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Saturday, December 24, 2016

Now That Is Punny

1. The fattest knight at King Arthurs round table was Sir cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.
2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian .
3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.
4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class, because it was a weapon of math disruption.
5. No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.
6. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.
7. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.
8. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.
9. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.
10. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
11. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
12. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other: You stay here; I'll go on a head.
13. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.
14. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: Keep off the Grass.
15. The midget fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.
16. The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.
17. A backward poet writes inverse.
18. In a democracy its your vote that counts. In feudalism its your count that votes.
19. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste o religion.
20. If you jumped off the bridge in Paris, you'd be in Seine.
21. A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at him and says, Im sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger.
22. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. One turns to the other and says "Dam!"
23. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you cant have your kayak and heat it too.
24. Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says," I've lost my electron." The other says "Are you sure?" The first replies," Yes, I'm positive."
25. Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal treatment? His goal: transcend dental medication.
26. There was the person who sent ten puns to friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.

Austrian Gun Sales Quadruple as Migrant Crime Rises

Gun sales in Austria have “quadrupled” as citizens of that nation seek to secure means of self-defense in response to the “immigrant crisis” that has enveloped Europe.

Earlier in 2016, the crisis led Austria to “began limiting the number of asylum applications it would receive.” But gun sales began to skyrocket prior to this move being made.

According to The Local, the number of weapons permits issued in Vienna and Styria in particular in September 2015 more than “quadrupled in November (2015).” This is an indicator of the number of Austrians seeking out firearms for self-defense.

And the increased demand for firearms has continued. On December 18, 2016, the UK’sExpress reported that Jeffrey Pang—an employee of Joh Springer’s, Austria’s oldest gun store—said the buying “surge in firearm sales coincided with reports of robberies, rapes and break-ins since the migrant crisis began.” He added, “Following the rise in attacks, customers want pepper sprays, combat training, small concealed carry weapons.”

“Our security level has diminished in the last couple months. You see the crowds They’re shouting, they’re drinking, there is no security anymore,” Pang said.

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Public Notice - Cancellation of December 27, 2016 Council Meeting


German Government Admits Just 2.8% of 1.2M Migrants Have Gotten Jobs

They came because Merkel promised them free money

While last year Angela Merkel was saying “skilled migrants” will pay for aging Germans’ pensions, a new government study has found just 34,000 out of 1.2 million migrants have gotten jobs.

From The Daily Mail:

Just 34,000 migrants out of the 1.2million who have arrived in Germany in the past two years have managed to find a job, new figures have revealed.

The statistics from the German government’s Institute for Labour Research (IAB) reveal how only three per cent of those who travelled to the country are now working.

And in addition out of those who are employed, nearly a quarter are just on temporary contracts, with the numbers applying to migrants mostly from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Eritrea.

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It's Christmas eve and here's something different

It's Christmas eve and here's something different, it's about a woman we all know so here goes. 

'Twas the night befor Christmas and all through the house it was Huma and Hillary and Bill Clinton that louse,,,At the Clinton foundation hope filled the air, That the money would keep coming there,,,Hillary and Huma were snug in her bed,thinking all investigations were dead,,,Everyone seemed to be settled down, But Hillary was still upset at losing her crown,,, Suddenly there came a knock at the door,It was the FBI who had said they found more,,, Hillary knew she was just about through, And Bill Clinton knew that he was too,,, The FBI said Hillary you'r going to jail,And Bill objected but to no avail,,, Hillary said Trump caused all the trouble, But poor Hillary's living in a bubble,,,The FBI cuffed her and took her to the clink, And nobody knew exactly what to think,,, When Trump supporters heard they took her away, They all celebrated,,,SO HOW WAS YOUR DAY? Stu Stinchfield

Dems’ disparagement of Republican victory is backfiring

1% of Trump voters regret decision while 4% of Hillary voters regret theirs

(New York Post) Democrats’ belief that new information revealed after Donald Trump’s election — as when the reports of Russian interference spurred calls on the left for a revote or, failing that, for “faithless” electors to abandon Trump — would change voters’ minds has taken another hit.

A Pew Research survey Wednesday showed a whopping 97 percent of all voters would cast the exact same vote they did on Election Day, including 99 percent of Trump voters and 96 percent of Clinton voters. As with the recount that saw Clinton lose votes and the Electoral College vote that saw her lose electors, only 1 percent of Trump voters regret their vote, while 4 percent of Clinton voters do.

Voters seem ready to move on.

TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

So, You Want to See Some Strong Passwords?

