Attention

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent our advertisers

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

2nd Annual Grand Maters's Fisher House Ride

 

What is the Fisher House Foundation?  Click HERE to find out what they do.

CUMBERLAND BARRACK TROOPER SAVES ANOTHER LIFE

(Frostburg, MD) A Maryland State Trooper assigned to the Cumberland Barrack strikes again, saving yet another life along I-68 in Western Maryland.

Senior Trooper Matthew Schoenadel saved the life of an individual who may have been contemplating a jump over the Clarysville Bridge on westbound I-68 in Frostburg yesterday morning. Last October, he saved the life of a baby on the side of the road.

Yesterday morning around 11:30 a.m., S/TPR Schoenadel arrived on the scene to find an individual standing along lane one, staring over the Clarysville Bridge. S/TPR Schoenadel immediately activated his emergency equipment on his marked patrol car to block lane one and protect the individual from being struck by traffic. The individual was obviously distraught and very upset.

S/TPR Schoenadel engaged the individual in conversation and explained that he was there to help. The individual looked away from the bridge for a brief moment when S/TPR Schoenadel was able to take quick action and place the individual in protective custody. Police believe the individual parked a car under the bridge and then climbed a nearby bank to gain access to the road deck.

In October 2014, Senior Trooper Matthew Schoenadel performed life saving measures on an infant along I-68 in Cumberland after the barrack received a call at 7:40 a.m. from a woman who said her grandson was not breathing. S/TPR Schoenadel arrived on the scene and found the baby with his eyes rolled back in his head, pale and not breathing. He immediately turned the baby on his stomach to clear the baby’s airway. The infant began to breathe and soon regained color in his face. The baby was transported to Western Maryland Health System by ambulance.

Senior Trooper Matthew Schoenadel is a ten year veteran of the Maryland State Police. He started with the Department as a cadet in December 2002.

Hunter lands ‘record’ 755-pound gator in Lake Marion

FLORENCE, SC - After three hours of tracking alligators through the murky waters of Lake Marion near Stumphole Landing on Saturday afternoon, Zack Derrick said he finally saw one through his binoculars.

Derrick, flanked by his 8-year-old son Chaz Derrick, who was getting a little restless after three hours of waiting, and his uncle Peewee Derrick, thought the eyes he spied were attached to maybe a 10- to 12-foot alligator. But just beneath the surface those eyes belonged to a 13-foot-5-inch monster of a gator weighing 755 pounds.

More

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/news/local/article36115401.html#storylink=cpy
More

Politically Correct?


The New Shackle Of Serfdom: Clinging To Healthcare Insurance

The shackles of this new serfdom are invisible, but no less destructive for being invisible.

One of the more remarkable characteristics of American life is our passive acceptance of systems that are so obviously completely insane. Yes, I refer to our healthcare system, a.k.a.sickcare because in America sickness is profitable and health is not, and healthcare profiteering that would be the envy of pirates and warlords everywhere is the norm.

What warlord wouldn't jump on the opportunity to jack up the cost of a medication from $13.50 a tablet to $750 overnight [6], or as the article highlights, jack up the cost of an off-patent med from $1 a pill to $750 a pill in a few years?

This piratical pillaging is not an outlier--it's the norm in America's parasitic pharmaceutical industry:

Cycloserine, a drug used to treat dangerous multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, was just increased in price to $10,800 for 30 pills from $500 after its acquisition by Rodelis Therapeutics.

Imagine getting to jack your weekly wage from $500/week to $10,800/week while issuing a laughably lame excuse.

These profiteering prices are not the shackle of serfdom, at least not directly; few pay these prices in cash--insurers pay. And when prices rise, insurers jack their rates up accordingly (plus a bit to cover their costly political lobbying and the profit margins expected of quasi-monopolies).

More

CAMPAIGN 2016: Fox News Poll: Outsiders rule 2016 GOP field, support for Biden nearly doubles

Donald Trump holds his lead in the 2016 GOP presidential primary race in the latest Fox News national poll— but Carly Fiorina and Sen. Marco Rubio gain ground as support for Vice President Joe Biden almost doubles on the Democratic side.

More

Old Testament Christians

There is, of course, no such thing as an Old Testament Christian, since the disciples of Jesus Christ were “called Christians first at Antioch” (Acts 11:26), well into the first century A.D. But how else are we to describe certain twenty-first century Christian apologists for the U.S. military and its wars of aggression and occupation?

Old Testament Christians—usually followed by Christian armchair warriors, Christian Coalition moralists, evangelical warvangelicals, Catholic just war theorists, reich-wing Christian nationalists, theocon Values Voters, imperial Christians, pro-lifers for mass murder, Red-State Christian fascists, bloodthirsty Christian conservatives, nuclear Christians, Christian Coalition moralists, Religious Right warmongers, God and country Christian bumpkins, military chaplains, sniper theologians, and members of the Christian axis of evil—appeal almost exclusively to the Old Testament to justify the actions of the U.S. military and Christians participating in those actions.

