Homeschool advocate obliterates MSNBC host over ‘collective’ view of children

◼ In the first part of an exclusive six-part interview with The Daily Caller’s Ginni Thomas, William Estrada — director of federal relations for the Home School Legal Defense Association — sharply criticized Melissa Harris-Perry for her recent comments in an MSNBC promotional segment regarding children and education. - Daily Caller

In the segment, Harris-Perry said:

“We have never invested as much in public education as we should have because we’ve always had kind of a private notion of children. Your kid is yours and totally your responsibility. We haven’t had a very collective notion of these are our children. So part of it is we have to break through our kind of private idea that kids belong to their parents, or kids belong to their families, and recognize that kids belong to whole communities. Once it’s everybody’s responsibility, and not just the household’s, then we start making better investments.”

Estrada, who advocates for the right of parents to decide how to educate their children, has since hit back.

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” he said. “It doesn’t take a village to raise a child; it takes parents. Loving parents, in a home to raise a child.”

“This leftist ridiculous idea that children somehow belong to the state — I thought we defeated this back with socialism, back with fascism and other entities which said: ‘Children belong to the state, they will be trained by the state to be productive members of the state.’”

"My wife had 2 fetuses, 7 and 6 Weeks premature, now 26 and 22 years. What I want to know is, when can I call them sons?"

◼ GO, NICK SEARCY, GO! - The Other McCain

◼ Actor Nick Searcy slams pro-aborts: How can they feign outrage at Gosnell? Was he ‘too messy?’ - Twitchy

. @flake1101 My son was born in the second trimester. He averages 11 points and three steals a game now! Quite. A. Fetus!

— nick searcy (@yesnicksearcy) April 12, 2013

...why the media blackout of the trial of the Gosnell house of horrors? Where are the front page stories, New York Times? But, hey, some media outlets made sure to let us all know the babies who were born alive, according to testimony, and then killed were just “fetuses.” Move along!

“Justified” co-star Nick Searcy and his Twitter followers put the reprehensible “fetus” nonsense to rest.

.@lotustom The history of leftism is murder, oppression, torture, gulags, and the devaluation of human beings. It's boringly predictable.

— nick searcy (@yesnicksearcy) April 13, 2013

◼ Hey, why is ex-clinic director and Pa. Gov. candidate Rep. Allyson Schwartz silent on Gosnell trial? - Twitchy

As Twitchy reported, J.D. Mullane is the Bucks County Courier Times columnist who took the photo of the empty rows of media seating at the Kermit Gosnell trial. He also reported that a CNN journalist told him that a “small staff” was the reason a reporter couldn’t be sent to cover the horrifying Gosnell trial.

Now, he is doing the job that most journalists won’t do. He’s asking Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.) her thoughts on Gosnell. You see, Ms. Schwartz helped found, and ran, the Elizabeth Blackwell Health Center, a Planned Parenthood clinic, where abortions were performed. In Pennsylvania.

◼ All the news that’s fit to print? Meh! NYT Gosnell coverage in an incredible photo nutshell - Twitchy
◼ Nothing to see here: Media call born babies Gosnell accused of killing ‘fetuses’ - Twitchy

Former first couple George W. and Laura Bush have become grandparents to a “beautiful” baby girl.

◼ FORMER PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH BECOMES A GRANDFATHER: ‘OUR FAMILY IS ELATED’ - The Blaze

The former president’s daughter, Jenna Bush Hager, gave birth to her first child on Saturday night in New York City. The baby’s name is Margaret Laura “Mila” Hager, after her grandmothers....

“Laura and I are thrilled to announce the birth of our grandchild, Margaret Laura “Mila” Hager. Mila, daughter of Jenna and Henry Hager, is named for her grandmothers. She was born last night, April 13, at 8:43pm in New York City. We met our beautiful granddaughter today. Jenna and Mila are healthy. And our family is elated.”

This is a big month for the family.

