Salisbury News: 07/23/16

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Department of the Environment Awards Grants Totaling $250,000 for Electronics Recycling in Maryland

Statewide Electronics Recycling Program provides money to counties and municipalities

Baltimore, MD – The Maryland Department of the Environment recently announced $250,000 in grant money from the Statewide Electronics Recycling Program to Maryland counties and municipalities to assist in the collection and recycling of electronics. The recycling of electronic materials such as computers and video display devices including, televisions, monitors, and cell phones, and other electronic goods reduces toxins entering the waste stream, saves valuable space in landfills, and conserves natural resources.

“We applaud Maryland counties and municipalities for boosting E-waste recycling and product stewardship,” said Environment Secretary Ben Grumbles. Maryland’s leadership in the electronic age means not only protecting public health and the environment from potential risks of metals and chemicals leaking from landfills and waste streams, but also turning waste into wealth. We should always remember the three R’s – reduce, reuse and recycle – when considering throwing an item into the trash.”

In all, 27 counties and municipalities were awarded grant money, including: $15,000 each to Dorchester and Somerset counties; $13,315 to Allegany County; $12,750 each to Washington and Wicomico counties; $12,000 each to Prince George’s, Worcester, Harford, St. Mary’s, Carroll, Charles and Calvert counties; and $11,250 each to Howard and Montgomery counties. The Midshore Regional Recycling Program serving Caroline, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot counties received $31,935 for their electronic recycling efforts.

MSP Alcohol Related Collision- Press Release 7-23-16 (Berlin Barrack)

WICO Health Department: Mass Immunization Clinics

Three Florida Men Charged with Conspiring and Attempting to Provide Material Support to ISIL

Three Palm Beach County, Florida, residents were charged with conspiring and attempting to support the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a designated foreign terrorist organization.

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin, U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida, Special Agent in Charge George L. Piro of the FBI’s Miami Field Office and members of the South Florida Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) made the announcement.

Gregory Hubbard, aka Jibreel, 52, of West Palm Beach, Florida; Darren Arness Jackson, aka Daoud, 50, also of West Palm Beach; and Dayne Atani Christian, aka Shakur, 31, of Lake Park, Florida, were charged by a criminal complaint with knowingly conspiring and attempting to provide material support and resources to ISIL. Christian was also charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. The detention hearing will take place on July 27, 2016, and the defendants will be arraigned on Aug. 5, 2016.

“According to the complaint, these defendants conspired and attempted to provide material support to ISIL and one of the defendants was arrested attempting to travel overseas to join and fight for the deadly terrorist organization,” said Assistant Attorney General Carlin. “The National Security Division’s highest priority is countering terrorist threats, and we will continue to work to stem the flow of foreign fighters abroad and bring to justice those who conspire and attempt to provide material support to designated foreign terrorist organizations.”

Several Possibilities Behind Horseshoe Crab Deaths

OCEAN CITY — Mary Jo Pollock was walking her dog late last week in her neighborhood in mid-town Ocean City when she smelled an odor that was incredibly pungent.

“The air smelled so fishy,” said Pollock, “so I looked in the canal and there were dozens and dozens of these things floating in the water that looked like big brown balls.”

Those balls, were dead horseshoe crabs.

The Maryland Coastal Bays Program says a significant number of dead horseshoe crabs washed into a canal on 94th Street and alarmed many residents, but on the whole, there is nothing “fishy” going on, despite the smell.

This is spawning season for the ancient horseshoe crab, which is older than 99% of all species on the planet. During spawning, up to 10% of the population can die because the act of spawning is incredibly stressful to older horseshoe crabs. Since spawning occurs during full and new moon cycles, horseshoe crabs often get caught up in the tides and swept against sand bars or rip-rap, which can also cause death.

The tide cycles, and in some cases, wind can play a factor in transporting large numbers of dead horseshoe crabs into local canals or waterways, according to the Maryland Coastal Bays Program (MCBP).

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COAST GUARD SEEKS ASSISTANCE IN IDENTIFYING ANNAPOLIS, MD. HOAX CALLER

BALTIMORE — The Coast Guard requests the public’s assistance in locating a hoax caller who made 28 false distress alerts since July of 2014.

All calls were determined to have originated from the Annapolis, Maryland, area between Loretta Heights and Admiral Drive along 450/West Street and involved the same male voice transmitting over VHF-FM marine radio channel 16.

The two most recent calls were received on Jul. 21, 2016, at 10:27 p.m., and again on Jul. 22, 2016, at 1:08 a.m., stating, "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday."

The Coast Guard’s cost for the searches is estimated to be approximately $500,000.

In addition to the financial cost, there is significant operational impact caused by making false distress calls. False distress alerts detract from the Coast Guard’s ability to respond to actual emergencies.

Hotel wall design approved despite concerns

Visitors and residents crossing the Route 90 bridge will soon see a new view of a developing major hotel because of a plan that will incorporate a wave design on what otherwise looked like an eight-story tall “prison wall.”