Here are example passwords that discourage 'brute force' dictionary cracking:
OK Password:Better Password:Excellent Password:
kitty1Kitty1Ki77y
susanSusan53.Susan53
jellyfishjelly22fishjelly22fi$h
smellycatsm3llycat$m3llycat
allblacksa11Blacksa11Black$
usher!usher!ush3r
ebay44ebay.44&ebay.44
deltagammadeltagamm@d3ltagamm@
ilovemypiano       !LoveMyPiano!Lov3MyPiano
SterlingSterlingGmail2015   SterlingGmail20.15
BankLoginBankLogin13BankLogin!3
ShelbyShelbyPass1Shelby.Pass1.
RolltideRollTide%
RollTide%.%
StarWars$tarwarz$tar|warz
   
   
Why are some passwords stronger than others?
A strong password resists guessing.  Hackers and computer intruders will use automated software as a way to submit hundreds of guesses per minute to open your online account.  These software tools are called 'dictionary' or 'brute force repetition' tools, because they will use English dictionaries to sequentially guess your password.

Existing Cell Towers To Expand To Ensure Coverage

OCEAN CITY — A height increase for two towers at a prominent Boardwalk condominium building was passed this week in order to install equipment that will help ensure cell phone coverage and Internet access throughout the downtown area.

During Tuesday’s Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, Dan Rowland of Smartlink LLC presented a plan to expand the height of two towers at Belmont Towers by 10 feet each in order to allow the company to install cellular equipment previously housed on the water tower at Worcester Street, which will soon be taken down.

Rowland told the planning commission on Tuesday that Smartlink had equipment installed on the Worcester Street water tower for its client AT&T, but with the tower soon to be removed, the company was exploring other options. The only other structure in the downtown area with the height to accommodate the equipment was Belmont Towers along the Boardwalk at Talbot Street.

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Marijuana Legalization Hangs in the Balance as Maine Begins Recount

The recount of votes on Maine's contentious marijuana legalization initiative began Monday in Augusta with volunteers slowly hand-sorting through thousands of "Yes" and "No" votes, one by one.

Volunteer counters occasionally set aside small numbers of ballots that could be challenged because they had been mismarked or may not have been counted properly. On one ballot, for example, a voter filled in the "o" in the word "No" instead of filling in the oval next to it. On another, a voter colored in circles above "Yes" but didn't fill in the oval.
The painstaking recount got underway just over one month before the historic new law is set to take effect, and the process of reviewing as many as 700,000 ballots from roughly 500 communities could delay implementation of the law even if the review does not uncover enough counting errors to overturn the results.

The law -- which is now scheduled to take effect by Jan. 7 -- would make Maine one of eight states to allow adults 21 and older to use marijuana as a recreational drug. The legalization votes in Maine and other states in November were seen by advocates as tipping the balance toward nationwide legalization, although uncertainty about the policies of the incoming Trump administration is chilling the enthusiasm.

Maine's law, if it stands, would go a step further than other states, by also allowing state-licensed marijuana social clubs where people could smoke the drug in a social setting and not just in the privacy of their homes. Social clubs and marijuana stores would likely not open in Maine until January 2018 because the state would need to set up rules and licensing standards.

The marijuana recount started at 9 a.m. in the Florian Room of the Maine Department of Public Safety in Augusta. And the first ballots to be recounted were from Portland, where residents voted 24,594 to 13,008 in favor of Question 1.

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Worcester Looking To Relax Route 50 Design Requirements; Goal To Not Stifle Commercial Projects

OCEAN CITY — With Worcester considering relaxing design standards for new commercial development along the Route 50 corridor, resort officials this week urged striking a balance between maintaining the Lower Eastern Shore architectural style while encouraging new businesses.

During his quarterly report to the Mayor and Council on Tuesday, County Commissioner Joe Mitrecic said the county was on the verge of holding a public hearing on proposed changes in the design standards on new development along the gateway to Ocean City. In 1997, in advance of an anticipated development boom along the Route 50 corridor, the County Commissioners approved strict guidelines to ensure new commercial projects fit into the Eastern Shore vernacular and the guidelines were updated in 2004.

On Monday, Mitrecic told the Mayor and Council the county commissioners were prepared to hold a public hearing on the proposed revised guidelines and indeed on Tuesday the commissioner voted to approve the public sessions. Mitrecic said the proposed changes were designed to maintain a balance between sensible design standards for new projects while encouraging future development.

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Licensing Medical Marijuana Stirs Up Trouble for States

The seven lucky balls that popped out of the Arizona Department of Health Services lottery machine in October produced big winners — not in the state’s Powerball game, but in the competition to make money in the medical marijuana industry.

The prize winners were granted licenses to open a medical marijuana dispensary in a state where patients with prescriptions to treat conditions such as glaucoma and cancer spent $215 million last year on marijuana products. Arizona’s public health officials awarded most licenses based on rules designed to place new dispensaries within range of the greatest number of medical-marijuana patients. But when it wasn’t clear which applicant was in the most patient-dense area, they used a lottery to randomly select the winners, hoping to sidestep conflict.

States have struggled with how to give out potentially lucrative medical marijuana licenses — trying to balance public health concerns against an entrepreneurial spirit and avoid a bevy of lawsuits. Many want to ensure the businesses are well run and are supplying quality products. But even in states like Arizona where dispensaries are required to be nonprofits, competition for licenses can lead to a gold rush mentality and lawsuits as entrepreneurs eye a medical marijuana industry with $4.2 billion in sales in 2014.