More

GOP Rep Wants To Block Obama’s Refugee Plan: ‘It’s An Open Invitation’ To America’s Enemies

Texas Republican Rep. Brian Babin has introduced a bill into Congress that would halt the resettlement of refugees in the country until a thorough assessment of the costs and dangers of the process is conducted.

Babin drafted the Resettlement Accountability National Security Act in response to the Obama administration’s desire to expand America’s refugee program — a program the lawmaker believes is fundamentally flawed.

“What we’re trying to do here is to put a temporary halt to the refugee program until the general accounting office can do an assessment of just exactly how much this is costing the taxpayer,” Babin told The Daily Caller. “It’s something that needs to be addressed and needs to be addressed quickly because what it amounts to is an open invitation. To import the problems of the Middle East, of terrorism, oppression of women and all the things that go along with it, into the United States of America.”

More

Hillary’s Crowds


DoD Celebrates National Hispanic Heritage Month

From Sept. 15 – Oct.15, the Department of Defense joins the nation in celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month. During this time, the department and the nation honor the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America. The start of National Hispanic Heritage Month also marks the anniversary of independence for Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. The independence of Mexico and Chile are observed shortly thereafter, on Sept.16 and Sept. 18, respectively.

The theme of this year’s observance, “Hispanic Americans: Energizing our Nation’s Diversity,” harkens to the vibrant and thriving contributions of Hispanics to our nation across the centuries. The celebration seeks to draw attention to the diversity and countless contributions Hispanics continue to make to enrich the United States and strengthen the defense of our nation.

Why Scott Walker is out

The magic is gone: lackluster debate performance, policy flip-flops disenchanted GOP voters

Just hours after this column was first published, The New York Times reported that Scott Walker will bow out of the race at a press conference on Monday evening.

Less than two months ago, Scott Walker was musing about Marco Rubio as his vice presidential pick. Now he’s missing in action — at rock bottom in polls, left out of news stories and talk-show lineups, and increasingly hard-pressed to convince donors that his own White House candidacy can be saved.

In a way this is vindication for Democrats and unions. Clearly an identity as organized labor’s enemy number one is not enough to carry a campaign. On the other hand, Walker was elected governor of Wisconsin, survived a recall and won reelection in the span of four years. It’s beyond ironic that Republicans are now doing what Democrats and unions failed at three times. It’s also slightly tragic for Democrats, because it would have been easy to make a general-election case against Walker.

The puzzle is that from a GOP standpoint, Walker seemed to have it all: executive experience, appeal to the business and religious wings of his party, an iconic conservative record in a blue state, and a book and political action committee with one-word names meant to speak volumes: “Unintimidated.” The man even lived in Iowa for several years as a child.

More

Delmarva Man Plans 13,500-Foot Skydive to Raise ALS Funds and Awareness

Last year, Tim Hill walked 10 miles from Dewey Beach to Bethany Beach to show that amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, wasn’t holding him back.

They called it the Ten-Mile Miracle: ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that robs people of their ability to walk, and more. When he was diagnosed, Hill could barely walk a block, so building himself up to the 10-mile challenge really was a miracle, sparked by Hill’s determination.

Hill made the journey successfully, and in the process, helped many patients at the Peninsula Regional Medical Center ALS Clinic by raising funds for their specialized needs.

More

White House's Pope Welcome Is 'Anti-Christian,' Huckabee Says

President Obama is taking some heat over who's been invited to attend Pope Francis' large arrival ceremony at the White House this Wednesday. The list includes the first openly gay Episcopal bishop, an activist nun and a transgender activist — guests the Vatican reportedly objected to, according to the Wall Street Journal.

And the Obama administration also has critics on this side of the pond — the latest is presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. Here's what he tweeted Monday:

More

Citizens' group demands cell towers be removed from schools

ARNOLD, Md. —Some Anne Arundel County parents are demanding the state board of education order the removal of cellphone towers from school property across the state.

Shaped like a tree, the cell tower is designed to fit into the environment, but not everyone in Arnold welcomes its presence on the grounds of Magothy River and Severn River middle schools. At the center of this dispute is a contract the school district signed with Virginia-based Milestone Communications to construct the tower. A citizens' group wants the contract canceled and the tower dismantled.

"Does the state board have the authority ... make the contract between Milestone Communications and the county board null and void? That's the question," said Vanessa Haneberg, of Arnold.

It has become such a contentious issue members of a citizens' group and an attorney for Anne Arundel County Public Schools brought their concerns to the Maryland State Board of Education Tuesday.

More

President Nominates Gay Civilian to Lead US Army

WASHINGTON -- U. S. President Barack Obama on Friday nominated an openly gay civilian to head the Army, a first for such a job at the Pentagon.

Obama nominated Eric Fanning to be the next secretary of the Army, as the service faces a variety of budgetary, operational and social issues. Fanning has held a number of top Pentagon positions, including most recently as chief of staff to Defense Secretary Ash Carter.

Fanning, a former journalist for CBS News, has been serving in an acting role as undersecretary of the Army since June. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, he would replace John McHugh, a former Republican congressman from New York, who announced his retirement earlier this year.

