Easton Barrack Child Safety Seat Installations

Easton Barrack Child Safety Seat Installations

BRIEF RESUME: The Maryland State Police Easton Barrack is proud to offer Child Seat Installations free of charge to the local community. The Easton Barrack has four Safe Kids Worldwide certified technicians who can train, assist with installations, install and inspect child safety seats.
The service is provided by appointment and can be requested online at bit.ly/MSPEastonChildSeats, by calling 410-819-4747 or by email to walterk.johnson@maryland.gov.

The barrack website also includes links to additional resources that can assist caregivers with selecting child safety seats and obtaining child safety seat recall information

Colorado Begins Issuing Driver’s Licenses To Illegal Immigrants

Colorado will begin issuing driver’s licenses and identification cards to immigrants Friday regardless of their legal status, underscoring a sea change in a state that less than a decade ago passed strict immigration enforcement laws.

Now, thousands of immigrants are waiting to get cards they hope will add a degree of legitimacy to their residency in Colorado. About 9,500 people are signed up for appointments through the next 90 days to get the documents, with more getting scheduled every day. Both people in the country illegally and those who have temporary legal status will qualify.

The demand for the licenses and identification cards has been tremendous, with the state’s website for appointments crashing at one point because of traffic, and immigrant advocates urging officials to add more locations where people can go. So far, appointments are being handled at only five locations— Denver, Aurora, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, and Grand Junction.

Read more

1 Dead, 1 Critical In Drug Overdose At Merriweather Concert

WASHINGTON -- One person is dead and one person is in critical condition due to an apparent drug overdoses during a concert at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md.

Twenty other concert attendees were also transported to a nearby hospital in addition to 50 citations issued for underage drinking and three arrests made at the all-day Mad Decent Block Party on Friday, Howard County police have confirmed.

Tyler Fox Viscardi, 20, of Raleigh, N.C., was transported by the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services just after 9 p.m. He was pronounced dead a short time after arriving at Howard County General Hospital. Preliminarily, it appears his death was the result of a drug overdose. Officials are still working to determine what type of drugs were in his system.

More

Female secret service agents hate being assigned to Joe Biden because of his love of SKINNY DIPPING

- and consider him the second worst assignment... after Hillary, claims book

A new book claims that Vice-President Joe Biden upsets female Secret Service agents by swimming naked wherever he goes.

The book The First Family Detail by best-selling author Robert Kessler purports to tell the behind the scenes secrets of the two most powerful offices in the world as seen by their protection details.

Vice-President Biden, claims the book, is more interested in being seen as a 'regular Joe' than the second most powerful man in the world.

More

Abortion Costs US Over $16 Trillion in Federal Revenue

Mark Olson, a former liberal activist, has published research demonstrating the devastating economic impact abortion-on-demand has had on the American economy. Olson's research finds that more than $16 trillion in federal revenue, roughly the size of our national debt, has been lost due to abortion.

"The figure of 55 million persons aborted, typically reported by pro-life groups, is a significant undercount," says Olson, a pro-life political consultant. "Abortions did not magically begin occurring in 1973 [when the Supreme Court allowed them], yet that is when everyone starts counting."

Using widely accepted pre-Roe v. Wade estimates, Olson's research additionally accounts for the compounding nature of population by including the generations of offspring that would have been born to those persons otherwise aborted. The result: The United States has suffered a population loss of over 125 million persons due to abortion.

More

Old Workers Hit New Record High As Jobs For Key 25-54 Age Group Slide By 142K

Another month, another case where the primary age group of the US work force, those aged 25-54, gets shafted.

According to the BLS' household survey [3], while overall July jobs rose, if modestly less than the 209K revealed by the establishment survey, there was no joy for those aged 25-54: historically the most important and highest earning age group (in case anyone is wondering where all that missing average hourly earnings growth is) within the US labor force. As the chart below shows, while all other age groups posted a jobs uptick, it was those 25-54 that saw a 142K jobs decline in the past month.

More

Guess Which State’s Senators — and Which Political Party — Spent the Most Taxpayer Money on Charter Flights Last Year

Why fly commercial when the American taxpayer will foot the bill for a private plane?

