14-Year-Old Risks Life to Save Man, Dog in Fire

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Photo Credit: WNDA brave Bay Area boy is being called a hero after risking his life to pull a disabled man and his dog from a burning building. He ignored the danger and a Fairfield man is alive tonight because he did.

Latrell McCockran and his friend, Isaiah Taylor, were enjoying their first weekend of summer vacation when Isaiah’s mom, Rhonda Evans, came running in.

“And I said, ‘Get here, it’s a fire! It’s a fire! Get here now, it’s a fire!” Evans said.

McCockran, a 14-year-old student at Fairfield’s Golden Hills High School, grabbed a fire extinguisher and ran to the apartment of his disabled neighbor.

“I saw the guy kind of stumble and it was like, ‘he’s out of it, he’s been breathing in all the smoke inhalation,'” McCockran said.

Read more from this story HERE.

Presbyterian Assembly: Gay Marriage Is Christian

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Photo Credit: PargonThe top legislative body of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has voted by large margins to recognize same-sex marriage as Christian in the church constitution, adding language that marriage can be the union of “two people,” not just “a man and a woman.”

The amendment approved Thursday by the Presbyterian General Assembly requires approval from a majority of the 172 regional presbyteries, which will vote on the change over the next year. But in a separate policy change that takes effect at the end of this week’s meeting, delegates voted to allow ministers to preside at gay weddings in states where the unions are legal and local congregational leaders approve. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia recognize same-sex marriage.

The votes, during a national meeting in Detroit, were a sweeping victory for Presbyterian gay-rights advocates. The denomination in 2011 eliminated barriers to ordaining clergy with same-sex partners, but ministers were still barred from celebrating gay marriages and risked church penalties for doing so. Alex McNeill, executive director of More Light Presbyterians, a gay advocacy group, said the amendment was “an answer to many prayers.”

The Rev. Krystin Granberg of the New York Presbytery — in a state that recognizes gay marriage — said she receives requests “all the time” from friends and parishioners to preside at their weddings.

“They want to be married in the church they love and they want me to do it,” Granberg said during the debate. “I want pastoral relief.”

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Horowitz: Fight for GOP Has Just Begun

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Photo Credit: APThe defeat of Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) last week was unparalleled in modern electoral history. Dave Brat, a man with almost no campaign, yet a powerful message, crushed the sitting majority leader while being outspent 42 to 1.

And even while the political carcass of Eric Cantor was still warm, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) – Cantor’s next-in-line as whip and a man who share’s the Virginian’s ideological profile – sewed up the nomination for Majority Leader.

McCarthy is generally regarded as a political animal: a shrewd operator without any particular loyalty to any of the ideological factions of the House GOP conference. On immigration, the issue that dominated the debate in the Brat-Cantor race, McCarthy shares Cantor’s support to grant amnesty to illegal aliens brought into the U.S. as minors if they enlist in the military, and is seen by the tech sector as a champion of increasing high-skill visas.

Yet, even with regards to politics, he was widely criticized for signing off on a redistricting plan for California that helped defeat six fellow Republicans. And he’s faced complaints about his whip operation during a tumultuous four years since the Tea Party wave of 2010 swept Republicans into control of the House.

House GOP leadership, anxious to return stability after Cantor’s shocking defeat, ordered the election for the vacant Majority Leader slot about as quickly as feasible. During the one week campaign, McCarthy was never forced to vouch for his position on immigration, especially in light of Cantor’s defeat. He never publicly forged a visionary plan for how he will deliver on the change in direction demanded by the party rank-and-file. He never explained how he plans to use the power of the purse manifest in the House to prevent a lawless president from fully shredding the Constitution in his last two years.

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Sen. Cruz Files S. 2510 to Prohibit Guantanamo Transfers Until Administration Justifies Release of ‘Taliban 5’

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Photo Credit: APU.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, with original co-sponsors Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-New Hampshire, and Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, has filed legislation to temporarily halt further transfers or releases for detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Following the controversial prisoner swap the Obama Administration made earlier this month, resulting in the release of the Taliban 5 terrorists, further releases should be off the table until President Obama can explain how this swap was in the United States’ national security interests.

“Americans need to know how the Obama Administration thinks it has made our nation safer by negotiating with terrorists to release these five dangerous terrorist leaders,” Sen. Cruz said. “Until President Obama can make his case and convince the American public that this swap was in our national interest, prudence dictates that all further transfers and releases from Guantanamo Bay should be off the table.”

“With 29 percent of former Guantanamo detainees returning or being suspected of returning, to terrorism, the administration should not release or transfer Guantanamo detainees who could potentially return to the battlefield. The security of the American people, not a political promise to close Guantanamo Bay, should guide decisions regarding detainees,” said Sen. Ayotte. “Our common sense legislation would suspend the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to other countries until Congress can get more answers regarding the recent transfer of the Taliban Five. We need to better understand the risks associated with this transfer—including the likelihood they will return to terrorism and whether this transfer will encourage the Taliban and terrorist groups around the world to capture U.S. personnel in order to obtain concessions from our country.”

“The dangerous terrorists housed at Guantanamo Bay pose the same serious threat they always have,” Sen. Roberts said. “For this President to release five of the worst al Qaeda affiliates at the same time that terrorists are taking charge in Iraq is a dangerous game I am not willing to play. I don’t know why the President does not feel the same desire to protect our national security.”

