Discovery Cancels “American Guns” After Sandy Hook Massacre

By Samantha R. Selman

Just days after the terrible tragedy of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, the country, and even the world at large, faces an undeniable need to re-examine the role of gun control on the world stage. As with numerous tragedies in the past, much of the focus shifts to violence in media as depicted across film and television, which today faces one of its first casualties. Discovery has opted to pull the plug on its pro-firearm reality series ‘American Guns.’ But what will the reaction to the news bring?

We are now in a stage of extraordinary self-examination, more crucial than ever in the wake of the recent tragedy in Newtown that ended 27 lives. Not only will debates rage across the nation, but sensibilities alter and re-shape the manner in which violence is presented for years to come. In particular, we’ve learned that Discovery has taken a step toward addressing public outcry directed at the network, cancelling its highly-rated series ‘American Guns.’

The series  followed a family of gun-makers in Colorado, and even experienced a 50 percent ratings increase for its second season premiere, but its plans for a third season were scrapped by the network. Reps for Discovery wouldn’t definitively link the cancellation to the Connecticut killings, though public outcry on the show’s Facebook and Twitter feeds has multiplied exponentially over the last few days.

Among some of the complaints compiled by Fox News, some wrote “I know you all have to make money but would Discovery Channel please consider ceasing to broadcast the show in the U.K.? Sadly your program makes buying/owning guns seem fun, glamorous, even normal.” Another reads, “With Discovery shows like ‘Sons of Guns’, ‘American Guns’, ‘Ted Nugent’s Gun Country’ etc it’s not surprising how guns are seen as acceptable.”

The debate, and grief associated with the recent tragedy won’t abate for some time, but what do you say?  Is Discovery’s cancellation of ‘American Guns’ a first step toward greater awareness or overreacting to current events?

100Feed: Former Penn State President Graham Spanier Cites His Own Child Abuse

By Jane Zuckerberg

Graham Spanier, the former Penn State University president who stepped down in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal, told ABC News today that he was a victim of child abuse so severe that he required several surgeries to correct the damage.

His history as a victim, he said, was a deeply personal rejoinder to those critics who accuse him of trying to cover up Sandusky’s crimes and not caring about the children.

“I’ve never met anyone who has had a higher level of awareness [about child abuse,]” Spanier said in an exclusive interview with ABC News’ Josh Elliott.

Spanier, 64, is on a campaign to resurrect his once pristine reputation. Though not charged with a crime, the findings of an independent investigation accuse him of failing to prevent a “child sexual predator harming children for over a decade.” The abuse he sustained at the hands of his father, a working class immigrant, began when he was a child and continued through his adolescence. Spanier said he has had four surgeries in his adulthood to correct problems with his breathing, face and head as a result of the injuries.

“It resulted in, of course, some emotional scarring, but also some substantial physical damage,” he said of the abuse. Before his tenure as a university administrator, Spanier was a professor specializing in the study of dysfunctional families and child abuse, an interest he said resulted directly from his childhood.

Spanier objects to the findings of the Freeh Report calling it “wrong in its conclusions” and denying the accusation that he “conspired to conceal a known child predator.”

Spanier insists when an assistant football coach reported seeing Sandusky acting suspiciously with a boy in the team showers in 2001, he was only made aware that Sandusky had engaged in “horseplay” with a child.

An independent investigation ordered by the unviersity, the so-called Freeh Report, and others have questioned why Spanier did not further investigate Sandusky after learning even that information.

“Never in my time as president of Penn State did I ever receive a report or even a hint that Jerry Sandusky was engaged in child abuse, a sexual act, criminal activity or anything resembling that with any child. Had I known that, or even suspected it, I would have forcefully intervened. But I never heard a report like that,” he said.

Spanier said he had only met Sandusky once and was only marginally involved when in 1998 and again in 2001 reports were made that Sandusky was seen engaged in inappropriate behavior with a child.
“I do not get involved in police matters. I always had a very hands-off attitude and issues pertaining to people were dealt with by the police, by human resources, or by supervisors in various areas of the university,” he said of the 1998 incident. He also noted that police, the state Department of Public Welfare and prosecutors all determined that Sandusky had not molested a child at that time.

In 2001, however, Spanier was copied on an email about another Sandusky incident, witnessed by assistant coach Mike McQueary who heard sexual noises and saw an underage boy in the shower.

In emails two administrators, Athletic Director Tim Curley and now retired Vice President Gary Schultz, proposed not alerting the authorities but instead letting Sandusky off with a warning and the promise that he would get “professional help.” Spanier agreed to that plan. However, he noted in an email that by not bringing the accusations to police they would be “vulnerable for not having reported it.”

That phrase has dogged Spanier and was crucial in the Freeh’s reports assessment of what he knew and how he failed to act. “‘Vulnerable’ was not best choice of a term,” Spanier told ABC News, adding that “it was a reaction to the possibility that we didn’t want this to happen.” Spanier said he had “no recollection of being concerned” that the school might be held legally liable.
Spanier recalled the anger with the university when the grand jury indicted Sandusky, leading ultimately to Spanier’s demotion to professor and the firing of legendary football coach Joe Paterno.

“I opposed the firing [of Paterno]… There could be riots, it could be a rush to judgment, they knew it was his last season” and Paterno should have been allowed to finish the season, he said. Spanier said he and Paterno had secretly signed agreement that the coach would retire at the end of 2012. In July, Sandusky was convicted on 45 counts of abuse against 10 boys. Curley and Schultz are awaiting trial on charges of perjury and failing to report child abuse.

100Feed: LSU’s Mathieu kicked off team for violating rules

Dec. 3, 2011: LSU cornerback Tyrann Mathieu (7) returns a punt for a touchdown against Georgia during the first half of the Southeastern Conference championship NCAA college football game in Atlanta. (AP)

By Jessica Yancey

LSU’s national championship hopes were hurt Friday when Heisman Trophy finalist Tyrann Mathieu was kicked off the team for breaking an athletic department rule.

The junior defensive back nicknamed Honey Badger was a surprising Heisman candidate last season as the Tigers won the Southeastern Conference championship and reached the BCS title game. They are among the favorites to win the championship this year.

At a news conference Friday, coach Les Miles would not specify the reason Mathieu was dismissed from the team.

“We’ll miss the guy,” Miles said. “The football team’s got to go on. We’ll have to fill the void.”

Athletic Director Joe Alleva said Mathieu, who was suspended for a game in 2011 for failing a drug test, violated an athletic department rule and had his scholarship revoked.

Mathieu could stay at the school and pay tuition, but Alleva said that was unrealistic.

“He’s not going to stay in school,” Alleva said.

The Tigers are No. 1 in the coaches’ preseason poll and expected to be right near the top of the AP college football poll when it is released Aug. 18.

The 20-year-old Mathieu won the Bednarik Award as national defensive player of the year last season and was big-play machine at cornerback and on special teams. The All-American scored four touchdowns — two on punt returns and two on fumble returns — intercepted two passes and caused six fumbles and recovered four.

He was suspended for the Auburn game and LSU still won 45-10 without him.

“He gave us a lot of examples that we can learn from and I think that he’s a quality, quality guy who had a behavior issue and that’s it,” Miles said. “Certainly the overview of his time with us is positive.”

Mathieu, a New Orleans native, has two years of eligibility left and could transfer, but he would have to sit out this season if he went to another school in major college football. If he moved down a level, to FCS, he could play right away.

“I can’t imagine he would be here and not want to transfer and go play football,” Miles said. “We will help him in every way we can.”

LSU isn’t quite as deep at cornerback as it was last season, when it had All-American Morris Claiborne and often used Mathieu as a nickleback. Tharold Simon is the other starter opposite Mathieu. Second on the depth chart are redshirt freshman Jalen Collins and freshman Jalen Mills.

As for returning punts, Miles mentioned wide receiver Odell Beckham as a possible replacement for Mathieu.

Even without Mathieu, LSU is loaded with talent and will still be considered one of the country’s elite teams.

“The good news is we have good players” to fill the void left by Mathieu, Miles said.

Last season, LSU beat Alabama 9-6 in a regular-season matchup dubbed the Game of the Century. The two SEC rivals met again in the championship but this time the Crimson Tide dominated, winning 21-0.

100Feed: Aly Raisman earns floor exercise gold

Aly Raisman

Aly Raisman finished the Olympics in style.