Obama said Fanning brings “many years of proven experience and exceptional leadership” to the role. “I am grateful for his commitment to our men and women in uniform, and I am confident he will help lead America’s Soldiers with distinction,” he said.

Fanning’s success in being confirmed is unclear. Although it is unlikely senators will object to his qualifications or to him personally, many top Obama nominations for Pentagon and other government posts have been held up by the Republican-controlled as the end of Obama’s second administration nears its final year.

An expanded version of this report appears at WSJ.com.

Major Bank Owned Auction Event in Parsonsburg Tomorrow and in Dover next week!


'Snake house' lawsuit may go to trial after failed mediation

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -- A lawsuit that says a Maryland real estate agent knowingly sold an Annapolis house infested with snakes could be headed to trial.

The Capital reports court records show that a mediation session on Sept. 14 failed to resolve the dispute.

In April, Jeff and Jody Brooks sued Barbara Van Horn of Champion Realty Inc. and her mother, Joan Broseker, over the purchase of the home.

More

Safety and Effectiveness of E-Cigs Still in Limbo

There isn’t enough evidence yet to say whether e-cigarettes are safe or effective for helping people quit smoking, new U.S. guidelines on tobacco cessation conclude.

The conclusion, issued by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) today as a part of updated recommendations on smoking cessation, adds to an emerging consensus in the medical community that e-cigarettes come with too many unknowns for them to be recommended to current smokers looking to kick the habit.

“There is not enough evidence to evaluate the effectiveness, safety or benefits and harms of using e-cigarettes to help people quit smoking,” said Dr. Francisco Garcia, a task force member and researcher at the University of Arizona.

More

Owner of Polygraph.com Sentenced to Two Years in Prison for Training Customers to Lie


A former Oklahoma City law enforcement officer and the owner of Polygraph.com has been sentenced to two years in prison for training customers to lie and conceal crimes and other misconduct during polygraph examinations.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Assistant Commissioner Matthew Klein of U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Internal Affairs and Special Agent in Charge Scott L. Cruse of the FBI’s Oklahoma City Division made the announcement.

Douglas G. Williams, 69, of Norman, Oklahoma, pleaded guilty on May 13, 2015, to two counts of mail fraud and three counts of witness tampering. Chief U.S. District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange of the Western District of Oklahoma imposed the sentence.

Elks 817 FREE Soccer Shoot Tomorrow!

Cornel West: Bernie Sanders Is the New Jesse Jackson

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who has twice run for president, have the same revolutionary streak, liberal activist and author Cornel West says.

West — who worked on Jackson's unsuccessful 1984 and 1988 campaigns and backs Sanders in his challenge of Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination — told The Guardian:

"There are some similarities and elective affinities … [but] the Sanders campaign is even more progressive than Jackson's were, because his critique of Wall Street is more direct."

West said that Sanders still lacks the support of black voters that Jackson commanded. But, he added, "That's what we are going to get — once black people find out who Brother Sanders is."

West also believes that the civil rights group Black Lives Matter, which has been protesting Sanders' campaign, will eventually recognize that "Brother Bernie is much stronger on people, on economic justice, and on racism than any other candidate."

More

Main St Raffle Results

Low Interest Rates Cannot Perpetuate a House of Cards

When is the price of some marketable good or service at or near zero? When either the supply of it is so plentiful that virtually any demand, no matter how great, can be satisfied or when no matter how large or small the supply of it may be, people's demand for it is so low that nobody is willing to practically pay anything for it.

On Thursday, September 17, 2015, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen announced that, once again, America's central bank was leaving a key interest rate – the Federal Funds rate at which banks lend money to each other overnight – at barely above zero. The Federal Reserve has manipulated and maintained this interest rate near zero for almost seven years, now.

Fed Policy Has Created Zero and Negative Interest Rates

When adjusted for inflation, the Federal Funds rate and the yield on one-year U.S. Treasury securities have been negative for almost all of the time since 2009. In real buying terms borrowed money has been either costless or actually given away with a positive real return to the borrower!

In other words, imagine that you borrowed $100 from someone with the promise that in one year you would return the $100 plus $2, or a two percent return on the lender's money. But suppose that in a year's time, you pay back the lender only $98.

More

One in EIGHT American citizens is now foreign-born as immigrant population hits record-high of 42.4 million

The number of immigrants living in the United States has reached a record high of 42.4 million, new census data reveals.

As of 2014, one in eight US residents was born abroad - more than double the amount in 1980.

Taking into account the number of children born to immigrant parents (16.2 million) the jumps to 58.6 million people, or one in six residents.

Data also suggests the growth rate is accelerating. The population increased by 2.4 million since 2010, with an extra one million last year alone.

More

SPD Press Release 9-23-15- (Sub-Runners Food Delivery Driver Robbery/Arrest)

Nearly 1 in 4 college women say they have been sexually assaulted, survey finds

Nearly one-quarter of female undergraduate students who responded to a survey created by the Association of American Universities said they have experienced a sexual assault of some kind since enrolling in college. While the survey includes a broader definition of sexual assault than some researchers on the topic advocate using, it also breaks down types of sexual assault and found that 11 percent of female students reported that the sexual assault involved penetration.

