A Texas lawmaker is standing up to say that just because a woman is brain dead it doesn’t mean the baby inside her is also dead.
Rep. Matt Krause is creating a bull that would allow the baby in the case to have his or her own representative in court to argue for the life of the child.
“You’ll hear what the family wants, and you’ll also give the pre-born child a chance to have a voice in court at that same time,” Krause told the Dallas Morning News. “The judge weighs everything and he or she makes their decision based on that.”
The proposed law in the wake of the case of Marlise Munoz, a 33-year-old woman who was found unconscious in the middle of the night. Doctors say Marlise had suffered a blood clot in her lung which caused her to collapse. She spent two months at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth where the baby had a measurable heartbeat despite the mother being brain dead.
The woman’s husband and parents wanted to end the life of Marlise and the unborn child as per her request. She did not want to be “kept alive by machines.”
The hospital said they could not remove Munoz from life support because of a Texas state law that prohibits the removal of life support to a pregnant woman. Judge R.H. Wallace said that the woman was technically dead and so the law didn’t apply to her, allowing Erick Munoz, Lynne Machado and her husband to end the life of Marlise and the unborn baby.
Is it a hate crime or not?
That’s the question being investigated by the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office after a 46-year-old man gunned down three Muslim students near the campus of the University of North Carolina Tuesday.
Craig Hicks turned himself into police after the execution style killings of Deah Barakat, 23, his wife Yusor Abu-Salha, 21 and Abu-Salha’s sister Razan. Barakat was a student at the University of North Carolina School of Dentistry.
Hicks claims that he shot the three because of a dispute over parking arrangements in their condominium complex. However, many residents claim that Hicks was a violent, angry atheist that openly spoke out about his hate toward all faiths.
Hicks has a social media account where he shared his love of Richard Dawkins’ book “The God Delusion”, said he was a supporter of “Atheists for Equality” and spoke of the commonality between Muslims and Christians.
“Of course I want religion to go away,” his Facebook cover reads. “I don’t deny you your right to believe whatever you’d like, but I have the right to point out it’s ignorant and dangerous for as long as your baseless superstitions keep killing people.”
Police said initial indications were the shooting was related to the parking problem but were open to it being more.
“Our investigators are exploring what could have motivated Mr. Hicks to commit such a senseless and tragic act,” Chapel Hill Police Chief Chris Blue said in a statement. “We understand the concerns about the possibility that this was hate-motivated and we will exhaust every lead to determine if that is the case.”
Three young white Mississippi men are heading to federal prison after being convicted of what one person called violence as evil as the worst of pre-civil rights days.
James Craig Anderson, 20, was killed by a group of men who has been targeting blacks they believed were homeless or drunk. Anderson was in a parking lot of a hotel in Jackson, Mississippi when he was deliberately run over by a man driving a Ford truck. The murder was caught on surveillance video.
The driver of the truck, Deryl Paul Dedmon, will spend 50 years in prison after being convicted of the hate crime. He will serve that sentence concurrent with whatever a Mississippi state judge issues as punishment for Dedmon’s guilty plea to capital murder and a hate crime.
The family of the victim decried the evil of the “strangers with eyes full of hatred.” Barbara Anderson Young, sister of the victim, told the killers, “My God have mercy on your sinful souls.”
Dedmon’s associates also are heading to prison. John Aaron Rice was sentenced to 18 ½ years, and Dylan Wade Butler to seven years.
Seven others are still awaiting sentencing for their role in targeting blacks and homeless people for physical assault and abuse.
It was her passionate faith in Christ that compelled her to care for the orphans of Syria.
It was that faith that kept Kayla Mueller at peace during her captivity at the hands of the brutal Islamic terrorist group ISIS.
“I find God in the suffering eyes reflected in mine, if this is how you are revealed to me, this is how I will forever seek you,” Mueller told the Prescott (Arizona) Daily Courier in 2013.
Pentagon officials confirmed Mueller’s death but said there is no way the woman was killed during an airstrike by Jordanian forces. The Defense Department’s spokesman said that she was clearly murdered by ISIS.
A letter from Mueller to her family was released to the press that further stated her leaning on God in her horrific situation.
“I remember mom always telling me that all in all in the end the only one you really have is God. I have come to a place in experience where, in every sense of the word, I have surrendered myself to our creator b/c literally there was no else … + by God + by your prayers I have felt tenderly cradled in freefall.”
President Obama told buzzfeed news that he had authorized a rescue mission to save Mueller but special forces were a day late.
The mother of a Missouri teen believed to have died in a lake says that God brought her child back from the dead.
John Smith, 14, was playing with two friends on frozen Lake Sainte Louise when they fell through the ice. While the other two boys were rescued, the initial rescuers couldn’t find Smith. It took 15 minutes for rescuers to find his body.
Doctors at St. Joseph Hospital performed CPR for almost half an hour without success. After being clinically dead for 45 minutes, the doctors called Smith’s mother into the room to break the bad news.
Dr. Ken Sutterer said that when Joyce Smith came into the room, she refused to accept that her son was dead and began loudly praying.
“I don’t remember what all I said,” Joyce Smith said. “But I remember, ‘Holy God, please send your Holy Spirit to save my son. I want my son, please save him.’”