“There’s a lot of cash that goes through these businesses,” said Kris Krane with 4Front Ventures, a medical marijuana consulting firm. “As [marijuana] becomes more legitimate and more legal, it’s only going to be a growth industry. People are looking to get in now because as the industry grows and expands they’re positioned to be market leaders.”

Medical marijuana businesses often have between $1 million and $5 million in sales annually, Krane said, though he’s seen some that do more than $20 million.

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Berlin Earns Enterprise Zone Designation Again

BERLIN – The re-designation of Berlin’s enterprise zone is expected to continue to attract new businesses.

Last week the Maryland Department of Commerce renewed Berlin’s designation as an enterprise zone. The enterprise zone program, which was created in 1982, provides real property and state income tax credits to businesses that bring jobs and make capital investments in designated areas.

“Enterprise zones are able to stimulate new employment and investment,” said Ivy Wells, Berlin’s economic development director. “Our goal is to provide incentives to attract companies to create permanent job opportunities, expand the tax base, and reduce unemployment.”

Wells said the Berlin Enterprise Zone, which includes the majority of the town’s commercial district, should play a key role in the redevelopment of properties such as the former Merial Select parcel that’s now owned by SonRise Church. She said properties within the zone had access to property tax credits as well as certain income tax credits.

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Trump right again? Crime soars and cops under attack

'Anti-police rhetoric and grandstanding' from Obama has emboldened criminals

As part of his campaign “law and order” message, Donald Trump repeatedly claimed crime was rising nationwide.

“Fact checkers” disputed his assertions, with Politifact notably declaring Trump’s declaration “Pants on fire!” when it released a scathing rebuttal.

But as the year comes to a close and new data becomes available, it appears once again Donald Trump was right.

As reported in the Wall Street Journal, 16 of the 20 largest police departments in the country reported a rise in homicides as of mid-December. The city of Chicago showed an astounding 56 percent increase in murders from 2015.

According to the Major Cities Chiefs Association, 37 of the 65 largest police departments reported year-over-year increases in homicide rates as of Sept. 30. In context, the findings are even worse, as some of those cities who had decreases in homicides, including Milwaukee, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., are simply recovering from dramatic increases in 2015.

The Journal notes, “In some cities, violent crime increased in the wake of deadly police confrontations with young black men.”

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Annual Ocean City Open House Features Free Concert

OCEAN CITY — A lot can change in 20 years, as is evident in the evolution of the Mayor’s Open House on New Year’s Day. The event, which has been a community custom since 1997, has celebrated various town departments, community partnerships and elected officials, past and present.

With the 21st anniversary of the event approaching, Mayor Rick Meehan believes a new tradition is fitting.

“For 20 years, the Mayor’s Open House has offered the perfect opportunity for our citizens to meet with the elected officials that serve our community,” said Meehan. “The event has changed over the last several years, moving from City Hall to the Performing Arts Center. Along with meeting elected officials and community members, the event has become an opportunity to allow residents and visitors to enjoy an extraordinarily venue and great local talent, free of charge.”

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Video shows deputy use taser on man, 91, at nursing home

Senior's family says incident weakened his heart, led to death 2 months later

(KSCH) Newly-released body-camera video captures the scene from March in which a deputy with the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office tased a 91-year-old man with Alzheimer’s at a Minneapolis nursing home because the man wouldn’t get in a car to go to the doctor.

We first told you about the incident after it happened in March. The Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office has had it under investigation.

The original report from the incident is that the 91-year-old man was violent. But those who spoke with Eyewitness News Thursday after watching the video say they don’t see it that way.

Happy Hanukkah!


DHS moves to cancel Muslim registry, denting Donald Trump plans for 'extreme vetting'

The Obama administration rushed Thursday to cancel a program set up in the wake of Sept. 11 to track and deport illegal immigrant Muslim and Arab men, hoping to hinder President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to impose “extreme vetting” on Muslim visitors.

Civil rights and immigrant groups cheered the move and said they hoped it would force a rethink by Mr. Trump who, while softening some of his other positions postelection, has not budged on his call for more thorough checks on those coming into the U.S. from terrorism-connected countries.

The National Security Entry-Exit Registration System had been dormant for years, but activists demanded that the Obama administration take it off the books entirely. They feared Mr. Trump could use the program as a shortcut to starting his own vetting.

“Keeping NSEERS out of Trump’s hands was the right thing to do,” said David Leopold, a prominent immigration advocate and former head of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

The Bush administration set up the program in 2002 as a way to track Muslim men in the U.S. When it was fully operational, the program required new arrivals to turn over extra biographical information and required those planning to stay more than 30 days to provide even more data, including where they planned to stay in the U.S. Those already in the country were also asked to register.

