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President Donald Trump issued a powerful message this week about the value of individuals with Down syndrome in America. October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month, and an estimate 250,000 Americans have the chromosomal abnormality. Some go to college, while others own businesses and work as models, actors and artists. Some get married, and many serve as advocates and spokespeople for people with disabilities.

Horse racing continues to take place daily during the coronavirus pandemic, and on Saturday Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., opens for the first time in 2020 with a loaded 11-race card. Only two of the 11 races will have smaller than a full 12-horse field. In Race 11, the Mark Casse-trained Fly So Pretty makes her first start of the year and goes for her third career win in five starts when she leaves the starting gate in an allowance race. She has been installed as the 7-2 favorite in the 5½-furlong turf sprint. The race is the final leg...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Tuesday, May 12, 2020) - Churchill Downs Racetrack today released a preliminary list of races that could be used for the extension of the “Road to the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve,” pending agreeable race placement by the host tracks. Additionally, the first race in the extended series, the $150,000 Matt Winn (Grade III) on May 23 at Churchill Downs, will have Top 4 points raised from the previously announced 10-4-2-1 to 50-20-10-5. “Based on measured interest from horsemen and limited racing opportunities for 3-year-olds across the country, the Matt Winn at the home of the Kentucky...

The Israeli army has stated that all intelligence on the Russian aircraft downed in Latakia on Monday will be shared with Moscow. The Israeli army statement said when the Syrian air defense systems fired the missiles that downed the Russian aircraft, Israeli Air Force had already returned to Israeli air field. The Israeli army argued that the incident had been caused by the Syrian air defense systems’ “extensive and inaccurate” fire. The statement said, “The Syrian anti-air batteries fired indiscriminately and from what we understand, did not bother to ensure that no Russian planes were in the air.” The Israeli...

The US-led anti-ISIS Coalition stated that a Syrian regime jet was shot down following an attack on SDF forces south of Tabqa. The US-led anti-ISIS coalition Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF–OIR) has released a statement regarding the downing of a Syrian jet near Tabqa Sunday afternoon. According to the statement, titled “Coalition defends partner forces from Syrian fighter jet attack”, at approximately 4:30 pm June 18 pro-Syrian regime forces attacked the Syrian Democratic Forces-held town of Ja'Din, south of Tabqa, wounding a number of SDF fighters and driving the SDF from the town. The statement said...

It’s no secret that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has a baby who was born with prenatal Down syndrome. His name is Trig. Over the years the left has pounded the Palin’s son mercilessly. Because, “tolerance” or something. Today, the 2008 VP nominee shamed Walmart for pushing a coffee mug that reads, “Got retard?” Pretty low.

A painting hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York called The Adoration of the Christ Child. Created in the 16th century by a Flemish artist, what stands out in this sublime presentation of the Nativity is the detail of the characters standing around the crib. Two of them, an angel and a shepherd, appear to have Down’s Syndrome. This suggests that the condition has been around for a very long time, and it helps illuminate the early modern approach to disability. Religious art normally conformed to classical standards of beauty. By implication, the artist regarded people with Down’s...

LANCASTER COUNTY, S.C. — David Pate, a Lancaster man with "Satan" tattooed on his face and a split pierced tongue, who has been jailed since 2013 for killing a friend and leaving the body to be found, pleaded guilty to murder Thursday morning in court. Prosecutors said Pate killed Rickey James in October of 2013 and buried his body in the woods. Shortly after Pate pleaded guilty the judge sentenced him to life in prison. Investigators said DNA tests led to the murder charge but they still don't know how James died. Pate faces 30 years to life in prison.

Rayna Rapp, a former abortion clinic worker, interviewed women getting genetic testing to find out if their babies would be disabled or have a genetic problem. Here are some things that people said about why they would abort a down syndrome baby: “The bottom line is when my neighbor said to me: “Having a “tard,” that’s a bummer for life.” … downsyndromebaby30“I have a cousin, my mother’s sister’s son, he’s retarded and 38. Oh, it isn’t Down’s, it’s something else. He’s done fine, he’s likely to live a normal life, to die at 80. But it’s really messed up the...

[Imagine a prenatal test that, like the one for trisomy 21 (Down's syndrome), could show a predisposition to gayness.] In a New York magazine piece, “The Science of Gaydar,” writer David France looks at the growing scientific evidence for innate differences between gay and straight people. France ends by gazing toward the future, and asks the question, “What if prenatal tests were able to show a predisposition to gayness?” Well, France reports, “[Northwestern University psychological professor] Michael Bailey, for one, isn’t troubled by the moral implications any more than he would oppose fetal screens for potential birth defects, though...

