PREGNANT WOMAN RESCUED RECENTLY WAS ABDUCTED TEN YEARS AGO AS A SCHOOLGIRL

PEOPLE

 

Pregnant Woman Rescued Days Ago Was Abducted 10 Years Ago as a Schoolgirl

The Nigerian Army announced the rescue of Lydia Simon, who says she was one of 276 girls kidnapped from their school in Chibok in 2014

By Sean Neumann|

Published on April 18, 2024 03:43PM EDT

 

The Nigerian Army said Thursday that its soldiers rescued a pregnant mother of three who was once abducted by extremists a decade ago when she was a schoolgirl.

 

The army made the announcement about Lydia Simon’s dramatic rescue in a social media post on Thursday. The post included a photo of Simon’s and her children, who the army says were rescued by Nigerian troops in the area of Gwoza in Borno State.

 

The army said in its announcement that its troops acted on intelligence intercepted from the alleged extremists who were holding Simon. The extremists were armed with assault-style rifles “and other dangerous weapons,” according to the Nigerian Army. The Nigerian troops “laid wait” for the suspects and then engaged in a gun battle, killing three of Simon’s captors while rescuing her and her children.

 

Simon was one of 276 girls who were kidnapped from their school in Chibok in April 2014, according to The Associated Press.

 

The outlet reports that about 82 of the girls who were kidnapped are still being held by extremists.

 

“Lydia was five months pregnant at the time of her rescue,” the Nigerian Army said in its social media post, adding that she informed her rescuers that she was from the school in Chibok after they saved her.

 

The 2014 kidnapping was one of the first in a series of mass school kidnappings in the region. The incident shocked the world and led to the #BringBackOurGirls campaign on social media, which called for the safe return of the nearly 300 schoolgirls abducted by extremists.

 

Simon’s rescue comes days after the 10-year anniversary of the kidnapping. The AP recently reported that despite the high-profile kidnappings in the region over the last decade, schools in the country still have many security flaws. Only about “43-percent of minimum safety standards” are shown to have been met in more than 6,000 schools that were surveyed by the United Nations children’s agency’s Nigeria office, according to the AP.

 

Yakubu Nkeki, the chairman of the Chibok girls’ parents’ association, told the AP the association has not yet been informed of Simon’s rescue and that officials are still waiting for a call from the government to inform them of Simon’s safe return.

AH: How does a Nigerian girl have a name like Lydia Simon?

DISNEY FAN WITH EYE DISORDER SAYS SHE NO LONGER FEELS WELCOME AT PARK AFTER DISABILITY GUIDELINES CHANGE

PEOPLE

 

Disney Fan with Eye Disorder Says She No Longer Feels 'Welcomed' at Park After Disability Guidelines Change (Exclusive)

On April 9, Disney updated their policies for guests using their Disability Access Services, or DAS Pass, sparking mixed reactions from park-goers

By Jordan Greene|

Published on April 20, 2024 08:30AM EDT

 

The first time Natasha Caudill visited Disney World in 2022, she didn't realize she could apply for Disability Access Services (DAS).

 

Caudill, a 26-year-old content creator and accessibility advocate, was born with a rare eye disorder called achromatopsia. According to the Cleveland Clinic, this condition limits people's ability to see color vision and also causes other vision issues, such as rapid eye movements.

 

"My eyes are extremely sensitive to all light, both inside and outside. This makes being outside in sunlight painful, even when I’m wearing sunglasses," Caudill, who resides in Chicago, tells PEOPLE exclusively in an interview.

 

During her first Disney trip, Caudill endured the discomfort. "I also attended extra magic hours at nighttime so that I was able to see without pain," she recalls.

 

Since that first visit, Caudill has returned to the park three more times. For each subsequent trip, she obtained a DAS pass. This pass allowed her to schedule rides in advance and then wait for them comfortably indoors, in the stores, or at restaurants in the parks.

 

On April 9, Disney updated their policies for guests with disabilities. These changes take effect on May 20 at Walt Disney World and June 18 at Disneyland.

 

According to Disney's website, DAS passes will now only be available to "guests who, due to a developmental disability like autism or similar, are unable to wait in a conventional queue for an extended period of time."

 

Along with these changes, Disney is also adding more options for guests needing support navigating attraction queues.

