Free Republic

The US Army will acquire two Iron Dome batteries by 2020 as well as consider the full adoption of the Indirect Fire Protection Capability Increment 2-Intercept, both systems developed by Israel, Inside Defense reported Wednesday. The Iron Dome batteries will provide US ground forces an interim capability against unmanned air vehicles, mortars, rockets, artillery and cruise missiles. The US Army has been working to transform the Israeli interceptor into an American system to defend forward-deployed US forces since 2017. The US Army has performed tests to evaluate which missile system would best serve this purpose. Rafael Advanced Defense System's Iron...

A female chief purser and her crew of flight attendants at Taiwanese international airline EVA Air were reportedly left traumatized after an American passenger tried to coerce them into wiping his butt after defecating. The chief purser, identified only by her surname Kuo, revealed in a recent press conference that the passenger made unreasonable requests from the flight’s all-female cabin crew on Saturday. According to Kuo, the man asked her crew to pull down his pants and then told them to wipe his backside after he finished relieving himself. The unnamed passenger, who was described as Caucasian and obese, was...

The boutique Avanti Hotel is known for its poolside, dog-friendly rooms. Yet its website uses the valuable opening page not to highlight the Palm Springs inn’s amenities, but to explain, in stark black letters on a plain white background, that the Avanti violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Israel and the United States sent a secret military delegation to Ukraine to test the Russian-made S-300 missile defense system, which Moscow recently provided to Syria, Hadashot TV news reported Monday, citing Syrian and Russian news outlets. There was no comment on the reports from either Israel or the US. According to the reports, members of the Ukrainian military instructed their US and Israeli counterparts on the capabilities of the system, as well as running through various possible scenarios. One Russian report said that F-15 planes are training in Ukraine against the S-300 as part of an international exercise that...

Donald Trump Ordered Illegal Removal of Braille Because ‘No Blind People are Going to Live in Trump Tower’: Report By Jessica Kwong On 9/12/18 at 2:38 PM President Donald Trump allegedly ordered an architect not to include braille in Trump Tower elevator panels because “no blind people” would live in his building—even after being informed that excluding the tactile writing system is against federal law. The alleged interaction was recounted by Barbara Res, who led construction at the Trump Organization, in an opinion piece in the New York Daily News on Wednesday. "What’s this?” Trump, noticing the small raised dots,...

Rich DeVos, a self-made billionaire who co-founded Amway and purchased the Orlando Magic in 1991, died Thursday in Ada, Mich., due to complications from an infection. DeVos was 92 years old. DeVos, who underwent a heart transplant in 1997 at the age of 71, attended some Magic home games during the 2017-18 season. DeVos took over as the Magic’s owner when he purchased the franchise for $85 million from Orlando real estate developer William duPont III after duPont experienced financial difficulties. Forbes recently estimated the Magic’s value at $1.225 billion, 19th out of 30 NBA teams. Forbes also approximated DeVos’...

According to the ImportGenius website that tracks the import/export activity at shipping docks, the U.S. Army Contracting Command received the 3D mobile air-defense radar system from Ukraine. The notice by the ImportGenius said that the U.S. Army Contracting Command center in Orlando has received 3D mobile air-defense radar system, called the 36D6M1-1, from Ukraine through SFTC “Progress”. The 36D6M1-1is a mobile 3D airspace surveillance radar system that was developed by the SE “Scientific and Production Complex “Iskra” and is designed to be used as a part of modern automated Air Defense systems, Anti-Aircraft Missile Complexes and to detect low flying...

A White House report said Thursday most Americans living in poverty who receive government benefits are not working, even though they are able to -- a published backing for the Trump administration's plan to impose new work requirements for welfare recipients. The 66-page report from the White House Council of Economic Advisers said poverty numbers of non-disabled adults are "a deeply flawed reflection of material hardship." The study said most non-disabled working-age adults who receive Medicaid, 61 percent, do not work or work very few hours. The other two major welfare programs, Medicaid and food stamps, have similar numbers. The...

A complaint from a state disability advocacy organization has shuttered bathrooms aboard the Hartford Line’s CTrail trains just before the new commuter line’s launch this weekend. Restrooms on half of the Hartford Line trains — those operated by the state as opposed to Amtrak — will remain closed until they are made accessible to individuals with disabilities in early 2019, the state Department of Transportation announced Tuesday. The closure comes in response to a reversed decision from the Federal Railroad Administration, which had previously granted the state a temporary exemption from the Americans for Disabilities Act, according to the DOT....

OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma–– A new Oklahoma state law takes a new approach to trying to curb widespread misuse of “service dog” claims and paraphernalia, but will probably fail the first time a conviction is appealed to a federal court. Oklahoma HB 3282 addresses people who use bogus “service dog” claims and credentials to take dogs into public places where dogs are not otherwise allowed, keep dogs in “no pets” housing, take their dogs in air travel for free, or evade local prohibitions on pit bulls. Not due to take effect until November 1, 2019, Oklahoma HB 3282 is therefore not...

