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Saturday, January 13, 2018

President Trump: Time To Teach Canadian Thieves A Lesson

Last week a storm ripped a historic herring smokehouse, the last of its kind in the United States, from its moorings in Lubec, Maine and across the water to Campobello Island in New Brunswick. That’s a province in Canada.

It’s not far. Lubec includes West Quoddy Head, the easternmost point in the United States, and Campobello Island, where Franklin Roosevelt spent summers at a family estate, is barely in New Brunswick. You can easily see one from the other. (More on that in a minute.)

The owner of the smokehouse, Lubec Landmarks, is a nonprofit organization that has been restoring the shack for 25 years. A lot of it washed up on Campobello Island and can be retrieved and restored.

Simple problem, right?

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Elizabeth Warren's Indian Name Means 'Flat Foot'

Memo to Elizabeth Warren: Stop doing long live interviews.

You can’t handle them.

The latest example is Warren’s appearance Wednesday night on Special Report on Fox News Channel.

During a joint interview of Warren and U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-Virginia), host Bret Baier at one point noted that Warren opposes the recent Republican tax cut that President Donald Trump signed into law December 22. Among other things, it reduces the federal corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent.

Here’s the back-and-forth:

Baier: “… So if Democrats take control of Congress, would you repeal the tax law?”

Warren: “Well, what we have to do is change it. You’ve got to take out the parts that are giant giveaways to big corporations that right now the Republicans plan for hardworking families to eventually pay for. I think that’s just fundamentally wrong.”

Baier: “Sure. But you have companies, Senator, like Eversource in Massachusetts, the electricity company, announcing that they’re going to give a big break to consumers.”

Warren: “And good for them. I’m delighted to hear that.”

Baier: “So which ones do you take out of the list?”

Warren: “Look, it is a trillion and a half dollars that the Republicans gave away to billionaires and to giant corporations. And they expect hardworking families to just pick up the ticket on that. I want those breaks to go directly to hardworking families, not to a bunch of rich folks.”

It’s as if Warren didn’t understand Baier’s question, simple as it was.

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Junk Food Alters Genes, Immune System

Something new to scare you, if you’re a burgers-and-fries fan: A troubling new study led by German scientists has found that fast-food diets boost inflammation in the body and over time change genes and the immune system in ways the boost the risk for diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic conditions.

In fact, the University of Bonn researchers found that the immune system responds to a fast food-style Western diet the same way as it would react to a bacterial or viral infection.

What’s more, the impacts are long lasting and, the study claims, even switching to a healthy diet may not fully reverse the damage once initially triggered.

More details here
[Related: 6 Foods That Cause Inflammation]

Broke, But Full Of Hope - Is This The Scariest Chart In The World?

American consumers are not only feeling good... They’re feeling great. They’re borrowing money – and spending it – like tomorrow will never come.

[ZH: In other words, Americans are broke but full of hope...]


On Monday the Federal Reserve released its latest report of consumer credit outstanding. According to the Fed’s bean counters, U.S. consumers racked up $28 billion in November in new credit card debt and in new student, auto, and other non-mortgage loans. This amounted to an 8.8 percent increase in consumer borrowing. It also ran total outstanding consumer debt up to $3.83 trillion.

Perhaps this consumer spending binge will finally propel price inflation, as measured by the personal consumption expenditure (PCE) deflator, up to the Fed’s illusive 2 percent target. Academic economists and central planners consider 2 percent price inflation to be the sweet spot for attaining economic heaven on earth. We have some reservations.

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European Court Rejects Swedish Proposal to Deport Terrorist Migrant

The European Court of Justice has ruled against the Swedish government’s decision to deport a terrorist asylum seeker claiming that he must remain in Sweden because he could face potential torture in his native Morocco.

The Moroccan asylum seeker came to Sweden in 2005 but in 2016 the Swedish security service (Säpo) determined that the man was a security threat to Sweden and recommended he be deported. Both the Swedish Migration Board and the Swedish supreme court agreed with the Säpo, but the migrant took his case to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) who sided with him, Svenska Dagbladet reports.

Swedish terrorism expert Magnus Ranstorp slammed the move saying it makes the job of security services harder because although they can request the deportation of dangerous individuals, rulings like the one by the ECJ show it to be impossible to actually deport them.

