Teen Worker at Gosnell Abortion Clinic: “They Looked Like Babies”

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Photo Credit: LifeNews

By Steven Ertelt. Testimony has concluded for the week in the murder trial of abortion practitioner Kermit Gosnell. But, late Thursday, members of the jury heard from a teenage girl who found an odd work-study program at his clinic.

Ashley Baldwin, a 15-year-old sophomore at University City High School, found herself employed at Gosnell’s abortion clinic and, despite no medical license or training, working alongside him performing gruesome late-term abortions.

From an AP report on the testimony:

Baldwin landed the job because her mother already worked there.

She was paid, and in no time went from answering phones to doing ultrasounds, administering intravenous medicine, and, ultimately, assisting in abortions performed by her mentor, Kermit Gosnell.

Now 22 and the mother of a 2-year-old son, Baldwin on Thursday told a Philadelphia Common Pleas Court jury hearing Gosnell’s murder trial of her unusual hands-on medical apprenticeship. Read more from this story HERE.

Shocking Photo Shows Empty Media Benches at Kermit Gosnell Trial

By Steven Ertelt. A shocking photo of empty benches at the trial of abortion practitioner Kermit Gosnell is making the rounds today and it exemplifies the lack of media coverage and attention to the case.

The photo was featured on the religion blog Pathoes, which decried the lack of coverage and focus on the trial outside the pro-life and conservative communities. Mollie Hemingway summed up the lack of media attention this way:

I’ve been writing about media coverage of abortion for many years. And so have many others. If you haven’t read David Shaw’s “Abortion Bias Seeps Into The News,” published in the Los Angeles Times back in 1990, you should. That report also explains why we cover the topic here at GetReligion.

But the thing is that I’m getting kind of sick of pointing out egregious bias only to see things not just remain bad but get worse. Just think, in the last year, we saw the media drop any pretense of objectivity and bully the Susan G. Komen Foundation into funding Planned Parenthood. And then we had how many months of coverage focused on someone calling a birth control activist a bad name? And who can forget every pro-life person in the country being asked to respond to Todd Akin’s stupid remarks about rape?

So our abortion-drenched media would certainly want to cover what is arguably the country’s most horrific serial murder trial of abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, right? Well, far from the front-page, top of the news, daily update coverage you rightfully would expect, it’s been downplayed. Majorly downplayed. Read more from this story HERE.

Wikipedia Considers Deleting Entry Regarding Kermit Gosnell

By Steven Ertelt. Wikipedia, the online dictionary and research web site utilized by millions of people every day, is considering deleting the entry associated with Kermit Gosnell, the infamous abortion practitioner on trial for murder.

“This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedia’s deletion policy,” a Wikipedia headline reads in red at the top of the Gosnell entry. “Please share your thoughts on the matter at this article’s entry on the Articles for deletion page.”

The Wikipedia note instructs its web site editors, “Feel free to edit the article, but the article must not be blanked, and this notice must not be removed, until the discussion is closed.”

Wikipedia’s deletion policy includes 14 reasons for deletion ranging from “2.Copyright violations and other material violating Wikipedia’s non-free content criteria” to “9.Articles that breach Wikipedia’s policy on biographies of living persons” to articles about hoaxes.

One of the reasons “this article is being considered for deletion?” Read more from this story HERE.

Remington Opts to Stay in New York and Expand Operations After Getting $80m Gov't Contract

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Photo Credit: Guns Save Lives

This story seems to have managed to stay in the local NY media until now.

According to a report from Albany Watch, Despite concerns from local officials and residents that the Remington Arms plant in the Mohawk Valley could close or move because of New York’s tough gun-control law, the company is actually looking to expand its existing plant, the Associated Press reported, citing local media reports.

Local lawmakers apparently talked to Remington about its $20 million expansion. The company has received $5.5 million in state incentives over the past five years.

NY Congressman Richard Hanna released the following statement on his website:

UTICA, N.Y. – U.S. Representative Richard Hanna today announced that Remington Arms has been awarded a nearly $80 million contract to produce more than 5,000 sniper rifles for the U.S. military. The work will be done in Ilion by Mohawk Valley employees.

The federal contract comes from the Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), a division of the U.S. Department of Defense. The contract will be awarded over the course of 10 years.

Read more from this story HERE.

Story of American Diplomat's Death in Afghanistan Changes (+video)

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Photo Credit: The U.S. Army

State Department employee Anne Smedinghoff was killed in Afghanistan last weekend. At first reports suggested the young diplomat was part of an armed convoy that was bombed, but new reports say that she was actually on foot. And that the group she was with got lost on its way to deliver books.

