Meet The 14-Year-Old Teen That Helped New York Become The 23rd State To Legalize Medical Marijuana

Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

1. Just this past weekend, New York became to 23rd state in the US to legalize medical marijuana. Now, meet the 14-year-old teen who helped make it happen.

Video available at: http://www.youtube.com/v/7UR1UTAVplM. Elite Daily / Via youtube.com

2. Oliver Miller is a 14-year-old teen from Atlantic Beach, New York. When Oliver was still in utero, he suffered a brain stem injury.

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REUTERS/Mike Segar / Via news.yahoo.com

3. Because of the injury, Oliver suffers from hundreds of seizures a day, as well as a host other complicated medical issues.

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Elite Daily / Via youtube.com

4. Recently, medical marijuana has gained international attention for curbing seizures in children. However, because of New York law, Oliver has not been given access to this treatment.

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Elite Daily / Via youtube.com

5. With 22 states having legalized the use of medical marijuana, the spotlight turned to New Yorkers to rally behind the Compassionate Care Act, which would make New York the 23rd state to legalize marijuana.

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Elite Daily / Via youtube.com

The Compassionate Care Act would allow healthcare providers to talk to their patients about medical marijuana and certify those with debilitating and life-threatening illnesses, so that they may have access to medical marijuana to relieve their symptoms.

6. Frustrated with the progress and action the state was taking on legalizing medical marijuana, Missy Miller, Oliver’s mother, devoted her life to fighting for the legalization of the drug.

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Elite Daily / Via youtube.com

7. Within a span of a few months, Missy rallied together with other parents that have children who are also in need of help.

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Elite Daily / Via youtube.com

8. Together, they urged local politicians to meet their children, so they could understand the importance of passing the bill.

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Elite Daily / Via youtube.com

9. Missy then turned her attention to New York Senator Dean Skelos, who represents her district.

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Buck Ennis / Via crainsnewyork.com

10. She even rolled out a local television commercial to get his attention.

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Elite Daily / Via youtube.com

11. Missy continued her fight up to Albany, New York, leading up to the big decision on June 19, 2014.

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Elite Daily / Via youtube.com

12. The following day during the vote, Senator Dean Skelos had this to say:

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Elite Daily / Via youtube.com

13. Then he said this:

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Elite Daily / Via youtube.com

14. At that point, Missy realized that because of Oliver, Senator Dean Skelos had changed his vote.

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Elite Daily / Via youtube.com

15. And with that, the bill had been passed.

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Elite Daily / Via youtube.com

16. On Saturday, July 5th, Governor Cuomo signed the measure into effect.

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Elite Daily / Via youtube.com

A lot of people look at Oliver, or children like Oliver, and think what do they contribute. If they’re here with all these problems, what do they really contribute? But Oliver really has contributed.

Via Missy Miller

18. Missy is still continuing to fight for Oliver to receive expedite access to medical marijuana… But at least now, there’s hope.

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Missy Miller / Via liherald.com

Read more: http://buzzfeed.com/briantron/meet-the-14-year-old-teen-that-helped-new-york-become-the-23

Meet The 14-Year-Old Teen That Helped New York Become The 23rd State To Legalize Medical Marijuana

..., 1, 14-year-old teen, 2014, 6, access, act, action, and, attention, available at, b..., B.C., beach, Big, big decision, bill, brain, brain stem injury, BuzzFeed, buzzfeed.com, care, children, Co., commercial, Compassionate Care Act, Cuomo, Daily, Dean, decision, district, do, drug, Elite Daily, fight, fighting, following, governor, H..., H.R., healthcare, help, hope, host, hundreds, I., image, image › Elite, image › Elite, importance, injury, international, international attention, issues, law, legalization, life, look, make, marijuana, mary j, medical, medical issues, medical marijuana, Meet, Mike, Mike Segar, missy miller, mother, need, New, New York, New York law, New Yorkers, news, news.yahoo.com, No., old, Oliver, oliver miller, P.S., parents, passing, past, past weekend, Patients, people, point, politicians, problems, Read, Reddit, Reuters, s..., Saturday, Senator, Senator Dean Skelos, span, state, states, symptoms, t..., T.I., talk, teen, television, Think, this, treatment, up, US., utero, Via youtube.com, video, Video available at, View, View this, View this image, viral, vote, way, weed, weekend, what, Yahoo, York, youtube, youtube.com

