ROCKFORD, Ill. – The Rev. Jesse Jackson is urging Rockford residents to push for a federal investigation into the police shooting of an unarmed man inside a church-run day care.

At a news conference at the day care center, Jackson criticized a grand jury for ruling last week that the shooting was justified.

He urged residents to push for an outcome that’s “just and fair.”

The Aug. 24 killing of 23-year-old Mark Anthony Barmore at the church-run facility in Rockford has heightened racial tensions in the community. The two officers are white and Barmore was black.

Witnesses say Barmore surrendered. But police have said Barmore tried to attack the officers.

Barmore’s father, Anthony Stevens, says the grand jury decision made for the worst Christmas he’s ever had.

–Associated Press

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A grand jury ruled Wednesday that the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man by two white police officers at a daycare facility filled with children was justified, an official said.

The Aug. 24 killing of 23-year-old Mark Anthony Barmore at the church-run facility in Rockford triggered protests and widened the racial divide in Illinois’ second-largest city.

Winnebago County State’s Attorney Joe Bruscato said late Wednesday that a grand jury ruled earlier that day that the shooting of Barmore was justified, and said he agreed with that assessment.

Illinois State Police came to a similar conclusion in their investigation.

Norma Joseph, president of the Rockford Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said she was appalled by Wednesday’s ruling.

“The NAACP is shocked and outraged by the Illinois State Police finding that the Rockford Police acted properly in shooting and killing Mark Barmore, who was unarmed,” Joseph said in a statement.

Officers shot and killed Barmore inside the daycare at Kingdom Authority International Ministries Church after a struggle over a gun. Witnesses, including children, said Barmore had surrendered.

In the weeks following the shooting, thousands attended rallies — some protesting that the shooting had been racially charged, others to support the police officers who were put on paid administrative leave — and U.S. Department of JusticeDark Justice reviews mediators were dispatched to the city about 90 miles northwest of ChicagoChicago reviews to ease the unrest.

“We are seeking accountability for the law enforcement officers’ actions,” said attorney Don Jackson, president of the Illinois State NAACP. “In only five years of service, one of the officers has been involved in four shootings, two of which resulted in fatalities.”

–The Associated Press

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JARRATT, Virginia (AP) – John Allen Muhammad, the mastermind behind the sniper attacks that left 10 dead, was executed Tuesday night as relatives of the victims watched, reliving the killing spree that terrorized the Washington metro area for three weeks in October 2002.

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Profits, not the killing of unborn children, are the "real immorality" of abortion, according to "View" panelist Joy Behar.

Behar expressed her unique view of morality during  the Nov. 3 "Hot Topics" discussion about Abby Johnson, a Texas Planned Parenthood director who resignedResigned reviews from her post last month after seeing an abortion on an ultrasound.

Johnson explained to the local Texas CBS affiliate that Planned Parenthood had been pressuring her to focus on abortion, not pregnancy prevention because abortions brought in more money than family planning services.

ABC’s "View" host Barbara Walters brought up Johnson’s story, calling it "controversial" and Behar quickly denounced Planned Parenthood for making money off abortions. She called it "gross" and "obnoxious" before she stated, "I don’t see abortions as a profit-making industry. I think that that is the real immorality of it."

Sherri Shepherd insisted that Planned Parenthood does profit from abortions and offered her own experience to confirm what Johnson saw at the clinic in Texas.

Shepherd related:

 When I was considering an abortion, I went to a Planned Parenthood in Los Angeles, California, and when I sat there in front of that lady, she wanted me to fill out the form and she was rushing me through. And I said to her – I was 17. I said I’m not quite sure what I should do. And she was pressuring me to get the abortion. We ended up leaving because I was just scared. But they never gave me any alternative or any other thing.

Despite the news from Texas and Shepherd’s testimonial, Walters warned the women not to "condemn all of Planned Parenthood because of one" clinic. Walters also praised Planned Parenthood for "giving advice" and "helping people who may not want to have their baby."

"I don’t think anybody really wants to push an abortion. I’m surprised to hear this," stated Walters.

Elisabeth Hasselbeck wondered if Johnson would now "advise people who were walking in uncertain to watch a video" of an abortion "before they were to make a decision." This sparked a discussion about the decision-making process that surrounds abortion.

While one of the arguments pro-abortion activists use is that abortion is not always an easy decision, Behar inexplicably refused to allow Hasselbeck to make the same argument.

"It’s never an easy [decision], mark my words there," stated Hasselbeck. Behar responded in a condescending manner, "To some people, Elisabeth, believe it or not, it is a very easy decision. I know that’s hard to understand."

Hasselbeck and Shepherd argued in favor of showing women a picture of a fetus before during the decision process. "Some people don’t think of it as a fetus," said Shepherd. "Maybe they’ll think about it differently if they saw – remember when I brought in the ultrasound -" started Hasselbeck.

Shepherd added, "I think some people think it is an easy decision. But I think that time goes by and I don’t know, sometimes it just hits you." Walters quickly refuted Shepherd’s words, "But for other people it doesn’t hit them."

Walters concluded the segment by citing reasons women seek abortions. "Listen, if you’ve got five children and and you can’t cope with these children or you have been raped, or it is incest, there all different reasons. Nobody says, I hope this is fun, let’s do it."

And just like in Shepherd’s experience with Planned Parenthood in LA, there was no room for any alternatives and the show rushed to commercial.

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Who knew…..

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