A shooter opened fire Thursday afternoon at Umpqua Community College, killing several students at the campus in southwest Oregon.
According to the local KGW News, there have been 7-10 fatalities and at least 15-20 people injured, while one female was shot in the chest. Police say that the shooter is now dead.
This is the 45th school shooting in 2015, according to Huffington Post’s Political Editor Sam Stein’s Twitter account.
This is a developing story. Check back to Rise News for updates.
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There Is An Unbelievably Creepy Clown In Southwest Florida, And People Are Actually Paying Him Money To Scare Others
Wrinkles are not uncommon among those in the graying population of Southwest Florida. Except they are usually on sweet grandmothers who spend their days at Trader Joes and Michaels.
This is not that.
Meet Wrinkles, the worst clown on Earth who literally exists to haunt your dreams.
“I just want to have a good time,” Wrinkles told NBC 2 in Fort Myers. “Make a little extra money on the side, have a little fun before I die.”
HE LITERALLY WANTS TO MAKE CASH SCARING YOUR KIDS BEFORE HE DIES. THAT IS HIS BUSINESS PLAN!
All we can say is good luck Florida. You’re going to need it.
Just watch:
Here is he stealing balloons from children:
Yeah we are never going to the Florida gulf coast again.
Cover Photo Credit: Screenshot/ Youtube (NBC 2)
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Why The Republican Party Is So Out Of Touch With Reality On Climate Change
By Nicholas Olivera
In mid-December, leaders from 195 countries came to an historic agreement in Paris about how to address the global crisis of climate change. The agreement was heralded as a pathbreaking moment for both international diplomacy and the scientific consensus concerning climate change.
Back home in America however, things felt a bit differently, as they often do.
A week after the historic agreement, President Barack Obama mocked Republicans for their continued failure to recognize climate change as a real issue.
“The American Republican party is the only major party that I can think of in the advanced world that effectively denies climate change,” Obama said according to the Guardian.
According to a recent Pew survey, only 27% of Republicans believe that global warming is mostly an issue caused mostly by human activity.
Only a couple of the Republican presidential candidates have expressed the belief that global climate change is a man-made threat.
Former governor of New York George Pataki has openly acknowledged his stance on climate, saying during October’s GOP debate: “It is not appropriate to think that human activity — putting CO2 into the atmosphere –doesn’t make the Earth warmer. All things being equal, it does. It is uncontroverted.”
Pataki has spent some time working towards a cleaner environment, having served as co-chair of the Independent Task Force on Global Climate Change, an independent commission dedicated to preventing climate change.
The group even issued a report back in June of 2008 making market-friendly recommendations in order to cut carbon emissions 60 to 80 percent by the year 2050.
And while Pataki is a staunch believer in climate change there’s no mention of it on his campaign website.
Why would a candidate with so much passion for the issue of climate change leave it out of their campaign?
“The fact that it isn’t being talked about very much by the rest of the candidates doesn’t surprise me,” Dr. David Woodard, a professor of political science at Clemson University and former consultant of Republican candidates told RISE NEWS. “I have found that other candidates have gotten a lot more mileage by bringing up the terrorist issues.”
Six of the remaining dozen candidates have dismissed the issue entirely.
Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum has said in the past that he believes that climate change is nothing more than an excuse for “more government control of your life.”
Texas senator Ted Cruz asserts that climate change was simply concocted by “power-greedy politicians.”
And of course Donald Trump has made his beliefs concerning the issue known in a rather vulgar way.
This very expensive GLOBAL WARMING bullshit has got to stop. Our planet is freezing, record low temps,and our GW scientists are stuck in ice
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2014
The remaining candidates are caught somewhere in the middle; each of them have publicly expressed a mixture of doubt, hesitancy, and skepticism in regards to climate change.
New Jersey governor Chris Christie has acknowledged the existence of global climate change but argues that the degree to which human activity contributes to it is up for debate.
Former governor of Virginia Jim Gilmore (yes, he is still running) claims to need more proof as to whether or not it is a man-made issue. Even former governor of Florida Jeb Bush has expressed his skepticism.
But chances are this is an issue that won’t pick up traction within the GOP nomination contest this year.
“I don’t think it’s an important issue this year given the events in California along with other terrorist attacks,” Woodard said. “The other candidates are going with the more hot-button issues where they get the most press attention and conflict with their peers.”
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Cover Photo Credit: U.S. Geological Survey/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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Fighterjocks From Portland Are In Finland Right Now, Spooking The Russians
Some American flyboys are in Finland this month, in an effort to remind Russian President Vladimir Putin where his country’s borders really are.
The 123rd Fighter Squadron, based out of Portland, Oregon, is participating in exercises in Finland over the course of this month.
The F-15Cs of the 123rd will be assisting in improving the readiness of the Finnish Air Force, who has seen an increase in its necessity due to an increase in Russian airspace violations of sovereign airspace.
Finland is not a member of NATO, but has been a participant in the Partnership for Peace program, as well as assisting in ISAF operations in Afghanistan, and participating in NATO exercises, as demonstrated below.
The ongoing crisis in Ukraine has solidified North American and European security interests to a degree that may even exceed that of the height of the Cold War.
This in turn has lead to an interest among some to extend the NATO security umbrella.
This has led most recently to Montenegro’s invitation to the alliance, and some suggestions that Sweden and Finland consider alliance membership.
Both Sweden and Finland have historically followed a policy of neutrality, but this has not been entirely adhered to.
Sweden has had intelligence sharing agreements with NATO states since 1954, as well as relying on NATO capabilities in the event of war against the Soviet Union, and in more recent times against simulated Russian airstrikes.
Both countries participate in NATO exercises, and operations, as well as having strong relations with both Denmark and Norway; both founding members of the Atlantic Alliance.
However, the two countries are not equally open to formally joining the alliance.
The Swedish public has rapidly shifted in favor of NATO membership, with 41% in favor, 39% opposed, and 20% undecided as of late 2015. While Finnish support for NATO membership is at a historical high, only 27% support membership.
This is why the American deployment of aircraft into non ally Finland is such a strong signal.
The Americans may be showing a preview of the kind of commitment they would offer if Finland joined NATO.
By creating stronger military and diplomatic ties with Finland through interactions between the 123rd with Finnish units, and other NATO-Finland interactions, the case for affiliation becomes more concrete.
That does not make the Portland based unit’s sale easy.
Greater affiliation with the EU and NATO has historically lead to an increase in likelihood for Russian counter actions, ala the 2008 Russia-Georgia War, and the two year old ongoing fiasco in Ukraine.
It is essentially out of the question that Finland join without Sweden, or vice versa. In addition to the two countries having strong historical ties, as well as sharing a highly convenient border to ferry troops and material over in the event of Russian intervention into Finland, while Sweden joining with Finland might trigger a response against neutral Finland, in order to guarantee buffer space against the perceived NATO threat.
The Oregon Air National Guard is thus pulling double duty in appealing to both the remaining non aligned Scandinavian countries, as well as improving Finland’s unilateral readiness.
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Photo Credit: cryogenic666/Flickr (CC by SA 2.0)
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