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Saturday, October 14, 2017

Terry Crews Admits Hollywood’s Dark Secret

O.J. Simpson Is Loose, Wants to Hit Bunny Ranch

Having evaded prison after committing two murders (although he owes over $33 million in a wrongful death suit) thanks to his fame and privileged pigmentation, and now having been paroled from a 33-year sentence for armed robbery, former NFL and Hollywood star O.J. Simpson will now devote himself to a clean and wholesome life. Just kidding:

Among the first items on O.J. Simpson’s to-do list upon re-entry to the free world last week was to find some “companionship” after nine years in prison, an insider said.

“He sent word … to the Bunny Ranch,” the insider said of Nevada’s famed legal house of prostitution.

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Czech President Calls On Europe To Provide A ‘2nd Amendment’ To Protect Against Terrorists

Speaking at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Czech President made a case for Europeans to have their own Second Amendment. Miloš Zeman said that Europeans ought to “have the courage to invest in [their] own guns.”

The specific new threat he blamed for the urgent need is the threat of international terrorism. Zeman was involved in the 1960s Prague Spring uprising that took down the old Communist regime in the country, then known as Czechoslovakia, and his comments were delivered to the group of politicians that predate the Europen Union.

When an Armenian politician asked a question, he said that the international crime he refers to is Islamic. “The level of international crime is growing because of Islamic terrorism… I do not use the phrase ‘Islamic terrorism’ lightly but in the overwhelming majority of cases, [terrorism[ has Islamic origin.”

To impress the point, he said that Islamic terrorism is also connected with the Armenian genocide, asking “what can we do against international criminality?” before giving his own answer:

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Inmate KILLS Cellmate Then Hides Body Undetected By Guards- Enlists Help To Clean-up Blood

Note to self: Do not go to jail in Canada.

Inmate Anthony George was caught on CCTV beating Adam Kargus to death in the Elgin Middlesex Detention Center in London, Ontario.

The attack took place in 2013, and the man has only recently been charged for it. (Not that he had anywhere else to be. He wasn’t exactly a flight risk while he was still in prison.)

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Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Comes Up With ‘Solution’ For NFL Controversy – SEGREGATION

There has been a lot of talk about the solution to the NFL crisis. The league is struggling, with plummeting ratings and few tickets being sold. Between the Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) scandal and the national anthem protests, things seem bleak for professional football. But superstar rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs thinks he has a solution.

Combs has worked as both a performer and a music producer, and he also built a fashion empire. His next move was to own an NFL team, but that dream has evidently passed. Now, Combs says he won’t be happy just owning a team. He wants to own the entire league.

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NFL Star Threatens America With An UPROAR If NFL Requires Them To Stand For National Anthem

The NFL has a problem on their hands. Last season, then-quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, Colin Kaepernick, refused to stand for the national anthem, and remained seated. After a few weeks, he then transitioned into kneeling in protest instead. Other players quickly followed suit, and the protest has continued into this season. But now, they might be required to stand for the anthem — and one player is furious.

Initially, the league was supportive of the protest. League executives, coaches, and team owners supported the protest and stood in solidarity with the players. But things quickly changed. Donald Trump slammed the league for the protests, calling for players who participate to be fired. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones refused to allow the protests on his team. And ratings have been plummeting as well.

For NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, it has apparently all been too much. He sent a letter to all 32 teams, saying that he now expects players to stand during the national anthem. “Like many of our fans, we believe that everyone should stand for the national anthem. It is an important moment in our game. We want to honor our flag and our country, and our fans expect that of us,” he wrote. “We also care deeply about our players and respect their opinions and concerns about critical social issues. The controversy over the Anthem is a barrier to having honest conversations and making real progress on the underlying issues. We need to move past this controversy, and we want to do that together with our players.”

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Hollywood Celebrities, Rock Stars And the NFL Should Shut the Hell Up About Politics

Hey, have you heard that Eminem doesn’t like Donald Trump? It’s big news! It also may be the single worst piece of music he’s ever done. Is anyone sure Bernie Sanders didn’t write these dopey lyrics for Slim Shady?

“That’s why he wants us to disband
‘Cause he cannot withstand
The fact we’re not afraid of Trump
F**k walkin’ on egg shells, I came to stomp
That’s why he keeps screamin’ ‘Drain the swamp’
‘Cause he’s in quicksand
It’s like we take a step forwards, then backwards
But this is his form of distraction
Plus, he gets an enormous reaction
When he attacks the NFL so we focus on that
Instead of talking Puerto Rico or gun reform for Nevada”

Will the real Bernie Sanders please stand up, please stand up, please stand up?

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Ford To Inspect, Repair 1.3M Explorers Over Exhaust Fumes

More than a year after federal safety regulators announced they were investigating at least 600,000 Ford Explorer SUVs after receiving hundreds of complaints that potentially dangerous exhaust fumes were leaking into the car’s cabin, Ford says it will inspect and repair more than 1.3 million vehicles.

