Trump's line of home furnishings has disappeared from Sears' and Kmart's websites

Sears' and Kmart's websites no longer sell products from the Trump Home line, which is owned by the Trump Organization.

As of Friday, a search for Trump Home items on both retailers' sites yielded no results, except items sold by third-party sellers.

"As part of the company’s initiative to optimize its online product assortment, we constantly refine that assortment to focus on our most profitable items," a Sears Holdings spokesperson told Business Insider. "Amid that streamlining effort, 31 Trump Home items were among the items removed online this week. Products from the line are still offered online via third-party Marketplace vendors."

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Right-to-work court case could have national impact on unions

A landmark right-to-work lawsuit playing out in Illinois has captured widespread attention amid expectations the case could land before the Supreme Court – and potentially have national implications for an estimated 20 million government workers.

Pat Hughes, who’s representing the three plaintiffs in the Illinois case, predicted a ruling in their favor could even establish right-to-work policies coast-to-coast.

"This decision would ostensibly make all of the country right-to-work because you couldn't force people to affiliate with a union,” Hughes said.

Right-to-work laws make it illegal for unions to force workers into paying dues. Because Illinois is not a right-to-work state, it remains legal there for unions to automatically take out a ‘fair-share’ fee from a worker’s paycheck, which typically happens when a union represents the majority of employees. Unions argue they negotiate a better wage, health care and working environment for all employees so the fair-share fee is a small price to ask.

“Some fee to cover those representational costs is imminently reasonable and rational,” said labor expert Dr. Robert Bruno of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/02/10/right-to-work-court-case-could-have-national-impact-on-unions.html

Indiana Officer's Outtakes From Portrait With K-9 Dog Partner Go Viral

An Indiana conservation officer had a little trouble posing for his recent staff photo. But that’s because his K-9 partner, Kenobi, refused to stop licking his face.

The outtakes from officer Levi Knach’s photo shoot are going viral thanks to Kenobi’s wonderful attempts to steal the show.

“Kenobi is cute, but make no mistake - he is a trained, working officer and can track people and locate a variety of objects ranging from venison to ginseng,” Indiana State Parks wrote in a Facebook post, which now has 2,400 likes.

The post said that one of Kenobi’s jobs is to find ginseng when someone has illegally harvested it.

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Our Overly Sanctified Judiciary

As you might have heard, Donald Trump tweeted at a judge.

The commentariat shuddered at the effrontery of it, and some worried that the foundations of the separation of powers had been shaken. Trump’s slam of Judge James Robart was undeniably crude and ill-considered, but it wasn’t a threat to our Republic.

In fact, it is a symptom of our distorted and overly sanctified view of the judiciary that a criticism of a judge with a lifetime appointment is greeted with such pearl-clutching. It is entirely appropriate that the political branches have their own view of the law and the Constitution and robustly contest — and even deny the legitimacy of — court decisions that they consider erroneous.

The fundamental point is that it is not just the executive or Congress that can abuse its power and overstep its bounds. The courts can, too, and no one is obligated to meekly accept their decisions.

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Arby's warns of data breach affecting 350,000 customers

ATLANTA, GA (WCMH) — Arby’s is warning customers to keep an eye on their credit card and debit card statements for unusual activity after a data breach.

According to CNN, the company says a data breach may have affected more than 355,000 customers’ credit and debit cards.

It’s the same kind of malware attack behind earlier breaches at Target and Home Depot.

The breach occurred between Oct. 25 and Jan. 19.

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Undermining Our Republic, One Lawsuit After Another

In 1996, California voters approved a ballot initiative known as Proposition 209. It banned all preferential treatment based on race, ethnicity and gender in public education, employment and contracting. The decision was anathema to the progressive bean-counters and quota-mongers who did what progressives always do when the will of the people conflicts with their agenda: they found U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson, who issued a temporary restraining order preventing the law’s implantation. Henderson’s reasoning? Because the elimination of preferences disadvantaged women and racial minorities, it violated the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause.

Henderson’s affront to logic was eventually overturned, but this saga illustrates two things that afflict the nation to this very day: Leftists remain utterly contemptuous of the democratic process when the results of that process conflict with their “enlightened” worldview; and far more important, Americans have becoming increasingly inured to Abraham Lincoln’s warning that “if the policy of the Government upon vital questions affecting the whole people is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court … the people will have ceased to be their own rulers.”

Read more here

Families beg to close beach where 3 died as sand gave way

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Relatives of three people who died when the sand at a New Jersey beach gave way beneath their feet begged a judge to permanently close the beach, saying it’s only a matter of time before someone else dies there.

Relatives of Brad Smith asked Superior Court Judge Julio Mendez on Friday to order a section of the beach in North Wildwood, along the Heferord Inlet, closed to the public following the July 2012 death of Smith.

Although they are not part of the litigation, relatives of Jamila Watkins and Shayne Hart, who died in a similar 2009 accident, also called for the beach to be closed.

North Wildwood and the state say the deaths were due to natural conditions that government has no obligation to fix.

“Everyone knows that this will happen again; it’s just a matter of time,” said Nicole Gaeta, Smith’s oldest daughter. “It would destroy all of us.”

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Mexican Drug Cartel Operating in U.S. Suburb More than 1,500 Miles from Border

Illustrating that the Mexican drug crisis is having a far-reaching impact on the U.S., a heroin ring operated by a Mexican cartel was recently busted in an American suburb more than 1,500 miles from the southern border. In the last few years Judicial Watch has reported extensively on the massive amounts of drugs—especially heroin—that get smuggled into the U.S. by Mexican traffickers who later use street, prison and outlaw motorcycle gangs to distribute them throughout the country. Undoubtedly, these enterprises benefitted tremendously from the Obama administration’s open border policies.

