Twenty-two people were killed and 116 injured after a suicide bomber detonated an improvised explosive device at an Ariana Grande concert held in the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. The explosion occurred as people were exiting the arena after the show ended. Concert-goers and parents waiting to pick up their children were in the arena’s foyer when the bomb went off. The dead included ten people under the age of 20, the youngest an eight-year-old girl. Days later, 75 people remained hospitalized, 23 of them, including five children, in critical condition.
The sold out show was part of Ariana Grande’s 2017 Dangerous Woman Tour where up to 21,000 attended. As news of the explosion quickly spread, residents and taxi companies in Manchester offered free transport or accommodation to those left stranded at the concert. Nearby hotel became a shelter for children separated from parents in the aftermath of the explosion. Many local temples, businesses and homeowners offered immediate shelter to victims as they waited for news of missing loved ones.
The day after the attack, Prime Minister Theresa May raised the terror threat level from severe to critical. A critical threat level means that it is believed another attack is imminent. It also means members of the British military will be deployed throughout the country to supplement its police forces. Nearly 4,000 soldiers were deployed nationwide in the wake of the bombing. ISIS claimed responsibility for the bombing which is the 13th deadly terrorist attack in Western Europe since the beginning of 2015.
The bomber was identified as 22 year old Salman Ramadan Abedi, a British Muslim who was born in Manchester to Libyan-born refugees. Abedi was allegedly reported to authorities about his extremism, by as many as five people, including community leaders, neighbors and possibly family members.
Authorities had investigated him but did not consider him high risk at the time. Authorities have revealed that Abedi had returned to the UK from Turkey four days prior to the attack. French interior minister Gérard Collomb said that Abedi may have been to Syria, and had “proven” links with ISIS. Manchester police believe Abedi used student loans to finance the plot, including travel overseas to learn bomb-making.
Police have conducted several raids and detained a total of eight people in connection to the attack and said they were investigating a “network” as the probe intensified. Authorities have confirmed that Abedi’s father and younger brother have been arrested in the Libyan capital of Tripoli. The brother was suspected of planning an attack in Libya and was said to be in regular touch with Salman. Investigators believe his brother was aware of the plan to bomb the Manchester Arena, but not the date. According to a Libyan official, the brothers spoke on the phone about 15 minutes before the attack was carried out in Manchester.
Abedi’s father, Ramadan Abedi was born in Libya but fled under fear of arrest by the brutal regime of Moammar Gadhafi in 1993. He won asylum in Britain, where his sons were born. Abedi later returned to Libya and works as an administrator for the government, which has been in disarray since Gadhafi was toppled in 2011.
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A federal judge in Mississippi has sentenced a Gulfport man to 49 years in prison for murdering a transgender teenager, in the first-ever hate crime prosecution involving a transgender victim. Joshua Vallum, 29, plead guilty in the 2015 killing of 17-year-old Mercedes Williamson and was sentenced to life in prison in July 2016 by an Alabama judge. The Department of Justice later decided to pursue hat crime charges. He was sentenced under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
Vallum, a long time Latin Kings gang member, was arrested just days after the murder when his own father reported the crime to police. He initially told investigators that he blacked out and killed Williamson when he discovered she was transgendered. Several witnesses stepped forward saying that Vallum knew she was transgendered and the two had been in an 8 month relationship.
He later admitted that his motive for the killing was fear of being killed once fellow gang members found out. Jeanie Miller, Williamson’s roommate testified that Vallum once told her and Williamson that his gang would kill both Vallum and Williamson if Williamson’s transgender status was discovered. His brother Jacob saw him on the night of the murder covered in blood and testified that Vallum told him: ‘Well, it was my life or his.’
Prosecutors say Vallum killed Mercedes Williamson after the end of their relationship, because a friend learned that she was transgender, a fact Mr. Vallum kept hidden from friends and family while they dated. On May 30th, Vallum lured Williamson into his car in Alabama and drove her 50 miles to his family home near Lucedale, Mississippi. He then shocked her with a stun gun and stabbed her in the body and head with a pocketknife. When Williamson tried to run into the woods, Vallum chased her down and beat her to death with a hammer.
Vallum confessed to his father Bobby Vallum on June 1st that he had murdered and buried Williamson on the rural property. Bobby Vallum took the information to police, leading to Josh Vallum being charged with murder. Williamson was one of at least 21 transgender people murdered in the U.S. in 2015.
