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Saturday, September 26, 2015

Why Southerners Are Nominating No-Name Candidates

The truck driver who won the Democratic nomination for Mississippi governor -- without spending a cent -- is the latest candidate who lacks any political experience. How are they winning over voters?

Everyone knows Democrats are struggling in the South. Sometimes, they can't even nominate serious candidates for office.

In August, Robert Gray, a truck driver by trade who spent zero dollars on the race, won the Democratic nomination for governor of Mississippi. Gray hadn't even bothered informing his mother, who lives with him, that he was running. He also didn't bother voting for himself.

Gray's situation may sound unusual, but something like it actually seems to occur just about every election cycle. There are plenty of nominations barely worth pursuing around the country in low-profile races against formidable incumbents. But in the South, neither the press nor voters pay much attention to many Democratic primary races, making the region particularly fertile ground for political unknowns to win statewide nominations.

"This is a symptom of a larger problem with Democrats in the South," said Brent Leatherwood, executive director of the Tennessee Republican Party.

In Texas, where Democrats haven't won a statewide race in more than 20 years, the 2014 nomination for agriculture commissioner went to Jim Hogan, a cattle farmer who, like Gray, spent no money on his own race but beat the party's candidate of choice. Hogan told me at the time that he believed he had a good name and voters did seem to prefer it to that of his lead opponent, who was listed on the ballot as Hugh Asa Fitzsimons III. Hogan also bested singer and perennial candidate Kinky Friedman.

For years, a man named Gene Kelly -- not the star of old movie musicals -- forced Texas Democrats into runoffs, despite not actively campaigning.

In a race that few care about, a familiar-sounding name might be enough to win. In Mississippi, Democrats say that Gray's position as the first name on the ballot had a lot to do with his victory. He was also the only man in a three-person field.

"The thread they all have in common is a weak Democratic party and underfunded statewide candidates," said Mark Jones, a political scientist at Rice University. "The result is [that] a majority of the people voting in the Democratic primary don't know anything about the candidates other than what is presented on the ballot, and that is their names."

But unknown candidates haven't been vetted by party leaders or the media.

Alvin Greene, an unemployed military veteran, became an embarrassment after he won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in South Carolina back in 2010. The day after his victory, the press revealed that Greene was facing obscenity charges.

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Community Appreciation Day Tomorrow


Hillary Approved Special Status For Huma Abedin

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton greenlighted paperwork that changed her top aide Huma Abedin’s job status to “special government employee” — a classification that allowed Abedin to work for an outside consulting firm and the Clinton Foundation at the same time she was advising Clinton at State.

According to documents obtained by conservative group Judicial Watch through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, Clinton was the immediate supervisor who approved the title change that came with the new post on March 23, 2012, permitting her then-deputy chief of staff to work several jobs at once.

That dual role, which didn't go into effect until June of that year, is currently under investigation by Senate Judiciary Committee Republican staff. Republicans and outside groups have openly wondered if the post presented a conflict of interest for Abedin, who is now vice chair of Clinton's presidential campaign, or if Abedin's outside work influenced actions at State.

POLITICO reported Wednesday that the president of the outside company where Abedin ended up working later that year, Doug Band of Teneo, had contacted her in April 2012, asking her for help getting a client appointed to a post on the President’s Global Development Council.

In the email, he made sure Abedin knew that the woman, Judith Rodin, president of The Rockefeller Foundation, was also a big supporter of the Clinton Foundation — another place Abedin would collect a paycheck after her SGE status was approved.

Clinton, in an interview with MSNBC on Sept. 4, said she "was not directly involved" with Abedin's job arrangement.

More here

Mansion furnishings not only topic of interest as O'Malley left office

Beds, desks, chairs and other items from the governor's mansion were not the only furnishings to occupy Martin O'Malley's time as he prepared to leave office in January.

A table was the focus of a spirited email exchange between O'Malley and Alvin Collins, his secretary for the Department of General Services.

According to emails released through a pubic records request, Collins wrote to O'Malley on Jan. 9 — a week before the Democrat and his wife purchased 54 furnishings from the mansion at steep discounts. "I have not forgotten the table," Collins wrote. "Should happen next Friday [Jan. 16]. Any remaining items are in progress!!!"

After O'Malley wrote back, calling Collins is his "favorite cabinet secretary," Collins wrote that the incoming administration of Republican Gov. Larry Hogan is "throwing me outa here. Sir, know that I will forever be thankful for all you allowed me to do. Always there for you."

O'Malley replied: "What do you mean they are throwing you out? Before the inauguration? What about the table?"

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Obama Promised Healthcare Premiums Would Fall $2,500 Per Family; They Have Climbed $4,865

“We screwed some folks.”

How’s that Obamacare working out for you? That’s what I thought.

Considering that pretty much every single thing Obama promised when he was running for President turned out to be an outright lie, we shouldn’t be surprised this is also the case when it comes to his so-called “signature achievement.” Before getting into the meat of this post, let’s take a trip down memory lane and watch a video clip of Obama on the 2008 campaign trail.