Now we have confirmation that these illicit drug operations have penetrated areas far from the border. This case comes out of Rowan County, North Carolina where a local news report reveals that authorities began targeting large-scale heroin distribution in 2013. Last week three people with ties to a Mexican drug cartel were arrested in the county. Large quantities of heroin, handguns, a rifle, ammunition, numerous telephones, cash and drug paraphernalia was confiscated by police. Authorities say the Mexican heroin trafficking ring was based in the Charlotte-Matthews area and has been supplying heroin to Rowan County for more than a decade. “Over the past two months, investigators purchased large amounts of heroin from two people working for this Mexican National Drug Trafficking Organization,” the news report states.

This is hardly earth-shattering news. A number of federal audits have documented the enormous amounts of drugs that annually enter the U.S. through the porous southern border, even as Obama’s Homeland Security Secretary famously proclaimed the region to be as secure as it’s ever been. One report, published just a few months ago, referred to western states as a “heroin transit zone” because Mexican cartels move such large amounts of drugs through the Southwest border. That government assessment disclosed that there at least eight major Mexican drug trafficking organizations operating in the United States with the Sinaloa Cartel being the most active.

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DE State Police Investigating Robbery of Shawnee Country Store

Milford, De. – The Delaware State Police are investigating a robbery of a Milford area store that occurred last evening.

The preliminary investigation determined the incident occurred at approximately 7:45 p.m., Friday, February 10, 2017, as a male suspect armed with an unknown type handgun entered the Shawnee Country Store located at 6994 Shawnee Road, Milford. The suspect approached the store employee and demanded cash. The victim complied with the demand and turned over an undisclosed amount of cash. The suspect then exited the store and fled in an unknown direction. The clerk was not injured.

The suspect is described as a male approximately 6’00” tall with a thin build. The suspect was wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt and dark pants with his face covered armed with an unknown type handgun. (photo attached)

If anyone has any information in reference to this incident they are asked to contact Detective M. Doughty at 302-752-3794. Information may also be provided by calling Delaware Crime Stoppers at 1-800-TIP-3333, via the internet at www.delaware.crimestoppersweb.com, or by sending an anonymous tip by text to 274637 (CRIMES) using the keyword “DSP.”

Missing Juvenile in Salisbury 2-11-17

Watters' World: NYC student walkout edition

Jesse Watters asks high school students why they are protesting the travel ban on 'The O'Reilly Factor'

Judicial Watch Files Suit For ‘Refugee Travel Loans’ Information

Tightening our immigration and refugee programs is a matter of national security (despite what some out-of-control judges may think), and it is also a matter of cost.

In this regard, we have filed a lawsuit against the State Department for records on the number of “Refugee Travel Loans” issued by State’s Bureau for Population, Refugees, and Migration to the United Nation’s International Organization for Migration from 2010 to the present.

We are also seeking the number of loans defaulted upon and the amount of money written off on each defaulted loan. We filed the suit on January 24, 2017, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:17-cv-00157)).

Judicial Watch filed the suit after the State Department failed to respond to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on February 5, 2016, seeking the following:

All records reflecting the number of Refugee Travel Loans furnished by the State Department’s Bureau for Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) per year; the number of travel loans that are defaulted upon per year; and the amount of money written off per defaulted loan.

The Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration provides funding for aid and relief work abroad and the bureau’s admissions office handles settling refugees in the United States. According to the agency’s website, it spent nearly $545 million “to provide new beginnings to the world’s most vulnerable refugees” in 2016 and more than $2.8 billion to “humanitarian assistance overseas.” It provided $103 million directly to the UN’s International Organization for Migration.

The International Organization for Migration, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, has an annual budget of $1.4 billion and (as of 2014) a staff of 9,000 throughout the world. According to the International Organization for Migration website, the organization provides interest-free loans “furnished by the Department of State” to “all refugees arriving in the United States:”

All refugees arriving in the United States are offered interest-free travel loans by IOM. Refugees who accept these travel loans are required to sign a promissory note prior to departure, committing themselves to repayment of the debt within 46 months after arrival in the United States.

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Army Denies Claims For Aberdeen Blimp Damage

The U.S. Army is denying 35 claims for more than $1.5 million in damage caused when a blimp broke loose in Maryland and came to rest in the Pennsylvania countryside in 2015.

Army Spokesman Dov Schwartz said in a statement Friday that the Army had determined that no government employees or agencies were responsible or negligent in the incident.

The decision was first reported by pennlive.com.

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$8.5 Billion U.S. Counter-Narcotics Effort in Afghanistan BOOSTS Opium Production

The U.S. government’s multi-billion-dollar effort to counter narcotics in Afghanistan is a humiliating failure that’s resulted in a huge increase in poppy cultivation and opium production. Despite the free-flow of American tax dollars to combat the crisis, opium production rose 43% in the Islamic nation, to an estimated 4,800 tons, and approximately 201,000 hectares of land are under poppy cultivation, representing a 10% increase in one year alone.

Uncle Sam’s embarrassing counter narcotics effort is part of a broader and costly failure involving the reconstruction of Afghanistan. More than $100 billion have been dedicated to help rebuild the war-torn country and much of it has been lost to waste, fraud and abuse not to mention corruption. The drug initiative is a recent example, documented by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) in a quarterly report to Congress. The document is painful to read because it goes on for 269 pages, but Judicial Watch created a link for the counter narcotics section, which is around 19 pages and includes informative charts, graphs and the latest available statistics.

As of December 31, 2016, the United States has spent an astounding $8.5 billion for counter narcotics efforts in Afghanistan since 2002, the report reveals, making it clear that the cash will continue flowing. “Nonetheless, Afghanistan remains the world’s leading producer of opium, providing 80% of the global output over the past decade, according to the United Nations,” SIGAR writes.

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[Opium is, of course, refined to make heroin-- the substance destroying so many lives in the US and elsewhere. --Editor]

Worcester County reaffirms opposition to septic system changes

The Worcester County Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to send a letter opposing state legislation to re-establish pre-treatment requirements for septic systems outside watershed areas.

