BTR News Brief: Terror in Tallahassee, FDA Approves Cannabis Drug & Trump’s Trade Losses

Man Who Shot Up Tallahassee Yoga Studio Hated Women & Race Mixing

The Hill is reporting that the man who allegedly shot and killed two women and injure others at a yoga studio in Tallahassee, Florida before killing himself, had a Youtube channel with about 12 videos where 40-year-old Scott Beierle posted videos of himself spewing misogynistic and racist views. Beierle served briefly in the US Army had at least two arrests for sexually assaulting and battering women in instances where he grabbed the buttocks of two female victims on the campus of Florida State.  What isn’t clear right now is how Beierle was able to elude convictions. In one video, titled “The American Whore,” Beierle railed against so-called interracial dating.

“There are whores in, not only every city, not only every town but every village,” Beierle said in a couple of his videos. In another video, “Illegal Immigration and the Unaffordable Care Act,” he advocated for further militarizing the U.S.-Mexico border and accuses the Affordable Care Act of “subsidizing sluttiness” by offering coverage for birth control.

First Cannabis-Based Drug Approved By FDA

A  twice-daily anti-epileptic oral solution has been approved for use in patients ages two years and older to treat two specific types of epileptic syndromes: Dravet syndrome, a rare genetic dysfunction of the brain that begins in the first year of life, and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, a form of epilepsy with multiple types of seizures that begins in early childhood.

In announcing the FDA approval in what might seem like a miracle treatment that has been around in traditional medicine for thousands of years,  a member of the pharmaceutical industry admitted that previous attempts at treating epilepsy with non-cannabis based drugs were not very effective.

“Because these patients have historically not responded well to available seizure medications, there has been a dire need for new therapies that aim to reduce the frequency and impact of seizures,” said Justin Gover, CEO of GW Pharmaceuticals, the maker of Epidiolex.

Trump’s Global Trade War Costing Jobs

The Ford motor company is having a bad year in 2018 to say the least. The historic auto manufacturers’ stock is down 29%, and trade tariffs imposed by President Trump have reportedly cost the company $1 billion, as the company is in the midst of a reorganization. As Trump and Republicans brag about job creation on the campaign trail ahead of the midterm elections, Ford, a major employer in the United States is announcing layoffs and looking like it might need a bailout. The Trump administration has already allocated over $1 billion to bail out farmers who have been harmed by his administration’s trade war with multiple countries while unilaterally placing sanctions on others.

Jim Hackett, Ford’s CEO, is working to engineer a $25.5 billion restructuring of the automaker, hoping to cut costs and remain competitive, the Wall Street Journal reports. But auto sales are down, and one reason is the trade tariffs that Trump has imposed on metals and other goods. According to Bloomberg, Hackett has said they have already cost the company $1 billion in profit and could do “more damage” if the disputes aren’t resolved quickly.