Category Archives: Progress

A shocking new video has just been released by the Center for Medical Progress, the undercover investigative group that in 2015 released videos showing that Planned Parenthood affiliates have profited from selling the body parts of aborted babies.

This latest video is a preview of footage that CMP investigators gathered at the 2014 and 2015 National Abortion Federation conventions, attended by hundreds of members of the abortion industry each year. (The NAF is a major trade group of North American abortion providers, and Planned Parenthood makes up about 50 percent of its members and leadership.)

Here are some of the most horrifying remarks from the brand-new undercover footage. Attendees made some of these comments during official presentations, and others directly to undercover CMP investigators.

Dr. Lisa Harris, the medical director of Planned Parenthood of Michigan:

Given that we actually see the fetus the same way, and given that we might actually both agree that theres violence in here....Lets just give them all the violence, its a person, its killing, lets just give them all that.

Dr. Ann Schutt-Aine, the director of abortion services for Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast (which has been referred to local law-enforcement for criminal charges related to fetal-tissue trafficking):

If Im doing a procedure, and Im seeing that Im in fear that its about to come to the umbilicus [navel], I might ask for a second set of forceps to hold the body at the cervix and pull off a leg or two, so its not PBA [partial-birth abortion].

Dr. Stacy De-Lin, the director of abortion services for Planned Parenthood of New York City:

But we certainly do intact D&Es [dilation and extraction, otherwise known as partial-birth abortion, a method that is illegal under federal law].

Dr. Uta Landy, the founder of the Consortium of Abortion Providers (CAPS), Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA):

An eyeball just fell down into my lap, and that is gross! [laughter from the crowd]

Talcott Camp, the deputy director of the ACLUs Reproductive Health Freedom Project:

Im like Oh my God! I get it! When the skull is broken, thats really sharp! I get it! I understand why people are talking about getting that skull out, that calvarium.

Dr. Susan Robinson, an abortion provider at Planned Parenthood Mar Monte:

The fetus is a tough little object, and taking it apart, I mean, taking it apart on Day One is very difficult....You go in there, and you go, Am I getting the uterus or the fetus? Oh, good, fetus. [Robinson makes a stabbing sound effect] What have I got? Nothing. Lets try again.

Below are some comments from the footage that provide further evidence of Planned Parenthoods involvement in illegally profiting from fetal-tissue trafficking.

Dr. Leslie Drummond, an abortion provider at Planned Parenthood Mar Monte (a PPFA affiliate that contracted with a biotech firm to be paid per fetal organ provided):

I get a lot of oohs and ahhs from StemExpress [biotech firm]. You know, theyre wanting livers....Last week I was in Sacramento, and she said, I need four intact limbs. And I said, you want what?

Dr. Deborah Nucatola, the senior director of medical services for PPFA:

You know, sometimes shell tell me she wants brain, and well, you know, leave the calvarium in till last, and then try to basically take it, or actually, you know, catch everything and keep it separate from the rest of the tissue so it doesnt get lost.

StemExpress procurement manager:

Theres a lot of clinics that we work with that, I mean, it helps them out significantly.

Deb VanDerhei, the national director of CAPS for PPFA:

But the truth is that some might want to do it to increase their revenues. And we cant stop them.

Dr. Stacy De-Lin, the director of abortion services for Planned Parenthood of NYC:

But I think a financial incentive from you guys [CMP investigators posing as tissue buyers] is going to be like... the people who we have to get this approved from will be very happy about it.

Dr. Paul Blumenthal, the former medical director for PP of Maryland:

I know Planned Parenthood sells a lot of stuff [fetal organs] to people.

Both the NAF and Planned Parenthood sought and obtained a preliminary injunction against the Center for Medical Progress to prevent the release of these undercover videos. That civil suit is currently on appeal.

But Californias attorney general took matters into his own hands in late March, charging CMP investigators David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt with 14 felony counts of illegally recording confidential communications. The state refuses to name the 14 accusers in the criminal case, even though Daleiden and Merritt have themselves been charged publicly.

Every video recording for which the attorney general is charging David was obviously and unquestionably made in a public place where it could not possibly be considered confidential, says Brent Ferreira, one of Daleidens defense attorneys.

The gruesome footage from this latest video leaves no doubt as to why NAF and Planned Parenthood want to silence CMPs investigators. Those in the abortion industry know theyre taking human life. They just dont care.