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Local officials streamlining strategy for excursion train

After a groundswell of support from local and, eventually, state agencies in support of an excursion train connecting, at minimum, Berlin and Snow Hill, mayors Gee Williams of Berlin and Charlie Dorman of Snow Hill said they’ve decided to take the idea back to the drawing board.

“Basically the three key players in getting started are Berlin, Snow Hill and the railroad. We’re going to go back to the original premise of building the train, and if it grows from there — great,” Williams said. “The state had added many layers beyond our capacity and financial wherewithal. I’m glad the state is excited but we want to build a solid foundation.”

One aspect added to the train proposal, which had not been confirmed before, was a hot air balloon festival in Worcester County. Another aspect of the burgeoning train proposal, Williams said, was an agreement to run freight for Tyson Foods using the rail to Frankford, Delaware.

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Globalism and Islam: An ‘unholy alliance’

'It is a war of civilizations; the problem is most Americans aren't aware we're even in a war'

How to explain President Obama’s apparent eagerness to import tens of thousands of refugees from Muslim countries each year? Could the president himself be a Muslim?

All the speculation about Obama being a secret Muslim is just a distraction, according to veteran journalist and WND news editor Leo Hohmann.

After all, many of the president’s policies – from immigration and refugees to education to health care – are rooted in the U.N.’s Agenda 2030 plan for sustainable development. Therefore, Hohmann concludes Obama is a globalist. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t share Muslim goals.

“The problem is that what I have discovered is globalism and Islamism have a lot in common, and so they’ve decided to unite in an unholy alliance to war against our national sovereignty and against Western civilization and the values that we hold dear that undergird our society,” Hohmann told host Cliff Kincaid on a recent episode of “America’s Survival TV.”

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Finding Common Ground On Ocean Floor

A couple of weeks ago, with an abundance of good faith, the National Aquarium submitted a proposal to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to consider establishing a national marine sanctuary in the Baltimore Canyon, 70 miles off Ocean City’s shores.

A mile beneath the surface, the Canyon is home to ancient deep-sea corals and cold methane seeps, which support a rich food web that’s irresistible to migrating sportfish and billfish. Aware that invasive practices like oil drilling or gas fracking could wipe out this ancient ecosystem, we joined others who wanted to provide better protection against such assaults by seeking its designation as a national marine sanctuary. With good intentions, we reached out to some members of Ocean City’s fishing and recreation community to discuss the idea and hear their views. Regrettably, I believe our efforts fell short, and numerous leaders have since expressed strong concerns about the wisdom of such a designation.

I take full responsibility for this miscommunication, and, as a former commercial fisherman myself, want to stress three important points to those in the fishing community who have concerns: We hear you; we want only what’s best for Maryland; and we stand ready to work with you to figure out how to best meet the important goal of preserving fragile treasures like the Baltimore Canyon. Please allow me to briefly address each of these points.

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BREAKING: Christmas Eve Capers Runs Rampant in America


Throughout the US this Christmas Eve, a crime wave has occurred perpetrated by the most unusual suspects. Cats and dogs throughout America have staged a fur coup, resulting in larcenies and vandalism reaching epidemic proportions. Incidents have become so numerous,  the Federal Bureau of Investigations has now intervened to quill the path of destruction, chaos and mayhem.

Unidentified Assailants
Seen on Home Video Cams
Citing the Constitution's First Amendment, the furs explain their rebellion, also known as Furgate, is their freedom of expression and protest. Yet, others are claiming various defenses, including complaints about not even getting coal for the years of unconditional love to the human species.

Before being Mirandized, Mr. Kitty feverishly meowed, "I tell you, I was framed by the RUSSIANS!" as he was loaded into an unmarked vehicle by agents.

Notorious Master Vandal, Mr. Kitty
during his arrest at FBI HQ in DC
Some have cleverly posed as computer tech support in an effort to pull off their dastardly deeds, have illegally deleted literally thousands of cookies, milk and other holiday fare while pointing their paws to many household children or a fat elf sporting a red pantsuit lined with fur cruising through town in a deer-drawn sleigh.

Agents are finding it hard to gain any specific charges as most culprits have cited unlawful detainers and false imprisonment, using the Clinton Defense. Furthermore, they are demanding federal prosecutors to demonstrate intent, and while some evidence has led authorities to draw their conclusions, mere crumbs are insufficient evidence as per FBI Director James Comey's statements in early July of this year.

Unidentified Thief posing as Tech Support
While Mr. Kitty has refused to cooperate with authorities until he meets with his attorney, others have filed motions with several Public Defenders' offices because their humans refuse to provide them with appropriate legal representation in this landmark case.

At this time, it is not known if the ACLU will answer their meows and woofs for just and fair treatment under our Rule of Law.

More horrific details on these Christmas Eve capers will be reported as they become available from the local and federal authorities.

Until then,

Merry Christmas!

