Judge: Remove Life Support From Pregnant Woman

/1 Comment/in , /by

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Tim Sharp

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Tim Sharp

A judge on Friday ordered a Texas hospital to remove life support for a pregnant, brain-dead woman whose family had argued that she would not want to be kept in that condition.

Judge R. H. Wallace Jr. issued the ruling in the case of Marlise Munoz. John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth has been keeping Munoz on life support against her family’s wishes. The judge gave the hospital until 5 p.m. CST Monday to remove life support. The hospital did not say Friday whether it would appeal.

Munoz was 14 weeks pregnant when her husband, Erick Munoz, found her unconscious Nov. 26, possibly due to a blood clot. Both the hospital and the family agree that she meets the criteria to be considered brain-dead – which means she is dead both medically and under Texas law – and that the fetus could not be born alive this early in a pregnancy.

But the hospital had not pronounced her dead and continues to treat her over the objections of both Erick Munoz and her parents, who sat together in court Friday.

“Mrs. Munoz is dead,” Wallace said in issuing his ruling, adding that meant the hospital was misapplying a state law that prohibits the removal of life-sustaining treatment from a pregnant patient.

Read more from this story HERE.

Homeland Security Secretary: Illegals Have ‘Earned Right to be Citizens’

/10 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: CNSNews.com/Penny Starr)

Photo Credit: CNSNews.com/Penny Starr)

Speaking at the United States Conference of Mayors on Friday, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said the approximately 11 million people who are in the country illegally have “earned the right to be citizens.”

“An earned path to citizenship for those currently present in this country is a matter of, in my view, homeland security to encourage people to come out from the shadows,” said Johnson, in what he remarked was one of his first public speeches since being confirmed as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) chief in December.

“It is also, frankly, in my judgment, a matter of who we are as Americans,” he said, “to offer the opportunity to those who want to be citizens, who’ve earned the right to be citizens, who are present in this country–many of whom came here as children–to have the opportunity that we all have to try to become American citizens.”

Johnson, who had earlier served as general counsel for the Department of Defense under Obama from 2009 to 2012, told the more than 270 mayors in attendance that enforcing immigration law was one of the main missions of DHS.

Read more from this story HERE.

Move Over Jared: Michelle Obama Becomes Subway’s Newest Celeb Partner

/8 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: TWT Photo Illustration

Photo Credit: TWT Photo Illustration

They probably won’t promote their 6-inch big hot pastrami sandwich, but the Subway chain of restaurants is partnering with first lady Michelle Obama’s campaign to persuade kids to eat healthier meals.

Subway and the first lady’s office announced a three-year commitment Thursday in support of Mrs. Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign. The sandwich shops will promote efforts aimed at getting children to eat more fruits and vegetables.

Read more from this story HERE.

Top Hill Staffer Dead in Apparent Suicide

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: AP Photo/WJLA TV

Photo Credit: AP Photo/WJLA TV

Ryan Loskarn, the former chief of staff to U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander who was charged with possessing and distibuting child pornography last month, was found dead in his home in Maryland of an apparent suicide, law enforcement officials said Friday.

“At approximately 12 p.m. yesterday, Carroll County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a private residence in the 6900 block of Kenmar Lane for a report of an unconscious male, believed to be deceased,” the sheriff’s office reported Friday morning. “Family members reported finding 35-year old Jesse Ryan Loskarn unresponsive in his basement where he’d been residing with family since this past December.

“The preliminary investigation indicates that Loskarn may have taken his own life, and his body has since been transported to the State Medical Examiner’s Office for Autopsy.”

The Maryland state Medical Examiner said later Friday that Loskarn’s death by hanging, initially reported by Politico, had been ruled a suicide.

Loskarn’s parents, Chuck and Gay Loskarn, issued the following statement Friday: “We loved our son very much, and we’re devastated by his death. Please respect our privacy at this difficult time and let us grieve in peace. Pray for him, his family and friends.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Can ObamaCare Survive? Moody’s Slashes Outlook On Insurers

/4 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Thinkstock

Photo Credit: Thinkstock

Credit ratings firm Moody’s Investors Service on Thursday lowered its outlook for health insurers to “negative” from “stable,” citing “uncertainty” swirling around the rollout of President Obama’s health care law.

In a new report, the agency said that the outlook for insurance companies is no longer clear because the law’s insurance exchanges haven’t been attracting enough younger individuals. In addition, Moody’s analysts were concerned that the Obama administration has been changing regulations after insurers had already set prices for the year.

Read more from this story HERE.

