The Right To Shoot Back: Another “Gun-Free-Zone” Fail

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Colorado is a concealed-carry state, as a noted film critic points out, but so was Virginia when a college campus there was racked by violence. Like the school, the theater chain was also “gun-free.”

In December 2007, two church members were shot to death and three others injured after a gunman opened fire outside the New Life Church in Colorado Springs as Sunday services were wrapping up.

That tragedy could have been much worse, but the gunman was shot by a church security officer and was found dead when police arrived at the scene.

On April 22 of this year a just-released felon went to the New Destiny Christian Church in Aurora, Colo., and killed the mother of Pastor Delano Strahan before being killed himself by a congregant carrying a gun.

Unlike the tragedies at Columbine High School and the movie theatre in Aurora, there was someone at these venues willing and able to shoot back.

Read more from this story HERE.

Photo credit: Miserlou Behind The Aperture

Video: Miracle in Gaza – story of a soldier’s improbable survival

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After my three week trip to Israel – including the West Bank and Gaza – this past fall, the attached video has special meaning.  I saw firsthand the results of indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israeli towns outside of Gaza. This inspiring 10 minute+ video, narrated by a former IDF soldier, discusses the miraculous preservation of his unit during the war in Gaza and includes some great pictures of the Holy Land.

 

 

Photo credit: Joe Miller, All Rights Reserved.

Mother who escaped deadly Aurora shooting gives birth; her husband remains in critical condition

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The Colorado theater shooter may have taken a dozen lives and injured dozens more in his rampage but he wasn’t able to claim the life of one person — an unborn child just days away from birth. However, the father is in serious medical condition and needs support.

According to an AP report, a pregnant woman who escaped the deadly shooting uninjured delivered her baby today as her wounded husband remains in critical condition in the hospital. Today, 21-year-old Katie Medley gave birth but her husband, 23-year-old Caleb Medley, was shot in the head and remains hospitalized.

The father, David Sanchez, attended the court hearing today — the first of many as the case against the shooter unfolds.

“While his daughter was in labor, the angry Sanchez waited outside the courthouse where shooting suspect James Holmes made his first court appearance. He said his daughter escaped death by mere seconds,” AP reported. “Sanchez said his daughter and son-in-law have been waiting for a year to watch the premiere of the Batman movie.”

The Denver Post has more on the story:

Sanchez, 53, traveled to the Arapahoe County Justice Center outside of Centennial in hopes of getting a glimpse of the man who authorities say put his 23-year-old son-in-law, Caleb Medley, in a coma with a gunshot wound to the right side of his head.

“He is in stable but critical condition and they are monitoring his condition,” Sanchez said outside the courthouse to a large scrum of reporters who were seizing on anything to report after the 12-minute court hearing.

Sanchez said he had come to the courthouse as a representative for Caleb and Katie.

“It is important to support my daughter and her husband and their newborn baby,” he said.

His daughter has been avoiding any media after the shooting, concentrating on her pending birth of their son that they have already named “Hugo,” and her husband’s state.

Read more from this story HERE.

“Grindr,” GPS-based gay hook-up app crashed in London due to massive influx of gay Olympic athletes trying to use service

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If you were one of London’s estimated 350,000 Grindr users trying to log into the GPS-based gay dating App last week, you may have encountered some difficulty, due, according to some, to the influx of Olympic athletes trying to use the service.

In a July 19th post on the Grindr blog, App founder Joel Simkhai issued an apology to users who had experienced “service disruptions,” and explains, “when we discovered that [Grindr wasn’t working], we immediately set to work fixing the screw-up. The service disruption was a challenging thing to address, but our tech team worked around the clock to solve the problems and to whip Grindr back into shape.”

Simkhai doesn’t address the cause of the disruptions, but London tabloid “The People,” attributes it to the influx of Olympic Athletes in London. The publication reports:

A gay dating website crashed within minutes of the first Olympic athletes arriving in London — due to the volume of demand, say experts… Technicians believe the arrival of Olympic teams on Monday sparked a flood of new customers — and loss of the service in East London.

One Londoner told The People, “It happened almost as soon as the teams got here. Either loads of athletes were logging on to meet fellow Olympians or were looking to bag a local.”

Read more from the Huffington Post HERE (although we don’t recommend it).