Alexandra DeSanctis is a William F. Buckley Fellow in Political Journalism at the National Review Institute.

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'I Might . . . Pull Off a Leg or Two' - National Review

By Daemon Hatfield

As someone who was Jason Voorhees for Halloween in fifth or sixth grade (probably not a great idea today), Ive definitely been looking forward to stepping back into the hockey mask in Friday the 13th: The Game. So it shouldnt come as too much of a surprise that Ive found taking on the persona of Jason and roaming around as an iconic invincible force of murder is the highlight of this asymmetrical multiplayer killing spree. Unfortunately, the large majority of your time is spent controlling the machete-fodder, who are much less fun.

Jason will be set loose on gamers tomorrow, but Ive been running for my life on the PC version for a couple days now. Note that a big part of why we do reviews in progress for multiplayer games is to test out servers in a live environment before we finalize our score. Usually thats to test and see if a game performs as well after release as it did before, but in this case Im hoping the servers stabilize in time for the official launch. Pre-release servers have been pretty shaky, and multiple matches have crashed due to server disconnects. Well keep playing and hoping for the best, but at the moment thats one of the scariest things about this game.

Let me start off by assuring you this is a much, much better game than whatever that crap was you might have played on NES. (Thats a low bar, granted.) The design borrows directly from the films which, when you think about it, were really asymmetrical multiplayer matches all along. Its Jason versus up to seven teenagers: Hes hunting them, and theyre cooperating to escape.

These powers are a good explanation of how Jason can seem to be everywhere at once.

The developers got the feeling of playing as this iconic character right, and its really fun to methodically hunt down your prey. As the match goes on you slowly gain more supernatural powers like Sense (think Eagle Vision in Assassins Creed) and Morph, which lets you warp anywhere on the map. Not only are these a good explanation of how Jason can seem to be everywhere at once in the movies, they make you feel powerful and in control of the situation. The situation being that there are some teens that need murderin.

The problem is that, like in the similarly structured Evolve, you cant choose to be Jason. One player is chosen at random at the start of the match, and with up to eight players that means there is a 12.5% chance of you being Jason. The other day I played all day long and only got to be Jason once.

The lucky jerk who gets to be Jason is out there having all the fun.

So you spend the vast majority of your time as a teenager, which isnt nearly as fun to play. On this side of the conflict, you have three survival options: escape by car, escape by boat, or call the cops to come rescue you. Each method requires finding key items in order to repair the escape route, but the items are spread across the randomly generated maprandomly. There doesnt seem to be any rhyme or reason as to how the items are distributed, so playing as a teen means just searching every drawer of every room in every cabin. The lucky jerk who gets to be Jason is out there having all the fun while youre rummaging through desks! You can hide in an outhouse or whack Jason with a weapon to stun him, but these mostly just buy you time. There is apparently some mythical, convoluted way to kill Jason, but the developers aren't sharing how just yet.

At least while youre aimlessly searching every corner of the map you can appreciate that a lot of love for the Friday the 13th franchise is on display here. Six different Jasons are playable, including the pre-hockey mask baghead version from the second movie. The differences arent just cosmetic, as each has strengths and weaknesses. Part 3 Jason can run but has weak stun resistance, for example.

But no matter which version of Jason is hunting you, his kills are gruesomely delightful and are totally on par with what you would expect to see on the movie screen. The unlocked kill descriptions are pretty great:

Head Punch: Not just a knock out, but a knock off.

Head Squeeze: Jason turns the counselor around and squeezes their head until it pops.

You get the idea.

The three maps (with randomly generated elements) pull from several of the movies, in particular parts two and three. Series fans will no doubt recognize Jasons shrine featuring his dead mothers shriveled head and the barn from Part 3s climax.

Even Jasons nemesis Tommy Jarvis a relatively deep cut for anyone but the biggest of Friday fans is included as a hero character that can be summoned by the teens to help finish the fight. A player who has already been killed is chosen at random to take control of Tommy, so this mechanic also gives players a reason to stick around after theyve been killed off and another chance to survive the night.

Speaking of those colorful kills, most of them are unlocked with customization points earned by playing. The same goes for perks for the teenagers that will help them survive, such as starting with a weapon in your hand or higher damage resistance. There are also numerous unlocks that occur automatically as you level up your profile, like new Jason archetypes and counselor outfits. I do like the progression system and am eager to keep playing so I can unlock the new kills and threads for the teenagers I have to keep playing.