This Craigslist Missed Connection Is The Most Beautiful Thing You"ll Read Today

Here is the text of the missed connection

I saw you on the Manhattan-bound Brooklyn Q train.

I was wearing a blue-striped t-shirt and a pair of maroon pants. You were wearing a vintage red skirt and a smart white blouse. We both wore glasses. I guess we still do.

You got on at DeKalb and sat across from me and we made eye contact, briefly. I fell in love with you a little bit, in that stupid way where you completely make up a fictional version of the person you’re looking at and fall in love with that person. But still I think there was something there.

Several times we looked at each other and then looked away. I tried to think of something to say to you — maybe pretend I didn’t know where I was going and ask you for directions or say something nice about your boot-shaped earrings, or just say, “Hot day.” It all seemed so stupid.

At one point, I caught you staring at me and you immediately averted your eyes. You pulled a book out of your bag and started reading it — a biography of Lyndon Johnson — but I noticed you never once turned a page.

My stop was Union Square, but at Union Square I decided to stay on, rationalizing that I could just as easily transfer to the 7 at 42nd Street, but then I didn’t get off at 42nd Street either. You must have missed your stop as well, because when we got all the way to the end of the line at Ditmars, we both just sat there in the car, waiting.

I cocked my head at you inquisitively. You shrugged and held up your book as if that was the reason.

Still I said nothing.

We took the train all the way back down — down through Astoria, across the East River, weaving through midtown, from Times Square to Herald Square to Union Square, under SoHo and Chinatown, up across the bridge back into Brooklyn, past Barclays and Prospect Park, past Flatbush and Midwood and Sheepshead Bay, all the way to Coney Island. And when we got to Coney Island, I knew I had to say something.

Still I said nothing.

And so we went back up.

Up and down the Q line, over and over. We caught the rush hour crowds and then saw them thin out again. We watched the sun set over Manhattan as we crossed the East River. I gave myself deadlines: I’ll talk to her before Newkirk; I’ll talk to her before Canal. Still I remained silent.

For months we sat on the train saying nothing to each other. We survived on bags of skittles sold to us by kids raising money for their basketball teams. We must have heard a million mariachi bands, had our faces nearly kicked in by a hundred thousand break dancers. I gave money to the beggars until I ran out of singles. When the train went above ground I’d get text messages and voicemails (“Where are you? What happened? Are you okay?”) until my phone ran out of battery.

I’ll talk to her before daybreak; I’ll talk to her before Tuesday. The longer I waited, the harder it got. What could I possibly say to you now, now that we’ve passed this same station for the hundredth time? Maybe if I could go back to the first time the Q switched over to the local R line for the weekend, I could have said, “Well, this is inconvenient,” but I couldn’t very well say it now, could I? I would kick myself for days after every time you sneezed — why hadn’t I said “Bless You”? That tiny gesture could have been enough to pivot us into a conversation, but here in stupid silence still we sat.

There were nights when we were the only two souls in the car, perhaps even on the whole train, and even then I felt self-conscious about bothering you. She’s reading her book, I thought, she doesn’t want to talk to me. Still, there were moments when I felt a connection. Someone would shout something crazy about Jesus and we’d immediately look at each other to register our reactions. A couple of teenagers would exit, holding hands, and we’d both think: Young Love.