Bob Mitchell, county environmental programs director, presented background on the measures SB 266 and HB 281, which look to reinstitute septic system regulations the Hogan administration abolished last November through its Regulatory Reform Commission.

Among the commission’s multitude of findings was that the state’s 2012 expansion of stringent septic system requirements could add as much as $15,000 to the cost of building a home or business by requiring all new systems to employ nitrogen-reduction technology.

“This is basically undoing the work of the Regulatory Reform Commission and re-instating pre-treatment of septic outside of the critical area,” he said.

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Sanctuary cities caving in face of funding threats

Several towns, cities and counties around the nation are caving to President Trump's threat to pull funding, and abandoning their "sanctuary" pledges to shield illegal immigrants from federal authorities.

Dayton, Ohio, dropped a policy that restricted the city’s cooperation with immigration officials pursuing illegal immigrants arrested for misdemeanors or felony property crimes, according to the Dayton Daily News. Police Chief Richard Biehl said federal authorities will no longer be impeded by the city when pursuing illegal immigrants being held by his department.

Other communities that have dropped policies of shielding illegal immigrant suspects from Immigration and Customs Enforcement include Miami-Dade and Dayton, are Saratoga, N.Y., Finney County, Kan., and Bedford, Penn., according to The Center for Immigration Studies, which keeps a list of sanctuary communities.

“We are reviewing policy changes at a multitude of other jurisdictions as well,” said Marguerite Telford, CIS’s director of communications, who said the organization is “being inundated” by officials on its sanctuary map who want to be taken off.

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WOCO Schools: Opioid lesson plan aimed at eighth graders

Worcester County schools announced the addition of a new anti-heroin pilot program for eighth graders at Stephen Decatur Middle School, a move designed to combat a nationwide increase in illegal drug use and overdoses.

The opioid lesson plan is one small piece in a larger plan to bridge the gap in health education between middle and high schools, according to district Coordinator of Instruction Tamara Mills.

“The specific unit on heroin came about because of [the] opioid epidemic we are seeing across the country, our state and our county,” Mills said. “If we can change and improve children’s behaviors early on, we can all hopefully reap the benefits of that in future generations.”

This year, the middle school has partnered with Atlantic General Hospital to continue the health-literacy program that educates students on making healthy lifestyle choices. The program started in 2013 in Ocean City Elementary, and then expanded to lower grade levels.

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Republicans plan to kill Obama's order on taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood

House Republicans will vote next week to liberate states from an Obama rule requiring them to subsidize Planned Parenthood.

In one of his last actions, Obama effectively forced states to fund Planned Parenthood. Many states have policies barring state funds for the abortion giant, and Obama's 11th-hour executive order prohibited such policies.

Next week, the House plans to use the Congressional Review Act to repeal that Obama regulation — a first salvo in their fight to roll back Obama's legacy on abortion.

According to congressional aides, the vote is scheduled for late next week and will specifically axe Obama's Title X rule. During his final weeks in office, Obama finalized the regulation, explicitly barring states from pulling federal grant money from clinics that provide abortion.

Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told The Washington Examiner that the effort is about "protecting life and stopping the federal government from forcing states to support abortion."

"The federal government should not be sending taxpayer dollars to abortion providers, and it shouldn't force states to do so either," McCarthy said in a statement.

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Legislative Call for Action

LEGISLATIVE CALL FOR ACTION

MSATP IS TRACKING THE FOLLOWING LEGISLATION THAT MAY IMPACT YOUR BUSINESS  HB 0001 | SB 0230 (click for entire bill) Labor and Employment - Maryland Healthy Working Families Act Status:In the House - Hearing 2/10/17 at 12:30 p.m. | In the Senate - Hearing 2/9/17 at 1:00 p.m. Synopsis: Requiring employers that employ 15 or more employees to provide employees with earned sick and safe leave that is paid at the same wage rate as the employee normally earns; requiring employers with 14 or few employees to provide an employee with unpaid earned sick and safe leave; ... etc. In plain English: Requires ALL employers to all employees to earn Sick & Safe Leave at the rate of 1 hour for every 30 hours worked. 1. The leave will be paid if there are more than 14 employees 2. The leave will be unpaid if there are less than 15 employees 3. A maximum of 56 hours may be earned in a year 4. Unused hours may be carried over to the next year 5. A maximum of 80 hours may be accrued at any time 6. Paystub must show hours available or have online system for inquiry 7. Accrued and used records must be kept for 3 years 8. Triple damages possible Committee(s): Economic Matters (House) | Finance (Senate) HB 0424 (click for entire bill) Taxpayer Protection Act Status: In the House - Hearing 2/14/17 at 1:00 p.m. Synopsis: Prohibiting a person from employing an individual not registered with the State Board of Individual Tax Preparers to provide specified tax preparation services; authorizing specified employees of the Comptroller's Office to act as police officers when enforcing specified laws; ... etc. Committee(s): Judiciary HB 0691 (click for entire bill) Corporations and Associations - Annual Reports - Filing Fees (Filing Fee Fairness Act of 2017) Status: In the House - Hearing 2/22/17 at 1:00 p.m. Synopsis: Altering the fee that specified business entities must pay for filing an annual report with the State Department of Assessments and Taxation; and applying the Act prospectively. In plain English: This bill introduced to change Form 1 Filing Fees! House Bill 691, sponsored by Delegates Vanessa Atterbeary,

Lawmakers file bill making some drivers immune to civil liability if protesters injured

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) -A Tennessee Senator has filed legislation which would make the driver of a vehicle immune to civil liability if they hit a protester.

SB944 was filed by Sen. Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro) on Thursday in the Senate. In the House, Rep. Matthew Hill filed the same legislation as sponsor.

The bill states: "A person driving an automobile who is exercising due care and injures another person who is participating in a protest or demonstration and is blocking traffic in a public right-of-way is immune from civil liability for such injury."

