A graceless exit

In November, after Donald Trump won the election, President Barack Obama met the president-elect in the Oval Office and told him: “If you succeed, then the country succeeds.”

What a bunch of hooey.

Since the Nov. 8 results, Mr. Obama has taken a blow torch to the Oval Office, ensuring through his last minute executive actions and agency rulings, that Mr. Trump will have anything but a smooth transition into office.

Mr. Obama — looking to protect his legacy — has unilaterally made several moves to undermine and undercut Mr. Trump’s ability to deliver on his campaign promises. Succeed, is something Mr. Obama definitely doesn’t want Mr. Trump to do.

Last week, Mr. Obama decided to wave his middle finger at Israel — our closest ally in the Middle East — by having the U.S. abstain from a United Nations vote which said Israel was in violation of international law by allowing Jewish settlements anywhere in the West Bank, including Jerusalem. Mr. Trump has vowed to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.

In regards to Russia, Mr. Obama sanctioned it for its meddling in the U.S. election, with the mind-set to make the sanctions as difficult as possible for Mr. Trump to roll back. It’s unlikely any punishment will be delivered in Mr. Obama’s term — it’s something Mr. Trump will inherit..

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Minimum Wage Hikes: Here's A List Of States Where A Lot Of Fast Food Workers Will Be Fired In 2017

Minimum wages will increase in 20 states at the start of 2017, a move that, as we've argued many times in the past, will simply speed up the rate at which minimum wage workers are replaced through new capital investments in automation projects. Just another example of misinformed politicians passing legislation that will ultimately crushed the very people they're trying to help.

According to a study conducted by the Economic Policy Institute, roughly 4.4 million low-wage workers across the country are slated to receive a raise in 2017 given that they currently earn less than the new minimum in their respective states. That said, the real question is how many of those workers will subsequently lose their jobs to automation and/or business failures by company's that simply can't survive the incremental costs.

Per the Wall Street Journal, here is a list of states where minimum wages are expected to rise in the new year:

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Obama Uses Final Weeks To Aggressively "Box In" Trump's Administration

Not liking the outcome of the 2016 election, President Obama has apparently made the decision to use his final days in office to do everything possible to "box in" and undermine President-elect Trump. The latest actions, of course, revolve around sanctions on several Russian entities and the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats for "hacking" the election. Unfortunately, that move seemingly backfired this morning when Putin announced that he "will not sink to the level of [Obama's] 'kitchen' diplomacy"...apparently "when the Obama's go low, Putin goes high"...to paraphrase the First Lady (see "Putin Stunner: 'We Will Not Expel Anyone; We Refuse To Sink To Obama's Level'").

Meanwhile, the reckless parting moves against Russian aren't the only unilateral actions Obama has made in his waning days to undermine the incoming Trump administration. He also allowed the UN Security Council to condemn Israeli settlement activity, permanently banned oil and gas drilling large swaths of the Atlantic and Arctic oceans, closed off 1.6 million acres of Western land to development through the creation of new "national monument" and scrapped the last vestiges of a registration system used largely on Muslim immigrants.

We wonder how long America's liberal snowflakes would spend rioting if similarly aggressive, hostile actions were taken by an outgoing Republican President?

Clearly, the unilateral moves and shear contempt for the will of the American people being displayed by the current administration is not sitting well with President-elect Trump.

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Donald J. Trump 

✔@realDonaldTrump

Doing my best to disregard the many inflammatory President O statements and roadblocks.Thought it was going to be a smooth transition - NOT!

9:07 AM - 28 Dec 2016

 
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The Real Syria Story No One Wants You to Know About

What if Obama dropped Hillary's email bombs?

The phoniest and most irresponsible lie in current politics is Obama's accusation that "the Russians did it!" Dropped Hillary's email bombs, that is. This was originally just attributed to the CIA and FBI at secondhand, and later those agencies reluctantly agreed. But we all know how badly Obama has corrupted those agencies, and their kowtowing to the Big Boss means nothing. This is sad but true.

If you think about this as a mystery story, you can ask, "Who had the motive, the means, and the opportunity" to leak Hillary's most embarrassing secrets, thereby blowing the election? The list of suspects is huge, but Obama is never mentioned. Still, think about it for a second.

Motive: Obama is a major narcissist who always wants to expand his personal power. Being president has not satisfied his power-hungry ego; nothing ever will. For months he has been talking about running for a third term, and he's back at it today.

Washington speculation has long focused on Obama's ambition to become SecGen of the U.N., an office he could try to expand into a genuine power center to achieve the utopian fantasy of the left, a world order in which everything is "properly" controlled from a dictatorial center. This is consistent with the worst kind of Marxism, but it is also the dream of jihad: world conquest.

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Priorities

Now, while I have been saddened by the musicians/celebrities that have passed this year, this really puts our country's priorities in perspective.

Obama’s ugly bid to snub voters and tie Trump’s hands

In his waning days in the White House, President Obama is desperately trying to make his policies as permanent as possible by tying the hands of his successor — and far more than other presidents have done on their way out.

From his dramatic and disastrous change of US policy on Israel to his executive order restricting 1.65 million acres of land from development despite local objections, Obama is trying to make it impossible for Donald Trump and a GOP-controlled Congress to govern.