Last year, 24 senators spent nearly $1 million on charter flights, USA Today reported, and while some of those senators used private planes to reach remote areas of their states that they likely could not have reached otherwise, others flew into well-served metropolises.

The worst offenders: New York’s two Democratic senators, Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand.

More

You’ll Never Believe Why Hillary Said Hamas Plants Its Bombs in Schools

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who many believe will seek to be the Democrat nominee for president in 2016, made a statement about the tactics of the terrorist group Hamas in their fight against Israel.

Hamas has been widely criticized for using women and children as shields in their bombings. They have also drawn criticism for storing their rockets and missiles in civilian areas, including schools and hospitals. This practice has led many to attack Israel for their response to Hamas in attacking these areas, though they have no choice since Hamas put their own people in harm’s way.

During a recent interview with Jorge Ramos on Fusion TV, Hillary Clinton addressed the issue of Hamas storing their missiles and rockets in these civilian areas.

The problem is, and this is something — I’m not a military planner, but Hamas puts its missiles, its rockets in civilian areas, part of it is is that Gaza’s pretty small and its densely populated. They put their command and control of Hamas military leaders in those civilian areas.

Gaza is pretty small. That is Hillary Clinton’s excuse and rationale for the Hamas terrorists putting civilians in harms way.

More

Four New Maryland Fishing Records Set

Maryland angler catches first State record snakehead

Berry and his record snakehead

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources certified two northern snakehead, one cobia and one wahoo State record fish in June. The first-ever record snakehead was trumped in a matter of hours by another angler’s catch.  

Just after midnight on June 1, James (Jay) Berry of Chesapeake Beach caught a record northern snakehead in Pomonkey Creek while fishing with a bow and arrow in the annual Potomac Snakehead Tournament. DNR Tidal Bass Program Manager Joe Love certified the 16.78-pound fish that afternoon at the Smallwood State Park weigh-in, marking Maryland’s first record snakehead.  

Later that same day, Theodore (Teddy) McKenzie of Upper Marlboro brought his catch to the Potomac Snakehead weigh station where it tipped the scale at 16.94 pounds and ended Berry’s claim to the record.

Each angler will receive an official Maryland State Record plaque and the chance to win prizes in the invasive species category of the 2014 Maryland Fishing Challenge. DNR created the new category to raise public awareness of the harm invasives can cause, adding northern snakehead to the State record list last year. Invasives are non-native species that can aggressively establish themselves in an ecosystem and negatively impact native plants, animals or habitat. 

Henry displaying his 75-pound cobias

To qualify for records or angler awards for the invasive fish category, which includes northern snakehead, and blue and flathead catfish, anglers must keep/harvest their fish. Those who qualify in the invasive species category will be entered into a special drawing for one of two prizes this fall.

On June 28, Jon Henry of Sunrise, Florida caught two cobia that tied for the record. Henry and friends were heading south from the Ocean City inlet to do some free-dive spearfishing over the African Queen wreck when they spotted a few cobia near Little Gull Shoals. Henry cast a bucktail lure with a plastic eel trailer and hooked one. After an hour-long fight he had the fish in the boat and quickly cast back to another, hooking it. The crew headed back to Sunset Marina for a weigh-in, where DNR Biologist Steve Doctor determined them to be essentially identical. Both fish came in at 54.5 inches long and 75 pounds, beating the previous 72-pound record set in 2009 by Chris Toner.

Schaar’s record wahoo catch

On June 30, John Schaar of Cardiff, California caught a record-setting wahoo. He was trolling a crystal and chartreuse Sea Witch lure with a ballyhoo trailer in about 60 fathoms of water over the Rockpile ─ a fishing “hot spot” 58 miles southeast of Ocean City ─ and hooked an 82-inch, 131-pound wahoo. Sunset Marina weigh-master Dave Wengel weighed the fish on an International Game Fish Association-certified scale, and DNR’s Steve Doctor certified the catch as a new State record. The previous record was a 111-pound fish caught in 2003 by Christian Tiller.

IRS Union PAC Gave 94 Percent of Donations to Democrats

The PAC that is an extension of the union representing Internal Revenue Service employees donated 94 percent of its total political contributions to Democrats during the 2012 election cycle.