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The recent cyber-attack has reignited the debate over whether or not governments should disclose vulnerabilities they have discovered or bought on the black market. Privacy experts are also calling the recent global ransomware attack that hit 150 countries a prime example of why requiring tech companies to create backdoors into computer programs is a bad idea. The danger of those digital keys being stolen has the potential to wreak havoc.
The global computer hack that used a cyber-weapon developed by the National Security Agency (NSA), disrupted hospitals, universities, government offices, gas stations, ATM machines and more than 300,000 computers worldwide. Less than 10 U.S. organizations reported attacks to the Department of Homeland Security. The attack caused the most damage in Russia, Taiwan, Ukraine and India.
It’s the first time a cyber-weapon developed by the NSA has been stolen and released by hackers. The NSA has neither confirmed nor denied that they developed the cyber-weapon. Elements of the malicious software used in the attacks were part of a treasure trove of cyber-attack tools leaked by hacking group the Shadow Brokers in April. One of the tools contained in the leak, codenamed EternalBlue, proved to be “the most significant factor” in the spread of the ransom ware used in the attack.
The ransom ware was transmitted by email and then encrypted thousands of computers, locking people out of their data and then threatened to destroy it unless a ransom was paid. The cyberattack locked medical workers out of the computer systems at dozens of British and Indonesian hospitals, disrupted train schedules in Germany and froze government computers from Russia’s Interior Ministry to police stations in India.
The cyber-weapon used exploits weaknesses in Microsoft software. The U.S. government have known for years about this weakness in the software but only told Microsoft about the vulnerability recently. Microsoft had fixed the problem a month prior to the EternalBlue leak on April 14th but many high-profile targets had not updated their systems to stay secure.
The cyber-attack eased but the group who released the global WannaCry “ransomware” attack warned it would release more malicious code. ShadowBrokers said they would release more recent code to enable hackers to break into the world’s most widely used computers, software and phones. A blog post written by the group promised to release tools every month to anyone willing to pay for access to some of the tech world’s biggest commercial secrets. It also threatened to dump data from banks using the SWIFT international money transfer network and from Russian, Chinese, Iranian or North Korean nuclear and missile programs. “More details in June,” it promised.
Cyber security researchers around the world have said they have found evidence that could link North Korea with the WannaCry cyber attack but that it is too early to confirm a definitive connection.
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United Airlines has reached a settlement with Kentucky physician, Dr. David Dao, who was dragged off a plane at O’Hare International Airport in early April. The incident aboard Flight 3411 was captured on video by passengers on the plane and widely shared online around the world. It quickly became an international embarrassment for both the carrier and the city’s aviation department.
Dao’s attorney Thomas Demetrio, announced that a settlement had been reached, but terms were not disclosed. The airline released a written statement in response to the announcement: “We are pleased to report that United and Dr. Dao have reached an amicable resolution of the unfortunate incident that occurred aboard flight 3411. We look forward to implementing the improvements we have announced, which will put our customers at the center of everything we do.”
The airline unveiled new policies earlier in the same day the settlement was reached. Part of the new policies include a promise to not use law enforcement to remove overbooked customers from planes, additional training for front-line employees and setting up an automated system that will ask passengers at check-in if they would be willing to give up their seat. United CEO Oscar Munoz also pledged to reduce the amount of overbooking and offer up to $10,000 for customers willing to volunteer to take a later flight.
Dao’s attorney praised Munoz for agreeing to the settlement. “Mr. Munoz said he was going to do the right thing and he has. In addition, United has taken full responsibility for what happened on Flight 3411, without attempting to blame others, including the City of Chicago. For this acceptance of corporate accountability, United is to be applauded.”
Demetrio added “Dr. Dao has become the unintended champion for the adoption of changes which will certainly help improve the lives of literally millions of travelers. I sincerely hope that all other airlines make similar changes and follow United’s lead in helping to improve the passenger flying experience with an emphasis on empathy, patience, respect and dignity.”
Dr. Dao, 69, of Elizabethtown, Ky., was one of four passengers picked to be bumped from an April 9th flight from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport to Louisville, Ky., to make room for four airline employees who were added to the flight shortly before it departed. When he refused to leave, multiple Chicago Department of Aviation security officers were called to remove him.
According to a report released by the Chicago Department of Aviation, Officer James Long boarded the plane to respond to a disturbance involving two passengers who were refusing to leave the aircraft. When he approached Dao’s seat and asked him to leave, Long said Dao “folded his arms tightly” and refused to leave the aircraft. The officer said he was able to “hold” the physician in order to remove him from his window seat.
