Amazing: How a Mother Gets Closure Five Years After Daughter is Raped and Murdered [+video]

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By Hailey Winslow. The home where Somer Thompson was killed 5 years ago was burned to the ground Thursday afternoon. Officially, it was done for firefighter training, but it also helped the victim’s mother and her community gain another bit of closure by eliminating a permanent reminder of the tragedy.

Small fires were started and extinguished in the Gano Avenue house all morning while firefighters with the Orange Park, Clay County and NAS Jacksonville fire departments conducted training. About 1:10 p.m., the murdered girl’s mother joined firefighters, setting the house on fire.

“I get to burn their house down,” Diena Thompson said. “I am the big bad wolf this time, knocking down your door.”

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A round of cheers went up when smoke started pouring from the windows of the burning house, and again when flames became visible about 10 minutes later . . .

Seven-year-old Somer disappeared in 2009 while walking home from school. The Clay County Sheriff’s Office said she was kidnapped, raped and suffocated inside the home before her body was found in a Georgia landfill days later. (Read more from “A Mother Gets Closure After Burning Murderer’s House Down” HERE)

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Man Pleads Guilty in the Murder of Somer Thompson

By Fox News. A man pleaded guilty in the abduction and slaying of a 7-year-old Florida girl who was found in a landfill.

Jarred Harrell, 26, was sentenced to life in prison. Somer Thompson, a second-grader, disappeared Oct. 19, 2009, while walking home from Grove Park Elementary School. She was with her sister and some friends, but ran ahead of them after they had a spat. Two days later, she was discovered in the landfill.

Dozens of Somer’s family and friends sat in the courtroom for the hearing, wearing shades of purple — the little girl’s favorite color. So many people, including law enforcement, attended the hearing that officials opened an overflow room.

Harrell wasn’t arrested until about three months after Somer’s death. Initially, authorities interviewed convicted sex offenders within a 5-mile radius of Somer’s suburban north Florida home, but didn’t come up with any substantial leads.

On a hunch, they tailed nine garbage trucks from Somer’s neighborhood to the landfill and picked through the trash as each rig spilled its load. They sorted through more than 225 tons of garbage before they spotted her legs sticking out of the garbage. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Democrat Congresswoman to Colleagues: ‘Man Up’ and Strip Military Benefits

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By Brendan McGarry. A U.S. congresswoman implored her colleagues to “man up” and accept the recommendations from a blue-ribbon panel to overhaul military benefits.

Rep. Jackie Speier, a Democrat from California and a member of the House Armed Services Committee, praised the recent work of the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission. The panel called for offering troops 401(k)-like retirement plans and military families a choice of commercial health insurance plans in lieu of Tricare, among other proposals.

“We’ve just now have got to inject a little guts into all of us to do the right thing,” she said Wednesday during a hearing of the committee’s military personnel subcommittee, which received testimony from commission members.

The hearing was the latest in what will be a series of debates on Capitol Hill over the future of military compensation. Members of the congressionally mandated panel have said their 15 recommendations were designed to give troops, military families and retirees more benefits choices while saving the Pentagon an estimated $12 billion a year in personnel costs by 2040. (Read more about the congresswoman telling colleagues to strip military benefits HERE)

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Wounded Warrior Abused by Doctor and Social Worker

By Richard Sisk. A soldier currently at the Fort Carson, Colo., Warrior Transition Unit (WTU) suffered mistreatment by a doctor and a social worker for several months last year, an Army investigation concluded.

The soldier was mistreated at the Embedded Behavioral Health clinic while he was assigned to 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment before he joined Fort Carson’s WTU.

The fact-finding investigation under Article 15-6 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice found that the two heath care providers engaged in “problematic encounters” with the soldier between February and May of 2014, the Army said.

At a roundtable session with Pentagon reporters Friday, Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Patricia Horoho said that the doctor and the social worker “showed a lack of dignity and respect to one soldier” and had been disciplined. (Read more from this story HERE)

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If You’re a Fan of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’, Please Seek Counseling

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I struggled with whether to write this. It seems like a foregone conclusion at this point that “Fifty Shades of Grey” will be a massive hit at the box office. There’s probably nothing anyone can say to change that; the hand wringing only serves to promote the film even more.

The thing exists, after all, purely to make money and engender controversy because it’s making money and then make more money off of the controversy it engendered. It has us cornered. If we complain about it, we’re doing exactly what they want us to do.

