Heroic Teens Save Alleged Kidnap Victim Who Mouthed ‘Help Me’ From Car – Listen To The Dramatic 911 Audio

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Photo Credit: extranoise

Photo Credit: extranoise

Two Dallas-area teens were able to help save a woman who had allegedly been kidnapped by Charles Lewis, 37, after they witnesses her mouthing the words “help me” from the back of a moving car.

“Yes, I’m on the highway. I’m witnessing a robbery. Not a robbery, a kidnapping,” Aaron Arias, 19, told a 911 dispatcher. “It’s me and another guy. So we’re checking out the girl in the backseat because we’re like, ‘OK, she’s kind of attractive’, and then all of a sudden the guy is turned back, looking at us.”

Arias and Jamal Harris, 17, continued to follow the car while staying on the phone with the 911 dispatcher as the police raced to locate them.

Minutes after the teens made the call, police officers pulled over the vehicle and found the 25 year old alleged kidnap victim. Police arrested Lewis and charged him with aggravated kidnapping.

Listen to the 911 call:

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Parents Who Home-School Question Common Core’s Reach

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Photo Credit: FOXNEWS.COM

Photo Credit: FOXNEWS.COM

There are few things 9-year-old Rhett Ricardo relishes more than curling up on his family’s living room couch and delving into a novel, like “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea” – his imagination whirling as he reads the fantastical plot about a mysterious sea monster and a submarine, his mother says.

But Jill Finnerty Ricardo, of Dade City, Fla., who home-schools her three oldest children, has concerns about what is known as the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) – a national assessment standard adopted in 45 states that, among other objectives, seeks to balance out a perceived literature-heavy English curriculum with more non-fiction reading and writing, particularly informational text..

While the new standards, which purport to emphasize critical thinking and problem solving, are meant for public schools only, opponents say they will affect all children – including those who are home-schooled, especially when it comes to taking state standardized tests that are aligned with the Common Core.

It is up to each state whether home-schooled children must take standardized tests in grades three through eight, and once in high school. But all college-bound home-schooled students take the SAT, which is now being aligned with the new standards. The new head of the College Board, which is revamping the SAT, is David Coleman, the so-called architect of the Common Core.

“We home-school our kids to make sure we can support and encourage their individual interests, gifts and talents,” said 42-year-old Finnerty Ricardo, who holds degrees in marketing, public relations and biology.

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Doctors Tell Mom to Abort “Brain Dead” Baby, Mom Sues After Delivering Healthy Child

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Photo Credit: LifeNews

Photo Credit: LifeNews

A mother in England is filing suit against a hospital where doctors told her she should have an abortion of her supposedly “brain dead” unborn baby. Sarah Hagan is now suing City Hospitals Sunderland after giving birth to a healthy child.

Hagan says that, after a 24-week ultrasound scan of her unborn baby, doctors told her that her son Aaron was “brain dead,” had just one eye and no chance of survival.

The mother of two says physicians advised her to take an abortion drug, even though the mifepristone abortion pill is only authorized to be used to destroy the life of an unborn baby much earlier in pregnancy.

When the abortion drug didn’t work, another doctor informed Hagan her baby needed to be delivered immediately and she gave birth to Aaron, who was born at 1lb 7oz with both eyes and healthy other than the fact that he was born prematurely — which has left him with chronic lung problems he wouldn’t have had otherwise. Now Aaron is 15 months old and Hagan is taking legal action.

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New Mexico Outhouse Labeled ‘Obama’s Presidential Library’ Causing Controversy

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Photo Credit: opposing views

Photo Credit: opposing views

A sign on top of an outhouse in New Mexico is causing controversy and discussion around town. The outhouse, which is located in the town of Tucumcari, is actually “Obama’s Presidential Library,” according to its label. Residents of Tucumcari, which is located right off of historic Route 66, are split about whether the sign is a deft political statement or simply an example of bad taste.

The man who built the outhouse and put up the sign won’t reveal his identity and he also won’t be taking down the Obama-bashing bathroom anytime soon, KOAT reported.

“It’s like watching TV. If you don’t like what the hell you’re watching, turn the channel,” said the man who put up the sign. “I’m not even certain he even deserves that level of respect, but that’s my opinion.”

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Video: Terrorists Launch Rocket Attack at Commercial Ship in Suez Canal

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suezAn Islamist terror group has taken responsibility for a Saturday rocket propelled grenade (RPG) attack on a merchant ship transiting the Suez Canal, USNI News has learned.

A video posted on YouTube Wednesday — alleged to have been issued by the group Al-Furqan along with a letter of responsibility — show two men with rocket propelled grenades fire at least one RPG round into the side of a cargo ship bearing the markings of the Chinese merchant shipper Cosco.

Previous press reports said the ship in the Saturday incident was the Panamanian flagged cargo ship, Cosco Asia.