More here

Zuckerberg Considers 'Prioritizing' News Sources

Facebook is mulling how it prioritizes news stories in users' feeds — giving better placement to outlets it sees as more trustworthy and weed out fake news, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The Journal, citing unnamed sources, reported the new approach involves evaluating things like public polling about news outlets, and whether readers are willing to pay for news from particular publishers.

Such variables would then go into its algorithm that determines which publishers' posts are pushed higher in the feed, the Journal reported.

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Economist Peter Morici: Governments Shouldn't Set Minimum Wages

Having governments set minimum wages is bad for the economy but varying them by state at least makes some sense, economist Peter Morici told Newsmax TV.

During an appearance on "Newsmax Now," Morici told host Bill Tucker he is no fan of the federal or state governments telling employers how much they must pay their workers.

"I think it's a bad thing for the federal or the state governments to be involved in setting minimum wages," Morici said. "However, if we're going to have a minimum wage, then having some variation by state makes sense.

"Now, whether that can be done by the federal government taking into consideration cost of living or by state governments acting independently is another thing. But what we are observing now is blue states jacking up their minimum wage to the point that businesses simply have to either close or dramatically reduce the amount of labor that they're using."

More here

North Korea and Cyber Catastrophe—Don’t Hold Your Breath

The heightened tension over North Korea’s missile and nuclear weapons programs, combined with growing DPRK cyber capabilities and their use for coercion or theft, has led some to conclude that the North may launch cyber-attacks against US critical infrastructure, perhaps with catastrophic result.[1] We can best assess this risk by placing it in a larger strategic context, and in this context, a major cyber-attack by the North is unlikely.[2]

Several assumptions guide this assessment. First, the primary objective of the North Korean state and the Kim family is regime survival. Someone who is worshipped as a god-king by millions, controls immense personal wealth, and has unchecked power will be loath to put this at risk. Second, North Korea is willing to use provocations, including low level attacks, as part of its diplomatic repertoire, but attempts to calculate the limits of what it can do without provoking major conflict. Finally, while North Korean decision-making on the use of cyber actions is murky, it is likely that all major programs or actions require Kim’s approval.

North Korea is both cautious and cunning in its use of force, including cyber-attacks. It is willing to take provocative actions that flout international law and norms, but these have been limited in scope and effect, intended to shape and advance North Korea’s diplomatic agenda vis-à-vis the ROK and the US.

More here

Durbin: Trump made 'hate-filled, vile and racist' comments repeatedly

Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., confirmed on Friday that President Trump called Africa nations “sh!tholes,” and said the president’s comments were “hate-filled, vile and racist.”

Durbin attended a bipartisan meeting with Trump at the White House on Thursday, where senators gathered with the president to discuss a deal on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

“In the course of his comments, he said things which were hate-filled, vile and racist,” Durbin told reporters Friday. “I understand how powerful [those words] are, but I cannot believe in the history of the White House, in that Oval Office, any president has ever spoken the words that I personally heard our president speak yesterday.”

In tweets Friday morning, Trump denied making derogatory remarks about Haiti, and accused Democrats of fabricating his comments.

“Never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor and troubled country. Never said ‘take them out.’ Made up by Dems. I have a wonderful relationship with Haitians. Probably should record future meetings - unfortunately, no trust!” Trump tweeted.

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About a million people in Hawaii saw this message today. It was a false alarm.


Watch: Durbin Used ‘Chain’ Migration Term That He Now Claims is Racist

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) used the term “chain” migration in a White House immigration meeting, despite now denouncing President Trump’s use of the term, which is used to describe the process where newly naturalized citizens can bring an unlimited number of foreign relatives to the U.S. with them.

Durbin told the media on Friday that he reprimanded Trump for using the term “chain migration” in immigration negotiations, claiming it was associated with racism, despite the Illinois senator just this week also using the term.

Durbin said this in an interview:

(More/video)

Legendary broadcaster Keith Jackson dies at age 89

Keith Jackson, who was widely regarded as the voice of college football by several generations, died late Friday night, his family said. He was 89.

Jackson, who retired in 2006, spent some 50 years calling the action in a folksy, down-to-earth manner that made him one of the most popular play-by-play personalities in the business.