The new artistic effort makes good on a provision that was part of the Planning and Zoning Commission’s 2014 a site plan approval for a 150-room Residence Inn by Marriott hotel along the bay near the bridge. According to officials, the preliminary concept included a stark white wall on the north side of the hotel facing the bridge, while the east, west and south sides included windows, wave-like roof heights and other features.

One of the stipulations attached to that approval was that the developers would return to the commission with a revised design of the wall to meet the commission’s sense of aesthetics. Two weeks ago, the commission asked the developers to deliver on that promise, even though the project is roughly 90 percent complete.

“We’ve had about 20 calls, and we’ve been told that the long white wall looks like a prison,” Commission member Palmer Gillis said at that session. “What we’re wondering is what we’re going to do to break that up.”

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Berlin Wetlands Project To Begin

BERLIN – The long awaited Hudson Branch wetlands project is expected to begin this summer following contract approval from the Berlin Town Council.

The town council voted this month to approve a $421,150 contract with A-Del Construction for the creation of an offline wetlands along Hudson Branch.

“I see this as a milestone,” Town Administrator Laura Allen said. “It’s taken us some time.”

The wetlands, designed to address the neighborhood’s stormwater problems, will be built alongside Hudson Branch behind the Flower Street Multi-Purpose Building. The wetlands is expected to alleviate flooding and provide surplus water with a place to go. At the same time, it will improve water quality in the area.

“This is the first in a series of projects that are going to be back to back to back,” said Darl Kolar, the town’s stormwater engineer.

Kolar said the town received two bids for the work, both of which were close in costs. He recommended pursuing a contract with A-Del Construction because the company had done work in Berlin before.

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Del. Dan Morhaim, advocate of medical marijuana, draws scrutiny for role in firm

A state lawmaker who has been a leading advocate of Maryland's medical marijuana law said Wednesday he wished he had been more transparent about his business connection to the cannabis industry.

Del. Dan Morhaim, a Baltimore County Democrat, has drawn scrutiny for publicly telling the state's medical cannabis commission how to set up the industry at the same time he agreed to work as a clinical director for a private company seeking a highly coveted license.

Morhaim, who is a physician, sponsored legislation passed by the General Assembly that legalized and helped form the industry.

"In hindsight," Morhaim told The Baltimore Sun on Wednesday, he should have disclosed the extent of his relationship with Doctor's Orders LLC, "if I knew a better way to do it."

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Berlin’s Miss Connie ‘Will Be So Missed’

BERLIN — One of the Berlin’s most influential and inspirational African-American community leaders passed away this week at the age of 90.

Constance Sturgis, who was lovingly called Miss Connie by many in the community, was known and will be celebrated in the coming days and weeks as a lifelong teacher of the youth, a brilliant storyteller, a beloved historian and a local treasure.

“She will be so missed,” said Reverend Betty Smith, who was a former student of Sturgis’ and is the current pastor of Tyree AME Church in Berlin. “It will be impossible to duplicate what she gave to all of us in the community.”

During an interview with Sturgis last February, the former teacher at the then all-black Berlin Middle School spoke about her humble upbringings as a young African-American girl in Mardela Springs driven by a yearning to become educated and make a difference in the lives of young people as a teacher.

“These kids today are crying out for our help,” Sturgis said. “Our youth want to escape from using drugs, alcohol, gangs, and they really need boundaries within their lives that provide structure and safety. They are entering into adulthood unprepared and failing at alarming rates because of violence or a lack of resources.”

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Ban on housing voucher discrimination proposed in Baltimore County

A proposed bill before the Baltimore County Council would keep landlords from discriminating against renters who rely on Section 8 vouchers.

"It does not force anyone to do anything other than be an American and not discriminate and give people a fair chance,” Councilman Julian Jones said. “That's all any of us want is a fair chance."

The bill is intended to break up pockets of poverty throughout the county and to end what federal housing authorities view as decades of discriminatory practices.

But the measure has raised concerns.

"Out of the 6,000 vouchers for Baltimore County, I have over 1,400 of them in the 6th District, which is Middle River up to Towson and I keep saying to myself, 'I'm going to get more. I'm going to get more," Councilwoman Cathy Bevins said.

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Police/courts

Theft scheme

Ocean City police officers arrested Leo Clarke, 43, of Pocono Pines, Pennsylvania, for theft and a theft scheme on July 16.

The day prior, police met with a restaurant manager who said Clarke was stealing from the restaurant inside a hotel.

Police reported hotel guests receive a 20 percent discount on their checks at the restaurant. After the guests leave, Clarke, a server, would discount the check again, print a new receipt and pocket the money from the discount.

The manager stated Clarke was stealing money from the restaurant every day he worked in July.

After calculations were complete on cash and room charges, employees discovered Clarke pocketed a total of $1,041.65 since June 1, which is not including credit card charges and totals are expected to increase once those numbers are calculated.

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Maryland gained 9,800 jobs in June

Maryland gained 9,800 total jobs in June thanks to increases in the leisure and hospitality industry and information technology.

