HORRIBLE: WaPo Columnist Defends Aborting Down Syndrome Babies

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In a staggeringly horrifying column for The Washington Post, abortion advocate Ruth Marcus argues that women should have the right to abort a baby with Down syndrome, to eliminate, through bald eugenics, “undesirable” humans from the gene pool, for their own good.

Marcus is being heralded as “brave” and “thought-provoking” for her approach, which argues that both families — and those with Down syndrome — would be better off if the condition was simply eradicated through selective termination, because individuals with Down syndrome are generally less intelligent, and often represent a lifelong care commitment.

There’s no point in just quoting you the highlights.

But accepting that essential truth is different from compelling a woman to give birth to a child whose intellectual capacity will be impaired, whose life choices will be limited, whose health may be compromised. Most children with Down syndrome have mild to moderate cognitive impairment, meaning an IQ between 55 and 70 (mild) or between 35 and 55 (moderate). This means limited capacity for independent living and financial security; Down syndrome is life-altering for the entire family.

Nazi Germany began a crusade to eliminate the similarly undesirable: a “palliative” eugenics campaign that targeted the mentally ill, the intellectually underdeveloped, the physically incapable, and the terminally ill. But the definitions quickly expanded on their program, as those who ran — and championed — such an effort determined there were more socially undesirable people than just those suffering from “moderate cognitive impairment.” (Read more from “HORRIBLE: WaPo Columnist Defends Aborting Down Syndrome Babies” HERE)

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Footage: Police Officer ‘Kidnapped’ by Gang Members During Traffic Stop

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A Georgia police officer was caught on dash cam video allegedly being kidnapped after gang members attempted to flee the scene by driving away during a traffic stop last week — making it more than a mile in rush-hour traffic before being stopped.

Marietta Police Officer Brian Wallace was conducting a traffic stop around 7:30 a.m. Thursday in Cobb County when he had the driver of the vehicle step out because he noted “his body language seemed odd.” Two other people were also in the vehicle at the time . . .

Another officer, Sgt. Brian Honea, arrived at the scene as a backup. Dash cam video released on Friday showed the suspect sprinting back to the driver’s side of the car and attempting to flee as Wallace wrestled with them. The passenger put the car in drive, pinning Wallace inside the vehicle while Honea was knocked to the ground.

“The suspects wrestled with Officer Wallace inside their vehicle at speeds up to (71) mph through congested traffic, muddy dirt roads and rough terrain,” the department said. “Officer Wallace stated that roughly halfway into the more than 1 mile kidnapping he decided to pull the driver door closed in order to keep from being thrown out onto the roadway in traffic.” (Read more from “Footage: Police Officer ‘Kidnapped’ by Gang Members During Traffic Stop” HERE)

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O.J. Simpson’s ‘Hypothetical’ Confession Sparks Social Media Frenzy

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On Sunday, viewers far and wide were captivated by O.J. Simpson once again as Fox aired a “lost” 2006 interview in which he described a hypothetical account of his involvement in the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman.

As previously reported, Fox never aired Simpson’s interview with Judith Regan in 2006, and said it was lost until now. In the 2-hour special “O.J. Simpson: The Lost Confession?” he revealed staggering details that he called a “hypothetical” scenario previously detailed in his book “If I Did It.” . . .

The chilling confession caused a lot buzz on social media Sunday night, with the hashtag “#DidOJConfess” trending on Twitter throughout the broadcast. Many viewers went into the first part of the interview with their minds already made up with regards to Simpson’s guilt . . .

Given the nature of the confession, as well as interludes with a panel of experts convinced of Simpson’s guilt, many Twitter users’ outrage built as he recounted incidents of domestic abuse prior to the murder. . .

However, it was when Simpson started to discuss the hypothetical series of events in which he was responsible for the murders, most users found his language on the matter too puzzling to be just a fictitious account.