The George W. Bush Presidential Center will be dedicated on April 25 on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

"I think it is really unfortunate that there has been so much focus and attention in the media and elsewhere on the subject of war, when what we really ought to be talking about is the possibility of peace. And I think there are those possibilities," Kerry earlier told a news conference in Tokyo...

◼ Kerry was in Japan for the final stop on an Asian tour aimed at solidifying support for curbing North Korea's nuclear program, and reassuring U.S. allies.... says U.S. ready to "reach out" to North Korea - Reuters

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday stressed the United States is willing to engage with North Korea as long as it takes steps to give up nuclear weapons.

He also vowed Washington would protect its Asian allies against any provocative acts by the North, but said it wants a peaceful solution to rising tensions in the region.

"We are prepared to reach out but we need (the) appropriate moment, appropriate circumstance," Kerry told a small group of reporters, adding that North Korea had to take steps toward giving up its nuclear programs.

"They have to take some actions. Now how many and how much I want to have a discussion with folks back in Washington (about)... but they have to take action," he added.

The North has threatened for weeks to attack the United States, South Korea and Japan since new U.N. sanctions were imposed in response to its latest nuclear arms test in February. Speculation has mounted of a new missile launch or nuclear test.

◼ North Korea's Kim Jong-un missing amid escalating threats against the US and South Korea - IB Times (warning, video autoplay)

◼ Secretary of State John Kerry flew to China on Saturday and sought to elicit China’s help in dealing with an increasingly recalcitrant nuclear armed North Korea by saying that American missile defenses could be cut back if the North abandoned its nuclear program. - NYT

In a news conference, Mr. Kerry suggested that the United States could remove some newly enhanced missile defenses in the region, though he did not specify which ones. Any eventual cutback would address Chinese concerns about the buildup of American weapons systems in the region.

Now media notice: Obamacare worsens CA physician shortage

◼ Among the many severe problems with Obamacare that a cheerleading media chose to ignore in the run-up to its March 2010 enactment, perhaps the most obvious was the fact that it would be impossible to sharply expand medical coverage in a thoughtful way in a nation where many states already had shortages of primary-care or “family” physicians. - Cal Watchdog

California is one of those states. California also has the nation’s oldest coterie of family doctors. Ergo, California was sure to be severely stressed by Obamacare. Now, 37 months after its passage, the state’s media is finally pointing this out. On Friday, the San Jose Mercury-News editorial board shared some grim truths:

“California doesn’t have enough primary care physicians. Forty-two of its 58 counties fall short of the federal government’s most basic standard. The state needs another 2,000 doctors, and the situation will get dramatically worse next year — even in Silicon Valley =– when 2-4 million Californians obtain health insurance under Obamacare and go looking for a doctor.

“The California Medical Association wants to build more medical schools and expand opportunities for young doctors. Good plan — but thinking it will solve the immediate problem is like expecting a Band-Aid to heal a bullet wound. Training a doctor takes a decade. That’s a long time for a patient to sit in a waiting room.”

Now the California media points out this stark, ugly truth, that a strained system is near-certain to become a dysfunctional one, where a shortage of doctors is likely to be addressed by pretending nurses are doctors?

Thanks, California media. Thanks so much.

The Kermit Gosnell Multiple Murder Trial: Why Dr. Kermit Gosnell's Trial Should Be a Front-Page Story

◼ Conor Friedersdorf and Megan McArdle write about this at The Atlantic and The Daily Beast, respectively; an excerpt from Friedersdorf’s item: - The Volokh Conspiracy

The grand jury report in the case of Kermit Gosnell, 72, is among the most horrifying I’ve read. “This case is about a doctor who killed babies and endangered women. What we mean is that he regularly and illegally delivered live, viable babies in the third trimester of pregnancy — and then murdered these newborns by severing their spinal cords with scissors,” it states. “The medical practice by which he carried out this business was a filthy fraud in which he overdosed his patients with dangerous drugs, spread venereal disease among them with infected instruments, perforated their wombs and bowels — and, on at least two occasions, caused their deaths.” ...

