By The Editors

A jury in Pennsylvania has convicted abortionist Kermit Gosnell of three counts of murder, one count of involuntary manslaughter, and several counts of performing illegal late-term abortions at his facility in West Philadelphia. Gosnell is eligible for the death sentence, an end that would be as close to justice as earthly powers can mete out in this episode. The English language does not contain a word sufficient for describing the crimes of Kermit Gosnell; “murder” will do, but only for legal purposes.

Gosnell had thousands of enablers: every judge and justice who has declared every abortion sacrosanct, every politician who has blocked meaningful regulation and oversight of the practice, and every intellectual who has furthered the notion that what resides in a woman’s womb is nothing more than a meaningless clump of cells. Barack Obama, who as a state senator in Illinois worked against establishing protections for infants marked for abortion but outside the womb, must assume his share of guilt in this matter. So must those who voted for him because of his abortion absolutism rather than in spite of it.

Those pro-choicers who say Gosnell’s house of horrors is what awaits us if we restrict abortion have it exactly wrong. Gosnell had the freedom (and encouragement) to do what he did by pro-abortion politicians who refused to regulate his clinic and pro-abortion activists who looked the other way.

And there is no logical reason to allow the killing of the unborn at one moment while restricting it if the child finds himself outside the mother’s womb the next. That’s why Gosnell had no doubts about infanticide. He was just following the logic of the “pro-choice” position.

Gosnell didn’t have too little freedom, but too much. His “freedom to choose ” ended the lives of thousands.

By Mark Steyn

Now we know that at 8 p.m. Eastern time on the last night of Stevens’s life, his deputy in Libya spoke to Secretary Clinton and informed her of the attack in Benghazi and the fact that the ambassador was now missing. An hour later, Gregory Hicks received a call from the then–Libyan prime minister, Abdurrahim el-Keib, informing him that Stevens was dead. Hicks immediately called Washington. It was 9 p.m. Eastern time, or 3 a.m. in Libya. Remember the Clinton presidential team’s most famous campaign ad? About how Hillary would be ready to take that 3 a.m. call? Four years later, the phone rings, and Secretary Clinton’s not there.

Just in: Beyond Suffering and Tough Topics: Biblical Answers to 25 Challenging Questions. Remember, at SGC Books & Bibles, it’s always quality books (and more) at bargain prices.

Review by ALLEN C. GUELZO

Only four years before, the chief justice sitting behind Lincoln had pronounced in Dred Scott v. Sanford that the Constitution did not and could not recognize black people as citizens, whether they were free or slave. Now, on almost the anniversary of Dred Scott, Lincoln threw Taney’s own words back at him.

But he did more.

Name above All Names

By Alistair Begg & Sinclair B. Ferguson

In this thoughtful study and worshipful reflection, two influential pastors draw on decades of pastoral experience in order to guide us through the whole sweep of Scripture and examine seven key aspects of Jesus’s identity and ministry:

Jesus as the True Prophet
Jesus as the Great High Priest
Jesus as the Conquering King
Jesus as the Seed of the Woman
Jesus as the Son of Man
Jesus as the Suffering Servant
Jesus as the Lamb on the Throne