Even Thursday’s announcement of wide-ranging sanctions against Russia presents Trump with a foreign-policy crisis immediately upon taking office.

By contrast, many of Obama’s predecessors have stood back in their final days in office and refrained from any dramatic shifts, in deference to the agenda of the man voters sent to succeed them.

But Obama won’t accept the election results. As he suggested the other day, Trump’s election was a fluke — and he himself would have easily been re-elected if allowed to stand for a third term.

He believes this not just because he’s an effective campaigner, but because he thinks his “vision” and policies continue to be backed by “a majority of the American people.”

But Obama, like many Democrats, fails to understand what happened in the election: Voters were calling for real change from the status quo — from his policies. Indeed, before the vote, he himself said it was a referendum on him and his policies.

Memo to the president: You lost.

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This is how we do the national anthem

How this home intruder got what he deserved

This home intruder picked the wrong house to hit.

When 27-year-old Matthew Lawrence Bergstedt allegedly kicked in the door of his ex-girlfriend’s apartment in Raleigh, North Carolina, a man inside whacked him in the face with a piece of firewood, leaving him with two nasty shiners, officials said.

Bergstedt forced his way inside the back door of the Shanda Drive home around 7 p.m. Monday and then ran into a nearby vacant apartment after a 20-year-old man clobbered him, according to The News and Observer.

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Tomi Lahren - New Year Resolutions

Ocean Pines Boy Authors First Children’s Book

OCEAN PINES – A 12-year-old boy from Ocean Pines has written and published his first children’s book.

Benjamin Brunori, author of “The Great Cat Sled Race,” takes readers through the adventures of a Chesapeake Bay retriever named Stormy and her journey to compete in a dog sled race using her five cats.

“It’s about my dog Stormy,” Brunori said. “She wants to prove that cats in the world can be used in sled races, too.”

The young author said inspiration for the book came from childhood memories of reading bedtime stories with his mother.

“Whenever I went to see my mom, we would always read before bed,” he said. “And I thought this would be a good book to do that.”

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Tenth Somali-American arrested in Minnesota for aiding ISIS

Federal agents in Minneapolis have arrested a 20-year-old man of Somali origin who they say was the “emir” – or leader – of Islamic State recruiting efforts in Minnesota’s Twin Cities.

Abdirizak Mohamed Warsame of Eagan, Minnesota appeared in the US District Court in Minneapolis on Thursday morning, to answer the charges of supplying material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. He was arrested without incident on Wednesday evening, the FBI said.

The criminal complaint against Warsame, signed by FBI Special Agent Vadim Vinetsky, says that a group of at least ten young Somalis from Minnesota began conspiring to join Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in the spring of 2014. One member of the group, 18-year-old Abdi Nir, actually managed to get to Syria in May 2014, while nine others have been arrested by the FBI.

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Mexican man charged with rape had 19 deportations, removals

A Mexican man accused of raping a 13-year-old girl on a Greyhound bus that traveled through Kansas had been deported 10 times and voluntarily removed from the U.S. another nine times since 2003, records obtained by The Associated Press show.

Three U.S. Republican senators — including Kansas' Jerry Moran and Pat Roberts — demanded this month that the Department of Homeland Security provide immigration records for 38-year-old Tomas Martinez-Maldonado, who is charged with a felony in the alleged Sept. 27 attack aboard a bus in Geary County. He is being held in the Geary County jail in Junction City, which is about 120 miles west of Kansas City.

U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, from Iowa and chairman of the judiciary committee, co-signed a Dec. 9 letter with Moran and Roberts to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, calling it "an extremely disturbing case" and questioning how Martinez-Maldonado was able to re-enter and remain in the country.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it has placed a detainer — a request to turn Martinez-Maldonado over to ICE custody before he is released — with Geary County. ICE declined to discuss his specific case beyond its October statement regarding the 10 deportations.

Court filings show Martinez-Maldonado has two misdemeanor convictions for entering without legal permission in cases prosecuted in 2013 and 2015 in U.S. District Court of Arizona, where he was sentenced to serve 60 days and 165 days respectively.

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Obama’s Historic Land Grab: 553 Million Acres For ‘Conservation’

President Barack Obama decreed two more national monuments from his vacation home in Hawaii on Wednesday, taking 1.65 million more acres of Western land for management by the federal government.

The new Bear Ears Buttes monument includes 1.35 million acres of Utah and the Gold Butte monument includes about 300,000 acres in Nevada.

That makes a total of 553 million acres of national lands and waters that Obama has repurposed for conservation and protection using the 1906 Antiquities act, more than any other president, according to the New York Times. More than 80 percent of Nevada and about 65 percent or Utah is owned by the federal government, according to National Public Radio.

Utah Republican leaders in Congress were furious after Obama decided to designate the controversial Bear Ears monument.

“This arrogant act by a lame duck president will not stand,” Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee responded in a statement. “I will work tirelessly with Congress and the incoming Trump administration to honor the will of the people of Utah and undo this designation.”