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La. man burglarizes home while wearing GPS ankle monitor

Police received a tip that John Davis was involved in a burglary and his ankle monitor confirmed his location

SLIDELL, La. — A suspect broke into a home and stole jewelry, electronics and firearms - all while wearing a GPS ankle monitor.

Slidell police received a tip that John Davis, 56, was involved in a Jan. 26 burglary and began looking into him as a suspect, the department wrote on Facebook.

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Carroll County delegate supporting 'right to defend property' bill

A Carroll County delegate and a delegate who represents part of Carroll are co-sponsoring a bill that would allow an occupant to use any amount of force to protect their residence from an intruder.

House Bill 608, co-sponsored by Del. Susan Krebs, R-District 5, and Del. Trent Kittleman, R-District 9A, who represents part of southeastern Carroll, will allow occupants to use any amount of force, including deadly, if they suspect someone of making an unlawful entry into their home; someone of a committing a crime in the home; or if someone is likely to use physical force, regardless of how slight, according to the bill.

Under the bill, if someone were to use deadly force, they would not face criminal charges. There are exceptions for law enforcement officers and people who have permission to be in the home.

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Welfare Queen: "This Is What The Taxpayers Are Paying For"

Trump hits Blumenthal for Gorsuch comment claims, Vietnam 'lie'

President Trump on Thursday struck back at Sen. Richard Blumenthal a day after the Connecticut Democrat leaked alleged details of a conversation he had with Trump’s Supreme Court pick.

Blumenthal on Wednesday told reporters that Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch said previous comments made by Trump about a federal judge were “demoralizing” and “disheartening.”

“Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who never fought in Vietnam when he said for years he had (major lie), now misrepresents what Judge Gorsuch told him?” Trump tweeted.

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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/02/09/trump-hits-blumenthal-for-gorsuch-comment-claims-vietnam-lie.html

Trump must break judicial power

Pat Buchanan: 'A clipping of the court's wings is long overdue'

“Disheartening and demoralizing,” wailed Judge Neil Gorsuch of President Trump’s comments about the judges seeking to overturn his 90-day ban on travel to the U.S. from the Greater Middle East war zones.

What a wimp. Did our future justice break down crying like Sen. Chuck Schumer? Sorry, this is not Antonin Scalia. And just what horrible thing had our president said?

A “so-called judge” blocked the travel ban, said Trump. And the arguments in court, where 9th Circuit appellate judges were hearing the government’s appeal, were “disgraceful.” “A bad student in high school would have understood the arguments better.”

Did the president disparage a couple of judges? Yep.

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America First

Two of the founders of the original Worcester TEA Party movement, Steve Lind and Brian Nygaard, are in the process of recruiting activists who believe in the “America First’ credo, activists who understand that our gains can easily be taken away from us if we sit back and allow the other side to go unchallenged. We will represent the pro-Trump, pro-America policies, and counter the demonstrations of the vocal opposition. We will also attend the Townhalls of our Congressman Andy Harris to provide vocal support in the event left-wing radicals show up with the intent to harass and silence him. And we will reactivate the ‘Truth Squad’; those with writing skills will be coordinated to respond to left-wing letters to the editor that are void of facts. Please, if you are distressed by the lies of the mainstream media, by the anti-America riots, by the obstruction of the left wing radical politicians, contact Steve and Brian atDoNothing.LoseAll@gmail.com for further info., or call Brian at 410-251-3585 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Hotly debated sick-leave bills considered by Md. Senate committee

WASHINGTON — A Maryland Senate committee is considering a pair of hotly debated bills that would force businesses across the state to offer paid time off to their employees.

The General Assembly nearly passed paid sick-leave legislation last year, and now lawmakers are taking another look after the state’s Senate Finance Committee heard from supporters and opponents Thursday.

“As costs continue to layer, people will lose jobs,” said Cailey Locklair Tolle, with the Maryland Retailers Association. “Between health care, which is going through the roof, minimum wage increases and all the other costs of doing business, it is helpful to step back and look at the bigger picture.”

Mike O’Halloran, with the National Federation of Independent Business, told committee members that the policy is, in many cases, unworkable for the business community.

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Hilarious: Renewables Won’t Work – Even If Climate Claims are True

Imagine for a moment that all the wild claims of climate driven future weather disasters will occur as predicted. In this imaginary future climate dystopia, how will wind power cope with super storms? How will solar power cope with hail, tornadoes, cyclones and floods? How will hydro power cope with endless droughts? How will biofuel crops cope with storm damage, droughts and unseasonal heatwaves?

Solar and wind power lose their shine

GARY JOHNS, Brisbane

It is exquisite that we are to place our energy future in renewables, the energy source most prone to the beast that we are trying to slay: climate change.

Non-renewables, by contrast, are least reliant on climate. Come hell or high water, coal, gas and oil can be pumped, refined and burned.

Fossil fuels are our natural store built from eons of climate change. They are our insurance against the effects of climate change.

The climate change gambit has always been a Goldilocks story. The speed and damage of climate change had to be not too hot (or rapid) and not too cold (or slow), it had to be just right. Too rapid or hot and renewables would never work. Too delayed or cool and the world could wait for better technologies. Renewables seemed right only in the just right scenario.

But, what if climate change creates more clouds, calms the wind, stops rivers flowing, or wipes out bio-crops in regions where panels, turbines, hydro and biofuel stock are located?

You would think CSIRO would research the risk. But it has nothing to say.

The US Environmental Protection Agency says no more than that “the impacts of climate change on wind and solar power is still a developing area of research”.

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Trump's EU Ambassador Says Greece Likely To "Sever Ties With Germany & Exit The Euro"

Amid a more prolonged economic doldrums than The Great Depression, Greece is heading towards its 4th bailout/deal with creditors. Adding to Grexit fears (voiced by many in and out of Greece), Ted Malloch, President Trump's proposed US ambassador to the EU, casts doubt on survival of eurozone and says Athens should return to drachma.

