and Delphi (10 years). After 40 years of dedicated service, I was forced to retire. Then Delphi terminated my health care, life insurance, vision, dental, then terminated the pension plan. Everything I worked 40 years for was wiped out.”
Kelly Fabrizio of Franksville, Wis., saw her pension reduced by 55 percent after working 30 years at Delphi/GM: “I am truly scared for my future. Every day I wake up, shake my head and say out loud — This Is Not How It Was Supposed To Be.”
Roger Hoke of Columbus, Mich., and his wife were both longtime Delphi workers. His pension shrunk by more than 40 percent: “After 33 years with GM and another 10 with Delphi, what did I do wrong to deserve such a fate?”
Bruce Gump, a former Delphi worker, testified at a hearing Examining the Delphi Bankruptcy’s Impact on Workers and Retirees, December 2, 2009.
You can listen to the whole thing, but starting especially at 3:21:
A woman who was forced into retirement at age 54 and had been working 30 years of dedicated service has lost all of her healthcare insurance and will lose more than half of her pension. She could barely afford to purchase a high deductible insurance policy to provide some protection for herself and her self employed husband. Two weeks later she found out she might have cancer.Because of the high deductible policy that she had she had to bare the entire burden of the costs of the tests to determine if she would live or die.
Anyone on the Romney campaign want to follow up on that story? Or any of the 20,000 or more other tragic stories coming out of the Delphi disaster, Obamahood orchestrated?
Charles Cunningham, a former Delphi worker, also testified at the hearing examining the Delphi Bankruptcys Impact on Workers and Retirees in December 2, 2009. He hit the Obama administration on its lack of transparency.
We believe that further significant evidence concerning the discrimination against the Delphi salaried retirees exist in the Treasury and automotive Task Force documents related to the GM and Delphi bankruptcies. We’ve requested these documents under the FOIA over two months ago, but the production of these documents by the Treasury has not been forthcoming. In fact, a written request for these documents was also sent by Senator Enzi following a Senate Hearing on pensions on October 29, 2009. To date, this request has also been ignored……This is not transparency. This is not what we would expect from our government. I think it’s outrageous that we don’t know why we were treated in this manner…and our Congressional Leaders can’t know it.
Nearly three years later, we finally know the U.S. Treasury Department, led by Geithner, likely on orders from the White House, was the driving force behind the horrendous Delphi disaster that victimized 20,000 workers.
I bet a large number of these folks wouldn’t mind appearing in a Romney ad to tell their stories, either.
UPDATE:
I see the Romney camp is already plumbing these depths.
A heavily armed gunman attacked an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater early Friday, tossing tear gas before opening fire on the terrified audience and killing 12 and wounding 38, authorities said. The theater was showing the new Batman movie, “The Dark Knight Rises.”
One of the injured was just 3 months old, hospital workers said.
The shooting unfolded inside a darkened theater packed with Batman fans, some in costume for the movie’s premiere. Screaming, panicked moviegoers scrambled to escape from the black-clad gunman, who wore a gas mask and randomly shot as he walked up the theater’s steps, witnesses said.
The shooter used at least four guns — an “AK type” rifle, a shotgun and two handguns, a federal law enforcement official told CNN. The official also said the shooter used tear gas.
Already, Democrats are using the tragedy as a launching ground for a national discussion on increased gun control measures.
As we saw with the horrifying Tucson murders a couple of years ago, where within an hour the media was blaming Sarah Palin for the killings, these are awful people who can never stop proving how awful they are.
Case in point, CNN’s Piers Morgan who is already exploiting 12 deaths and dozens injured to push for gun control…
Hit the link to see screenshots of Morgan’s tweets.
Actually, it’s understandable to me that a person with liberal inclinations would grasp at liberal solutions to violence in times of tragedy. Lax gun laws lead to more gun crimes is their thinking. Gun rights advocates, of course argue that most gun violence happens in states with the strictest gun laws, while states with the weakest gun laws have the lowest murder rates. But it’s a natural human inclination to want to come up with a solution when something like this happens.
On Good Morning America, ABC News’ Brian Ross and George Stephanolpoulos suggested that the Tea Party might be connected to the mass shootings early this morning in an Aurora, CO theater during a screening of the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises. The mainstream media attempted to blame the Tea Party for the Tuscon shootings in January 2011, shortly after Republicans swept the midterm elections. Now, in the critical 2012 elections, the mainstream media seems poised to do the same–and ABC News has led the way.
Yeah, I’m gonna make a crazy little prediction, here.
The 24 year old freak who did this will not only prove to not have any connection to the tea party whatsoever, to the extent that he has any political leanings at all, they will turn out to be of a decidedly leftward slant.
(That’s according to PI Bill Warner who doesn’t seem to be going on anything but gut instinct.)