Ford announced today that it would offer the free inspections as a way to placate owner concerns about exhaust or carbon monoxide leaking into the vehicles.

Despite offering the service, Ford contends that the vehicles are safe.

“Our investigation has not found carbon monoxide levels that exceed what people are exposed to every day,” the company said in statement.

“However, for our customers’ peace of mind, Ford is offering a complimentary service that reduces the potential for exhaust to enter the vehicle,” the carmaker continued.

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Trump To Values Voters: In America 'We Don't Worship Government, We Worship God'

President Trump spoke to one of the most faithful blocs of his base on Friday, telling attendees of this year's Values Voter Summit that in America "we don't worship government, we worship God."

Trump was the first sitting president to address the annual gathering of Christian conservatives, and while he has had trouble enacting some of his campaign promises legislatively so far in his term, he has ticked off many boxes with the evangelical voters who helped propel him to the Oval Office.

"We know that it's the family and the church — not government officials — who know best how to create strong and loving communities," Trump said.

He got a standing ovation when he talked of appointing Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. Trump noted he signed a religious liberty order on the National Day of Prayer that eased enforcement of the Johnson Amendment, which regulated political activity of churches. And he reminded the crowd that last week he also weakened the contraception mandate in the Affordable Care Act, which some religious groups like the Little Sisters of the Poor opposed.

"We are stopping cold the attacks on Judeo-Christian values," Trump said to applause.

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With OK From EPA, Use Of Controversial Weedkiller Is Expected To Double

The Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday that it will let farmers keep spraying the weedkilling chemical dicamba on Monsanto's new dicamba-tolerant soybeans and cotton. The decision is a victory for the biotech giant and the farmers who want to use the company's newest weedkilling technology.

Farmers across the Midwest and Mid-South have been waiting for the EPA's decision for months ever since it became clear that dicamba was drifting into thousands of fields where it didn't belong and damaging those crops. Some groups have called on the EPA to ban the most troublesome uses of dicamba, following the lead of regulators in Arkansas.

The EPA, however, decided that the problems that occurred this past summer can be solved simply by adding a few new restrictions on how dicamba is used. In the future, applying dicamba will require special training; it can't be applied if the wind speed is greater than 10 mph and farmers will be asked to pay more attention to the risk that dicamba spraying may pose to nearby orchards and vegetable fields.

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Dogs And People Have More In Common Than You Might Think

The bond between humans and dogs isn't just psychological or the common love of bacon.

It's also genetic.

For about 15,000 years, dogs have migrated in lockstep with humans across the globe. They have followed us from Asia into Europe, North America and back to Africa — all the while hunting, protecting and snuggling us.

Now it looks like dog DNA has evolved in lockstep with our DNA at the same time.

Scientists in China have found evidence that dogs developed protection against malaria in the same way that people in West Africa have.

One tiny change in dogs' genes likely boosted their immune response to the malaria parasite, geneticists from Yunnan University reported Tuesday in the journalMolecular Biology and Evolution.

The gene — called ADGRE1 — is also linked with malaria protection in people.

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CBD and the Brain: What Does It Do and What Is It Good For?

Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of many cannabinoid molecules produced byCannabis, second only to THC in abundance. These plant-derived cannabinoids, or phytocannabinoids (phyto = plant in Greek), are characterized by their ability to act on the cannabinoid receptors that are part of our endocannabinoid system. While THC is the principal psychoactive component of Cannabis and has certain medical uses, CBD stands out because it is both non-psychoactive and displays a broad range of potential medical applications. These properties make it especially attractive as a therapeutic agent.

Evaluating the Evidence

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about CBD is the sheer number and variety of its potential therapeutic applications. It is important to recognize that each application may be supported by different levels of evidence. These range from ongoing clinical trials evaluating its efficacy in the treatment of human disorders, to animal studies investigating its behavioral and physiological effects, to in vitro work (test tube experiments) measuring its pharmacological interactions and mechanisms of action. Each type of study comes with its own strengths and weaknesses.

Clinical trials allow us to draw conclusions about the safety and effectiveness of potential therapeutic agents in humans, while animal studies and in vitro experiments allow researchers to explore their biological actions in greater detail. However, because the latter class of studies are not conducted in humans, the results don’t always lead to the clinical application that we hope for—the majority of drugs that start in human clinical trials never become approved. Nonetheless, animal studies provide us with a strong foundation of biological knowledge, and are where the initial breakthroughs in research are made.


Why Does CBD Have So Much Therapeutic Potential?

As Towns Ban Marijuana, States Withhold the Drug's Tax Revenue

Massachusetts is deciding whether to keep marijuana tax revenue from anti-pot municipalities, stirring a debate that some states have already settled and others may face in the future.

