“I’m One of the 10%”: Actor With Down Syndrome Grateful He Wasn’t Aborted

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Photo Credit: Life Site NewsDavid DeSanctis, born with Down’s syndrome, will tell anyone that no chromosome abnormality is going to hold him back from living his Hollywood dream.

The 23-year-old recently starred in the independent feature film, “Where Hope Grows,” set to be released this May.

“The movie is about a down and out former baseball player who chokes at the plate, gets sent home, has issues with his teenage daughter, and drinking issues,” DeSanctis told LifeSiteNews in a video interview at the D.C. March for Life last week.

DeSanctis acts in character as a Down’s syndrome young adult who works in the produce section of a grocery store. His friendship helps lift the down-and-out baseball player out of despair and into a discovery of what life’s really all about. (Read more about the actor with Down syndrome HERE)

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Walmart Orders Greeter to Stop Saying Certain Phrase but Caves After Community Uproar

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Photo Credit: WSBTVPublic pressure and strong support on social media have forced Walmart in Blue Ridge to do an about face on censoring one of their long-time greeters.

James Philips is the first person people see when they walk into Walmart and he has always greeted them with “Have a blessed day” until someone complained and he was silenced.

When Philips was told that as a Walmart employee he could not greet people with the phrase, the community became his mouthpiece.

“I wasn’t trying to start a movement, but I am very appreciative that people thought enough of me to stand up for me this way,” said Philips. “I want to just be one of the best greeters I know how to be.”

After a public outcry over the decision, Walmart caved. (Read more from “Walmart Orders Greeter to Stop Greeting” HERE)

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Surprise: Obama Attorney General Nominee Supports Partial-Birth Abortions

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Photo Credit: Life News President Barack Obama’s Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch faced a hearing today in the Senate Judiciary Committee. During the hearing, she admitted that she supported partial-birth abortions.

Lynch is the nominee to replace pro-abortion Attorney General Eric Holder. Holder, who is pro-abortion and who used his post in the Obama administration to target pro-life people, announced in September he would step down from his position when a replacement has been confirmed.

During her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Lynch admitted to pro-life Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina that she once signed onto a brief the Planned Parenthood abortion business submitted in its legal battle to overturn the Congressional ban on partial-birth abortions. The Supreme Court eventually sided against Planned Parenthood and upheld the ban on the gruesome abortion procedure.

Lynch signed on to an amicus brief in the Partial Birth Abortion case before the Supreme Court where she served as an amici in favor of Planned Parenthood. She argued that the ban against the killing of partially born children was “unconstitutionally vague and threatens the integrity of the criminal justice system.”

On April 18, 2007, the Supreme Court announced its opinion in Gonzales v. Carhart, holding that the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act was constitutional. The ban has stopped as many as 15,000 such abortions. (Read more about the support of partial-birth abortions HERE)

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New Test Could Predict Chance of Dying Within 30 Days

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Photo Credit: Telegraph [Editor’s note: This new “test” is probably anything but scientific and will likely be used to justify terminating life-extending treatments. Just one more step in the brave new world of health care rationing?] By Sarah Knapton. A test to determine if elderly patients will die within 30 days of being admitted to hospital has been developed by doctors to give them the chance to go home or say goodbye to loved ones.

Health experts say the checklist will prevent futile and expensive medical treatments which merely prolong suffering.

The screening test looks at 29 indicators of health, including age, frailty, illness, mental impairment, previous emergency admissions and heart rate and produces a percentage chance of death within one month and 12 weeks.

Researchers say the aim of Critera for Screening and Triaging to Appropriate aLternative care, or CriSTAL for short, is to kick-start frank discussions about end of life care, and minimise the risk of invasive ineffective treatment.

“Delaying unavoidable death contributes to unsustainable and escalating healthcare costs, despite aggressive and expensive interventions,” said lead author Dr Magnolia Cardona-Morrel, a researcher at the University of New South Wales. (Read more about the test that could predict chance of dying HERE)

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Switching Off Single Gene Could Extend Your Life by 12 Years

By Sarah Knapton. Switching off a single gene could extend life by 12 years and make elderly people fitter, scientists have suggested.

The gene called Myc is important in cell division, growth and death and when it is overactive it can lead to cancer.

Now scientists have discovered that limiting the gene in mice helped the animals live for 15 per cent longer without suffering any ill effects, the first time it has been shown in mammals.

Not only did the mice live longer but they were fitter and did not develop age-related conditions such as osteoporosis, cognitive impairment or decreased metabolism. And they had a healthier immune system. The only noticeable difference was that the mice were smaller than usual.