TEPAC, which receives voluntary contributions from IRS employees who are represented by the National Treasury Employees Union, gave a total of $583,912 to federal candidates, only 4 percent of which went to Republicans, according to a syndicated column written by Jeff Bergner, a former federal official.

Bergner suggests there is a troubling link between IRS employee political affiliation and the tea party targeting scandal. Furthermore, the current president of the NTEU, Colleen Kelley, has been a vocal opponent of the tea party, Bergner wrote, and has visited the White House at least 11 times during the Obama administration, most recently on March 31, 2010.

In the two days after that meeting, the IRS developed its guidance for the handling applications from organizations for tax exempt status, Bergner said.

More

A Confederate Flag Divides A Virginia Community

The huge Confederate flag flew high above I-95 north of Fredericksburg, startling Anthony Sanchez on his daily commute.

“It was a provocation,” said Sanchez, who teaches at a community college. “It just bothered me that someone would go to all that trouble, to put up a flagpole that high and a flag that big. . . . It’s a hostile statement.”

The 90-foot-tall flag pole is firmly (and legally) planted in private property on the other side of a tree barrier from the highway near mile marker 134. The flag, measuring 30 feet by 22 feet, is a reminder that in Virginia, the battles of 150 years ago are still divisive and deeply felt.

More

Off the Radar, Obamacare Festers Away

The president’s signature law is still a disaster—and it only gets worse.

Thanks to rockets rising over Gaza, jet debris falling onto Ukraine, and children wading across the Rio Grande, Americans barely have had time to focus on Obamacare. Mounting global and domestic chaos, however, cannot mask forever the deep and severe flaws in Obama’s pet program. From insurance cancellations to premium increases to gross ineptness, Obamacare likely will roar back into the news, just in time to stymie Democrats at the midterm election.

Just the other day, I opened an envelope from Easy Choice Health Insurance. “IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING YOUR POLICY,” the letter trumpeted.

“We are writing to let you know that your health insurance coverage through Easy Choice Health Plan of New York (‘Easy Choice’) will be terminated no later than December 31, 2014,” it stated. Moreover, “Easy Choice will no longer be offering your policy or participating in New York’s commercial health insurance market.”

(To see this letter, click here.)

More

PELOSI CALLS DOWN THE WRATH OF HEAVEN ON CONSERVATIVES

Friday, from the floor of the House of Representatives, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi attacked her Republican colleagues for their push of passage of two bills to deal with the ongoing crisis at the U.S. southern border.

Pelosi invoked a letter from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops lobbying against the GOP efforts and urged her Republicans to read the the Parable of the Good Samaritan from the New Testament of the Bible.

"Instead of bringing legislation forward that could solve this problem really and truly, it has resisted the appeals of humanitarian and religious leaders across all faiths," she said. "Evangelicals call on us to strengthen our country's position to providing safety and refuge to the vulnerable. This legislation we have before us does not do that. It is wrong. don't take my word for it. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops urges members to oppose [HR] 5230, and work together to craft legislation that is more befitting the United States of America and the American people's history of compassion, and generosity to vulnerable children and refugees."

She went on to add the legislation dishonors America and continued to cite the Bible as her justification.

More

Real Unemployment Rate Is 18 Percent

The Labor Department reported the economy added only 209,000 jobs in July. The unemployment rate rose to 6.2 percent, but that hardly tells how tough the labor market has become for ordinary folks.

The unemployment rate may be down from its recession peak of 10 percent, but much of this results from adults, discouraged by the lack of decent job openings, having quit altogether. They are neither employed nor looking for work.

Only approximately half of the drop in the adult participation rate can be attributed to the Baby Boom generation reaching retirement age. Lacking adequate resources to retire, a larger percentage of adults older than 65 are working than they were before the recession.

More

Plan Targeting 2,800 Battlefield Deer Progresses

HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) — The National Park Service tentatively approved a plan Friday that envisions government sharpshooters killing more than 2,800 white-tailed deer at three Civil War battlefields in Maryland and Virginia over the next five years to curb damage to plants and trees.