The survey found that 11.7 percent of students of all genders at the 27 institutions who participated in the study said they have been assaulted, with the highest rates being among undergraduate women and students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, nonconforming or genderqueer. About three-quarters of sexual assault cases were never reported to law enforcement or university officials.

More than 24 percent of undergraduate students identifying as genderqueer reported experiencing a sexual assault, as did about 5 percent of male students. Half of all respondents said they have been sexually harassed.

In addition, the survey asked students about incidents of sexual assault specifically involving a lack of affirmative consent, a definition of consent that a growing number of colleges are adopting. The survey asked if students experienced "penetration or oral sex without [their] active, ongoing voluntary agreement." More than 11 percent of female undergraduate students said they had been assaulted in this fashion, as well as nearly 15 percent of students identifying as transgender or genderqueer.

"We didn't have a clear sense what the results would turn out to be," Hunter Rawlings, president of the AAU, said Monday. "This whole area is new in terms of real research, so we're trying to add to a body of research that's really just beginning to be understood. I do think most presidents and chancellors did not have clear expectations of what students would actually say. That's why we're appreciative of the extent of these questions, and particularly by the very careful definitions."

More

Two Brown Boobies Visit Baltimore Harbor

BALTIMORE (AP) — Two birds normally found in the Caribbean and parts south are visiting Baltimore’s harbor.

Two brown boobies, an adult and a “subadult” about a year old, have been seen around Baltimore’s harbor this month.

Phil Davis of the Maryland Ornithological Society said in a phone interview Tuesday that he has seen and photographed the seabirds. He says a water taxi operator spotted the birds recently and emailed the Audubon Society, and the message was posted on the Ornithological Society’s email list.

More

Richmond Fed Manufacturing Survey Collapses, Workweek Crashes To 6 Year Lows

Following August's collapse (from 13 to 0), September's Richmond Fed followed on the heels of Philly, Empire, and Dallas Fed surveys and collapsed to -5 - its lowest since January 2013. Under the covers it is a total disaster, the average workweek crashed from 3 to -12 - the lowest level since April 2009 (as did the order backlog). New Orders and Capacity Utilization also plunged to its lowest since Jan 2013 as clearly the inventory accumulation is starting to feedback into prodiction cuts. Combined, the regional surveys suggest a notable plunge in overall ISM in September... flashing bright red recession warnings.

Headline collapse...

More

TRUMP TAKES ON OBAMA’S “WAR ON CHRISTIANS”

Limbaugh: Ben Carson Correct on Muslim Stance

Rush Limbaugh said during his recent radio broadcast Ben Carson is right – Sharia law conflicts with the Constitution and a Muslim president would put the American system of republican government in danger.

“If you look into Sharia law, you will not find any consistency with the U.S. Constitution,” Limbaugh said. “Sharia law is the law which is used to behead women in Islamic countries who have been raped. Sharia law is the reason women in Islamic countries can’t drive. Sharia law is so inconsistent with the U.S. Constitution Ben Carson could not be more right.”

Limbaugh said the media was generating a false outrage, and Carson was getting caught up in the political correctness.

“So outraged, the media,” he said. “We have a nation filled with apologists for Islam, as you know. It’s been on of the most amazing things. 9/11 happens, militant Islam kills 3,000 Americans, and all of a sudden there’s a giant Islamic apologist group in this country that grows and grows and grows. Based on what, I don’t know, ‘we better not make them angrier than they already are.’”

Limbaugh then said, “the question becomes, ‘Well are all Muslims believers in Sharia? Or are they not?’ And that’s open-ended.”

More

Government Argues: If Your Mobile Phone Provider Knows Where You Are, Why Shouldn’t We?

In one of the stronger defenses of Fourth Amendment rights in the digital age, a federal appellate court panel in August ruled 2 to 1 that law enforcement officials can’t request cell phone location records without a warrant.

The government is now asking the full Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to overrule the panel’s earlier decision, arguing that by choosing to connect to a mobile network, users lose any reasonable expectation that their location is private.

Quoting the dissenting judge, the government wrote that the panel’s decision “flies in the face of the Supreme Court’s well-established third-party doctrine.”

The third-party doctrine is a legal theory that asserts that users voluntarily give up information like location data by subscribing to public services like communications providers, and thus have “no reasonable expectation of privacy” when it comes to that information.

Read more

OPM finds five-fold increase in fingerprint data stolen during data hack

Four million more current and former federal employees are at additional risk of identity theft than first thought with the discovery that more victims of the Office of Personnel Management data breach had their fingerprints stolen.

OPM announced today that hackers took the fingerprint data of 5.6 million employees as opposed to the 1.1 million people initially determined to have had this data stolen back when the agency announced the details of the second breach in July.

Read the full story

BREAKING NEWS: Volkswagen CEO resigns

Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn says he is stepping down in the wake of an emissions testing scandal.