MORE:
ABC News reports that the shooter was a student pursuing a Ph.D in neuroscience at the University of CO medical center.
The suspected “lone-wolf” shooter of the Batman movie theater massacre in Aurora, Colo., earlier today has been identified as Ph.D. student James Holmes, who recently withdrew from his neuroscience studies at the University of Colorado before shooting up “The Dark Knight Rises” screening.
Holmes, 24, moved to Aurora to pursue his Ph.D. at the University of Colorado medical center, living just blocks from the hospital in an apartment that is now laced with explosives and being searched by HazMat teams.
Holmes killed at least 12 people and injured as many as 50, including U.S. military members, during the midnight premiere of the movie at the Century 16 Movie Theaters in Aurora early this morning. He barged into the theater mid-show, setting off smoke bombs and stalking up and down the aisles firing as many as four weapons at viewers.
UPDATE II:
Ace thinks we’re dealing with a Loughner situation -
The Dog That Didn’t Bark: Given we now know his birthdate and both of his street addresses (his family’s, and his own, in Aurora), and yet we have no records of political activism after hours of digging, I’m going to guess myself: This is a Loughner situation.
I would note that while Loughner was a straight up loon, people who knew him described his political leanings as left-wing.
But There Was Some Barking Of a Different Kind: A source for the FBI says he was obsessed with Batman.
Reportedly his hair was dyed red to resemble the joker….
Before launching his movie massacre, “Dark Knight” killing suspect James Holmes was unraveling — dropping out of a prestigious grad-school program, detaching from his family and trolling the Web for bizarre sex romps.
Police are looking into a posting on the sex Web site AdultFriendFinder.com that was apparently put up by Holmes to find group partners, law-enforcement sources told The Post.
In his lurid ad, he darkly alluded to crimes to come.
“Will you visit me in prison?” wrote the poster, who used the screen name “classicjimbo” to look for partners who were into “Women, Couples (man and woman), Groups or Couples (2 women).”
Today’s featured video is about a baby girl who was diagnosed with GM-1 Gangliosidosis.
GM1 gangliosidosis is an inherited lysosomal storage disorder that progressively destroys nerve cells (neurons) in the brain and spinal cord. Some researchers classify this condition into three major types based on the age at which signs and symptoms first appear. The three types include: classic infantile (type 1), juvenile (type 2), and adult onset or chronic (type 3). Although the three types differ in severity, their features can overlap significantly. Because of this overlap, other researchers believe that GM1 gangliosidosis represents a continuous disease spectrum instead of three distinct types. This condition is caused by mutations in the GLB1 gene and is inherited in an autosomal recessive fashion.[1]
Infants with this form of the disorder typically appear normal until their development slows and muscles used for movement weaken. Affected infants eventually lose the skills they had previously acquired (developmental regression) and may develop an exaggerated startle reaction to loud noises. As the disease progresses, children with GM1 gangliosidosis type I develop an enlarged liver and spleen (hepatosplenomegaly), skeletal abnormalities, seizures, profound intellectual disability, and clouding of the clear outer covering of the eye (the cornea). Loss of vision occurs as the light-sensing tissue at the back of the eye (the retina) gradually deteriorates. An eye abnormality called a cherry-red spot, which can be identified with an eye examination, is characteristic of this disorder. In some cases, affected individuals have distinctive facial features that are described as “coarse,” enlarged gums (gingival hypertrophy), and an enlarged and weakened heart muscle (cardiomyopathy). Children with GM1 gangliosidosis type I usually do not survive past age 2.
Type II GM1 gangliosidosis consists of intermediate forms of the condition, also known as the late infantile and juvenile forms. Children with GM1 gangliosidosis type II have normal early development, but they begin to develop signs and symptoms of the condition around age 18 months (late infantile form) or 5 years (juvenile form). Individuals with GM1 gangliosidosis type II experience developmental regression but usually do not have cherry-red spots, distinctive facial features, or enlarged organs. Type II usually progresses more slowly than type I, but still causes a shortened life expectancy. People with the late infantile form typically survive into mid-childhood, while those with the juvenile form may live into early adulthood.
The third type of GM1 gangliosidosis is known as the adult or chronic form, and it represents the mildest end of the disease spectrum. The age at which symptoms first appear varies in GM1 gangliosidosis type III, although most affected individuals develop signs and symptoms in their teens. The characteristic features of this type include involuntary tensing of various muscles (dystonia) and abnormalities of the spinal bones (vertebrae). Life expectancy varies among people with GM1 gangliosidosis type III.
There is currently no cure or treatment for these diseases. In the United States, research in the areas of enzyme replacement and gene therapy for GM1 gangliosidosis is ongoing but has not advanced to human trials. What’s the hold up? Why isn’t the research advancing? There’s an urgent need for a cure. The children who live with this disease are losing physical and cognitive abilities by the day. I know.
