Pope Tells America: Time to Reject Abortion and Accept Life at Every Stage

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Photo Credit: LifeNews

Photo Credit: LifeNews

The same day that he was chosen as TIME magazine’s Person of the Year – Pope Francis exhorted North and South America to “accept human life at every stage, from the mother’s womb to old age.”

Amid misinterpretations of the pontiff’s pro-life stance in the mainstream media, the Holy Father continues to affirm his unwavering belief, completely united to that of the Catholic Church, that human life is sacred from conception to natural death.

He said (emphasis added):

Tomorrow is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Patroness of the Americas. I would like to greet all my brothers and sisters on that continent, and I do so thinking of the Virgin of Tepeyac.

When Our Lady appeared to Saint Juan Diego, her face was that of a woman of mixed blood, a mestiza, and her garments bore many symbols of the native culture. Like Jesus, Mary is close to all her sons and daughters; as a concerned mother, she accompanies them on their way through life. She shares all the joys and hopes, the sorrows and troubles of God’s People, which is made up of men and women of every race and nation.

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Dr. Oz Sounds Alarm on Dangers of Processed Chicken from China

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Photo Credit: Fox screencap

Photo Credit: Fox screencap

Dr. Oz said there are serious public-health risks associated with processed chicken from China and said we should take action now to stop these products from coming to the United States.

“This has me outraged,” Dr. Oz said on the Dec. 10 episode of his show. “I’m calling on the USDA to shut down this proposal. You have America’s health in your hands.”

As early as next summer, chicken nuggets and other chicken products (such as canned soup, frozen chicken wings and breaded chicken patties) made from chicken processed in China could be sold in grocery stores around the country.

Under the proposal, chickens that are raised and slaughtered in the U.S. and Canada will be sent to China for processing and then returned to the U.S. for mass consumption.

This was a recent decision made by President Barack Obama to address a decade-long trade dispute. Since 2003, China has refused to import U.S. beef, citing concerns over mad-cow disease, so we’re effectively trading chickens for beef in this quid-pro-quo political scenario. Obama has been widely criticized over this move.

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Vet Brutally Murdered Trying to Buy a Christmas Present on Craigslist

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Photo Credit: YouCaring

Photo Credit: YouCaring

I must admit that this story hit me pretty hard this morning. It’s not often that I get upset – I mean it seems like every day we’re bombarded with stories of violence, crime and debauchery, so it takes a lot these days to upset me.

I’m not really sure why this story affected me so much when I read it, but something about it hit me deep down inside. Maybe it’s because this man was a father, maybe it’s because he was just trying to do something nice for his parents, or maybe it’s because I’m so sick of seeing good people hurt by a culture that’s out of control.

Last week, National Guard Sergeant First Class Jim Vester was killed while trying to buy his parents an iPad that he found listed on Craigslist.

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Common Core Assignment: Think Like a Nazi and Explain Why Jews Are Evil (+video)

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Photo Credit: thefederalistpapers.org

Photo Credit: thefederalistpapers.org

Students in some Albany High School English classes were asked this week as part of a persuasive writing assignment to make an abhorrent argument: “You must argue that Jews are evil, and use solid rationale from government propaganda to convince me of your loyalty to the Third Reich!”

Students were asked to watch and read Nazi propaganda, then pretend their teacher was a Nazi government official who needed to be convinced of their loyalty. In five paragraphs, they were required to prove that Jews were the source of Germany’s problems.

The exercise was intended to challenge students to formulate a persuasive argument and was given to three classes, Albany Superintendent Marguerite Vanden Wyngaard said. She said the assignment should have been worded differently.

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Federal Appeals Court Rules Transsexual’s Firing was Not Discrimination

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Photo Credit: Twitter.com

Photo Credit: Twitter.com

A federal appeals court has upheld a lower court’s decision dismissing a lawsuit filed by a male-to-female transsexual who claimed his firing was discriminatory.

Jim Stacy, who had a sex change operation in 2005 and now goes by “Janis,” was laid off by Agere Systems in 2008, along with nearly 4,000 colleagues, following a merger with LSI Corporation.

Stacy, who had worked for Agere for ten years as an engineer, sued the company, claiming that he was targeted for elimination on the basis of his sex, disability and gender identity.

But the court rejected his lawsuit, ruling that the company’s explanation for his firing was satisfactory and had nothing to do with his sex change.

According to court documents, when Stacy was hired in 1998, he “had a traditional masculine appearance, wore male clothing, and went by the name ‘Jim.’” But in 2002, he was diagnosed with gender identity disorder, believing he was really a woman trapped in a man’s body. In 2005, he underwent a sex change operation and took hormones to make himself appear more female. All the while, he continued working for Agere.

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The Priest Who Faced Down the Federal Government—and Won

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Photo Credit: Nancy Reynolds for The Star-Ledger

Photo Credit: Nancy Reynolds for The Star-Ledger

The Rev. Ray Leonard knew not to wear the clerical collar identifying him as a Roman Catholic priest. It almost certainly would have gotten him deported.