Schumer Calls on Obama to Use IRS to Curtail Tea Party Activities

/17 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) proposed using the Internal Revenue Service to curtail Tea Party group funding during a speech on how to “exploit” and “weaken” the movement at the Center for American Progress on Thursday.

Arguing that Tea Party groups have a financial advantage after the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, Schumer said the Obama administration should bypass Congress and institute new campaign finance rules through the IRS.

“It is clear that we will not pass anything legislatively as long as the House of Representatives is in Republican control, but there are many things that can be done administratively by the IRS and other government agencies—we must redouble those efforts immediately,” Schumer said.

“One of the great advantages the Tea Party has is the huge holes in our campaign finance laws created [by] the ill advised decision [Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission],” Schumer said. “Obviously the Tea Party elites gained extraordinary influence by being able to funnel millions of dollars into campaigns with ads that distort the truth and attack government.”

The Obama administration proposed new IRS restrictions on campaign related activity by tax-exempt groups last November. The rules would crack down on “candidate-related political activity,” which includes advocacy “for a clearly identified political candidate or candidates of a political party” and communications that are “made within 60 days of a general election (or within 30 days of a primary election) and clearly identify a candidate or political party.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Ted Cruz Wants to Make Sure You Didn’t Miss Brit Hume’s Epic Anti-Abortion Rant

/17 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

Fox News political analyst Brit Hume made a passionate moral argument against abortion on “Special Report” on Wednesday that just may go viral after Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) uploaded it on his YouTube channel.

Referencing the 41st anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Hume said the Supreme Court decided that a “generalized right to privacy that they basically invented meant that a woman has a constitutional right to snuff out an unborn life — a human being with a beating heart.”

“That’s what a fetus as young as six weeks is,” he added.

Hume expressed shock that, by some estimates, as many as 55 million abortions have occurred since the landmark ruling.

Since 1973, he continued, “science has given us an ever clearer picture of just how much of a baby a fetus is.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Huckabee: Dems Say Women Need Government to ‘Control their Libido’ (+video)

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore

Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee says that Democrats are pushing women to believe “they cannot control their libido or their reproductive system without the help of the government.”

The onetime presidential candidate made the comments to the Republican National Committee’s Winter Meeting in Washington D.C.

“If the Democrats want to insult women by making them believe that they are helpless without Uncle Sugar coming in and providing for them a prescription each month for birth control because they cannot control their libido or their reproductive system without the help of the government, then so be it,” he said. “Let us take this discussion all across America because women are far more than the Democrats have played them to be.”

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Read more from this story HERE.

Report: Google Chrome Users Exposed To Security Flaw That Allows Snoops To Listen In Undetected

/1 Comment/in , /by

Photo Credit: gudmundur.bjarni

Photo Credit: gudmundur.bjarni

By exploiting the voice control feature that is standard on many computers, smartphones and tablets, hackers can turn Google Chrome into a listening device to record your conversations without your knowledge, according to a web developer.

The developer, an employee at a start-up in Tel Aviv and an authority in voice recognition technology, explained on his blog how malicious websites could hack your Chrome browser to listen in on your personal moments through your computer’s microphone:

A user visits a site, that uses speech recognition to offer some cool new functionality. The site asks the user for permission to use his mic, the user accepts, and can now control the site with his voice. Chrome shows a clear indication in the browser that speech recognition is on, and once the user turns it off, or leaves that site, Chrome stops listening. So far, so good.

But what if that site is run by someone with malicious intentions?

Read more from this story HERE.

Report: Virginia Attorney General to Fight State’s Same-Sex Marriage Ban

/1 Comment/in , /by

Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Virginia’s attorney general announced Thursday that he believes the state’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and that Virginia will ask a federal court to strike it down, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.

A spokeswoman for Democrat Mark R. Herring told the newspaper he thinks the ban is unnecessary and plans to file a brief on behalf of two same-sex couples in Norfolk who are challenging the ban, which was approved by voters in 2006, 57 percent to 43 percent.

“The attorney general has concluded that the ban violates the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution on two grounds — one, marriage is a fundamental right being denied to some Virginians, and two, the ban unlawfully discriminates on a basis of sexual orientation and gender,” spokeswoman Ellen Qualls told the newspaper.

Herring, took office Jan. 11, succeeding Republican Ken Cuccinelli, who opposes same-sex marriage. Herring voted for the ban as a state senator in 2006, but says that he has changed his views on the issue in recent years.

“I talked to a lot of people, I thought a lot about it, talked to my family, and I have seen how I would not want the state to tell my son or my daughter who they can and cannot marry,” Herring said last August, according to the report.

Read more from this story HERE.