 

Disneyland officials told PEOPLE, "Disney is dedicated to providing a great experience for all Guests, including those with disabilities, which is why we are so committed to delivering a wide range of innovative support services aimed at helping our Guests with disabilities have a wonderful time when visiting our theme parks,"

 

The new guidelines mean people with other disabilities' eligibility for DAS will be determined on a case by case basis by Disney's accessibility team.

 

Caudill says she has not yet taken this step.

 

"I feel like it’s still a little unclear why Disney changed the DAS pass," Caudill says. "People are speculating that too many people are lying to use the service," she adds.

 

"I wish Disney was more upfront about the change. Disney World offers such a welcoming atmosphere, but as a disabled person, I just don’t feel as welcome now," she continues.

 

Over the last couple of years, Caudill has used her social media platform to educate people who were unfamiliar with DAS—like she once was—about it. When she found out about the new guidelines, she knew she wanted to make a Tiktok about it. Her video has since gone viral, garnering over half a million views.

 

"I’ve received hundreds of comments from people who are also no longer eligible for the DAS pass," she says. "I’ve also received hundreds of comments about how I ruined DAS by sharing it online, that I’m faking my disability, and that I don’t deserve to use DAS in the first place."

 

"The bullying on my video has gotten so bad that I stopped reading comments, but I am glad that I’ve been able to connect with some of the people who also used DAS in the past. Disney was an accessible option for so many people, and I really hope someone at Disney sees not just my video, but all the content that’s been going around about the DAS pass," she adds.

 

"I love Disney, but I care deeply about accessibility and the disability community, so if I have to call them out, I will. Hopefully, it can inspire positive change for the system," she concludes.

 

While Caudill says these changes won’t stop her from going to Disney, she says she will probably spend less time in the parks and go on fewer rides.

 

"I can endure the sun if I have to, since I’ve done it all my life, but there are a lot of people who planned their entire Disney trips around this accessibility, and now it’s gone," she says. 

DOGS CONDUCT ORCHESTRA WITH THEIR TAILS

PEOPLE

 

Dogs' Tails Serve as Orchestra Conductors — Here's How They Did It (Hint: Treats Were Involved!)

The music created by the canines is now available to stream on Spotify

By Nicholas Rice  Published on April 20, 2024 09:00AM EDT

 

Who knew that dogs could be so musical?

 

Earlier this month, Pedigree brought to life its "tail orchestra experiment," in which the pet food company presented dogs with treats — as well as other less appealing stimuli such as broccoli — and had an orchestra play music set to the wagging of the canines' tails.

 

During the experiment, which was filmed live at the Polish Radio, the dogs' body parts wagged faster and more frequently when presented with treats from Pedigree, while they instead slowed down when other items were placed before them.

 

"When the tail went down, we had to play softer, or quieter," Kamila, a violinist with the group, said in a video.

 

Pedigree also shared its orchestra video on Instagram, where it was met with praise from various animal lovers.

 

"This is super!" wrote one fan, as another added, "This is genius," alongside a group of dog-related emojis.

 

In one other comment, a user said, "The only way I’m listening to music from now on is if it was directed by a dog 😂. This is amazing 🙌🏼🎶."

 

Another fan wrote: "If you guys brought this to The Kennedy Center, I would buy tickets YESTERDAY!!!🐶🎼😍."

 

Following Pedigree's "tail orchestra experiment," the pet company released the music that was created by the dogs on Spotify.

 

For every stream on the music streaming platform, Pedigree will donate funds to the Pedigree Foundation, which is dedicated to helping dogs in need find loving homes, per its website.

 

How Dogs' Tails Served as Orchestra Conductors with Use of Treats: Watch (people.com) 

10 YEAR OLD TELLS TEXAS COPS HE KILLED MAN AT RV PARK WHEN HE WAS SEVEN

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

 

10-year-old says he killed man when he was 7, closing unsolved homicide, Texas cops say

BY LAUREN LIEBHABER

APRIL 19, 2024 2:37 PM

 

A 10-year-old said he killed a man when he was 7, leading deputies to close an unsolved murder from 2022, Texas authorities said.

 

On April 12, investigators were called to the Nixon Smiley Independent School District about a boy who threatened to kill another student on the bus, according to an April 18 news release from the Gonzalez County Sheriff’s Office.