A struggle ensued between Dao and the officer in the isle of the aircraft. Dao, who was hospitalized in Chicago, suffered a concussion, a broken nose and lost two teeth in the ordeal. The viral video shows Dao being dragged by his arms down the aisle of the plane as other passengers watch in horror.
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The state of Arkansas received heavy criticism and sparked new debates over the death penalty after they rushed to carry out an unprecedented series of 8 executions in 11 days during the month of April as its supply of the sedative midazolam was set to expire at the end of the month. All eight men were convicted of murders that occurred between 1989 and 1999 with some of the crimes described as particularly heinous. The eight men scheduled for execution were Kenneth Williams, Bruce Ward, Stacey Johnson, Don Williamson Davis, Ledell Lee, Jack Harold Jones, Jason McGehee and Marcel Williams.
Governor Hutchinson signed proclamations setting four execution dates for the eight inmates between April 17 and 27. Two men would be put to death on each of the four dates. In a statement he said that it was necessary to schedule the executions close together because of doubts about the future availability of one of three drugs the state uses in its lethal-injection procedure.
Arkansas uses a cocktail of three drugs in its lethal injection formula: Midazolam is used to sedate the prisoner, vecuronium bromide paralyzes prisoners and stops their breathing, and potassium chloride stops the heart. Midazolam is the most controversial of the three since it has repeatedly failed to make prisoners unconscious in other executions, leading to painful deaths. It is not approved by the FDA to be used as an anesthetic on its own, but doctors do use it combined with other drugs before surgical procedures. That is not the case in prisons.
The hurried schedule hit roadblocks from the moment it was announced as attorneys for the eight men attempted to block the executions- including using the argument that midazolam does not effectively prevent a painful death. Separate rulings stayed the executions of two of the prisoners, Don Davis and Bruce Ward. Arkansas appealed the decision in Davis’ case, but the US Supreme Court upheld it. Then Federal Judge Kristine Baker put a stop to all eight executions on April 15, a decision that the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed two days later. By the end of April, four of the men received stays for various reasons.
Despite the drug shortage and the controversy over its use- lethal injection remains the country’s primary method of execution. The drug shortage has spurred some states to begin adapting new and untested combinations of drugs while other states look at other methods of executions. Utah, Tennessee and Oklahoma added or broadened their abilities to use a firing squad, electric chair or nitrogen gas.
With the month over and the expiration date passing-the freshly stirred dust on the death penalty debate has not settled. Capital punishment has long been a divisive issue in the United States with support of it declining to a 40 year low. According to a 2016 Pew Research Center poll, Americans remain split, with 49 percent in favor and 42 percent against it (9% were undecided).
Nationwide, the number of executions has faced a decline as well. Since 2007, seven states have abolished the death penalty and the governors of four others have issued moratoria on the practice. Arkansas is currently one of 31 states with courts that still issue death sentences.
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Relations between North Korea and the US and South Korea have rapidly deteriorated in recent months, as the rhetoric and military posturing on both sides has increased. North Korea has threatened to sink a U.S. aircraft carrier that is conducting military drills, along with Japanese ships, in the waters off the Korean Peninsula.
U.S. Aircraft carrier Carl Vinson, guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain and guided-missile destroyers USS Michael Murphy and USS Wayne E Meyer have practiced for war with North Korea with a series of military drills. US allies South Korea and Japan surrounded North Korea with joint exercises on both sides of the Korean peninsula. The navy fleet is now within “striking range” of North Korea, in the Philippine Sea- just east of the Japanese island of Okinawa.
North Korea conducted its own military drills which involved 300 large-caliber self-propelled guns lined up along the coast where they opened fire with live rounds. A statement from the South Korean military said the live-fire exercises were in the Wonsan region in the east of the country. North Korea fired four ballistic missiles toward Japan as part of its exercise targeting US bases there.
Soon after those drills were conducted, the US began to deploy its advanced THAAD anti-missile defense system in South Korea, despite opposition from Russia and China. The deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system came THAAD is a missile defense system designed to intercept short and medium-range ballistic missiles as they begin their descent to their targets. Developed by Lockheed Martin, THAAD missiles use infrared seeker technology to locate their targets and detonate on impact.
Both Russia and China have spoken out against the THAAD deployment. China’s Foreign Ministry stated that it was “resolutely opposed” to the move and say the missile system actually aims to counter China’s military power in the region, not to contain North Korea. The deployment also drew protests from hundreds of villagers in Seongju, South Korea, who clashed with police as troops began deploying THAAD hardware on a local golf course.
