Half of All Girls In South Sudan Forced To Marry

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Photo Credit: AP

The 17-year-old beaten to death for refusing to marry a man old enough to be her grandfather. The teen dragged by her family to be raped to force her into marrying an elderly man. They are among 39,000 girls forced into marriage every day around the world, sold like cattle to enrich their families.

More than one-third of all girls are married in 42 countries, according to the U.N. Population Fund, referring to females under the age of 18. The highest number of cases occurs in some of the poorest countries, the agency figures show, with the West African nation of Niger at the bottom of the list with 75 percent of girls married before they turn 18. In Bangladesh the figure is 66 percent and in Central African Republic and Chad it is 68 percent.

Most child marriages take place in South Asia and rural sub-Saharan Africa, according to the population fund. In terms of absolute numbers, India, because of its large population, has the most child marriages with child brides in 47 percent of all marriages.

Government statistics in South Sudan show half the girls there aged 15 to 19 are married, with some brides as young as 12 years old.

“The country’s widespread child marriage exacerbates South Sudan’s pronounced gender gaps in school enrollment, contributes to soaring maternal mortality rates, and violates the right of girls to be free from violence,” says a Human Rights Watch report published Thursday ahead of International Women’s Day on Friday.

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Socialist Party Magazine Profiles Abortion Clinic Promoted By Obama Campaign

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller

A feminist abortion clinic that hosted a “Women for Obama” event where Obama volunteers helped with groundskeeping in a show of support for reproductive rights is profiled in the current issue of The Socialist, the official publication of the Socialist Party USA, in which a clinic official urges feminist socialists to “influence policy” and quotes a famous socialist writer.

The Emma Goldman Clinic in Iowa City, Iowa was the site of a Women for Obama event called “Iowa City Women for Obama Service Project at Emma Goldman Clinic,” which was promoted on the events page of Obama’s official 2012 campaign website.

“Please join women Obama supporters as we give back to those who support our reproductive rights by helping with groundskeeping at Emma Goldman Clinic. Old clothes and comfortable shoes are a must!,” the Obama campaign website reads. The event was hosted by Winnie Garet, former Obama for America staffer and current field organizer for the Democratic National Committee’s Organizing for America project.

The Emma Goldman Clinic, a member of the Feminist Abortion Network, was founded in 1973 by “a group of feminist idealists who strove for political, economic, and social equality for their clients.” The clinic also funds the Emma Goldman Clinic’s deProsse Access Fund, which helps low-income women obtain abortions.

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ABC’s ‘The View’ Reportedly Firing Show’s Lone Conservative Over ‘Extreme’, ‘Right-Wing’ Views

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Photo Credit: Getty ImagesElisabeth Hasselbeck is being fired from ABC’s “The View” because market researchers found that her conservative views were out of touch with the show’s audience, according to a report in Us Weekly.

The magazine, citing unnamed sources, reported Friday that Hasselbeck will be leaving the show along with Joy Behar, an outspoken far-left liberal who quit the show by choice.

“The viewers they polled all said she was too extreme and right-wing,” a show insider whose name was not reported told UsMagazine.com about Hasselbeck Friday. “People did not watch the show because of Elisabeth. So they told her yesterday her contract would not be renewed.”

TV Newser later reported similar developments. The site referenced two separate sources that confirmed the conservative co-host was leaving “The View.”

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Joe Flacco: $120.6M Made Me Feel ‘Like I Was Respected Around Here’

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Photo Credit: APJoe Flacco takes issue with the notion that winning a Super Bowl MVP factored heavily in his new $120.6 million contract, the most lucrative in NFL history.

Said the Ravens quarterback, upon signing his six-year contract Monday afternoon: “I’m worth what I’m worth.”

He added: “I think I bring to the table what I bring to the table. The fact that we won the Super Bowl just comes with that. If we didn’t win the Super Bowl this year, I still think I’m worth the same. It may not be seen that way, but that’s the bottom line. I think I give this team the best chance to win moving forward, whether we won or lost.”

Flacco’s salary-cap-friendly pact (at least in the first three years) guarantees him $52 million, a year after he turned down the Ravens’ bid to re-sign him at a lower price.

“I thought I was worth more,” said Flacco, who added that he didn’t once sit at the bargaining table with agent Joe Linta as the team approached the Monday deadline to apply the franchise tag. “And I didn’t really see any circumstances where I wouldn’t end up getting paid more than what they were willing to give me at that point.

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Video: Controversial Pastor Punches Back After Tebow Cancellation, Rips ‘Wimping Out’

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Photo Credit: Alex Trautwig The controversial pastor of a megachurch in Dallas spoke to his congregation on Sunday about “a wild week,” which centered around a scheduled appearance by Jets backup quarterback Tim Tebow.

Tebow canceled his April 28 visit to First Baptist Dallas on Thursday amid a firestorm, sparked by past comments from the church’s head, Dr. Robert Jeffress, who has made headlines for his comments on gays and religions other than Christianity.

On Twitter, Tebow cited “new information” as the reason he scratched the date off his calendar.

Jeffress thanked his supporters during services at First Baptist Dallas, and then appeared to take a swipe at Tebow without using the quarterback’s name.

“I am grateful for men of God like these who are willing to stand up and act like men rather than wimping out when it gets a little controversial and an inconvenient thing to stand for the truth,” Jeffress said on Sunday. “God bless men like that.” The news of Tebow’s cancellation broke last last week while Jeffress was appearing on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas.