The state's unemployment rate dropped to 4.3 percent, a slight decrease from 4.5 percent in May, according to preliminary data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The private sector added 11,700 jobs. Leisure and hospitality gained 6,100 jobs in June, while the information technology sector grew by 2,900 jobs because of growth in telecommunications. Professional and business services grew by 2,600 jobs while trade, transportation and utilities increased by 1,700 jobs. Manufacturing increased by 300 jobs. On the flip side, government jobs decreased by 1,900 and the education and health services industry lost 100 positions.

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Association gets to work restoring 1940s airplane

A piece of aviation history, a 1940s-era Aeronca Chief, was delivered on Saturday, July 9, to a hangar at the Ocean City Airport, where the Ocean City Aviation Association will begin a lengthy restoration project.

Coleman Bunting, OCAA treasurer, said the recent purchase came about from an attempt to bridge the generation gap with area youngsters.

“We wanted to try to reach some of the kids in the schools,” he said. “I checked with Stephen Decatur (High School) and Wor-Wic (Community College) and told them we were interested in doing this project and we never got any response.”

The OCAA has been in existence for half a century, Bunting said, and its primary mission is to promote safety and education at the airport.

“It used to be we made model airplanes and now everybody is on their computer,” he said. “Not too many of them are interested in mechanical skills. It’s going to be a lost art doing some of this stuff.”

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Blood Supply Shortage Called Critical

BERLIN – According to Miriam A. Markowitz, CEO of AABB, “Every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood. It is indispensable and required in the treatment of millions of patients, including individuals with cancer and other life-threatening diseases, patients undergoing organ transplants and trauma victims.”

The urgency of that statement is indicative of the overwhelming necessity for blood donations not just across the nation, but also locally at the Blood Bank of Delmarva.

Though the Delmarva area does not typically experience a considerable dip in donations once summer hits, this year the Blood Bank of Delmarva (BBD) is still facing its most severe decline in donations yet, reflecting a national trend that is growing.

Every year, the summer season hits the nation’s blood banks hard. The schools and universities that host blood drives are out of session. Local school blood drives provide 13-14% of the Blood Bank of Delmarva’s total blood volume for the year.

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It's A Hot One Today

Not only are the temperatures incredibly high today, the traffic coming into Ocean City was backed up all the way from Stephen Decatur High School all the way into Ocean City. Hope your A/C works!

OC’s ‘Beach Ball’ Water Tower Paint Job Underway

OCEAN CITY — Work has begun on the welcoming “beach ball” paint scheme on the town’s new water tower at 1st Street, but the question now is whether anyone entering the resort from the Route 50 Bridge will be able to see it in the future.

The new water tower at 1st Street rose steadily from the downtown landscape through much of the winter and early spring and its construction came in ahead of schedule in March. The plan is once the new tower is operational, the town’s existing water towers at Worcester Street and 15th Street will be removed, improving efficiency and minimizing the future cost of maintenance.

With the structure completed, crews last week began the process of painting the new water tower, which heretofore has been a dull gray beacon lurking over the downtown landscape. When it’s completed, the new water tower will be adorned with a somewhat unique “beach ball” paint scheme welcoming visitors along one of the main entrances to the resort.

Last year, the Mayor and Council approved the beach ball design after learning it would cost just about $10,000 more than the traditional pale blue scheme seen on most of the resort’s water towers. Public Works Director Hal Adkins said the paint job began last week and continues this week with crews working on both the interior and exterior.

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LOST DOG In Salisbury (Please Share) UPDATE

It’s Official: Leftists Failed at Protesting GOP Convention

Leftists promised rage at the 2016 Republican National Convention and failed to deliver. The anarchists and Black Lives Matter radicals tried their hardest and simply couldn’t get anyone to show up to participate in their efforts to attack Republicans and treat police officers badly. The attempt to turn the 2016 convention into a warzone–as their movement had done at the 2008 convention–simply failed. The Cleveland anarchists and radical leftists failed and simply sucked at organizing. This year’s fireworks from the “revolutionaries” proved their movement to be even more impotent than did their failures in 2012 at the Tampa convention.

Calls to march were made by local Cleveland anarchists and very few people even showed up.

Occasional glimpses of Code Pink with 5-12 ladies occurred. The local cop watch group only mustered a handful of black-clothes wearing cop-haters to participate in their hatred–and in one instance they were surrounded by convention-goers who out-shouted them with support for the police.

Internal planning threads for the anarchists to which Breitbart had access indicated that the majority of groups wanted and planned on using the final day as their big bang. The biggest success of the day for the radicals was a small group wearing masks and running up and down the street with police escorting them.

As Breitbart reported, local radicals lashed out and were clearly humiliated and angry when their lack of support was made clear. The communities in Cleveland simply didn’t agree with them or want to participate with them.

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Worcester has more CAFOs, fewer problems

Despite having nearly the same number of “Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations” as Wicomico, and far more than in Somerset, public outcry about these farms’ impact on the environment and neighboring properties has been limited in Worcester County, and it’s no accident.