For sixty years, we sat in that car, just barely pretending not to notice each other. I got to know you so well, if only peripherally. I memorized the folds of your body, the contours of your face, the patterns of your breath. I saw you cry once after you’d glanced at a neighbor’s newspaper. I wondered if you were crying about something specific, or just the general passage of time, so unnoticeable until suddenly noticeable. I wanted to comfort you, wrap my arms around you, assure you I knew everything would be fine, but it felt too familiar; I stayed glued to my seat.

One day, in the middle of the afternoon, you stood up as the train pulled into Queensboro Plaza. It was difficult for you, this simple task of standing up, you hadn’t done it in sixty years. Holding onto the rails, you managed to get yourself to the door. You hesitated briefly there, perhaps waiting for me to say something, giving me one last chance to stop you, but rather than spit out a lifetime of suppressed almost-conversations I said nothing, and I watched you slip out between the closing sliding doors.

It took me a few more stops before I realized you were really gone. I kept waiting for you to reenter the subway car, sit down next to me, rest your head on my shoulder. Nothing would be said. Nothing would need to be said.

When the train returned to Queensboro Plaza, I craned my neck as we entered the station. Perhaps you were there, on the platform, still waiting. Perhaps I would see you, smiling and bright, your long gray hair waving in the wind from the oncoming train.

But no, you were gone. And I realized most likely I would never see you again. And I thought about how amazing it is that you can know somebody for sixty years and yet still not really know that person at all.

I stayed on the train until it got to Union Square, at which point I got off and transferred to the L.

Via newyork.craigslist.org

UPDATE 08/08/2013 11:13am: The Village Voice suspects the mystery writer is Raphael Bob-Waksberg, a comedian and writer based out of Los Angeles

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Via giphy.com

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Via gph.is

H/T @jaredbkeller and this tweet

Jared Keller
@jaredbkeller

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Today, in Craigslist literature http://t.co/b4xzy2noN7

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Read more: http://buzzfeed.com/samir/this-craigslist-missed-connection-is-the-most-beautiful-thin

This Craigslist Missed Connection Is The Most Beautiful Thing You"ll Read Today

..., ) glasses., ||, 2013, 25, 42nd Street, A.M., afternoon, almost-conversations, amazing, and, angeles, arms, ask, Astoria, Aug., b..., B.C., bag, bags, bands, basketball teams, battery, bay, beautiful, beggars, BF_STATIC.timequeue.push, bfjs.isMobile, biography, bit, Bless, blue, blue-striped t-shirt, Bob, body, book, boot, boot-shaped earrings, break, break dancers, breath, bridge, Brooklyn, Brooklyn Q train, BuzzFeed, buzzfeed.com, by, ca..., can, Canal, car, caught, chance, Chinatown, closing, Co., Comedian, comfort, Coney Island, connection, contact, contours, conversation, conversations, couple, Craigslist literature http://t.co/b4xzy2noN7, crazy, crowds, crying, Day., daybreak, deadlines, DeKalb, directions, Ditmars, do, document, document.getElementById, door, doors, East, East River, end, every, eye, eye contact, eyes, face, faces, fall, favorite, fictional version, first, first time, folds, follow, function, general, general passage, Giphy, giphy.com, Gone, gph.is, Gray, ground, guess, H..., H.R., H/T, hair, hands, head, Herald Square, holding, Hot day., how, hundredth time, I., image, in love, island, jaredbkeller Follow, Jesus, Johnson, kick, kids, know, L. Via newyork.craigslist.org, lifetime, line, literature, little, little bit, local R line, long gray hair, look, looking, Los, Los Angeles, Los Angeles View, love, Lyndon Johnson, make, make up, manhattan, Manhattan-bound, mariachi, mariachi bands, maroon pants, messages, middle, midtown, Midwood, Midwood, moments, money, mystery, mystery writer, n’t, neck, need, Neighbor, Newkirk, newspaper, nights, No., Notice, Okay, oncoming train, P.S., page, pair, pants, park, passage, past, past Barclays, past Flatbush, patterns, person, phone, pivot, platform, point, prospect, Prospect Park, Queensboro Plaza, rails, Raphael Bob-Waksberg, reactions, Read, reading, reason, red, Reply, rest, Retweet, Retweet Favorite Read, river, rush, rush hour crowds, s..., S.O., SAT, saying, seat, set, Sheepshead Bay, shirt, shoulder, SI., silence, simple, simple task, skirt, Skittles, slip, smart, smart white blouse, SoHo, somebody, souls, specific, square, standing, Started, station, stay, stop, stops, street, stupid silence, stupid way, Subway, subway car, sun, t..., T.I., talk, task, te..., teams, teenagers, text, text messages, than, the sun, thin, Think, this, thought, time, times, Times Square, tiny, tiny gesture, title, to., too., train, transfer, Tuesday, tweet, tweet Jared Keller, two, UI.dateFormat.get_formatted_date, under, union, Union Square, up, UPDATE, UTC, version, Very, Via giphy.com, Via gph.is, View, View this, View this image, village, Village Voice, vintage, vintage red skirt, voice, voicemails, Want, way, We, wearing, weekend, what, white, Win., Wind, wrap, writer, year., you., young, Young Love