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BOMBSHELL: ‘WASHINGTON POST’ CONFIRMS HILLARY CLINTON STARTED THE BIRTHER MOVEMENT

New analysis from the Washington Post removes any doubt that the anti-Obama Birther movement was started in 2007 and 2008 by Hillary Clinton, her campaign, and her Democrat supporters.

As Breitbart News reported earlier this month, other left-wing media outlets, like Politico and the Guardian, had already traced the Birther movement back to Democrats and Ms. Clinton. Using his wayback machine on Wednesday, the Post’s David Weigel took an in-depth look at the origins of the false rumors that President Obama is a practicing Muslim who was not born in a America. Weigel’s reporting contains the final pieces of a very disturbing puzzle.

What Weigel found and re-reported was astounding, details many of us had forgotten or never heard of, including a 2007 bombshell memo from the Clinton campaign’s chief strategist.

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Obama Plans To Shutdown News Organization

Students Double Down, Insist Fake Hate Crime Was Real

Students at the University of Delaware are taking it hard after the discovery that an alleged hate crime was just a misunderstanding. Some students even insist a hate crime still occurred.

The incident happened Tuesday night, when students thought they found several nooses hanging from a tree. Word quickly spread as campus officials swiftly released a statement condemning the foul hate crime. But come morning, police said a short investigation had led them to conclude the “nooses” were really just the remnants of paper lanterns from an event held all the way back in June.

Unperturbed by the truth, students launched an assembly following the incident to speak as though the hate crime really did happen. According to The News Journal, a local paper, the assembly was held “to find ways to change the campus climate” in the wake of the bad atmosphere apparently exposed by a fictional hate crime. 

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Rape and Child Abuse Rampant in German Refugee Camps

A culture of rape and sexual abuse is being allowed to take hold in asylum centres across Germany as Europe struggles to cope with the migrant crisis, it has been alleged,

Women’s rights groups and politicians have highlighted assaults against women and children in at least one camp.

And they suggest such incidents may be widespread, with many going unreported to the police.

Campaigners also claimed some men saw unaccompanied women as ‘fair game’, and also blamed conditions in which occupants were unsegregated by gender or nationality.

The warnings came after German Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier this month announced there was ‘no limit’ to the numbers of migrants her country would take.

Germany is expected to receive up to one million migrants this year and has since imposed temporary border controls.

But some cities have been struggling to cope with the influx, reporting intolerable pressures on housing and too few staff to process asylum claims.

And other EU countries have accused Germany of encouraging the crisis – then trying to resettle migrants in other EU countries under a quota system.

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WATCH: Calif. HS Student Jumps In to Stop Attack on Blind Classmate

A California high school student is being praised around the country after a viral video (below) showed him stopping a purported bully's attack on a partially blind classmate.

The attacker, who was seen punching the visually impaired teen in the head during a lunch-hour fight, was arrested on a misdemeanor battery charge and released to his parents.

The attacker was knocked to the ground after one punch from Cody Pines outside Huntington Beach High School.

The clip shows the accused bully bleeding and woozy on the ground. His friends then helped him up as Pines yelled at him for "punching a blind kid," who appeared to be OK.

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Do our “leaders” and media live in a dream world?

Another video not on mainstream media - why? The food and water were provided by the Red Cross and was not acceptable because - the Cross is a "Christian" symbol. Perhaps also the water was not certified Halal!! Why was this not on TV ?

Saudi Prince Arrested in Beverly Hills for Allegedly Sexually Assaulting Female Employee — and He Can’t Claim Diplomatic Immunity

A Saudi prince was arrested Wednesday on sexual assault charges at a Southern California mansion.

The Los Angeles Police Department said 28-year-old Majed Abdulaziz Al-Saud, a member of the royal family of Saudi Arabia, tried to force a woman into performing sex acts with him inside a rented $37 million mansion in Beverly Hills. The home is surrounded by an 8-foot wall as part of a gated community, KNBC-TV reported.

Neighbors said they saw a woman bleeding and trying to climb the wall to escape. Residents then led officers to the property around 1:30 p.m. and Al-Saud was arrested.

While some heads of state and members of their families have diplomatic immunity, the LAPD said Al-Saud does not because of his dignitary status in Saudi Arabia and the level of his alleged crime.

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Accident In Worcester County Involving Deputy

Route 589 at the North Gate in Ocean Pines is currently closed due to a motor vehicle collision involving one of our Deputies. The roadway will remain closed for approximately 1 hr.