Publisher’s note: GrindR subsequently denied that the influx of Olympians caused the collapse of its app, but provided no specific reason for the system’s collapse.

Some Good News: US Youth Increasingly Pro-Life

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This June, Students for Life of America released the results of a nationwide study, in which we surveyed 805 18-24 year-olds about the upcoming 2012 election, unconstitutional HHS Mandate, and abortion. We knew that a lot of folks tend to try to put young people in a neat little box when it comes to the issue of abortion, but, with this rising generation, we knew we had to shed some light into how they are really thinking and the changing of this debate.

The Good News… Their whole lives this generation has been told that identifying themselves as “pro-life” is judgmental, extremist, and wrong. Yet, when asked questions about their beliefs on the legality of abortion: 44% were pro-life and 45% pro-choice, and they were more likely to view abortion as a “bad thing” (31%) rather than a “good thing” (17%). In the addition, the plurality, 27%, selected “abortion should only be legal in the cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother” as the position most similar to own position on abortion. This generation is not radical in their support of abortion and takes much more of a common sense approach to the issue than President Obama and Planned Parenthood with an overwhelming majority favoring common sense abortion regulations:

  • 89% favored requiring abortionists to follow the same medical and safety protocols as other surgical clinics
  • 84% favored requiring abortion facilities to warn women of seeking abortions of potential health risks
  • 76% favored allowing pregnant women to view sonograms before undergoing an abortion
  • 74% support making sex-selection abortions illegal in United States
  • 70% agreed with offering a woman the opportunity to anesthetize her child before the abortion procedure

We are winning the HHS Mandate issue. When young Americans were asked whether the federal government should force institutions to pay for procedures that offend their religious beliefs, the plurality (44%) disagreed with the Obama’s administration’s move.

The Bad News… We need to educate this generation more on what conscience protections are and who is permitted to have them. The youth surveyed were split on whether medical students should be permitted to object to procedures or drugs for conscience reasons, although this age group was 8 points more likely to agree (44%) than disagree (36%). What they don’t know is literally killing this generation as 58% admitted that they didn’t know where resources were in their community or campus to support a woman facing an unplanned pregnancy who didn’t want to undergo an abortion.

Planned Parenthood still has the upper-hand when it comes to targeting and deceiving this generation. Our study found that young people supported Planned Parenthood by a ratio of six to one (66% “favorable” vs. 11% “unfavorable”), with two in five (40%) calling themselves “strongly favorable.” The plurality of even those who identify as Conservative (44%) and Pro-Life (46%) were even “favorable” towards Planned Parenthood. Even more shocking for those of in the pro-life movement is that fact that 48% said they did not know whether or not Planned Parenthood offered abortions.

Read more from this story HERE.

Photo Credit:  TFP Student Action

Syria promises to use WMD if attacked

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The Syrian regime acknowledged for the first time Monday that it possessed stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons and said it will only use them in case of a foreign attack and never internally against its own citizens .

Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi said the stockpiles are secure, in an apparent response to widespread international concerns that they could fall into the hands of the disparate bands of rebel forces fighting the government.

“No chemical or biological weapons will ever be used, and I repeat, will never be used, during the crisis in Syria no matter what the developments inside Syria,” he said in conference broadcast on state TV. “All of these types of weapons are in storage and under security and the direct supervision of the Syrian armed forces and will never be used unless Syria is exposed to external aggression.”

Syria is believed to have nerve agents as well as mustard gas, Scud missiles capable of delivering these lethal chemicals and a variety of advanced conventional arms, including anti-tank rockets and late-model portable anti-aircraft missiles.

Israel has said it fears that chaos following Assad’s fall could allow the Jewish state’s enemies, to access Syria’s chemical weapons and has not ruled out military intervention to prevent this from happening.

Read more from this story HERE.

Another botched abortion death prompts calls for Congressional investigation of Planned Parenthood

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Leading pro-life advocates are calling on Congress to investigate Planned Parenthood following another death of a woman from a legal abortion at one of its clinics — this time in Chicago, Illinois.

In response to news that a young woman, Tonya Reaves, died after a botched [second-trimester] abortion at Planned Parenthood, the Susan B. Anthony List renewed the call for a congressional investigation into the abortion provider.