ABC reported earlier in the week:

Afghan security officials told ABC News that the State Department convoy had just left its headquarters in Qalat and joined the convoy of the local provincial governor who was also headed to the school book giveaway.

That’s when two suicide attackers attacked the convoy. The security officials said there was an initial car bomb detonated by a remote device. Then a suicide bomber wearing a suicide vest appeared and caused more casualties.

Afghan sources say the school event had been announced a day in advance, which possibly allowed attackers enough time to plan the attack.

And here’s CBS’s report:

Read more from this story HERE.

Teacher Tells Fourth Graders to Write, 'I am Willing to Give up Some of my Constitutional Rights…to be Safer'

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Photo Credit: The Blaze

The words are written in crayon, in the haphazard bumpiness of a child’s scrawl.

“I am willing to give up some of my constitutional rights in order to be safer or more secure.”

They’re the words that Florida father Aaron Harvey was stunned to find his fourth-grade son had written, after a lesson in school about the Constitution.

Harvey’s son attends Cedar Hills Elementary in Jacksonville, Fla. Back in January, a local attorney came in to teach the students about the Bill of Rights. But after the attorney left, fourth-grade teacher Cheryl Sabb dictated the sentence to part of the class and had them copy it down, he said.

The paper sat unnoticed in Harvey’s son’s backpack for several months until last week, when his son’s mother almost threw it away. The words caught her eye in the trash, and she showed it to Harvey, who said he was at a loss for words. He asked his son, who said Sabb had spoken the sentence out loud and told them to write it down. Harvey said he asked some of his son’s classmates and got a similar answer.

Read more from this story HERE.

Transgender 'Woman' Banned From Idaho Store Over Use of Restroom

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Photo Credit: hunnnterrr

A transgender woman whose use of a women’s restroom in an Idaho grocery store reportedly upset other customers has been cited for trespassing and banned from the store for a year, police said on Friday.

A Rosauers supermarket in Lewiston asked police to charge 25-year-old Ally Robledo, who was born male but identifies as female, with the misdemeanor trespass charge on Monday, Lewiston Police Captain Roger Lanier said.

“The store security officer said he had been dealing with a problem over a couple days with the person going into the women’s restroom and urinating while standing up,” Lanier said. He added that the store had reported that Robledo’s use of the restroom made other female customers “very uncomfortable.”

Robledo said she was being discriminated against.

“I’m a female trapped in a man’s body. It’s natural for me to go to the ladies’ room. Getting the no trespassing order for a public restroom was really painful,” she said. The incident follows several cases that have stoked public debate about the boundaries of gender identity and the rights of transgender people to use accommodations such as restrooms in government buildings and businesses open to the public.

Read more from this story HERE.

Ants Can Sense Earthquakes a Day in Advance

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Photo Credit: sanchom

Ants know when an earthquake is about to strike, researchers have discovered. Their behavior changes significantly prior to the quake and they resume normal functioning only a day after it.

Gabriele Berberich of the University Duisburg-Essen in Germany presented these findings on Thursday at the European Geosciences Union annual meeting in Vienna according to LiveScience.

Berberich and her colleagues discovered that red wood ants preferred to build their colonies right along active faults in Germany. They counted 15,000 ant mounds lining the faults. These faults are fractures where the Earth violently ruptures in earthquakes.

Using a special camera mounted software that tracked changes in activity, Berberich and her colleagues tracked the ants round the clock for three years, 2009 to 2012. They found that the ants’ behavior changed only when the quake was over magnitude 2. There were 10 earthquakes between magnitude 2.0 and 3.2 during this period, and many smaller ones. Humans can also sense quakes of over magnitude 2 only.

Read more from this story HERE.

Politicizing Tragedy: Obama asks Newtown Mom to Deliver his Weekly Address

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Photo Credit: Reuters

President Barack Obama has asked a mother whose 6-year-old son was killed in the Newtown, Connecticut massacre to deliver his weekly radio address, an unusual move expected to turn up the pressure on Congress to pass tougher gun control laws.

Francine Wheeler, whose son Ben was one of the 26 people killed by a gunman at an elementary school on December 14, will deliver the Saturday radio address, White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

Obama brought families of the Newtown victims to Washington on Air Force One on Monday, and they have been meeting with senators to urge them to support new laws that, among other measures, would require more background checks for gun sales.

“He believes their voices and resolve have been critical to the continued progress we’ve seen in the Senate,” Carney said.

Vice President Joe Biden has occasionally delivered the weekly address, but the short message to Americans is traditionally given by the president himself.

Read more from this story HERE.

Paul Ryan Energizes Pro-Life Advocates with Speech Against Abortion

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Photo Credit: LifeNews

Last night, Wisconsin Congressman and former vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan energized pro-life advocates with a rousing speech against abortion that provided hope for ending the travesty someday.