Friday the 13th is not a polished game.

While there is a lot of welcome attention to franchise details, Friday the 13th is not a polished game. In fact, its quite buggy. Collision detection is terrible, and its not uncommon to see characters popping through walls, teens hovering in air, and corpses still flailing about after Jason has ended them. Each teen has a few lines of dialogue, but their mouths dont move when speaking. And every single match begins with the same shot of the preppy teens ridiculous face, which gets old fast.

Of course, polish isnt a necessary requirement for friends to have some dumb fun together you only need to look as far as something like PlayerUnknowns Battlegrounds to know that a little glitchiness doesnt get in the way of a great game. But so far, Im finding Friday the 13th: The Game to only be fun when playing as Jason, so Im disappointed every time a match begins and Im not wearing a hockey mask.

Check back after Memorial Day weekend for my full review of Friday the 13th: The Game.

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Friday the 13th: The Game Review in Progress - IGN

Metro

Tenth suspect arrested as 'significant' progress made in Manchester attack investigation Metro Counter-terror police investigating the Manchester Arena bombing have carried out fresh raids, searching addresses in both Manchester and Merseyside. Manchester bomber has 'significant' link to British Isis recruiter. Officers detained one man was ... and more »

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Tenth suspect arrested as 'significant' progress made in Manchester attack investigation - Metro

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In February, Vikings offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur said that the team expected wide receiver Laquon Treadwell to make a big jump after a quiet rookie season.

Shurmur revisited Treadwells status during OTAs this week. Treadwell has been working with Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen in three-receiver sets and Shurmur said that is a sign of how much the team has liked what theyve seen from the 2016 first-round pick this offseason.

Hes had a great, in my opinion, five-and-a-half weeks, Shurmur said, via ESPN.com. He came back and he was really on point with what hes supposed to be doing mentally. Hes been out here competing and doing a nice job running routes and catching the ball. Understanding where he fits in the running game and who to block. To this point, weve been really pleased with his progress based on a year ago.

The Vikings arent putting all of their eggs in Treadwells basket. They signed Michael Floyd this month as another option at receiver and he should get opportunities once hes had more time in the system. Hes likely to be suspended early in the season for last years DUI arrest, however, and continued progress for Treadwell could close the door on further chances come the regular season.

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Vikings really pleased with Laquon Treadwell's progress - NBCSports.com

The Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee issued a rare challenge to the Trump administration Thursday: Prove to us that you are making progress with Russia over the war in Syria soon, or we will push forward with sanctions.

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., has resisted efforts to debate and pass a bipartisan bill codifying existing executive sanctions against Russia for its aggressive actions in Syria and Ukraine and imposing additional sanctions over allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Corker had argued that it was premature to consider such a measure before congressional investigators completed their probe into Russia's activities.

On Thursday, Corker noted that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had also asked him for "a short window of opportunity . . . to change the trajectory of our relationship with Russia" pertaining to Syria.

But Corker's patience with Tillerson appears to be nearing its end.

"Unless Secretary Tillerson can come in early in this next work session" to tell senators that "these things are occurring that are changing the trajectory" of U.S.-Russian relations, Corker said he would recommend that the committee move a bill to impose tougher sanctions on Moscow, "quickly."

Corker did not specify how broad spectrum of sanctions he believed the committee should pursue. The Senate will be in recess for the week of Memorial Day and return to Washington in early June.

Corker expressed serious doubts that Tillerson could convincingly argue that anything in the relationship with Russia as it concerns Syria has improved as the Trump administration has promised. Corker noted that he recently reviewed classified documents on the state of affairs between Washington and Moscow, particularly concerning Syria.

"I can just tell you, I see no difference whatsoever," Corker said. "They continue to work against our interests."

Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., the committee's ranking Democrat, emphatically endorsed Corker's plan, adding that he hoped the committee would advance the bill "early enough so that it could be considered on the [Senate] floor" during the next work period as well.

"I have no illusions that Russia, in the next couple of weeks, are going to change their behavior," Cardin said, noting that "I do look forward" to hearing from Tillerson.

The committee approved a bill to improve efforts to counter Russian propaganda and influence-peddling at home and abroad. The legislation was originally a subsection of a broader Russia sanctions bill that Cardin, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and a bipartisan group of senators introduced last month, but Cardin and Corker agreed to strip the sanctions provisions out, over the leaders' dispute about whether Congress should attempt to advance Russia sanctions at all.