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Coastal Highway Median Fence Effort Slowed By High Bids

OCEAN CITY — It remains uncertain if the dune-style median fence project for Coastal Highway is still on track for a Memorial Day completion date, but it appears potential funding issues have sent State Highway Administration (SHA) officials back to the drawing board somewhat.

Earlier this year, the Mayor and Council approved the implementation of a dune-style median fence down the center of Coastal Highway from Route 90 to the Convention Center as part of SHA’s continued efforts to improve pedestrian safety along the corridor. The median fence is expected to improve public safety in the known trouble spot section by forcing pedestrians to cross the highway at the marked crosswalks at street ends and not dash across in between blocks.

The project, which is being designed, constructed and paid for by SHA, will cost an estimated $5.2 million, of which roughly $1.6 million will pay for the fencing alone. The design features an undulating fence down the center median mimicking the iconic fences along the dunes in Ocean City with the appropriate landscaping to complete the illusion.

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‘Eternal life’ bacteria leaves scientist without illness

Injects himself after tests on mice, human blood cells

(Express) – A RUSSIAN scientist has injected himself with 3.5million-year-old “eternal life” bacteria extracted from the Siberian permafrost – and now claims to be stronger and free from illness.

The bacteria, Bacillus F, was locked in permafrost for millions of years until Russian scientists discovered it.

Tests had up only been performed on mice and human blood cells, until Anatoli Brouchkov, head of the Geocryology Department at Moscow State University, offered to test the bacteria on himself.

The scientist now claims to have been free of illness for two years following his injection.

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Few answers as Chicago hit with worst violence in nearly 20 years

It was movie night in Demarco Kennedy's Far South Side apartment.

The 32-year-old railroad worker's wife and three children waited for him in the living room, with plans to watch the animated film "Rio 2." He sat at his dining room table, paying bills.

Then, gunshots.

Kennedy's kids, coached in the past by their wary parents, dropped to the floor.

As the children attempted to crawl into a hallway, Kennedy's wife saw him fall over. The left side of his face was streaked with blood from a bullet wound.

"He was grabbing my hand real hard. He was trying to say something and he couldn't," Nicole Cooper said Tuesday, recounting the August evening when her husband was slain. "And when he released my hand, that's when he passed."

With that random bullet through the family's window, Kennedy became another homicide victim in Chicago, one of more than 750 in 2016.

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Are We Doomed to Keep Making the Same Mistakes…Or Will We Learn from History?

We Should Have Known …

We’ve known for 5,000 years that mass spying on one’s own people is usually aimed at grabbing power and crushing dissent, not protecting us from bad guys.

We’ve known for 4,000 years that debts need to be periodically written down, or the entire economy will collapse. And see this.

We’ve known for 2,500 years that prolonged war bankrupts an economy.

We’ve known for 2,000 years that wars are based on lies.

We’ve known for 1,900 years that runaway inequality destroys societies.

We’ve known for 1,700 years that torture is a form of terrorism.

We’ve known for thousands of years that debasing currencies leads to economic collapse.

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4 unique New Year's Eve "droppings" in Maryland

The dropping of the ball on New Year's Eve in Times Square is a beloved annual tradition, a glitzy way to welcome in a new year and say goodbye to last year.

But the ball drop isn't the only way to celebrate the new year.

Several Maryland communities have put their own twist on the tradition, dropping items that include muskrats and doughnuts.

Here they are:

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Study: Christians Most Persecuted Religious Group In the World

Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world, with around 90,000 killed for their faith in 2016, the director of a leading religious study group has said.

Massimo Introvigne, Director of the Centre for Studies on New Religions (Cesnur), told Vatican Radio that around half a billion Christians in the world are unable to express their faith completely freely, while around 90,000 – one every six minutes – died for their faith in the past year alone.

Referring to statistics from the Centre for the Study of Global Christianity, Mr Introvigne said around 70 per cent of Christians murdered in 2016 died in tribal conflicts in Africa. These deaths were included, he said, because very often they involved Christians who refuse to take up arms for reasons of conscience.

“The other 30 per cent, or 27,000, were killed in terror attacks, the destruction of Christian villages, or government persecution,” he added.

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John McAfee: 'I Can Guarantee You, It Was Not the Russians'

In case some of you were duped into believing this was evidence that proved Russia hacked the US elections, John McAfee would like to remind you that you're probably a high tier retard and would believe virtually anything your government told you.

Crazy, but brilliant, John said “if it looks like the Russians did it, then I can guarantee you it was not the Russians.”

The Joint Analysis Report from the FBI contains an appendix that lists hundreds of IP addresses that were supposedly “used by Russian civilian and military intelligence services.” While some of those IP addresses are from Russia, the majority are from all over the world, which means that the hackers constantly faked their location.

McAfee argues that the report is a “fallacy,” explaining that hackers can fake their location, their language, and any markers that could lead back to them. Any hacker who had the skills to hack into the DNC would also be able to hide their tracks, he said

“If I was the Chinese and I wanted to make it look like the Russians did it, I would use Russian language within the code, I would use Russian techniques of breaking into the organization,” McAfee said, adding that, in the end, “there simply is no way to assign a source for any attack.”