Posted by Worcester County Sheriff's Office on Saturday, September 26, 2015

Wiggle It Jiggleit wins epic stretch duel to capture Little Brown Jug

Delaware, OH --- There was no denying Wiggle It Jiggleit. Seemingly beaten in mid-stretch, Wiggle It Jiggleit and driver Montrell Teague fought back in the final strides to win Thursday’s (Sept. 24) $677,000 Little Brown Jug for 3-year-old male pacers by a nose over Lost For Words in 1:49.3 at the Delaware County Fairgrounds. The closing moments of the Jug capped an epic duel between the event’s first-heat winners. Lost For Words, who got a quick lead and inside position in the decisive second heat, and Wiggle It Jiggleit raced side-by-side for nearly five-eighths of a mile in the one-mile race. Lost For Words appeared to be on his way to victory as the horses came off the final turn, opening up by more than one length on Wiggle It Jiggleit, but Wiggle It Jiggleit dug in and nipped Lost For Words at the wire. My Hero Ron finished third and Arque Hanover was fourth. It was the first Little Brown Jug victory for “Team Teague,” which is owner George Teague Jr., his son Montrell, and trainer Clyde Francis. The 24-year-old Montrell became the second-youngest driver in history to win the Jug. More

The Story Behind the Heartwarming Photo of the Professor Holding His Student's Toddler During Class

To the surprise of one Colorado college professor, a photo of a him holding his student's toddler son during a class lecture Monday night has taken the Internet by storm.

"I have my own 2-year-old, so I held him and went about my teaching and it was no big deal," Joel Bunkowske of Nashville, Tennessee, told ABC News. "I didn’t really think anything of it."

"It's not really about me," he added. "I think a lot of people are struggling, like single mothers like Amanda. What touches our hearts is there are people that care. To me, it [the photo] represents what teachers do every day, all across the United States."

Bunkowske, who is an educator at DeVry University in Nashville, Tennessee, said hours before his interpersonal communications class, he received a call from student Amanda Osbon, informing him that she would be unable to attend that night.

"She had a situation where she had a babysitter lined up and the babysitter didn’t show up for some reason," Bunkowske said. "My response was 'It’s a whole lot better if you come to class because I'd hate for you to miss a class.' To stop someone from getting that education because of a life circumstance, I think is a travesty."

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Man charged in hammer attack during Berkeley protests

A man has been charged with two felonies related to an attack with a hammer on a demonstrator taking part in a Black Lives Matter protest in downtown Berkeley in December.

Berkeley police arrested Jayne Waller, 20, in late August on an unrelated offense after an officer recognized him from a previously circulated physical description that included a street name. Waller was released after that violation, but was re-arrested Monday in the 2100 block of Shattuck Avenue in connection with the hammer attack.

Waller was charged Tuesday by the Alameda County district attorney’s office on two counts relating to the attack — assault with a deadly weapon and battery with serious bodily injury — and one count of second-degree commercial burglary relating to a break-in and theft at the RadioShack store on Shattuck Avenue and Dwight Way.

Berkeleyside caught the attack on video (see below). It happened around 8 p.m. Dec. 7, one of several nights that month when Berkeley and Oakland were consumed with largely peaceful Black Lives Matter protests that included property damage and were at times violent.

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Coastal Hospice beneficiary of Blues on the Bay, Sept. 30

The eighth annual Blues on the Bay returns to Macky’s Bayside Bar & Grill on Wednesday night, Sept. 30, to benefit Coastal Hospice at the Ocean.

The 54th Street restaurant owners, Pam and Walter “Macky” Stansell, provide the space and food for the fundraiser each year as the summer season closes.

The event will feature three hours of music from singer and saxophonist Everett Spells, an open bar, heavy hors d’oeuvres and views of the sunset over the bay.

“The cool thing about Blues on the Bay is who comes: it’s the end of the season, it’s Macky’s Bayside Bar & Grill, and folks come for a relaxed, fun time,” said Maureen McNeill, director of Development for Coastal Hospice & Palliative Care.

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Cruz: Obama Admin. Prioritizing Foreigners Over Safety of American People

The Obama administration’s effort to resettle tens of thousands of people from Syria and elsewhere to the U.S. is a national security risk, presidential candidate 
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)
96%
 argues.

Since ISIS  wants to exploit the refugee flow from Syria to gain access to Europe and the U.S. Cruz is calling for the administration to view the situation not simply as a humanitarian crisis but as a threat to America’s security.
“The goals and policies developed by you and the President, which apparently seek to ensure the admission of tens of thousands of Syrian refugees over the next few years, have prioritized the needs of foreign nationals of unknown backgrounds, affiliations, and motivations over the safety and security of American citizens,” Cruz wrote in a letterWednesday to Homeland Security Sec. Jeh Johnson, Secretary of State John Kerry, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and FBI Director James Comey.
Earlier this week Kerry announced that the administration is planning to resettle at least 185,000 refugees over the next two years, including high numbers of refugees from terrorist hot spots including Syria.

Police/Courts 09/25/2015

Multiple charges

Georgi Bebov, 23, of Ocean City was arrested on Sept. 16 after being accused of throwing a heavy metal and glass table from his second floor balcony onto lane three of Philadelphia Avenue.

According to the report, Bebov appeared to be intoxicated.

Police said a witness reported that she and Bebov were outside and that he was screaming profanities. She said she told him to calm down and he threw the table at her.

