Social Issues

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Domiz refugee camp in the Kurdish Autonomous Region of Iraq has absorbed more than 30,000 Syrian Kurds since April, housing many of them in U.N. Refugee Agency tents. (Giulio Petrocco/ Special to The Washington Times)

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Former President George W. Bush gives opening remarks on Dec. 4, 2012, at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas for a conference titled "Immigration and 4% Growth: How Immigrants Grow the U.S. Economy." The George W. Bush Institute was hosting panel discussions highlighting the positive impact of immigration on U.S. economic growth. (Associated Press)

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** FILE ** Tea party supporter William Temple of Brunswick, Ga., protests President Obama's health care law outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Thursday, June 28, 2012. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

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**FILE** Revelers display American and gay pride flags as they celebrate early election returns favoring Washington state's Referendum 74, which would legalize gay marriage, during a large impromptu street gathering in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood in the early hours of Nov. 7, 2012. (Associated Press)

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**FILE** A Somali internally-displaced child looks out from her family's makeshift home in Maslah camp on the outskirts of Mogadishu, Somalia, on Nov. 29, 2012. (Associated Press)

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**FILE** House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Republican, touts his 2012 federal budget during an April 5, 2011, news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Associated Press)

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“We’re just saying that if you’re going to take away the Second Aamendment rights … they ought to have it adjudicated, rather than mandated by someone who’s unqualified to state that they should lose their rights.”— Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican (Associated Press)

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D.C. Police Chief Cathy L Lanier, with Mayor Vincent C. Gray, discusses an initiative for phone-service carriers to disable stolen smartphones as soon as the theft is reported. Chief Lanier is a leading advocate of the FCC-coordinated program. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)

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In this Nov. 16, 2012, photo, Lou Wegner, the founder of Kids Against Animal Cruelty, poses for a photo with his rescued his dogs, from left, Kippy, Draco, Pearl and Henry in Burbank, Calif. Lou, a 16-year-old actor and singer from Columbus, Ohio, started Kids Against Animal Cruelty when he was 14. The organization, which uses social networking to encourage adoptions at high-kill animal shelters, has helped 20,000 pets escape euthanasia in two years. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)