GM1 trials on humans are still years away.
There are currently some bills working their way through Congress that to help unlock lifesaving treatments:
Congressman Cliff Stearns (R-FL), a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, says that “in 1992, the FDA created an Accelerated Approval process to make new drugs available earlier to treat serious diseases and fill an unmet medical need based on a surrogate endpoint. However, the modern FDA’s approval rate for drugs and medical devices has slowed immensely. Last March, Rep Stearns along with Rep. Ed Towns (R-NY) offered H.R. 4132, the Faster Access to Specialized Treatments (FAST) Act.
This measure codifies much of the Accelerated Approval regulations into statute and modernizes the program to reflect the amount of medical and scientific innovation that has occurred in the past 20 years.” This streamlined Accelerated Approval pathway also will help the rare disease community.
“A rare disease in the United States is a condition that affects fewer than 200,000 people, and according to the FDA about 30 million Americans are afflicted with a rare disease,” said Stearns. “Because the diseases are rare, there is a disparity in access to drugs and treatments for these rare diseases. In addition, under normal market conditions there is no incentive for the pharmaceutical industry to develop and market drugs for patients suffering from rare and ultra-rare diseases. That is why these drugs are called ‘orphan’ drugs.”
Late last year, Stearns and Towns offered H.R. 3737, the Unlocking Lifesaving Treatments for Rare-Diseases Act (ULTRA), to promote the discovery and development of safe and effective drugs and treatments to prevent, diagnose, or treat rare and ultra-rare diseases. Said Stearns, “After getting input on ULTRA, we developed H.R. 4132 and we are working with the Energy and Commerce Committee leadership on adding it to the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) V, which will be considered by the Committee.”
WASHINGTON, D.C.— The U.S. House of Representatives tonight approved a bipartisan provision authored by Congressmen Michael McCaul (R-TX) and G. K. Butterfield (D-NC) that would incentivize pharmaceutical companies to develop new drugs for children withrare pediatric diseases, such as childhood cancers and sickle cell disease. H.R. 3059, The Creating Hope Act of 2011, was passed as part of H.R. 5651, which reauthorizes various Food and Drug Administration (FDA) user fee programs for prescription drugs and medical devices. If the Senate approves the measure, it would go to the president for his signature.
“There aren’t many bills that pass the House that give instant hope to so many people in need. This one does,” said Congressman McCaul, founder and chairman of the bipartisan Congressional Childhood Cancer Caucus. Countless numbers of children and their families who are unable to treat their disease because of a lack of adequate treatments are counting on this legislation, as will many more children who may one day learn that they have a life-threatening illness. The Creating Hope Act offers the best chance of encouraging pharmaceutical companies to develop treatments for children at no cost to taxpayers.”
Hope is something in very short supply for parents of children with these rare, fatal diseases. You can help by contacting your members of Congress to support the above legislation.
Why my sudden interest in this subject, you ask? Simple.
I know someone who was recently diagnosed with GM1 Gangliosidosis, type 2.
July 10, 2012, Washington, DC – Yesterday President Obamasigned into lawThe Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (FDASIA), S. 3187, bipartisan legislation that will spur the development of lifesaving treatments for 30 million Americans suffering from rare diseases.
“We are thrilled the language to improve access to the FDA’s Accelerated Approval pathway for rare diseases has been included in FDASIA,” said Emil Kakkis, MD, President, EveryLife Foundation for Rare Diseases. “We wish to thank Representatives Cliff Stearns (R-FL) and Ed Towns (D-NY) for being champions for the rare disease community.”
Stearns and Towns first introduced Unlocking Lifesaving Treatments for Rare Diseases Act (ULTRA) to empower FDA to use all the science available for allowing surrogate endpoints in clinical trials for rare diseases to determine whether a drug is working, significantly decreasing the development time and cost. Stearns and Towns later introduced Faster Access to Specialized Treatments (FAST) Act that improved Accelerated Approval for life-threatening diseases while maintaining high safety and efficacy standards.
FDA’s Accelerated Approval has been successful in getting treatments approved for cancer and AIDS patients, but has been essentially unavailable for rare disease treatments. There are currently fewer than 400 FDA-approved treatments for nearly 7000 rare diseases. Investment and interest in development will surge for rare diseases if there is access to the Accelerated Approval pathway.
“We would not have been successful if it were not for the great work of Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI), Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), and more than 300 patient organizations that advocated for improving the FDA’s regulatory process,” added Kakkis.
Memorial Day was only a few days ago, but if this current trend continues, it’s going to be a long, hot and horrifically grisly summer. Lock your doors and hide the children – there are some new, horrible drugs out there, and they are making people do unspeakable things.