Whenever a state legalizes recreational marijuana, there's always a local backlash. Have your drugs, towns and cities say, but keep them away from us. If a municipality bans pot, though, should they reap the financial benefits of it being legal?

Some states just say no.

Oregon has already started keeping marijuana tax revenue from localities that effectively ban the substance. California plans to withhold pot-funded law enforcement and health grants from places with a commercial marijuana ban. And now, an effort is underway in Massachusetts to reduce the amount of money that cities and towns with bans and other restrictions on operations get from the state’s 17 percent tax on marijuana sales.

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CLMB donates to shelter

Members of the Somerset County Local Management Board, Inc., a nonprofit organization that supports programs for children and families, on Sept. 22 presented a $5,000 grant to the Somerset Committee for the Homeless, Inc. The grant will help support operations of the Lower Shore Shelter, a new 16-bed homeless shelter opening next month in Princess Anne. The shelter will serve individuals and families, and will be open and staffed 24 hours. On hand for the check presentation were (from left) SCLMB Karen Brimer, SCLMB chairman; Kelly Hawkins, SCLMB vice chairman; Brandi Horner, chairman of the Somerset County Board on Homelessness; James Porter, chairman of the Somerset Committee for the Homeless, Inc.; Dick Scott, vice chairman of Somerset Committee for the Homeless, Inc.; Sheila Warner, SCLMB treasurer; and SCLMB board members Garland Hayward, Claudia Nelson, and Lt. Patrick Metzger.

Breaking News: Harvey Weinstein has been thrown out of the motion picture academy

A group that has long overlooked bad behavior by some of its members
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Hollywood’s de facto governing body, voted overwhelmingly to “immediately expel” Mr. Weinstein, breaking with 90 years of precedent and turning one of the biggest Oscar players in history into a hall-of-fame pariah.
The academy’s 54-member board of governors made the decision at an emergency session after investigations by The New York Times and The New Yorker that revealed sexual harassment and rape allegations against him going back decades.
Read More »

Magic mushrooms may 'reset' the brains of depressed patients

Patients taking psilocybin to treat depression show reduced symptoms weeks after treatment following a 'reset' of their brain activity.

The findings come from a study in which researchers from Imperial College London used psilocybin - the psychoactive compound that occurs naturally in magic mushrooms - to treat a small number of patients with depression in whom conventional treatment had failed.

In a paper, published today in the journal Scientific Reports, the researchers describe patient-reported benefits lasting up to five weeks after treatment, and believe the psychedelic compound may effectively reset the activity of key braincircuits known to play a role in depression.

Comparison of images of patients' brains before and one day after they received the drug treatment revealed changes in brain activity that were associated with marked and lasting reductions in depressive symptoms.

The authors note that while the initial results of the experimental therapy are exciting, they are limited by the small sample size as well as the absence of a control group - such as a placebo group - to directly contrast with the patients.

Dr Robin Carhart-Harris, Head of Psychedelic Research at Imperial, who led the study, said: "We have shown for the first time clear changes in brain activity in depressed people treated with psilocybin after failing to respond to conventional treatments.

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News Alert: Steve Bannon - Trump will win 400 electoral votes in 2020

Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon said Saturday that he expects President Trump to win with 400 electoral votes in the 2020 election.

Speaking at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C., one day after Trump spoke at the event, Bannon predicted that there is more in store for his former boss than just completing his first term in office.

Trump is going to "win with 400 electoral votes in 2020," Bannon said.

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US troops in Pacific War revealed in re-colorized photos

Fascinating re-colorized images have been released bringing the devastating battles of the Second World War in the Pacific back to life in incredible detail.

The harrowing photos show US soldiers attempting to navigate their tanks and 4x4s through difficult jungle terrain in Papua New Guinea and a marine using a flamethrower on a Japanese position in the Philippines.

And electrician Royston Leonard, 55, from Cardiff, Wales, who spent time restoring the pictures, believes the pictures give an accurate portrayal of the struggle faced by American troops in the Pacific theatre.

The unexpected Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 signalled the start of the Pacific War and the USA's involvement in WWII.

There were around 36 million casualties during the Pacific War.

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The NFL and its owners salute one flag: The dollar

NFL owners were initially supportive and protective of their players, their brand assets on the field, as players kneeled down while the national anthem played. Some may argue players could have found a better venue to highlight the true challenges within the justice system without seeming to disrespect the flag, yet owners backed their right under the first amendment.

The owners and Roger Goodell did not expect the fiery fan blowback. Outraged conservatives perceived kneeling as an encroachment on the principles near and dear to not only them but a majority of Americans. Respecting country, respecting America’s lineage, the military and their families are collectively exemplified by the flag. But, owners are proving to be hypocrites by not being true to the value of social justice nor patriotism and instead have one focus: the dollar.

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http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/10/12/nfl-and-its-owners-salute-one-flag-dollar.html

Two prison workers die during failed inmate escape attempt

Two North Carolina prison employees were killed and several others injured when inmates started a fire at the onsite sewing plant in an unsuccessful escape attempt.