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‘They Are Being Totally Intolerant’: Ben Carson Defends Biblical Definition of Marriage

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Photo Credit: AP / The Herald-Palladium, Jody WarnerRetired pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson has freely shared his theological views since his bold 2013 National Prayer Breakfast speech catapulted him onto the national stage — and in a recent interview he affirmed his support for the biblical definition of marriage, encouraging Christians to stand up against “intolerance.”

When asked how Christians can “show God’s love to the gay community without compromising God’s word,” Carson, an outspoken Christian, told Charisma News that he believes consenting adults should be able to do whatever they want, but that the definition of marriage shouldn’t change.

“If they want to have [a] legal relationship so that they can have visitation rights and property transfer, I don’t have a problem with that,” he said. “What I do have a problem with is changing the definition of marriage. This is established by human history of thousands of years.”

Carson went on to note that, in the Bible, God compares marriage to the relationship that the Almighty has with the church, arguing that the definition of matrimony is extremely important and shouldn’t be amended so lightly.

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The White House is Incompetent and the Dumping of Illegals is Intentional (+video)

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Photo Credit: AP By Rusty Humphries.

“The White House is incompetent and the dumping of illegals is intentional.”

Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio takes the dumping of illegal aliens in his Maricopa County as an “affront” because Arizona has been a high-profile critic of federal immigration policy, and Arpaio has been “like the poster boy” for slamming the Justice Department and the White House.

He doubts the massive wave of illegals, many of them unaccompanied minors, is a result of mere administration ineptitude.

“I got my own theory,” he said. “I think the White House sometimes is incompetent, but I can’t imagine them doing this without realizing that there was going to be controversy.”

Arpaio thinks President Obama is deliberately courting that controversy because the current crisis on the border gives him a chance to issue more executive orders, or prod Congress into passing immigration reforms that suit the president’s taste.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Michelle Obama Tells the Congress ‘It’s Unacceptable’ To End My School Lunch Program

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Photo Credit: Ij Review House Republicans are trying to end Michelle Obama’s school lunch initative and the First Lady’s not happy about it.

She used a White House event on Tuesday to rally opposition to a bill passed by a House subcommittee that would allow districts to suspend the program.

From Fox News:

Seeing her nutritional standards under threat, the first lady hosted a discussion with school leaders on Tuesday afternoon at the White House where she ripped efforts to roll back those guidelines.

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Administration to Announce More Benefits for Same-Sex Couples

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Photo Credit: Reuters The White House is set to announce the extension of more benefits to same-sex married couples Friday, including plans to give workers across America leave from work to care for same-sex spouses.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Obama administration will urge Congress to pass legislation to make certain provisions like Social Security benefits to apply to same-sex married couples.

Friday’s announcement will arrive at the end of a nearly yearlong review of federal regulations after the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, which denied benefits to legally married gay couples.

After the ruling, President Obama directed Attorney General Eric Holder to work with the cabinet to review relevant status.

Read more from this story HERE.

Maj. Gen Vallely: Saddam’s Right-Hand Man Is ISIS Ringleader

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Photo Credit: Interdependent By Bill Hoffmann.

A ruthless ally of Saddam Hussein is one of the top ringleaders involved in the violent overtaking of key cities in Iraq by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely has revealed.

“In the past 24 hours, the attacks coming out of eastern Syria and down toward Baghdad have all been conducted by Gen. Ibrahim al-Douri,” Vallely told “The Steve Malzberg Show” on Newsmax TV.

“He was the right hand man of Saddam Hussein. If you remember the conference tables in Saddam’s offices, al-Douri was the guy with the beret and the mustache and the red hair.”

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: APNancy Pelosi: Obama Doesn’t Need Approval for Iraq Airstrikes

By Todd Beamon.

President Barack Obama does not need approval from Congress to begin airstrikes to stem the Iraqi crisis, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday.

“The president does not need any additional congressional authority to act upon measures for our national security,” the California Democrat said, Politico reports.

She added that she, like Obama, did not support putting “boots on the ground.”

“Generally speaking, I think that you have to be careful about sending special forces, because it’s a number that has a tendency to grow, because I would like to see the context, purpose, timeline and the rest for anything like that,” Pelosi told Politico.

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Is America Over?

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Photo Credit: National Review Recently, my 91-year-old father-in-law and I were talking about the dire state of our nation, and he said, “I am sure glad I will not be around to see the end.”

My father-in-law is a great American patriot, who, as an Albanian immigrant, was processed through Ellis Island at the age of six. He often says the greatest gifts of his life were his family, his Catholic faith, and the opportunity to be American. In World War II, he was an engineer stationed at the Washington Navy Yard, where he worked on electronic circuitry for mines and torpedoes. After the war, he was recruited by the CIA. During several tumultuous decades he was a field operative fighting the Cold War in Europe, and then Vietnam and Laos. At his 90th-birthday party, he expressed utter astonishment that he had reached that milestone, given how many times he had cheated death during his career.

Considering his life experience, I was shaken to the core by his gratitude at the prospect of “not seeing the end” of America — not because I was surprised he said it, but because I totally agree that “the end” is coming and that my husband and I probably will be around to see it.

We are dismayed at the increasing secularization of a nation founded on Judeo-Christian principles, coupled with political, social, cultural, economic, moral, spiritual, and infrastructure decline everywhere we turn. During the 2012 presidential election, there was much discussion among Republicans to the effect that if Obama won reelection it would signal “the end of our nation as we know it.” The theory was that our nation would not be able to withstand another four years of President Obama’s “transforming” policies. The biggest fear of all was that, since his name would never again be on the ballot, Obama would be empowered to do whatever the heck he wanted.

Read more from this story HERE.