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Saturday, May 09, 2015

How To Explain The Baltimore Riots in One Sentence…

OK I think I figured out what went down in Baltimore, after much exhaustive investigation, and I have come up with one perfect sentence to explain and illuminate the events of the last few weeks. And I threw some images in there too, for the heck of it.

BEHOLD!!! Baltimore Riots In ONE SENTENCE:





Wait, was that two sentences? Dammit. Whatever, it’s still funny. Or sad.
Source

"Middle age now lasts until 74 as baby boomers refuse to grow old"

New research suggests that old age now starts at 74, with middle age lasting at least nine years longer than current estimates.

Academics from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Vienna, Austria, argue that old age should be measured not by age, but by how long people have left to live.
In the 1950s a 65-year-old in Britain could expect to live a further 15 years.

But today’s baby boomers are expected to live far longer after retirement. A recent estimate by the Office for National Statistics suggests that the average retiree can look forward to drawing their pension for up to 24 years – as much as 50 per cent longer than their parents’ generation.

Researchers say that old age should be defined as having 15 or fewer years left to live, which for the baby boomers means that they are still middle aged until their 74th year.

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Here Comes the Death Panels or Is This an Advance in Freedom?

Johnson & Johnson has appointed a nationally known bioethicist to create a panel that will make decisions about patients’ requests for lifesaving medicine, reports NYT.

NYT explains the why:

It comes as a small but growing number of patients with terminal illnesses have sought the right to obtain drugs still in the testing phase that show promise for treating their diseases.

Some of the requests have become highly publicized cases on social media, where family members and advocates have lobbied the companies on patients’ behalf — often to no avail because drug makers fear that doing so would interfere with clinical trials, or, in the case of the Ebola outbreak, that they have too little available. The issue, which involves fundamental questions of fairness and equal access to care, has become so intense that more than a dozen states have taken up legislation to speed the process...
Johnson & Johnson said the bioethicist, Arthur L. Caplan of New York University, who has written extensively about the issue of experimental drug availability — known as “compassionate use” — would oversee an independent panel of doctors, ethicists and patient advocates that will review requests for access to a limited array of experimental medicines and decide how Johnson & Johnson should respond.Of course, this only comes about because government regulations in the first place prevent free markets to develop in these drugs, and prevent the terminally ill from getting medication that may be their only hope. Why do we need any kind of ethicist to stick his nose in a patients decisions? If a patient wants to use a drug and is willing to pay for it, a free market would allow such. There would never be a need fo a "bioethicist" and panels of doctors and "patient advocates" in the middle.

So is this an end run move by Johnson & Johnson around oppressive government regulations and aa positive step in the direction of freedom for the ill or will this result in Americans becoming acclimated to "bioethicists" making life and death decisions on treatments, that will expand overtime to include "cost-benefit" analysis by bioethicists and panels across a large spectrum of medical and medicine treatments.

Punishment For City Students Caught Rioting May Be On Hold

Punishment promised for city students involved in the riots connected to the death of Freddie Gray may be on the way. But several groups of children’s rights advocates are banding together, asking school leaders to put the punishments on hold.

Gigi Barnett has more.

Police say many of the rioters in a crowd seen fromSky Eye Chopper 13 throwing bricks and rocks at city officers during the Freddie Gray protests are teens. Some of them allegedly left school early to clash with police.

School leaders scoured videotape, trying to identify the students involved, promising swift justice.

“We had some kids leave here before the bell, and that’s not acceptable. They will be certainly punished for that,” said Baltimore City Schools’ CEO Gregory Thornton.

But not so fast, Baltimore City Schools.

“If you kick them out of school, where are they going to go? They’re going to be home. Idle minds,” said Nikki Harris.

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School districts spending millions on ‘white privilege’ training for employees

SAN FRANCISCO – The Pacific Educational Group (PEG) espouses a lot of controversial and stereotypical concepts regarding minority students in K-12 schools.

For instance, the organization teaches that black kids are less likely to respond to fundamental ideas like working hard to achieve success, or being on time for school or work, because those ideas are supposedly foreign to African-American culture.

PEG is literally selling notions like that to American public schools, and the schools are buying them, at a cost of millions of tax dollars every year.

One prominent black professional, journalist and author Juan Williams, thinks those schools are subscribing to a politically-driven philosophy that grossly underestimates the capabilities of minority students, particularly black children.

“These people (associated with PEG) are engaged in cultural, political arguments that are based on negative stereotypes of black capacity to achieve in any situation,” Williams said.

“My mother never would have said, ‘You don’t have to be on time. If you are then you are acting white.’ That idea is tragically insulting.”

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Education Funding Dominates County Budget Hearing; Seniors Express Concerns About Tax Increase Impact


SNOW HILL – Concerns about a potential tax increase from some and pleas for a fully-funded school system from others highlighted the annual public budget hearing hosted by the Worcester County Commissioners.

Dozens of area residents, many of them teachers, shared their thoughts on the county’s proposed FY 2016 budget during the lengthy hearing at Snow Hill Middle School May 5. The budget, which the commissioners need to finalize by early June, is not yet balanced and features a $22 million shortfall. The 15-cent property tax increase it would take to fully fund the budget drew criticism from several citizens, many of them seniors.

“If my taxes increase by 15 cents that’s going to put a lot of pressure on me, an individual in a situation with a fixed income,” Ocean Pines resident Jack Collins said. “I’m no longer productive. I do the best I can. Every time there’s an increase it squeezes a little bit more.”