-- Thornton

Israel accuses Obama of anti-Israeli 'shameful move' at UN

An Israeli official on Friday accused President Barack Obama of colluding with the Palestinians in a "shameful move against Israel at the U.N." after learning the White House did not intend to veto a Security Council resolution condemning settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem the day before.

"President Obama and Secretary Kerry are behind this shameful move against Israel at the U.N.," the official said. "The U.S administration secretly cooked up with the Palestinians an extreme anti-Israeli resolution behind Israel's back which would be a tail wind for terror and boycotts and effectively make the Western Wall occupied Palestinian territory," he said calling it "an abandonment of Israel which breaks decades of US policy of protecting Israel at the UN."

Earlier he said Israel's prime minister turned to President-elect Donald Trump to help head off the critical U.N. resolution.

Israel knew even before the Egyptian draft resolution that the White House was planning an "ambush" and coordinating it with the Palestinians, said another Israeli official, who requested anonymity to discuss internal diplomatic conversations.

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A Soldiers Gift

Cross restored to town's beloved Christmas tree

It was not so much as a Christmas miracle as it was a Christmas compromise, but the good news is the cross has been returned to the town Christmas tree in Knightstown, Indiana.

The cross had been removed from atop the town’s Christmas tree several weeks ago after the ACLU of Indiana filed a lawsuit on behalf of a local resident who was offended by the Christian symbol.

“This town has a big heart,” Knightstown United Methodist Church pastor Curt Hunt told me. “It felt like that heart got ripped out when that cross was taken down from that tree.”

The ACLU faced a severe backlash from outraged citizens from across the country.

This was just concerned citizens coming together to defend the rights of everyone to express freedom of religion,” the pastor told me. “We decided we needed to draw a line in the sand and show the world we have those rights to express our religion.”

As part of the agreement, the cross cannot be posted atop the tree, but it can be posted near the top and it can also be lighted – provided there are other lighted ornaments, Fox 59 reports.

And sure enough on Thursday the cross was posted just below the star that now adorns the tree top – much the delight of local residents.

But there’s more to this story..

Sizing Things Up


Campground Plan To Expand Approved

SNOW HILL – Fort Whaley will be able to expand following approval of an amendment to the county’s water and sewerage plan.

On Tuesday, the Worcester County Commissioners unanimously approved an amendment that will allow Fort Whaley to add more than 60 new campsites, although not before voicing concerns. While Commissioner Ted Elder questioned the burgeoning number of campsites in the north end of the county, Commissioner Joe Mitrecic brought up the issue of a special event that has been based at the Route 50 campground in recent years.

“This is the headquarters of one of the biggest public safety issues that comes to this county every year, the H20i convention,” Mitrecic said, pointing out that the expansion would provide more space for event participants. “I support the issue but I would like operators of the campground to look into ways to curb that activity.”

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K of C poll: 'Christmas' means 'Jesus' and midnight mass

The nation seems caught up in a nasty battle over whether "Die Hard" is a Christmas movie, but one thing has been settled: it's "Merry Christmas" over "Happy Holidays."

A new Marist Poll found that Americans preferred "Merry Christmas" by 20 points, 57 percent to 37 percent.

What's more, Americans very much identify the holiday with the birth of Christ.

"The vast majority of Americans celebrate Christmas and prefer 'Merry Christmas' to a generic greeting," said Knights of Columbus CEO Carl Anderson. "Celebrating Christmas is a reminder that Christ came into the world out of love for us and to teach us to love one another." The Catholic Knights sponsored the poll.

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The amazing grace of Christmas morn

The malls and the Main Streets will fall silent. The ringing cash registers and the happy cries of children are but ghostly echoes across the silent cities. But the Christ child born in a manger 2,000 years ago lives, liberating the hearts of sinners and transforming the lives of the wicked.

The story of the redeeming power of the Christmas message is nowhere more vividly illustrated than in the incredible life of an English slaver named John Newton.

He was born 300 years ago into a seafaring family in Liverpool. His mother was a godly woman whose faith gave her life meaning. She died when John was 7, and as an old man he recalled as the sweetest remembrance of childhood the soft and tender voice of his mother at prayer.

His father married again, and John left school at 11 to go to sea with him. He quickly adopted the vulgar life of seafaring men, though the memory of his mothers faith remained. He reckoned that religious faith was important, he recalled many years later, “but I loved sin.” Once on shore leave, he was seized by a press gang to work on another ship, HMS Harwich, and life grew coarser. He ran away, was captured, put in chains, stripped before the mast and flogged without mercy. “The Lord had by all appearances given me up to judicial hardness. I was capable of anything. I had not the least fear of God, nor the least sensibility of conscience. I was firmly persuaded that after death I should merely cease to be.”

The Harwich traded him to a slaving ship, bound for West Africa to take aboard human cargo. “At this period of my life,” John reflected, “I was big with mischief and, like one afflicted with a pestilence, was capable of spreading a taint wherever I went.”

Keep reading..