As we noted previously, for the umpteenth time, the IMF has warned that Greece cannot meet fiscal targets set by its creditors. And once again, the IMF insists that it will not be a part of the “Troika” unless the goals on Greece are realistic. History suggests the IMF will cave in to Germany and agree to some half-baked plan (make that 1/8th baked plan) that will supposedly put Greece back on track. Such nonsense has been going on for years. Mercy, Please!

[It's worse than the Great Depression...]

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Gravy Train Flows at Warren's Consumer Agency

Pay is flowing so generously at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) that hundreds of bureaucrats there receive more than most members of Congress.

The Senate majority and minority leaders are paid $193,000 annually. Two hundred and one CFPB employees outdo Sens. Mitch McConnell and Charles Schumer in pay.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan of Wisconsin receives $223,000 per year, but that’s less than what 54 CFPB employees are paid.

Another 170 CFPB employees earn more than the secretaries of defense and state, the attorney general and the director of national intelligence. All cabinet salaries are capped at $199,700, but not at the bureau. Thirty-nine CFPB employees earn more than the $230,000 paid to Vice President Mike Pence.

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Sean Hannity Goes Nuclear on GOP Obstructionists for Not Acting on Trump’s Agenda

On his radio show this afternoon, Sean Hannity chimped out and called out republican shills who've been obstructing President Trump's agenda by twiddling their thumbs and not writing bills to fund infrastructure projects, tax cuts and healthcare reform.

Essentially, Trump is at the mercy of a very corrupt and globalist shilling GOP -- led by a man (Paul Ryan) who is as vacuous as his democratic counterparts.

Hannity promised to call them out, one by one, and to make their phones ring non-stop if they didn't get off their asses and start working for the American people.

Epic takedown.

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Fourth Muslim Group Rejects Federal Grant to Fight Extremism

WASHINGTON (AP) — A California Islamic school wanted to keep an open mind before Donald Trump took office. But less than a month into Trump’s presidency, the school rejected $800,000 in federal funds aimed at combating violent extremism.

The decision made late Friday night by the Bayan Claremont graduate school’s board to turn down the money — an amount that would cover more than half its yearly budget — capped weeks of sleepless nights and debate. Many there felt Trump’s rhetoric singling out Islamic extremism and his travel ban affecting predominantly Muslim countries had gone too far.

It also made the school the fourth organization nationwide under the Trump administration to reject the money for a program created under President Barack Obama known as countering violent extremism, or CVE, which officials say aims to thwart extremist groups’ abilities to recruit would-be terrorists.

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Ben Shapiro DESTROYS Transgenderism And Pro-Abortion Arguments: This Is Amazing!

Md. could up penalties for driver who disregard bus stop signs

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — It’s already Maryland law: drivers must stop when a school bus comes to a halt, extends a stop arm, and turns on red flashing lights to let students on or off the bus.

But Maryland lawmakers and police, frustrated with the number of drivers who continue to violate that law, are calling for an increase in civil penalties.

Del. Al Carr, testifying before the House Committee on the Environment and Transportation, introduced House Bill 186, which would hit drivers with a $250 fine for passing a stopped school bus for the second time.

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The Gipper

Texas sheriff releases criminal immigrants under sanctuary policy

TRAVIS COUNTY, TEXAS - The Travis County Jail released 37 immigrant inmates on bond Wednesday, inmates who under an old policy would have been held if requested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Travis County Sheriff’s Spokeswoman Kristin Dark said there were 191 immigrant inmates under ICE detainer requests on Feb. 1, when Sheriff Sally Hernandez’s policy went into effect. ICE agents asked the county to detain five immigrants who were arrested Wednesday, but the sheriff’s office declined both requests under the new policy. The sheriff’s office also declined an ICE request to be informed when four other immigrants were released from the jail.

Hernandez’s new policy states it will comply with ICE detainer requests if the inmate is being held on murder, sex assault or human trafficking charges. The sheriff’s office said 30 inmates fall into those categories and are being held, as well as complying with request to notify ICE when two other inmates charged with those offenses are released.

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'The Party of Hate'

The Democrat Party is the "party of hate," David Horowitz, author of the best-selling book "Big Agenda: President Trump's Plan to Save America," said Thursday.

"We have in this country a large 'hate-America left,'" Horowitz told Sean Hannity on Fox News. "It dovetails with the Democratic Party.

"It's a party of hate."

Horowitz said that the left's vitriol has not fazed President Donald Trump.

"The great thing about Donald Trump is that he's not intimidated by the attacks of the left," he said. "We're in the midst of one of the big witch hunts of American history."

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Md. lawmaker wants heftier fines for using cellphones while driving

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – In Maryland, drivers caught using a cellphone behind the wheel can pay fines of anywhere from $75 to $175 dollars in a tiered system.

But a Maryland lawmaker says the $175 maximum isn’t cutting it when it comes to getting drivers to keep their hands off their cellphones while driving.

Del. Frank Turner is proposing a repeal of the tiered system in favor of a penalty that could go as high as $500 dollars. At a hearing before the Maryland House Environment and Transportation Committee this week, Turner said people have not gotten the message. “I see it all the time as I drive down the street — people are using their cellphones.”

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Groups want Trump to close loophole allowing illegal immigrants to abuse tax credits

Illegal immigrants need only one number to access billions of dollars in free taxpayer cash.

The Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN) unlocks an exclusive gateway for non-citizens to receive monies meant for working, low-income Americans. The nine-digit code was created by bureaucrats in 1996 for foreigners who had to deal with the IRS. It allows people without a Social Security number, including those in the country illegally, to file taxes.

“It’s just a farce to say it was created to collect taxes,” Robert Rector, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News. “It’s nothing but a welfare program designed for illegal immigrants. ITINS are for tourists or illegals. No ITIN filer is eligible to work in the United States.”