How "Pleasantville" Beautifully Captured The Nature of Change

1. There is beauty in the details you overlook.

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New Line / Via campfairy.tumblr.com

Living in a big city, it’s hard to appreciate the natural beauty that surrounds you. Pleasantville simplifies things by transplanting the city kids to an idyllic small town, and brightening the world bit by bit in gradual pops of color. It’s a lot easier to remember to stop and smell the roses when they’re bright red against a grayscale bush.

2. Art is a form of protest.

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New Line Cinema / Via beyondthegoblincity.tumblr.com

Outside of nature, there’s manmade art, which can be equally easy to ignore when you’re a kid. Pleasantville captures the transgressive power of art: It’s a stunning form of protest, an ability to address and subvert societal norms without violence. And the results can be gorgeous, like the mural painted by Mr. Johnson and David toward the end of the film.

3. Reading is essential.

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New Line Cinema / Via booksareeverywhere.tumblr.com

Reading is another form of protest, which is radical information to anyone who previously regarded it solely as homework. Books offer knowledge, but also the ability to escape past your surroundings. The boundaries of Pleasantville disappear when the teenagers start opening their minds, and that happens when the books fill in with words.

4. Everything has more meaning when shared with someone else.

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New Line Cinema / Via gay-legion.tumblr.com

Ah, young love. While Jennifer brings sex to Pleasantville, David finds love. Real love, that is — not just baking cookies for the star player on the basketball team. But it was always under the surface, like the forbidden longing between Mr. Johnson and Betty. Just like that, color floods the scene. A life without love feels a little meaningless — or, you know, black and white.

5. Sex is exciting but dangerous.

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New Line Cinema / Via allthingsconsideredtwo.tumblr.com

With love comes sex, something of particular interest to a pre-adolescent watching Pleasantville. We get both sides of the equation in Betty’s bathtub masturbation scene: Her first experience with female pleasure is transformative, bringing color into her world. But there’s a scary power to it, too, as seen by the tree outside catching fire. The danger here is palpable.

6. It’s important to be open to new experiences.

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New Line Cinema / Via allthingsconsideredtwo.tumblr.com

You can’t let fear hold you back. Those raised with a religious education might flinch when Margaret offers David the apple, but it’s not about temptation — it’s about knowledge. And there’s no shame in opening your eyes and expanding your horizons. For Jennifer, it’s not sex that brings her color back: It’s staying in and reading instead.

7. Standing out will encourage those around you to do the same.

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prism0467.tumblr.com

It’s tempting to conform, because that’s the easier option. But David and Jennifer both end up changing Pleasantville for good, rather than letting the town’s restrictions hold them back. Following the examples of the outsiders, the townspeople learn to be independent, thoughtful, and complicated — they’re granted dimensions they never would have found otherwise. It’s thrilling to watch.