“Congress has an obligation to exercise clear and regular oversight of businesses like Planned Parenthood that receive hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funding and have such dramatic impact on the lives of women and unborn children. This tragic incident reminds us once again that an industry that relies on practitioners like Kermit Gosnell, that has shown willingness to aid alleged human traffickers, and that turns a blind eye to sex-selective abortion must be thoroughly and immediately investigated by Congress,” said Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser.

Dannenfelser added, “We must not allow Tonya Reaves to have died in vain, but rather heed this warning and call on Congress to exercise its full capacity to investigate Planned Parenthood. As the nation’s largest abortion provider, in 2010 alone Planned Parenthood ended the lives of 324,008 unborn children and ill-served their mothers.”

“Left unregulated, the abortion industry clearly cannot be trusted to look out for the true interests of women,” continued Dannenfelser. “Earlier this year, Congressman Cliff Stearns launched an investigation of Planned Parenthood which raised a list of questions and issues concerning safety and oversight of Planned Parenthood. The American people need to know the answers to those questions about internal operations so that Americans can be assured women’s interests are protected.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Pro-Family, Anti-Gay Marriage? Chick-fil-A President: “Guilty as Charged,” Huckabee incensed

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By Tiffany Hsu.  Chick-fil-A is “very much supportive of the family,” according to Dan Cathy, president of the popular fast food chain. That is, “the biblical definition of the family unit,” he said.

And that doesn’t include Adam and Steve, suggests Cathy, whose father S. Truett Cathy founded the Atlanta-based company.

In a new interview with Baptist Press, Cathy puts on the record what critics say his company’s actions have indicated for years. “Well, guilty as charged,” he said in the interview when asked about Chick-fil-A’s backing of families led by a man and a woman.

“We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives,” Cathy said.

The chain, according to the report, has 1,608 restaurants, sales of more than $4 billion and employees who are trained “to focus on values rooted in the Bible.” Chick-fil-A’s across the country shut down on Sundays.

Read more from this story HERE.

Chick-fil-A’s stance has spawned an onslaught of media and celebrity attacks.  As a result of this, Mike Huckabee posted the following on his Facebook:

I have been incensed at the vitriolic assaults on the Chick Fil-A company because the CEO, Dan Cathy, made comments recently in which he affirmed his view that the Biblical view of marriage should be upheld. The Cathy family, let by Chick Fil-A founder Truett Cathy, are a wonderful Christian family who are committed to operating the company with Biblical principles and whose story is the true American success story. Starting at age 46 Truett Cathy built Chick Fil-A into a $4 billion a year enterprise with over 1600 stores. At 91, he is still active in the company, but his son Dan runs it day to day as CEO. It’s a great American story that is being smeared by vicious hate speech and intolerant bigotry from the left.

The Chick Fil-A company refuses to open on Sundays so that their employees can go to church if they wish. Despite the pressure from malls, airports, and the business world to open on Sundays, they still don’t. They treat customers and employees with respect and dignity.

I ask you to join me in speaking out on Wednesday, August 1 “Chick Fil-A Appreciation Day.” No one is being asked to make signs, speeches, or openly demonstrate. The goal is simple: Let’s affirm a business that operates on Christian principles and whose executives are willing to take a stand for the Godly values we espouse by simply showing up and eating at Chick Fil-A on Wednesday, August 1. Too often, those on the left make corporate statements to show support for same sex marriage, abortion, or profanity, but if Christians affirm traditional values, we’re considered homophobic, fundamentalists, hate-mongers, and intolerant. This effort is not being launched by the Chick Fil-A company and no one from the company or family is involved in proposing or promoting it.

There’s no need for anyone to be angry or engage in a verbal battle. Simply affirm appreciation for a company run by Christian principles by showing up on Wednesday, August 1 or by participating online – tweeting your support or sending a message on Facebook.

Publisher’s note:  Boston’s Mayor just announced that he was blocking a new Chick-Fil-A franchise in his city because of Chick-Fil-A’s “homophobic” attitude.

State of Alaska Ignores Voter Fraud…Again: Illegal Alien Cop Skates on 41 Felonies

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Alaska No IDRecords from the Alaska Division of Elections reveal that a former Anchorage Police Officer convicted on federal charges for false claims of citizenship and passport fraud has voted repeatedly in federal, state, and local elections in Alaska dating back to 1991. Raphael Mora-Lopez – a.k.a. Raphael A. Espinoza – voted most recently in 2010, casting ballots in the local municipal elections as well as both primary and general state-wide elections. In all he voted no less than 41 times over a 20-year period.