Corker's move also prompted Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., who was expected to try to force the issue of Russia sanctions back onto the Senate's agenda by introducing amendments that would have revived the punitive measures in the Cardin-McCain bill, to hold back.

Shaheen's amendments would insert such language back into the Russian propaganda bill, as well as a comprehensive bill to stiffen sanctions against Iran for its recent ballistic missile tests and the activities of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the Trump administration is considering labeling as a terrorist organization.

The committee voted on both bills Thursday morning, approving the measure to improve Russian counter-propaganda efforts by a vote of 20 to 1, and the Iran sanctions bill by a vote of 18 to 3.

Committee leaders have yet to hammer out the details of what that Russia sanctions legislation will look like. Corker did not commit on Thursday to take up the exact language in the Cardin-McCain bill, despite bipartisan support for that measure.

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Top GOP senator warns Trump administration: Show progress with Russia or we'll pursue sanctions - Chicago Tribune

YAKIMA, Wash. -- U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse is one of a bipartisan group of Congress members asking the federal government to review the progress of years of cleanup work at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, in light of the partial collapse of a tunnel containing radioactive wastes earlier this month.

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said lawmakers sent a letter Wednesday to the Government Accountability Office asking for the review.

Hanford for decades made plutonium for nuclear weapons, and the government has spent some $19 billion cleaning up the resulting wastes. The work is expected to last until 2060 and cost another $100 billion.

The bipartisan group of seven lawmakers, most from the Northwest, wrote that they were alarmed by the recent tunnel collapse and were concerned that future events could put the safety of workers, the public and environment at risk.

The event was another harsh reminder of the radioactive and toxic hazards that remain at the Hanford Site, as well as the importance of ensuring the site has the resources necessary to expeditiously achieve its cleanup mission, the letter said.

The request came after the partial collapse May 9 of a tunnel that has stored highly radioactive waste since the 1960s with no plans made yet for its permanent disposal.

Among the lawmakers: Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.; Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; Rep. Newhouse; Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash.; Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J. Walden is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and Pallone is ranking member of the committee.

The request came a day after the administration of President Donald Trump submitted a proposed budget to Congress that calls for a cut of nearly $124 million to the budget of the Hanford Richland Operations Office, dropping it to $716 million.

In recent years, much of the Richland Operations Offices work has been focused on cleanup of contaminated buildings and waste sites closest to the Columbia River. The plan has been to next turn to central Hanford, which has more than 1,000 waste sites and about 500 facilities, many of them highly contaminated with radioactive and toxic chemical waste, plus contaminated soil and groundwater.

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Hanford cleanup progress review sought - Yakima Herald-Republic

Hey, Teddy's back.

The Minnesota Vikings posted a video Tuesday afternoon that showed quarterback Teddy Bridgewater making progress in his ongoing recovery from a devastating knee injury.

The 39-second clip shows Bridgewater in slow motion, taking various drops and firing footballs in his signature two gloves during organized team activities. The quarterback, whose 2016 season ended before it began because of a gruesome knee injury, was sporting a noticeable brace and sleeve on his surgically repaired knee.

Bridgewater wasn't at practice Wednesday since he was in Dallas for a checkup with his doctor. A source informed of the situation told NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport that the QB had a positive visit and was told he's making progress in his rehab and lateral movement.

While it's unclear how much work Bridgewater actually did in the Vikings' workout Tuesday, the video is a good sign for the Vikings and the QB, who hasn't been cleared to practice just yet.

"We wanted to at least put something out there to show that this is part of his rehab," Spielman said of the team's decision to release the video Tuesday, per the Pioneer Press.

Bridgewater suffered a dislocated knee and a complete tear of his ACL just nine months ago, prompting coach Mike Zimmer to wonder this offseason if the quarterback would ever play again. Even the Vikings' front office was so concerned about the injury they declined his fifth-year option earlier this month.

But the fact that he's out throwing footballs and participating in some on-field work should help make opinions in Minnesota a bit more optimistic. Perhaps there will even be more Hey Teddy songs soon.

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Teddy Bridgewater making progress in his rehab - NFL.com

In the years leading up to my taking office, Tampa families experienced some of the hardest times in recent history. Homes were lost, jobs were cut, and optimism for the future waned.

When I walked the streets of this city, knocking on thousands of doors, meeting many of you on the steps of your home, I heard your stories stories of strong families looking for their way back.