"For generations of fans, Keith Jackson was college football," said Bob Iger, chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company. "When you heard his voice, you knew it was a big game. Keith was a true gentleman and a memorable presence. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife, Turi Ann, and his family."

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Google Has a ‘Re-education Camp’ Atmosphere for Conservatives

Harmeet Dhillon, the lawyer filing a class-action lawsuit against Google on behalf of former engineer James Damore, appeared on Breitbart News Tonight to discuss the case.

The lawyer representing former Google engineer James Damore and another former Google employee in a class action lawsuit against their former employer appeared on Breitbart News Tonight recently alongside Breitbart Senior Editors-at-Large Rebecca Mansour and Joel Pollak to discuss the growing issues that conservatives are facing in Silicon Valley.

Joel Pollak began the interview by asking Dhillon to summarize the claims that her clients are making against Google and how they relate to the current issues of social media platforms censoring conservatives.

“Well the lawsuit is punitive class-action, so we’re seeking class status,” said Dhillon, “the two named plaintiffs are James Damore, who you mentioned and another fired software engineer David Gudeman, both of them are conservatives, both of them are white men. Both of them complained in the workplace about the quota system that Google has in place for hiring people and the incessant social justice warrior mentality that forces everybody at Google to toe the line with regard to hating on people who supported the President, or refusing to acknowledge people’s right to believe that there are two genders instead of multiple genders.”

Dhillon continued, “from top to bottom there’s this bubble of very very liberal groupthink that is at the same time very intolerant of people who have more traditional values.

More here

April Ryan: ‘Mr. President, Are You a Racist?’

Friday in the White House after President Donald Trump signed a proclamation to honor Martin Luther King Jr. day, referring to a Washington Post report claiming President Donald Trump said certain nations as “sh*thole countries,” American Urban Radio Networks White House correspondent April Ryan asked Trump if he was “a racist.”

While the president left the room Ryan shouted, “Mr. president, will you give an apology for the statement yesterday?”

Without getting a response She continued, “Mr. President are you a racist?”

She added, “Mr. President, will you respond to these serious questions about your statement sir?”

She asked again, “Mr. President, are you a racist?”

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Chinese officials blew up a Christian megachurch

Chinese officials used dynamite and heavy machinery to destroy one of the country's largest evangelical churches this week, The New York Times reported.

Over 50,000 Christians worshiped at the Golden Lampstand Church in Shanxi Province, and it was the second church to be demolished by the Chinese government in the last few weeks.

Destroying christian churches and removing crosses and steeples is part of a larger campaign by President Xi Jinping and the Chinese government, who consider Christianity a threat to the Communist Party.

State newspaper the Global Times reported the demolition of the church was part of "a city-wide campaign to remove illegal buildings."

This is not the first time Chinese authorities have set their sights on the church. In 2009, Bibles were confiscated by police and several congregation leaders were imprisoned.

“The repeated persecution of Golden Lampstand Church demonstrates that the Chinese government has no respect for religious freedom or human rights,” the founder of ChinaAid, a group in the U.S. that monitors religious freedom in China, Bob Fu told The New York Times.

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Kentucky to add Medicaid work requirement; first state to follow Trump plan

Kentucky received the green light Friday to require many of its Medicaid recipients to work in order to receive coverage.

The Bluegrass State thus becomes the first state to act on the Trump administration’s unprecedented change that could affect millions of low-income people receiving benefits.

Under the new rule, adults age 19 to 64 must complete 80 hours of "community engagement" per month to keep their care. That includes working a job, going to school, taking a job-training course or volunteering.

"There is dignity associated with earning the value of something that you receive," Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin said. "The vast majority of men and women, able-bodied men and women ... they want the dignity associated with being able to earn and have engagement."

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http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/01/13/kentucky-to-add-medicaid-work-requirement-first-state-to-follow-trump-plan.html

Widgeon gets sentence reduction in theft

Since he paid off the $150,000 in restitution owed to the Showell Volunteer Fire Department by the deadline of Nov. 30, 2017, Mark Widgeon, the department’s former treasurer, had his sentence reduced from five years to 18 months in Circuit Court on Tuesday.

Prosecutors opposed the sentence reduction, Deputy State’s Attorney Bill McDermott said.