It’s not like anyone involved in producing this smoldering pile of cinematic sewage would necessarily disagree with the criticisms anyway. They know what they’ve done. It’s not as though they thought the story was remotely compelling or substantive. It wasn’t like when Francis Ford Copolla first read “The Godfather” and knew it was an epic tale destined to become one of the greatest cinematic achievements of all time.

I imagine whoever first cooked up the idea to make a “Fifty Shades” movie probably didn’t even read it. They kind of got the gist and thought, “eh, it’s garbage but it’ll probably make a billion dollars because we can vomit just about anything into the trough and Americans will come in droves to devour it.”

So before we even get to the content itself — rancid as it is — we already know that the film is cynical and worthless, and, as I’ve previously discussed, born purely out of a desire to bilk sexually frustrated suburban soccer moms out of their disposable income. It has no other purpose. It serves no other function. It is an empty vessel (well, a vessel filled with leather whips and ball gags, but empty besides that). It’s not art, and anyone who pays to see it is degrading themselves — and I’m not even talking about the bondage and the glamorized rape yet. (Read more about the review of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ HERE)

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New Studies Show Cohabitating Before Marriage is a Very Bad Idea [+video]

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Photo Credit: The Daily Signal More young adults are opting to cohabit rather than marry or to delay marriage for financial reasons, such as debt, according to a recent study published in Demography. However, National Marriage Week presents a good opportunity to review how rigorous, long-term studies have measured the substantial impact of marriage on financial stability, as well as relationship longevity and health outcomes. . .

•Even after marrying, women who cohabitated prior to marriage are more apt to separate or divorce than those who did not. One study demonstrated that for women who lived with their partners before marriage, it was 33 percent more likely for their marriages to result in separation or divorce.

•Men who cohabit tend to make less money than their married counterparts. Married men tend to make more money than their unmarried guy friends, according to a study based on the 1990 U.S. Census. Once husbands and wives reach pre-retirement age, another study found never-married cohabiters had less wealth than married couples—78 percent less. . .

•Cohabiting couples report more depression and more alcohol problems than married couples. Even when controlling for race, age and gender, cohabiting individuals reported higher levels of depression than married ones, 2.8 points according to one study. In another study, cohabiting individuals were three times more likely to report having problems with alcohol consumption than those who were married, as well as 25 percent more problems than single people who did not cohabit.

(Read more from the new studies showing cohabitating before marriage is a bad idea HERE)

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Colorado Taxpayers Forced to Send $14 Million to Planned Parenthood

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By Sarah Zagorski. Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has filed their opening brief in an appeal of a trial court’s decision that upheld the state’s alleged misuse of more than $14 million in taxpayer dollars. ADF, former Governor Bill Owen and former Senate candidate Jane Norton, filed the lawsuit against Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains because they violated the state constitution by using state funding to go to their abortion business.

Michael Norton, from ADF’s Senior Counsel said the following about the appeal: “No one is above the law, including Colorado politicians who are violating our state’s constitution by continuing to fund Planned Parenthood’s abortion activities with state taxpayer dollars. The state acknowledges that about $1.4 million of state taxpayer money flowed from state government agencies through Planned Parenthood to its abortion affiliate. The lower court seems to have agreed with that but dismissed the case on a technicality.”

Natalie Decker, ADF legal counsel and co-counsel in the case also said, “Colorado bureaucrats should not use taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions, especially when the Colorado Constitution prohibits it. The lower court should not have dismissed this case on a technicality since it agreed that $14 million of taxpayer funds flowed from state government agencies to Planned Parenthood and its abortion affiliate, presumptively in violation of the state constitution.” (Read more about the Colorado taxpayers being forced to send millions to Planned Parenthood HERE)

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Students Raise Money for Planned Parenthood Abortion Biz With Anonymous “Condomgrams”

By Sarah Zagorski. Apparently around Valentines Day, Planned Parenthood in New York sells condoms with candy at Columbia University and calls their volunteers, “condomgram fairies.” Students can purchase the condomgrams for $2 and have them delivered anywhere on campus.

Melissa Quintana, a junior at Columbia and a member of the student Democrats, said the condomgrams could even be send to TA’s anonymously. She said, “Basically we get a condom, a blow-pop, extremely suggestive as it sounds, and miscellaneous candies and we make a Valentine-gram out of them and we deliver them on Valentine’s Day.”