The problem with ITIN, critics say, is gives non-citizens access to federal cash that they should not be entitled to receive. Once illegal immigrants file ITIN tax returns, they can apply for a Child Tax Credit – which entitles them to $1,000 per child. Unlike the Earned Income Tax Credit, which requires a Social Security Number to qualify, the Child Tax Credit is a cash program that does not.

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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/02/09/groups-want-trump-to-close-loophole-allowing-illegal-immigrants-to-abuse-tax-credits.html

Elizabeth Warren 'Silenced' Again After Video Surfaces Of MLK's Wife Thanking Senator Sessions

After being silenced last night on the Senate floor during her desperate racial stunt to read disparaging remarks about now-confirmed Attorney-General Jeff Sessions, we suspect Senator Elizabeth Warren is lost for words as video surfaces of Coretta Scott King thanking Senator Sessions at the launching of the Rosa Parks Library and Museum.

The racially-divisive stunt that Senator Warren tried to pull last night - by quoting a letter from the late Coretta Scott King, civil rights activist and wife of Martin Luther King Jr., who wrote in 1986, during Sessions' failed confirmation hearing for a federal judgeship, that he “had used the awesome power of his office to chill the free exercise of the vote by black citizens" as a U.S. attorney in Alabama - ended with her being silenced by Senate vote.

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The Truth About Voter ID

Florida 2012: How Dems used systematic voting fraud to cost Romney the election

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In 2012, when I had press credentials to join the “traveling press” on then-GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s campaign airplane, I had a chance to observe Democratic Party voter fraud up close.

In the book I wrote of my experiences in the 2012 presidential campaign entitled “What Went Wrong? The Inside Story of the GOP Debacle of 2012 … And How It Can Be Avoided Next Time,” I presented a case study showing the methodology Democratic Party operatives use to institute systematic voting fraud.

In a 6-3 decision on April 28, 2008, in the case Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, 553 U.S. 181 (2008) the Supreme Court upheld voter ID cases, provided the same requirements were imposed on all voters. The case was widely interpreted as a major defeat for the Democratic Party and the efforts of the far-left to preserve voting registration methodologies facilitate putting ineligible voters on the rolls.

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Republicans push bill to split up ‘nutty 9th Circuit’

As judges on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals weigh the legality of President Trump’s immigration executive order, a Republican push to split up the controversial court -- and shrink its clout -- is gaining steam on Capitol Hill.

Republican Sens. Jeff Flake and John McCain of Arizona introduced legislation last month to carve six states out of the San Francisco-based court circuit and create a brand new 12th Circuit.

They argue that the 9th is too big, too liberal and too slow resolving cases. If they succeed, only California, Oregon, Hawaii and two island districts would remain in the 9th's judicial fiefdom.

Right now, Flake said, the circuit is far too sprawling.

“It represents 20 percent of the population -- and 40 percent of the land mass is in that jurisdiction. It’s just too big,” Flake told Fox News on Wednesday. “We have a bedrock principle of swift justice and if you live in Arizona or anywhere in the 9thCircuit, you just don’t have it.”

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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/02/09/bill-to-split-nutty-9th-circuit-gains-momentum.html

Hogan On Trump: Governor 'Focused On Solving Maryland Problems'

Many Democrats in Maryland have been calling on Gov. Larry Hogan to be more vocal in his criticisms of his fellow Republican, President Donald Trump.

In a visit to 98 Rock's "Justin, Scott and Spiegel," Hogan said he's not interested in taking a side on something he doesn't see as affecting the state. WBAL NewsRadio 1090 is 98 Rock's sister station.

"I'm focused on solving Maryland problems," Hogan said. "I have 31 different policy proposals and a real agenda to turn our state around and the only questions we get [asked] about is why aren't you protesting Donald Trump?"

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Midwest Farm Bubble Continues Collapse As Farm Incomes Expected To Crash In 2017

Earlier this week the U.S Department of Agriculture released its biannual report of farm incomes which paints a very bleak picture for the American farmer. In its first forecast for 2017, the USDA sees real farm cash receipts down 14% versus 2015 and 36% from the previous high set in 2012 as farm debt continues to soar and leverage surges to all-time highs.

As the Wall Street Journal notes, the deadly combination of rising input costs, lower grain prices, a strong dollar and excessive leverage will likely force many of America's Midwest farmers out of business in 2017.

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Roughly Half Of All Illegal Immigrants Live In these 10 Metro Areas

As Trump gets set to ramp up pressure on so-called "sanctuary cities", and sanctuary states in the case of California, here is a look at where the majority of illegal immigrants in the United States are currently residing. Per data from the Pew Research Center,approximately 60% of all illegal immigrants live in just 20 metropolitan areas across the country.

Most of the United States’ 11.1 million unauthorized immigrants live in just 20 major metropolitan areas, with the largest populations in New York, Los Angeles and Houston, according to new Pew Research Center estimates based on government data.

The analysis shows that the nation’s unauthorized immigrant population is highly concentrated, more so than the U.S. population overall. In 2014, the 20 metro areas with most unauthorized immigrants were home to 6.8 million of them, or 61% of the estimated nationwide total. By contrast, only 36% of the total U.S. population lived in those metro areas.

By far the biggest unauthorized immigrant populations were in the New York and Los Angeles metro areas (1.2 million and 1 million, respectively). No other metro area approached a million. Among the top 20 areas, the smallest unauthorized immigrant populations included Orlando (110,000) and Austin (100,000).

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Congress Demands New Reports On Food Stamp Fraud

Congress wants the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to study the food stamps program to stop fraud and abuse in the $67 billion program.

Utah Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, asked for three reports of the food stamps program in letters sent Wednesday, focusing on retailer trafficking, the effectiveness of job training programs in getting food stamps recipients back in the workforce, and abuse of benefits across state lines.

More than 44 million people received Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, or food stamps, in 2016, and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that around 1.5 percent of the $67 billion benefits paid out goes to fraud, according to a recent audit.