Pasquotank Correctional Institution in Elizabeth City refused to say how the employees, Justin Smith, 35, and Veronica Darden, 50, were killed.

While three other prison workers remain in hospital in critical condition. A further seven were treated and released from Sentara Albemarle Medical Center.

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Rand Paul Says Trump’s Obamacare Order ‘Has The Potential To Be Amazing’

President Donald Trump’s executive order to allow individuals and associations to purchase health insurance across state lines has “the potential to be amazing,” Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said Thursday.

Paul appeared on “The Sean Hannity Show” where he sold the plan, which he has been working on with the Trump administration for a matter of months, as “legalizing choice.” The senator said that the proposal would likely provide millions of people currently without insurance under Obamacare the opportunity to obtain “low-cost options.”

The Kentucky senator believes that the order will make the health insurance business model work for consumers, instead of how it now operates, with insurance providers dictating the marketplace. “Big insurance is going to have to come on bended knee to the consumers,” Paul told Hannity.

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Washington DC Teens Have Highest STD Rate

Washington, D.C. has the highest rate of reported sexually transmitted diseases among teenagers in the United States — and it’s not even close.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that teens in the District of Columbia report suffering from various sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) at a rate of over 55 cases per thousand.

By contrast, Utah — the state with the lowest teen STD rate — has just over 10 cases of STDs for every 1,000 teens.

Other states with notably high reported STD rates among youngsters include Alabama (over 40 cases per 1,000), Louisiana (also over 40 cases per 1,000) and Mississippi (about 38 cases per 1,000).

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Happy Birthday, U.S. Navy!

THE NAVY TURNS 242

"A good Navy is not a provocation to war. It is the surest guaranty of peace." - Theodore Roosevelt

"I can imagine no more rewarding a career. And any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: 'I served in the United States Navy.'" - John F. Kennedy

October 13 marks the birthday of the U.S. Navy, which traces its roots back to the early days of the American Revolution. On October 13, 1775, the Continental Congress established a naval force, hoping that a small fleet of privateers could attack British commerce and offset British sea power.

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Texas couple survives being stranded 6 days in rural Utah

A Texas couple who set out for a day trip to Lake Powell while on vacation in southern Utah ended up narrowly surviving six harrowing days stranded on a rocky, desolate dirt road that was impassable in their rental car, authorities said Friday.

Helena Byler, 78, was found lying on the road October 2 by a rancher who happened to be checking on his cattle in the area of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Kane County Chief Deputy Alan Alldredge said.

She was confused and severely dehydrated.

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Trump's ObamaCare subsidy cutoff triggers political war

President Trump touched off a political melee Friday after his administration announced it would “immediately” halt payments to insurers under ObamaCare, with Democrats claiming the move will “break” insurance markets – and the president saying Democrats should come to the negotiating table to “fix” the law if they’re so concerned.

"The Democrats ObamaCare is imploding. Massive subsidy payments to their pet insurance companies has stopped. Dems should call me to fix!" he said in a pre-dawn tweet on Friday.
He added, "ObamaCare is a broken mess. Piece by piece we will now begin the process of giving America the great HealthCare it deserves!"

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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/10/13/trumps-obamacare-subsidy-cutoff-triggers-political-war.html

'Megyn Kelly Today': Celebrities Refuse to Appear as Ratings Collapse

As we predicted after the Jane Fonda debacle two weeks ago, celebrities are blacklisting Megyn Kelly’s third hour of Today.

Variety reports that publicists have no desire for their clients to sit down with Kelly. Bad reviews and even worse ratings are only part of the problem. From out of the gate, Kelly bungled celebrity interview after celebrity interview. And now, no one wants to put a client through that potential embarrassment:

“I’m not booking anyone on her show,” says a high-powered publicist, with a roster of big names, who asked for anonymity due to her overall relationship with “Today.” “I literally haven’t pitched anyone even from right out the gate. The buzz that is out there is so bad.”

Another well-known publicist, who represents one of the celebrities who has appeared on Kelly’s show, wasn’t pleased with the interview. “I won’t plan to have others go on,” the publicist said. “None specifically have been offered or asked to, but it’ll be my preference not to.”

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Retirees, VA Disability Recipients to Get Biggest Pay Raise Since 2012

Military retirees and those who receive disability checks and some other types of pay from the Department of Veterans Affairs will see a 2 percent pay raise in their monthly paychecks in 2018.

It is the biggest cost of living (COLA) increase since 2012, equaling as much as $310 a month for those at the top of the retirement pay charts.
Many Monthly Benefits Going Up

Thanks to the increase, the average military retirement check for an E-7 with 20 years of service will go up by $46 a month, while an O-5 with the same time in uniform will see an $88 monthly increase.