 

During an assessment following the incident, the boy told school officials “that he shot and killed a man two years ago,” the sheriff’s office said.

 

He provided, in detail, “information that was consistent with first-hand knowledge of the homicide of Brandon Rasberry,” authorities said.

 

On Jan. 18, 2022, 32-year-old Rasberry was found dead in his trailer at Lazy K RV Park in Nixon with a gunshot wound to the head, the sheriff’s office said. An autopsy ruled his death a homicide.

 

Forensic analysis, cell phone data and evidence gathered at the scene did not result in any new leads, according to authorities.

 

Investigators exhausted the few leads they had, and Rasberry’s death remained unsolved until the 10-year-old’s confession, the sheriff’s office said.

 

The boy told investigators he was visiting his grandfather, who lived a few lots away from Rasberry, on Jan. 16, 2022.

 

He told them he took a pistol from the glove box of his grandfather’s truck and entered Rasberry’s RV, where he saw him sleeping in his bed, the release said.

 

The then-7-year-old fired the pistol, striking him one time in the head, before exiting the RV and returning the firearm to the glove box of the truck, according to the sheriff’s office.

 

“The child stated he had never met Brandon, and did not know who he was although he had observed him walking around the RV earlier in the day,” the sheriff’s office said.

 

“The child was also asked if he was mad at Brandon for some reason or if Brandon had ever done anything to him to make him mad, the child stated no.”

 

The boy told investigators his grandfather sold the pistol to a pawn shop in Seguin, but authorities located it April 12, 2024, the sheriff’s office said.

 

“On April 17, investigators transported two spent shell casings that were collected from the scene of the murder to the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms San Antonio Field Office for forensic analysis and comparison using National Integrated Ballistic Information Network,” the sheriff’s office said.

 

Their analysis confirmed the pistol recovered from the pawn shop was the firearm used in the shooting death of Rasberry, authorities said.

 

According to authorities, Texas law states children cannot be held culpable for a crime until age 10.

 

At the time of Rasberry’s killing, the boy was 7, and therefore murder charges cannot be filed against him, officials said.

 

The sheriff’s office said the boy was placed on a 72-hour emergency detention before being evaluated and treated at a psychiatric facility in San Antonio. He was booked at the Gonzales County Sheriff’s Office on charges of terroristic threat relating to the school bus incident.

 

“The child was placed in detention by Gonzales County Juvenile Probation to await his court date at a later time,” the authorities said.

 

Nixon is about a 75-mile drive south from Austin. 

BIDEN'S OUTRAGIOUS TITLE IX REWRITE

National Review

 

Biden’s Outrageous Title IX Rewrite

By MADELEINE KEARNS

April 19, 2024 3:28 PM

 

The administration’s omnibus rule is a contemptible abuse of executive power.

 

On Friday, the Department of Education announced its final Title IX regulations, broadening the definition of sex-based discrimination to include “gender identity.” This effectively prohibits all educational entities in receipt of federal funds from acknowledging biological reality when individuals dispute it. As well as undermining free speech and due-process rights, the new rule will have sweeping and disastrous consequences for women and girls, the very people Title IX was supposed to protect.

 

The Biden administration is framing the final rule as a delivery of a campaign promise to better protect LGBTQ students from harassment “just because of who they are” and to restore Obama-era kangaroo courts for sexual misconduct on college campuses, which the Trump Department of Education (DOE), under Betsy DeVos, reformed to protect due-process rights and investigatory integrity.

 

Meanwhile, the DOE claims that its rulemaking process “is still ongoing for a Title IX regulation related to athletics.” Biden officials may have enough political sense to know that explicitly banning schools from keeping males out of women’s sports would likely backfire. Still, the administration’s PR front is disingenuous.

 

Last April, the DOE proposed a separate rule to address this question, one in which “schools would not be permitted to adopt or apply a one-size-fits-all policy that categorically bans transgender students from participating on teams consistent with their gender identity.” But that “would allow schools flexibility to develop team eligibility criteria that serve important educational objectives, such as ensuring fairness in competition or preventing sports-related injury.” (Whatever that means.)