CAFOs, as they are known, are essentially the same as other animal feeding operations, such as chicken houses, except they have more animals per square foot to reduce costs. The upside of these is cheaper chicken at the grocery store, while the downside includes possible negative effects on air quality, groundwater and property values, depending on how waste is handled, the size of the operation and its proximity to other properties.

That’s where Worcester’s zoning laws come in.

County zoning restricts farming operations to the zones specifically designated for that purpose, as well as the Enterprise zones (E1) and a “resource planning district” (RP) by special exception.

The E-1 zone is expected to be eliminated during the next review of the comprehensive plan, which also will review all the farming zoning districts.

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Medicaid Enrollees Cost 49% More Than Previously Expected

Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion enrollees cost 49 percent higher than what was projected one year ago, Forbes reported.

According to a report from the Department of Health and Human Services, the agency found that these enrollees cost an average of $6,366 in fiscal year 2015, up from $4,281 that was projected in last year’s report.

“The magnitude of HHS’ error reveals a major flaw in the government’s ability to estimate the ACA’s costs, and worse, that the actual costs of the ACA’s Medicaid expansion appear much higher than expected,” the article states.

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New features continue to be delivered at Frontier Town

When Frontier Town, Fort Whaley and a third campground in Florida were purchased by Sun Communities for $76.2 million last year, upgrades were promised, and have started to be delivered.

But probably one of the most important upgrades coming down the pike is also one of the least palatable — soon, Executive Vice President Jon Colman of Sun Communities said, the entire facility will be running on county water and sewer service.

Currently the campgrounds operate on a hybrid model, with some facilities served by county water and sewer and others, like the campgrounds themselves, still using septic systems.

Worcester County has a long history of encouraging businesses and residences to tie in to county water in sewer services, rather than use septic systems.

“It’s a $5-8 million project,” Colman said. “But that’s just the beginning.”

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Williams: Challenges for Black People

President Barack Obama and his first attorney general, Eric Holder, called for an honest conversation about race. Holder even called us "a nation of cowards" because we were unwilling to have a "national conversation" about race. The truth of the matter is there's been more than a half-century of conversations about race. We do not need more. Instead, black people need to have frank conversations among ourselves, no matter how uncomfortable and embarrassing the topics may be.

Among the nation's most dangerous cities are Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Baltimore, Memphis, Milwaukee, Birmingham, Newark, Cleveland and Philadelphia. These once-thriving cities are in steep decline. What these cities have in common is that they have large black populations. Also, they have been run by Democrats for nearly a half-century, with blacks having significant political power. Other characteristics these cities share are poorly performing and unsafe schools, poor-quality city services, and declining populations.

Each year, more than 7,000 blacks are murdered. That's a number greater than white and Hispanic murder victims combined. Blacks of all ages are killed at six times the rate of whites and Hispanics combined. According to the FBI, the police kill about 400 people a year; blacks are roughly one-third of that number. In Chicago alone, so far this year, over 2,000 people have been shot, leaving over 320 dead. It's a similar tale of mayhem in other predominantly black cities.

The primary victims of lawlessness are black people. To address this problem and most others, black people should ignore the liberal agenda. If civil authorities will not do their job of creating a safe environment, then black people should take the initiative.

One example comes to mind..

Golden Sands clear of legionella

After reports last month that two cases of legionnaires disease were linked to the Golden Sands condominium on Coastal Highway in Ocean City, Jim Thomas, who owns three of the 360 units in the 22-story building, said extensive work has been done to address the issue.

Thomas said this week that initial testing last November found unacceptable levels of the bacterium legionella in the building’s water supply.

“The initial test was performed on Nov. 6,” he said. “We got the results back approximately two to three weeks after that and they discovered they they had some pretty high levels.”

Of the 19 sites tested within the building, two showed no signs of the bacterium, Thomas said, but several were above the threshold of 10 colony-forming units, or CFU’s, established by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration. CFU provides an estimate of the number of viable bacteria cells in a given sample.

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Vocal Minority Won In Banner Ad Issue

Ocean Aerials Inc. owner Bob Bunting should never have been in the position of having to stop accepting paid political ads. The man has a company to run and his business happens to be flying advertising messages over the beach.

The two ads flown over Ocean City last weekend featured pro-Republican messages — “Stop Mad Cow Disease-Defeat Hillary” and “America First-Build The Wall Now.” It’s safe to say hundreds of thousands of beach-goers saw these messages and apparently some were so offended they took their complaints to City Hall as well as Bunting.

The negative reaction resulted in Bunting quickly deciding on his own to suspend all political ads moving forward because he doesn’t want the hassle of a controversy and doesn’t want to cause any trouble for Ocean City. The ads were apparently placed by a person outside the area.

“It’s just not worth the aggravation of people not being able to handle the political system. I agreed to just not accept any political ads whatsoever anymore. I’m going to lay low and not do any political ads,” Bunting told the paper. “… There’s just no tolerance anymore for opposing viewpoints. People don’t understand people buy advertising … These weren’t vulgar ads in anyway. If the Democrats want them now, guess what they don’t get them. Where’s the American way? I’ve never seen anything so nasty. People are scared to say what they really feel anymore. Everyone is just too sensitive. It’s a shame.”