In his speech at the Susan B. Anthony List gala, Ryan urged pro-lifers to be active in the battle to change hearts and minds — setting up political change down the road.

“Here’s my thinking: We need to articulate a vision — one that can attract a broad coalition,” Ryan said. “To advance the pro-life cause, we need to work with people who consider themselves pro-choice — because our task isn’t to purge our ranks. It’s to grow them.”

He urged pro-life advocates to never abandon the cause of life or accept and political truce on the issue of abortion and protecting unborn children under law.

“Our critics say we should abandon our pro-life beliefs. But that would only demoralize our voters,” he told the audience. “It’s an odd strategy, I think: the cynical ploy followed by the thumping defeat. Besides, you’re proving the critics wrong. You’re helping pro-life leaders win races across the country. You’re showing that “what convinces is conviction,” he will say.

Read more from this story HERE.

RNC OKs Anti-Homosexual Marriage Resolution

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Photo Credit: AP

With no debate, the Republican National Committee voted unanimously here Friday to reiterate the party’s opposition to gay marriage.

The push from social conservatives came after last month’s “autopsy” report called for more GOP outreach to gays and said the party must change its tone on the issue to appeal to younger voters.

Some party leaders were frustrated by the optics of passing such a resolution at a spring meeting in the heart of one of the country’s most gay-friendly enclaves, and there was a clear effort to avoid a public back-and-forth over the measure. The resolutions committee passed it during a private Wednesday session that was closed to the press.

The language of the resolution affirms the party’s “support for marriage as the union of one man and one woman” — a position that was already in the platform that passed at last August’s Republican convention.

A Wall Street Journal/NBC poll released earlier in the day found that 53 percent of registered voters now favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry, with 40 percent in opposition. The poll found that 54 percent of independents back gay marriage, but 66 percent of Republicans oppose it.

Read more from this story HERE.

Declaration of War on American Values: Battalion Commander Tells Troops that Patriots, Christians belong to Hate Groups

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A combat battalion commander assigned to the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, sent an email out to several dozen subordinate officers and senior noncommissioned officers describing conservatives as members of hate groups.

The senior officer, seen in the YouTube below, apparently decided that his ignorant soldiers needed some political indoctrination regarding the Army’s new values, as decreed by Obama.

So, using the infamous Southern Poverty Law Center as a guide, the lieutenant colonel set out to educate.

Using the subject line of ‘Domestic Hate Groups,’ LTC Jack Rich warned his subordinate leaders that,

Many events have been taking place across the country – just want to ensure everyone is somewhat educated on some of the groups out there that do not share our Army Values.

Before identifying for his troops who the haters in America are, he makes it clear that his email is an action memo:

When we see behaviors that are inconsistent with Army Values – don’t just walk by – do the right thing and address the concern before it becomes a problem.


In other words, this misguided Army ‘leader’ is telling his junior officers that they are to actively intervene with any of their troops that they suspect has ‘hateful’ beliefs.

Once identified, the hater presumably will be forced to recant such beliefs.

Sound familiar? Turn back the clock to the Cold War years and you might mistake LTC Rich with a political commissar, the Soviet ideological officer who guarded military units against “harmful” beliefs.

So who exactly belongs to a hate group? Probably most conservatives. According to Commissar Rich and his communist buddies at the Southern Poverty Law Center, they include:

• members of the Christian right (like Focus on the Family’s former leader, James Dobson)

• anti-gay groups (those who oppose the “so-called homosexual agenda”)

• members of Patriot organizations (those “opposed to the ‘New World Order'”; those who believe that the “‘New World Order’ is imposing a global plan, called Agenda 21, to take away citizens’ property rights”; those who “believe that being well armed is a must”; those who fear “impending gun control or weapons confiscations, either by the government or international agencies”)

• anti-Muslim groups (those who “broadly defame Islam”; those who believe the “inherent danger to America posed by its Muslim-American community”, that Muslims are a “fifth column intent on undermining and eventually replacing American democracy and Western civilization with Islamic despotism”; those who “allege that Muslims are trying to subvert the rule of law by imposing on Americans their own Islamic legal system, Shariah law”)

• anti-illegal alien groups

Commissar Rich identifies the Family Research Council, American Family Association, United States Justice Foundation, Atlas Shrugs, Sharia Awareness Network, Bare Naked Islam, and many other organizations as hate groups.

Yes, the thought police have infected the U.S. Military. Never mind that troublesome First Amendment. Obama must be proud.

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Read Commissar Rich’s complete email HERE.

Here’s a video of Commissar Rich at a live fire exercise at Fort Campbell. Let’s pray he doesn’t make it beyond O-5: