Blog Heap of Links for the day 17 July 2015

…In Durant, Okla. Wednesday morning, trucks lined up awaiting his arrival, and now supporters are in Bricktown. Supporters want to let the President know the Confederate flag, they say, stands for heritage, not hate. The organizer of the event… Andrew Duncomb, an organizer in Oklahoma City who calls himself “the Black Rebel” …

…Finally, after a month of tests, they discovered he has a rare auto-immune disease called transverse myelitis, that attacks the spinal cord. Integris neurologist Dr. Farhat Husain says the disease affects eight out of one million people. So rare, many doctors don't catch it.

"Doctors who are not used to seeing the patients with transverse myelitis may misdiagnose it as neuropathy and they sometimes think it is arthritis," said Husain.

Once patients get the correct diagnosis, Husain says it is treatable, but getting full mobility back isn't guaranteed. …

…The teenagers flagged Officer Jarrett down… ‘Hey, officer, that roof over there is on fire. I think that house is on fire.’ … officer broke into the door and started looking for the child. “I was telling the baby ‘I’m here, just keep crying.’ I was just trying to make noise to make her keep crying,” he said. The heavy smoke pushed the officer to the ground. Minutes later… “I saw a little hand just reach up,” he said. “I was crawling towards her, she was crawling towards me. Saw her little hand, just picked her up and all I could think about was getting her some fresh air.” …

Service records of the Marines killed at Chattanooga:

Lance Cpl. Squire K. Wells

Reservist on active duty operational support.
Entered service: February 2014.
From: Cobb, Georgia.
Occupation: Field artillery cannoneer.

Gunnery Sgt. Thomas J. Sullivan

Active duty.
From: Hampden, Massachusetts.
Entered service: September 1997.
Occuption: Field artillery cannoneer.
Deployments: Iraq (September 2007 to April 2008, September 2004 to April 2005).
Among his decorations was the Purple Heart.

Staff Sgt. David A. Wyatt
Active duty.
From: Burke, North Carolina.
Entered service: September 2004.
Occupation: Field artillery operations man.
Deployments: Afghanistan (October 2010 to May 2011), Iraq (October 2007 to January 200.

Sgt. Carson A. Holmquist
Active duty.
From: Polk, Wisconsin.
Entered service: January 2009.
Occupation: Automotive maintenance technician.
Deployments: Afghanistan (September 2013 to May 2014).