Bebov was arrested and charged with second-degree assault, littering, reckless endangerment, dropping objects from a building, failure to obey a lawful order and making loud noises when prohibited.

Burglary

Ocean City police officers arrested Michelle Rogers, 48, of Delaware after she entered a rental downtown without permission on Sept. 14.

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UPDATE: Found Dog (Pug) In Salisbury

Pug Found! On my way to College Ave. car wash and I spotted this little guy almost get hit by someone speeding. I stopped and picked him up and knocked on a couple doors on College Ave. and Hayes St. Nobody claimed him, so I brought him home, gave him some food and cleaned him up.

If this is your dog please call Alex G at 361-815-3488.


Thank you Alex for keeping this little guy safe and for finding his family!!

Forget The New World Order, Here's Who Really Runs The World

For decades, extreme ideologies on both the left and the right have clashed over the conspiratorial concept of a shadowy secret government pulling the strings on the world’s heads of state and captains of industry.

The phrase New World Order is largely derided as a sophomoric conspiracy theory entertained by minds that lack the sophistication necessary to understand the nuances of geopolitics. But it turns out the core idea — one of deep and overarching collusion between Wall Street and government with a globalist agenda — is operational in what a number of insiders call the “Deep State.”

In the past couple of years, the term has gained traction across a wide swath of ideologies. Former Republican congressional aide Mike Lofgren says it is the nexus of Wall Street and the national security state — a relationship where elected and unelected figures join forces to consolidate power and serve vested interests. Calling it “the big story of our time,” Lofgren says the deep state represents the failure of our visible constitutional government and the cross-fertilization of corporatism with the globalist war on terror.

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County Approves New Snow Hill Conservation Easement; Bertino, Elder Express Concerns

SNOW HILL – A pair of county commissioners last week expressed concern over the growing number of conservation easements in Worcester County.

During what looked to be a routine consideration of an easement for a 106-acre property in Snow Hill, Commissioners Ted Elder and Chip Bertino said they thought officials needed to take a closer look at the issue. Bertino said 29 percent of Worcester County’s land was already protected with easements.

“How do we know how much is too much?” he said.

The commissioners were asked by staff to approve a conservation easement through the Coastal Bays Rural Legacy Area (RLA) program for 106 acres in Snow Hill owned by Hugh and Jennifer Cropper and Edna Strayer. The $231,009 cost of the easement would be funded through the county’s Coastal Bays RLA grant. According to the county’s website, the funds made available through the Maryland Rural Legacy Program are meant to protect the state’s undeveloped landscapes. In 2006, the county set a goal to protect 3,000 to 4,000 acres in the ensuing decade.

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Dick Morris: Trump Is Right, Fox Is 'In the Tank for Jeb'

Donald Trump is making the right decision to no longer appear on the Fox News Channel because the cable network is pulling for his nemesis Jeb Bush, political analyst Dick Morris says.

"Let me say one thing that hasn't been said before on TV but I'm going to say it. Fox News is in the tank for Bush," Morris said Wednesday to Dennis Michael Lynch, guest host of "The Steve Malzberg Show."

"Roger Ailes, the head of Fox News, was [President George H.W.] Bush's main guy and main strategist. I first met Roger in 1988 when he and I worked together on Bush 41's campaign and worked on the negative ads that sank [Michael] Dukakis."

"The Bush family has always been intimate with Fox News and they are protecting Jeb Bush."

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Carly Fiorina Visits Pregnancy Clinic

Carly Fiorina continued to shine a light on the possibly illegal abortion methods used by Planned Parenthood with a Thursday visit to The Carolina Pregnancy Center, a Christian health clinic in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

"It’s good when people know what 17 weeks look like," Fiorina told Lacey Thomas, an expecting mother who allowed the presidential candidate to accompany her during an ultrasound.

Fiorina stayed for roughly 10 minutes, discussing baby names, Thomas' husband, and Thomas' first child, The New York Times reported.

"The character of this nation cannot be about butchery of babies for body parts," Fiorina told supporters in the foyer of the CPC.

"Liberals and progressives will spend inordinate amounts of time and money protecting fish, frogs and flies. They do not think a 17-week-old, a 20-week-old, a 24-week-old is worth saving. This, ladies and gentlemen, is hypocrisy, and it goes to the core of the character of our nation."

In the wake of several undercover videos published by the Center for Medical Progress, Fiorina and other GOP presidential candidates have gone on the offensive, vowing to fight and defund Planned Parenthood, CNN reported.

More here

The Stock Markets Of The 10 Largest Global Economies Are All Crashing

You would think that the simultaneous crashing of all of the largest stock markets around the world would be very big news. But so far the mainstream media in the United States is treating it like it isn’t really a big deal.

Over the last sixty days, we have witnessed the most significant global stock market decline since the fall of 2008, and yet most people still seem to think that this is just a temporary “bump in the road” and that the bull market will soon resume. Hopefully they are right.