The agency aims to reduce herds that it says are over-browsing vegetation at the Antietam and Monocacy battlefields in Maryland and the Manassas battlefield in Virginia.

Spokeswoman Jenny Anzelmo-Sarles said in a telephone interview that the number of deer to be killed would depend on how quickly the forest regenerates.

“What’s laid out in the chart is going to be your maximums,” she said.

More

New Jersey Will Default on Government Pensions

State by state, county by county, city by city: they will default. The money is not there. The promises were huge.

New Jersey’s governor Christie is touring the state, telling the voters that the state will break promises to retired government workers. He is doing what other government officials refuse to do: tell the truth early.

The public employees were told to trust the state. Silly people. They believed the promises: above-market salaries, tenure, and fat retirement benefits, including health care. Now fiscal reality is intruding. This has barely begun.

A few New Jersey retirees are protesting. These protests will do no good. You can’t extract income out of a state that is over-taxed, over-regulated, and running deficits. The gravy train is about to run out.

More

MSDE To Award More Than $3 Million To Maryland Schools To Provide Fresh Fruits And Vegetables

The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) has received $3,329,153 in federal funds which will be awarded to selected Maryland elementary schools to encourage students to develop healthy eating habits early in life. The funds, made available by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP), provide fresh fruits and vegetables to students enrolled in participating schools statewide. This year, MSDE is pleased to provide funds to 151 schools. A list of participating schools can be found athttp://www.marylandpublicschools.org/MSDE/programs/schoolnutrition/docs/FFVP_Data.htm

The Agricultural Act of 2014, commonly referred to as the Farm Bill, allocated over $150 million dollars to fund the FFVP in schools nationwide. The FFVP provides participating students with a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables throughout the school day. The Program is designed to teach students that fresh produce can be a healthy and delicious snack option. Additionally, the FFVP provides an opportunity for experiential nutrition education.

The FFVP targets schools with a high percentage of low-income students, due to low-income communities’ reduced access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Every child enrolled in a participating school is offered the fruit and vegetable snacks at no charge, regardless of income.

More of America’s teachers to be armed

9 states have passed laws allowing instructors to have weapons on campus

(CBS News) When the school year begins, more teachers will be armed. Since the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School more than a year and a half ago, nine states passed laws allowing teachers to have firearms in school.

It may look like target practice at a police academy, but these men and women are teachers. They’re learning to defend their students against an increasingly common threat: a school shooting.

Their faces cannot be shown because they’re the classroom equivalent of an air marshal on a plane. They carry their weapons anonymously.

Read the full story ›

Wind Farm Study On Marine Life Impact Planned

OCEAN CITY — State and federal scientists will soon undertake a study to determine the possible impacts a field of wind turbines could have on marine life in the area.

In early July, the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced the auction of a vast tract of roughly 80,000 acres off the coast of Ocean City was set for mid-August. Maryland’s designated Wind Energy Area (WEA) covers roughly 94 square nautical miles with its western edge about 10 miles off the coast of Ocean City and extending about 30 miles offshore. The lease auction is one of the last significant regulatory milestones for the long-awaited and discussed project.

Before a single turbine is anchored to the ocean floor, however, state and federal officials want to carefully consider the potential impacts of the massive project on marine life that inhabit Maryland’s WEA. To that end, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science are preparing to conduct a new study they believe will help state and federal decision-makers better understand where whales, dolphins and porpoises migrate in the WEA off the coast of Ocean City and how they use the habitat.

More

Angry Protesters Slam Hillary in Hometown Chappaqua

'A lot of people die out here' and 'all this blood...is on Obama's hands'

The dead bodies of illegal immigrants are turning up in south Texas as Central Americans pour across the U.S.-Mexico border, and a veterinarian who ranches cattle 70 miles from ground zero has the photos to prove it.

Dr. Mike 'Doc' Vickers of Brooks County, Texas showed some of the grisly images to MailOnline, all of them far too grotesque to publish unedited.

One picture shows a corpse propped up against a tree near his ranch in Brooks County, his eyes missing and dried blood cascading down his shirtless body.

'This guy, obviously, had to lay down up against that tree, and that's where he died,' Vickers says in interview footage provided exclusively to MailOnline by documentary filmmaker Chris Burgard.