Though the State pressed charges relating to $27,000 fraudulently obtained by Mora-Lopez from Alaska’s Permanent Fund Dividend payouts, he was sentenced to only 24 months in jail with all 24 months suspended. State prosecutors subsequently declined to press charges on at least 41 counts of voter misconduct in the first degree, a class C felony in the State of Alaska.

This new information raises grave concerns about elections integrity in Alaska, and about the level of seriousness among State officials with respect to voter fraud. One might view the State’s inaction as an oversight had the Associated Press not reported the fact as early as June 2011, ostensibly citing federal court records. But given that the Alaska Division of Elections has since purged Mora-Lopez from the voter rolls, it is certain that State officials were not in the dark.

The fact that State prosecutors would turn a blind eye to such an egregious case not only casts doubt upon the integrity of the Department of Law, but makes a mockery of Alaska’s election laws.

In 2010, US Senate candidate Joe Miller raised similar concerns only to have them summarily dismissed by State officials. The fact that the charges against Raphael Mora-Lopez in April 2011 came on the heels of the State’s internal investigation of the 2010 general election in which the State denied having a problem with illegal felon voters may account for the State’s reticence to raise the profile of this case by pressing charges.

However, such a scenario offers little comfort for concerned citizens. For if the State would sweep 41 felonies under the rug to protect a local police officer, or perhaps just to save face, what might it cover up to protect a United States Senator?

 

Photo credit:  Joe Miller, All Rights Reserved

Blaming the Tea Party for Mayhem: “Journalistic Malpractice”

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ABC News’ Brian Ross speculated this morning that the alleged shooter who attacked a Batman premier in Colorado might be a member of the Tea Party. His suggestion — since retracted by ABC — continues a trend of media figures wrongly tying such tragedies to the Tea Party since 2010.

In February 2010, Joseph Stack became a Tea Partier for purposes of the media after he committed suicide by flying his small airplane into an IRS building in Austin, Texas. New York Magazine, after reading his online suicide note/manifesto that day, immediately declared that “a lot of his rhetoric could have been taken directly from a handwritten sign at a tea party rally.” The Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart added that “his alienation is similar to that we’re hearing from the extreme elements of the Tea Party movement.”

Neither Capehart or NYMAG mentioned that Stack quoted the Communist Manifesto approvingly and denounced capitalism as a system that teaches, “From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.” That would seem to put him at odds with the Tea Partiers, who often attacked Obamacare as a socialist government program.

A few months later, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg speculated that the failed attempt to bomb Times Square was carried out by someone “with a political agenda who doesn’t like the health care bill or something.” The would-be bomber, a Pakistani immigrant, said in court “If I’m given 1,000 lives I will sacrifice them all for the life of Allah.”Most famously, politicians and media figures attacked Sarah Palin and the Tea Party after the Tucson shooting that wounded Rep. Gabby Giffords, R-Ariz., and killed six others. Palin was faulted for having put “crosshairs” over Giffords’ district when she was targeting Democratic seats that might be vulnerable to Republican takeover. Even a year after the shooting, Democratic National Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., was willing to cite the shooting as proof that politicians need to “tone things down, particularly in light of” the Tucson shooting. “I hesitate to place blame, but I have noticed it take a very precipitous turn towards edginess and lack of civility with the growth of the Tea Party movement,” she said.

Read more from this story HERE.

Publisher’s Note:  Please also read the Wall Street Journal’s excellent article, Extreme Prejudice.  It gives a brief background on the innocent Jim Holmes (he “is a 52-year-old Hispanic conservative who joined the Tea Party after becoming disillusioned with the Republican party. . . . He disconnected his telephone and says that he is worried about members of his family who might be contacted by the media”) and notes that

There was one other factor, and this is what makes the ABC error not just amateurish but sinister: the innocent Jim Holmes’s involvement with the Tea Party. For more than three years liberal journalists have falsely portrayed the Tea Party as racist and potentially violent. After the January 2011 mass shooting in Tucson, Ariz., speculation immediately began that the suspect was a Tea Partier. Even after it was proved that he was not, the New York Times published a despicable editorial blaming conservatives anyway.