Ocean City retiree John Adkins, 68, said that between his tax bill, homeowner’s insurance and flood insurance he spent more than $7,000 a year.
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Only Two Republicans Admit They Actually Read Secret Obama Trade Deal

Only two Senate Republicans from the entire conference of 54 members have admitted they read the details of President Barack Obama’s secret Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal as of this time.

With the first votes on the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) that would fast-track TPP just days away, it’s looking like Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) expects Americans to accept former House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)’s Obamacare logic for the trade deal: you have to pass it to find out what’s in it.

“If you want to hear the details of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal the Obama administration is hoping to pass, you’ve got to be a member of Congress, and you’ve got to go to classified briefings and leave your staff and cellphone at the door,” Politico’s Edward-Isaac Dovere wrote earlier this week. “If you’re a member who wants to read the text, you’ve got to go to a room in the basement of the Capitol Visitor Center and be handed it one section at a time, watched over as you read, and forced to hand over any notes you make before leaving. And no matter what, you can’t discuss the details of what you’ve read.”

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Berlin Sewer Repair Project Starts Monday

Main Street between Route 346 and Route 50 closed to through traffic

The Town of Berlin has scheduled a sewer repair project to start on Monday, May 11, 2015. The project will require Main Street between Route 346 (Old Ocean City Boulevard) and Route 50 to be closed to through traffic for the next several weeks,” Mayor Gee Williams announced.

“The contractor will start on Monday around 7:30 am and will finish by 5 pm each day. The roadway will be open to residents during construction but it will be closed to through traffic,” said Town Administrator Laura Allen. “The project is expected to take several weeks. The contractor will not work on Saturday or Sunday. The roadway will be open to through traffic on those days,” she added.

“It’s hard to tell exactly how many days the project will take to complete because of the nature of the work and our dependence on the weather. We recognize the importance of the Memorial Day weekend to our residents and guests. If the project is still underway as we approach that weekend, the contractor has been directed to stop work on May 21st, button up the project so the roadway is open, and commence work on Tuesday, May 26th,” stated Town Administrator Laura Allen.

VA Claims Living Veteran is Dead, Cuts Benefits

A North Carolina veteran very much alive is fighting for his life following a clerical error that resulted in his family getting a document from the departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense stating he had died.

The notices, along with the government's condolences, came with two checks to help pay for burial costs for Robert Pressley -- but because the system now says Pressley is deceased, his benefits reportedly have been terminated.

Pressley, who supports a small family and is unable to work due to combat-related injuries, cannot afford to lose his benefits, he told WECT-TV.

“To prove that I am alive is just insane and it scares me to death,” he said. “That at a touch of a button or because of someone’s clerical error my whole life can be taken away from me and it is.”

Pressley also claims duplicate letters were sent to his ex-wife, even though he told the VA multiple times he was divorced and has since remarried.

“I mean, what do I do?” Pressley asked, according WECT-TV. “I am not getting any answers, I am not getting any help. I am scared.”

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This mom and dad couldn’t get their girls to do chores, so they decided to bribe them — and now they’re in jail

 Florida parents Chad and Joey Mudd couldn’t get their 13- and 14-year-old girls to do chores, so they decided to bribe them with drugs.

The 36-year-old dad and 34-year-old mom admitted to providing weed for their teenagers as a “bargaining tool” on five occasions,
the Smoking Gun reported.

“According to Joey, it was an incentive to the children,” Pinellas Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Cristen Smith said. “If the children were going to school, doing household chores and such, that was the incentive to smoking marijuana with her.”

But it didn’t stop there.
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70 Years after WWII, German 'War Kids' Look for Soldier Dads

When Paul Schmitz was a little boy, he never understood why kids in his German village taunted him as a "Yank" and beat him up. He was a teenager by the time he found out: His father was an American soldier his mother had a romance with in the final days of World War II.

Schmitz was born about five months after Victory in Europe Day, when the Allied forces defeated Nazi Germany 70 years ago Friday. It would be the start of a life as an outsider, burdened by fear, discrimination and loneliness.

He is one of at least 250,000 children of German mothers who got pregnant by Allied soldiers from the United States, Great Britain, France or the Soviet Union as the Third Reich crumbled.

Now many of those children have embarked on quests to find their fathers.

"I was a child of shame, a child of the enemy, even though it was the Americans who liberated us," says Schmitz, a shy 69-year-old with a friendly round face. "All my life I had a yearning for my father, but until recently I was too afraid to actively search for him."

More here

SOCIAL SECURITY INSOLVENT SOONER THAN EXPECTED

A new study has revealed “biased” forecasts by the U.S. Social Security Administration, suggesting the health of the system millions of Americans are depending on for their retirement is seriously overstated.

The study was published Friday in the Journal of Economic Perspectives, co-authored by Harvard Professor Gary King, a Ph.D. student at Harvard’s Institute for Quantitative Social Science; and an assistant professor at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice.

“Pretty much everybody who evaluates Social Security realizes there’s a problem … But the system is in significantly worse shape than their forecasts are indicating,” King
told the Harvard Gazette.
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Two Veteran Groups Sue VA Over Disability Claims Process

Two veterans groups are suing to stop a new Department of Veterans Affairs disability claims process – the second lawsuit filed since March, Stars and Stripes reports.

Filed by Disabled American Veterans and Veterans of Foreign Wars in the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, the lawsuit claims a VA policy doing away with a decades-old informal claim process will unfairly impact older and disabled veterans.

"[I]t discourages people from using the system, it creates roadblocks," Disabled American Veterans National Service Director Jim Marszalek told Stars and Stripes.

A separate lawsuit aimed at restoring the informal claims process was filed in late March by American Legion, AMVETS, Military Order of the Purple Heart, the National Veterans Legal Services Program and the Vietnam Veterans of America.

Marszalek said the two actions may wind up being combined.

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Budget hearing turns into rally

The proposed increase in the tax rate from its current 77 cents, however, is just the preliminary number that shows what the rate would have to be to cover all the $189.8 million in budget requests that have survived so far. It also assumes not drawing down again on what is known as the budget stabilization fund, a set aside account to be used when money cannot be obtained from other sources.

Of the approximately 300 people in attendance, more than 50 percent were associated with the public school system, many of them wearing color-coded T-shirts showing school affiliation. In addition, attendees wore stickers supporting the schools and a few waved signs.

Dozens availed themselves of the option to address the commissioners, but only a few addressed anything other than teacher salaries.
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Floyd Mayweather Declares No Rematch For ‘Sore Loser’ Manny Pacquiao

Pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather, who told ESPN's Stephen A. Smith on Tuesday that he would be willing to put off his planned September retirement to grant Manny Pacquiao a rematch next year, said he has changed his mind.

"Did I text Stephen A. Smith and say I will fight him again? Yeah, but I change my mind. At this particular time, no, because he's a sore loser and he's a coward," Mayweather told Showtime in an interview taped this week that will air Saturday night (9 ET) during the network's replay of last Saturday night's megafight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

"If you lost, accept the loss and say, 'Mayweather, you were the better fighter,'" Mayweather continued.

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JUST IN: Accident On The Bay Bridge

The Westbound span of the Bay Bridge is currently shut down due to a serious accident.   

They have now shut down all lanes Eastbound and Westbound on the Bay Bridge.  

It appears they are trying to reroute the traffic so that all traffic will be using the Eastbound span.  Eastbound span now has 1 lane open and is moving very slowly.  Westbound traffic is still not moving.

UPDATED:Worcester County Sheriff's Office Warns About A FaceBook Post

Folks, we want to warn you about a FaceBook post going around in honor of Mother's Day. Participants are putting their children's names, due dates, birthdates etc, on their page. We warn you that putting this information on your page could lead to Child Identity theft which is on the rise. You have essentially given anyone that views this information a free ticket to create false accounts in your children's name. We would simply suggest that you go back to your post and edit or delete it. Although most of us have our privacy settings set to only friends, remember that the internet is full of programs that can defeat a simple privacy setting. We do not wish to see you or your child become a victim of identity theft or worse. Although the intention of the FaceBook post is to honor the mothers, which we all recognize are the most important people in our lives, we now live in a digital world that allows criminals to steal your information. We are now suggesting when doing credit checks on yourselves, you also check your children's names as well. Many parents are surprised by the results. If you feel you have been a victim, please contact the three Credit Bureaus and your local police department.

UPDATE: More Information from Worcester County Sheriff's Office

Yesterdays post has generated a ton of comments and shares. The point of the post was to simply warn you that sharing certain information on your page can be dangerous. Social Media is an excellent tool for both the public and law enforcement. What most people do not know is that the moment you type your child's name and date of birth on your page, you have created a digital footprint that remains with your child forever. The moment you upload your child's pic and someone tags your child, you have created a digital footprint. Have you recently uploaded a photo and the application automatically recognizes the face and places the name under it? Do you own that photograph after its uploaded to Facebook? Technology is a great thing. However, we must do what we can to protect our children. Child Identity theft is on the rise. Can that information be obtained by local papers? Absolutely. Our point is simply to inform you of potential harm and hope that you take steps to protect your children and yourselves. But above all else, going back to the original post, We want to wish all of our mothers a Happy and Wonderful Mothers Day. We Love all of you. 

Cancer Spawns A Construction Boom In Cleveland

It's difficult to imagine that a seven-story glass building will soon take the place of what's now a vast hole near the corner of Carnegie Avenue and 105th Street in Cleveland. But Cliff Kazmierczak, who is with Turner Construction and overseeing the transformation, points to the gray sky, tracing a silhouette with his fingertips. In two years, he says, the Cleveland Clinic's nearly $300 million cancer center is slated to open here.

"The big thing is to make the patient comfortable with the treatments that they're going through," he says of the building's design. "So lighting, light colors, [and] as much natural light as possible are always very important to cancer patients."

Kazmierczak came to this project after overseeing construction of the cancer hospital at Ohio State University a few hours south of here. All around the U.S., the health care industry is building up to take care of an expected influx of cancer patients.

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Mother’s Day Can Be a Major Disappointment to Mom

Mom is someone who rarely lets you down, which might explain why so many of them don’t complain about their Mother’s Day gifts.

Yes, moms are human too as a survey from California-based tech company SOASTA revealed when it asked close to 700 mothers if they were ever disappointed on what’s supposed to be their special day.

It might shock people but SOASTA determined that about 40 percent of moms get bummed out for a variety of reasons, which includes finding out that their gift was a last-minute pick-up or that their husbands seem to pay more attention to their own moms or that Mother’s Day often ends once the bill gets paid at brunch.

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Black Panther Leader Called for Bombing Nurseries to Murder White Babies… Where’s Al Sharpton?

In light of the rampant sentiment against whites in Baltimore, especially when it comes to white police officers, it’s important to point out the men and women who have for years been stoking the fire that eventually lead to the race riots seen in Ferguson, Mo., and, more recently, Baltimore.

One group holding a large chunk of the responsibility for the destruction is the New Black Panther Party, specifically Chief of Staff Michelle Williams and King Samir Shabazz — two disturbed racist individuals who have called for violence against whites for years.

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Thank You SFD For Rescuing Those Baby Ducks!

Salisbury Fire Department members remove four baby ducks from a storm drain at the YMCA this morning. All chicks were...

Posted by Salisbury Fire Department on Saturday, May 9, 2015

Spring Cruisin Event Kicks Off Thursday In Ocean City

OCEAN CITY — The 25th Annual Cruisin Ocean City, presented by Miller Welders, returns to the beachside resort town of Ocean City on May 14-17.

This nationally recognized event attracts more than 3,500 customs, hot rods, street machines, classics and more from over 20 states plus Canada. The 25th Annual Cruisin will have more than 10,000 event participants taking part in various car shows at the Convention Center on 40th Street, the downtown Inlet parking lot and various citywide locations.

Scheduled to appear at this year’s Cruisin from the classic TV show “The Dukes of Hazard” is Tom Wopat, better known as Luke Duke. He will be at the event Friday, Saturday and Sunday for meet and greets and photo ops. Also joining in on the excitement, from the hit TV show Fast N’ Loud and from Gas Monkey Garage will be Christie Brimberry, who will be at Cruisin Friday and Saturday signing autographs, posing for pictures and talking about all the fun they have at Gas Monkey Garage. Additional entertainment includes live music, games, celebrity Stars Deejay, Cruisin Gold Deejay and more.

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State Department Won't Review Clinton Ethics Pledge Breaches

The U.S. State Department will not review the breaches of the 2008 ethics agreement Hillary Clinton signed in order to become secretary of state after her family's charities admitted in March that they had not complied, a spokesman said on Thursday.

Clinton, now the Democratic front-runner in the 2016 presidential election, had promised the federal government that the Clinton Foundation and its associated charities would name all donors annually while she was the nation's top diplomat.

She also promised that the charities would let the State Department's ethics office review beforehand any proposed new foreign governments donations.

In March, the charities confirmed to Reuters for the first time that they had not complied with those pledges for most of Clinton's four years at the State Department.

The State Department "regrets" that it did not get to review the new foreign government funding, but does not plan to look into the matter further, spokesman Jeff Rathke said on Thursday.

More here

A Viewer Writes: Public Nuisance

A beggar and pan handler at Super Giant in Salisbury. Literally tapping on windows asking for change.

Two Approaches to Reducing Poverty—Only One Works

White non-Hispanics will be a minority in the U.S. in 30 years, demographers say. There are four states, California, Texas, New Mexico and Hawaii, where tomorrow is a reality today. Statistics indicate that demographics are predictive of poverty levels. So, which states have less poverty?

There are two ways the federal government gauges poverty, the 50-year-old Official Poverty Measure and the new Supplemental Poverty Measure. The old poverty yardstick neither accounts for the cost of living from state-to-state, nor does it consider all government benefits, such as food stamps and housing vouchers. The U.S. Census Bureau’s new poverty measure is more comprehensive, even including work-related expenses and taxes.

The official poverty rate from 2011 to 2013 was 21.5 percent in New Mexico; 17.2 percent in Texas; 16.0 percent California; and 12.4 percent in Hawaii.

But things cost more in California and Hawaii—far more, much of which can be laid at the doorstep of liberal public policies such as restrictive zoning laws that drive up the cost of housing, burdensome regulations, and high taxes.

The Supplemental Poverty Measure counts these costs and tells a different story showing 23.4 percent of Californians in poverty—the nation’s highest rate—followed by 18.4 percent in Hawaii; 16 percent in New Mexico; and 15.9 percent in Texas, the same as the national average.

According to the Tax Foundation California’s state and local taxes were 52 percent higher than Texas’ as a share of state income in 2011; Hawaii’s taxes were 28 percent higher; New Mexico’s were 15 percent higher.

Proportionately, California had 47 percent more people in poverty per capita than Texas; Hawaii, 16 percent; and New Mexico, just under 1 percent more.

There are two competing poverty reduction concepts.

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DHS Approved Amnesty Applications Despite Injunction

President Obama’s lawyers admitted to a federal judge late Thursday that they had broken the court’s injunction halting the administration’s new deportation amnesty, issuing thousands of work permits even after Judge Andrew S. Hanen had ordered the program stopped.

The stunning admission, filed just before midnight in Texas, where the case is being heard, is the latest misstep for the administration’s lawyers, who are facing possible sanctions by Judge Hanen for their continued problems in arguing the case.

The Justice Department lawyers said Homeland Security, which is the defendant in the case, told them Wednesday that an immigration agency had approved about 2,000 applications for three-year work permits, which was part of Mr. Obama’s new amnesty, even after Judge Hanen issued his Feb. 16 injunction halting the entire program.

Top Obama officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, had repeatedly assured Congress they had fully halted the program and were complying with the order.

More here

ACLU Asking City Schools To Reconsider Disciplining Students Involved In Riots

The ACLU and Public Defender's Office is asking the city school system to reconsider disciplining the students who took part in the riots near Mondawmin Mall last week.

The city schools CEO said last week that students could be disciplined for taking part in the riots.

Officials with the ACLU say that some "unique circumstances" related to the civil unrest may have contributed to police arresting innocent bystanders.
Source

Gowdy: Obama 'Greatest Impediment' to Benghazi Probe

The select House committee investigating the Benghazi attacks has made strides in learning the details of the assaults that killed four Americans 2012, Republican Chairman Trey Gowdy said Friday while slamming the Obama administration as "the greatest impediment to completing this investigation in a timely matter."

"We look forward to completing our work in a manner that is worthy of the sacrifice made by the four men who died and trust of our fellow Americans," Gowdy, who represents South Carolina, said in a report marking the panel's first anniversary.

But the committee's ranking Democrat, Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, blasted the investigation as a "political charade" that has so far cost American taxpayers $3 million and is being "dragged out in order to attack" former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is seeking her party's 2016 presidential nomination.

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Journalists Hold Tom Brady to Higher Standard Than Hillary Clinton

The transparency standards for an NFL quarterback rising higher than for the Secretary of State surely speaks to the bread-and-circuses quality of 2015 America.

We expect more from our gridiron heroes than from our nation’s leaders. Perhaps the tizzy over Tom serves as a tacit admission that we also expect more responsiveness to public opinion from 345 Park Ave. than from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

No law decrees that a quarterback must turn over his texts and emails to the NFL the way that the Federal Records Act demands that the Secretary of State turn over correspondence to the government. Yet the failure of the four-time Super Bowl winner to share his iPhones, computers, and other gadgets and gizmos with NFL investigator Ted Wells sends the Fourth Estate into a frenzy.

The Wells Report notes that “although Tom Brady appeared for a requested interview and answered questions voluntarily, he declined to make available any documents or electronic information (including text messages and emails) that we requested, even though those requests were limited to the subject matter of our investigation.”

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Army Speeding Up Recruitment of Illegal Aliens

The Pentagon is speeding up its recruitment of illegal immigrants in a program that fast-tracks them to U.S. citizenship, as Congress debates allowing the military to do so.

Since January, the Pentagon has enlisted 81 illegal immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children and qualify for President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, according to figures provided by the Army on Thursday.

Between January and April 8, only 43 had been enlisted, an Army spokesman said.

Since then, at least 38 more recruits have signed up.

But in Congress, members are debating whether illegal immigrants should lawfully be allowed to join the armed forces.

Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), a Marine veteran and son of Hispanic immigrants, inserted a provision in the 2016 defense policy bill that would encourage the Defense secretary to consider qualified illegal immigrants as "vital" to national security.

The House is scheduled to debate the bill next week, but some House Republicans, led by Rep. Mo Brooks (Ala.), are trying to strip the provision, arguing it endangers the measure's passage.

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said he will propose an amendment during consideration of the bill to remove the provision if it has not already happened by then.

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US launches its own investigation of Baltimore police

The Justice Department waded anew Friday into fraught big city police-community relations, with new Attorney General Loretta Lynch declaring the subject “one of the most challenging issues of our time.” She announced a wide-ranging investigation into Baltimore’s police.

The federal civil rights investigation, which city officials requested following the death last month of a man in police custody, will search for discriminatory policing practices and examine allegations that Baltimore officers too often use excessive force and make unconstitutional searches and arrests.

The investigation is to build upon the government’s voluntary and collaborative review of the Baltimore police that began last year. Since then, the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray and the days of rioting that followed exposed a “serious erosion of public trust,” Lynch said, and showed that community concerns about the police were more pervasive than initially understood and that a broader investigation was warranted.
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Appeals court says police can withhold license plate scans

Police can store the data for years to use in future investigations...

Police don’t have to disclose license plate records that advocacy groups sought to gauge how high-tech surveillance was being used, a California appeals court ruled Wednesday.

The unanimous ruling by the 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected a California Public Records Act request for data compiled by the Los Angeles police and sheriff’s departments.

Law enforcement departments across the country are increasingly using automated license plate readers mounted on patrol cars and fixed locations to check plate numbers against a “hot list” of vehicles associated with crimes, such as stolen cars, child abductions or arrest warrants.

Police can store the data for years to use in future investigations and Los Angeles police said they had used the information to identify a vehicle linked to a homicide and another at the location of an armed robbery.

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OC Weighing New Housing District That Would Prohibit Short-Term Rentals In Certain Areas

OCEAN CITY – The Planning and Zoning Commission voted this week to hold a public hearing on a newly proposed housing district that would prohibit short-term rentals.

On Tuesday evening, Zoning Administrator Blaine Smith reported on a housing compliance and regulation seminar that occurred earlier in the day.

At the seminar Property Review and Enforcement Strategies for Safe-housing (PRESS) Committee came together with the Fire Marshal’s Office, Police Department, Licensing Department, Zoning Department, as well as over 60 participants from the private sector, including residents, real estate agents, rental agents and management companies to discuss ongoing concerns regarding rental properties.
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Marxist Professor Fails Student For Not Denouncing Christian Faith in Support of Feminism

Biased exam questions painted Christianity as false, violent and oppressive to women
A humanities professor reportedly failed a Christian student for not denouncing her faith in support of Marxism, atheism and feminism.

The professor, Lance “L.J.” Russum at Polk State College in Winter Haven, Fla., allegedly gave the student four straight zeros on assignments because she refused to agree with his biased test questions which painted Christianity as false, violent and oppressive to women.

On one exam, the professor asked:

…Answer the following questions in 4 paragraphs (20 sentences minimum):

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I secretly lived in my office for 500 days

I was asleep when I heard the door rattle against the frame. My eyes flashed open and I sprung upright in my under-desk sleep space. Was it all over? Had someone come to work early? I peered over my desk, afraid of what I might see. The morning sun burned through the chicken-scratch graffiti of the office’s front door, spilling across the labyrinth of desks spread out before me. There wasn’t a soul in sight. I breathed a sigh of relief. Probably just paranoia. Or maybe not — a breeze blew the front door against its frame, the pygmy-like rattle of a loose door jamb. It was the same sound I heard moments before and would hear countless times in the future but never quite get used to.

A little paranoia goes a long way when you live in a 10-square-feet workstation. I stood up, stretching my limbs toward the sky like a thawing, cryo-preserved humanoid, neck kinked and back stiff. I bent down to deflate my air mattress. The clock read 6:45 a.m. Under normal circumstances I’d still be asleep, but these circumstances were far from normal.

Earlier that week, I had moved into my office. Secretly. I rented out my Venice Beach apartment for the month, packed a few duffels with my clothes and prized belongings, and started taking up residence behind my desk, carefully using each square inch of out-of-sight real estate to store my stuff. Not everyone aspires to have their co-workers catching them at their desk in their tighty-whities—at 6 in the morning. Believing the absolute best-case-scenario reaction to my being there would be supreme awkwardness, I kept the whole thing to myself. Every morning I’d neatly pack away my personal belongings, turning the lights back on and lowering the air conditioning to its too-chilly-for-me 72 degrees—the way they always left it overnight. I’d leave for a morning workout and shower, simultaneously keeping clean and in shape while ensuring I wasn’t always the first to arrive. Occasionally I’d even make myself late to work, blaming the awful L.A. traffic. Just to fit in.

If living in the office seems like too much effort, it was a cakewalk compared to making monthly rent payments.

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Lumber Liquidators axing Chinese flooring products

Lumber Liquidators (LL), stung by lower sales and a slumping stock price over allegations that its laminate flooring made in China contains toxic levels of formaldehyde, is suspending sales of the product.

Shares - up as much as 7% in early trading - closed off 0.6% to $27.07 Thursday after the company said it will suspend sales until it completes a sourcing compliance program. The move is a shift for North America's largest specialty flooring retailer company, which continued to sell Chinese laminate flooring for two months after a March 60 Minutes report that said the products contained formaldehyde, a carcinogen, at levels that exceeded California state guidelines.

Lumber Liquidators' March same-store sales fell nearly 18% after the 60 Minutesreport, which has prompted more than 100 class-action suits against the company as well as a Consumer Product Safety Commission probe. Just last week, the company said the Justice Department is seeking criminal charges under the Lacey Act for alleged illegal importation of oak flooring from protected Russian forests.

Lumber Liquidators shares have slumped more than 60% since late February, when it alerted investors of the looming 60 Minutes report.

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Delaware State Police Camp Barnes Weeks Filled

Camp Barnes is no longer taking applications for the 2015 season.  Any application received after May 8, 2015 will be placed on a waiting list.  Applications will become available again on March 1, 2016.

Suspected Heroin Found Inside Baltimore NAACP Offices

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Suspected heroin found inside the Baltimore offices of the NAACP. Court records show the man now facing charges is the son of the organization’s president.

Meghan McCorkell has the dramatic video of the arrest.

The discovery was made as investigators were searching for a fugitive.

WJZ obtains dramatic video inside the Baltimore branch of the NAACP. Investigators searched the office at the end of April.

A police report shows they found: “A clear plastic capsule containing white powder, suspected heroin and an empty plastic capsule containing white powder residue, suspected heroin.”
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Harvard Study: Social Security In Far Worse Shape Than Official Numbers Show

Over the last 15 years, the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Chief Actuary has consistently underestimated retirees’ life expectancy and made other errors that make the finances of the retirement system look significantly better than they are , a new study by two Harvard and one Dartmouth academics concludes. The report, being published today by the Journal of Economic Perspectives, is the first, the authors say, to compare the government agency’s past demographic and financial forecasts with actual results.

In a second paper appearing today in Political Analysis, the three researchers offer their theory of why the Actuary Office’s predictions have apparently grown less reliable since 2000: the civil servants who run it have responded to increased political polarization surrounding Social Security “by hunkering down” and resisting outside pressures—not only from the politicians, but also from outside technical experts. “While they’re insulating themselves from the politics, they also insulate themselves from the data and this big change in the world –people started living longer lives,’’ coauthor Gary King, a leading political scientist and director of Harvard’s Institute for Quantitative SocialScience, said in an interview Thursday. “They need to take that into account and change the forecast as a result of that.”

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WICOMICO COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT AWARDED BREAST CANCER PREVENTION GRANT

(Salisbury) -- The Wicomico County Health Department is pleased to announce that it was recently awarded a grant from Susan G. Komen® Maryland for its “Closing the Gap: Hispanic/Latino women and Breast Cancer” prevention program.This program is a culturally appropriate navigation program that provides breast cancer referral, screening, and education for uninsured and underinsured Hispanic/Latino women on the Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland.

The services include mammograms, clinical breast exams, and diagnostic tests. The program also improves awareness, knowledge, and attitudes about breast health among this at-risk population.

“Screening rates for Latinas are lower than those for white or African American women,” says Lori Brewster, Health Officer of the Wicomico County Health Department, “and these women often face environmental or occupational exposures that increase their health risk.”

The National Institutes of Health noted in 2013 that while Latinas in the United States have a lower incidence of breast cancer compared to non-Latina whites, breast cancer is the most common cancer among Latinas.

The Race for the Cure® is Komen Maryland’s largest fundraising event and the primary means of funds for their community grant program through which this program is funded. The Races will take place on Sunday October 25, 2015—Komen Maryland Race for the Cure in Hunt Valley, Maryland and in April 2016 —Komen Maryland Ocean City Race for the Cure.

For more information, or to find out if you are eligible for the program, call the Wicomico County Health Department at 410-334-3480.

HISTORICAL COMMENTS BY GEORGE CHEVALLIER 5-9-15

Roads In and Around Salisbury

Prior to 1880, all roads in and around Salisbury were dirt. Some of them were impassable in bad weather because of the make-up of the soil of the area. Deep sand made for slow travel, although it didn’t impede the horse. A single rider on a horse made out quite well, but the wheels on the wagon of a carriage were another matter. A trip of 37 miles to Ocean City required an overnight stay somewhere. Obviously, it wasn’t the “straight shot” that it is today.

The first section of a new type of road was laid in 1880 running east out of town toward Parsonsburg. It consisted of oyster shells and, with the assistance of the abutting property owners, the road was installed. The county would purchase the shells, and the property owners agreed to haul and spread them. This type of road surface would be the norm until 1906.

The only exception was in the city of Salisbury. Main Street from Division to the bridge and a portion of Division Street had bricks put down for their surface in 1904-05. It was cleaner and more attractive. In fact the brick from the river to the train station was yellow brick. I wrote about the controversy regarding the road surface some time ago when I related how, when it was decided to pave the road, the Camden section decided to go with a new form of asphalt surfacing called macadam because of the noise that iron wagon wheels made on bricks. Up to that point, Camden Avenuewas just a dirt road.

The road surface of macadam was first used in 1908. The first section was a two and a half mile stretch from Salisbury to the Rockawalkin Mill on Quantico Road. At that time the road to the tidewater section of the county bore the heaviest volume of traffic. This was generated by the formation of the State Highway Commission by the Legislature of 1908 led by Governor Crothers. At the time it was a major undertaking, costing the state five million dollars for all its counties.

By 1916, Salisbury had six miles of streets paved with a new material called Tarvia made by the Barrett Company out ofCanada. Church Street, the northern part of Division Street,Elizabeth, Isabella, William, Newton and Locust Streets were all covered with the new surface. Along with the advent of pneumatic tires on the newfound contraption called the automobile, this made for a much quieter Salisbury.

It also brought another problem in the form of traffic. A report from the March, 1908, term of the Grand Jury made this report: “The reckless speeding of automobiles has been brought to the attention of this body, and we think there should be something done to protect a long-suffering public. And while 15 or 20 miles is tolerated on county roads, we have proof that a much higher speed is frequent, even as much as 35 to 40 miles per hour.”

Legislators Discuss Failed Post-Labor Day School Bill; New Strategy Needed After Effort Called ‘A Very Heavy Lift’

OCEAN CITY — Despite failing to even get a committee hearing in either the Senate or the House, the bid for a state-mandated post-Labor Day start to the school year will continue.

At the Ocean City Economic Development Committee (EDC) meeting this week, Lower Shore legislators briefed resort business leaders on a variety of issues germane to the local area during the 2015 session including a proposed state-mandated post-Labor Day start to the public school year. The bills, cross-filed in the House by Delegate Mary Beth Carozza (R-38C) and Senate by Senator Jim Mathias (D-38), never got any traction during the session and failed to come before a committee vote in either chamber.

Disheartened but not dissuaded, the two Lower Shore legislators told the EDC this week the effort would continue in the 2016 session. Although a poll earlier this year showed parents and teachers across Maryland supported the proposed legislation, it turned out to be a tough sell in other areas around the state.
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School faces funding cut if it drops transgender plan

A plan to add “gender identity” to a Virginia school’s nondiscrimination policy has enraged parents and preachers, but leaders of the nation’s tenth largest school district say unless they make the change, the U.S. Department of Education could withdraw federal funding.

Critics warn the Fairfax County Public School policy would allow boys who identify as girls to use the locker rooms and bathrooms of their choice – as well as participate on athletic teams of their choosing.

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DEER HUNTING TRIMMED? States consider curbing permits after harsh winter

AUGUSTA, Maine – Wildlife regulators in states where deer hunting is a way of life and an important tourism draw are implementing or considering deep cuts to hunting permits after a tough winter killed off many of the animals.

Severe winters are perilous for deer because they risk running out of fat reserves and dying. Fawns, whose health determines the future stability of the herd, are especially susceptible.

A winter of heavy snow and bitter cold may have resulted in increased mortality rates from the upper Midwest to New England.

In Maine, biologists are recommending a cut of 23 percent to the state's deer hunting permits. In Vermont, the number of antlerless deer permits is being cut nearly in half. In Michigan's Upper Peninsula, deer hunting could be halted altogether.

"This last winter was one of the worst that I can remember. I suspect that we lost a lot of deer," said David Trahan, executive director of the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine. "Although it's disappointing to see permits go down, I would have to agree."

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There Were At Least Nine Separate Shootings In One Day In Baltimore

It has been a deadly ten days in the city of Baltimore.

There were at least nine reported shootings, three which were fatal, on Thursday. Most of the shootings occurred in west Baltimore, where riots broke out on April 27th.

Fifteen people have been killed in shootings since the day after the riots.

Here is a rundown of some of the shootings:

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Somerset County Sheriff's Office Press Release 5-9-15

Latrice Janel Belote of Princess Anne, arrested 4-27-15 on a warrant for failing to appear in court. Belote was later held on a $131.59 bond.

Rodney Lamont Wallace of Edgewood Maryland, arrested 4-29-15 on warrants  for failing to appear in court. Wallace was held on a $3,000 bond.

Lora Veronica Figgs of Crisfield, arrested 4-29-15 on a warrant for failing to appear in court. Figgs was held without bond pending extradition to Cecil County.

Fred Douglas Lykes of Onancock Virginia, arrested 4-29-15 on a warrant for failing to appear in court. Lykes was held on a $50,000 bond.

Timothy Michael Allen of Marion, arrested 5-3-15 for driving  under the influence of alcohol, driving while impaired by alcohol, failing to control speed to avoid a collision, and failing to display a driver’s license. Allen was later released on signature pending court actions. The arrest was the result of a traffic accident investigation in the area of Williams Point Rd.

Shanetra Anita Tilghman of Princess Anne, arrested 5-4-15 on a warrant for 1st degree assault, harassment, and trespassing. Tilghman was later released on personal recognizance.

Kenyarn Dwane Maxfield of Randallstown, arrested 5-4-15 on a warrant for failing to appear in court. Maxfield was later held without bond.

Troy Jerome Taylor of Westover, arrested 5-4-15 for driving without a license, driver giving police officer a false name, driving on a revoked license, and driver fleeing from police on foot. Taylor was later released on signatures pending court actions. The arrest was the result of a traffic stop  conducted by deputies in the area of Gregory Lane, Princess Anne. Deputies report that Tylor provided a false name, and later ran into a marsh area where he was later apprehended.

Charles Issac Humphries of Princess Anne, criminal summons served 5-6-15 for 2nd degree assault. Humphries was later released on signature pending court actions.

Jodie Lynn Serman of Laurel Delaware, arrested 5-6-15 on  warrants  for failing to appear in court. Serman was later held without bond.

'Underfunded' Baltimore schools among best funded in nation

As unrest in Baltimore continues, journalists and liberal activists think they have identified the culprit – underfunded schools.

The only problem is that public schools in Baltimore are among the best funded in the entire country. And author and expert Alex Newman charges the demands for more money are nothing more than lies designed to prop up a failing system.

In an exclusive interview with WND, the co-author of
“Crimes of the Educators: How Utopians Are Using Government Schools to Destroy America’s Children,” observed, “One of the great lies promoted by the education establishment is that more taxpayer funds are needed to properly educate students.
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Registration Open for Wicomico Recreation Summer Sports Camps


Salisbury, MD – Wicomico Recreation offers a variety of sports camps throughout the summer for young athletes. Registration is now open for the programs listed below.

TetraBrazil Soccer Academy
July 6 - 10
Half Day: Boys & Girls Ages 6 - 14; Program Fee: $152.00
Full Day: Boys & Girls Ages 8 - 14; Program Fee: $209.00
Registration is recommended at www.challengersports.com.

Shore Stick Field Hockey Camp
July 13 - 17
Girls, 2nd Grade - Graduating Seniors
Program Fee: $170

Shore Slam Tennis Camp
July 20 - 24
Boys & Girls Ages 7 - 18
Program Fee: $125

Matrix Soccer Camp
Session I: July 27 - 31; Session II: August 3 - 7
Boys & Girls Ages 5 - 16
Program Fee: $278 per session

Matrix Soccer Camp - Elite
July 27 - August 7
Boys & Girls Ages 8-16
Program Fee: $470

British Soccer Camp
Dates: August 10 - 14
Mini-Soccer Camp: Girls & Boys Ages 4 & 5; Program Fee: $109.00
Half-Day Camp: Girls & Boys Ages 6 - 14; Program Fee: $146.00
Full-Day Camp: Girls & Boys Ages 8 - 16; Program Fee: $209.00
Registration is recommended at www.challengersports.com.

For more information, visit www.WicomicoRecandParks.org or contact Cortney Kline at 410-548-4900 x109 or ckline@wicomicocounty.org.

ISIS Threatens to Declare War on Hamas

Tensions between terror organizations Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and Hamas in Gaza have intensified in recent days, Maariv reported on Wednesday.

Clashes apparently spiraled after Hamas demolished a mosque used by members of the Salafist organization called “Islamic State Supporters in Beit Al-Maqdis" as well as arrested nearly 40 of its members.

Reportedly, Hamas arrested the dozens of Salafists as well as several prominent Islamic State preachers in Gaza, following the Islamic State takeover of Palestinian refugee camp Yarmouk, near Damascus.

"After ISIS beheaded several Palestinians, including a senior Hamas official," inside the camp in April, the International Business Times reported, "the Palestinian Intelligence agency swore that it would avenge the killing of its personnel."

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