However, McAfee does see a problem with the National Security Agency (NSA) being able to listen in on every conversation and read every text message and email of every American. Rather than focusing on disrupting the bad guys in foreign countries, McAfee thinks that “all of that effort has been placed on a country that is afraid of its own citizens.”

He claims that the only way he has been able to fully block the NSA from infecting his phone with spyware is by using a flip-phone too old to be hacked. He even goes as far as to call the iPhone the “ultimate spy device.”

Since the stakes are so high, thermonuclear war and all, the least the CIA and other wonderful intelligence agencies can do is provide sufficient evidence to the American people before they get annihilated under the winds of a 10,000 degree winter breeze. Or is that too much to ask? Judging by just about everything they've told us over the past 15 years, I'm inclined to believe the exact opposite is true.

Kim dot Com agrees with McAfee's assertions. This isn't exactly rocket science.

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Exactly Why Should the Majority Rule?

Unlike many concepts in political theory, such as liberty or justice, democracy is easy to define. It denotes government by the majority, whether directly or indirectly. In the present essay, I shall restrict the discussion to government in control of a reasonably large territory. This restriction leads to, but perhaps does not entail, a further limitation. The type of government I shall endeavor to discuss is a variety of indirect democracy, i.e., a representative democracy, as in the United States and Great Britain, where the national legislature is popularly elected. Representative democracy is not the only conceivable sort of indirect democracy: imagine, e.g., a system in which the people by plebiscite can veto laws but only a non-elected body can propose them. Nevertheless, it is the system of government most frequently commended to all and sundry.

Though it is easy to characterize democracy, recent political theory has been marked by a conspicuous omission. Virtually no argument is ever offered to support the desirability of representative democracy, and the little that is available seems distressingly weak. Why ought democracy to be either instituted or promoted, let alone exported, as a recent book by Joshua Muravchik (Exporting Democracy) advocates? One would think that as important a question as that of the best political system would have generated an enormous literature. In point of fact, most writing on the subject simply takes for granted the desirability of democracy and inquires how existing democracies may be improved. The issue of whether democracy is a “good thing” is not thought worth raising.

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NYE PARTY

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Virginia lawmaker wants porn declared a public health hazard

RICHMOND, Va. -- A lawmaker in Virginia has filed a bill that would declare pornography a public health hazard in the state, CBS Richmond affiliate WTVR reports.

Del. Robert G. Marshall of Prince William County proposed the bill, which says pornography leads to problems including the hypersexualization of teenagers and the normalization of abuse of women and children.

While not calling for a ban on porn, the proposed bill says a “pornography epidemic” needs to be addressed, and that there is a need for research, education and policy change regarding what it calls a “public health crisis.”

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Assessment Shows ‘Modest Increase’ In Worcester Property Values

SNOW HILL — The state Department of Assessment and Taxation (SDAT) this week announced the reassessment of one-third of the residential and commercial properties across Maryland, including parts of Worcester and Wicomico, showed their largest increases in value since the 2008 real estate collapse.

Each year, SDAT officials assess the property values of one-third of the residential and commercial properties across the state on a rotating basis in order to determine their assessed values. Locally, Group 2 in Worcester County was reassessed, including much of the south end of the county including Snow Hill, Pocomoke and Newark, for example. Also included in Group 2 in Worcester is much of West Ocean City and all commercial properties in the south end along with commercial properties in Berlin.

The Group 2 reassessment figures released by SDAT this week revealed both residential and commercial properties saw their values increase this year for the first time in many years. In Worcester, the total cash value of all of the residential properties reassessed came in at $2.16 billion compared to $2.06 billion the last time the group was reassessed in 2014, representing an increase of 4.6 percent.

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19 States Will Be Increasing Minimum Wage in 2017

In 2017, nineteen states will be increasing their minimum wage ranges for millions of low-paid U.S. workers. States like Massachusetts and Washington will have the highest new minimum wages in the country at $11 per hour, while California will be raising their’s to $10.50.

New York will be working by a special case scenario in terms of region. New York City on average will have a minimum wage standard of $11. In other regions outside the city, minimum wage levels will range between $9.70-10.50 depending on the county.

“This $1.50 increase, I cannot even comprehend or tell you how important this will be,” said Alvin Major, a New York City fast-food worker and 51-year-old father of four. “The price of food has gone up. Rent has gone up. Everything has gone up. … This will make a difference for so many people.”

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Obama Heads To The Hill To Strategize With Dems On Fighting Obamacare Repeal

Yesterday we noted that Republicans are considering a piecemeal repeal of Obamacare even though they have no viable alternative that has been fully vetted and stands ready to replace the failed legislation (see "Republicans Consider Obamacare Repeal Without A Replacement Strategy"). And while King Obama is happy to leave a path of destruction on his way out of the White House for the new administration to clean up, he's not so keen on Trump's vow to repeal his single crowning piece of legislation.

And while there's not much that Democrats can do at this point to stop a repeal by Republicans, Obama has decided to schedule a rare meeting at the Capitol next week to strategize with House and Senate Democrats and "share his perspective about the dangers posed by Congressional Republicans’ stated strategy." Per The Hill:

Obama will hold a joint meeting with House and Senate Democrats at 9 a.m. Wednesday in the Capitol Visitor Center auditorium. The notice for the meeting says the session is expected to last "at least one hour."