This first story, which happened last Saturday afternoon in broad daylight, is still giving me nightmares – -
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Miami police are still tight-lipped about the man they shot and killed on the MacArthur Causeway Saturday afternoon, but new details back claims they had no choice: the naked man they shot was trying to chew the face off another naked man, and refused to obey police orders to stop his grisly meal, which one source now claims included his victim’s nose and eyeballs.
Surveillance video taken from security cameras at the nearby Miami Herald building show a police officer arrive on the scene, appear to be startled by the spectacle of two naked men lying on the street, and draw his service weapon. It appears that the officer shot one of the men, but it was difficult to tell in the video.
The bizarre shooting happened shortly after 2 p.m., when police responded to a 911 call about two naked men fighting on a bike path along the Causeway, which was packed with traffic on a busy holiday weekend.
Pictures from the ghastly crime scene have emerged on the internet, but trust me, you don’t want to see them.
Miami police have not confirmed the details of what happened next, but sources close to the investigation told CBS4 News that officers found one man gnawing on the face of another, in what one police source called the most gruesome thing he’d ever seen.
Like I said – the stuff of nightmares.
This next one is more than a little disturbing, too:
Porn star Luka Rocco Magnotta is being sought by Canadian authorities in connection with the Ottawa-Montreal body parts case. The National Post reported:
A video which purportedly shows a suspect wanted in connection with the Ottawa-Montreal body parts case brutally killing and sexually assaulting a naked man appears on a Canadian-operated website.
Police are now studying the gruesome video which was believed to have been taken by the suspect, identified today by police as Luka Rocco Magnotta.
Magnotta is wanted in connection with the discovery of a man’s torso stuffed in a locked suitcase in Montreal — whose hand and foot were mailed to Ottawa.
A man by the same name as Magnotta – who is featured on a number of lurid Internet sites – is a low-budget gay porn star suspected of appearing in a number of kitten-killing videos.
A snuff video surfaced recently that showed a man being murdered with an icepick.
In a grisly twist to the case, a graphic and deeply disturbing video has emerged which is purported to show the murder and dismemberment. A Montreal police source confirmed cops are in possession of a video, which also includes cannibalism, but would not say if it is the same video.
The graphic video online shows a man being stabbed to death with an ice pick and then being cut into pieces. The video was shot inside an apartment that bears a close resemblance to the unit in west-end Montreal that’s at the centre of the homicide investigation.
Previously — TORSO FOUND IN SUITCASE After Severed Foot Mailed to Conservative Party Headquarters in Canada …Update: Human Hand Found at Postal Terminal.
More at link – I don’t even know what to say other than WTF?!
JOPPATOWNE, Md. — A Maryland man has admitted to eating another man’s heart and part of the man’s brain, according to police documents.
The Harford County Sheriff’s Office says 21-year-old Alexander Kinyua was arrested Wednesday, days after a man whom he lived with went missing. Police say they found body parts while searching the townhome on Terrapin Terrace in Joppatowne. Police also found body parts in a nearby trash container.
Kinyua is charged with first-degree murder and was ordered held on no bail.
This one doesn’t involve cannibalism, but believe me – it’s still pretty bad:
According to the Huffington Post and NBC, 43-year-old Wayne Carter allegedly barricaded himself in on Sunday, and when cornered by authorities, he stabbed himself multiple times before cutting out his entrails and throwing them at the police while also throwing bits of his flesh. Officers came to the scene when a witness called in to report that Carter was threatening to harm himself with his knife. When two officers kicked down Carter’s door and ordered him to put down the knife, Carter ignored them and began stabbing himself in the neck, legs and abdomen.
Man Threw His Intestines at Officers – The Incident
In an attempt to stop Carter from further harming himself, the officers tried to pepper spray him, however, it had no effect on him. Carter, who was responsive despite being disemboweled, retaliated and then started to throw bits of his skin and intestines at the officers. According to Lt. John Heinemann, to control the situation, the officers called for backup and called in the Bergen County SWAT team. Once the SWAT team was on the scene, they were able to subdue Carter and take him to the nearest hospital for emergency medical care.
Our sick culture is creating monsters.
Too many people feel the need to fill the empty void within themselves with these dangerous chemicals instead of finding something spiritually wholesome to fulfill that need.
The term Bath Salts describe the illegal designer street drugs that have been linked to violent delusions, and death. A 50 milligram packet usually sells for $25 to $50 reports say.
As most of you are aware, the cannibal man eating attack that occurred in Miami was induced after the consumption of the legal substance known as Bath salts.
This disturbing trend has sparked national attention, bringing to light the real dangers of this amphetamine like substance. With the mass hysteria captivating the country, many are hinting towards an “unfathomable zombie apocalypse”.
Here’s what someone looks like when they’re on the drug:
