Troopers Anticipate Higher Traffic Volume This Labor Day Weekend

(PIKESVILLE, MD) –With more economical gas prices this Labor Day weekend, troopers expect an increase in vehicle traffic on Maryland roads.

As Labor Day approaches, the Maryland State Police prepare statewide for an increase in traffic. Troopers remind motorists the most important objective while traveling is to arrive safely. The best ways to accomplish this are to know before you go, remove distractions from the vehicle, and never drink and drive.

Troopers will also be conducting high visibility traffic enforcement. Operations SHOWBOAT (SHOre-Wide Bullseye On Aggressive Traffic) and Millipede both will focus on aggressive driving, crash reduction, and impaired driving. Operation SHOWBOAT will concentrate its efforts on U.S. Route 50 from Anne Arundel County to Ocean City and U.S. Route 13 in Wicomico, Somerset, and Worcester counties. Operation Millipede will focus its efforts on I-95 from the Delaware Line to the Virginia Line.

These high visibility enforcement efforts are to reduce the number of aggressive driving motor vehicle crashes in which speed, alcohol and other driving violations are contributing factors to crashes on Maryland roads. Maryland State Police continue to support the Maryland Highway Safety Office’s ‘Move Toward Zero Deaths’ campaign. For additional travel information on Maryland roads, visit md511.org.

Cheating

Obama’s America: Christian gets sued for defending freedom of religion, while Muslim…

Certainly not news to anyone, but there’s a religious war being waged in our nation. As we’ve reported here many times, independent organizations, and even our own beloved government, are methodically working to eliminate symbols and mention of Christianity and the Judeo-Christian God from schools, the workplace and the military.

The Supreme Court decision to mandate same-sex marriage has only ratcheted up that war.

Recently, the ACLU filed a motion against Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis who refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses because, as an Apostolic Christian, she has a sincere religious objection. So she decided not to issue marriage licenses to any couple, straight or gay.

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Video shows Texas police officers shoot dead man with his hands up

SHOCKING video obtained by a Texas TV station shows a man, with his hands up, being shot dead by police officers.

The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office said Gilbert Flores, 41, died shortly after the Friday shooting Friday, adding that he resisted arrest and nonlethal weapons failed to bring him under control.

Officers Greg Vasquez and Robert Sanchez were responding to a domestic disturbance and found a woman with a cut on her head and a baby who appeared injured, according to the statement.

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CRISFIELD: Sidewalk artists asked to stop

Sidewalk artists asked to stopCRISFIELD — If you think it’s cute to write your initials or your sweetheart’s name in...

Posted by Crisfield-Somerset County Times on Thursday, September 3, 2015

How Hurricane Katrina Made the Feds More Powerful

In the decade since the storm, the federal government's involvement in disaster relief has risen -- and so have tensions with localities.

If you marathoned the most recent season of “House of Cards” on Netflix, you know that one major plot line hinges on a federal disaster-relief law -- the Stafford Act of 1988, which authorizes the use of federal money to respond to hurricanes and other natural disasters. In the show, President Frank Underwood, played by Kevin Spacey, battles his foes in Congress over implementation of the law and just what constitutes a “disaster.”

It’s a testament not only to the arcane machinations that drive “House of Cards,” but also to the increasing importance of federal emergency funding. This month marks the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Retrospectives on the storm instantly bring back the searing images of a drowned city, the tales of unimaginable chaos inside the Superdome shelter and the misuse of police power in trying to regain control.

Behind the retrospectives, though, are some big questions. How much should we spend on disaster relief? Who ought to pay for it? And when calamity strikes, who should be in charge? Since Katrina, new answers to these questions have emerged -- and they’ve quietly but dramatically shifted the balance of intergovernmental power.

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$200,000 offer ends 'gay' Democrat's child-sex charges

Democratic Party fundraiser and gay activist Terry Bean made sex-abuse allegations with a 17-year-old boy disappear on Tuesday thanks to a $200,000 settlement offer.

Terry Bean, 67, faced child sexual-abuse charges over a September 2013 incident that allegedly occurred at a Eugene, Oregon, hotel with his ex-boyfriend, 25-year-old Kiah Lawson, and the teenager. Lane County Circuit Judge Jay McAlpin dismissed the case when Lane County Chief Deputy District Attorney Erik Hasselman said the teenager declined to testify, the Register Guard reported Wednesday.

“Mr. Bean, you are free to go,” the judge said, the newspaper reported.

Bean released a statement after the decision, saying “I have been silent for almost a year on the advice of my attorney, but while I am relieved that the charges against me have been dropped, this nightmare never should have even begun,” the Oregonian reported Tuesday. “I take some measure of comfort that the world now knows what I have always known – that I was falsely accused and completely innocent of every accusation that was made.”
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A New Report Says Organic Food Is Basically a Rip-off

Purchasing organic produce makes consumers feel healthy and fancy and Goop-y, of course, but a new Quartz story serves as a reminder that it's not worth the extra money. (On average, organic food is 47 percent more expensive.) To start, the wordorganic doesn't indicate that the farming practices are better for the environment: Natural pesticides and fertilizers can still be harmful, and since major corporations have entered the organic-farming scene, "the lower yields combined with the use of heavy machinery means it actually releases more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than conventional farming."

Plus: Studies have long shown that the actual nutritional benefits of organic produce are minimal, if they exist at all — and some researchers have found higher antioxidant and phosphorous levels in organic products. All this doesn't discount the value of buying local, seasonal produce — it's just that "organic" labeling doesn't carry much significance, beyond that it sounds nice.

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COMMISSIONERS ANNOUNCE NEW COUNTY ATTORNEY

The Worcester County Commissioners named Maureen Lanigan Howarth as the new County Attorney. Howarth graduated cum laude from James Madison University, with a Business Bachelor of Arts in Accounting in 2004. She graduated cum laude from the University of Baltimore School of Law with a law degree in 2007, after which she served as a law clerk for Wicomico County Circuit Court Judge Donald C. Davis.

Howarth will step into her new role with Worcester County Government (WCG) on November 9, 2015. She brings eight years of legal experience in county government to WCG. She served as an assistant county attorney for Wicomico County Government from 2008 to 2012 when she took over as deputy county attorney.

“I’m looking forward to joining the Worcester County team and serving as their county attorney,” Howarth said. “Working in the field of local government gives me an opportunity to provide legal counsel on a variety of issues and offers me the opportunity to give back to the community I call home.”
Howarth, an Ocean City resident, will take over for current County Attorney John E. “Sonny” Bloxom who will retire December 18, 2015. Bloxom began serving as the county attorney in 2008 and provides legal advice to the Worcester County Commissioners and the Worcester County Planning Commission in all legal matters.

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Building Fire In Ocean City

Oc fire/EMS on scene of a building fire Bayshore Dr and 27th street.

Batts opens up about being fired as Baltimore police commissioner

Anthony Batts, the former Baltimore police commissioner, addressed his public firing from the agency at a Mount St. Mary’s University event on social justice Wednesday evening.

“On July 8, I was fired for the first time in my life from a job I took as police commissioner,” Batts told a packed auditorium that included students, faculty and members of the public.

“Now, it’s one thing to be fired ... and the embarrassment that comes along with that. It’s another thing to be fired and [to have] more people know about it. It’s another thing to be fired and be known internationally.”
 
Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake fired Batts, who had served as the agency’s head since 2012, after a recent spike in homicides in the city and the unrest that followed the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who was fatally injured while in the custody of Baltimore police.
 
“Now what happened to me is the crime rate went up, and I lost my job,” Batts said.

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Fire Chief charged with theft from fire company

ROCK HALL — The former chief of the all-unpaid fire company here has been charged with conducting a theft scheme that netted him about $260 worth of gasoline, in less than a month, for his private vehicle.

Paul Brian Brinkley, 41, of Rock Hall, also is charged with nine counts of theft — one count for each of the times he allegedly used the Rock Hall Volunteer Fire Company’s Valero credit card to gas up his own vehicle at the Shore Stop convenience store in town.

His trial is Sept. 29 in the District Court for Kent County.

Brinkley was the fire chief at the time of the alleged offenses, May 6 to May 30.

He left the fire company at the end of June.

He was served a summons Aug. 26.

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Why Is the FBI Trying to Bury a Special Forces War Hero?

Lieutenant Colonel Jason Amerine was one of the first U.S. soldiers into Afghanistan. He landed there with an Army Special Forces A-Team in late October 2001, when everyone agreed the war would be brief and the objectives were clear: Avenge the terror of the 9/11 attacks, depose the Taliban and leave. Nearly 14 years later, he went to Capitol Hill to explain why he’s still fighting his way out.

Until this past January, Amerine worked at the Pentagon, where he led an Army team ordered to bring home Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, a mission that was expanded to include several civilian hostages held by Taliban-aligned militants in Pakistan. Bergdahl had been captive for nearly four years by the time Amerine got involved, making him the longest-held prisoner of war since Vietnam and a key to any end-of-war negotiations. In 2013, Amerine lured the Taliban to a series of secret talks that identified a solution, but then hit a wall in Washington’s bureaucratic maze. As he wrangled more with federal agencies in D.C. than with the Quetta Shura in Pakistan, Amerine reached out to Representative Duncan Hunter, a Marine veteran and Republican member of the House Armed Services Committee.

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Insurance Industry Proves Accident Rates Declined Equally With or Without Speed Cameras

An Insurance Industry Group is claiming that a study on Montgomery County's speed camera program shows the benefits of speed cameras, even though that study found no difference in accident rate reductions on roads where speed cameras were added compared to roads in a control group without speed cameras.

The study by the Insurance Industry for Highway Safety (IIHS) compared roads in Montgomery County eligible for speed cameras (generally roads with speed limits of up to 35mph) to a set of roads in Fairfax County with comparable speed limits (25-35mph).

The study also wanted to prove the existence of "spillover effects", by comparing a set of roads in Montgomery County with 40mph speed limits to a set of roads in Fairfax County with comparable speed limits. Data from 2004 through 2013 was examined.

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Officer Who Claimed He Came Under Gunfire Before Crashing Into Tree Made It All Up, Fired at His Own Car: Police

The Massachusetts police officer who claimed that someone opened fire on his cruiser, causing it to hit a tree and burst into flames, made it all up.

Now, he will likely be out of a job and face criminal charges.

“We have determined that the officer’s story was fabricated. Specifically, that he fired shots at his own cruiser as a plan to concoct a story that he was fired upon,” Millis Police Sgt. William Dwyer told WCVB-TV. “The evidence indicates the shots were not fired by a suspect, and there is no gunman at large in or around the town.”

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School shooter texted 'I'm sorry' to family before killings

SEATTLE — Minutes before a Washington state high school freshman fatally shot four friends and then himself, he sent a group text message to his family outlining his funeral wishes and apologizing to the parents of the teenagers he was about to kill.

"I love you family. I really do. More than anything," Jaylen Fryberg said two minutes before opening fire in the cafeteria of Marysville-Pilchuck High School. "I needed to do this tho... I wasn't happy. And I need my crew with me too. I'm sorry. I love you."

Among the more than 2,200 pages of investigative documents released Tuesday by Snohomish County authorities were emotional interviews with the 15-year-old's classmates, many of whom were just feet away when Fryberg began shooting Oct. 24 during the school's first lunch period.

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Wicomico County Board Of Education Bathroom Update

Lena Dunham: Justin Bieber's 'What Do You Mean' Reinforces Rape Culture

Dunham is referring to the song's chorus, in which Bieber sings, "What do you mean? / When you nod your head yes / But you wanna say no / What do you mean?"
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Justin Bieber's new single, "What Do You Mean?" received plenty of hype before its Aug. 28 release, and now that the song is out, it's getting even more attention. One person who isn't so hot on the new track, though, is Lena Dunham.

The actress subtweeted her discomfort with the tune's lyrics on Monday, suggesting that "What Do You Mean?" alludes to rape culture and asking to discontinue the release of problematic songs like it.

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Don’t Wait. Communicate. Make Your Emergency Plan Today.

OCEAN CITY, MD – September marks the 12th Annual National Preparedness Month, and The Town of Ocean City is reminding residents, business owners and visitors that it is a perfect time to prepare for emergencies. National Preparedness Month is designed to educate the public to be ready with an “all hazards approach” to emergencies in their home with families, the community and in business.

For National Preparedness month 2015, the Town of Ocean City is asking you to take action now – make a plan with your community, your family, your businesses and for your pets. Plan how to stay safe and communicate during the disasters that can affect your community. The preparedness campaign helps turn awareness into action by encouraging individuals and businesses to create an emergency preparedness plan. The Town of Ocean City’s Emergency Services Department encourages residents and visitors to be prepared by following these simple steps;

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FBI raids Palm Springs City Hall, employees sent home

(Reuters) - FBI agents and a local public corruption task force raided Palm Springs City Hall armed with search warrants on Tuesday, sending home employees and closing the offices for the day, an FBI spokeswoman said.

Laura Eimiller of the FBI's Los Angeles office said she could not disclose the nature of the searches, which were conducted with members of the so-called Inland Empire Public Corruption Task Force, because the case was under seal.

Eimiller said no suspects had been taken into custody in the desert resort community about 110 miles (177 km) east of Los Angeles and that no arrests were planned on Tuesday.

"We arrived at about 9 a.m. and expect to be out here for several hours, if not all day," she said.

Law enforcement agents could be seen coming and going from the shuttered Palm Springs City Hall offices and removing at least one box of material.

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Hogan, Ehrlich, Glendening, Hughes pay respects to former Mandel at State House

In the rotunda of the State House, where the body of former Gov. Marvin Mandel lay in a flag-draped coffin, former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. stepped away from a throng of mourners to try to describe the man, a friend as well as a towering figure in Maryland's political history.

To Ehrlich's right, a group of Democratic legislators stood chatting. To his left, a few high-profile Republicans traded tales of Mandel.

The groups interacted freely, often laughing. To Ehrlich, a Republican, that made a powerful point about the state's 56th governor, a Democrat.

"Marvin didn't see [political] party," he said. "He saw people, and he saw the state of Maryland, and he did what he thought was best for our state.

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DONALD TRUMP: Watch major press conference from Trump Tower LIVE

Watch major press conference from Trump Tower LIVE

Posted by Donald J. Trump on Thursday, September 3, 2015

One daily habit could have a huge impact on your child's success

Snuggling up next to your kids to read them a bedtime story isn't just helping you bond with your little one.

We've known for a while that reading to children is a great way to help kids learn how to read for themselves.

But recent research also suggests that storytime has other benefits as well. Here are four of the main reasons that reading to children — especially when you do it regularly — could be crucial:

1. It stimulates parts of the brain associated with visual processing.

A recent study highlighted by The New York Times found increased activity in the areas of children's brains associated with processing images, suggesting that even when kids aren't the ones reading, they are picturing the places they're hearing about.

"When kids are hearing stories, they're imagining in their mind's eye," John S. Hutton, a clinical research fellow at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and the lead author of the paper, told The Times.

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Millennials Aren't the Only Generation Moving Back in With Their Parents

More and more adults in every age category are staying or returning home. What will that mean for the future of housing?

The economic recovery hasn’t rescued Millennials who are stuck living at home with their parents. This much we know already. Since 2010, the share of adults ages 18 to 34 living at home has increased, owing to the slow speed of the recovery, diminished wages for low-skilled jobs, and the weight of debt for college students (in particular for those who do not graduate).

But it’s not just Millennials who are staying home. Gen X-ers are also moving back into their parents’ houses. And among older adults, too, the share of adults staying or moving home is on the rise. A recent paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City shows that, in fact, the share of adults from everyage bracket who are living with their parents has grown over the past 30 years.

“From 1980 to 2013, the share of young adults living with their parents more than doubled,” the paper reads. “Similarly, the share of intermediate-age adults living with their parents doubled from 1980 to 2013.”

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Senators Who Took Money from Iran

Senator Markey has announced his support for the Iran deal that will let the terrorist regime inspect its own Parchin nuclear weapons research site, conduct uranium enrichment, build advanced centrifuges, buy ballistic missiles, fund terrorism and have a near zero breakout time to a nuclear bomb.

There was no surprise there.

Markey had topped the list of candidates supported by the Iran Lobby. And the Iranian American Political Action Committee (IAPAC) had maxed out its contributions to his campaign.

After more fake suspense, Al Franken, another IAPAC backed politician who also benefited from Iran Lobby money, came out for the nuke sellout.

Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the Iran Lobby’s third Dem senator, didn’t bother playing coy like her colleagues. She came out for the deal a while back even though she only got half the IAPAC cash that Franken and Markey received.

As did Senator Gillibrand, who had benefited from IAPAC money back when she first ran for senator and whose position on the deal should have come as no surprise.

The Iran Lobby had even tried, and failed, to turn Arizona Republican Jeff Flake. Iran Lobby cash had made the White House count on him as the Republican who would flip, but Flake came out against the deal. The Iran Lobby invested a good deal of time and money into Schumer, but that effort also failed.

Still these donations were only the tip of the Iran Lobby iceberg.

More here

Three-fourths of NJ sheriffs double-dip, led by 25-year 'retiree'

For the past quarter century, Armando Fontoura has been looting a New Jersey state pension fund. But it won’t do any good to call the cops.

Fontoura is sheriff of Essex County. A dean among double-dippers, he draws $207,289 a year from public coffers – $144,896 in salary plus $62,393 from pension as a retiree of his own office.

Today is the 25th anniversary of Fontoura’s faux retirement. So far, he has collected $1.35 million in retirement cash without ever giving up his full-time county paycheck

On Friday, Aug. 31, 1990, Fontoura retired as county undersheriff at age 47. The following Monday, he returned to work at Essex County with the same salary and duties, but a different title – sheriff’s officer chief. One year later, he took charge as sheriff, a post he’s held ever since.

“Does it look bad? Yes,” admitted Fontoura. “No question about it, it looks bad. Was it legal? Yes.”

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Classified Rules – Hillary’s Disregard for Them

The Blaze picks up a story flagged by Joe Scarborough, who expressed astonishment on Morning Joe on Tuesday at an e-mail exchange in which then–secretary of state Hillary Clinton appeared to berate one of her top aides, Jacob Sullivan, for his reluctance to send Clinton classified information by e-mail. 

The subject line of the February 10, 2010, e-mail exchange is “Insulza.” The exchange is about a speech, apparently by a foreign official. Perhaps the subject line refers to José Miguel Insulza, a Chilean politician who has been secretary general of the Organization of American States since 2005. In any event, the U.S. government’s internal reporting on the speech has clearly been classified (not surprising in light of what Shannen Coffin and yours truly explained earlier: foreign government information is presumptively classified). This is clearly very irritating to Secretary Clinton, who is anxious to read the speech.

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Third License Plate Reader Coming To OC At Maryland-Del. Line; Funds Approved As Tool Against Heroin

OCEAN CITY — The ongoing battle with the heroin epidemic will soon be getting another weapon in the arsenal after the state last week approved funding for license plate reader technology for the Ocean City Police Department to deploy along the Maryland-Delaware line in the resort.

The Maryland Heroin and Opioid Emergency Task Force, formed last year to study and report on the growing epidemic of the dangerous narcotic across the state, last week delivered its interim report to the Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention. The report, which was borne out of a series of task force meetings all over the state during the summer months, outlines Maryland’s strategies for dealing with the epidemic going forward, including a series of resource allocations to be implemented in the short term.

Among the resource allocations spelled out in the interim report is a $124,635 grant to the Ocean City Police Department paid through the Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention to fund License Plate Reader (LPR) technology. License Plate Reader technology is being increasingly utilized by law enforcement agencies all over the country for a variety of uses.

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Prager: The Left Sees Only White Evil

In the past week, two television reporters in Roanoke, Va. — Alison Parker and Adam Ward — were murdered by a black man who hated whites, and a white police officer in Houston — Darren Goforth — was murdered by a black man. Neither crime has been labeled a hate crime. And no mainstream media reporting of the murders attributes either to race-based hate.

For the mainstream media, the Roanoke murders were committed by “a disgruntled former employee,” and regarding the Houston policeman, the media report that, in the words of The New York Times, “a motive for the shooting remained unclear.”

The disregard of anti-white hatred as the motive for blacks who murder whites even when the murder is obviously racially motivated comes from the same people who denied that the Islamist Nidal Hasan’s murder of 13 fellow soldiers at Fort Hood was religiously motivated. These people — all on the left — have an agenda: to deny black racism and Islamist-based violence whenever possible. Only white police and other white violence against non-whites is clearly racist — even when not.

Thus, President Barack Obama convened a “White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism” rather than a “White House Summit on Countering Islamist Violence.” Though the summit was convened the month following the Islamist massacre of the Charlie Hebdo staff in Paris, the words “Islam,” “Muslim” and “Islamist” did not once appear in the White House’s 1,668-word fact sheet on the summit. The Obama administration went so far as to label Hasan’s murders of his fellow soldiers “workplace violence.”

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Why the Federal Reserve should be audited

It is time for a comprehensive audit of Janet Yellen ’s Federal Reserve — and not just for the reasons presidential candidate Rand Paul and others have given.

The Fed needs to be audited to see if its ruling body has broken the law by manipulating financial markets that are outside its jurisdiction. A thorough investigation of the Fed will show once and for all if its former chief Ben Bernanke and current Chairwoman Yellen should go to jail.

I know, that’s a bold statement coming as it does on Sept. 1, 2015, with Wall Street still in half-bloom. But it won’t be so preposterous some day in the future if the stock market suffers a full-blown economy-busting collapse and Congress and everyone else are looking for scalps.

The Fed should be audited as a brokerage firm would be — its financial holdings, its transactions, market orders, emails and phone calls. Special attention should be given to what is called the “trade blotter” at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which handles all market transactions for the Fed.

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Number Of "Ultrapoor" Americans Has Doubled Since 1996

If you’ve been paying attention to the economy for the past seven years or so, you’ve probably been wondering when the whole charade is going to come crashing down. When will all of those inflated markets and debts reach their apex, and start crumbling under the weight of economic reality, and leave us all destitute? There have been plenty of predictions, but none have truly come to fruition.

Well the truth of the matter is that there may not be a single day when everything grinds to a halt, and there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that our standard of living is crumbling in slow motion. For many Americans the end has already arrived, and their ranks are growing a little more every day. In fact, the number of Americans that are earning what amounts to a third world wage, has doubled over the past 20 years.

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Comcast Users Now Need To Pay A $30 Premium If They Want To Avoid Usage Caps

Telecom exploiting uncompetitive markets and lazy regulators

Comcast has slowly but surely been expanding the company’s usage cap trialssince around 2012, largely focusing them on less competitive markets where annoyed users can’t vote with their wallets. In these seventeen (and counting) trial markets, Comcast broadband customers face a monthly usage cap of 300 gigabytes. After that, users need to shell out $10 for each additional 50 gigabytes of data consumed. The trials have expanded slowly but surely in the hopes of minimizing user backlash. Basically, Comcast is the hot water slowly coming to a boil, and you’re the frog.

It appears that Comcast has now added a new wrinkle to the mix, and has started charging these trial users an extra $30 if they want to bypass usage caps. The company’s FAQ for the new option tries to argue that the change is being made to provide consumers with greater “choice and flexibility”:

The Unlimited Data Option provides additional choice and flexibility for our customers who may make heavier use of the Internet. Enrollment is optional. The Unlimited Data Option costs the current additional fee of $30 per calendar month, regardless of actual data usage. The 300 GB plan will not apply to customers who enroll in the Unlimited Data Option.

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Court: No parental visitation rights for woman after same-sex divorce

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Noting the lack of state laws governing same-sex divorces, a Maryland appeals court has ruled that a lesbian woman has no right to visitation or custody of a child to whom the woman’s former partner gave birth before the couple married.

The Court of Special Appeals on Aug. 26 upheld a ruling by a Washington County Circuit judge that Michelle Conover does not have parental standing over 5-year-old Jaxon Conover, The Daily Record of Baltimore reported (http://bit.ly/1IIZ4m9). The boy was born six months before Michelle Conover married the boy’s biological mother, Brittany Conover, and 17 months before the two divorced.

Writing for the court, Judge Robert A. Zarnoch said that clearer laws governing the rights of same-sex couples need to be established by state legislators. He ruled that Michelle Conover was a “third party” and not a second parent, meaning she would have to prove that Brittany is an unfit mother or that exceptional circumstances exist to override Brittany Conover’s choices about the people with whom her child spends time.

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Lawsuit claims Chipotle has been deceiving customers

A new lawsuit claims that Chipotle still serves lots of items made with GMOs — despite advertising itself as GMO-free.

In April, Chipotle announced with great fanfare that it would no longer serve food made with genetically modified ingredients. On Monday, a law firm filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court claiming that the Mexican-style, fast-casual chain’s marketing is misleading and deceptive because it still sells lots of foods made with GMOs.

According to the complaint, Chipotle’s meat, cheese, and sour cream is made from animals fed with GMO soy and corn, and the soft drinks it serves are made with corn syrup made from GMO corn. The lawsuit was filed in the Northern District of California on behalf of California consumers who have purchased food from Chipotle since April 27, the day the company announced that it was “G-M-Over it.” Kaplan, Fox, and Kilsheimer filed the lawsuit.

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Chinese navy ships seen off US coast

Five Chinese naval ships are currently positioned in the Bering Sea off the coast of Alaska, US officials confirm.

It is believed to be the first time Chinese military vessels have been seen operating in the area.

Officials say they have been monitoring the ships' activities, but said they were operating in international waters.

In recent years Beijing has taken a more assertive stance on maritime territorial disputes with Japan and South East Asian nations.

'Not threatening'

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Businesses struggle in wake of Freddie Gray pretrial hearings

BALTIMORE —While it's business as usual inside the courthouse, it was not so much for the businesses outside. City officials asked folks to avoid the area around the courthouse if possible and that's hurting some businesses.

Protesters took to the streets of downtown Baltimore Wednesday, but ended up taking away business from some shops.

"I built a restaurant downtown because it's the heart of the city and I got killed, got the rug pulled out right from under me," said Jay Shaffer, owner of Argosy Café.

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Williams: Why Home Schooling?

Many public primary and secondary schools are dangerous places. The Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics show that in 2012, there were about 749,200 violent assaults on students. In the 2011-12 academic year, there were a record 209,800 primary- and secondary-school teachers who reported being physically attacked by a student. Nationally, an average of 1,175 teachers and staff were physically attacked, including being knocked out, each day of that school year. In Baltimore, each school day in 2010, an average of four teachers and staff were assaulted. Each year, roughly 10 percent of primary- and secondary-school teachers are threatened with bodily harm.

Many public schools not only are dangerous but produce poor educational results. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress for 2013, sometimes called the Nation's Report Card (http://tinyurl.com/mn6snpf), only 33 percent of white 12th-graders tested proficient in math, and 47 percent tested proficient in reading. For black 12th-graders, it was a true tragedy, with only 7 percent testing proficient in math and 16 percent in reading. These grossly disappointing educational results exist despite massive increases in public education spending.

Many parents want a better education and safer schools for their children. The best way to deliver on that desire is to offer parents alternatives to poorly performing and unsafe public schools.

More here..

Gun-firing Obama aide indicted for assault

A White House staffer reportedly so suspicious of her boyfriend’s fidelity she allegedly fired a gun in his direction has been indicted on assault charges.

Barvetta Singletary, 37, texted her boyfriend, who works for the U.S. Capitol Police, and asked him to come to her suburban Maryland home, where she then accused him of cheating on her with another woman, police said, the Hill reported.

She then allegedly took her boyfriend’s gun and cell phone and demanded to know his password, ostensibly to check his calling and texting history. And then she allegedly fixed the gun’s barrel on him, the Hill reported.

“You taught me how to use this. Don’t think I won’t use it,” she allegedly said, right before firing a shot into a can of soda about 10 feet from her, Fox News said.

The boyfriend, who wasn’t publicly named, fled the scene and called police.

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Another Attack On Election Reforms

Although people in the nation’s smallest state can obtain photo voter IDs with ease, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) says that requiring an ID in order to vote is a hardship.

The group’s Rhode Island chapter has demanded an end to the photo voter ID law that a ---solidly Democratic legislature--- enacted in 2011. It’s the latest attack by the ACLU and other leftist groups against state election reforms that are specifically designed to prevent vote fraud.

Over the past few years, courts have struck down laws in Arkansas, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Texas, while upholding them in Georgia, Tennessee, Ohio and Wisconsin. In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Indiana’s photo voter ID law, which has been a model for other states. North Carolina’s voter ID law, which also curbs early voting and ends out-of-precinct voting and same-day registration, went to trial in late July in a federal court.

The charge that such laws “suppress the vote” of minorities, the elderly, the young and the disabled is especially absurd in Rhode Island, where accommodations for people to get a free ID are impressive — from students, to welfare recipients, to the homeless, to senior citizens, to the incapacitated, etc.

If you’re a Rhode Islander and you don’t have an ID, you can’t blame the state government, whose outreach program even includes a mobile phone app that gives a wealth of voter information including GPS directions to the nearest polling place.

Anyone can register to vote upon showing several forms of ID, including (but not limited to)-- “Employee ID card; ID card provided by a commercial establishment; Credit or debit card; Military ID card; Student ID card; Health club ID card; Insurance plan ID card; or a Public housing ID card.”

Even If they don’t have one of the above, they can still use any of another 19 items, such as utility bills, bank statements, vehicle registrations, senior citizen or disabled discount cards, or even a prescription drug invoice. About the only thing missing is last week’s grocery receipt.

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Statistician: Data proves biblical financial collapse

'In September, we can expect something really bad'

Get ready – because the best of times are over and the worst of times may have just begun.

That is the assessment of a Florida mathematician who has studied the biblical Shemitah cycle as it applies to the financial markets.

Thomas Pound is an educator and mathematician who applies his statistical wizardry to the markets.

The Dow fell another 468 points, or 3 percent, Tuesday, providing fresh evidence for investors the sell-off which began in August was no mirage. It is likely to continue in September.

Only eight more trading days remain until the dreaded Elul 29, which is the final day of the Shemitah year, known as “wipe out day” on the Hebrew calendar.

Since Elul 29 falls on a Sunday, Sept. 13, when the markets are closed, the rest of this week and the following week could bring the most devastating losses. Another theory is that the period of Sept. 14-28 right after Elul 29 and leading up to a scheduled blood moon (on Sept. 27-28) could be worth watching.

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New Report Makes Some Want More Speed Cameras Statewide

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — A new report credits speed cameras with preventing deaths and serious injuries in Maryland. Now some want speed cameras on the fast track across the state.

Amy Yensi has more on the findings.

The research focuses on one Maryland county that’s been using speed cameras since 2007. The study says that program should be a model for the entire country.

If you’re speeding in Montgomery County, beware. More than 355,000 times in the last year, speeders were caught by one of its 92 speed cameras.

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Report: More Than Half of Immigrants on Welfare

More than half of the nation's immigrants receive some kind of government welfare, a figure that's far higher than the native-born population, according to a report to be released Wednesday.

About 51% of immigrant-led households receive at least one kind of welfare benefit, including Medicaid, food stamps, school lunches and housing assistance, compared to 30% for native-led households, according to the report from the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that advocates for lower levels of immigration.

Those numbers increase for households with children, with 76% of immigrant-led households receiving welfare, compared to 52% for the native-born.

The findings are sure to fuel debate on the presidential campaign trail as Republican candidates focus on changing the nation's immigration laws, from calls for mass deportations to ending birthright citizenship.

Steven Camarota, director of research at center and author of the report, said that's a much-needed conversation to make the country's immigration system more "selective."

"This should not be understood as some kind of defect or moral failing on the part of immigrants," Camarota said about the findings. "Rather, what it represents is a system that allows a lot of less-educated immigrants to settle in the country, who then earn modest wages and are eligible for a very generous welfare system."

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Clinton Emails Contained Spy Satellite Data on North Korean Nukes

One of the most serious potential breaches of national security identified so far by the intelligence community inside Hillary Rodham Clinton’s private emails involves the relaying of classified information concerning the movement of North Korean nuclear assets, which was obtained from spy satellites.

Multiple intelligence sources who spoke to The Washington Times, solely on the condition of anonymity, said concerns about the movement of the North Korean information through Mrs. Clinton’s unsecured server are twofold.

First, spy satellite information is frequently classified at the top-secret level and handled within a special compartment called Talent-Keyhole. This means it is one of the most sensitive forms of intelligence gathered by the U.S.

Second, the North Koreans have assembled a massive cyber-hacking army under an elite military spy program known as Bureau 121, which is increasingly aggressive in targeting systems for hacking, especially vulnerable private systems. The North Koreans, for instance, have been blamed by the U.S. for the hack of Sony movie studios.

Allowing sensitive U.S. intelligence about North Korea to seep into a more insecure private email server has upset the intelligence community because it threatens to expose its methods and assets for gathering intelligence on the secretive communist nation.

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Term Limits

Widower Cares For Fallen Soldier’s Grave While Visiting Wife’s Plot

In May of 2014, Jake’s wife of 65 years passed away. Every day since, Jake has visited his wife’s grave. His daily routine involves leaving beautiful flowers and watering the grass around her headstone.

One day at the Garden Park Cemetery in Texas, Jake noticed a woman kneeling and crying over another grave. When he walked passed the headstone later that day, he learned it was the grave of a fallen soldier, and the crying woman was his wife. What he did next is now taking the internet by storm. Without any prompting or hesitation, Jake started watering the grass around the fallen soldier’s grave, too. He felt it was the least he could do.

The soldier’s headstone belongs to Joseph Villasenor of the United States Air Force. In 2010, Joseph died in a car accident at the age of 35.

Ever since Jake came along to water her son’s grave, Rachel and her husband began to notice the grass surrounding his headstone was a brighter shade of green and was covered in more dew than the other plots. It comforted Rachel to think an angel was watching over Joseph. In reality, that angel was an old widower named Jake. “It was just incredible to know that a stranger would take that much time and care for our son who he didn’t even know,” Rachel says.

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Country Music Star To Serve As Grand Marshal For Hero Parade On Sept. 11

SELBYVILLE — Over 30 wounded soldiers and their families will be feted next week, symbolically on Sept. 11, with a parade in their honor and a concert by national recording artist Aaron Tippin at The Freeman Stage as part of a week-long retreat at the shore through Operation SEAS the Day.

Patriotism and giving thanks will be on full display at the Freeman Stage in Selbyville next Friday, Sept. 11 in the midst of Operation SEAS the Day, a week-long warrior beach retreat for 30 wounded veterans and their families. The Very Important Families (VIFs), as they are called, will start a well-deserved week of rest and relaxation in and around the Delaware and Maryland beaches.

The veterans and their families will stay at vacation homes and condos donated by local residents, including many in the Sea Colony in Bethany Beach. The week kicks off with a welcome reception next Tuesday and concludes with a farewell breakfast on Sept. 13. In between, the wounded veterans and their families will enjoy the beach, play golf, ride jet skis, go horseback riding, play mini golf and enjoy meals at some of the finest restaurants in the resort area, all made possible by Operation SEAS the Day.

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16 BEAUTIFUL PLACES IN MARYLAND YOU DIDN'T KNOW EXISTED

Iris Garden at Ladew

Monkton

There's plenty to marvel at within the 22 acres of the Ladew Topiary Garden, which was established by 1930s hard-partying huntsman Harvey S. Ladew. The grounds contain 15 garden spaces, as well as countless detailed topiaries (one depicting an entire fox hunt scene). But the biggest stunner might be the serene space of the Iris Garden, with 770 plants of iris varieties from around the world, a koi pond filled with vibrant fish and delicate lilies, and a giant recreation of a Chinese sailing ship.

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Walmart Cutting Workers’ Hours As It Increases Wages

In recent months, Walmart increased pay for entry-level employees so that all workers were making at least $9/hour. At the same time, the retailer’s earnings have come up short of expectations, leading Walmart to instruct managers to curb spending by cutting hours for some workers.

Bloomberg News reports that Walmart HQ recently explained to store managers that if they have over-scheduled their staff — that is, if the store’s sales projections aren’t in line with its labor spending — they may need to do things like send people home early or direct them to take a longer, unpaid lunch break. Bloomberg says dozens of employees have confirmed these types of hour reductions in their stores have already begun to take place.

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Dean Jones, boyish Disney star, dies at 84

 

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dean Jones, whose boyish good looks and all-American manner made him Disney’s favorite young actor for such lighthearted films as “That Darn Cat!” and “The Love Bug,” has died of Parkinson’s disease. He was 84.

He died Monday in Los Angeles, Jones’ publicist Richard Hoffman said Wednesday.

Jones’ long association with The Walt Disney Co. began after he received an unexpected call from Walt Disney himself, who praised his work on the TV show “Ensign O’Toole,” noting it had “some good closing sequences.” Jones, himself a former Navy man, played the title role in the 1962 sitcom.

Jones puzzled over Disney’s remark until it occurred to him that “Ensign O’Toole” preceded Disney’s own Sunday night show on NBC, and he realized Disney probably only watched each episode’s ending.

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Ashley Madison Says People, Even Some Real Women, Are Still Signing Up For Cheating Site

We can understand why people continued to shop at retailers that have been hit by data breaches. You still need to buy groceries, clothing, housewares, etc. But what about a website whose main selling point is privacy? Even though AshleyMadison.com — the dating website for cheaters — has been publicly embarrassed by the posting of millions of users’ personal data, it claims that people are still signing up… and that they’re not all just dudes.

A statement from Avid Life Media, the Canadian parent company of Ashley Madison, claims that “hundreds of thousands of new users signed up” with the site in the last week, including 87,596 women.

The company is making a point of this last figure after a Gizmodo analysis of the stolen Ashley Madison data concluded that not only was there an extraordinarily high ratio of male to female users on the site (even though it’s free for women to sign up), but that virtually none of the female accounts had communicated in any way with the men on the site.

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Illinois Can’t Pay Its Lottery Winners Right Now

Current lottery winners in Illinois might have to delay their joyful reactions for a little while. The state hasn’t passed a new budget, which means that they’re unable to pay lottery winners whose prizes are $25,000 or more. That’s a total of 29 lottery winners still waiting for their money since the current fiscal year started on July 1st.

Without a state budget in place, lottery officials can’t legally pay out big prizes. Prizes under $25,000 can be paid at a person’s local lottery claim center, and prizes under $600 can be cashed in at a store that sells lottery tickets.

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Emergency Responders Smash Car’s Window After Report Of Baby Locked Inside, End Up Rescuing Lifelike Doll

If you’re in the habit of leaving eerily lifelike baby dolls strapped into a car seat while you’re out and about, you might want to reconsider, unless, of course, you like having your car’s windows smashed open: police in Oakland, Calif. say emergency responders busted the window of a vehicle after passersby reported a baby locked inside, only to find it was a very human looking doll that’d been placed in a rear-facing car seat, just like a living child would be.

An officer with the Oakland Police Department told ABC News that emergency personnel forced their way into the vehicle on Monday, because that’s just what has to be done when a report like that comes in.

“Although this incident did not involve a baby or small child, it was unknown at the time,” the officer said. “And first responders’ number one priority is to ensure … safety.”

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"Catfishing" on the Warrior River

New Business In Salisbury Maryland

Lake Elsinore Man May Lose Hand After Attempting To Take Selfie With Rattlesnake

LAKE ELSINORE (CBSLA.com) — A Lake Elsinore man was bitten by a rattlesnake Monday as he picked it up and attempted to take a selfie.

Alex Gomez, 36, spotted the four-foot rattler in a field by his family’s ranch on Cielito Drive, shortly before he made the potentially deadly mistake.

“I’m shocked that he would have that things around his neck,” Alex’s mother Deborah said. “It could’ve bit his neck, and that would have been it. That’s just being a fool.”

Alex’s nephew, Ronnie, was with him when the snake was discovered, and says the reptile gave plenty of warning.

“It was really think and had ten rattles on it, it was rattling,” Ronnie said. “It was pretty mad.”

Upon being bitten, Gomez, who is a father a three, was experiencing excruciating pain as he was taken to a local hospital. His hand swelled up and his body started to tingle. His neighbor, Byron Bonilla, called 9-1-1 immediately.

While Gomez is being treated with anti-venom, his mother says he may lose his hand.

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