The Wednesday letter — according to a rough translation provided to USNI News by industry sources — said the group supported the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, called for an end to democracy and promised future more severe action against ships in the Suez canal.

The group claimed it was, “targeting the international shipping waterway which has become a safe route for crusader aircraft carriers travelling to attack Muslims, and a trade artery for infidel and tyrannical states,” in a separate translation in a Thursday report from news service Ahram Online.

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TINY TOWN A THREAT? Chicken, Alaska Focus of Armed Task Force Raid

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Photo Credit: Dave Bezaire & Susi Havens-Bezaire

Photo Credit: Dave Bezaire & Susi Havens-Bezaire

Some miners in Alaska want the feds to start digging for answers.

A task force including members of 10 state and federal law enforcement agencies descended on a gold mine in the tiny town of Chicken (pop. 17) last month, in what locals described as a raid.

“Imagine coming up to your diggings, only to see agents swarming over it like ants, wearing full body armor, with jackets that say “POLICE” emblazoned on them, and all packing side arms,” gold miner C.R. Hammond told the Alaska Dispatch. “How would you have felt? You would be wondering, ‘My God, what have I done now?”

A spokesman for the federal Environmental Protection Agency did not deny that agents wore body armor and carried guns, but said it was not a “raid.”

“The ongoing investigation conducted by the AK Environmental Crimes Task Force — consisting of EPA, ADEC, USFWS, ADFG, BLM, Coast Guard, FBI, Alaska State Troopers, NOAA, & US Park Service — did not result in a raid,” the statement read. “The Task Force members involved in the investigation during the week of August 19, 2013, were EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division & Bureau of Land Management’s Office of Law Enforcement & Security, in cooperation with ADEC’s Environmental Crimes Unit.”

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Instant Lame-Duck? – Obama on Verge of Historic Rebuke Over Syria

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Photo Credit: NDTV

Photo Credit: NDTV

President Barack Obama appears to be dangerously close to what would be an historic rebuke at the hands of Congress, if the current whip-count projections on the authorization to attack Syria continue to hold.

Pundits on both sides of the aisle say losing the high-stakes bid for congressional authorization would make Obama an instant lame-duck, and might well endanger his entire second-term agenda.

The resolution authorizing an attack on Syrian strongman Bashar Assad, as punishment for his use of chemical weapons against his own people, is still expected to pass the Democratic-controlled Senate.

But the real question mark all along has been whether the administration could muster enough support to get the attack resolution through the House. And there, the situation for the administration appears to be growing dimmer by the hour.

Various news organizations are contacting members of Congress to see where they stand on the attack authorization. While each outlet has different numbers, the ominous sign for the administration is that all of them show the “no” votes outpacing the “yes” votes by a more than a 3-1 margin.

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SC Gov. Nikki Haley Makes a Candid Facebook Confession… and Gets Attacked For It

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South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley received a massive public response, and criticism from the state’s Democrats, after posting on Facebook that she locked herself out of the governor’s mansion Wednesday morning wearing a robe.

“What not to do…getting locked out of the Governor’s mansion in your robe while sending the kids off to school. Sigh…” Haley wrote on her Facebook page Wednesday morning, adding the hashtag, “#adayinthelife.”

Photo Credit: Facebook screen shot

Photo Credit: Facebook screen shot

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Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Posts Obamacare Rates (+video)

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Photo Credit: altheadlines

Photo Credit: altheadlines

North Carolinians got their first look Thursday at the potential cost of getting health insurance under the federal Affordable Care Act – more commonly referred to as Obamacare.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina posted proposed premiums on its website Thursday morning. Rates range from a low of $145 to a high of $947 per month depending on the age of the customer and the level of coverage wanted.

“Health reform is complicated, and it affects everyone differently. We want to help North Carolina consumers understand how they will be affected and provide information to support them in making the best decision for their personal situation,” said Barbara Morales Burke of BCBSNC in a news release.

Blue Cross said it plans to offer 26 different coverage plans.

The N.C. Department of Insurance has given health insurers until the beginning of October to post rate information. Nationally, starting Oct. 1, those who don’t have health care coverage on the job can go to online insurance markets – also called exchanges – in their states to shop for a private plan and find out if they qualify for a tax credit. An estimated 4 out 5 consumers in the new markets will be eligible for some level of tax credit.

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Putin calls Kerry a Liar on Syria

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Things aren’t exactly warming up between the Obama administration and Vladimir Putin, even as President Obama arrived in St. Petersburg for the G-20 summit.

Putin called Obama Secretary of State John Kerry a liar over Kerry’s testimony this week before Congress.

The question may be al-Qaeda’s influence on the Syrian rebels, an issue Kerry has downplayed.

Speaking to his human rights council Wednesday, Putin said, “This was very unpleasant and surprising for me. We talk to them (the Americans), and we assume they are decent people, but he is lying and he knows that he is lying. This is sad.”

Putin has criticized Obama administration claims that Bashar Assad’s government attacked the rebels with chemical weapons.

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