A blind Manhattan woman recently filed individual lawsuits against more than 30 businesses she says are not handicap accessible online. Maria Mendizabal, who is legally blind, claims that the Web sites for companies such as Nike, 24 Hour Fitness, De Beers, Barney’s, Donna Karan, and Kleinfeld Bridal aren’t compatible with screen-reading software that translates the written content into either audio or Braille. “Unless websites are designed to be read by screen-reading software, blind and visually-impaired persons are unable to fully access websites, and the information, Products, and services contained thereon,” reads the suit against Barney’s, which is filed under the...

Today, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that, pursuant to Executive Order 13777 and his November memorandum prohibiting guidance documents, he is rescinding 25 such documents that were unnecessary, inconsistent with existing law, or otherwise improper. In making the announcement, the Attorney General said: “Last month, I ended the longstanding abuse of issuing rules by simply publishing a letter or posting a web page. Congress has provided for a regulatory process in statute, and we are going to follow it. This is good government and prevents confusing the public with improper and wrong advice.” “Therefore, any guidance that is outdated, used to circumvent...

Neither the vest from the accredited training program nor the certificate are required under the ADA. The ADA says anyone can train their dog, or miniature horse, to perform a task that mitigates or helps them with their disability. Professional training is not required. ADA also specifically prohibits cities, merchants and others from requiring proof that a dog is a service dog. It allows, in fact, only two questions. Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability? What work or task has the dog been trained to perform? Service dog owners may not be asked about the...

WASHINGTON — Stymied in his efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, President Trump is poised to issue an order that could ease some federal rules governing health insurance and make it easier for people to band together and buy coverage on their own, administration officials said Saturday. One official said the directive could move the president a step closer to one of his longstanding goals: allowing consumers to buy health insurance across state lines. Conservatives say that interstate sales could expand options for consumers, increase competition in the insurance market and perhaps lower costs. The order, which the administration...

A third threat to free speech at the University of California, Berkeley has led to more censorship than political rioters or college administrators. It's the Americans with Disabilities Act. Berkeley is expensive. Out of state students must pay $60,000 a year. But for five years, Berkeley generously posted 20,000 of its professors' lectures online. Anyone could watch them for free. Then government regulators stepped in. The Americans with Disabilities Act stipulates, "No qualified individual with a disability shall ... be denied the benefits of ... services." As with most laws, people can spend years debating what terms like "denied," "benefits"...

A California attorney who has made a name for himself suing thousands of businesses and governments across the state over alleged violations of federal disability access law now is taking aim at enterprises in Willits and Ukiah. Thomas Frankovich and his disabled Willits client have filed eight separate federal discrimination lawsuits affecting more than two dozen Mendocino County businesses since late December, accusing the defendants of failing to provide adequate access for disabled people as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act. The lawsuits affect restaurants in Willits and Ukiah, a Willits book store, a Ukiah car dealership and a...

DENVER -- A woman who says she filed dozens of lawsuits hoping to advocate for people with disabilities now says she feels used by a money-making effort. Alyssa Carton has filed 99 lawsuits against businesses in Albuquerque, New Mexico in the past three months. Carton has spina bifida and uses a wheelchair. "I've endured a lot of challenges with accessibility and just, you know, struggling with everyday life," Carton said in an interview. She says she began filing lawsuits after responding to a job opening on Craigslist for a group called Advocates for Individuals with Disabilities, or AID, which is...

The city of Seattle is headed toward a federal court settlement that could cost millions of dollars to make sidewalks and curb ramps moreusable for people with wheelchairs and other mobility issues. Three men with disabilities sued the city in 2015 to force the city to make upgrades. They alleged the city was violating federal law because many sidewalks didn't have curb ramps that were accessible. Linda Dardarian, one of the plaintiffs' attorneys, told the Times that negotiations were "fruitful and ongoing," and that she hoped for a resolution by this summer. Seattle has been working to improve sidewalks for...

Berkeley previously housed an online library consisting of more than 20,000 videos of lectures. These videos were free and accessible to the public. But they are free no longer: next week, administrators will withdraw access to anyone who isn't a Berkeley student or professor. Two employees of Gallaudet University—a school for the deaf in Washington, D.C.—filed a complaint with DOJ alleging that Berkeley's online content was inaccessible to the hearing-disabled community. After looking into the matter, DOJ determined that Berkeley had indeed violated the Americans with Disabilities Act Berkeley had two choices: spend a fortune adding closed captioning to the...

One of the statutes that best demonstrates the truth that laws usually bring about a host of unintended consequences is the Americans with Disabilities Act. In the name of helping people who have disabilities, the law often imposes heavy costs on others, while simultaneously failing to do anything for its purported beneficiaries. The ADA has spawned a hyper-aggressive enforcement bureaucracy that lives to find violations of the law, even if those violations exist purely in their own minds. A recent flap over free online college courses makes the point. Colleges and universities do a lot of ridiculous and even harmful...