When the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 777 points on September 29th, 2008 everyone freaked out and rightly so. But a stock market crash doesn’t have to be limited to a single day. Since the peak of the market earlier this year, the Dow is down almost three times as much as that 777 point crash back in 2008. Over the last sixty days, we have seen the 8th largest single day stock market crash in U.S. history on a point basis and the 10th largest single day stock market crash in U.S. history on a point basis. You would think that this would be enough to wake people up, but most Americans still don’t seem very alarmed. And of course what has happened to U.S. stocks so far is quite mild compared to what has been going on in the rest of the world.

Right now, stock market wealth is being wiped out all over the planet, and none of the largest global economies have been exempt from this. The following is a summary of what we have seen in recent days…

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A Day In The Life Of A 1 Percenter (1 Percent In The Polls, That Is)

There are advantages to leading a presidential race — you attract big crowds, big campaign cash and have more opportunity to get your message out there.

And then there's the 1 percent. We don't mean the superwealthy. We're talking about presidential candidates, like former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, who are polling at just 1 percent in many polls.

O'Malley recently introduced himself to an audience of politically active Iowa Democrats, saying, "My name is Martin O'Malley. I am running for president and I need your help."

And, judging by his fundraising totals and poll numbers, he does need their help.

O'Malley has the look of a man who could be president — good hair, nice suits, a square jaw. And he has a resume to match — two-term governor of Maryland, mayor of Baltimore, progressive policy papers. When asked by NPR what he's adding to the 2016 campaign, he said "new leadership."

"I am of a different generation than many of the other candidates who are offering themselves in this field," he said. "And that brings with it new perspective, fresh thinking, especially about things like our foreign policy, our national security, and the economy we seek to build."

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Baltimore to use up to $22.8M federal funding for HIV outreach

The Baltimore City Health Department has received federal grant funding worth up to $22.8 million over four years that will go toward strengthening the city’s HIV prevention strategy.

Baltimore plans to use the money from the Centers for Disease Control to target outreach and prevention programs to men who have sex with men and transgender individuals, two groups at high risk for HIV infection.

The grant funding will create up to 70 new jobs at the city and community groups that will work with the health department. New positions will focus on community outreach and education and will not require a medical background.

Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen said her department plans to hire from within the communities it wants to reach.

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Teacher Tells Student “Stop writing in cursive!”

“Stop writing your name in cursive. You have had several warnings”

7-year-old Alyssa is the daughter of a military veteran, and was taught to write in cursive at your young age. However, when she wrote her name in cursive while in school, she received a harsh and surprising warning from her teacher.

The note says, “Stop writing your name in cursive. You have had several warnings.”

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Hillary's FBI nightmare

If the feds have Clinton's personal emails, too, some of them are bound to come out — exactly as she feared.

The next question in the Hillary Clinton email matter is who will force the FBI to release any documents it may have retrieved from the 2016 presidential candidate's homemade server — Congress or the courts?

The answer: A federal judge may decide to get aggressive and order the law enforcement agency to turn over any newly discovered records or at least preserve them pending further court action. But don't expect congressional subpoenas to fly — or FBI director James Comey to get hauled to Capitol Hill anytime soon.

Key congressional committees investigating Clinton’s emails argue that the courts are better suited to force the release of federal documents. One GOP source familiar with the investigations said a congressional committee could "theoretically subpoena the FBI" to demand the contents of Clinton's server, but judges are likely to wade into the issue first.

"I think the court is better positioned right now because of where the cases are in litigation," the source said.

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Glider That Could Reach the Edge of Space Tested

An experimental glider that could eventually reach the edge of space without the power of an engine had a successful first test flight over Oregon this week, winning applause on Thursday from Airbus, a major backer of the project.

The manned glider, dubbed Perlan 2, reached an altitude of 5,000 feet, in a proof-of-concept test ahead of next year's planned record-breaking journey to the stratosphere.

"This first flight is a milestone and we're very impressed," Allen McArtor, chairman of Airbus North America, told Reuters on Thursday after he traveled to Oregon to watch the test.

To start its flight, the Perlan 2 is towed behind a motorized aircraft but once airborne it is able to harness the energy of the wind to gain speed and altitude, said Ed Warnock, CEO of the Perlan Project, a non-profit organization run by a volunteers.

Next year, the Perlan Project plans to launch the glider near from the Andes mountains in Argentina, which should allow the craft to ride atmospheric waves to heights that researchers are only beginning to understand, Warnock said.

"We used to believe the stratosphere was flat, without a lot of weather, but it turns out that's not entirely true," he said. "The largest waves of wind on the planet go up to the stratosphere."

More here

Carly Fiorina: Hillary Donor?

Wait for it.

Carly Fiorina, it turns out, is a former donor not only to the Democratic Party at large, but to one high profile Democrat in particular: Hillary Clinton. And unlike Donald Trump, who has been quite open about his own donations for business reasons, Fiorina has tried to convey the exact opposite impression, as in her first debate appearance in August, when, looking around at her fellow candidates on the “second tier,” Fiorina went after Trump with this line:

I didn’t get a phone call from Bill Clinton before I jumped in the race. Did any of you get a phone call from Bill Clinton? I didn’t. Maybe it’s because I hadn’t given money to the foundation, or donated to his wife’s Senate campaign.