Disabled veterans will also see a bump, with the average VA disability checkgoing up about $3 per month for those with a 10 percent rating, and $58 for those rated at 100 percent.

Other users, including Survivor Benefit Plan beneficiaries and those who draw Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC), can also expect to benefit from the bump.

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Penguin catastrophe leaves thousands of chicks dead with only two survivors

(CNN)A penguin colony in Antarctica has suffered a massive breeding failure, with only two chicks surviving the disaster.
Terre Adélie (Adélie Land) is home to more than 18,000 pairs of Adélie penguins, but this year almost all the seabirds' babies starved to death, a situation one expert described as "Tarantino does Happy Feet."
The World Wildlife Fund said unseasonably extensive amounts of sea ice around the colony in East Antarctica had forced the adult penguins to travel further than normal to forage for food.
"This devastating event contrasts with the image that many people might have of penguins," said Rod Downie, Head of Polar Programmes at WWF. "It's more like 'Tarantino does Happy Feet', with dead penguin chicks strewn across a beach in Adélie Land."

GOP lawmaker drafts bill requiring journalists to register with police

Indiana State Rep. Jim Lucas has drafted legislation that would require professional journalists to be licensed by police.

The Republican lawmaker is taking aim at journalists for what he says is “irresponsible” coverage, proposing that they are fingerprinted and licensed to practice.

“If you’re OK licensing my Second Amendment right, what’s wrong with licensing your First Amendment right?” he said, according to the Indy Star.

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Marijuana Stigma Hurts Doctor–Patient Relationship, Study Says

The receding but still powerful stigma surrounding cannabis often gets in the way of a healthy doctor-patient relationship. It can be so difficult to speak honestly and openly about medical cannabis use, in fact, that the stigma may actually harm a patient’s health.

Those were some of the many findings in a review published earlier this week in the Journal of Neuroscience Nursing. Jennie Ryan and Nancy Sharts-Hopko, researchers at Villanova University, reviewed five studies of medical cannabis patients published between 2003 and 2015, and discovered these common themes regarding MMJ patients and the harmful effects of “reefer madness” stigma:
Many medical marijuana patients remain fearful of “being labeled a pothead or stoner.”

Media Matters Continues War Against the Right

When Media Matter’s mission to get Hillary Clinton elected failed miserably, the activist organization regrouped, gathering in secret to launch an all-out attack on conservative media for the sole purpose of booting Donald Trump from office either through impeachment or defeat in the next election. One of the main targets in that campaign has been Fox News, including a particular obsession with conservative pundit Sean Hannity.

Media Matters, under the leadership of Angelo Carusone, has been relentless in its witch hunt against the Fox News host because of his support of Trump and faithful grassroots following. They’ve pressured advertisers to pull from his programming, intimidating those who refuse to do so, and they’ve dogged him with hit pieces that range from dredging up alleged comments from decades ago to portraying his rise to fame in such a biased light that it should make any decent journalist bow his head in shame.

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Every extra two pounds cuts down your life by two months

Every extra two pounds an overweight person carries cuts their life expectancy by two months, new research reveals.

Holding excess weight may shorten a person's life by raising their risk of coronary artery disease, according to the researchers.

Smoking has the greatest impact on shortening people's lives, with a packet of cigarettes a day knocking off seven years, the research adds.

The study also revealed every additional year an individual spends in further education extends their lifespan by 11 months by making them more aware of the dangers of smoking.

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Aussie Feminists Lose Their Lunch Over Sandwiches

It's long been well-known that if you want to absolutely infuriate a feminist, tell her to go make you a sandwich. For some reason, making a sandwich for a man is seen as the ultimate act of domestic servility.

Apparently, asking for suggestions for new sandwiches to make for your husband will do the same.

An Australian mom named "Maddie" was getting bored making the same thing day in, day out. So, like most of us, she turned to Facebook to ask for help. In her case, she turned to a group called "Northshore Mums" and its more than 26,000 members.

It did not go well.

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Bad Guy


'Katrina Brain': The Invisible Long-Term Toll of Megastorms

Editor's Note: This story was updated to correct Katrina's wind speed when the hurricane made landfall in New Orleans and to clarify the description of health centers run by the Jefferson Parish Human Services Authority.

This story was a collaboration between Stateline and Politico.

NEW ORLEANS — Brandi Wagner thought she had survived Hurricane Katrina. She hung tough while the storm’s 125-mph winds pummeled her home, and powered through two months of sleeping in a sweltering camper outside the city with her boyfriend’s mother. It was later, after the storm waters had receded and Wagner went back to New Orleans to rebuild her home and her life that she fell apart.

“I didn’t think it was the storm at first. I didn’t really know what was happening to me,” Wagner, now 48, recalls. “We could see the waterline on houses, and rooftop signs with ‘please help us,’ and that big X where dead bodies were found. I started sobbing and couldn’t stop. I was crying all the time, just really losing it.”