The White House said Obama will use the meeting to "share his perspective about the dangers posed by Congressional Republicans’ stated strategy to repeal the [Affordable Care Act] before proposing any replacement, creating chaos in the health system in the short run — and holding hostage Americans’ health care — while Republicans develop their plan."

Unfortunately for Dems, given that Republicans will control all three branches of government next month and only a simple majority vote will be required to repeal the law in the Senate through the reconciliation process, they're pretty much powerless. In light of their weak position, Chuck Schumer and Nanacy Pelosi have decided to do what Democrats always do when they lose...organize protests which will inevitably result in violence and the destruction of private property.

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History Shows How Rare and Valuable Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press Are

The Founding Fathers protected freedom of speech and freedom of the press as the most important liberties.

They are protected in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. And as discussed below, the Founders recognized that the ability to speak freely was the foundation for all other freedoms.

Thousands of years of history shows how rare and valuable such freedoms really are …
Socrates

Socrates was killed in 399 BC for “failing to acknowledge the gods that the [government] acknowledges”.

Using the Printing Press

Before the invention of the movable type printing press by Gutenberg, the church controlled the production of books.

Gutenberg’s invention allowed cheap production of books. This challenged the monopoly on books by the church, and thus allowed different viewpoints to be heard.

For example, when Martin Luther posted his "95 Theses" on a church door in Germany criticizing the corrupt Catholic practice of selling "indulgences" - paying the church in return for a reduction of your time in purgatory - the printing press spread his writings throughout all of Germany in 2 weeks, and throughout "all of Christendom" within a month. This launched the Protestant Reformation, and challenged the power of the Catholic church.

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Obama unleashes 3,853 regs, 18 for every law, record 97,110 pages of red tape

President Obama's lame duck administration poured on thousands more new regulations in 2016 at a rate of 18 for every new law passed, according to a Friday analysis of his team's expansion of federal authority.

While Congress passed just 211 laws, Obama's team issued an accompanying 3,852 new federal regulations, some costing billions of dollars.

The 2016 total was the highest annual number of regulations under Obama. Former President Bush issued more in the wake of 9/11.

The proof that it was an overwhelming year for rules and regulations is in the Federal Register, which ended the year Friday by printing a record-setting 97,110 pages, according to the analysis from the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

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Happy New Year

Britain scolds Kerry over Israel

Britain scolded U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry for describing the Israeli government as the most right-wing in Israeli history, a move that aligns Prime Minister Theresa May more closely with President-elect Donald Trump.

After U.S. President Barack Obama enraged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by refusing to veto a UN Security Council resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlement building, Kerry's public rebuke of Israel has unsettled some allies such as Britain.

Amid one of the United States' sharpest confrontations with Israel since the 1956 Suez crisis, Kerry said in a speech that Israel jeopardizeds hopes of peace in the Middle East by building settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

While Britain voted for the UN resolution that so angered Netanyahu and says that settlements in the occupied territories are illegal, a spokesman for May said that it was clear that the settlements were far from the only problem in the conflict.

In an unusually sharp public rebuke of Obama's top diplomat, May's spokesman said that Israel had coped for too long with the threat of terrorism and that focusing only on the settlements was not the best way to achieve peace between Jew and Arab.

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Malls debate teen policies after rash of Christmas weekend fights

An unusually high number of teen fights at shopping centers across the U.S. over the Christmas weekend — including at suburban 

Chicago malls — is prompting some mall operators to re-examine security policies and consider controversial restrictions on when and how teens may shop.

Security task force members from malls across the U.S. conducted a conference call Tuesday to discuss strategies for preventing mayhem, which may include more mall security or even bans on teens coming to malls alone, after multiple reports of teen fights over the four-day holiday, said Stephanie Cegielski, vice president of public relations for the International Council of Shopping Centers.

The need for more restrictions is "becoming somewhat more of a reality," Cegielski said.

Still, mall operators worry expanding or initiating new limits could hinder retailers' efforts to woo consumers away from internet shopping carts and back to the malls.

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Rockettes’ liberal defenders still insist on Christian coercion in gay weddings

The same people who want to crack down on Christian bakers who decline to participate in same-sex wedding ceremonies are defending the conscience rights of Radio City Rockettes dancers who object to performing at Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration.

The sudden about-face has conservatives accusing liberals of trying to have their cake and eat it too.

Dan Gainor, vice president of business and culture at the Media Research Center, said progressives stand up for freedom of conscience only when it’s a progressive conscience on the line.

“It’s ridiculously hypocritical,” Mr. Gainor said. “They think a photographer who would be forced to attend a gay wedding can be forced to participate in that ceremony, but they don’t think a Rockette — who’s not even a sole business owner but is actually an employee — can’t be forced to attend an event. Talk about ridiculous.”

The Rockettes sparked a social media maelstrom last week when one dancer took to Instagram to express her displeasure at the prospect of performing for Mr. Trump, whom she opposed in the general election.