Tennessee home destroyed in fire possibly caused by Christmas tree lights left on while homeowners were out

A Tennessee home was completely destroyed Thursday in a fire that appears to have started by Christmas tree lights left on while nobody was home.

Firefighters in Brentwood, just south of Nashville, were called to a home on the 900-block of Elmington Court just before 8pm on Thursday. No one was home at the time.

Crews battled the fire all night — at first trying to extinguish the inferno inside the home.

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Accident Rt. 50 East Bound Involving UPS


Rt. 50 east bound into Ocean City is temporarily closed and being detoured. The detour won't be too inconvenient but expect delays. Your UPS Christmas Eve deliveries may be a bit late as well. 

GOP Candidate: I Want Barack Dead, And Michelle To Become A Male Gorilla

A former GOP gubernatorial candidate in New York isn’t backing down from his expressed hope that President Barack Obama will die while his wife Michelle “return[s] to being a male” and goes off to live with wild gorillas.

Carl Paladino launched a failed bid for New York governor in 2010, and more recently has been an ally of president-elect Donald Trump. And now, he’s made people upset thanks to an interview he gave to the publication ArtVoice, in which he said his biggest wishes for 2017 are for Obama to die and his wife to go back to “Zimbabwe.”

When asked what he would “most like to see happen” in 2017, Paladino replied as follows:

Obama catches mad cow disease after being caught having relations with a Herford. He dies before his trial and is buried in a cow pasture next to Valerie Jarret, who died weeks prior, after being convicted of sedition and treason, when a Jihady cell mate mistook her for being a nice person and decapitated her.

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Merkel wanted refugees to be truck drivers

Encouraged companies to hire: 'We all need to be ready to implement practical solutions'

(Fox News) German Chancellor Angela Merkel in September tried to push through a plan that would allow refugees to be trained and hired as truck drivers – just months before a truck was used by a suspected asylum-seeker to mow down civilians during Monday’s Berlin terror attack.

Merkel encouraged companies to hire refugees – even if they hadn’t yet been granted asylum – as drivers and also wanted to make it cheaper for migrants to trade in their foreign driver’s license for a German one, The Daily Express reported.

“We all need to be ready to implement practical solutions,” Merkel said when introducing the idea.

Youth Risk Survey Questioned

SNOW HILL – The parent of an 11-year-old questioned the school system’s practice of surveying middle schoolers regarding sexual activity and drug use this week.

At Tuesday’s meeting of the Worcester County Board of Education, parent Christina Hulslander voiced concerns about the fact that the risk behavior assessment typically given to high school students has in recent years been administered to middle school students.

“I don’t have a problem with this being conducted at high schools,” she said. “They have the maturity to recognize this has value in data collection.”

Hulslander said that when she was notified that her daughter, a sixth-grade student, had been randomly selected to complete the survey, she opted out. Hulslander said she reviewed the survey online and did not like the way the questions, which address topics such as smoking, drug use and sexual activity, were asked. Hulslander said she was concerned that the questions about smoking for instance, could lead to a child wondering whether they should in fact try smoking since they were being asked about it.

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How women’s liberation began with Jesus

We can pinpoint the dawn of our civilization. It didn’t come in ancient Egypt or Babylon. It didn’t even occur in classical Greece, although Athens gave us an edge. We became civilized on the day, 2,000 years ago, when an itinerant rabbi named Jesus stopped a mob from stoning a woman to death.

When Jesus said, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone,” we began to acknowledge the moral equality of girls and women to men. And so began the greatest revolution in human history: the long transition of females from male property to achieving legal and social equality.

The problem is that it hasn’t yet happened elsewhere. For all of the left’s mendacity about the moral equivalence of cultures, our civilization remains by far the most humane and decent — and the only one where women enjoy fully equal rights under the law.

Elsewhere, the situation remains grim, particularly in the Muslim world, where barbarism reigns. Last week, The Washington Post reported a case in which five Pakistani schoolgirls had been tortured and then killed for the crime of dancing (fully clothed) in a video clip.

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Aluminum Causes Alzheimer's: Study

For half a century, many experts have recognized a link between Alzheimer's disease and aluminum. Since there was no definite proof, there has been no agreement in the scientific community. Now, however, a new study published in the Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology may provide the proof needed of aluminum's role in the mind-robbing disease.

Professor Chris Exley of the U.K.'s Keele University is sometimes known as "Mr. Aluminum" for his research. "I consider the latter as a mark of respect," he says. "I have been researching and thinking about aluminum for over thirty years, and I have published in excess of 150 scientific papers on this subject."

For more than 10 years, Exley and his group have researched the link between Alzheimer's and aluminum. "Our findings have led us to one very simple conclusion," he said.

"We must now accept that where the aluminum content of an individual's brain tissue exceeds a certain level that this aluminum will contribute toward any ongoing Alzheimer's disease in that individual."