The Trump administration called the entire US Senate to a meeting at the White House, for a briefing on North Korea with the US secretaries of Defense and State. President Trump recently stated “North Korea is a big world problem, and it’s a problem we have to finally solve. People put blindfolds on for decades and now it’s time to solve the problem.” Many fear that Trump is backing himself into a corner with his firm stance on North Korea, leading both countries to a point where “bad things are going to happen.”
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In an effort to broaden the company’s “social interaction” with our clients and FaceBook fans, Daily Trivia Questions are posted on both of our business pages. Here are the weekly standings for this past week, and the winner of the Sunday night Weekly Drawing for an AmEx gift card!
Congratulations – To this past week’s Trivia Contest Winner!! Our latest contest winner for the weekly FaceBook HealthInsurance4Everyone/Health & Life Solutions, LLC Trivia Contest, drawn randomly by computer late Sunday evening, April 30th, 2017 was:
JENNIFER LANG
No. Miami Beach, FL
Winner Of A $25.00 AmEx Gift Card
Each day, fans of either of our company FaceBook pages (HealthInsurance4Everyone or Health & Life Solutions LLC) are able to test their skills with our Daily TRIVIA QUESTION. The first 20 winners who post the correct answer to the TRIVIA QUESTION, will then get entered into the weekly drawing held late on Sunday evenings for a $25.00 Am Ex Gift. Card
Weekly Gift Card winners will be posted in our blog at this site. Remember to become a FaceBook “fan” on either of our company pages to enter and post your answers.
Here are the daily contestants from last week’s Trivia Contest that were entered into the Sunday drawing:
4/24/17
Valerie Kuehn
Jodi Stevens
Amy Marie Wilkinson
Brandy Marie Williams
Kassi Krick-King
Samantha Mer
Jennifer Lang
Jennifer Zarafino-Griffiths
Myranda Medlin
Cheryl Hall
Amanda Saltsman
Melissa D’Ornellas Curtis
Holly Cajigas
Mary Vantil
Abigail Edwards
Megan Akins
Karen Goodwin Delaney
Leslie Wagner Hobson
Dawn Raasch
Karen Bondehagen
Susan Clarke Jette
4/25/17
Judy Custer
Joann Tompkins-Winborn
Jennifer Sparks
Valerie Kuehn
Jennifer Mason
Chrissy Kim
Carol Yemola
Amy Marie Wilkinson
Jakara Jackson
Lotorya Patrick
Crystal Hazelwood
Tina Marie
Alexandria Fields
Misty Shallcross
Nai Merri
Jonnalyn Gates
Anna Nichols
Holly Cajigas
Julie Garrett
Bea Patrick
4/26/17
Melissa Ann Stura-Bassett
Amy Marie Wilkinson
Michelle Cervantes
Joanie Waterman
Carol Scheive
Tiffany Greene Elliott
Dawn Raasch
Alexis Maureen
Jennifer Ramlet
Nitasha Shank
Karen Bondehagen
Christy Hawkes
Brandy Marie Williams
Kimberly Snyder
Kayla Clemons
Jennifer Lang
Geri Rus
Julie Garrett
Hollie Jahnke
Cheryl Hall
Megan Rhyne
Jennifer Downing
Angela Nicole
Jean Simmons Homfeld
4/27/17
Karen Bondehagen
Crystal Dougherty Merrill
Geraldlee Lee
Cheryl Hall
Hollie Jahnke
Tiffany Greene Elliott
Mary Achio
Paula Rivers
Stephanie Caldwell
Melissa Ann Stura-Bassett
Marie Beauregard
Melissa Barnes Walker
Anne Hanson
Amy Marie Wilkinson
Amanda Kyrie’ Ayala
Leslie Wagner Hobson
Phyllis Hines
Jakara Jackson
Shelley Ann Peoples
Ashley Stamey Phillips
Misty Dawn Moores
Dale Fish
Anggie Marie
4/28/17
Cheryl Hall
Brittany Marie Thompson
Lotorya Patrick
Mary Perez Ramz
Nai Merri
Mary Ann Cody
Lauren Bradley
Sherri Kidwell
Bea Patrick
Tiffany Greene Elliott
Melissa Barnes Walker
Michelle Hughes
Leslie Wagner Hobson
Tina Marie
Alexandria Fields
Allison Frederick
Karen Rimiller Presley
Melissa Ann Stura-Bassett
Marcy Coull
Kathleen Hickman
Tonya Velazquez
4/29/17
Christine McKinnon
Karen Bondehagen
Beata Tybor
Kathleen Hickman
Amanda Saltsman
Tonya Velazquez
Brittany Marie Thompson
Juanita Williams-Jones
Karen Goodwin Delaney
Holly Cajigas
Brittany Deaver
Nelle Bailey
Christina Montes
Misty Dawn Moores
Jacqlyn Gummert
Nikki Bankert
Amy Marie Wilkinson
Hollie Jahnke
Trish Marks
Bobbie J Rittenhouse
Phyllis Hines
4/30/17
Tina Marie
Kizzy Alvarez DeSantis
Deborah Farris
Jennifer Kinner
Valerie Kuehn
Jennifer Ramlet
Michelle R. Carlino
Althea Thomas
Jennifer Alice Duran
Mary Vantil
Kayla Clemons
Kimberly Taylor Hall
Hollie Jahnke
Sherri Kidwell
Christy Hawkes
Jade Good
Jennifer Downing
Phyllis Hines
Wendi Black
Crystal Hazelwood
Be sure to watch both of our FaceBook pages for your chance to win and enter again next week, with questions posted daily on HealthInsurance4Everyone or at Health & Life Solutions, LLC!!
