Video: Why Americans Need to Own Assault Weapons

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As has been widely reported, the Obama Administration is contemplating massive new gun control measures.

And at least eight bills have been filed by liberal gun control advocates in Congress.

This has stimulated strong responses from pro-Second Amendment activists. For example, a Marine veteran wrote a letter that has gone viral in response to Senator Feinstein’s public statements against guns and then went head-to-head with a CNN anchor over the constitutional purpose for individual ownership of guns.

Even Alex Jones got into the act with his appearance on Piers Morgan several days ago. This followed Piers Morgan’s meltdown with Gun Owners of America President Larry Pratt the week before.

But if you really want ammunition in support of your right to bear arms, pass around the following video. It’s entertaining and is right on the mark:

Lance Armstrong To Address Scandal on Oprah

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Former professional cyclist Lance Armstrong is slated to appear on Oprah Winfrey’s “Next Chapter” on Jan. 17, at a time when people familiar with his thinking say he has been considering a confession of his alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs.

Mr. Armstrong has denied doping for nearly 15 years, since his first Tour de France victory in 1999, and he has lashed out at people who questioned whether he used drugs to win his seven Tours de France.

In recent weeks, however, Mr. Armstrong has been consulting with associates at his home in Hawaii over his next steps. He believes he can rebuild his reputation and understands that a public statement on his alleged doping is an important part of that. One possibility is that Mr. Armstrong may seek to emphasize that any doping he did was years ago, according to people familiar with his thinking.

Mr. Armstrong also has been weighing the possibility of writing a tell-all book, according to people familiar with the matter. These people say that Mr. Armstrong has been approached by several authors interested in co-writing his tell-all and that Mr. Armstrong, still undecided about the project, hasn’t worked out a deal with a publisher or writer.

Mr. Armstrong’s lawyer hasn’t returned a call seeking comment.

Read more from this story HERE.

Brad Pitt Joins China’s Version of Twitter, Creates Confusion

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World-traveling man of intrigue Brad Pitt has joined China’s version of Twitter — Sina Weibo — and in his first message hinted that he could be making a visit to the country, which he had reportedly been banned from visiting. Or maybe not.

In a mysterious message posted to Pitt’s account the actor simply stated: “It is the truth. Yup, I’m coming.” The tweet of sorts got thousands of comments, the AP reports, and has raised speculation that the actor could be headed to the People’s Republic. The Inglourious Basterds star was reportedly banned from entering following his appearance in 1997′s Seven Years in Tibet, which offered a harsh portrayal of Chinese rule. However, a few hours after it was posted, the message reportedly was deleted.

Whether the ersatz tweet was an accident, something that was posted prematurely, or simply removed because it was being misconstrued, the actor’s cryptic appearance on the microblogging service brings up some interesting issues about the intersection of tech and culture in China. Because even if he’s not on his way to the Communist country — which would not be entirely impossible since, as Entertainment Weekly notes, the country lifted the ban on Seven Years director Jean-Jacques Annaud — his presence on the site is still a big get for Weibo and a move that shows the importance of both American celebrities and social networking in China.

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The Muslim Version of Rosa Parks Deserves the Nobel Peace Prize

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City buses have been the scene of transformational moments in human history.

In 1955 Montgomery Alabama, a young black woman was told to sit at the back of the bus, the section reserved for 2nd class citizens. But this day was different, this day she refused to go to the back “black section” and stayed in her seat up front. For this impertinence she was jailed. But as a result of her courage, millions of others refused to sit at the back of the bus and Rosa Parks is synonymous with the American civil rights movement.

On another bus, 3 months ago and continents away, another brave young woman was punished for her refusal to sit at the “educational” back of the bus. A gunman boarded her school bus, singled her out for execution by cowardly shooting her in the head and then again in the chest.

15 year old Malala Yousafzai was targeted because she was an activist for women’s rights and equal education. This is a slap in the face to Muslim extremists who view women as 2nd class citizens, not worthy of an education or other rights accorded to men.