8. Sometimes you have to cover up to make those around you comfortable.

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New Line Cinema / Via allthingsconsideredtwo.tumblr.com

At the same time, there’s a risk to standing out. Pleasantville doesn’t shy away from the realities of being different, as the people with color are shunned by the conservative town. It’s an allegory for race relations — the “No Coloreds” signs spell that out — but it speaks to something larger, the fear that so many of us felt as kids that we weren’t normal, and we had to hide that.

9. Change is scary.

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New Line Cinema / Via ivebecomecomfortablydumb.tumblr.com

It is terrifying, actually. But it’s also so, so important. Watching Pleasantville at 12 years old, there’s something comforting about the simple black-and-white world David and Jennifer get transported to. There’s also something frightening about the ways they change it. And yet, you know that it has to happen: Pleasantville can’t stay innocent forever, and neither can the people in it.

10. The most important thing is independence.

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New Line Cinema / Via allthingsconsideredtwo.tumblr.com

Risks be damned, if Pleasantville teaches you one lesson above all others it’s to be true to yourself. By the end, everyone has expressed his or her honest emotions, and they are better — and more human — because of it. The color that once was scary goes on to paint the entire town, proving that everyone has the capacity to be his or her own person with unique passions, desires, and needs.

Read more: http://buzzfeed.com/louispeitzman/how-pleasantville-beautifully-captured-the-nature-of-change

How "Pleasantville" Beautifully Captured The Nature of Change

..., (CoveR), 1, 6, ability, address, and, apple, art, b..., B.C., baking, basketball team, bathtub, bathtub masturbation scene, beauty, Better, Big, big city, bit, black, books, Bush, BuzzFeed, buzzfeed.com, by, can, change, cinema, city, Co., Color, conservative, cookies, Damned, danger, David, desires, details, dimensions, do, easy, education, emotions, end, escape, examples, exciting, experience, experiences, eyes, feels, female, film, fire, first, floods, following, For., form, H..., H.R., hard, hide, hold, homework, how, human, I., idyllic, idyllic small town, image, important thing, information, innocent, Johnson, kid, kids, know, knowledge, Legion, lesson, life, line, little, living, LouisPeitzman, love, make, Margaret, meaning, minds, Mr. Johnson, natural, natural beauty, nature, needs, New, new experiences, New Line Cinema, No., Normal, offer, offers, old, option, other., P.S., paint, passions, past, people, person, player, Pleasantville, Pleasantville, Pleasantville, Pleasure, pops, power, protest, race, Read, reading, real, realities, red, remember, restrictions, results, risk, risks, roses, s..., S.O., scary, scene, Sex, shame, sides, signs, simple, small town, smell, standing, star, start, stay, stop, stunning, surface, surroundings, t..., T.I., team, teenagers, temptation, than, thing, things, this, time, to., town, townspeople, tree, true, Tumblr, tumblr.com, under, up, View, View this, View this image, Violence, Watch, ways, We, white, words, world, year., you., young

NYT buries story on IRS bullying conservatives; Endorsed witch hunt in 2012

http://twitter.com/#!/ByronYork/status/333207446879342592

The IRS apologized Friday for singling out conservative groups with “tea party” or “patriot” in their names for audits of their applications for tax-exempt status. Translation: We’re sorry we got caught.

Want to read about that in the New York Times before lining your bird cage? Try page A11.

The IRS targeting a particular political viewpoint for scrutiny is front page news, period. Shame on the NY Times for burying it on A11

— Joseph Kaufman (@jhk49) May 11, 2013

If you look really hard, you can find a below-the-fold teaser on the front page.

All the news that’s fit to tuck away: twitter.com/RightKlik/stat… @nytimes @rsmccain @leginsurrection #tcot #IRS #Benghazi

— RightKlik (@RightKlik) May 11, 2013

It’s also buried on the New York Times website.