Remember that if you try your hand at answering the Trivia Question several days each week, your odds of winning the Sunday weekly drawing are much better. You may also find that if you “Like” both of the business pages, you will receive faster notifications of the other players as they post their answers to compete with you!
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Steve Stephens, the Cleveland killer who uploaded a video of himself shooting an elderly man on Easter Sunday-has killed himself after a police chase in Pennsylvania. Stephens was on the run for two days after uploading a video of the senseless murder, as well as two other videos explaining why he committed the crime. In a video made prior to the shooting, Stephens explains that he just snapped and that his ex-girlfriend Joy Lane was to blame for what he was about to do. He mentions that he had lost everything he had to gambling debts and that he has tried to talk about his problems with friends and family but that they act like his problems aren’t that serious.
In the video of the killing, Stephens approaches Robert Godwin, a 74 year old grandfather of 14, as he is walking down the street. Stephens asks Godwin if he knows Joy Lane and then makes the man repeat the name saying “Joy Lane is the reason this is about to happen to you”. Godwin replies “Joy Lane, I don’t know any Joy Lane” as he raises his arms to protect himself-before being shot dead. Godwin, 74, was shot while walking home from an Easter meal with his children in Cleveland.
After uploading the video on Facebook, Stephens posted a Facebook live video of himself driving in his car while talking on the phone and dubbing his crime spree “The Joy Lane Easter Massacre” while claiming to have already killed a dozen other people. He claimed he would keep killing at random until Joy Lane or his mother called him.
Joy Lane, Stephens on again-off again girlfriend of a few years, told several news agencies that she tried to reach him shortly after the video surfaced but he did not pick up his phone. She said she was overwhelmed by the tragedy and apologized for what had happened-wishing for prayers for the victim’s family.
After the video surfaced, Cleveland residents were left reeling in fear that an active shooter was still in the area killing innocent people at random. For two days, authorities across the country scrambled to find Stephens, believing he may have headed east to family in New York. On Sunday, Stephens’ cell phone pinged a cell tower 100 miles east of Cleveland, in Erie, Pennslyvania.
The manhunt came to an end shortly after an employee spotted Stephens’ white Ford Fusion in the drive-thru of a McDonald’s near Erie and called authorities. The franchise owner said Stephens ordered chicken nuggets and fries at the McDonald’s drive-thru window in Harborcreek Township when employees recognized him. Stephens was two cars behind in the drive-thru lane to pick up food as police were on their way.
The McDonalds employee’s tried to give police more time to arrive by telling Stephens the fries were not ready but he took the nuggets and left. Authorities spotted him as he fled the area and gave chase. Police said that an officer performed a “PIT” maneuver, a strategic way of ramming a car to disable it. As the vehicle was spinning out of control from the PIT maneuver, Stephens pulled a pistol and shot himself in the head.
Authorities were uncertain how long Stephens was in the area and don’t believe he had any accomplices. No other victims have been confirmed.
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A major escalation of the tensions between the U.S. and North Korea has led to the US sending the Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and several warships toward the Korean Peninsula. The Carl Vinson and three guided-missile destroyers and cruisers to the peninsula were sent only days after North Korea launched its latest ballistic missile test. This missile reportedly flew only 37 miles.