In an interview with Campus Reform she shared more about their fundraising efforts: “Basically we get a condom, a blow-pop, extremely suggestive as it sounds, and miscellaneous candies and we make a Valentine-gram out of them and we deliver them on Valentine’s Day. And all proceeds, like everything that we make we put forth the money for materials, we donate it to Planned Parenthood, which we think is a fantastic cause that not only promotes just access to health care in general for women and men, but just reproductive justice in general which we think is an amazing cause and something that we believe in really heavily as well.”

On Wednesday, the College Democrats were tabling in a student center and encouraged students to include a “fun, activist pick-up line” with their condomgrams, such as “hey girl, how about this Valentine’s I make you a sandwich,” or “together we can be the 100 percent.”

Additionally, the students pass out literature and information on Planned Parenthood, especially in regards to the abortion giant’s push for mandatory sexual education for students K-12. “It’s a really cool initiative that Planned Parenthood is doing and we’re encouraging people with a cool photo campaign,” said Quintana. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Flight Service Has Been Cut Off for Three Weeks to Alaskan Village

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The only flight service to a remote Alaska island village has been cut off for three weeks because a designated helicopter was sidelined by maintenance work.

Oregon-based Erickson Aviation spokeswoman Susie Elliott says service to Alaska’s Little Diomede Island is expected to resume Saturday. The last flight to the tiny community of Diomede was Jan. 22.

Company officials say the helicopter was in Anchorage for maintenance when extensive problems were discovered on the aircraft. Elliott says a backup helicopter also had maintenance issues. (Read more about the flight service being cut off to the Alaskan village HERE)

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Governor John Kitzhaber Announces His Resignation

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Photo Credit: Oregon LiveBy Beth Nakamura. Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber resigned effective Wednesday, Feb. 18, in a letter submitted to Secretary of State Kate Brown.

“I am announcing today that I will resign as Governor of the State of Oregon,” he wrote in a statement released just after noon Friday . . .

In just four months, a public corruption scandal involving Kitzhaber and his fiancee, Cylvia Hayes, has hobbled one of Oregon’s most durable politicians. Kitzhaber, a public official for 37 years, was sworn in for a historic fourth term as governor just a month ago. Facing not only a state criminal investigation and an ethics review, Kitzhaber watched his support from fellow veteran lawmakers crumble this week.

The governor’s resignation does not end either the criminal investigation or ethics review. (Read more about Governor John Kitzhaber announcing his resignation HERE)

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Oregon Governor Agrees to Resign but Says He “Broke No Laws”

By Jonathan J. Cooper. Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber resigned Friday, giving in to mounting pressure to abandon his office amid suspicions that his fiancee used her relationship with him to land contracts for her green-energy consulting business.

In a lengthy statement, the state’s longest-serving chief executive insisted he broke no laws. He said the resignation would be effective Wednesday.

“Nonetheless, I understand that I have become a liability to the very institutions and policies to which I have dedicated my career and, indeed, my entire adult life,” he said.

The decision capped a wild week in which Kitzhaber seemed poised to step down, then changed his mind, but ultimately bowed to calls from legislative leaders that he quit the state’s top elected position.

The announcement is a stunning fall from grace for a politician who left the governor’s office in 2003 and then mounted a comeback in 2010 and won back his old job. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Democratic Leaders Abandon Oregon Governor

By Hannah Hoffman. Kitzhaber is under criminal investigation by Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum’s office for the role his fiancee, Cylvia Hayes, has held in his office and whether she used that role to obtain private consulting work.

He appears to be the first Oregon governor to face an AG investigation. He is also under review by the Oregon Government Ethics Commission, although it is on hold until Rosenblum completes her work.

Calls for his resignation have mounted as new allegations against him and Hayes have come to light.

Democratic leaders officially asked Kitzhaber to step down on Thursday. They originally thought he planned to do it Wednesday, but he apparently changed his mind that afternoon. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Expert: Illegal Aliens Now Able to Vote in US Elections Due to Obama’s Illegal Amnesty

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By Stephen Dinan. President Obama’s temporary deportation amnesty will make it easier for illegal immigrants to improperly register and vote in elections, state elections officials testified to Congress on Thursday, saying that the driver’s licenses and Social Security numbers they will be granted create a major voting loophole.

While stressing that it remains illegal for noncitizens to vote, secretaries of state from Ohio and Kansas said they won’t have the tools to sniff out illegal immigrants who register anyway, ignoring stiff penalties to fill out the registration forms that are easily available at shopping malls, motor vehicle bureaus and in curbside registration drives.