Twelve years later, Wagner is disabled and unable to work because of the depression and anxiety she developed in the wake of the 2005 storm. She’s also in treatment for an opioid addiction that developed after she started popping prescription painkillers and drinking heavily to blunt the day-to-day reality of recovering from Katrina.

More than 1,800 people died in Katrina from drowning and other immediate injuries. But public health officials say that, in the aftermath of an extreme weather event like a hurricane, the toll of long-term psychological injuries builds in the months and years that follow, outpacing more immediate injuries and swamping the health care system long after emergency workers go home and shelters shut down.

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Store Clerk Opens Fire On Would-Be Robber

A Smoke 4 Less store clerk in Durham, North Carolina got into a shootout with an armed robber, and police just released the video Thursday. Source

New FBI Docs About Clinton-Lynch Meeting

The FBI has found 30 pages of documents related to the June 2016 airport tarmac meeting between Bill Clinton and then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch, even after the bureau claimed to not have any records related to the matter.

FBI lawyers revealed the existence of the records in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch, the conservative watchdog group.

The FBI had informed Judicial Watch last October that the bureau did not have any records related to the June 27, 2016 meeting between Clinton and Lynch. That encounter, which occurred on the tarmac at Phoenix’s airport, was significant because it took place while the Justice Department was investigating Hillary Clinton’s potential mishandling of classified information on her private email account.

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Gay Couple Adopts 18-Month Daughter, Two Weeks Later Dad Kills Her: ‘F***ing Brat!’

Fitness instructor Matthew Scully-Hicks is accused of “assaulting and abusing” the toddler adopted by his partner Craig. New revelations coming from doctors and neighbors demonstrate Matthew’s cruelty.

In Wales, the baby girl was adopted in September of 2015 by the Craig and finalized over eight months, but two weeks later, Elsie was dead after doctors reported traumatic head injuries. The Cardiff Crown Court is now hearing that Matthew had been assaulting Elsie for at least seven months after he and his gay husband took the child.

When Elsie was brought into emergency, Dr. David Tuthill reported Matthew to the police because he was “very calm” after being told that the child was dying. “That’s very strange he’s so calm/// parents are usually in floods of tears and it’s my job to comfort them.” The doctor pressed that this behavior is “very unusual,” because telling a parent that their child is dying usually means crying.

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Black Lives Matter, police-focused NFL protests overlook rising black-on-black homicides

Lost in the uproar over the NFL sideline protests against police brutality are newly released statistics showing that the threat to black men is skyrocketing — not from trigger-happy or racist cops, but from crime.

More than any other demographic group, black men are paying the price with their lives with a surging violent crime rate over the past two years, including a 20 percent jump in the overall homicide rate, even as the number of blacks killed by police declines.

Using homicide figures from the 2016 FBI Uniform Crime Report released Sept. 25, Manhattan Institute fellowHeather Mac Donald found that the number of black homicide victims has jumped by nearly 900 per year since the Black Lives Matter movement took root in 2014.

“The majority of victims of that homicide surge have been black,” Ms. Mac Donald said in an email. “They were killed overwhelmingly by black criminals, not by the police and not by whites.”

Meanwhile, the number of blacks killed by police dipped from 259 in 2015 to 233 in 2016, with 2017 so far coming in below both years with 175 deaths as of Oct. 12, according to The Washington Post’s Fatal Force database.

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New Gun Control Bill

Important Warning To Gun Owners: A Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives has introduced a horrible piece of legislationthat would ban far more than just “bumpfire stocks.” This vaguely-worded bill would ban nearly all aftermarket triggers, trigger springs, buffers, buffer springs, bolt carriers, many muzzle brakes, and possibly even full capacity magazines and magazine extensions. It all hinges on the bill’s vague and undefined phrase: “increase the rate of fire”. Violations would be a felony, with a five year prison sentence for possession, manufacture, or transfer. Most ominously, just like Feinstein’s bill in the Senate, this bill has NO Grandfather Clause!

This bill already has 25 co-sponsors, including 12 Republicans. Please contact your Congresscritters immediately and insist that theyoppose the Curbelo Moulton Bill (H.R. 3999.) Be sure to remind them that that this bill constitutes a Federal “taking” without compensation. (There is no Grandfather Clause and no method provided for registration. We’d simply be required to turn them in for destruction.) This is the worst piece of Federal gun legislation since 1994. It is crucial that you take action! It has already been referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary and could be before the full House in just a week. This might be on the fast track. Wake up, folks!