Researchers at Brown University in the US believe the same mechanism could improve the health and lifespan of humans. A 15 per cent increase in longevity for the average Briton would add 12 years to their lives. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Major Hollywood Executive Joins Cosby Accuser List

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For the first time, a former big-time Hollywood executive, with a powerful Hollywood name, has come forward to accuse Bill Cosby of drugging and raping her in 1969, joining more than two-dozen other lesser known women with similar stories.

It’s the first time Cindra Ladd has spoken out, and the last, she says. She has no plans to sue. She doesn’t want money. She’s not calling a press conference or doing any interviews. She’s just telling “the truth,” she says. . .

Ladd, a former film executive-turned-charity activist, and wife of producer Alan Ladd Jr., former president of Twentieth Century Fox and Chairman of MGM/UA , published a compelling essay in the Huffington Post Monday detailing what she says happened to her when she became friends with the married Cosby in New York in the late 1960s. . .

They made a date to see a movie one night, but she arrived at an apartment (he said it belonged to a friend) with a bad headache. He offered her a capsule to take, she kept asking what is it. “Don’t you trust me?” he responded. . .

“What I do recall, vividly and clearly, is waking up the next morning nude in the bed of his friend’s apartment and seeing Cosby wearing a white terrycloth bathrobe and acting as if there was nothing unusual,” she wrote. “It was obvious to me that he had had sex with me. I was horrified, embarrassed and ashamed. There was a mirror above the bed, which shocked me further.”
(Read more about the executive joining the Cosby accuser list HERE)

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Don’t Buy NARAL Propoganda, More Americans are Pro-Life Than Pro-Choice

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For a long time, when pollsters would ask questions on abortion, the “pro-choice” position would come out comfortably ahead. That changed in May 2009, when for the first time ever, Gallup reported that a majority of respondents identified as “pro-life.” “Pro-life” has actually outpolled “pro-choice” in five of nine Gallup polls since then.

As such, groups like NARAL have had to work harder to claim that there’s broad support for legal abortion. This past August, NARAL released another poll on the subject, one which gave respondents a subtly different set of choices. The alternatives were 1) abortion is morally acceptable and should be legal; 2) personally opposed to abortion, but it should remain legal; and 3) abortion should be illegal.

A plurality of respondents preferred the second option, and NARAL quickly announced that the first and second options combined commanded majority support. Of course, the three questions did not allow for much nuance. Specifically, the poll did not ask about the 20-week abortion ban or other incremental pro-life laws that tend to poll well. (Read more about the recent polls saying more Americans are pro-life HERE)

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Nancy Pelosi Refuses to Say Unborn Babies at 20 Weeks are Human

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Photo Credit: Life Site News By John Jalsevac. Is an unborn baby at 20 weeks human? It’s a straightforward question, but House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi couldn’t bring herself to respond to it when asked twice during a press briefing today.

Both times Pelosi dodged the question, saying that politicians shouldn’t be involved in “reproductive health” choices.

The second time the question was answered, Pelosi argued in her response that as “a Catholic and a mom of five” she has “great standing” on the issue. More, she said, than most of her colleagues, and even the pope.

The question, and follow-up, were asked by a reporter with CNSNews in reference to the ongoing debate about a bill in Congress that would ban abortion after 20 weeks, except in cases of rape, incest, and a threat to the life of the mother. The bill bases the ban upon the science showing that babies at that age can feel the pain of being aborted. (Read more about her answer and unborn babies HERE)

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Amanda Marcotte: Babies With Down Syndrome Should be Aborted

By Cassy Fiano. North Dakota recently passed a bill outlawing the abortion of babies based on birth defects, like Down syndrome. Pro-lifers and disability advocates alike cheered the decision, because it is horrific to deprive a baby of life simply because he does not meet our society’s standards of perfection.

It is disgusting to see how low we will stoop to avoid “defective” babies, with mothers aborting their children even for very minor defects like cleft lips, which can be repaired. For North Dakota step up and ban these abortions is a step in the right direction, reaffirming that people with disabilities and birth defects have intrinsic value and worth just as the rest of us do, and that they deserve life, too. Some people, though, disagree.

Indiana state senator Travis Holdman has just introduced a similar bill to the one passed in North Dakota, and Amanda Marcotte is not happy about it . . .

Perhaps these bills are showing up because medical advances give people a better understanding of disabilities, and more acceptance for people who have them. It’s not about the “growing boldness” of pro-lifers — it’s about protecting life, all life, even life that Marcotte doesn’t see as worth living . . .