Anyone registering to vote attests that he or she is a citizen, but Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted said mass registration drives often aren’t able to give due attention to that part, and so illegal immigrants will still get through.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris W. Kobach said even some motor vehicle bureau workers automatically ask customers if they want to register to vote, which some noncitizens in the past have cited as their reason for breaking the law to register.

“It’s a guarantee it will happen,” Mr. Kobach said. (Read more about the illegal amnesty HERE)

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Illegal Alien Caught Sneaking into United States with “Obama” Shirt

By Michelle Moons. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) sees people from around the world attempting to cross into the U.S. illegally–and San Diego is no exception. Apprehensions of illegal aliens from countries other than Mexico surged last October, including foreign nationals from Ebola-affected countries, according to a source within CBP that spoke on condition of anonymity. One of those caught at the time sported a shirt that bore the name “Obama,” as shown in the above photo.

The men pictured were taken into custody during a massive influx of illegal aliens coming from Africa through San Diego’s San Ysidro Port of Entry during October 2014. The foreign nationals flooding the border crossing were turning themselves in, claiming “credible fear” in pursuit of political asylum, the source told Breitbart California. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Teacher Passes Out Pornographic Fifty Shades of Grey Puzzle to Middle School Students

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Photo Credit: WTAEBy Bob Hazen. At least five students at a Westmoreland County middle school were given word puzzles based on the erotic novel and movie “Fifty Shades of Grey” this week, and school district officials said they are investigating how it happened.

James Carter said the word search, filled with explicit sexual terms, was passed out Monday to his son and other students in his eighth-grade class at Monessen Middle School.

“I asked my son who passed it out, and he said the teacher passed it out,” Carter told said. “I don’t think this is what they should be doing in the eighth-grade level” . . .

At a school board meeting Tuesday night, Monessen City School District officials said they could not comment on who gave the puzzles to students, citing personnel issues. (Read more about the Fifty Shades of Grey puzzle given to Monessen middle school students HERE)

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Fifty Shades Of Grey Premiere: Domestic Abuse Campaigners Protest on Film’s Opening Night

By Danny Walker and Nina Massey. Domestic abuse campaigners have turned out to protest at the London premiere of Fifty Shades of Grey.

Stars of the film, which is based on books by E.L James, are walking the red carpet ahead of its release on Valentine’s Day.

But protesters have also turned out to call on the public to consider whether they should endorse the movie.

One campaigner held up a sign which read: “Some Ana’s don’t survive their Christians” . . .

“50 Shades is domestic abuse,” another sign said. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Florida Mother Dies After Choosing to Save Unborn Son

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Photo Credit: Fox 4 News By Fox 4 News. A 34-year-old woman suffering from a life threatening condition died last week after giving birth to her fourth child.

Suzanne Mazzola, a special education teacher from Tamarac, suffered from placenta accreta, a rare condition that causes the blood vessels in the placenta to attach too deeply to the uterine wall causing severe bleeding.

Mazzola knew that carrying her unborn son, Owen, 35 weeks could potentially endanger her life. But, she made a brave decision to carry the baby to term, increasing his chances of survival.

After delivering her healthy baby boy via Cesarean Section, Mazzola began to hemorrhage. A team of 15 doctors rushed her to emergency surgery. But, despite their efforts, they were unable to save her. (Read more about how the Florida mother dies HERE)

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Woman Pleads Guilty in the Murder of 6 Six Babies

By Steven Ertelt. Megan Huntsman, the Utah mother charged with six counts of first-degree felony murder in the smothering/strangling deaths of six newborn babies, today pleaded guilty to killing each of those babies.

Charged with six counts of first-degree murder, the 39-year-old Huntsman has been held in Utah County Jail since April 13. Bail for Huntsman was set at $6 million.

According to police, the deaths occurred between January 1, 1996 and December 31, 2006. How Huntsman kept the murders of all these children a secret remains a mystery, but their deaths came to light in April when Darren West, her estranged husband, went to their Pleasant Grove home to retrieve some belongings.

Inside the garage, Miller wrote: West found the remains of a baby wrapped in plastic bags and a green towel and stuffed into a white box, sealed with electrical tape. Alerted to the grisly discovery, police later found six more infant corpses similarly stored inside other boxes.

Huntsman allegedly told investigators that she had killed six of the infants, while a seventh child was stillborn. (Read more from this story HERE)

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