Gravely wounded, she was airlifted to England for medical treatment and sanctuary. After 3 months she was just released from the hospital where she has made miraculous progress. According to doctors she will require future surgery to repair her damaged skull, but they expect her to regain at least 85% of her cognitive ability and perhaps return to activism.

She won worldwide recognition, and has become a symbol for the struggle for women’s rights in Pakistan as well as other countries where women are relegated to 2nd class status due to religious and cultural beliefs.

Indicating her growing popularity and inspiration, she was one of the few nominated for Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” for 2012. Additionally, tens of thousands of people have signed a petition calling for Malala to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

Just like the courageous Rosa Parks lifted America out of its blindness and brought it into the light. The courageous Malala Yousafzai can be the light bearer for her culture and lead it out of the darkness of repression. For her courage and inspiration she deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.

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Ed Farnan is the conservative columnist at IrishCentral, where he has been writing on the need for energy independence, strong self defense, secure borders, 2nd amendment, smaller government and many other issues. His articles appear in many publications throughout the USA and world. He has been a guest on Fox News and a regular guest on radio stations in the US and Europe.

Mother Almost Dies from Unborn Baby’s Fingernail: Left in Coma Needing 22 Blood Transfusions

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Born five weeks premature, twins Amelie and Ava only just made it into this world after being resuscitated with oxygen. But they’re not the only ones who are lucky to be alive.

Their mother Angela Cottam almost died after a suspected fingernail or hair from one of them passed into her bloodstream during their birth. The rare condition – which affects only one in 80,000 births – caused 32-year-old Mrs Cottam to suffer severe internal bleeding and her lungs collapsed.

The primary school teacher lost seven pints of blood, needed 22 transfusions and spent 12 hours in a coma, when her family was told she might not pull through.

Mrs Cottam, who is married to Peter, 33, said: ‘I feel so lucky to be here and really blessed that both the girls are with us because it could have been so different.

‘There are moments when I’ve been on my own and I’ve had a little cry and thought “What if?” But I try not to dwell on that and just thank my lucky stars the doctors and midwives on duty that day recognised what was happening.

Read more from this story HERE.

Policy Wonk With No Military Experience on Shortlist to be 1st Female Defense Secretary

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It’s a long way from playing volleyball at Beverly Hills High School to being the most powerful woman in Washington, but Michele Flournoy could cap such a remarkable journey if President Obama selects her as Defense secretary.

Flournoy, little known outside the world of military policy, is on the shortlist to lead the Pentagon in Obama’s second term. She would be the first woman in that role.

An inveterate policy wonk who first worked in the Pentagon under President Clinton and later co-founded a respected think tank, Flournoy, 52, has spent two decades climbing to the top of Washington’s notoriously male-dominated national security establishment, winning the admiration of military officers and politicians from both parties even as she remained out of the spotlight.

Although a child of Hollywood — her father was a TV cinematographer, her mother a onetime theater actress — she long ago abandoned Los Angeles for the distinctly unglamorous world of defense policy. She never served in uniform but has been at the center of her generation’s most important debates over the future of the U.S. military, from arms control in the Reagan years to the counterinsurgency strategies employed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

When Obama took office in 2009, Flournoy returned to the Pentagon in the department’s No. 3 position — undersecretary of Defense for policy — but resigned last February, saying she wanted to spend more time with her three children.

Read more from this story HERE.

Woman Hiding With Kids Shoots Home Intruder Multiple Times

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A woman hiding in her attic with children shot an intruder multiple times before fleeing to safety Friday.

The incident happened at a home on Henderson Ridge Lane in Loganville around 1 p.m. The woman was working in an upstairs office when she spotted a strange man outside a window, according to Walton County Sheriff Joe Chapman. He said she took her 9-year-old twins to a crawlspace before the man broke in using a crowbar.

But the man eventually found the family.