West Africa-New York City Paddle Adventure Features Pirates, Sharks; Mission Aimed At Raising HIV/AIDS Awareness

OCEAN CITY — As the roaring engines of tens of thousands of motorcycles slept early last Saturday morning during Delmarva Bike Week, a lone row boat quietly crept through the channel that separates Ocean City from Assateague Island.

Its sole occupant was a tired and hungry 49-year-old African-American Brooklyn man named Victor Mooney, who docked his 24-foot Brazilian made vessel called the “Spirit of Malabo” next to towering charter boats at the White Marlin Marina in downtown Ocean City.

Mooney began paddling 15 months ago when he shoved off from the island of Masapalamo in the Canary Islands off the coast of West Africa.

He has survived a vicious shark attack, 10 days without food while marooned at sea in a lifeboat and he’s even lived to tell the story of how he was taken hostage by Haitian pirates at knifepoint.

More

SPD Press Release 9-23-15 (PSA “Computer Repair Scam”)

Pastor Jamal Bryant Drops Out Of Congressional Race

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Pastor Jamal Bryant has ended his Congressional bid.

He announced on September 14 that he was running for Elijah Cummings’ seat.

There were rumors that Cummings might run for the Senate seat about to be vacated by retiring Senator Barbara Mikulski but Cummings has said he would seek re-election instead.

More

FBI Refuses to Cooperate in Hillary Email Probe

The FBI refused to cooperate Monday with a court-ordered inquiry into former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s email server, telling the State Department that they won’t even confirm they are investigating the matter themselves, much less willing to tell the rest of the government what’s going on.

Judge Emmet G. Sullivan had ordered the State Department to talk with the FBI and see what sort of information could be recovered from Mrs. Clinton’s email server, which her lawyer has said she turned over to the Justice Department over the summer.

The FBI’s refusal, however, leaves things muddled.

Read more here

“Kill Donald Trump”: Twitter Explodes With Violent Threats

Twitter has exploded in recent days with violent threats targeting Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump.

While the left often accuses the right of engaging in vitriolic rhetoric, the number of threats directed against Trump far outweighs those leveled at Hillary Clinton.

A basic Twitter search for the terms “kill Donald Trump” and “murder Donald Trump” reveal a deluge of violent remarks directed at the Republican candidate in the aftermath of last week’s debate.

In comparison, similar threats against Clinton are almost non-existent.

Although the vast majority of the threats are obviously tongue-in-cheek, some of them come across as extremely menacing.

More

Trump on Muslims: ‘If Somebody Can Get Elected, That’s What It’s All About’

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump addressed the issue of electing a Muslim to the White House by saying he wouldn’t have a problem with someone who undergoes the intense scrutiny and vetting process that goes along with being elected president.

Mr. Trump says he has a lot of respect for retired neurosurgeon and 2016 GOP rival Ben Carson, who has said he wouldn’t advocate electing a Muslim to the White House.

“I think that basically, if somebody can elected, you know they’re going to be vetted,” Mr. Trump said on Monday’s “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren” on Fox News. “And if somebody can get elected, that’s what it’s all about. It’s an electoral process, and I would tend to go along with that.”

“But I will say this: Ben was saying there are difficulties, and I think everybody knows what those difficulties are, and people want to be politically correct, but there have been difficulties and a lot of people agree with Ben,” Mr. Trump continued.

“I do think that Ben would also agree, though, if properly vetted, the proper people properly vetted, going through an election — I think that anybody that is able to win an election will be absolutely fine,” he said.

More here

Ocean City Passes Resolution Against Fed’s Offshore Seismic Testing Proposal

OCEAN CITY — With a bevy of local environmental leaders on hand, Ocean City officials on Monday passed a resolution officially opposing offshore seismic testing off the coast of the resort after agreeing the potential risks outweigh the possible rewards.

The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is currently evaluating four permits from three different private sector companies to conduct seismic air gun blast testing off the mid-Atlantic coast for the purpose of identifying oil and natural gas deposits beneath the ocean’s floor. On Monday, the Ocean City Mayor and Council adopted a resolution officially opposing seismic air gun testing off the coast of the resort, citing the potential risks to tourism, recreational and commercial fishing.

In March, BOEM hosted a public meeting in Annapolis to present a proposal to lease roughly three million acres off the mid-Atlantic coast for future oil and natural gas exploration and excavation. The plan is to eventually open the leased area along the outer continental shelf as close as 20 miles from the coast of Ocean City and Assateague for the eventual private sector extraction of oil and gas reserves under the sea floor.

More

GOP Wants Budget Talks with Obama, Not Reid, Pelosi

With a little more than a week before a government shutdown, Republicans have stated that they only want Obama as a negotiating partner when it comes to budget talks, rather than Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi D-Calif., The Hill reports.

“They think they can get a better deal from Obama,” said Darrell West, director of the governance studies program at the Brookings Institution. “When you look at past negotiations, Obama often has been willing to compromise on Democratic principles in ways his congressional counterparts have not been willing to do,”

However, after meeting with the president on Thursday, Pelosi and Reid told reporters that they have come to an agreement in regards to budget. But, Republicans, who since the midterm elections have control of the Senate, believe that Obama should have to deal with them directly.