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‘That Was Me Up There Speaking’

Callers to Friday’s episode of Breitbart News Daily on SiriusXM expressed their appreciation for the candor of Donald Trump’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland Thursday night.

Eddie in Florida, a Latino branch manager for an industrial homes company, said that Trump “talked to me like a human being as though I was sitting across a table from him.”

He added that he talks to his blue-collar co-workers the same way that Trump spoke to the nation.

Mike in Montana said, “He really told us what we needed to hear, not what we wanted to hear, and it blew me away and everybody I’ve talked to so far.”

When asked what specifically he liked about Trump’s speech, Mike explained, “I just want the truth from a politician. I want the truth from somebody in Washington. That’s why I listen to Breitbart News – it’s because I demand and want the truth. And he’s given that to me.”

Rich in Michigan said he was “floored” by Trump’s speech, “That was me up there speaking. He was speaking for everybody.”

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Air Force Special Operators Stressed After 15 Years of War

After a decade and a half of war, one of the most stressed career fields in the Air Force is the battlefield airmen who make up the Air Force Special Operations Command.

“They’re getting the job done and they’re proud to do it, but there’s impact over time,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh told reporters on Wednesday. “They’ve been experiencing combat up front for quite some time now, and … you have to pay attention to that.”

Welsh, who is slated to retire on July 1 after 40 years of service, offered the observation during a wide ranging discussion with defense and military writers in Washington, D.C.

“We have some other career fields that have been working very hard, deploying pretty frequently,” he said, “but the folks in AFSOC have borne much of the same traumatic impact of war as the Army and the Marine Corps.”

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Wikileaks DNC email showing Chuck Todd meet the press getting marching orders by Wasserman

IRS “Security” Program Can’t Stop $3.1 Billion Scam

While it’s absorbed persecuting law-abiding conservative groups the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) can’t seem to stop crooks from scamming it to the tune of several billion dollars in one year alone via bogus tax refunds. It’s the latest of many transgressions at the agency that’s doubled as an Obama administration tool to crack down on political adversaries.

A special IRS security feature called Taxpayer Protection Program (TPP) couldn’t prevent criminals from scamming the agency out of an eye-popping $3.1 billion in one year, according to a federal audit. TPP was implemented to curb an epidemic of identity theft that allows criminals to fraudulently get tax refunds. Supposedly, identity theft fraud is reduced through a verification process but the federal probe, conducted by the investigative arm of Congress, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), found serious loopholes. “TPP uses single-factor authentication procedures that incorporate one of the following authentication elements: ‘something you know,’ ‘something you have,’ or ‘something you are,’” the GAO report states. “TPP’s single-factor authentication procedures are at risk of exploitation because some fraudsters obtain the PII (personally identifiable information) necessary to pass the questions asked during authentication.”

As a result thousands of bogus filers get refunds from the IRS annually, possibly more, the GAO probe found. In fact, investigators determined that the IRS may have doled out an undetermined amount of money to an unknown number of fraudsters so the true figure will never be known. This has been going on for years and the IRS has spent a chunk of change trying to combat it to no avail. In fiscal year 2015 the agency dedicated more than 4,000 full-time employees and spent about $470 million to combat refund fraud and identity theft, the GAO reports. The Obama administration requested an additional $90 million and 491 full-time employees for fiscal year 2017 to reduce improper payments as if throwing more money at the problem will solve it. The reality is that this is part of a much broader security issue at the tax agency. Earlier this year the IRS Inspector General confirmed that hackers gained unauthorized access to 724,000 taxpayer accounts, illustrating that its system is incredibly vulnerable.

The latest GAO audit exposes just one of a multitude of problems at the feared tax agency..

More here

Awkward?

"Peddling fiction" versus "inconvenient truths"...

Presented with little comment - Grabbed from the front page of CNN - ivory tower ignorance or willful blindness, you decide...

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Global Airing of ‘Clinton Cash’ Documentary on Breitbart with Email Sign-Up

The highly anticipatedClinton Cash documentary will air for free withBreitbart.com email sign-up on Saturday, July 23 at 8:00 p.m. ET and Sunday, July 24 at 2:00 and 8:00 p.m. ET.

To secure your online movie access pass, enter your email in the Clinton Cashmovie pass form below:

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Baltimore Police Commissioner wants to relax restrictions on past marijuana use for police recruits in Maryland

Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis wants to relax a hiring policy for police officers in Maryland that disqualifies applicants for past marijuana use, saying it is "fundamentally inconsistent with where we are as a society" and hurts local hiring efforts.

Davis will lead a committee to review the current standard of the Maryland Police Training Commission, which sets hiring policy for law enforcement in the state. Police applicants are disqualified from becoming officers if they have used marijuana more than 20 times in their lives or five times since turning 21 years old.

The policy has been in place since the 1970s, when the nation had declared war on drugs. In recent years, Maryland and other states have decriminalized marijuana possession, and some have allowed its use.