He knew not to celebrate Mass, hear confession or baptize a child. The acts might have resulted in harassment—or worse, arrest and imprisonment—for the families Leonard cared about.

During a decade spent teaching and helping the needy in some of China’s most impoverished and oppressed regions, the New Jersey priest learned what it was like to live in a land without religious freedom.

It kindled a greater appreciation for his liberties at home. Which is why Leonard, 51, bristled at the U.S. government when it told him he couldn’t hold services at a Georgia naval base during October’s government shutdown. Leonard, a civilian contractor on the base, wasn’t deemed an “essential” employee.

In a case that made headlines across the country, Leonard filed suit against the Department of Defense, contending the directive violated his freedom of speech and his right to religious expression.

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Xbox Live Among Game Services Targeted by US and UK Spy Agencies

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Photo Credit: The Guardian

Photo Credit: The Guardian

To the National Security Agency analyst writing a briefing to his superiors, the situation was clear: their current surveillance efforts were lacking something. The agency’s impressive arsenal of cable taps and sophisticated hacking attacks was not enough. What it really needed was a horde of undercover Orcs.

That vision of spycraft sparked a concerted drive by the NSA and its UK sister agency GCHQ to infiltrate the massive communities playing online games, according to secret documents disclosed by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The files were obtained by the Guardian and are being published on Monday in partnership with the New York Times and ProPublica.

The agencies, the documents show, have built mass-collection capabilities against the Xbox Live console network, which has more than 48 million players. Real-life agents have been deployed into virtual realms, from those Orc hordes in World of Warcraft to the human avatars of Second Life. There were attempts, too, to recruit potential informants from the games’ tech-friendly users.

Online gaming is big business, attracting tens of millions of users worldwide who inhabit their digital worlds as make-believe characters, living and competing with the avatars of other players. What the intelligence agencies feared, however, was that among these clans of elves and goblins, terrorists were lurking.

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Rand Paul Wary of 2016 Run’s Impact on Family

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Photo Credit: Getty Images

Photo Credit: Getty Images

Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) said Sunday he was seriously considering a run for the presidency in 2016, but acknowledged potential opposition from his wife was a complicating factor.

Mr. Paul, a favorite of tea party activists, said he would take the next year to explore further the possibility of running and to discuss the process with his family.

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Angelina Jolie Directing Movie “Unbroken” About Olympian/WWII POW Redeemed by Jesus

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Photo Credit: Universal Pictures

Photo Credit: Universal Pictures

Actress Angelina Jolie, like other powerful stars in Hollywood, has begun directing her own movies. Surprisingly, her next project is about a Christian athlete, with a script penned by the notorious Coen brothers (Fargo, Raising Arizona and True Grit).

The movie, Unbroken, is based on writer Laura Hillenbrand’s biography of Louis Zamperini, the Depression-era Olympic track athlete turned World War II hero turned follower of Jesus Christ via a Billy Graham crusade turned internationally renowned inspirational speaker. Talk about a cinema-worthy story arc.

Born the son of Italian immigrants in 1917, Zamperini was a smoker by age 5, a school bully by third grade and a menace to society by high school. Thankfully, Zamperini was encouraged to put his talents toward more productive pursuits, such as running track. Successful in the sport and eventually known as “the tornado from Torrance,” Zamperini was invited to train for the 1936 Olympics and eventually enrolled at the University of Southern California on a scholarship.

At the 1936 Olympics in Nazi-ridden Berlin, Zamperini’s most notorious fan was Adolf Hitler. After his disappointing placement in the 1936 games, Zamperini hoped to requalify for the Olympic team in 1940, but the games were canceled due to the outbreak of World War II.

A bombardier in WWII, Zamperini’s aircraft crashed into the Pacific Ocean. He and one other survivor spent 47 days at sea in a life raft, drifting some 2,000 miles, only to be picked up by a Japanese war ship. The Japanese put Zamperini and his companion into their horrific prison camps, where he was tortured beyond depiction for two years. He was made a special object of cruelty by the infamous Japanese torturer known as “The Bird.”

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Waitress in ‘Anti-Gay’ Receipt Flap Fired

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Photo Credit: Facebook

Photo Credit: Facebook

A New Jersey waitress who raked in thousands in donations after claiming a couple didn’t tip her because she’s gay was fired from her job on Saturday.

Dayna Morales, 22, was finally canned from Gallop Asian Bistro in Bridgewater — nearly a month after she made national headlines over what’s likely a hoax.

The restaurant announced her termination on Facebook Saturday shortly after it was revealed she was returning donations from supporters across the world.

“In light of … recent events, both Ms. Morales and Gallop Asian Bistro have made a joint decision that Ms. Morales will no longer continue her employment at our restaurant,” the eatery wrote. “We wish her well in the future.”

The waitress, a former Marine, claimed the couple stiffed her on a $93.55 bill and left a note saying, “I’m sorry but I cannot tip because I do not agree with your lifestyle.”

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