More here

U.S. Will Station New Nuclear Weapons in Germany Against Russia

Germany’s ZDF public television network headlines on Tuesday September 22nd, “New U.S. Atomic Weapons to Be Stationed in Germany,” and reports that the U.S. will bring into Germany 20 new nuclear bombs, each being four times the destructive power of the one that was used on Hiroshima.

Hans Kristensen, the Director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, says, “With the new bombs the boundaries blur between tactical and strategic nuclear weapons.”

A former Parliamentary State Secretary in Germany’s Defense Ministry, Willy Wimmer, of Chancellor Merkel’s own conservative party, the Christian Democratic Union, warns that these “new attack options against Russia” constitute “a conscious provocation of our Russian neighbors.”

More

Clinton Campaign Firing Subtle 'Warning Shots'

Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaigners are reportedly lobbing subtle "warning shots" as Vice President Joe Biden considers whether to launch a White House bid.

According to Politico, surrogates for the front-running Democratic candidate are suggesting Biden would be out of touch with the party's progressive wing, and are questioning both his chances and political strength.

Even the candidate herself took a shot during her defense last week in New Hampshire of a failed 2001 vote on a controversial bankruptcy bill that was co-sponsored by Biden.

"So I negotiated … changes and then the people who had been handling the bill said, 'Well if we take your changes you have to support it.'" The Wall Street Journal quoted Clinton's remarks to a New Hampshire voter.

"And it was Vice President Biden who was the senator from Delaware and the Republican co-sponsor that I was talking with, so I said I'd support it even though I'd opposed it before."

More

No, Salon.com, I Don’t Need to ‘Understand’ the Plight of Pedophiles

Just when you think you’ve seen it all, Salon.com posts this on their home page:

“I’m a Pedophile, But I’m Not a Monster” (byline) I’m attracted to children but unwilling to act on it. Before judging me harshly, would you be willing to listen?

Here’s the problem with the title and the byline: it’s misleading. The article is written by a pedophile who says he’s never touched a child and never would. The man, who identifies himself as Todd Nickerson, agrees that it’s wrong to both be attracted to children and to act upon that attraction. He then goes on a long diatribe about his past, the abuse he’s encountered, why we should be understanding in place of judgmental, blahblahblahblahblah. Finally, At the end of the long article is a call to action for pedophiles to get help, to seek advice and to find a solution to their sexual attraction to children. That’s not the argument here. It’s good that Nickerson wants other pedophiles to get help for their sexual desires. Not arguing with that. Okay? Okay.

More

Caught on video: Black teen punches ‘racist’ bus driver in the face — for demanding a fare!

A black teenager who accused a city bus driver of racism for demanding his fare was captured in video punching the woman in the face, then fleeing from the bus.

Surveillance footage of the Sept. 15 incident was released Friday.

More

Pope Of The Poor Arrives In US Denying He's A Liberal

The pope of the poor arrived for his first-ever visit to the world's wealthiest superpower Tuesday denying he is a leftist and riding in a frugal little family car, windows rolled down.

Pope Francis' chartered plane from Cuba touched down at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, where President Barack Obama and his wife and daughters paid him the rare honor of meeting him at the bottom of the stairs on the red-carpeted tarmac. Presidents usually make important visitors come to them at the White House.

Emerging from the aircraft to loud cheers from a crowd of hundreds, the smiling 78-year-old pontiff removed his skullcap in the windy weather and made his way down the steps in his white robes.

He was welcomed by a military honor guard, chanting schoolchildren, politicians, and Roman Catholic clerics in black robes with vivid sashes of scarlet and purple. Joe Biden, the nation's first Catholic vice president, and his wife were among those who greeted him.

More

Bye Bye Summer


Teen Killed, Man Wounded In Baltimore Last Night

On September 22, 2015 at 9:10 p.m. officers responded to 300 South Calhoun Street for report of shots fired.

Upon arrival, they found a 17 year-old male suffering from multiple gunshot wounds and a 20 year-old male suffering from a gunshot wound to the stomach.

Both victims were transported to an area hospital. The 17 year old died at the hospital while the 20 year-old remains in surgery and his condition is unknown.

Preliminary investigation reveals both victims were in the block with many other people when at least one gunman walked into the block and opened fire. After shooting the victims, the suspect(s) fled on foot in an unknown direction.

Homicide detectives have no further information about the suspect or a motive, and are asking anyone with information to call them at (410) 396-2100. Additionally they can call the Metro Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-866-7LOCKUP.