Judge Broughton Earnest, who presided over the original case, also handled the sentence modification.

Widgeon paid $57,000 in late August 2017, and $93,000 by the November deadline.

He could be eligible for parole before those 18 months are up, McDermott said.

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Special Event Zone Idea Advances With Legislation Planned In Annapolis

OCEAN CITY — Legislation creating special enforcement zones to help stem some of the issues associated with the mobilized special events in Ocean City will be introduced in this General Assembly session.

After several troubling motorized special events in Ocean City, resort officials began exploring ways to curb some of the illicit activity associated with the events. Last November, it was standing room only in the Mayor and Council chamber as the elected officials got their first look at a list of recommendations from the police commission that included eliminating or at least curtailing some of the motorized special events.

The council took no action immediate action, instead opting to have the mayor appoint a task force to begin a deeper dive into some of the proposed solutions.

The task force met for the first time in December with a marathon opening session during which any and all ideas were on the table. A recurring theme during the first task force was the creation of special events enforcement zones, akin to the familiar school zones or highway work zones, where fines and other penalties can be enhanced.

Out of that first task force meeting was a desire to have the town’s representatives in Annapolis seek legislation creating special enforcement zones in the resort during the various motorized special events that would allow the Ocean City Police Department and its allied agencies enhance the penalties for certain illegal activities.

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Hey Jake, I Found My Onesie Bar Crawl Outfit, See You All There!

Yes, I'm deplorable!

Deputy State’s Attorney Looking To Replace Oglesby

SNOW HILL — On a cold, slushy Monday evening this week, Deputy State’s Attorney William McDermott announced he was seeking election to State’s Attorney for Worcester County.

As expected, McDermott announced on Monday he is running for Worcester County State’s Attorney in the upcoming election after current State’s Attorney Beau Oglesby was appointed by Governor Larry Hogan last month to fill one of two Worcester County Circuit Court judgeship vacancies. When the short list of nominees for the two judicial vacancies included Oglesby, the current state’s attorney said McDermott would seek the position in the upcoming election if he was ultimately appointed and that scenario has played out as expected.

Thus far, only Wicomico County prosecutor Kristin Heiser has thrown her hat in the ring for the Worcester County State’s Attorney election. Ogle Heiser made her announcement in Ocean City earlier last fall. McDermott made his announcement on Monday evening on the steps of the State’s Attorney’s Office in Snow Hill with a large crowd of supporters including many law enforcement officers and court employees standing in the cold and snow and slush.

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DEA Arrests Senior MS-13 Leader

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) bagged the senior MS-13 leader for the Northeast U.S. along with 11 other high-ranking members of the gang in a Thursday crackdown operation, the New York Post reported.

The 17 defendants — five of whom are not MS-13 members — are facing charges including second-degree murder, drug trafficking, and conspiracy. They face up to 25 years in prison if convicted, the Post reported Thursday. The unnamed Long Island-based leader operated two cells, code-named “Hollywood” and “Sailors.” He reported and transferred proceeds directly to MS-13 heads in El Salvador, according to the DEA.

“It started as a small-scale drug investigation on Long Island, a DEA investigation which is still growing, and as it went along and we brought other agencies on, we saw a violent threat that pushed us to get even more agencies involved and eventually apprehend this regional leader of MS-13,” DEA Special Agent in Charge James Hunt said in a statement. “Not only did we arrest the highest-level Mara Salvatrucha leader in the Northeast who reports to MS-13 in El Salvador, but we sent a message that we will continue to investigate their violent crimes and bring justice to their victims.”

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American Psychiatric Association Tells Shrinks: Stop Analyzing Trump

The American Psychiatric Association is pleading with its members and all psychiatrists to stop analyzing President Donald Trump, saying it is "unacceptable and unethical" to engage in "armchair psychiatry."

The APA, which is the largest psychiatric association in the world, released a statement this week decrying members of the profession who are violating the "Goldwater Rule"—commenting on a public figure's mental state from afar.

"We at the APA call for an end to psychiatrists providing professional opinions in the media about public figures whom they have not examined, whether it be on cable news appearances, books, or in social media," the organization said. "Armchair psychiatry or the use of psychiatry as a political tool is the misuse of psychiatry and is unacceptable and unethical."