If Fiorina, unlike Trump, has deliberately misrepresented her campaign contributions, what else is she misrepresenting?

Hello? That statement is false.

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Medicare change could affect boy’s prosthesis choice

Shannon Simm made a promise to herself after her son Nathan, 2, had his leg amputated in 2013 due to fibular hemimelia, a birth defect where some or all of a person’s fibula is missing.

“I wasn’t ever going to tell him he can’t do something because of his right leg,” she said.

But new regulations, partly owing to a “60 Minutes” expose on fraud within Medicare concerning prosthetics, may make keeping that promise difficult.

Response to the report, as outlined by the Amputee Coalition, involved investigations, reports, findings of fact and appeals overturning earlier decisions.

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Boehner colludes with super liberal Maxine Waters to shaft taxpayers yet again?

The Export-Import Bank of the United States which provides below market financing underwritten by taxpayers for giant corporations needs to die. Its charter wasn’t renewed in June, which is excellent, but the “bank” could still be revived if John Boehner attaches a revival to a big bill, a must vote on bill, like the highway bill. According to the hyper liberal, extreme statist, uber crony capitalist Maxine Waters, a Democrat, that just may be in the cards. She wants her money for her corporate sponsors and she doesn’t give a damn about the taxpayers or crony capitalism. And according to this report from The Hillthe Speaker may be right with her.

Is Boehner even a Republican? He’s certainly not a conservative or a friend to the taxpayers that is very clear. If he attaches a revival of Ex-Im to the highway bill, or any bill, know that Boehner is just giving the people who fund the US government, the taxpayers, a giant middle finger. Right with Maxine Waters.

We hope Boehner will do the right thing and let the Export-Import Bank die. To do otherwise is an insult, a big insult, to the American people.

(From The Hill)

Hoyer indicated that Ex-Im supporters are eyeing the transportation bill to reauthorize the bank and not the looming government funding measure lawmakers must pass by the end of September.

Lawmakers had thought they need to vote on a federal transportation funding bill by the end of October. But federal officials recently said they’ll have enough funds to last through next spring, which means Ex-Im’s future remains uncertain.

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, said that Ex-Im supporters have enough votes. She criticized conservatives for attempting to block such a vote.

“I’ve had conversations with leadership and with Mr. Boehner,” Waters said with a laugh. “I didn’t get a guarantee — but I received a nod.”


Click here for the article.

Upon Further Review: Gloria ‘Was A Big Wake-Up Call For Everyone’

OCEAN CITY – Hurricane Gloria might be best remembered as the storm that famously destroyed Ocean City’s Boardwalk 30 years ago this weekend, but can Gloria also be remembered as the storm that helped make Ocean City stronger?
 

If you ask many of the officials who were involved with the repairing the millions of dollars in damages Gloria left behind, they’ll say yes.

Bracing For Major Storm
At 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 26, 1985, just one day before Gloria, the largest hurricane to threaten the Eastern Seaboard in 12 years at that time, would pass by Ocean City’s coastline, Ocean City Mayor Roland “Fish” Powell enacted a city-wide evacuation.


“It’s a bad one”, Powell told The Dispatch in 1985.
Ocean City evacuated an estimated 50,000 people that day, and as Powell remembers it today, he feared it was going to be a big problem for the town.

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MSP DUI Checkpoint and Saturation Patrol 9/25/15 (Berlin Barrack)

The VW ‘Scandal’

This could kill VW – until recently (until last week) the world’s largest car company.

But unlike say the exploding Pinto fiasco this is not a story about defective cars. It is a story about defective public policy.

None of the VW cars now in the crosshairs are unreliable, dangerous or shoddily built. They were simply programmed to give their owners best-case fuel economy and performance. Software embedded within each vehicle’s computer – which monitors and controls the operation of the engine – would furtively adjust those parameters slightly to sneak by emissions tests when the vehicle was plugged in for testing. But once out on the road, the calibrations would revert to optimal – for mileage and performance.

Now, the hysterical media accounts of the above make it seem that the alteration via code of the vehicles’ exhaust emissions was anything but slight. Shrill cries of up to “40 times” the “allowable maximum” echo across the land.

Well, true.

But, misleading.

Because not defined – put in context.

What is the “allowable maximum”?

It is a very small number.

Less than 1 percent of the total volume of the car’s exhaust. We are talking fractions of percentages here. Which is why talk of “40 percent” is so misleading and, frankly, deliberately dishonest.

Left out of context, the figure sounds alarming. As in 40 percent of 100 percent.

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MAYOR: CUSTOMER JUSTIFIED IN SHOOTING BANK ROBBER 3 TIMES

Robber fled, fell after being shot supposedly by customer

A bank customer in Warren acted within his rights when he opened fire on a bank robber on Monday afternoon, sending him to the hospital with non-critical injuries, according to the city’s mayor.

