Free Republic

As we mentioned in an earlier editorial about her possible appointment as secretary of state, "In 1996, while serving as assistant secretary of state for African affairs under former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Rice helped persuade President Clinton to rebuff Sudan's offer to turn Osama bin Laden, who was then living there, over to U.S. authorities." Richard Miniter, author of the book "Losing bin Laden," told World Magazine in 2003 that Rice played a primary role in scuttling the deal in which Sudan could have turned over bin Laden to the U.S.

PHILADELPHIA, April 16, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Kermit Gosnell's history of injuring women through reckless abortion practices extends as far back as 1972, when he injured nine women by testing an experimental abortion device on them that caused plastic razor blades to lacerate their wombs. Even then, however, Gosnell escaped receiving any disciplinary action, with the state turning a blind eye, as it would for the next four decades as he operated his "House of Horrors."

After five weeks of prosecution evidence, the defense in the murder trial of West Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell ended abruptly today with the 72-year-old doctor not testifying and his lawyer presenting no witnesses.

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Officials have cancelled the third day of a hearing for the Mississippi man accused of mailing poisoned letters to President Barack Obama, a U.S. senator and a local judge. Christi McCoy, defense attorney for Paul Kevin Curtis, says that federal authorities and defense attorneys will speak to reporters at 5 p.m. CDT about the case.

Like a lot of high school sophomores, 15-year-old Ashley Baldwin found a job. Baldwin, however, wasn't working retail or fast-food. She was doing ultrasounds, administering intravenous medicine and, ultimately, assisting in abortions performed by West Philadelphia doctor Kermit Gosnell. Baldwin, now 22, and the mother of a two-year-old, today told a Philadelphia jury hearing Gosnell's murder trial of her unusual hands-on medical apprenticeship. She also told of seeing at least five aborted babies moving, breathing and, in one case, "screeching," after procedures at Gosnells' Women's Medical Society clinic at 3801 Lancaster Ave. "They looked just like regular babies," Baldwin said...

LONG BEACH - Dina Perrone likes to talk about sex, specifically how laws are used to control, regulate and prohibit sex and sexuality. For example, in her "Sex, Sexuality, Crime & Punishment" course Perrone, an assistant professor in Cal State Long Beach's criminal justice department, will discuss Lawrence v. Texas, the United States Supreme Court's 2003 landmark decision making gay and lesbian sexual activity legal in every state. "Sex, Sexuality, Crime & Punishment" will be one of the courses students can take toward the university's new Queer Studies minor, which will be available Fall 2013.

(CBS News) Showing his willingness to break from his party, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said on Friday he would accept $10 in spending cuts for every $1 in revenue increases and criticized activist Grover Norquist's no-tax pledge that most GOP lawmakers have signed.

If California starts building a 130-mile segment of high-speed rail late this year as planned, it will enter into a risky race against a deadline set up under federal law. The bullet train track through the Central Valley would cost $6 billion and have to be completed by September 2017, or else potentially lose some of its federal funding. It would mean spending as much as $3.5 million every calendar day, holidays and weekends included — the fastest rate of transportation construction known in U.S. history, according to industry and academic experts.

Conservatives are hitting back at claims that Mitt Romney in 1965 terrorized a classmate who some presumed to be gay: President Obama was a bully, too! Several right-leaning news outlets are pointing to an excerpt in the President's memoir, "Dreams from My Father," in which Obama details how he teased and shoved a middle school girl named Coretta — the only other black student in his grade.

CLEVELAND - Occupy Cleveland canceled a scheduled rally Tuesday after a group of men connected to the organization were arrested by the FBI. In a news release, Occupy Cleveland said the five men arrested in a terror plot to blow up the Route 82 bridge in Brecksville were "in no way representing or acting on behalf of Occupy Cleveland" and Occupy is rooted in non-violent principles.

In 1957, an aging Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood and the international birth control movement, agreed to an interview with CBS News’ Mike Wallace. In stark contrast with the sympathetic reception Sanger could expect to receive today in a network television interview, Wallace hammered Sanger with difficult questions and caught her in contradictions, while Sanger squirmed, fidgeted, and denied statements she had made only a week earlier in pre-interview discussions with CBS staff.

President Obama, employing his strongest language to date on the Supreme Court review of the federal health care overhaul, cautioned the court Monday against overturning the law -- while repeatedly saying he's "confident" it will be upheld.

Gas prices climbed higher Saturday, continuing to march ever-closer to the all-time average local high of $4.60 per gallon set in 2008. Jitters over the standoff in Iran's nuclear program have led to surging oil prices and unstable markets worldwide. Locally, a big refinery fire also hiked prices for motorists, with no end in sight.

(AP) CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - John Glenn joined the proud, surviving veterans of NASA's Project Mercury on Saturday in celebrating the 50th anniversary of his historic orbital flight. The first American to orbit the Earth thanked the approximately 125 retired Mercury workers, now in their 70s and 80s, who gathered with their spouses at Kennedy Space Center to swap stories, pose for pictures and take a bow.

GREER, S.C.—Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney on Thursday insisted he is "pro-life" and said he's raising the issue on the campaign trail to counter his rivals' attacks. "I understand that there are some attack ads coming my way that question" his commitment to life, Romney told reporters gathered at a motorcycle dealership in Greer, S.C. "Obviously it's important for me to remind people that I'm pro-life."

OSAWATOMIE, Kan. (AP) — Declaring the American middle class in jeopardy, President Barack Obama on Tuesday outlined a populist economic vision that will drive his re-election bid, insisting the United States must reclaim its standing as a country in which everyone can prosper if provided "a fair shot and a fair share."

...According to the study, to be released Friday by the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers, just 7 percent of those who lost jobs after the financial crisis have returned to or exceeded their previous financial position and maintained their lifestyles. The vast majority say they have diminished lifestyles, and about 15 percent say the reduction in their incomes has been drastic and will probably be permanent.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- A sell-off on Wall Street gained momentum Monday, with the Dow sinking more than 300 points, as investors remained on edge about the lack of progress on solving U.S. and European debt progblems.

Bank of America Corp. is dropping its plan to charge customers $5 a month for making purchases with their debit cards, a person familiar with the situation said.

LAS VEGAS – After months of diversions — sideshow candidates, Hamlet acts and straw polls — Tuesday night’s sizzling Republican presidential showdown boiled the nomination fight down to its essentials: a deeply personal, ideological and smashmouth contest between two rivals with almost nothing in common.