The organization said it is impossible to diagnose someone from their tweets, adding that it "undermines the credibility and integrity of the profession."

More here

Hillary Clinton Claims America ‘Subjected to Trump’s Ignorant, Racist Views’

Two-time failed Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton claimed President Donald Trump has subjected America to his racist views.

In a tweet shared Friday, the former First Lady used the 8-year anniversary of the Haiti earthquake as an opportunity to attack the president over alleged remarks reported in The Washington Post.

“The anniversary of the devastating earthquake 8 years ago is a day to remember the tragedy, honor the resilient people of Haiti, & affirm America’s commitment to helping our neighbors,” Clinton wrote.

“Instead, we‘re subjected to Trump’s ignorant, racist views of anyone who doesn’t look like him.”

The tweet follows a turbulent news cycle Thursday, where the president was quoted by The Washington Post as labeling Haiti, El Salvador and African nations “shithole countries,” despite denying he used the language.

Clinton’s tweet was delivered without a hint of irony, even as people in Haiti still struggle after relief funds were squandered by The Clinton Foundation.

Throughout his presidential campaign Trump made it a point to call attention to the Clinton Foundation’s misuse of donations meant to help Haitian victims of the 2010 earthquake.

“Clinton was responsible for doing things a lot of the Haitian people are not happy with,” Trump stated. “Taxpayer dollars intended for Haiti and the earthquake victims went to a lot of the Clinton cronies.”

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Supreme Court agrees to take up case on online sales taxes

The Supreme Court agreed Friday to take up a challenge to a law preventing states from taxing retailers that don't have a physical presence in the state, a case that could have major implications for state and federal online sales tax policy.

The case is South Dakota vs. Wayfair, with the state seeking to impose state taxes on the online retailer.

It is a challenge to a 1992 Supreme Court decision that a state cannot tax a business unless it has a substantial physical presence in the state.

South Dakota and other states have called for a review of the ruling, portraying it as an obstacle to managing their finances.

The issue of online sales taxes has roiled Congress in recent years, pitting brick-and-mortar stores and big online retailers against online companies they argue are unfairly advantaged by being able to skirt taxation.

More here

About Democrats' 'Certain Victory' in 2018

It’s not looking good for Republicans.

At least that’s what the mainstream media want you to believe. Then again, haven’t they been saying that during the entire first year of Donald Trump’s presidency? Heck, weren’t they predicting the same gloom and doom for Republicans in 2016? Nonetheless, Democrats are feeling good right now and boasting of their prospects in the next two elections.

True, Democrats aren’t all talk. Billionaire Leftist Tom Steyer is putting his money where his mouth is. As Ben Kamisar writes in The Hill, “Steyer plans to channel the money in the House effort, which he said would total at least $30 million, toward his advocacy group, NextGen America. Steyer, who has also funded a multi-million dollar ad campaign calling for President Trump’s impeachment, wants to use the $30 million to boost turnout among millennial voters across 10 states.”

Notably, however, Steyer has reduced his Demo graft — having dumped $74 million into the 2014 midterm when voters gave Republicans control of the Senate and their largest House majority since 1928. He then spent $91 million for Democrats in the 2016 election, when Republicans held their majorities and elected Donald Trump. And his $20 million on a campaign to impeach Trump resulted in only 58 of 435 House members voting to impeach — that’s $344,827.59 per vote.

Clearly, leftist billionaire bucks alone aren’t enough to win elections. If it were, The Pantsuit would be president.

What message are the Democrats going to run on?

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‘Sh!thole’ Controversy Shows Perils of Negotiating with Democrats

President Donald Trump denies having used the term “sh*thole countries” to refer to Haiti, El Salvador, and some African nations in a negotiation about immigration policy with Senators from both parties in the Oval Office on Thursday.

And CNN’s Jake Tapper, of all people, says that his source backs the president’s claim, at least regarding Haiti, over the story told second-hand to the Washington Post (probably by one of the Democrats in the meeting).

But regardless of whether Trump used the phrase, and how, he has learned the hard way about the danger of even talking to the political opposition in the poisonous climate that Democrats and the mainstream media have created in Washington. Both are determined to bring down the Trump presidency and to nullify the 2016 election.