Watch video here:

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Taking One for the Team: Tom Brady Signs Cap-Friendly, Three-Year Extension With Pats

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Photo Credit: Robert DeutschNew England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has taken a steep discount on the going rate for elite NFL quarterbacks to help the team allocate money elsewhere and make at least one more title run in his career, according to a person familiar with the agreement.

The person spoke to USA TODAY Sports on condition of anonymity because the team has not yet announced the move.

Sports Illustrated’s Peter King first reported Brady has agreed to a three-year extension at $27 million, less than half the $20 million-per-season rate the New Orleans Saints’ Drew Brees received last year and the mark the Baltimore Ravens’ Joe Flacco hopes to eclipse this year.

The person familiar with the agreement said Brady will receive a signing bonus of $3 million, along with base salaries of $7 million, $8 million and $9 million in 2015-17, respectively.

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NASCAR: Final Lap Crash At Daytona Injures 33, 2 Seriously

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Photo Credit: APAt least 33 fans were injured Saturday during a NASCAR race when a car flew into the fence at Daytona International Speedway, hurling a tire and large pieces of debris into the stands.

The accident happened on the last lap of the second-tier Nationwide Series race on the eve of Sunday’s Daytona 500, which officials said would go on as scheduled.

The crash began as the field approached the checkered flag and leader Regan Smith attempted to block Brad Keselowski to preserve the win. That triggered a chain reaction, and rookie Kyle Larson hit the cars in front of him and went airborne into the fence.

The entire front end was sheared off Larson’s car, and his burning engine wedged through a gaping hole in the fence. Chunks of debris from the car were thrown into the stands, including a tire that cleared the top of the fence and landed midway up the spectator section closest to the track.

The 20-year-old Larson stood in shock several yards away from his car as fans in the stands waived frantically for help. Smoke from the burning engine briefly clouded the area, and emergency vehicles descended on the scene. Ambulance sirens could be heard wailing behind the grandstands at a time the race winner would typically be doing celebratory burnouts.

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Have You Read Evan Todd’s Letter To Obama Yet?

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Photo Credit: RLEVANSEvan Todd is a Columbine survivor. And he wasn’t just AT Columbine on the fateful day where students lost their lives. He was shot and was wounded himself. And he’s got something to say to Obama. BEHOLD:

Mr. President, As a student who was shot and wounded during the Columbine massacre, I have a few thoughts on the current gun debate. In regards to your gun control initiatives:

Universal Background Checks

First, a universal background check will have many devastating effects. It will arguably have the opposite impact of what you propose. If adopted, criminals will know that they can not pass a background check legally, so they will resort to other avenues. With the conditions being set by this initiative, it will create a large black market for weapons and will support more criminal activity and funnel additional money into the hands of thugs, criminals, and people who will do harm to American citizens.

Second, universal background checks will create a huge bureaucracy that will cost an enormous amount of tax payers dollars and will straddle us with more debt. We cannot afford it now, let alone create another function of government that will have a huge monthly bill attached to it.

Third, is a universal background check system possible without universal gun registration? If so, please define it for us. Universal registration can easily be used for universal confiscation. I am not at all implying that you, sir, would try such a measure, but we do need to think about our actions through the lens of time.

It is not impossible to think that a tyrant, to the likes of Mao, Castro, Che, Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, and others, could possibly rise to power in America. It could be five, ten, twenty, or one hundred years from now — but future generations have the natural right to protect themselves from tyrannical government just as much as we currently do. It is safe to assume that this liberty that our forefathers secured has been a thorn in the side of would-be tyrants ever since the Second Amendment was adopted.

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Toddler In Wheelchair Heading To Disney Cries During Run-In With TSA Agents (+video)

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Photo Credit: GMAA family’s run-in with Transportation Security Administration screeners at Missouri’s Lambert-St. Louis International Airport as they were heading to Orlando on vacation was caught on camera, and is raising questions about airport security rules.

Annie Schulte said it all started when TSA agents asked to pat down her 3-year-old daughter, Lucy, who is disabled and in a wheelchair. The agents also wanted to screen Lucy’s wheelchair.

Schulte recorded the incident on her cellphone. In the video, Lucy begins to cry and says, “I don’t want to go to Disney World.”

What made the toddler so distraught, her parents said, was the run-in with the agents. Agent: “It’s illegal to do that.” Schulte: “You can’t touch my daughter, unless I can record it.” Schulte said she asked to record the incident.

“To me, it was pretty offensive because I was really tuned in. When she said that, immediately I’m like, ‘OK, hold on, something doesn’t seem right.’ So, I did tell her I was going to wait because I was going to grab my phone,” said Schulte.

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Heart Transplant Recipient Falls In Love With Donor’s Sister

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Photo Credit: Fox News Her brother’s heart ultimately guided her to the man that would fulfill her own heart.

After helping to find the right match for her deceased brother’s donated heart, one woman fell in love with her brother’s transplant recipient – and wedding bells may soon be in the air for the happy couple, West Seattle Herald reported.

When 22-year-old Kellen Roberts, from Seattle, Wash., died in 2005, his family decided to donate his organs to help others in need. His mother Nancy and his younger sister Erin began working with LifeCenter Northwest in Bellevue, Wash., to find the right match for Kellen’s heart.

Meanwhile, across the country in Minneapolis, Minn., 17-year-old Connor Rabinowitz had been diagnosed with a genetic disorder that caused his organs to become enlarged and weakened.

Without a heart transplant, Connor would not survive, the doctors said. A top-rated baseball catcher, Connor’s athletic career was officially over, and he began the 96-day waiting process for a brand-new heart. Finally, he was told there was a match: Kellen’s heart.

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