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DNC host committee asks court to keep Hillary Clinton's donor list under wraps

The host committee for the Democratic National Convention wants to keep its donor list under wraps until after the convention even though a state open records agency has ordered its release.

A Philadelphia 2016 Host Committee lawyer told a judge Thursday the release of fundraising records could harm the organization's last-minute efforts to seek donations and negotiate vendor contracts.

Lawyer David Pittinsky said those efforts were still ongoing even though the four-day convention starts Monday.

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Black Lives Matter Rejects Barbecue with Police: ‘I Eat Pigs, I Don’t Eat With Them’

The Oakland Police Department (OPD) extended an invitation to followers of the Black Lives Matter movement to participate in a barbecue to start a constructive dialogue between the two groups. However, the police were met with flat-out rejection by a spokesperson who referred to law enforcement as “pigs.”

“A BBQ is definitely not going to stop this blockade,” Karissa Lewis, a self-described “radical black farmer from East Oakland,” told local Fox affiliate KTVU. “And as a radical-black farmer from East Oakland, I eat pigs, I don’t eat with them,” she said.

According to KTVU, Lewis used the “mic-check call and response technique,” which was popularized at many of the Occupy protests, in order to rally support for her response from fellow protesters, who also rejected the offer. KTVU notes that “many of the activists, at least at this one protest, seemed to be in agreement with her about the offer.”

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Iran Preparing to Reopen Prohibited Nuclear Sites

Top Iranian leaders have instructed the country’s atomic energy organization to prepare for the reopening of multiple nuclear sites that had been shuttered as part of last summer’s nuclear agreement.

Ali Larijani, the leader of Iran’s parliament, requested this week that the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization prepare a plan to reopen nuclear enrichment facilitates that had been shutdown as part of the effort to limit Tehran’s research into nuclear weapons technology, according to comments carried in Iran’s state-controlled media.

Iranian leaders are displeased with a recent United Nations report chastising the Islamic Republic for violating international agreements prohibiting the country’s work on ballistic missiles.

The U.N. described these repeated test launches as not consistent with international accords. Iranian leaders dismissed the report as “biased.”

Iranian lawmakers recently passed legislation in June 2015, mandating the country preserve its nuclear infrastructure if more sanctions are placed on the country.

“It is necessary for the Atomic Energy Organization to act in compliance with the law passed on the reopening of the nuclear plant to enrich uranium proportionate to the country’s needs and prepare a plan and keeps the [parliament] posted on it,” Larijani said.

The Iranian leader further chided the United States for pursuing “diversionary actions” aimed at undermining the nuclear agreement.

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Donald Trump Gave Ted Cruz the Rope to Hang Himself

After Ted Cruz’s stunning refusal to back Donald Trump in his address to the Republican National Convention on Wednesday evening, Trump emerged from the wings, smiling and applauding as he waved to the crowd. Later, he tweeted that he had seen the speech beforehand, and let Cruz deliver it anyway.

Whether that is true or not, Trump clearly gave Cruz the rope to hang himself. Rather than rising above politics, and rising to the occasion, Cruz proved Trump right about his character.

As I noted yesterday, there were three possibilities for Cruz’s address.

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Justice Department sues Pennsylvania town for rejecting mosque

The Justice Department is taking a Pennsylvania town to court over a municipal board’s denial of a zoning application for a mosque, accusing officials of discriminating against a local Muslim organization on the basis of religion.

The Bensalem Township violated the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act when its zoning board in 2014 rejected a zoning request that would have allowed the Bensalem Masjid to build a mosque in the town, Justice Department attorneys wrote in a complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

“Our Constitution protects the rights of religious communities to build places of worship free from unlawful interference and unnecessary barriers,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Department of Justice will continue to challenge unjustified local zoning actions around the country when they encroach upon this important civil right.”

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The incredible recovery of Boston Terrier puppy named Libre

When little Libre was first brought to a Pennsylvania veterinary hospital on Independence Day, doctors said the Boston Terrier puppy needed a miracle to survive.

His rotting flesh, infected with mange, could be smelled from far away. He was emaciated, dehydrated, barely breathing as he floated in and out of consciousness.

But fast forward to nearly three weeks of around-the-clock care at the Dillsburg Veterinary Center, and Libre seems like a completely different puppy.

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When a Cessna Goes to War

If the Cessna Caravan looks familiar to you, it should. Cessna has built more than 2,500 of these turboprops since the prototype flew in 1982. They're popular as short-haul airliners in places like the Caribbean. More than 250 Caravans haul cargo while painted in the unmistakeable colors of FedEx. But there are a small number of Caravans that haul Hellfire missiles, electro-optical targeting, and reconnaissance systems.

During the recent Farnborough Airshow in the U.K., Cessna announced it has received FAA certification and is now offering wing hard-points for the Grand Caravan EX. Hard-points are structurally reinforced sections of a wing where you mount pylons or the other structures that carry external stores like fuel tanks or weapons. The upshot: This is a Cessna that could go into battle.