“Finding out that it has been decided for us that Rockettes will be performing at the Presidential inauguration makes me feel embarrassed and disappointed,” the dancer said in the now-deleted post. “The women I work with are intelligent and are full of love and the decision of performing for a man that stands for everything we’re against is appalling.”

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Officials ‘Go Back To Basics’ On Excursion Train Possibilities; State Suggests Tying It To Balloon Festival, Freight Service

SNOW HILL – While interest remains high, no progress has been made in bringing an excursion train to Worcester County.

Berlin Mayor Gee Williams said this week that he and Snow Hill Mayor Charlie Dorman were taking the project back to the drawing board. He said efforts to gain state support resulted in suggestions that an excursion train be tied in with a balloon festival and freight service.

“Quite frankly that’s not in our ballpark,” Williams said. “We are two communities looking to provide additional reasons for people to enjoy our communities. We’re looking at culture which doesn’t have a diddly damn to do with freight service.”

Nevertheless, all parties involved — Berlin, Snow Hill, Worcester County and the Maryland Delaware Railroad (MDDE) — remain committed to the project.

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Left Funds Hate Coalition Aimed at Choking Americans’ Political Speech

A coalition of institutional left, anti-Trump groups will attempt to choke Americans’ free-speech rights, using the excuse they’re opposing “hate speech.”

The assortment of far-left and establishment groups in the “Coalition Against Hate” includes two groups associated with Hillary Clinton’s campaign chief operative John Podesta, plus pro-illegal immigration groups, such as the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) plus the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which was an unindicted co-conspirator in an anti-Semitic, jihad-funding operation.

MALDEF, which was formed in 1967 with funding almost exclusively by The Ford Foundation, has been called by author David Horowitz a group which “no longer draws a distinction between legal and illegal immigrants.”

Other members of the 55-member hate coalition include the Brennan Center for Justice, CHIRLA, Color of Change, Common Cause, GLAAD, Matthew Shepard Foundation, National Immigration Law Center, and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). These groups are suppressing their own rivalries — such as Islam’s hatred of gays — to unite against Americans.

The coalition plans to use legal action and government pressure to stop what it calls “hate speech.”

The group lays out their “mission” on their website, under the guise of stopping what they refer to as “hate speech.” That “hate speech” term helps them stigmatize rival opinions and ideas that the left rejects, even as the group ignores the hatred by fellow progressives towards President-elect Donald Trump and his supporters.

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Thousands Sign Petition Demanding College Fire Professor for Harassing Ivanka Trump

A petition is demanding that Hunter College fire Matthew Lasner, an associate professor of urban studies, after his husband accosted Ivanka Trump on a JetBlue flight.

More than 8,000 people have signed the Change.org petition asking that Hunter College fire Lasner from his position due to his “immature and cruel harassment of Ivanka Trump and her family at JFK airport,” the Daily Mail reports.

The petition was started by a group called “Right Wing Millennials.”

“Someone like Mr. Lasner, who would harass a mother and her child simply trying to go about their day, does not deserve the honor of teaching,” reads the petition.

“The fact that he tried to cover up and change the story around to avoid the consequences of his actions is also a testament to his character. He is NOT a good example for our youth,” the petition continues.

Lasner and his husband Daniel Goldstein were asked to leave a JetBlue flight after Goldstein shouted at Ivanka, “Your father is ruining the country” before declaring that “She should be flying private,” Breitbart previously reported.

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Israeli Minister: Israel Betrayed at UN By Countries Where We Helped Stop Terror

TEL AVIV – A member of the Israeli cabinet on Wednesday slammed the countries that supported the anti-settlement resolution at the UN Security Council, saying that Israel was betrayed by the very nations that asked it for assistance in fighting terror.

“Countries to which Israel has been providing intelligence to aid them in preventing terrorist attacks on their own soil sat there and voted against us at the UNSC,” Transportation, Intelligence and Atomic Energy Minister Yisrael Katz said.

Some lawmakers from the opposition defended the resolution, which declares all land captured by Israel in the 1967 defensive war as “occupied Palestinian territory.”

Zionist Union MK Tzipi Livni blasted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his harsh response towards countries that supported the resolution, including threats to cease aid and the summoning of 12 ambassadors for reprimand.

Leader of the settler movement Oded Revivi said Secretary of State John Kerry was “disconnected from reality.”

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China Warns US Against Allowing Stopover for Taiwan's Tsai

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen will pass through the United States when she visits Latin America next month, the Taiwan Foreign Ministry said on Thursday, angering China which urged the United States to block any such stopover.

China is deeply suspicious of Tsai, who it thinks wants to push for the formal independence of Taiwan, a self-governing island that Beijing regards as a renegade province, ineligible for state-to-state relations.

Details of the stopovers will be disclosed before the end of this week, the ministry said.

China said Tsai's intentions were clear and urged the United States not to let her in.

"We hope the U.S. can abide by the 'one China' policy...and not let her pass through their border, not give any false signals to Taiwan independence forces, and through concrete actions safeguard overall U.S. China relations and peace and stability in the Taiwan strait," Hua Chunying, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, told a briefing in Beijing.

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Hogan, despite non-support in election, will attend Trump inauguration

Gov. Larry Hogan, who refused to support Donald Trump's election, will attend his inauguration.