And for Democrats, the opportunity to do so was more important than the chance to help “undocumented” immigrants.

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Guts!

It is always good to sharpen one’s dialectical foil every now and then. One pro-abortion argument you may come across in the abortion debate is this: “Just as you wouldn’t force someone to donate a kidney or part of a liver, so you should not force a woman to ‘donate’ the use of her body to a fetus.” I.e., if you’re not in favor of forced organ donation, you shouldn't be in favor of forced pregnancy, which is to say the criminalization of abortion.

There are serious flaws to this argument. The first is this: pregnancy is not, properly construed, analogous to donating an organ: it is getting pregnant that is the analogy.

Put another way: most people agree that nobody should be forced into either pregnancy or organ donation. The pertinent question thus becomes: once someone has voluntarily become pregnant or donated an organ, do they have the right to materially reverse their decision? Most people would agree that, once you have donated an organ, you do not have the right to ask for it back—your rights to your organ only extended insofar as you did not grant them to someone else. The same is true of pregnancy: one cannot morally “take back” the act of getting pregnant, any more than one could “take back” a length of large intestine one gave to a donee, without violating another’s rights—and in the case of abortion, killing someone.

(The common rejoinder for those who support abortion runs along these lines: “Just because you consent to sex doesn’t mean you consent to pregnancy.” But this too is flawed, for reasons we’ll address, though indirectly, next.)

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Tucker: ‘Trump Said Something That Almost Every Person in America Actually Agrees With’

(CNSNews.com) - As President Trump's many critics melt down over his use of the word "sh!thole" to describe Haiti and some African countries, not everyone is distracted by the president's poor word choice.

While some CNN correspondents were quick to call Trump a racist, some Fox News personalities were more willing to consider the truth behind the president's controversial statement.

“Why are we having all these people from sh!thole countries come here?” the Washington Post quoted the president as saying Thursday during a White House meeting on immigration reform. The president reportedly asked why the United States doesn't take more people from Norway, for example. He had met with the prime minister of Norway just the day before.

The furor erupted instantaneously on liberal media outlets.

But what's the sin? asked Fox News's Tucker Carlson Thursday night. "If we've gotten to the point where we all have to pretend that every country is exactly as nice as every other country, then we're being dishonest," Carlson told his viewers.

"Today, as you doubtless heard, during immigration talks, President Trump said something that almost every person in America actually agrees with. An awful lot of immigrants come to this country from other places that aren't very nice. Those places are dangerous, they're dirty, they're corrupt, and they're poor. And that's the main reason those immigrants are trying to come here, and you would too if you lived there.

"President Trump asked why America doesn't receive more immigrants from places you might want to visit on vacation. Why aren't we getting more people from Norway, he said, which by almost any measure, including the U.N.’s measures, is the most developed and richest country in the world."

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Did You Put The Bun In the Oven?

Dem Rep Lee: Trump Is Trying to 'Make America White Again'

Friday on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) reacted to a Washington Post report claiming President Donald Trump referred to certain nations as “shithole countries” by saying Trump wanted to “make America white again.”

Lee said, “My immediate reaction, it was just one of anger and sadness. First of all, today, Andrea, is the eighth anniversary of the devastating earthquake in Haiti. We’re leading into the anniversary of Dr. King’s birthday to honor his life and his legacy, and here we have a president who has once again said racist and despicable words about African-Americans, people of color and countries that really have helped build — their descendants, and current residents have helped build America to its greatness. What he has said, of course, is that you’re only welcomed in America if you’re white. Otherwise, you’re not welcome in this country.”

She continued, “I fully believe that what Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Cedric Richmond, said was very correct. It was exactly what needed to be said when he noted that when President Trump says “make America great again,” he really means ‘make America white again.’ That’s exactly what we see.”

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Songs that turn 40 in 2018

Anti-Trump ‘Resistance’ Group Chiefs Used Donor Funds to Line Their Own Pockets

A review of the finances of a political action group sold as an anti-Trump “resistance” operation alleges that its leaders used donor money to line their own pockets instead of using it to “resist” Trump.

The report released by the law blog “Law and Crime” alleges that former Obama operative Scott Dworkin, Democrat Party PR man Jarad Geldner, and liberal activist Nathan Lerner awarded themselves “consulting fees” amounting to tens of thousands of dollars donors gave to them to fight against President Donald Trump’s policies.