People with Down's syndrome are at greater risk of heart defects, leukaemia and early-onset dementia. Photograph: Getty Images Scientists have corrected the genetic fault that causes Down's syndrome – albeit in isolated cells – raising the prospect of a radical therapy for the disorder. In an elegant series of experiments, US researchers took cells from people with Down's and silenced the extra chromosome that causes the condition. A treatment based on the work remains a distant hope, but scientists in the field said the feat was the first major step towards a "chromosome therapy" for Down's syndrome....

Photo: Associated Press June 19, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – During his usual drive around St. Peter’s Square following his Wednesday general audience today, Pope Francis stopped to embrace a teen with Down syndrome. But when the teen then pointed up to the Popemobile, Pope Francis invited him to join him on the famous vehicle.  The teen sat in the pope’s white seat while the Popemobile continued to wade through the crowds of tens of thousands, and the pontiff greeted the faithful.  The teen’s father told the Associated Press that he choked up when he saw the pope approaching. “The pope...

An anonymous blogger shared her story last week about receiving a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome and choosing to then have an abortion because of the diagnosis. It’s not surprising – it happens nine out of ten times, after all – but it didn’t make her claims any less disturbing. I was so late in pregnancy, there seemed not to be time to meet with a genetic counselor so I did my own research on Down syndrome. I concluded it was a grey diagnosis where best case was hard and worst case terrible. I could envision handling the early years,...

It can be a difficult time for many teens. But high school for Barbara Behlmann has been exhilarating. The 19-year-old has inspired her classmates at Hazelwood West High in St Louis - not because she was crowned homecoming queen or is a star cheerleader - but because she has Down's Syndrome. One of her teachers, Jodi Schutzenhofer, explained to STLToday.com: 'Unknowingly, Barbara has taught us all that nothing is impossible if you are willing to work for what you want.' As the website reports, Barbara was four-years-old when child welfare workers placed her in the foster home of Gary and...

The camera just loves little Taya Kennedy. Wide-eyed, cheeky, engaged; she brims with the confidence of a natural performer. It is little wonder that she has taken the child-modelling world by storm. The fact that 14-month-old Taya also has Down’s Syndrome is quite incidental. She was selected, not to fulfil a quota, tick a box or adhere to the dictums of some politically-correct code of positive discrimination. Taya was picked because, quite simply, she is a star. ‘Taya is an incredibly photogenic, warm and smiley child, and that shines through in her photographs,’ says Alysia Lewis, owner of Urban Angels,...

An article was released by the New York Post last week revealing the discovery of “a new, simple way to detect Down syndrome in a fetus.” The test surpasses currently used methods of testing in safety and convenience, making it more likely that pregnant women will commonly be able to know before birth whether the child will have Down syndrome.The article goes on to report that “92% of women who get a definitive diagnosis of Down choose to abort, surveys show.”In effect, the new test will enable more pregnant women to find whether her child will have Down syndrome and...

Prenatal testing for Down syndrome should not be considered preventive medicine. Such tests cannot prevent the presence of Down syndrome in a child; but they can decrease the likelihood of a child with Down syndrome surviving beyond the womb. Expectant parents need accurate information, including the many positive outcomes, about life raising a child with Down syndrome. Last month, my daughter Juliet began second grade, where her mother and I expect her to maintain her B+ average on spelling tests and straight A’s in Chinese. In addition to being a loving daughter and big sister, Juliet also is endowed...

Note: Jewels Green is a former abortion clinic worker who also had an abortion herself. She recently spoke out about her experiences as an abortion clinic worker for the first time. September 20, 2011 (LiveAction.org) - After supporting abortion my entire life and working in an abortion clinic for years, my Ah-HA moment seemed to come from an unlikely place. I did not have a profound, sudden shift in my worldview. After years of ignoring the little voice inside me questioning the death around me—the nightmares and the regret—the truth snuck up on me. I was involved in an online...

Prosecutors are using a new state law lengthening the gap between parole hearings to keep convicted child killer Diane Downs from coming before the board again for a decade. Downs, whose conviction for shooting her three children and killing one outside Springfield in 1984 inspired the Ann Rule book "Small Sacrifices," is scheduled for a parole hearing Friday. The 55-year-old has been locked up more than 25 years for the shootings. State law had required release hearings every two years for more than 1,500 prison inmates eligible for parole consideration, but a new law that took effect last January lengthened...

Israel's new rocket defense system has proven a hit-to-kill capability. Officials said Israel's Iron Dome has achieved the ability to strike incoming short-range missiles and rockets. They said the Iron Dome demonstrated this during its first live fire test in mid-2009. "They met head on," Defense Minister Ehud Barak said. In a Nov. 17 address to the International Aerospace Conference and Exhibition-Israel, Barak said Iron Dome exceeded all expectations. He said the assessment within the Defense Ministry and military had been that the interceptor would explode 10 meters from the incoming missile.