A Viewer Writes: Did you hear about this Shawn Murphy

Did you hear about this Shawn Murphy..yes the same guy from the radio and Wboc

Charge No: 001Description:ASSAULT-FIRST DEGREE Statute: CR.3.202Description:ASSAULT-FIRST DEGREE Amended Date: CJIS Code:1 1420MO/PLL:Probable Cause:X Incident Date From: 09/19/2015 To: 09/19/2015 Victim Age: Charge No: 002Description:ASSAULT-SEC DEGREE Statute: CR.3.203Description:ASSAULT-SEC DEGREE Amended Date: CJIS Code:1 1415MO/PLL:Probable Cause:X Incident Date From: 09/19/2015 To: 09/19/2015 Victim Age: Charge No: 003Description:RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT Statute: CR.3.204.(a)(1)Description:RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT Amended Date: CJIS Code:1 1425MO/PLL:Probable Cause:X Incident Date From: 09/19/2015 To: 09/19/2015 Victim Age:

DISTRICT COURT OF MARYLAND Case Information Go Back Court System:DISTRICT COURT FOR WORCESTER COUNTY -
CIVIL System Case Number:0205SP002442015Case
Status:ACTIVE
Case Type:DOMESTIC VIOLENCEOrder Valid Thru:09/28/2015
Filing Date:09/19/2015
Defendant Name:MURPHY, SHAWN City:BERLINState:MDDOB:09/22/1966
Defendant Attorney:LLINAS, J CHRISTOPHER Hearing Date: 09/19/2015Hearing Time:12:0 AM Hearing Location: 6505 COASTAL HWY,OCEAN CITY,MD 21842

Hearing Type: INTERIM Result: COURT ORDERS SHALL NOT ABUSE SHALL NOT CONTACT SHALL STAY AWAY FROM EMPLOYMENT SHALL VACATE THE HOME SHALL NOT ENTER RESIDENCE TEMPORARY POSSESSION OF THE PET(S) Hearing Date: 09/21/2015Hearing Time:11:13 AMRoom:X1 Hearing Location: 6505 COASTAL HWY,OCEAN CITY,MD 21842 Hearing Type: TEMPORARY Result: COURT ORDERS: SHALL NOT ABUSE SHALL NOT CONTACT SHALL NOT ENTER RESIDENCE SHALL STAY AWAY FROM EMPLOYMENT RESPONDENT SHALL VACATE THE HOME TEMPORARY POSSESSION OF THE PET(S) Hearing Date: 09/28/2015Hearing Time:8:30 AM Hearing Location: 6505 COASTAL HWY,OCEAN CITY,MD 21842 Hearing Type: FINAL 

The Un-Armed Forces Medley

Baseball great Yogi Berra dies at 90

When former Yankees general manager Larry MacPhail first saw Yogi Berra, he said the squat, goofy-looking catcher reminded him of "the bottom man on an unemployed acrobatic team."

At 5'8" with a paunchy body and mischievous smirk, Berra seemed an unlikely baseball hero. But the oft-quoted New York Yankees legend, who won three American League MVP awards and 10 World Series titles, is remembered as a clutch hitter and one of the greatest catchers of all time. He died Tuesday at the age of 90. No cause of death was immediately given.

Berra's death was confirmed in a Tweet from the Yogi Berry Museum, the New Jersey-based nonprofit that bears his name.

More

Some American Catholics really don’t like Pope Francis. Here’s why.

When Steve Skojec heard that Jorge Mario Bergoglio had been elected pope, he got a queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. He can’t say why, exactly — though he follows Vatican politics closely, he didn’t know much about Francis then. But as he watched the new Catholic leader greet the crowds on his office television in Manassas, Va., he was filled with dread.

“I felt a discontinuity,” he said. “A disruption.”

At first, he didn’t want to make too big a deal of it. Though Skojec blogs regularly about Catholicism at the Web site he founded, OnePeterFive (tag line: Rebuilding Catholic culture. Restoring Catholic tradition.), he mostly avoided the subject. “I wanted to withhold judgement,” he said.

Six months later, he was ready to judge. What really turned Skojec against Francis was the pope’s October 2013 interview in the Jesuit magazine America. Buried in the transcript was a comment, by Francis, that the world’s biggest evils are youth unemployment and loneliness.

“That’s a jarring statement . . . when you’re on the front lines of the culture wars, looking at the death toll of abortion,” Skojec said. “There was definitely a sense that this could be trouble.”

More

After hard journeys to Europe, who gets to stay?

KASSEL, Germany — Somali asylum seeker Ismail Mohamed Hassan, 22, awoke one nippy morning to an early knock at his refugee center door. It was the state police bearing two unpleasant gifts — a one-way ticket out of Germany and a car ride to Frankfurt Airport. This was it, he recalls thinking. Deportation.

Unless he could find a way to stop it.

Germany is ground zero in Europe’s migrant crisis, a nation set to receive up to 1 million asylum seekers this year, far more than any other country in the region. Yet, like Hassan, after risking their lives by land and sea to reach the continent’s economic powerhouse, about one in every two asylum seekers is initially rejected. It has made asylum a numbers game. In Germany, 86 percent of Syrians are being granted some form of refugee status, as are 82 percent of Iraqis and 80 percent of Eritreans. Only 30 percent of Afghans are making the cut. For those coming from Kosovo and Albania, the acceptance rate stands at almost zero.

More

Encryption might be the reason we've never heard from aliens, says Snowden

Edward Snowden thinks he might have an answer to the Fermi paradox — the cosmological puzzle of why, given that the universe is so very old and so very big, we haven't heard from any aliens yet. Speaking with Neil deGrasse Tyson on the astrophysicist's StarTalk podcast (the relevant section starts 30 minutes in), Snowden suggests that a universal need to keep communications secure could mean that alien signals are simply too well encrypted to be distinguished from background noise.