Within minutes, hospital personnel were stunned. John’s pulse returned. He was rushed to Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center where doctors were concerned that he would have permanent brain damage due to being without oxygen for at least 45 minutes.
Within 48 hours, Smith opened his eyes and responded perfectly to doctor’s questions.
“It’s a bonafide miracle,” said Dr. Jeremy Garrett, who tested Smith’s brain function.
The family of Redeemer Episcopal Church in Houston were still reeling from the news their pastor and his family had been murdered when they suffered a second blow.
The son of Pastor Israel Ahimbisbwe has been arrested in the murder of his father, mother and brother.
Houston police say that 19-year-old Isaac Tiharihondi has been charged with two counts of capital murder and was being held in custody in Mississippi where he fled after the killings. He covered the bodies with blankets and towels in the back bathroom of the apartment where the victims were found Monday.
A member of the church told a local TV station that she had lunch with the accused killer after police say he committed the crime.
“It’s devastating. It’s sad. It’s unexplainable,” Nancy Taylor, who attends Church of the Redeemer, told KHOU. “We had lunch, we sat, we chatted, we talked, we laughed. It was just a real enjoyable experience and time together. … Good kid, polite, nice, respectful, grateful.”
“While I am relieved authorities have found Isaac, I am heartbroken that he has been charged with capital murder. This only adds to the tragedy of their deaths and raises more questions than it answers,” Rt. Rev. C. Andrew Doyle, Episcopal Bishop of Texas said in a statement.
ISIS claimed Friday that an American hostage was killed during Jordanian airstrikes on the terrorist group.
“The failed Jordanian aircraft killed an American female hostage,” said the message released through a Jihadist watchdog website. “No mujahid (fighters) was injured in the bombardment, and all praise is due to Allah.”
“The criminal Crusader coalition aircraft bombarded a site outside the city of ar-Raqqah today at noon while the people were performing the Friday prayer,” ISIS said. “The air assaults were continuous on the same location for more than an hour.”
The woman, Kayla Mueller, was taken by the terrorists in 2013. The woman had moved to Syria to help children who were orphaned or separated from their families by the civil war.
She is the fourth American to die at the hands of ISIS. Sources say it’s very possible the terrorists actually executed her so they could blame her death on Jordan through social media outlets.
The White House said American intelligence officials are investigating the claim.
The extremist group Boko Haram has announced they are mimicking ISIS in declaring their own Islamic caliphate. The group aims to claim parts of Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
Dr. David Curry of Open Doors USA said during an event sponsored by the Family Research Council that people are underestimating the brutality of the terror group.
Curry said that in Nigeria alone, over 2,200 Christians were killed by the group in 2014 just for their faith in Christ. He also said the estimate is low because there are many other deaths at the hands of Boko Haram they have not been able to verify as being motivated by the Christian faith of the victim.
He said that Boko Haram already controls a part of Nigeria the size of Belgium.
“Nigeria has been experiencing attacks much like the Iraqis were facing just a few years ago,” Curry explained. “You have Boko Haram, which has a very similar Al-Qaeda, Islamic State ideology, they have been making attacks, bombings, like you have seen on churches. Now all of a sudden they are beginning to take territory.
“There is a common-path pattern here,” Curry added. “First, individual attacks, then bombings, then the conquering of territory and attacking of civilian sites like army bases and these sorts of things.”
The governments of Chad and Cameroon said Wednesday they have been actively using their military powers against Boko Haram and have killed 250 terrorists this week.
Islamic extremist group Boko Haram launched a major attack outside of Nigeria, shooting or burning to death dozens of civilians.
Cameroon Information Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakari told reporters that around 800 members of Boko Haram attacked the border town of Fotokol, “burning churches, mosques and villages.” The dead were youth that refused to join Boko Haram.
The terrorists also took livestock, food and vehicles.
The cell of terrorists reportedly crossed into Cameroon after fleeing from the Nigerian town of Gamboru. Chad and Nigerian Air Force planes drove them from the city after a series of air strikes.
The news of the attack comes on the heels of African Union officials saying they are going to fund a 7,500 strong force form Nigeria and surrounding countries to destroy Boko Haram.
The faith community of Houston, Texas is reeling from the news a popular pastor, his wife and 5 year old son were murdered in their home.
Police confirm that Israel Ahimbisibwe, Jr. was found in his apartment around 9:30 a.m. Monday. A welfare check had been made on the family after the pastor and his wife didn’t show up Sunday and didn’t return phone calls Monday morning.
“He didn’t show up for church yesterday afternoon, which is totally out of character for them not to let us know, and didn’t respond to text or phone calls,” church member Keever Wallace told the Christian Post.
Investigators say that there were no signs of forced entry into the apartment.
“I will say that they did suffer some type of unknown wounds,” Houston Police Department spokesman Victor Senties told FOX 26. “It is being investigated as a homicide.”
“This is a horrific and awful tragedy,” noted Bishop of Texas C. Andrew Doyle in a release from the Episcopal Diocese of Texas. “We are in touch with the police and Israel’s family here in Houston. Please keep the Ahimbisibwe and Redeemer families in your prayers.”
The pastor leaves behind two older sons.