The AC-208B "Combat Caravan" has been doing this for more than seven years, actually, and has flown combat sorties in Iraq (which has a fleet of eight Combat Caravans). Cessna refused to discuss it. That's partly because Combat Caravans have a sensitive connection with U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) and partly because the Combat Caravan wasn't developed and modified by Cessna.

The war-worthy Cessna came courtesy of Alliant Techsystems (now Orbital ATK), which has offered counter insurgency and intelligence/surveillance/reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities by outfitting various aircraft—Lockheed Martin C-130s, Bombardier Dash-8s, Hawker Beechcraft King Airs—with networked sensors and weapons.

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The Personality Profile of 2008 Democratic Presidential Contender Hillary Clinton

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Hillary Clinton, a case-study in narcissism

After the Benghazi hearing, Hillary’s sycophantic mainstream media launched into mission mode declaring her the “winner” and the congressional hearing focusing on what happened the night four Americans were murdered in Benghazi a failed and the old, reliable right-wing conspiracy.

This spin was imperative as something remarkable was confirmed through email evidence: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was exposed as having known the attack on our consulate was not the absurd scenario of a protest against a video, but a terrorist attack launched by a terrorist “al Qaeda like group” in an email to her daughter Chelsea.

Yet, this exposure of a sitting secretary of state deliberately lying to the families of the fallen and to the American people is supposed to mean nothing to us. And it seems to mean nothing at all to Hillary.

The most shocking thing about the Benghazi Committee hearing wasn’t the evidence Hillary is so craven she lied to the families, or continued to deny the objective facts of the matter, it was her complete obsession about herself as she testified about the torture murder of a man she called a friend, and three other courageous Americans.

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Hillary Clinton exchanged top secret emails on her private server with three aides

Hillary Clinton exchanged nearly two-dozen top secret emails from her private server with three senior aides, the State Department revealed in documents released to VICE News late Friday.

The 22 emails were sent and received by Clinton in 2011 and 2012. Clinton discussed classified information with her deputy chief of staff, Jacob Sullivan, her chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, and Deputy Secretary of State William Burns. A majority of the top secret emails are email chains between Sullivan and Clinton.

This is the first time the State Department has revealed the identities of the officials who exchanged classified information with Clinton through her private email server.

The new disclosure by the State Department comes three days before the Democratic National Convention kicks off in Philadelphia, where Clinton will formally accept her party's nomination for president, and minutes before Clinton announced her vice presidential pick, Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia.

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Wikileaks Proves Primary Was Rigged: DNC Undermined Democracy

20,000 freshly leaked emails reveal resentful disdain toward Sanders, as party favored Clinton long before any votes were cast
On July 25, the Democratic National Convention will begin in Philadelphia, Pa. To commemorate the event and its embrace of corrupt politician Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee, Wikileaks is releasing thousands of DNC/Clinton emails.

In its recent leak of 20,000 DNC emails from January 2015 to May 2016, DNC staff discuss how to deal with Bernie Sanders’ popularity as a challenge to Clinton’scandidacy. Instead of treating Sanders as a viable candidate for the Democratic ticket, the DNC worked against him and his campaign to ensure Clinton received the nomination.

One email from DNC Deputy Communications Director Eric Walker to several DNC staffers cites two news articles showing Sanders leading in Rhode Island and the limited number of polling locations in the state: “If she outperforms this polling, the Bernie camp will go nuts and allege misconduct. They’ll probably complain regardless, actually.”

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Lawsuit: Excessive force used during pregnant woman’s arrest in Ocean City

BALTIMORE (AP) — A Virginia woman is accusing an Ocean City, Maryland, police officer of slamming her to the ground during an arrest while she was pregnant.

The Daily Record of Baltimore reports (http://bit.ly/29TmnR4) Dalima Palmer of Dumfries, Virginia, filed a lawsuit Wednesday accusing Officer Michael Kirkland of using excessive force during a 2013 arrest after a beach disturbance report. Court records show Palmer was given probation before judgment on an assault charge and cleared of other offenses.

The suit states Kirkland kept the unarmed woman pinned after she said she was pregnant. It also says Palmer was denied medical attention until she lost consciousness and later had an emergency cesarean section.

Ocean City’s attorney Guy Ayres says the town hasn’t been served.

Kirkland didn’t immediately return an Associated Press call seeking comment.
Source

Editor's Note: Below are the links to the original press releases that we posted in 2013
http://sbynews.blogspot.com/2013/07/three-arrested-after-fight-on-beach.html

http://sbynews.blogspot.com/2013/07/ocpd-charges-fourth-person-in-sundays.html

CLARE LOPEZ - Muslim Brothers in the White House! A MUST SEE VIDEO

LEGENDARY COMMENTS BY GEORGE CHEVALLIER 7-23-16

The Sport Coat

Back in 1972 I worked at Ralph & Gaskill’s Men’s Store in Salisbury. From when I started there in 1968 I learned a lot about merchandising and the operation of a retail store. I eventually became the manager of and buyer for the Stag Shop. This was located on the second floor of the downtown store and catered to the teen crowd. I developed a good following of both boys and girls. Realizing that a boy’s size 16 would fit a girl that usually wore a size 7, I pointed out that the boys shirts were only $7 and were made much better, if they didn’t mind having to button them the opposite of what they were used to. The same held true with the very poplar jeans of the era. A simple tuck at the waist of a pair of 29-29 jeans and you had a perfect size 7.