Falcons native to the Rio Grande river valley 'plucked his eyes out before he was dead,' the animal doctor concludes. 'He bled out through his eyes, which tells me that he was probably in a coma but they were eatin' on him before his heart stopped beating.'

More

Congressman Andy Harris, M.D., Announces Information on Military Service Academy Nominations

Deadline to apply for a nomination from Congressman Harris is October 31, 2014

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Andy Harris is pleased to announce that the U.S. Military Service Academies nomination applications are now available for those wishing to join the class of 2019. Congressman Andy Harris will nominate some of the finest young men and women from the First Congressional District for appointments to the U.S. Military, Naval, Air Force, and Merchant Marine Academies. The Coast Guard Academy does not require a congressional nomination, though Congressman Harris will recommend interested applicants on a case-by-case basis. Those fortunate enough to gain admission to a U.S. Service Academy will receive one of the finest college educations in the nation.

Admission is based on SAT/ACT scores, class rank, physical aptitude scores, extracurricular activities, athletic abilities, and medical examinations. Academies accept applications on a rolling basis beginning in September. Final acceptance is also contingent upon receiving a nomination from an authorized source such as one's congressman or senator.

The deadline to apply for a nomination from Congressman Harris is October 31, 2014. Any resident of the First District between the age of 17 and 23 is encouraged to apply. Interviews will be conducted by Congressman Harris’ Military Academy Review Board, which is made up of veterans and reservists of the United States military. Interviews will be conducted in the fall, and the Service Academies will be notified of Congressman Harris’ nominations by December 31.

To request a nomination application, please visit http://harris.house.gov/serving-you/military-academy-nominations or call the Salisbury District Office at 443-944-8624.

BREAKING NEWS: EBOLA PATIENT IN US

Dr. Kent Brantly, one of two Americans who contracted the deadly Ebola virus while working in West Africa, landed in the U.S. Saturday and is en route to Emory University Hospital for treatment.

More

County, Berlin Working To Limit Fire Siren Hours; BFC Proposes No Whistle After 10 P.M.

BERLIN — Out of respect to residents and guests, the Berlin Fire Company (BFC), with the unanimous support of the Mayor and Council, would like to limit the hours that the fire siren in town would sound to between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.

The company is also still evaluating the location of its physical fire whistles downtown and could make a decision within the next few weeks to relocate the town hall alarm.

Last week, BFC Chief David Lewis wrote an email to Fred Webster, director of Emergency Services for Worcester County, asking if it would be possible for the county to accommodate the company’s plan to only sound the alarm during the day. Mayor Gee Williams read the email during Monday’s council meeting.

“’The chiefs of the Berlin Fire Company met earlier today and decided that we would like the fire siren to only blow between the hours of 0700 and 2200 every day,’” Lewis wrote.

More

McCarthy

Defense bill requires study on Md. wind farm

ANNAPOLIS (AP) — A proposal to build a wind farm on Maryland’s Eastern Shore within 56 miles of the U.S. Naval Air Station Patuxent River could still be delayed and potentially jeopardized, despite Gov. Martin O’Malley’s veto of a bill passed by the Maryland General Assembly that would have created a similar delay.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, has included an amendment to a defense appropriations bill in the U.S. Senate that would require the Navy-commissioned study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory to be completed to further evaluate how radar use at the base could be affected by the wind turbines.

“The study is not yet completed. Therefore, the committee directs the Navy to refrain from executing any agreement with respect to the operation of the proposed wind energy project until the study is provided to the congressional defense committees,” according to the bill language.

The amendment was approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee two weeks ago. The measure now goes to the full Senate for a vote, which has not yet been scheduled.

Supporters of the wind farm have argued the delay could jeopardize its development, because it may not be able to meet a deadline for federal tax credits. But supporters waiting for the study say the state must consider the needs of the base, which is an important economic engine in southern Maryland.

More

Local More Passengers Using Public Transportation On Lower Shore

SALISBURY, Md. (AP) — The Tri-County Council for the Lower Eastern Shore says more people are using public transportation in the region.