Until Thursday, I wasn’t aware of this story. It has generated sparse coverage in the national media, and while it’s been mentioned in RSS feeds to which I subscribe, I skip past most news items. I still consume a tremendous amount of journalism. Yet had I been asked at a trivia night about the identity of Kermit Gosnell, I would’ve been stumped and helplessly guessed a green Muppet. Then I saw Kirsten Power’s USA Today column. She makes a powerful, persuasive case that the Gosnell trial ought to be getting a lot more attention in the national press than it is getting.

The media criticism angle interests me. But I agree that the story has been undercovered, and I happen to be a working journalist, so I’ll begin by telling the rest of the story for its own sake. Only then will I explain why I think it deserves more coverage than it has gotten, although it ought to be self-evident by the time I’m done distilling the grand jury’s allegations. Grand juries aren’t infallible. This version of events hasn’t been proven in a court of law. But journalists routinely treat accounts given by police, prosecutors and grand juries as at least plausible if not proven. Try to decide, as you hear the state’s side of the case, whether you think it is credible, and if so, whether the possibility that some or all this happened demands massive journalistic scrutiny....

◼ Why Dr. Kermit Gosnell's Trial Should Be a Front-Page Story - CONOR FRIEDERSDORF/The Atlantic

The dead babies. The exploited women. The racism. The numerous governmental failures. It is thoroughly newsworthy. (Please note: This post contains graphic descriptions and imagery.)

...Charged with seven counts of first-degree murder, Gosnell is now standing trial in a Philadelphia courtroom. An NBC affiliate's coverage includes testimony as grisly as you'd expect. "An unlicensed medical school graduate delivered graphic testimony about the chaos at a Philadelphia clinic where he helped perform late-term abortions," the channel reports. "Stephen Massof described how he snipped the spinal cords of babies, calling it, 'literally a beheading. It is separating the brain from the body.' He testified that at times, when women were given medicine to speed up their deliveries, 'it would rain fetuses. Fetuses and blood all over the place.'"

One former employee described hearing a baby screaming after it was delivered during an abortion procedure. "I can't describe it. It sounded like a little alien," she testified. Said the Philadelphia Inquirer in its coverage, "Prosecutors have cited the dozens of jars of severed baby feet as an example of Gosnell's idiosyncratic and illegal practice of providing abortions for cash to poor women pregnant longer than the 24-week cutoff for legal abortions in Pennsylvania."...

◼ Why I Didn't Write About Gosnell's Trial--And Why I Should Have - Megan McArdle/The Daily Beast

◼ Everything You Need To Know About Kermit Gosnell And The Abortion ‘House Of Horrors’ Trial - Mediaite

[Editor's note: This article contains highly disturbing, graphic images. Please proceed with caution.]

◼ [For photos of Gosnell's late-term aborted babies, shown in the Grand Jury Report, click on pages 85, 102, and 115 of the report. Please proceed with caution, as these photos are highly disturbing.] (PDF)

◼ Kermit Gosnell Abortion Clinic Not Inspected for 17 Years: Comparing Botched Abortions to Adam Lanza Gun Control - Maggie's Notebook

Not only did the state of Pennsylvania not inspect the clinic of heinous abortion ‘doctor’ Kermit Gosnell who routinely slashed the throats of aborted babies who refused to die, the state completely stopped inspecting all abortion clinics in 1993 until and unless a direct complaint was made against one of the clinics – oh but wait…there were complaints against Gosnell’s killing field, and the state ignored them. The Liberal media has been close to silent until the last few days about the Gosnell story. Is it possible to compare press, or the lack of it, on Gosnell and Newtown killer Adam Lanza and come away with clear evidence of the injustice which the media feeds us daily? ◼ Hit and Run Blog did.