Your letter or e-mail can be short and sweet, such as this:

Dear Rep. XXXXXXXX:

Please oppose the Curbelo Moulton Bill (H.R. 3999), in any form. It is horrible legislation and vaguely written. It would affect far more than just “bump fire” stocks. If enacted, this law would be unconstitutional. Without a Grandfather Clause it would be an uncompensated “taking.” Please instead co-sponsor legislation that would rescind the Hughes Amendment to the Firearms Owners Protection act (FOPA) of 1986. That will re-open the Federal registry of machineguns. Thank You, – [signature]

LEGENDARY COMMENTS BY GEORGE CHEVALLIER 10-14-17


The Barber Shop

Now almost a thing of the past is that bastion of masculinity – the barber shop. In 1899, there were six barber shops listed in the City Directory. That figure increased to nine in 1907, but was reduced to eight in 1921. In the following years the number of listed barber shops rose to 17 in 1940 and dropped down to seven in 1961. The current yellow pages have no less than 68 listings under “barber shops”, most of which are out of Salisbury and listed as “salons” or “stylists”, certainly not barber shops.

The barber shop of bygone times offered shaves as well as haircuts. Many had a rack on the wall that kept individual mugs of shaving cream for the various customers. A shave from a barber cannot be had today, due to the current health laws. They have had to add certain amenities to their product line that may include a hair washing or “facial” just to make ends meet.

Every man has memories of his first trip to the barber shop. Mine were of Johnnie’s down on Church Street near what is now Route 13. I think he had another shop farther east on Church Street on the corner of Railroad Avenue. My mother told me this, but I don’t remember it being there. He then moved west onChurch Street in a long narrow shop. There were chairs on either side leading up to the single barber chair manned by Johnnie Adkins. He also had a fake parrot in a cage that always fascinated me. He then moved to a house just a couple of addresses west. The one farther west on Church Street is still visible and the stone addition on the front of a white frame house is all that remains of Johnnie Adkins barber shop. Somewhere during this period, my mother entrusted me alone in the barber shop. She would walk down Church Street to Kelly’s Drug Store and wait for me there, which I always looked forward to because it meant a “soda fountain” soda.

I grew up in the “crew-cut” era and always had a stick of the red goop that made your hair stand up in front. I think they called it butch wax. The barber shop of choice was Krause & Taylor’s on N. Division Street. The price of a good butch cut went from 25 to 50 cents during this era. Of course, there was always the barber school located on S. Division Street. They charged 35 cents for a so-so haircut.

When longer hair became the style men, the local barber shops offered “hair-styling” for about seven dollars. I worked on the Plaza for Ralph & Gaskill at the time and all the young people on Main Street knew each other. It seemed that what barbers liked to refer to as styling, the beauty parlor at Benjamin’s considered a short cut. Since it was only three dollars, I never felt any embarrassment going there.

Another thing that has disappeared through the years is the Daisy & Bozman Barber Supply Store. They used to make their own after shave and my favorite was something called Bonita Bouquet. It only cost two dollars for a 16 ounce bottle. It also worked in your cigarette lighter and gave off a wonderful aroma. Ah, memories!

Job Opportunity


Friday the 13th…

Halloween festivities are coming into full-swing! Let’s save the nightmares for the horror films: don’t drink and drive. Halloween is a time for friends and family to enjoy candy, costumes, and memories.

Tragically, fatalities are on the rise in Cecil County. If you plan to go out with the ghouls and goblins to enjoy an adult beverage, make sure you plan a safe ride home before you leave the house.

If you have been drinking, you’re in no position to judge your own sobriety. Alcohol impairs judgment, which is why you have to have a plan before you head out.

Drunk driving is not only deadly; it’s also costly. Even if you’re not killed or injured in a crash, you can face jail time, the loss of your driver’s license, higher insurance, attorney fees, court costs, car towing bill and repairs, and lost wages due to missing work. On average, you could pay as much as $10,000 for your DUI.

Today on Friday the 13th, the rest of the Halloween season, and every day you can stay safe and protect your neighbors by following these simple tips:

• Remember, it is never okay to drink and drive. Even if you’ve had only one alcoholic beverage, designate a sober driver to get home safely.
• If you see a drunk driver on the road, call 9-1-1.
• Have a friend who is about to drink and drive? Take the keys away and make arrangements to get your friend home safely.

Governor Larry Hogan Highlights Economic Development, Job Creation Initiatives in Western Maryland

Announces New Funding for Frostburg State University and Town of Frostburg, New Rural Broadband Initiative in Downtown Cumberland

ANNAPOLIS, MD –
Governor Larry Hogan today highlighted the administration’s progress in boosting economic development and job creation in Western Maryland through numerous initiatives involving multiple state agencies, totaling over $1 billion in state investments. In addition, the governor announced $750,000 in new state investments in the Town of Frostburg and Frostburg State University. Governor Hogan was joined by State Senator George Edwards, Delegate Jason Buckel, Delegate Mike McKay, Delegate Wendell Beitzel, Department of Housing and Community Development Secretary Ken Holt, Transportation Secretary Pete Rahn, and State Highway Administrator Greg Slater, along with other state and local officials and community representatives, to make a series of announcements before touring downtown Cumberland.