The council’s Shore Transit Division announced it saw a 6.8 percent increase over fiscal year 2013 in residents using its transportation services. For fiscal year 2014, the division says 453,111 passengers used its fleet of 42 buses, four vans and two cars as a means of public transportation. That’s an increase of almost 20,000 passengers.

More

Suspect Charged In Knife Attack

OCEAN CITY — A Pennsylvania man was arrested on first-degree assault and other serious charges this week for allegedly threatening three individuals with a knife before being disarmed and locked on a balcony.

Around 2:24 a.m. on Wednesday, Ocean City Police responded to a condominium at 51st Street for a report of a man threatening a group of individuals with a knife. When an OCPD officer arrived and met with the three victims, he noticed the unit was in disarray with broken glass strewn across the floor and garbage dumped out and spread around the condo suggesting a struggle had taken place. One of the victims had a cut on her foot from the broken glass.

The injured victim told police the incident began as an argument between her and the suspect, identified as Douglas R. Groff, 37, of Ephrata, Pa., over vacation plans with other friends also in Ocean City. The victim wanted to meet with friends while Groff did not, according to police reports. During the argument, Groff told the victim he was taking her car to “blow off some steam” and eventually took the vehicle without her permission.

More

The Solar Swindle

Solar electricity is growing, promoted, and most importantly, heavily subsidized. The promoters of solar electricity claim that it is close to being competitive with conventional sources of electricity. That is a fantasy.

Solar electricity is expensive and impractical. If it weren't for government subsidies, some explicit and some disguised, the solar industry would collapse. The many claims of competitiveness are always based on ignoring subsidies provided to politically correct renewable power, ignoring the costs associated with unreliability, and ignoring the cost of backup fossil fuel plants.

An example of a hidden subsidy is the California Renewable Portfolio Standard that mandates utilities to obtain 33% of their energy from so-called renewable sources by 2020. This mandate forces utilities to contract for expensive sources of energy, such as solar. The cost is passed on to the utility customers with the connivance of the government. Although the motivation behind the California scheme is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, politically incorrect sources of CO2-free electricity, such as nuclear and large-scale hydroelectric, can't be counted as renewable.

People whose knowledge of electricity production ends at their wall outlet are dictating national energy policy. Magical thinking by hopelessly ignorant political activists permeates the alternative energy universe.

More

What They Don't Tell You About Industrial Wind Power

The massive subsidies provided to Wind Power is a wasteful use of our tax dollars. Efficiency and Conservation programs should be the priority if significant reductions in fossil fuel use are to be achieved. Industrial wind factories are destructive to communities and local environments. Fragile ecosystems are destroyed. Birds and bats are killed. Animal habitats are disrupted and wildlife is driven from the area. Noise and vibrations cause human health problems, including sleep problems, headaches and nervous disorders. Home values and real estate prices are reduced, with some properties becoming impossible to sell.

Wind Power -- The Whole Truth 

Reasons Used to Justify Damage Caused by Wind Power:

• Dependence on foreign oil
• Global warming
• Clean and renewable energy
• New "green" jobs

Does wind power reduce foreign oil dependence?

• Wind turbines produce electricity, but only 1% of American electricity comes from oil.
• Producing electricity with wind doesn't help because electricity isn't coming from oil.
• Even if wind could produce all our electricity, it wouldn't impact oil.

Industrial wind has no impact on foreign oil dependence or consumption.

Does wind power reduce carbon emissions?

• When wind blows traditional power plants are throttled back slightly, but not shut off.
• They are kept running to be ready when the wind slows.
• Fuel consumption and c02 emissions continue even as wind turbines produce electricity.

Industrial wind power has no meaningful impact on carbon emissions, and zero impact in areas serviced by hydro or nuclear power.

Does wind power create “green” jobs?

• On average 1 low-paid maintenance worker is employed for every 12-15 turbines.
• Turbines are manufactured overseas and assembled onsite by specialized firms.

Industrial wind power creates jobs in foreign countries, but not at wind factories.
AND THE BS WE ARE BEING FED:

Supporters Say the Damage is Justified

They say the communities that are disrupted, environments that are destroyed, and people who are made sick need to "sacrifice" for the greater good. People most severely impacted by the damages are dismissed as "NIMBYs" and accused of being selfish.