The best chance Congress will have to reform the food stamps program will be in drafting the next Farm Bill, which authorizes the USDA’s spending, due to be passed in 2018.

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LEGENDARY COMMENTS BY GEORGE CHEVALLIER 2-11-17

The Altar Boy

Many religions have ceremonies that include young people in their services. I was raised Catholic so I was expected to become an altar boy. This was when I was ten and had just discovered Little League baseball. My father took away my baseball glove until I properly learned my Latin responses to the priest. I agonized about it but it did me no good with Pop. With that incentive, I learned my Latin really fast.

Until I learned my Latin and became an official altar boy, I was an acolyte. This began when I was seven and was only used at Christmas and Easter when we donned the special cassocks used only for those occasions. We really thought we were something in those. They consisted of a white cassock and red cape with gold fringe and a big red bow around our neck.. The thrill wore off during midnight Mass at Christmas and the younger boys usually fell asleep while we were seated in the sacristy since it was well after our usual bedtime.

One of the duties of an altar boy was to ring the bells at the appropriate time during Mass. These were a configuration of four different bells attached to one stem with a round handle at the top. There was a technique to getting the proper musical sound from the bells. I remember one time I didn’t move the bells in the proper manner and all that came out was a very faint “ding-ding”. The other altar boy just had to make the most of the moment by audibly saying to me “Ice Cream Man”, because it sounded just like the sound the Shore Maid truck made when he made his rounds. So, at a very solemn moment, the humor of two young boys shattered the solemnity of the moment. We might have been altar boys, but we were still boys and “boys will be boys”.

The Catholic Church changed many of the rules in 1962 to try to modernize the Church. The first time I went to Church after the changes, a woman was in the sacristy beyond the Communion rail and she was playing a guitar and singing. They have since done away with the Communion rail altogether.They also have altar GIRLS. They took most of the Latin out of the Mass. The late Bill Riordan and I tried to make some headway into keeping the Latin Mass, but we were up against a much too powerful force.

I still go to Mass on Christmas and at Easter, but it is not the same. I learned in the seminary that along with the structured scripture of the Mass, we should learn to meditate in our own minds. It is so hard now, with all the new innovations, that I feel more like I am on the foul line at an NBA game with all the hand shaking and such. They are trying to get people to be more interactive with the other Church members. Maybe so, but I go to Church to pray, not socialize. So that is why I don’t go every Sunday. I found that I can stay home and talk to God without all the distractions. Anyway, He is everywhere, isn’t He?

Dog Found In Pittsville Area

Joe,

I found this dog in the Pittsville area last night. Looks to be a Chihuahua puppy. Contact Jason at 443-880-4109.

Media Criticism of Conway Reveals a Double Standard

Kellyanne Conway is good at her job, and the media hates her for it.

CNN has grave concerns about White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway’s credibility and even refused to have her on its Sunday show recently, apparently to protect viewers from her Jedi-mind-trick powers. CNN subsequently invited Conway to appear on the network, infuriating a chorus of liberal-media critics who insist she must be shunned like a harlot in an Amish colony.

Now, I should disclose that I know Conway a bit and like her. At the same time, no one who’s read my columns over the last two years would accuse me of being a cheerleader for her or her boss.

Conway’s job is, at least in part, to sell the president’s agenda and fight back against a hostile press. She is very good at it. Too good, apparently. 

Bill Moyers, who had a similar job for President Lyndon Johnson, lamented CNN’s decision not to permanently ban Conway, which is the “the surest way to prevent a professional con artist from using you to pollute the airwaves with one flagrant lie after another.”

Moyers says Conway is the “administration’s official Queen of Bulls***,” which is an interesting charge coming from someone who used to clean out LBJ’s stables gustily.

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Democrats Are in Worse Shape than Even They Think

Warnings — or, in some cases, celebrations — that the Democrats are on the verge of a disastrous collapse have been growing more frequent recently.

Since the election, Rush Limbaugh has been hammering the point that the campaign has only continued — and extended the trend set in 2010, when Democrats lost the House.

Since then, Democrats have lost 1200 national and statewide seats. And earlier this week, Stewart Lawrence, writing in the Daily Caller, and picking up on a study by the centrist “Third Way” think tank, noted that the Democrats are now almost exclusively a coastal party, with a couple of lone interior outposts such as Chicago and Minneapolis.

According to the study, while Hillary Clinton beat Trump in California, New York and Massachusetts by 30%, Trump won the rest of the states by 52-48%.

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Washington Post Pushes Illegal Alien Sob Stories

Paper runs feature on the 'struggles' of illegal immigrants in Trump's America

The Washington Post published an astonishing piece of pro-illegal immigration propaganda on Wednesday, detailing the “struggles” of illegal aliens living under President Donald Trump.

“In Trump’s capital, undocumented immigrants live and work in the shadow of the White House,” the title of the piece states, before detailing the individual sob stories of five illegal aliens.

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Bill to Defund NPR and Corp. for Public Broadcasting

Representative Doug Lamborn, R, CO, has introduced a pair of bills to eliminate the federal tax dollars that fund the budgets of National Public Radio (NPR) and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).

Upon the filing of H.R. 726 and H.R. 727, Lamborn said congressional Republicans need to prove they take fiscal responsibility seriously.

“American taxpayers do not want their hard-earned dollars funding superfluous government programs just because that is the way things have always been done,” Lamborn wrote on his congressional webpage.

The Coloradan introduced the bills to “permanently defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and National Public Radio. CPB received $445 million during Fiscal Year 2016, and this money could be put to better use rebuilding our military and enhancing our national security.”

“This is not about content, as CBP certainly airs some quality programs,” he wrote, “the point is that it is perfectly capable of standing on its own two feet and not on the financial shoulders of the American taxpayers. ”

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CNN’s Cuomo: Being Called ‘Fake News’ the ‘Equivalent of the ‘N-word’ for Journalists’

Thursday on SiriusXM POTUS’s “Smerconish,” CNN’s “New Day” co-host Chris Cuomo bemoaned President Donald Trump’s criticism of him for his handling of an interview with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT).