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FAKE NEWS: 4 Websites That Rushed to Blame Trump Supporters for Mississippi Church Arson,33

Following the November arson attack against a black church in Mississippi, several mainstream media outlets attempted to paint the crime as a racially-motivated attack by a Donald Trump supporter.

Despite lacking a large amount of evidence for their claims, which were largely based on “Vote Trump” grafitti painted onto to the church and the n-word found shortly before, the outlets continuously pushed the narrative of a Trump-induced hate crime.

Little did they know that the attack was actually perpetrated by Andrew McClinton, a black man who was a member of the church he torched. It has also since been revealed that McClinton was also the perpetrator of the graffiti found on the church.

Since the mainstream media, along with social networks such as Facebook are concerned with the rise of “fake news,” here is a sample of the outlets which pushed this false narrative without the facts..

Geert Wilders Warns "Political Revolution Is Brewing In Europe"

The German authorities are dangerously underestimating the threat of Islam... They have betrayed their own citizens.

Let no-one tell you that only the perpetrators of these crimes are to blame. The politicians, who welcomed Islam into their country, are guilty as well. And it is not just Frau Merkel in Germany, it is the entire political elite in Western Europe.

Out of political-correctness, they have deliberately turned a blind eye to Islam. They have refused to inform themselves about its true nature. They refuse to acknowledge that is all in the Koran: the permission to kill Jews and Christians (Surah 9:29), to terrorize non-Muslims (8:12), to rape young girls (65:4), to enslave people for sex (4:3), to lie about one's true goals (3:54), and the command to make war on the infidels (9:123) and subjugate the entire world to Allah (9:33).

We will have to de-islamize our societies... But it all begins with politicians with the courage to face and speak the truth.

More and more citizens are aware of that. This is why a political revolution is brewing in Europe. Patriotic parties are rapidly growing everywhere. They are Europe's only hope for a better future.

Yesterday, the Islamic State claimed the Berlin terror attack of Monday evening, in which twelve people were killed with a truck at a Christmas market.

The killer managed to escape. However, in the truck the police found identity papers belonging to Anis A., a Tunisian who came to Germany as an asylum seeker in 2015.

When last year German Chancellor Angela Merkel opened Germany's borders to almost one million refugees and asylum seekers, she invited the Trojan horse of Islam into her country. Among the so-called refugees were many young men of Islamic background, filled with hatred for the West and its civilization. One of them was Anis A.

It took almost a year for the German authorities to reject his asylum request, but meanwhile the man had disappeared. The police are now looking for him as a prime suspect of Monday's attack in Berlin.

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Trump: 'Ridiculous shame' for son Eric to stop fundraising because of 'possible conflict of interest'

President-elect Trump on Friday called it a "ridiculous shame" for his son Eric Trump to stop fundraising for charity due a "possible conflict of interest" with his presidency.

Eric Trump this week announced he will no longer fundraise for his personal charity by auctioning off meetings with people close to his father due to the appearance of selling access to the White House.

The Eric Trump Foundation last week canceled a coffee date auction with incoming first daughter Ivanka Trump. A planned charitable hunting trip with Eric Trump and brother Donald Jr. in honor of their father taking office has also received accusations of selling access.

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Doug Casey Warns "We're Going To Have Financial Chaos... It's A Dangerous Situation"

Doug Casey is the founder of Casey Research and well known for his forecasting prowess, having accurately called the crash of 2008 and many other trends over the last four decades. In his latest interview with Future Money Trends Casey explains what a Donald Trump Presidency will mean for financial markets, economic stimulus, and geo-politics. As he’s noted previously, 2008 was just the first part of the storm and we are rapidly approaching the trailing edge of the hurricane. This time around it’s going to last much longer and be much worse than what we experienced before.

In short, as Casey succinctly explains:

The one thing I feel very confident of is we’re going to have financial chaos in years to come and that’s going to drive people into gold and to a lesser degree into silver.

There’s absolutely no reason from fundamental point of view for bonds and stocks to be as high as they are right now… We’re in for a huge political, financial, demographic and military upset… these people might start World War III or seem like they’re trying to with the Russians… It’s a very dangerous situation.

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The Great Eastern Shore Deep Freeze in the Winter of 1976-77

Perhaps the deepest of all Eastern Shore deep freezes set in before Christmas, 1976, and it didn’t let up until well into February, 1977, two full bone-chilling months. Back then, only older folks on the Shore could remember anything like it—and those memories went clear back to 1918.

In order to top the Eastern Shore deep freeze of 1976/77, you pretty much have have to go back to the winter George Washington and his men spent at Valley Forge. On its website nowadays, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency’s history of Maryland weather rates 1977/78 the “coldest winter on the East Coast since maybe the founding of the Republic.”

By Christmas Day, 1976, the ice had already started inching out from creeks and rivers and into the Bay. As you can see from the photo up top here, the expanse that ice soon covered reached proportions that seem unfathomable to many of us living on the Eastern Shore today. Some of the scenes in old photos have an almost magical quality of winter wonderland, don’t they?