Defendant Paul Slater

“The perpetrator opens that door. Of course, at that time he’s staring at her, her two children and a .38 revolver,” Chapman told Channel 2’s Kerry Kavanaugh. The woman then shot him five times, but he survived, Chapman said. He said the woman ran out of bullets but threatened to shoot the intruder if he moved.

“She’s standing over him, and she realizes she’s fired all six rounds. And the guy’s telling her to quit shooting,” Chapman said.

Victim’s Husband Donnie Herman

The woman ran to a neighbor’s home with her children. The intruder attempted to flee in his car but crashed into a wooded area and collapsed in a nearby driveway, Chapman said.

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Photo of Baby Reaching Out From Womb During C-Section Goes Viral

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A new photo of a baby reaching out of the womb and holding a doctor’s finger during a Caesarian section delivery has gone viral and is being passed around Facebook by tens of thousands of people.

A Phoenix-area couple took the picture during the delivery of Nevaeh — Heaven spelled backward — and a local news report says even the physician and hospital nursing staff were surprised by what unfolded.

“It was such an amazing photo. [Hospital staff] had possibly heard of it happening but they had never seen a photo of it,” said Alicia Atkins, Nevaeh’s mother.

Few lives will be as well documented as little Nevaeh’s. Her mother is a professional photographer who owns A Classic Pin-Up in Glendale. However, it was her dad, Randy, who snapped the picture.

Read more from this story HERE.

New Year Diets Destined to Fail: Women Describing Themselves as ‘Fat’, ‘Heavy’ or ‘Chubby’ are Doomed Before They Begin

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The latest research has revealed that women are literally talking themselves fat with eight in ten women saying they believed a positive attitude was the key to losing weight but over half using self critical words when starting a diet.

The research revealed over two thirds of women use the word ‘fat’ to describe an area of their body although six in ten say it makes them feel more negative about themselves than more positive words such as ‘curvy’.

It seems many women also start off with a mindset destined for failure with only a third of women actually starting a diet believing they will lose weight and three quarters having daily negative thoughts about their body. However, over two thirds of women said when they have successfully lost weight in the past they recalled having a positive attitude and ‘talked themselves up’.

Self help author and life coach Janet Thomson, who specialises in weight loss, said: ‘When women are looking to lose weight they want to change something about themselves and of course are more likely to use words such as “fat” for this reason. ‘However what they don’t realise is this sort of negativity can become a self-fulfilling prophecy so it is important to channel positive feelings about themselves and their goals when trying to lose weight as it gives them a much better chance of success.’

According to the research, four in ten said they also talked more negatively about their body when they were with friends with a quarter admitting these open ‘flaw exposing’ coffee shop conversations bring them down. However four in ten women said they felt more motivated if a friend had lost weight or had a more positive attitude to their body.

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Biblical Baby Names Fall Out of Favor in US, Uptick in Names from Pop Culture such as Erotic Shades of Grey

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Biblical names are out and pop culture is in for America’s newborns – if this year’s list of most popular baby names are anything to go by. The once hearty trend of parents naming their babies after Biblical scripture has shown a steady decline in recent years according to an annual baby name report by BabyCenter.com.

What can be gathered in supplement shows a perhaps surprising uptick in inspiration from pop culture such as erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey, TV show Downton Abbey and even Apple electronics.

TOP 10 BOYS NAMES:

Aiden
Jackson
Ethan
Liam
Mason
Noah
Lucas
Jacob
Jayden
Jack

TOP 10 GIRLS NAMES:

Sophia
Emma
Olivia
Isabella
Ava
Lily
Zoe
Chloe
Mia
Madison

That’s a stark contrast from 12 years ago when Biblical names dominated the top 10 list, in 2000 it being: Michael, Jacob, Matthew, Joseph, Joshua, and Andrew.
For girls in 2000 it was Hannah, Sarah and Elizabeth.

Read more from this story HERE.