Blumenthal alleged Trump’s nominee for Supreme Court associate justice Neil Gorsuch had told him he was disheartened by the president’s comments about a judge who ruled to place a stay on his executive order.

Trump had alleged Cuomo failed to question Blumenthal about statements leading up to his 2010 run for the U.S. Senate, apparently misrepresenting his military service.

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Why Good Teachers Want School Choice

Society is creating a new crop of alpha women who are unable to love

Editor's note: The following column is adapted from the new book "The Alpha Female’s Guide to Men & Marriage" Post Hill Press (February 14, 2017).

Like me, my mother was not a perfect wife. She was, however, a remarkable and compassionate woman. And she was fiercely devoted to my father, so much so that five years after he died, she couldn’t bring herself to even kiss the man who fell in love with her at the independent living facility where she lived for a year and a half before she too passed away. The man wanted to marry her, but it was out of the question. In my mother’s mind, there was only one man for her. That he was gone and she was technically available was beside the point.

Despite my mother’s allegiance to my father, she never quite mastered wifedom—for one reason: she was wholly unyielding.

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77% of refugees allowed into U.S. since travel reprieve hail from seven suspect countries

The State Department has more than doubled the rate of refugees from Iraq, Syria and other suspect countries in the week since a federal judge’s reprieve, in what analysts said appears to be a push to admit as many people as possible before another court puts the program back on ice.

A staggering 77 percent of the 1,100 refugees let in since Judge James L. Robart’s Feb. 3 order have been from the seven suspect countries. Nearly a third are from Syria alone — a country that Mr. Trump has ordered be banned altogether from the refugee program. Another 21 percent are from Iraq. By contrast, in the two weeks before Judge Robart’s order, just 9 percent of refugees were from Syria and 6 percent were from Iraq.

“There’s no doubt in my mind they would be doing whatever they could to get people in before something changes because, from their perspective, their motivation is to resettle these folks. It would not be the first time that State Department officials have prioritized facilitating someone’s entry to the United States over security concerns,” said Jessica Vaughan, policy studies director at the Center for Immigration Studies.

Mr. Trump issued an executive order Jan. 27 putting in place the early stages of his extreme vetting policy, including an immediate 90-day pause on admitting visitors from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen — all countries where the government says it can’t be sure of its vetting procedures.

The executive order also called for an immediate 120-day halt to admitting refugees from anywhere around the globe. Mr. Trump singled out Syria in particular, saying refugees from there are halted indefinitely.

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Top Dem Cummings Says Conway Violated Ethics Rules, Despite His Own Ethics History

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D., Md.) sent aletter on Thursday to Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R., Utah), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, asking the committee to review taking "disciplinary action" against Kellyanne Conway for violating government ethics laws.

Cummings' decision to write the letter stemmed from Conway, counselor to President Donald Trump, promoting Ivanka Trump's clothing line on television. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Thursday that Conway has been "counseled on that subject, and that's it."

"This appears to be a textbook violation of government ethics laws and regulations enacted to prevent the abuse of an employee's government position," Cummings wrote in his letter. He cited federal regulations implementing a decades-old ethics law that prohibit government employees from using their public office to gain from or endorse "any product, service, or enterprise, or for the private gain of friends, relatives, or persons with whom the employee is affiliated in a nongovernmental capacity."

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Armed Citizen Intervenes, Shoots Suspect Allegedly Beating Woman in Convenience Store

A citizen “legally carrying” a handgun demanded a suspect stop attacking a woman in a convenience store then shot the suspect twice when he refused the demands.

The incident occurred at the Columbia Avenue One Stop in Holland, Michigan, around 10:20 pm on February 9.

According to WUSA, “Officers were originally called out to deal with a subject who was acting disorderly.” But when they arrived, they learned the disorderly conduct had allegedly escalated into an all-out assault on a 39-year-old woman and that the 29-year-old suspect had been shot twice to end the attack.

Police indicated that a 43-year-old witness tried to stop the assault only to have the suspect turn and begin assaulting him. At that point, the 43-year-old opened fire, striking the suspect twice.

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Jason Chaffetz Shuts Down Wolf Blitzer for Fake News Probe

Worcester County Sheriff’s Office Press Release

On January 27, 2017 at approximately 1001 hours Worcester County Sheriff’s Office Deputies conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle at 4th Street and Oxford Street.

During the traffic stop the deputy requested a K-9 from Pocomoke Police to scan the vehicle. The K-9 positively alerted on the vehicle. The Deputy then had the driver and the passenger exit the vehicle and stand on a nearby curb.

During a search the driver, Jeremy Wendel Douglas 24 of Pocomoke Md., became very hostile and began cursing at the officers on scene. Mr. Douglas started to gain attention from passing motorist at which time the Deputy then placed Mr. Douglas under arrest for disorderly conduct.

Mr. Douglas was taken before a District Court Commissioner, at which time the Commissioner determined that Mr. Douglas was to be released on his own recognizance.

The case is pending adjudication in the District Court.

On February 8, 2017 at approximately 1442 hours Worcester County Sheriff’s Office Deputies conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle at Route 113 and Timmons road.

A search of the vehicle and passengers produced suspected LSD, on a passenger later identified as Amanda Kyle De Leo 22 of Virginia Beach Va.. She was placed under arrest for possession of a controlled dangerous substance.

Ms. De Leo was taken before a District Court Commissioner, at which time the Commissioner determined that Ms. De Leo was to be released on her own recognizance.

The case is pending adjudication in the District Court.

Sen. Tim Scott Reads Hate Mail in Speech on Senate Floor

10 Mind-Blowing Facts About President TRUMP'S Vehicle

The freak accident that changed Charles Krauthammer's life

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