The days of the Stag Shop ended when the new Mall was built on Civic Avenue. It also ended my dream job. I lost my manager’s position and became a salesman on the floor at the Mall. Two big differences were the hours were much different and so was the pay ($1.00 an hour plus 6% commission). Being a commission salesman was not what I envisioned for my future. Being the “young guy”, they would put me at the front of the store where I only had a chance to sell socks and underwear. The big ticket items, such as suits and sport coats were in the back.

Well, we had moved the entire Stag Shop inventory to the Mall so I was very familiar with it, since I had bought it in the first place.

One night, this smallish man came in and wanted a sport coat. He didn’t look very impressive but I decided to give him my best effort. There was a nice wool sport coat that had been in inventory for about four years but, since it came from the Stag Shop, it was a size 36 and cut a bit smaller than a regular men’s cut. I tried it on him and it fit perfectly. He said it was fine and that was what he wanted. So, I took the coat up to the counter and asked the man if it would be a cash or credit transaction. He said he would have to take it home to get his wife’s approval and he would let me know. I explained that I couldn’t just let him have the coat and he said “Clem (Mr. Gaskill) always let him take something home for his wife’s approval”. I figured if he knew Mr. Gaskill he must be O.K. to charge. After all, the coat had been marked down to only $28.00, so I wouldn’t be taking that much of a risk. I told him that it was all right for him to take it home for her approval, but I would need a name to keep track of the coat. When he told me it was A. W. Perdue, I nearly died. He could have afforded anything in the store and I sold him the least expensive sport coat we had. But he looked good in it and it fit him great. At least I got that satisfaction. Needless to say, his wife liked the coat and he kept it. A small sale, but better than the guy I spent two hours with and dragged out about $250.00 worth of merchandise before the office said his credit was kaput and I had to put everything back. That was retailing – good days and bad days.

Whistleblower Says Potential Hillary Veep Covered Up Corruption

A Labor Department whistleblower accused one of Hillary Clinton’s potential vice presidential picks of corruption and called for an investigation into corruption at the department.

Darrell Whitman, a former inspector at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, published a letter calling for a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of corruption at the Labor Department. Whitman said that Labor Secretary Tom Perez, who is on the short list to become Hillary Clinton’s running mate, retaliated against investigators who attempted to curb corruption at the agency.

He sent the letter to American Federation of Government Employees President J. David Cox asking for the union’s support in his effort to protect whistleblowers at the department in late June.

“Evidence indicates the secretary authorized and/or ratified a retaliatory investigation, which led to my removal, the removal of two other highly qualified and experienced investigators, and the resignation of a fourth highly qualified investigator who was disgusted by these developments,” the letter says. “By the end of 2015, five of the six Region IX investigators who actively objected to the corruption had been removed or forced out of their jobs.”

Secretary Perez is no stranger to allegations of abuse from whistleblowers.

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Ted Cruz's path to self-destruction

Ted Cruz writes a political suicide note

Cleveland — As Charles Krauthammer put it, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz wrote “the longest suicide note in U.S. History,” and it was a disjointed, contradictory one that revealed a deeply conflicted and narcissistic man. A principled stand for the party and country? Hardly. In the end, it was all about Mr. Cruz. There’s a reason why he only has one friend in the Senate, and this week, that reason became explicitly clear to the American public.

On Wednesday night, Mr. Cruz started off strong.

He argued for “a return to freedom,” where you can chose your own healthcare, not have the IRS beat down your door, possess a tax-free internet, speak your mind, practice your own religion, and have the right to bear arms. He spoke of state rights, of building a wall on the Southern border, for the United States to stop admitting ISIS terrorists as refugees, and of a Supreme Court that follows the Constitution

These are all positions that Donald Trump supports and has advocated for.

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WikiLeaks Threatens Twitter with Competing Platform After Declaring Support for #FreeMilo

WikiLeaks has threatened Twitter with the creation of another social network after defending Breitbart Tech editor Milo Yiannopoulosover his ban from the site.

“Cyber feudalism: @Twitter founder @Jack banned conservative gay libertarian @nero for speaking the ‘wrong’ way to actress @Lesdoggg,” posted the WikiLeaks Twitter account on Thursday.

“We don’t ban people for expressing their thoughts. Targeted abuse & inciting abuse against people however, that’s not allowed,” replied Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, despite the fact that no evidence has been provided showing Yiannopoulos did any such thing.

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Saturday, July 23, 2016

WikiLeaks has threatened Twitter with the creation of another social network after defending Breitbart Tech editor Milo Yiannopoulosover his ban from the site.