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And baby makes seven! Rosie O’Donnell surprised fans on Tuesday when she tweeted a photo of herself and wife Michelle Rounds holding their brand new bundle of joy. “we r thrilled to announce the arrival of r daughter Dakota - #withloveandthanks – AMEN,” O’Donnell wrote beneath the pic, which features the two women cradling the tiny infant. The couple adopted the baby this week. Back in January, O’Donnell told Dr. Oz on his daytime talk show that Rounds, now 41, was “trying to get pregnant.” After that interview, however, Rounds was diagnosed with desmoids tumors, a rare condition that...

A London-based order of nuns is to open its seventh convent in the space of just 20 years. The Tyburn Nuns, whose mother house is situated near Marble Arch, have started to build their first African monastery in the Diocese of Minna in Niger State in the north of Nigeria. It will be their 11th monastery, the 10th since the Second World War and the seventh to open in a rapid global proliferation of religious houses under the order since 1993. The contemplative Benedictines were invited to Nigeria to promote Eucharistic Adoration and to pray for peace in a country...

Say, anyone interested in actual facts about guns, violence, and schools? If so, Reason's Nick Gillespie and Amanda Winkler have five key points about the actual status of school safety and the impact of guns on American society. The truth is that violent crime and mass shootings have declined since the 1990s, even with events like Newtown and Aurora. Schools are safer now than in decades. However, those data points don't lend themselves to hysterics hoping to panic people into bad legislation that won't solve the problems they supposedly address: CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO 1. Violent crime –...

An agressive flu strain is spreading quickly across the country. Hospitals from coast to coast are being forced to divert patients from their overcrowded emergency rooms. "I can't say it enough," Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said. "Please all of everyone out there, get to the health centers where you can get you flu shot." This winter has had the earliest and worst outbreak of deadly flu virus in a decade. Positive cases of influenza in the U.S. rose 60 percent during the last week of December. In the week ending on Dec. 29, 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and...

Newsmax Bill Clinton Named 'Father of the Year' Wednesday, January 9, 2013 11:49 PM By: Newsmax Wires Clinton was named the “Father of the Year” by the National Father’s Day Council on Wednesday. "We are extremely honored to have President Clinton accept this award for Father of the Year," said Dan Orwig, Chairman of the National Father`s Day Committee. "With the profound generosity, leadership and tireless dedication to both his public office and many philanthropic organizations, President Clinton exemplifies the attributes that we celebrate through the father of the year award." The awards will be presented at the 72nd Annual...

Economic Collapse! A Leading Indicator Of Better Times To Come Economics / Global EconomyJan 10, 2013 - 04:00 AM By: Darryl R Schoon It’s going to get better; but, first, it’s going to get worse Time of the Vulture, 3rd ed. 2012 When I presented Time of The Vulture: How to Survive the Crisis and Prosper in the Process to the Positive Deviant Network in March 2007, the economic collapse hadn’t yet happened. The next year, it did. At the time, I suggested those in attendance shed debt, sell their homes and buy gold. Then, the US real estate market...

Just something to make people think in terms of this gun control hysteria. Let's change a few facts and imagine how the national conversation would be different if: 1. Black man from Brooklyn who harbored racist feelings against whites went to Scarsdale and committed this act of mass murder. 2. White man from Scarsdale who harbored racist feelings against blacks went to Brooklyn and shot up the school. 3. Black inner city person shot up school and killed many in an all minority school in the Bronx due to anger over domestic custody battle. 3. Legal muslim immigrant obtained weapons...

Here is some excellent analysis that shows that swimming pools kill more children than guns, despite the fact that we have more guns than swimming pools in this country: http://www.m1-garand-rifle.com/firearms-versus-swimming-pools.php When you factor in the number of pools relative to that of guns, the analysis shows that a child is 52 times more likely to die in a swimming pool than by a gun shot. We need to outlaw swimming pools, in order to save the lives of children. I am all for pool control. We must fight to ensure that the pool builders lobby does not undermine our attempt...

United Van Lines released its annual accounting of where American households are moving and Michigan ranked as the 6th highest state in outbound traffic in 2012. That is a modest improvement over 2011, when the Great Lake State was ranked 4th. Specifically, 58 percent of all United Van Lines 2012 Michigan-related moves are outbound. The good news is that this isn't the most recent improvement in the state's ranking. From 2006 through 2009, Michigan ranked as the company's No. 1 state for outbound moving traffic. Also, by making this state a more attractive place for investors and entrepreneurs to locate...

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose last week, but seasonal volatility makes it difficult to get a clear picture of the labor market's health. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 371,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday. The prior week's figure was revised to show 5,000 fewer applications than previously reported. Claims tend to be very volatile around this time of the year because of the holidays and seasonal layoffs. While they increased last week, there was nothing in the data to suggest a deterioration in labor market conditions....