Yet pro-abortion extremists like Amanda Marcotte would instead follow in Richard Dawkins’s footsteps, saying that babies with Down syndrome should be aborted, and all because they find these disabilities inconvenient. They relentlessly beat into the heads of women that a child with a disability will ruin their lives, because God knows that if people knew the reality of raising a child with Down syndrome or another disability, people wouldn’t be as quick to abort them. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Sex Ed Teacher Gives Student Hands on Lesson

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Photo Credit: Ijreview By Lawrence Bonk. Remember that one time you went to the Alamo, or some place similar, on a history class field trip? The experience helped the teacher get some points across.

However, what happens when a sex education teacher decides to adopt that same, uh, hands-on approach?

Daresa Poe, a 32-year-old sex-ed teacher from Oklahoma, did just that and is now facing a litany of criminal charges after admitting she had been engaged in an affair with a student.

Even worse than that? The dynamic duo even, uh, “studied” in the teacher’s lounge, in addition to Poe’s home and the student’s truck.

“I am Daresa Poe, a wife, mother and teacher. I have made a horrible mistake. I have let my judgment falter and I am embarrassed and mortified for the decisions I have made in the last two weeks. I have had sexual intercourse with a student.” Poe said in a written confession. “I would take it back in a heartbeat if the chance was given to me.” (Read more about the sex ed teacher HERE)

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Teacher Sends Student Home with Stern Letter for Parents

By James Nye. One Missouri dad was shocked to receive a letter from his daughter’s substitute teacher telling him he had packed her a lunch that was too unhealthy.

The girl’s father Justin Puckett, who is a family doctor, posted the letter, written on orange paper to his Facebook, outraged at the ‘Big Brother’ approach from the Kirksville Primary School teacher.

Annoyed at the implication he and his wife Kylene were not up to the task of caring for their own daughter, Dr. Puckett refused to sign the letter acknowledging he accepted the lunch was not up to scratch . . .

It read: ”Dr. and Mrs. Puckett, The cafeteria reported to me that Alia’s lunch today included four chocolate bars, a bag of marshmallows, Ritz crackers and a pickle. Please see that she packs a proper lunch tomorrow.’

The letter then ends with a curt demand – ‘Parent signature requested’. The Pucketts wrote back, ‘Request declined’. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Proposed Law to Allow Assisted Suicide Gaining Support

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Two Democratic state senators in California proposed a “right-to-die” bill to the state legislature on Wednesday, alongside the family of the young woman who brought the issue to light.

Late last year, Californian Brittany Maynard made waves on national news and social media as a result of her desire to end her life on her own terms, as opposed to her alternative of living out a painful terminal illness.

Maynard had tried to end her life at what she felt was an appropriate moment, as she was stricken with an aggressive and debilitating brain tumor.

When the state of California refused to help her carry out her decision, she and her husband ended up moving to Oregon, where assisted suicide isn’t prohibited by law.

She passed away on November 1, 2014. (Read more about the proposed law that will allow assisted suicide HERE)

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Disneyland Measles Outbreak “Starting to Sweep the Country”

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Photo Credit: CBS Baltimore By Christie Ileto. A health warning. The extremely contagious measles virus is back. An outbreak that started at Disneyland is starting to sweep the country.

Christie Ileto has the push for children to get vaccinated.

Measles was thought to have been eliminated in the U.S. 15 years ago. Now its back, targeting those who haven’t been immunized.

The outbreak that started in California’s Disneyland is expanding. At least 75 cases of measles span six states.

“It’s scary to think the happiest place on Earth is infected with measles,” one Disney employee said. (Read more about the measles outbreak in California HERE)

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Arizona Medical Director on Measles: “One of the Most Contagious Diseases Known to Man”

By Connie Sexton. A recent but rare case of the measles in Maricopa County has health officials reminding the public of the disease’s potential harm and the benefits of being vaccinated.

“It’s one of the most contagious diseases known to man,” said Dr. Rebecca Sunenshine, the county’s medical director for disease control. Although measles are extremely rare, one in a thousand cases leads to inflammation around the brain, deafness and cognitive impairment, and one to two cases in a thousand are fatal, she said. “The measles vaccine is one of the best we have. No vaccine is perfect, but this is almost 100 percent perfect.”

County officials hope those who have never been vaccinated will do so now, in light of the news Thursday that a woman in her 50s living in the county tested positive for measles. Officials believe it’s likely the woman contracted the disease Dec. 15-20 while visiting Disneyland, which has been linked to an outbreak in California, Sunenshine said. (Read more from this story HERE)

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