Our city has had a similar story. We were knocked on our backs by the Great Recession. We laid off over 700 employees, cut services, and halted the progress on important projects we could no longer afford. We are barely on our feet from an economic catastrophe and yet, the politicians in Tallahassee have decided to deliver us an added blow by proposing an additional homestead exemption in excess of a $5 million impact to our bottom line.

TIMES EDITORIAL: New homestead exemption would hurt many, benefit few

In all the progress we have made, there is still work to be done. Property taxes, our primary source of revenue, have yet to reach pre-recession levels. In fact, the amount we generate in property tax does not even cover the cost of our police and fire departments. We are operating with over $13 million less in property tax revenue this year than we were in 2007.

Yet in spite of the severity of this recession, we have received 12 bond rating increases from the Wall Street rating agencies, a reflection of the fiscally responsible and prudent way in which we manage your money.

During the discussions in Tallahassee, we heard our legislators call local governments "wasteful, lazy and unaccountable" as they argued for changes to the tax base that they themselves will have no accountability in implementing when the time comes to make tough choices tough choices we, our families and our neighbors, will need to live with.

It is irresponsible and poor governance to ask you to decide on sweeping changes to the tax statute without also telling you what the consequences will be for services in your backyard.

Residents of Tampa will not likely call their state legislators when their neighborhoods need new fire stations, their streets need repaving, or their children need access to affordable summer camps. That is because unlike the Tallahassee lawmakers sitting up high in their Capitol, your local governments the cities and counties are here on the ground with you.

It is your local governments that pick up your trash, protect our neighborhoods, and fill the potholes after a storm. We provide the services you depend on. They aren't glamorous or newsworthy but they are essential to the daily lives of families in every corner of our city.

That is our mission, to provide you the services that you have come to expect, and we do it exceedingly better today with fewer people, less money, and less waste than ever before.

These cuts in services will affect every person living in Tampa; however, the tax shift of an additional homestead exemption will not benefit the majority of us. If your home is $100,000 or less in value, you will not benefit. If you rent your home or apartment, you will not benefit. If you own commercial real estate, you will not benefit. Yet, you will be subject to cuts in critical services without a dime back in your pocket to show for it.

For local government to absorb these cuts there are two choices, cut services or raise the millage rate.

It is easy from Tallahassee to wag its finger at local governments and continue to assault our self-governance a trend of blatant political power grabs thinly veiled by the belief that they know better our needs than we do and that they can better solve our challenges than we can.

If that is not enough, imagine the hypocrisy of a Legislature that falls over itself to give the voters the opportunity to vote to reduce their taxes but refuses to give those very same voters the opportunity to choose for themselves whether to enhance their quality of life by investing in a better transportation system.

Since the Great Recession, the story of our city has also paralleled the story of so many Tampa families. We worked hard, we tightened our budgets, we did more with less and we clawed our way back. Together as a community, we are finally feeling the results of our fearlessness.

Here in Tampa, we are the blueprint for cities around the world on how innovation leads to progress. We stand on the world's stage as a global destination for business, education, and quality of life. We cannot allow Tallahassee lawmakers to drive us backward.

Bob Buckhorn is the mayor of Tampa.

Bob Buckhorn: Expanding homestead exemption will endanger Tampa's progress 05/25/17 [Last modified: Wednesday, May 24, 2017 7:07pm] Photo reprints | Article reprints

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Bob Buckhorn: Expanding homestead exemption will endanger Tampa's progress - Tampabay.com

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Trump Leaves Israel With Hope for Peace, but No Plan for It New York Times Mr. Trump made clear that the new relationship Israel seeks with its Sunni Arab neighbors, some of whom he met earlier in Saudi Arabia, was linked to progress with the Palestinians. Mr. Trump seemed to accomplish all of this, most experts here agreed ... Trump, experts see opportunity for progress toward Israel-Palestine peaceWJLA all 3,701 news articles »

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Trump Leaves Israel With Hope for Peace, but No Plan for It - New York Times

New York Times

US Nuclear History Offers Clues to North Korea's Progress New York Times An unidentified rocket, reported to be a Hwasong-type missile similar to the one used in a May 14, 2017, test launch, was part of a military parade in Pyongyang, North Korea, last month. Credit Ed Jones/Agence France-Presse Getty Images. It started ...

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US Nuclear History Offers Clues to North Korea's Progress - New York Times