WASHINGTON — The Washington National Cathedral, where the nation gathers to mourn tragedies and celebrate new presidents, will soon begin hosting same-sex marriages. Cathedral officials say the church will be among the first Episcopal congregations to implement a new rite of marriage for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender members. The church announced its new policy Wednesday. As the nation’s most prominent church, the decision carries huge symbolism. The 106-year-old cathedral has long been a spiritual center for the nation, hosting presidential inaugural services and funerals for Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his last...

A former Death Row inmate who was out on parole after killing two teenage girls was arrested Wednesday after he killed his mother in Vallejo, police said. Dennis Stanworth, 70, called police at 11:55 a.m. and claimed to have killed his mother at his home on the 2500 block of Marshfield Road, said Vallejo police Lt. Jim O'Connell.

The national debate about gun control is becoming frightening to watch as it unfolds every day in the news. Both sides are beyond passionate on the issue and it is hard to see a “compromise” in the future because there really is no compromise to be had. Either the Second Amendment trumps the inevitable mass shootings by the mentally unstable, or it does not. A father from Post Falls, Idaho touched on a universal sentiment felt by parents:These are my children. My daughter is 6 and my son is 4. Those of you who have small kids know how fantastic...

Much of the last 4 years has been a nightmare for conservatives. But there is a crazy, stupid, absurd idea being seriously discussed in Washington that makes previous nightmares from the White House pale in comparison. The idea is for the Treasury Department to mint a platinum coin and declare it to be worth $1 trillion. If Congress won't raise the debt ceiling, the coin would be deposited at the Federal Reserve and Obama could continue to spend money. Congress passed a bill allowing for the minting of platinum coins several years ago. But it was a bill designed to...

I was recently hired to review the Supreme Court opinion in the case of Texas v. White, 74 U.S. 700 (1869). The opinion in that matter was written by Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, who had served in Lincoln's cabinet during the Civil War prior to his appointment as chief justice. In the recent talk of secession, this case is often thrown out as having settled the matter legally, just as the Civil War settled the matter militarily. This memorandum of course does not address the wisdom of secession and does not advocate secession. It is devoted solely to analysis...

President Obama will nominate current White House chief of staff Jack Lew on Thursday to replace outgoing Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner, according to several news reports. Republicans familiar with Lew, who was a key player in the debt-ceiling negotiations of 2011 as director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), say his nomination makes progress on tax and entitlement reform all the more unlikely in Obama’s second term. “We’ve always viewed him as a classic big-government liberal, someone who has consistently stood in the way of efforts to deal with our debt and deficit,” a senior House GOP aide...

“Sometimes you have to pass the bill to find out what’s in it,” to paraphrase former Speaker Nancy Pelosi. As reported at IJR earlier today, a hidden amendment in Obamacare prevents a national gun and ammunition registry. That’s right. It was put into the bill by Senator Harry Reid — in order to keep the NRA out of the Obamacare fight. Well, thank you Harry Reid? The Nevada senator, after all, is a fan of guns and firearms, believing them to be as American as baseball or football. (Football without suspected black conservative quarterbacks who play injured in big games,...

The 2012 elections showed that the American people don’t like clueless conservatism any better now than when they were getting it in massive doses from George W. Bush. If the electorate really favored progressivism, they would have given the Democrats control of the House of Representatives, and they did not. Instead, the voters used the election to deliver the biggest jolt to the Republicans that they could without giving the Democrats complete control of government. The 2012 election amounted to a desperate attempt by the electorate to purge the Republican Party of clueless conservatism. Clearly, the people are trying to...

With 2013 just underway, Barack Obama's agenda for the coming year is readily apparent. Though Mr. Obama promised many foolish things during his campaign in 2012, the lies he has told are the ones making the headlines thus far this year. His agenda for the coming year? No women, less guns, and more taxes on the middle class, or "lies, lies, and more lies"... First is the fact that the President, despite attacking Mitt Romney repeatedly for being "anti-woman," has thus far refused to nominate any women to his cabinet in his second term. This has been met with largely...

SWISSVALE, Pa. — Swissvale police are investigating two fights at a Woodland Hills School District bus stop involving 60 to 70 people on Monday and Tuesday. According to police, the first fight happened at a bus stop near the intersection of South Braddock and Woodstock avenues on Monday. Then a second bigger fight broke out at the same location Tuesday. Investigators are calling the fight a riot because of the large number of people involved. Police said they’re using video of the fight to help identify those involved. Channel 11's Cara Sapida reported that police identified 15 of the people...