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Bacteria extracted from deep sea found to kill prostate cancer in 49% of patients

Bacteria that live on the ocean floor has been found to cure half of all male prostate cancer sufferers in an experiment and could replace invasive surgery.

A non-surgical treatment involved injecting a light-sensitive drug into the bloodsteam, which was then activated with a laser to destroy tumour tissue in the prostate.

The drug, derived from bacteria at the bottom of the ocean, was used to treat 413 patients with low-risk prostate cancer, with 49 per cent of them going into remission.

University College London dean of medical sciences Professor Mark Emberton, who led the research, described it as a major breakthrough that could spare prostate cancer sufferers from invasive surgery to remove their prostate.

That finding would have been a help to Australian men who have undergone surgery to remove their prostate, including Sydney broadcaster Alan Jones and former deputy prime minister Wayne Swan.

'These results are excellent news for men with early localised prostate cancer, offering a treatment that can kill cancer without removing or destroying the prostate,' Professor Emberton told his university journal.

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LEGENDARY COMMENTS BY GEORGE CHEVALLIER 12-24-16

The Christmas Tree
         
A long-held practice has been to put up a Christmas tree at this time of the year. Over the years, there have been many different ways to accomplish this. People used to go out and cut down their tree. This was fine if you knew who owned the land where you were getting the tree. Or, you could just go out and hunt the public lands for that most perfect of trees. Either way, it was always a good adventure for the father and the kids to spend a Saturday at this time of the year. It sort of added to the excitement that children always had. Sometimes, the children would pick one out that was somewhat less than perfect. It didn’t matter to them, it was their tree, and the decorations would more than make up for any defects nature had bestowed upon it.
         
Following this practice was the advent of the Christmas tree lot. These were usually trees that had been cut as early as September, and it was only a knowledgeable father that could tell if the tree would fall apart as soon as it was brought inside. Making sure the needles were firm was of the utmost importance. If they weren’t, you might have a very scraggly-looking tree within a few days of putting it up. Cutting the bottom few inches from the base was very important as that is where the tree would absorb water. Watering the tree was a daily ritual and one that was usually assigned to a child because of their small stature making it easier to get under the lower branches.
         
The old-fashioned decorations are not seen much anymore, and that is a shame. Strings of popcorn took a lot of time but provided activity for the children. There were also the strings made out of construction paper. Strips about one inch wide were cut from different-colored sheets of construction paper and then glued together to make a long string that would then be hung on the tree.
         
Electric lights replaced candles many years ago and they were always the job of the father. Along with the standard bulb-shaped bulbs, there was the occasional bubbling candle light. I can remember we had only one of them and, when it heated up and started to bubble, we were properly amazed. In the old days, when a light burned out, you just replaced it. The new strings all go out when any other light burns out.
         
The next-to-last accoutrement of the tree was the tinsel. The tinsel of the 1950’s was made of aluminum, and my mother always saved it from year to year. It was quite a job to take off all that tinsel and store it properly, but it was aluminum and that was something like gold is now. I, myself, am particularly fond of tinsel. One year, I put on 11,000 strands of tinsel when my boys were small. When the lights were off, it looked like a large silver tree in our living room. But when evening came and the lights were on, it was the most magnificent tree ever. Pictures and memories of that tree are all I have left now.
         
The absolute last ornament to go on the tree was the Christmas angel on the top of the tree. When that was proudly resting on the topmost branch, the tree was ready for the season.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

O Come All Ye Faithful - Epic Flash Mob Carol

Republican Women of Wicomico Special Events

The Time Is Here


New Study Suggests That Men Need To Get Drunk With Their Friends Twice A Week To Stay Healthy

It’s coming up to the new year, and this is usually the time of year when we all pledge to make a new year’s resolution, or have various newspapers and magazine dietitians wave their fingers and admonish us about the numerous dangers to our health. Fairly sensible when you’ve probably been overdoing the drink and overindulging on the turkey…

Usually January is like the hangover month for the beginning of the year, when those of us who enjoy boozing try to go sober for a while… or for a few days anyway. All this amid warnings about the dangers of alcoholism. It’s no wonder people go teetotal.

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Official Santa Tracker

Germany deportation headache with North African migrants

Berlin (AFP) - Since the million-strong influx of migrants into Germany last year, authorities there have struggled to deport failed asylum seekers from Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria when their home countries refuse to take them back.

The issue has been put into sharp focus by the massive manhunt for Anis Amri, the 24-year-old Tunisian who Chancellor Angela Merkel confirmed on Thursday is the alleged perpetrator of the truck attack on a Christmas market in Berlin that claimed 12 lives.

Months earlier, Amri's asylum application was rejected but he could not be expelled from Germany because Tunisian authorities blocked the procedure.

German authorities put pressure on Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria when police established that most of the hundreds of men believed to have sexually assaulted women during New Year's Eve celebrations in Cologne hailed from those countries, but were in the country illegally.

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