ACLU SUES FEDS: NO DEPORTATIONS UNTIL ILLEGALS GET LAWYERS

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and various groups representing illegal immigrants sued the federal government to stop the deportations of several illegal immigrant juveniles until they receive lawyers.

The lawsuit, J.E.F.M. v. Holder, was filed Thursday evening in Seattle, and it accuses the Obama administration of violating the "Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause and the Immigration and Nationality Act's provisions requiring a 'full and fair hearing' before an immigration judge."

The ACLU, the American Immigration Council, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, Public Counsel, and the K&L Gates law firm asked the federal court "to immediately block the government from pursuing deportation proceedings" of at least seven illegal immigrant juveniles.

More

Obama military downsizing leaves U.S. too weak to counter global threats, panel finds

An independent panel appointed by the Pentagon and Congress said Thursday that President Obama’s strategy for sizing the armed services is too weak for today’s global threats.

The National Defense Panel called on the president to dump a major section of his 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) and write a broader strategy that requires the military to fight on multiple fronts at once.

It also said the shrinking U.S. armed forces, which are being downsized to fit that strategy and budget cuts, is a “serious strategic misstep on the part of the United States.” The forces’ numbers spelled out in Mr. Obama’s QDR are “inadequate given the future strategic and operational environment.”

The warning comes as Mr. Obama is under criticism from many Republicans and some Democrats for his standoff policy toward Syria and his limited response to a June offensive by an al Qaeda offshoot that has gobbled up swaths of territory in Iraq.

More

HISTORICAL COMMENTS BY GEORGE CHEVALLIER 8-2-14

Hotels

Over the years there have been many places to offer a night’s stay for the weary traveler. I started out trying to list all the hotels and motels, but the list of just the hotels was overwhelming.

         

Two of the longest standing hotels until the huge Wicomico Hotel was built in 1925 are the Peninsula Hotel on Main St. and the Salisbury Hotel on Railroad Avenue. The Peninsula Hotel was started and operated for many years by John Tracy. It was subsequently owned and operated by O. J. Schneck and Harry Phillips. The end of this hotel came in devastating fire in 1929. A bank was built on the site at Main and St. Peter Streets and remains to this day. The Salisbury Hotel was operated by George L. Bradley and operated at least until 1921. Both were in business in 1878.

         

The next two old hotels are the Central Hotel on E. Church St. and the Merchants Hotel. While many people remember the Central because it remained open until the 1960’s, only the building where the Merchants Hotel was in business remains on the corner of Main and Church Streets near Mill Street. The land where the Central Hotel was is now under the GovernmentOffice Building on the corner of Church and Division Streets.

         

Other lesser known hotels operated from 1907 until 1925, when the huge Wicomico

Hotel opened, driving the smaller hotels out of business. After their life as a hotel, many of them became rooming houses, renting accommodations for longer stays than the overnight traveler needed. Some of them are the Davis House on Division St., the Maryland House on E. Church St., Parker House on High St, Salisbury House on Main St., the Hotel Claiborne on Main St.and the Ross Hotel on Main St. Many of these were probably eating or drinking establishments on the first floor and rooms on the upper floors. Businesses such as the Arcade Hotel on W. Main St., the Chantry House onWater St., the Majestic Hotel on E. Main St., the Mayflower Grill on W. Main St., The William Penn on N. Division St. and the Travelers Inn on Main St.also provided accommodations for the weary traveler.

         

When the Wicomico Hotel was opened in 1925, the accommodations were such that their business practically put every other establishment that served overnight guests out of business. They were “the place to stay” until after World War II, when the motel emerged. Motels served an ever-growing clientele of travelers that had automobiles. The alternate to the Wicomico Hotel was a proliferation of tourist homes. These were large homes that had the space to rent out on a nightly basis and were mainly located along N. Division St., which was Route 13 until they built the “by-pass” in 1939.

         

Nowadays, hotels are only found in the larger cities. The modern motels are very similar to the grand hotels of yesterday, having many accommodations attached to them. You can eat shop or be entertained at most of them.

         

Salisbury has had its share of different kinds of hotels, but the purpose was always the same – providing a night’s rest for the weary traveler.