The U.S. captain matched Gabby Douglas in gold medals, winning the title on floor exercise Tuesday. Add in the bronze she earned on balance beam from earlier in the day, and she becomes the most decorated of the Fierce Five.

“It definitely went better than I thought it would,” Raisman said.

Good thing Raisman did so well, because the rest of the Americans came up empty-handed. Douglas had another rough day, finishing seventh on balance beam after a fall. World champion Jordyn Wieber, voted most likely to leave the Olympics with the biggest haul, was seventh on floor and finished without any individual medals.

“I’m so happy, going home with two Olympic gold medals and a couple of titles under my belt,” Douglas said. “I’m so happy for Aly, she deserves to be up on that podium.”

Raisman may not have Douglas’ bubbly personality or Wieber’s resume, but she is prized for her steadiness, and that consistency paid off big in London.

Energized by her surprise bronze on beam, Raisman’s floor routine had an extra spark. Her tumbling passes were some of the most difficult, and she got such great height on them you could have parked a double-decker bus beneath her. Her landings were not only secure, one was so powerful it practically shook the floor.

Coach Mihai Brestyan was hopping up and down and pumping his fist as Raisman finished, and even Raisman was impressed with herself, mouthing “wow” after she saluted the judges. When her score, a 15.6, was posted, teammate McKayla Maroney yelled “Whoa!” so loudly from the stands it could be heard across the arena.

“I felt like I had nothing to lose,” Raisman said. “It was going to be my last memory for London, so I just wanted to make it count and enjoy it.”

Five gymnasts followed her, but none came close. When reigning Olympic champion Sandra Izbasa landed her final tumbling run on her head, Raisman let herself exhale. And smile.

It was the first Olympic gold on floor for a U.S. woman.

“It was definitely the best floor routine that I’ve ever done,” Raisman said. “To have it be at the Olympic Games, in the finals, is just really amazing and just a dream come true. That’s what you work for your whole life.”

Catalina Ponor, the 2004 champion on floor, won the silver. Aliya Mustafina of Russia got the bronze, her fourth medal of the Olympics.

Deng Linlin won the gold on balance beam, upstaging teammate and reigning world champion Sui Lu. It was the second gold of the day for the Chinese, following Feng Zhe’s title on parallel bars.

Raisman had previously just missed a medal in the all-around, finishing with the same score as Mustafina but dropping to fourth on a tiebreak.

But she was on the right end of the rules Tuesday, bumping Ponor off the podium on balance beam.

“It’s a huge payback,” Brestyan said. “She was a little bit disappointed after the all-around. It takes us two days to put her head back and it was hard work, but she stood up and today it was exactly what she was waiting for.”

Raisman initially finished fourth with a score of 14.966. But she questioned it, and judges added an extra tenth to her routine’s difficulty after a review. That gave her and Ponor identical scores of 15.066, but Raisman got the bronze because her execution score was higher.

“A gold medal is a gold medal, but I definitely felt like [beam] was redemption from the other night in the all-around,” Raisman said. “I was in the same exact position, but it went in my favor this time.”

Not so much for Douglas in the event finals.

Douglas’ life has been a whirlwind since she won the all-around title last week, with media wanting a piece of her and celebs flooding her Twitter timeline, eager to be her new BFF. There was training to fit in, too, with finals on uneven bars and balance beam. She admitted after Monday’s lackluster showing on bars — she was last — that it was all catching up with her.

“I’m definitely not going to lie. It was definitely hard to regain your focus,” Douglas said. “You’re like, ‘Yes, I’m the Olympic champion. I’m a world champion.’ It’s definitely kind of hard to turn the chapter for event finals.”

It wasn’t a lack of energy that cost her Tuesday — it was a misplaced foot. Her right foot could only brush the beam as she landed on a leap, and she had no chance to save herself. As the crowd gasped, she fell onto the beam in a straddle, hanging on tight as she swung partly underneath.

Still, she leaves the Olympics without complaint.

“Olympic all-around champion is going to be attached to my name,” said Douglas, the first African-American to win the all-around title. “Life is going to be crazy for me. Even though we had a very bad ending of the chapter, the beginning was very strong.”