"When you look at encrypted communications, if they are properly encrypted, there is no real way to tell that they are encrypted. You can’t distinguish a properly encrypted communication, at least in the theoretical sense, from random noise," says Snowden. He suggests that over time all societies realize that encryption is a necessity. "So if you have an alien civilization trying to listen for other civilizations, or our civilization trying to listen for aliens, there's only one small period in the development of their society where all of their communications will be sent via the most primitive and most unprotected means."

More

Perdue takes legal action against folks Perdue wants to pollute! What next? By Ray Wallace

A fter five years of frustration tying to get a permit to dump illegal amounts of hazardous hexane into the air of Hellam Township, Pa., chicken-seller Perdue has now attracted this Lancaster, Pa. LNP news headline:
   
Perdue moves to take legal action against Hellam Township

Inline image 1
   
$ $ $ $ $
Here are two public comments left at LNP's September 18, 2015 news site:
1.
"Just for clarification, the Hellam Township Supervisors do not oppose the proposed Perdue Soybean processing plant. We support it!

"However we do object to the emissions and the hazard they present to our citizens, when they could be easily and efficiently controlled.

"Perdue should stop the grandstanding and do what is right to protect the persons they claim the desire to serve."

     Larry Busino, Hellam Township
   
2.
"Big company that Pollutes and wants to step over people's lives to make a Profit and to say screw you we are building this plant!"

     J Dittoe Jr., Harrisburg Area Community College

     -- The above comments appear on this   LNP news site:

$ $ $ $ $
Lancaster Farming
September 19, 2015
Commentary/Opinion 
Township Simply Trying
to Protect the Air We All Breathe
Editor: 
From Day One, Hellam Township (in York County, Pa.) has strongly supported the construction of the proposed Perdue soybean oil extraction plant (across the Susquehanna River in Lancaster County). 
Farmers feel it will benefit the prices they get — which is questionable in the long run — and there’s no doubt this region can use more jobs. By their current lack of complaints, the residents along Route 441 seem willing to tolerate the additional truck every two minutes the plant will bring. 
Because the proposed plant is upwind of Hellam Township and because we already have some of the worst air quality ratings in the nation, Hellam Township has sought help to ensure all clean air requirements are followed. 
We have sided with the American Lung Association in asking the state Department of Environmental Protection to require the installation of a regenerative thermal oxidizer, or RTO, that would reduce by 95 percent the 208 tons of hexane Perdue plans to release. 
Hexane damages nerves and lungs. It combines with nitrogen oxides emitted by the adjacent Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority’s mass burn incinerator, the nearby Brunner Island power plant, and the Armstrong ceiling plant to form ozone. 
A study by Millersville University found temperature inversions that trap pollutants close to the ground where we must breathe them on 311 days per year near the proposed plant. 
The approximate $5,000 a year Hellam Township has spent to help ensure all clean air requirements are followed is less that the average medication cost for one person with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or asthma, and American Lung Association statistics indicate more than 900 people, almost one in six Hellam Township residents, suffer from either asthma or COPD.
Concerned Hellam Township residents have already donated $6,000 to offset those expenses. 
While some are complaining of delays, a DEP engineer stated that most issues would be resolved by using an RTO. 
In dealings with the DEP, Perdue has attempted to use illegal permitting approaches that were caught by the people hired by Hellam Township — not the DEP — and Perdue has taken quite a long time to reply to DEP requests for information. 
The DEP has been waiting since early July for answers to its most recent request for information from Perdue. In short, Perdue is responsible for the delays. It’s not the process, not the DEP and most certainly not Hellam Township. 
Industry provides jobs, and we all need jobs. But with a history of coal mines, steel mills and now gas well fracking, Pennsylvanians are keenly aware of the Faustian bargains that are all too often made with large corporations. 
We must not allow our legislators to compromise the current DEP process that allows for public input to the issuing of DEP permits and ensures the DEP enforces a legally binding response from industries seeking to release pollutants into our air and water.
-- Michael C. Martin, Chairman, Hellam Township board of supervisors

     -- From: 

[Colors added above for emphasis.]

Secret Service chief apologizes for how group of cancer-stricken kids was treated

The U.S. Secret Service ordered hundreds of parents and their cancer-stricken children out of Lafayette Square on Saturday night, barricading the park for at least two hours and disrupting the group’s plans for a candlelight vigil to raise awareness of and research funding for childhood cancer, participants said.

Some of the parents and children expressed hurt and disappointment that the Secret Service and Park Police, citing security precautions, virtually shut down part of a two-day event called CureFest for Childhood Cancer.

“We ended up waiting at the gates for two hours, and they never let us in,” said Natasha Gould, an 11-year-old from Canada who started a blog after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor this year. “And to be clear, the entire crowd was half kids. I cried last night in my hotel room because it was my first CureFest, and I couldn’t believe people were acting like they don’t care about children.”

More