“During our campaign, we promised that Western Maryland would no longer be ignored, forgotten, or neglected,” said Governor Hogan. “We said that we were going to pay more attention to your needs and concerns, because there should not be a disconnect between Mountain Maryland and Annapolis. We want everyone across Western Maryland to know that you have a voice in Annapolis, and an administration that is fighting on your behalf each and every day.”

Among the initiatives highlighted by the governor was the administration’s More Jobs for Marylanders Act. Passed during the 2017 legislative session and signed into law by Governor Hogan in April, this landmark legislation incentivizes companies to create new jobs in areas with high unemployment, including Western Maryland. Governor Hogan has directed the Maryland Department of Commerce to actively promote the law throughout Western Maryland to encourage further economic development.

Governor Hogan also touted over $1 billion in state investments for Western Maryland, including $315 million in transportation infrastructure projects throughout the region, $12 million for the Rural Maryland Prosperity Investment Fund, and $2 million for Cumberland’s downtown revitalization efforts. In addition, Governor Hogan announced over a half-million dollars in multiple state investments in the Frostburg area, including $300,000 to establish a new Office of Economic Development at Frostburg State University, $350,000 to the Town of Frostburg to acquire additional sites for economic revitalization, and $100,000 for the design of a new Town Hall and Public Safety building.

Our ESS students helping to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Week at ESS!

From Tex Mex to Mex Tech: A Study of Northern Inattention

In America two narratives about Mexico dominate. First, chiefly emanating from anti-immigrant ideologues who usually have never been here, holds that Mexicans have low IQs and cannot function at other than a primitive level. Breitbart News and something called Vdare are chief among these. They don’t quite expect to find all Mexicans either robbing banks or sleeping at the foot of cactuses win big hats and a burro, but they come close.

A Mexican software-engineering firm as conceived by Breitbart News The donkey is the brains of the operation as Mexicans do not have brains. Sigh. Some people need to get out more.

In stark contrast is what one hears from companies involved in high-tech fields. They speak of a large pool of Mexican engineers of high quality in everything from software to robotics. They hire them in droves. These are not assembly-line workers or even manufacturing engineers in traditional industries, such as cars. They are either in tech start-ups like Wizeline, below, or in software-development for big outfits like IBM, Intel, and Oracle, which have a large presence in Guadalajara. More on these in a later column.

The other day I want to Guadalajara to talk to Matt Pasarienski, of Wizeline, a software-services outfit based in San Francisco but with large and growing presence in Mexico. (Wizeline: “Intelligent Solutions, PPM Software, Services, and Chatbots”)

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Powerful Message

Interesting slant on things...
AMERICA'S HUNTERS
Pretty Amazing!
 
cid:114FD403C9DE458B861B970FD1FDFF3B@DESKTOPQ1FCGNR
 
 
 A blogger added up the deer license sales in just a handful of states and arrived at a striking conclusion: There were over 600,000 hunters this season in the state of Wisconsin...
 
Allow me to restate that number: 600,000!  
     
cid:5F2CE3FD9DF7423A920C939D54C18231@DESKTOPQ1FCGNR
 
 
 Over the last several months, Wisconsin 's hunters became the 8th largest army in the world.    

cid:2C626C6987064D2580E546382EADFC80@DESKTOPQ1FCGNR
 
 
(That's more men under arms than in Iran. More than France and Germany combined.)    
     
cid:3A19FB31DF0F4C13B34208321025079D@DESKTOPQ1FCGNR
  
 
These men, deployed to the woods of a single American state, Wisconsin, to hunt with firearms, And NO ONE WAS KILLED.

    
cid:B3C3AF650CB942379725D7A93C5EAFF6@DESKTOPQ1FCGNR
 
 

That number pales in comparison to the 750,000 who hunted the woods of Pennsylvania's and Michigan's 700,000 hunters,  
ALL OF WHOM HAVE RETURNED HOME SAFELY.
    
     
cid:59869AA13E684E2EA4DD88F6ECBF95EA@DESKTOPQ1FCGNR
 
 

Toss in a quarter million hunters in West Virginia, and it literally establishes the fact that the hunters of those four states alone would comprise the largest army in the world.  And then add in the total number of hunters in the other 46 states. It's millions more.

    
________ The point? ________    
     
America will forever be safe from foreign invasion with that kind of home-grown firepower!  
Hunting... it's not just a way to fill the freezer.   
    It's also a matter of national security.
    
     
cid:9142584441E34A14BE983F52C37A7777@DESKTOPQ1FCGNR
 
 
 
    
That's why all enemies, foreign and domestic, want to see us disarmed.   Food for thought, when next we consider gun control.  Overall it's true, so if we disregard some assumptions that some hunters don't possess the same skills as soldiers, the question would still remain...
 

What army of 2 million would want to face 30 million, 40 million, or 50 million armed citizens???  
For the sake of our freedom, don't ever allow gun control or confiscation of guns.