(Read more from “O.J. Simpson’s ‘Hypothetical’ Confession Sparks Social Media Frenzy” HERE)

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Mom Has Arm, Fingers, Both Legs Cut off After Doctors Failed to Spot Deadly Disease

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A mother of two reportedly is suing an English hospital after doctors didn’t realize she was suffering from a life-threatening condition, resulting in multiple limb amputations which she now is calling “a fight for life.”

Magdalena Malec, 31, had both of her legs amputated after contracting sepsis — “the body’s extreme response to an infection” — at the Luton and Dunstable University Hospital in Luton, the South West News Service (SWNS) reported . . .

Malec, according to the news service, was told she suffered a miscarriage just weeks after learning she was pregnant with her third child in December 2014.

After being sent home from the emergency room with painkillers for her heavy bleeding and stomach cramps, Malec reportedly returned to Luton and Dunstable later that month, where she discovered she had an ectopic pregnancy — in which a fertilized egg attaches itself to a cavity outside the uterus — and underwent emergency surgery . . .

During recovery, Malec developed ischemia of her limbs — a lack of blood supply to certain parts of the body, according to SWNS. Her limbs reportedly then developed gangrene and her body tissue died, which Malec said occurred after hospital staff didn’t recognize the warning signs of her sepsis. (Read more from “Mom Has Arm, Fingers, Both Legs Cut off After Doctors Failed to Spot Deadly Disease” HERE)

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Elon Musk Says Spaceships Will Be Ready for Mars Next Year

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Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk told an audience at South by Southwest that his timeline for sending a space vehicle to Mars could mark its first milestone early next year.

The privately-funded venture, announced in September 2017, aims to send a cargo mission to the Red Planet by 2022. SpaceX’s ultimate objective is to plant the seeds to put a human colony on Mars.

Musk held a surprise question and answer session at the annual technology and culture festival in Austin, Texas on Sunday. The billionaire told attendees that “we are building the first Mars, or interplanetary ship, and I think well be able to short trips, flights by first half of next year.”

Mindful of elevating expectations too high, Musk hedged a bit. “Although sometimes, my timelines are a little, you know…” he said to laughter.

SpaceX’s BFR rocket system is expected to have capabilities for interplanetary travel, and be fully reusable. A flight will cost less than the initial Falcon 1 flights, which Musk pegged in the $5 to $6 million range. (Read more from “Elon Musk Says Spaceships Will Be Ready for Mars Next Year” HERE)

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Obesity Watch: American Children Still Pigging out, Grossly Overweight

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Despite efforts by local, state and federal governments to curb fat intake by children, American kids are still pigging out, leaving the trend of rising obesity among the young unabated, says a report published this month in the journal Pediatrics . . .

“The main take-home message for me is that, clearly, obesity remains a problem,” says Asheley Skinner, an associate professor of population health services at Duke University and leader of the analysis. “It’s not improving.”

Childhood-obesity rates have been rising for decades, sparking widespread alarm among public health researchers and officials. Obese children tend to become obese adults, who are prone to many health problems, including cancer, heart disease and Type 2 diabetes . . .

The latest data shows the percentage of children ages 2 to 19 who are obese increased from 14 percent in 1999 to 18.5 percent in 2015 and 2016 . . .

“It is a big jump,” Skinner says. “That’s the highest level of obesity that we’ve seen in 2- to 5-year-olds since 1999. Obesity in the youngest group is a concern because when obesity starts younger, most of these children continue to have obesity throughout childhood and into adulthood. The earlier you start seeing this, the harder it is to address it for these kids.” (Read more from “Obesity Watch: American Children Still Pigging out, Grossly Overweight” HERE)

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Will Trump Lawyers Stop Interview With Stormy Daniels?

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Lawyers associated with President Donald Trump are considering legal action to stop 60 Minutes from airing an interview with Stephanie Clifford, the adult film performer and director who goes by Stormy Daniels, BuzzFeed News has learned.

“We understand from well-placed sources they are preparing to file for a legal injunction to prevent it from airing,” a person informed of the preparations told BuzzFeed News on Saturday evening.