 

The Associated Press reports that the delay on athletics is “widely seen as a political maneuver during an election year in which Republicans have rallied around bans on transgender athletes.” Nearly 70 percent of the public say that “transgender athletes” should be allowed to compete only against athletes of their own birth sex. It’s about time Democrats realized that transgenderism in sports is a losing issue.

 

Yet the same aim — allowing men into women’s sports— can be achieved by subtler means. Namely, by redefining sex-based discrimination to include gender identity. Which is precisely what the newly released final rule does.

 

Thanks to the Biden administration, women’s privacy and safety are in jeopardy. As my colleagues as the Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) have summarized: “This new Omnibus Rule, which governs all aspects of the educational experience, turns Title IX on its head through extra-statutory regulations that require schools to allow males to self-identify into women’s spaces, opportunities, and athletics.”

 

Single-sex spaces — bathrooms, locker rooms, dorms — will be single-sex no longer. And it doesn’t stop there. If “sex-based discrimination” includes gender identity, then refusing to use preferred pronouns or acknowledging a person’s sex could itself be considered discriminatory or harassment. Far from protecting women from sex-based discrimination, the new rules enable mistreatment and injustice toward those who defend sex-based rights and realities.

 

The original purpose of Title IX was fairness, opportunity, and safety for female students. The original understanding of sex in 1972, when the law passed, was indisputably anatomical. Even the New York Times can see that the new rules “effectively broadened the scope of Title IX.” But with what authority?

 

In its ruling, the administration cites Bostock v. Clayton County, the 2020 Supreme Court decision that confused matters but was nevertheless explicitly limited to Title VII in its scope. As the Trump administration noted at the time in a memo: “The Court decided the case narrowly, specifically refusing to extend its holding to Title IX and other differently drafted statutes.” The Biden administration has no mandate to redefine sex for the purposes of Title IX.

 

The Biden administration, like the Obama administration before it, overreaches by stealth. Yet as Jennifer C. Braceras, vice president for legal affairs at IWF and founder of Independent Women’s Law Center, said: “The Department of Education can’t just rewrite the statute by administrative fiat. We are confident the courts will remind the Department of this basic principle and strike down this unlawful rule.”

 

What is perhaps most outrageous is the president’s hypocrisy. Whether it’s abortion or the “gender pay gap,” Biden is happy to harp on about “women’s rights” this election cycle. But when it comes to the basic everyday rights to privacy, safety, or equal opportunity in education, Joe Biden and his band of progressive activists would set women back by more than 50 years. 

BRITISH PARLIAMENT VOTES TO BAN SMOKING FOR ALL PEOPLE BORN AFTER 2009

Fox News

 

British parliament votes to ban smoking for all people born after 2009

By Timothy H.J. Nerozzi Fox News

Published April 18, 2024 9:18am EDT

 

The British parliament has voted to outlaw smoking for future generations.

 

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill, introduced and championed by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, is set to ban smoking for anyone born after 2009.

 

It overwhelmingly passed a vote in the House of Commons with 383 votes to 67 on

 

Government officials have boasted that the bill will produce the U.K.'s first-ever "smoke-free generation."

 

There is still several steps to officially passing the bill into law, including a debate and vote in the upper chamber of the U.K. parliament, the House of Lords.

 

The Conservative Party has seen internal tensions over the smoking ban, which many Tory leaders have claimed is a misstep.

 

178 Conservative members of parliament voted for the bill with 57 voting against and 106 not recording a vote.

 

"When the party of Winston Churchill wants to ban cigars, donnez-moi un break [give me a break] as they say in Quebec, it's just mad," former Prime Minister Boris Johnson said last week at a conference in Canada.

 

Fellow ex-prime minister Liz Truess echoed Johnson's concerns, saying the goal of legislating the personal decisions of grown men and women was misguided.

 

"It is very important that until people have decision-making capability while they are growing up that we protect them," Truess said. "But I think the whole idea that we can protect adults from themselves is hugely problematic."

 

Supporters of the ban claim that the addictive nature of nicotine products takes away an individual's freedom to make a free decision about consuming them. 

AH: British parliament, look to the failure of the war on drugs.

STUDENT SUSPENDED FOR USING LEGALLY CORRECT TERM IN CLASS

 AH: Any suspension given to the boy who uttered a threat to Christian whilst in the classroom with the teacher present?