North Korea has condemned the U.S. for bringing the aircraft carrier group and other nuclear-armed assets into the region, and threatened an assault on South Korea, Japan and U.S. bases. A North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson stated that “We will hold the U.S. wholly accountable for the catastrophic consequences to be entailed by its outrageous actions. North Korea is ready to react to any mode of war desired by the U.S.”
U.S. intelligence officials believe North Korea is preparing its sixth nuclear weapons test, possibly as early as Saturday, April 15 which coincides with the 105th anniversary of the birth of the country’s founder, Kim Il-sung.
North Korean senior officials have accused the Trump administration of wanting to “annihilate” their country and blamed the escalating tension on the Korean Peninsula squarely on the U.S. and South Korea. Han Song Ryol, North Korea’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs stated in an interview that if North Korea felt they were going to be attacked they would use nuclear weapons.
Experts say the sixth nuclear test could come at any time and is part of the Kim Jong Un regime’s quest to build a nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland. Most analysts believe North Korea is still at least several years away from that capacity, but Pyongyang already has weapons that pose a serious threat to U.S. allies South Korea and Japan, and U.S. troops based in those countries.
North Korea’s nuclear weapons development program has been a primary focus and a tense topic for years. Just last month North Korea successfully launched four ballistic missiles into the waters off northwest Japan. State media in Pyongyang said it was just a dry run of a nuclear attack against US military bases in Japan and experts say this exercise was defensive, not offensive.
A North Korea official stated Pyongyang intends to “relentlessly strengthen” the country’s nuclear weapons. Experts say North Korea’s goal in advancing their nuclear program and developing nuclear-tipped missiles that can reach the US is a deterrent for a US invasion.
Experts have debated whether North Korea possesses a nuclear warhead it can mount to a short or medium-range missile. North Korea claims that it has miniaturized a nuclear warhead and is capable of mounting it to a short, medium, or long-range missile – has never been independently verified. Kim said in his New Year’s address that the country had reached “the final stages” of that weapon’s development.
While analysts say it is unlikely that North Korea possesses an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching West Coast cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Seattle, they are well on their way to developing such a weapon.
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U.S. District Court Judge David Hale in Louisville, Kentucky, has ruled that a lawsuit accusing Donald Trump of inciting violence against protesters at a presidential campaign rally last year can move forward, denying a free speech argument against the suit.
The ruling opens the way for the lawsuit brought by three protesters to proceed through the legal system. The suit is against Trump, his campaign and three of his supporters. Trump’s lawyers had argued a free speech defense against the lawsuit, arguing that Trump did not intend for his supporters to use force.
Kentucky federal Judge David Hale said he found ample facts supporting the allegations that the protesters’ injuries were a ”direct and proximate result” of Trump’s actions. He wrote that “it is plausible that Trump’s direction to ‘get ‘em out of here’ advocated the use of force. … It was an order, an instruction, a command.” The protesters- two women and a teenage boy, were at the Kentucky International Convention Center.
Plaintiffs Henry Brousseau, Kashiya Nwanguma and Molly Shah say they were assaulted by Trump supporters at the March 2016 rally in Louisville as Trump repeatedly said “Get ‘em out.” The trio are suing Trump and his campaign for incitement to riot, negligence, as well as gross negligence and recklessness. They are seeking unspecified damages.
The attackers named in the lawsuit include Matthew Heimbach, a member of a white supremacist group, and Alvin Bamberger, a member of the Korean War Veterans Association in Ohio. A third defendant has not been identified. In a video of the incident that went viral shortly after it happened, Heimbach and Bamberger are seen pushing Nwanguma down an aisle as Trump repeatedly says “Get ‘em out, Get ‘em out of here!”
Hale said the removal of Nwanguma, an African American woman, was “particularly reckless.” The judge did not remove allegations that Nwanguma was the victim of racial, ethnic and sexist slurs from the rally crowd. He wrote, “While the words themselves are repulsive, they are relevant to show the atmosphere in which the alleged events occurred.”
The judge dismissed part of the suit claiming that Trump and his campaign were “vicariously liable” for assault and battery. Hale said that the men accused of attacking the protesters were not employed by the Trump campaign, nor were they under Trump’s direct control.
Alvin Bamberger, said in a letter cited by the judge: “Trump kept saying, ‘get them out, get them out,’ and people in the crowd began pushing and shoving the protesters. I physically pushed a young woman.”
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