“I’m happy that no one was seriously injured,” Mayor Jim Fouts said. “He apparently exercised some caution by not shooting the robber in a vital area.”

The robbery unfolded in the late afternoon at the Citizens Bank near 9 Mile and Van Dyke. The 43-year-old assailant entered the bank with a gun and had procured “a large amount” of cash from the bank when, on the way out, he appears to have threatened a 63-year-old customer with his gun, according to Fouts.

That customer turned out to be carrying a concealed firearm for which he had a permit, the mayor said. The customer managed to pull out his own weapon and shoot the suspect three times: once in each arm and once in a leg.

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Black Conservative Teen: Obama Blocked Me, Called Me Liar

President Barack Obama's official Twitter account blocked a 13-year-old black conservative then called him a liar for talking about it, the teen, C.J. Pearson, says.

Pearson is an outspoken critic of Obama's policies, and most recently posted a YouTube video blasting Obama for inviting a Texas teen to the White House who was taken into police custody after putting a disassembled digital clock into what looked like a briefcase.

Pearson on Wednesday posted what he said was a screengrab of his Twitter block by the @POTUS account.


Assistant White House Press Secretary Frank Benenati then tweeted that no one has ever been blocked by the president's account.


Pearson took that as an accusation that he lied about being blocked and made a video to fire back, saying it is the White House that has lied about several issues, including Benghazi.

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Meat-eaters should be treated like smokers, says the vegan shadow environment secretary Kerry McCarthy

"Militant" vegan was appointed shadow environment secretary

Meat eaters should be treated in the same way as smokers and targeted with ad campaigns urging them to become vegetarians, according to Labour’s new spokeswoman for the farming industry.

Kerry McCarthy, who has admitted she is a “militant” vegan, was appointed shadow environment secretary in Jeremy Corbyn’s front-bench team, alarming countryside campaigners who warned that her veganism and strong opposition to hunting and the badger cull would harm Britain’s farming industry.

She said that although progress had been made to improve animal welfare, ultimately people needed to give up meat or dairy if they really wanted to protect animals.

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Site analysis nearly complete for wind farm off Md. Coast

As a condition of their lease for two sites off the Maryland Coast, purchased last year for $8.7 million, U.S. Wind reports it has submitted an application to tie in to Maryland’s power grid and will spend the next few weeks analyzing data for a report due in early November.

“The application and site assessment plans are conditions of the lease,” Paul Rich, director of project development for U.S. Wind, said. “We’re finalizing the site assessment plans and analyzing our work in the context of a number of other studies.”

The other studies include environmental data that has already been collected and the determination if the site is a viable area for wind power.

The plans must be submitted within one year of the lease, Rich said.

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IRS Agent Charged After Demanding Cash from Marijuana Shop Owner

Undercover sting busts agent who took $20,000

A Seattle IRS agent is facing federal charges after soliciting a bribe from a marijuana dispensary owner.

According to court documents, Paul G. Hurley was charged Monday in U.S. District Court with soliciting and agreeing to receive a bribe by a public official and two counts of receiving a bribe by a public official.

The incident began when Hurley, who was tasked with performing an audit on the dispensary, approached the shop owner and demanded $20,000 in exchange for leniency.

After the encounter, the business owner immediately contacted federal authorities who later oversaw multiple meetings and exchanges of cash between the pair.

During one of the final meetings, Hurley reportedly told the pot shop owner “off the record” that he had saved him more than $1 million despite no tax deductions existing for marijuana dispensaries.

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Verizon Wireless charges couple $2M for a month of service

Having once spent an entire year arguing with Verizon Wireless about a $200 billing discrepancy—and cutting off service entirely after it was resolved—I can scarcely imagine the horror of finding out I “owed” them $2,156,593.64.

That’s the hefty sum the company is allegedly demanding from Ken Slusher and his girlfriend of Damascus, Oregon. The couple told KUTV that they had opened a cellphone account in November 2014 but closed it after just a month due to an “astounding” number of billing errors:

Slusher says they canceled the service in December and returned the phones to a local Verizon store in January.

They thought it was all cleared up until they started getting notices from several collection agencies demanding upward of $2,000.

Slusher and his girlfriend say they've been going back and forth for months with customer service representatives who agree there's been a mistake. However, with no resolution, Slusher checked his Verizon account balance again on Monday and that's when he heard the $2 million figure.


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School District Bans 'Tag' Over Emotional Well-being of Students

What have our schools become when administrators ban the game of tag over the emotional well-being of kids? Well, a laughing stock.

But that hasn't stopped the Mercer Island School District from banning the harmless game without even consulting parents.

The school district's communications director Macy Grade, in an email, told Q13 that the "rationale behind this [ban] is to ensure the physical and emotional safety of all students."

Emotional safety? Are kids such wimps that they become traumatized while chased in a game they volunteer to play? Or is that the hyper-sensitive, hyper-protective school district feels the need to protect students from made up dangers to justify their paychecks?