The Republican governor received an invitation and will attend the ceremony with his wife, Yumi Hogan, in Washington Jan. 20, the Governor's Office said Friday.

During the campaign, Hogan expressed disdain for Trump's candidacy and vowed not to vote for him even after Trump clinched the Republican Party's nomination.

Hogan announced that he had cast his vote for his father, former U.S. Rep. Lawrence J. Hogan Sr. The senior Hogan was also the last Republican to serve as Prince George's County executive.
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1 in 3 Americans: Obama probably born in Kenya

New poll shows doubts still strong about eligibility issue, even among Democrats

It’s been eight years since Barack Obama was elected president amid doubts about his eligibility to hold the office, when dozens of lawsuits challenged him, and even some members of Congress expressed concern.

It’s been four years since he was re-elected, just as most of those lawsuits were being dismissed by federal judges who mostly claimed the law gave them no authority to even hear the evidence.

But the latest Economist/YouGov poll indicates that fully one-third of Americans simply don’t believe the story promoted by the Obama administration, that he was born in Hawaii.

Specifically, 12 percent of all respondents say the statement “President Obama was born in Kenya” is definitely true, and another 24 percent say it is “probably true.”

That includes 20 percent of Democrats who place themselves in those two categories, 39 percent of independents and 52 percent of Republicans.

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Gangster government: Dan Bongino wants to know why no one is reporting on Operation Choke Point

The "Renegade Republican" Dan Bongino can’t believe this story is being ignored.

Filling in for CR's editor in chief on "The Mark Levin Show," Bongino brought attention to a story from The Wall Street Journal about Operation Choke Point — the Obama-Lynch Justice Department’s scandalous, mafia-like extortion of businesses the Left loves to target.

“Operation Choke Point,” Bongino explained, “was the Obama administration’s effort to get banks to stop providing funding mechanisms and banking services to industries they didn’t like.”

What kind of industries? Ammo manufacturers and firearms companies, for example, are legal enterprises Attorney General Loretta Lynch's Department of (in)Justice stifled by cutting off their ability to access financial services.

“They weren’t talking about industries that were breaking the law,” Bongino clarified. “They were talking about industries they didn’t like.”

“You are using the monopolistic power of force!” said Bongino. How is that any different from a mob shakedown?

And have you heard anything about Operation Choke Point from the mainstream media?

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LEGENDARY COMMENTS BY GEORGE CHEVALLIER 12-31-16

Sandwich Glass

Benjamin’s department store had two major fires throughout its history. The first was in the 1930’s and destroyed the entire store with the exception of the linen and glassware departments. The second was in 1974. My grandfather entered into an arrangement with Benjamin’s after the first fire that he bought the entire site and contents. He then rebuilt the store and sold it back to them. The Benjamin’s store was where the City Center is located now. Of course, he ended up with a lot of linens and a lot of glassware. I was grown before I knew they made towels in any color other than white. That was the downside. The upside was the many boxes of glassware he brought home. They all contained Duncan Miller sandwich glass. This was the original clear crystal glass with the very ornate sandwich pattern. Throughout the years, I have managed to save many pieces from the original stock and have added many more pieces.

Sandwich glass was started by the Duncan Miller Glass Company in 1924. They continued making the original quality until 1955. Throughout the years, two other companies have put out sandwich pattern glass, and it is hard to distinguish from the original. The Indiana Glass Company manufactured it from the late 1920’s until at least the 1980’s and may continue to this day. The Hocking Glass Company produced the clear crystal sandwich pattern in the 1940’s and 1950’s. The distinguishing feature is on any piece with a ring on the bottom. The original pieces will have a very flat ring whereas any other piece has a more rounded ring.

As with any collectible, you should get a good reference book and get to know what is out there. The original Duncan Miller glass has 138 different pieces listed. Some of them have added to my knowledge of glassware. A flower vase is not a flower vase, but an epergne. They list two different. Live and learn.

Because Benjamin’s sold it, there is a quantity of it around Salisbury and it can be fun to collect. It’s not very practical in this day and age, but it can be a beautiful addition to a corner cupboard or curio cabinet. Sandwich pattern glass is very decorative and, I think, Victorian looking. The adornments of a Victorian home have given way to the electronics of the 21st Century.

Because I drank from so many of the goblets when I was growing up, it is a reminder of my youth. We used the glasses but never used the plates or any of the other pieces. These were preserved in my mother’s and grandmother’s corner cabinets. Now they are preserved in boxes again, except for the few unusual pieces that adorn one shelf in one of my corner cabinets.

Happy New Year 2017

Huckabee: Defund United Nations - Use Money for Veterans Benefits

Wednesday on Fox News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor,” former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR) was asked about U.S. federal funding for the United Nations, which has come under fire by many domestically for a Security Council resolution condemning the nation of Israel for building settlements in disputed territories.

Huckabee suggested the monies allocated from the United States for the United Nations should be taken away and given to veterans that served under the U.S. flag.

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Even The Washington Post Thinks Kerry’s Israel Speech Was Nuts

The widespread condemnation of Secretary of State John Kerry’s Wednesday speech targeting Israel has now spread as far left as The Washington Post.