Hey, what’s missing from the top half of the New York Times homepage? Why, the IRS-targets-conservatives scandal!

— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) May 11, 2013

Reminder: The Fishwrap of Record squeed with delight last year and patted the IRS on the back for a job well done.

Last year, the NY Times editorial board ENDORSED the IRS political attack on conservatives and tea party groups!… fb.me/PWXsKjYp

— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) May 10, 2013

In light of the IRS apology, this NYT editorial from last year is… chilling.nyti.ms/y0uYcX

— Charles Sykes (@SykesCharlie) May 11, 2013

NYT more shameless than IRS. “@sykescharlie: In light of IRS apology, NYT editorial from last year is… chilling.nyti.ms/y0uYcX“

— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) May 11, 2013

That time the petty tyrants at @nytimes editorial board praised IRS for targeting #teaparty groups: nytimes.com/2012/03/08/opi… (h/t @jstrevino)

— George Scoville (@stackiii) May 10, 2013

Not 1 liberal/conservative/libertarian should feel good bout this @ggreenwald IRS apologizes targeting Tea Party NYT Editors praised last yr

— SalenaZito (@SalenaZitoTrib) May 10, 2013

Exit question:

@thecaucus @joenbc will the @nytimes and @sulliview ignore that they endorsed this practice last year? nytimes.com/2012/03/08/opi…

— Michael Palmer (@M_Palmer1987) May 10, 2013

Will the editorial be retracted? We won’t hold our breath.

Related:

Math is hard: Awful IRS spokeswoman admits she’s also ‘not good at math’

IRS: Our Tea Party witch hunt wasn’t ‘motivated by political bias’; No comment on disciplinary action

AP: IRS is totally sorry for targeting groups with names that include ‘tea party’ or ‘patriot’

 

Read more: http://twitchy.com/2013/05/11/nyt-buries-story-on-irs-bullying-conservatives-flashback-editorial-board-applauded-witch-hunt-in-2012/

NYT buries story on IRS bullying conservatives; Endorsed witch hunt in 2012

..., 1, 2012, 2013, action, and, AP, apology, applications, awful, Awful IRS spokeswoman, Awful IRS spokeswoman, Awful IRS spokeswoman, Awful IRS spokeswoman, b..., B.C., Benghazi, Bird, board, breath, bullying, by, cage, can, Charles, Co., comment, conservative, conservative groups, Conservatives, delight, editorial, editors, Exit question, F., Feel, fold, friday, George, ggreenwald IRS, groups, H..., H.R., H/T, half, hard, Hey, hold, I., IRS, IRS, IRS, IRS, IRS apology, IRS political attack, IRS political attack, job, John, John Podhoretz, light, look, Mark, math, Michael, missing, Ms, names, New, New York, New York Times, news, No., NY., OPI, page, Palmer, part., party, Period, political, practice, question, Read, record, Related, reminder, s..., scandal, scrutiny, shame, Sorry, spokeswoman, STAT, status, story, Sykes, t..., T.I., targets, tcot, Tea Party, teaser, than, this, time, times, to., translation, Twitchy, Twitter, Want, website, what, will ..., witch, York, you.

Honest Trailer Of Call Of Duty

Back in the day, Doom was the most famous first person shooter. Today, Call of Duty has the honor of being one of the most played shooters out there. Sadly, the game was never treated to a trailer, so the nerds at Smosh Games decided to give the game a proper honest trailer. 

 

Read more: http://www.viralviralvideos.com/2014/06/28/honest-trailer-of-call-of-duty/

Honest Trailer Of Call Of Duty

..., 2014, b..., B.C., Call of duty, Co., first, first person, funny, Game, Honest Trailers, honor, I., Nerd., Nerds, person, person shooter, proper honest trailer., Read, smosh games, t..., trailer, Watch, youtube, youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDeo21MQVFo]Read, youtube.com