It was not immediately clear what legal argument the lawyers would be making to support the considered litigation, and Trump and his legal team often have threatened litigation without following through on those threats in the past.

Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal attorney who previously was a longtime lawyer for the Trump Organization, directed questions about the possibility of litigation to Larry Rosen, who Cohen told BuzzFeed News is “my attorney handling this matter.” Rosen — a partner in the firm LaRocca, Hornik, Rosen, Greenberg & Blaha — acknowledged his role in the matter generally but did not comment directly on the possibility of seeking an injunction . . .

An action to try to prevent the interview from airing would be the latest in a flurry of developments in a case that began just before the 2016 election when Cohen paid Clifford $130,000 in return for her silence about a sexual relationship she allegedly had with Trump in 2006. At the time, Trump was under intense pressure over comments he’d made about his treatment of women in the run-up to the vote. (Read more from “Will Trump Lawyers Stop Interview With Stormy Daniels?” HERE)

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Media Go Wild Over ‘Junk’ Antidepressant Story

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American and British media have been rhapsodizing over the “largest ever” research project on antidepressants, published last month in the Lancet. They quote the study’s prestigious Oxford authors claiming their research proves millions more people should be taking antidepressants and that holding back is like denying needed treatment to patients with hypertension or cancer. The lead researcher says he’s “very excited” about the study’s results and boldly declares the “final answer” has been found regarding antidepressants’ effectiveness.

Yet, when one considers that 10 percent of Britons are already taking antidepressants (one in six in some areas), and 13 percent of Americans, including – shockingly – one in four middle-aged women (age 40-59), a nagging doubt arises about this headlong rush into ever-greater medicating of the population.

Add to this the raging debate, not just over antidepressants and suicidality, but also the question of homicidality – a controversy dramatized by the alarming increase in mass shootings in recent years and the disturbing correlation between the mostly young male perpetrators and the psychiatric medications, particularly antidepressants, they have been taking – and one suspects there is a lot more to this story.

To all appearances, the Oxford University study is indeed impressive – a broad meta-analysis of 522 randomized controlled trials spanning almost four decades and involving 21 different antidepressants. Its 18 authors represent not only Oxford’s psychiatric community, but also one or two experts each from France, Germany, Switzerland and the U.S. – plus seven from Japan . . .

In the researchers’ own words, their study confirms: “All antidepressants were more efficacious than placebo in adults with major depressive disorder.” (Read more from “Media Go Wild Over ‘Junk’ Antidepressant Story” HERE)

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Muslim Countries Urged to Attack Israel

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A Turkish newspaper close to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling party is urging 57 Islamic nations to build a joint army specifically to attack Israel, notes a new report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

The Middle East Media Research Institute reports the article appeared on the paper’s website under the title “What If an Army of Islam Was Formed against Israel?” . . .

The article notes, MEMRI said, “that such a joint army will greatly exceed the Israeli army in manpower, equipment and budget, and presents statistics to prove this.”

“It also advocates establishing joint bases for the army’s ground, air and naval forces that will arrive from all over the Muslim world to besiege Israel, while noting that Pakistan, as the only nuclear country, has ‘a special status’ among the OIC countries,” the report said.

MEMRI explained that many of the major points in the newspaper article were “taken from the website of the Turkish SADAT International Defense and Consulting Company, which provides consultancy on defense and warfare, both conventional and unconventional, and on military organization, training and gear.” (Read more from “Muslim Countries Urged to Attack Israel” HERE)

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Alaska’s Population Declines for First Time in Decades

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Alaska’s population declined for the first time since the late 1980s, according to recent figures from Alaska’s Department of Labor and Workforce Development . . .

Figures show the state’s population decreased by 8,900 last year, the fifth year in a row of net migration losses, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported . . .

The Fairbanks North Star Borough’s population fell by 1,216 in 2017. The borough had a natural increase (birth rate) of 1,118 last year. But a decrease of 2,334 in net migration (in-migration minus out-migration) means the borough’s population decreased. (Read more from “Alaska’s Population Declines for First Time in Decades” HERE)

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