The Post issued an op-ed on Friday in which it stated, “The Obama administration is ending eight years of failed Middle East diplomacy exactly where it began in 2009 — with an exaggerated and misguided focus on Israeli settlement construction.”

The Post accused Kerry of railing at the continuing growth of West Bank Jewish housing “with a prolixity that Fidel Castro would have admired.”

The Post acknowledged the similarity of Kerry’s rhetoric to Barack Obama’s at the beginning of his first term, admitting that Obama’s actions catalyzed “Palestinian leaders to resist all concessions while seeking to delegitimize Israel internationally; the peace talks went nowhere even when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu imposed a temporary construction freeze.”

The Post continued, “Mr. Kerry’s speech was, above all, a vivid demonstration of the administration’s inability to learn from its mistakes or adjust the ideological tenets that Mr. Obama brought to office.”

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“Guilty, But Not Punished”: Another Banking Criminal Let Off The Hook

It is a verdict which we see over and over when it comes to the crimes of the Big Banks, the central banks, and their minions. These felons are caught committing serious offenses, again and again, yet receive either no punishment, or at worst some token slap on the wrist.

The banking felon to escape punishment this time is IMF criminal, Christine LaGarde. LaGarde’s criminal conviction came while she was still France’s Finance Minister. It involved a $400 million government pay-out authorized by LaGarde, against the advice of several other Finance Ministry officials, to “French tycoon” Bernard Tapie. LaGarde announced she wouldn’t appeal being let off the hook for her crime. How magnanimous.

Of course the phrase “French tycoon” is just a Corporate media euphemism for French oligarch, Bernard Tapie. LaGarde funneled $400 million of government money – the People’s money -- into this oligarch’s pockets, against the advice of Ministry colleagues, in what was officially ruled “a misuse of public funds”. Even with the watered-down charge of negligence, LaGarde’s crime could have carried a penalty of up to one year in prison.

The problem is that it would be difficult for LaGarde to continue to serve her oligarch Masters – in her new role as head of the IMF – from inside a prison cell. So she was given a pat on the head and told to go back to work. Indeed, one has to wonder if LaGarde’s reward for enriching Bernard Tapie (even further) with public money was her prestigious appointment at the IMF?

If (mis)using $400 million of public money to line the pockets of an oligarch doesn’t warrant at least a year in prison, what does? But this is nothing more than what we have now come to expect in the two-tier “justice” which now prevails across the Western world.

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Four People Taken To Hospital After Collision On Bay Bridge

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Maryland Transportation Authority Police says four people were taken to the hospital after a three-car accident on the Bay Bridge. It happened around 5:30 p.m. on Friday evening.

MDTA Police says three cars were involved in a collision, with two people being airlifted to Shock Trauma with serious injuries, and two other people were taken by ground to Anne Arundel Medical Center.

Westbound lanes of the Bay Bridge were shutdown for about three hours, causing major backups. The cause of the crash is under investigation.

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Obama's Vacation Costs Expected To Top $90 Million Over 8 Years

As the first family enjoys their 29th, and last, vacation on the taxpayer dime, we thought it would be appropriate to highlight just how much money the Obama's have spent on expensive golf resorts, exclusive beach villas and African safaris over the past 8 years. Per a study conducted by Judicial Watch, taxpayers will have spent nearly $90 million on vacations for the first family after their current, annual trip to Hawaii wraps up on January 2nd.

Of course, with each trip to Obama's home state costing $3 - $4 million a pop, it's not difficult to see how the costs add up quickly. AsMcClatchy points out, the cost of Air Force One, fighter jet escorts, helicopters, cargo planes, secret service advance teams, etc. can get costly.

The cost of Air Force One and other government planes as well as helicopters, cargo planes, armored cars, Secret Service protection and advance, communications and medical staff has led Judicial Watch to push for less personal travel.

“The Secret Service and the Air Force are being abused by unnecessary travel,” Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton said. “Unnecessary presidential travel for fundraising and luxury vacations on the taxpayers’ dime would be a good target for reform for the incoming Trump administration.”

But we don't fault him, all that time spent fundraising and signing executive orders is really exhausting.

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Can You Hear Me Now

California driver licenses given to 800,000 undocumented immigrants

On the day that California officials implemented a controversial law that allows undocumented residents to obtain driver’s licenses, DMV offices throughout the state were packed with immigrants looking to take advantage of the opportunity.

Two years after the implementation of AB 60 on Jan. 1, 2015, an estimated 806,000 undocumented residents have received driver’s licenses, according to Department of Motor Vehicles statistics this month. About 14,000 of these licenses were issued in November alone, the DMV said.

The law has allowed undocumented residents to come out of the shadows and drive safely in their neighborhoods, according to Maricela Gutierrez, executive director of the immigration advocacy organization, SIREN.

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NYE Dinner at Boonies

BOONIES RESTAURANT... We are more than just BURGERS, BEER & BAIT! Dine with us tomorrow night and celebrate the NEW YEAR! LIVE MUSIC ~ Nikki & Kevin Ward ~ 9pm-1am Reservations are strongly suggested... 410.873.2244

21438 Nanticoke Road  Tyaskin,MD  21865