They also address physical safety, wanting kids to "keep their hands to themselves." After all, a pat on the back in a voluntary game of tag might ... make you mildly uncomfortable?

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Council Passes Trailer Ordinance Ahead Of October Auto Events

OCEAN CITY — As part of the ongoing effort to rein in some of the behavior associated with the vehicle-related special events, the Ocean City Mayor and Council on Monday passed an ordinance requiring registered participants to purchase a permit for parking oversized trailers on certain city streets.

Two weeks ago, the Mayor and Council were considering an outright ban on parking oversized trailers on city streets, but opted instead to institute a permit process for those special event participants. On Monday, the Mayor and Council passed the ordinance, but not before making some changes and leaving open the possibility for altering the fee cost or the fines.

During the spring Cruisin’ event and similar events throughout the spring and fall, hot rod enthusiasts who tow their classic cars to the resort often park their oversized trailers wherever they can find space along public streets and municipal parking areas, often creating traffic hazards and gobbling up multiple parking spots, contributing to congestion.

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Recession Imminent - Kansas Becomes 6th Regional Fed Survey Flashing Red

And the regional Fed survey collapse goes on... Dallas, Richmond, New York, PhillyChicago, and now Kansas City...

Kansas Fed prints -8 (missing expectations of -6), now negative for the 7th month in a row...something not seen outside of a recession.

Climate Change Truth


Russia exhumes Czar Nicholas II, 1918 murder case reopened

The Russian Investigative Committee has exhumed the bones of Czar Nicholas II and his wife as part of a new probe into the 1918 murder of the royal family. Investigators plan to use genetic testing to identify whether bone fragments found in 2007 belong to two of the czar's children.

In 1918, the czar, his wife and five children were gunned down in the basement of a home where they were held by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution.

The remains of the czar, his wife and three of their children were uncovered in a mass grave in 1991. DNA testing confirmed their identity, and the family was laid to rest in 1998 in St. Petersburg. The Russian Orthodox Church canonized the family in 2000,AP reported.

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Obama Muslim Question


Maryland Reporter Proposed moratorium on Eastern Shore chicken houses rekindles debate on Conowingo Dam

View of the Conowingo Dam on the Susquehanna River in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Lee taken Sept. 12, 2011. Discharge at time of the photo was 220,000 cubic feet per second. Peak discharge for the flood was 778,000 cubic feet per second at 4 a.m.on Sept. 9, 2011. Photo by Wendy McPherson, U.S. Geological Survey.

By Dan Menefee

The Kent Guardian for MarylandReporter.com

The Clean Chesapeake Coalition, a group of seven Maryland counties formed in 2012 to challenge the priorities and science of the $14.4 billion cleanup mandate for the Bay, is again sparring with environmental groups it says continue to ignore the Susquehanna River as the single largest source of pollution that flows into the Bay.

In 2013 and 2014, the coalition challenged the “futility” of spending $3.7 billion over a decade to reduce 50,000 pounds of nitrogen from septic systems — while no dollars were appropriated to deal with pollution from the Susquehanna River. The Susquehana jettisons 131 million pounds of nitrogen through the floodgates of the Conowingo Dam annually, nearly 50 percent of the total nitrogen load into the Bay.

Septic systems by contrast account for just seven percent of Maryland’s nitrogen discharge into the Bay.

Argument moves to phosphorus

This year the argument has moved to phosphorus. Environmental groups have taken aim at the Eastern Shore’s chicken belt, floating an idea for an eight-year moratorium on new chicken houses until a Phosphorus Management Tool is fully implemented in 2024.

The PMT is a regulatory regime that was agreed to by the administration of Gov. Larry Hogan to limit the amount of chicken manure spread on farms. The PMT will measure how much phosphorus is already present in the soil. If saturation reaches certain levels, farmers must scale back or eliminate the use of chicken manure to stay within legal limits.

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Baltimore By The Numbers


Current Gas Prices In Charleston S.C.


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Life


In Rock Hill, Rand Paul is ‘talking to people who have been ignored’

ROCK HILL  “I highly doubt there are five people here who went to see Bernie Sanders and Rand Paul,” said Kenneth Derrick.

But Derrick, a Winthrop student, ensured there was at least one. He was one of about 200 people who filled the old American Legion hall in Rock Hill for a visit from the Kentucky senator who picked up a prominent local endorsement for his White House bid during Wednesday’s visit.

Derrick was one of 3,000 who also attended a Sept. 12 rally at Winthrop for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Democrat and avowed socialist who is probably the polar opposite of the libertarian-leaning Paul – and Derrick, wearing a “Rand” sticker on his jacket, was quick to point out he doesn’t plan to vote for Sanders.

“Rand is pretty much the opposite of Bernie Sanders,” he said.

But the average Republican voter likely wouldn’t go to a Sanders campaign rally, and the theme among those at the Legion hall was that they were not average Republican voters.

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Read more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/news/local/article36285162.html#storylink=cpy
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