At the center of the accusations is a Super PAC labeled the Democratic Coalition Against Trump (DCAT). The operation is headed by Nathan Lerner and former Joe Biden operative Jon Cooper. Former Obama operative Scott Dworkin is listed as a “senior advisor” and is also one of the PAC’s founders. Jerad Geldner is also listed as another “senior advisor” for DCAT.

On its website, DCAT describes itself this way:

This is the most pathetic armed robbery in the history of crime..

Ryan Says He Will Not Attach DACA to Stop-Gap Spending Bill

House Speaker Paul Ryan revealed at a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee event on Friday he does not plan to attach a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) illegal alien fix to a government spending bill, stating, “That’s just not good government.”

The moderator of the Wisconsin event asked Speaker Ryan, “Will [DACA] get attached to the spending bill?”

The government faces a January 19 deadline to provide the money to continue funding the federal government.

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A Comment Worthy Of A Post

Jake Day is full of crap. The best building days are long gone for Salisbury. The hey day was when construction commenced for the new Court House wing -(adjacent to the County government office bldg.), and, the Courthouse construction - multi-service center (District Court bldg.). Also, right after that is when they built the Firehouse palace on SBY's blog. At that time there was also substantial building - University Apartments near Milford street near the college. Jake is doing nothing more than fabricating a lie in hopes that the voters won't connect the dots to a failing city.

Original story HERE.

Donald Trump Celebrates Martin Luther King Day: ‘We Are All Created Equal by God’

President Donald Trump signed a declaration to proclaim Dr. Martin Luther King day, praising the civil rights leader for standing up for human rights.

“Today we celebrate Dr. King for standing up for the self-evident truth Americans hold so dear, that no matter what the color of our skin, or the place of our birth, we are all created equal by God,” Trump said during brief remarks before the signing.

The president invited King’s nephew Isaac Newton Farris to deliver remarks about the holiday.

“It’s not a day to hang out in the park … it’s a day to help someone do something else,” Farris said, urging Americans to help each other on the day and be “united.”

Trump’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson also spoke, reminding all Americans to treat each other according to the content of their character and not the color of their skin.

“Mr. President are you a racist?” White House reporter April Ryan repeatedly asked the president.

Trump did not reply.

More here

Flu season is shaping up as one of the worst in years, officials say

The entire continental United States is experiencing widespread flu right now, the first time in the 13 years of the current tracking system that that has happened, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Officials said that this flu season is shaping up to be one of the worst in recent years.

The rate of flu hospitalizations — the number of people hospitalized with flu per 100,000 — nearly doubled last week compared with the previous week. Last week it was 22.7 per 100,000 people; the week before that rate was 13.7.

At the peak of the 2014-15 season, one of the two most severe seasons in the last 15 years or so, 29.9 people out of every 100,000 were hospitalized for flu.

The latest data — for the week ending Jan. 6 — suggest the season may be peaking right now, the CDC’s director, Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, told reporters Friday. But she warned that many more people will be infected before the season is over.

Officials feared that the flu vaccine may not work particularly well this season, but it appears to be faring slightly better than expected.

More here

Bull & Oyster Roast


Enviro-nazis: Seize Bundy Cattle

It’s hard to imagine how the 2014 federal effort to impound Cliven Bundy’s cattle could have gone any worse, but environmentalists are demanding that the Bureau of Land Management go back and try it again.

Days after a federal judge threw out the case against Mr. Bundy and two of his sons, environmental groups urged Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to remove the family’s cattle from the property near Bunkerville, Nevada.

“We urge Interior not to leave this business unfinished. Time is of the essence,” reads the letter to Mr. Zinke on Wednesday. “Interior must round up these cattle to ensure that a pattern of lawlessness backed up by violence does not perpetuate itself across the public lands of the Western U.S.”

In response, Bundy attorney Larry Klayman replied: “I would say, make our legal day.”

Perhaps the only silver lining from the 2014 Nevada standoff was that it didn’t end in bloodshed after hundreds of Bundy supporters descended on the ranch, prompting the BLM to cancel its effort to impound 400 head of cattle over Mr. Bundy’s refusal to pay federal grazing fees.

Environmentalists slammed Mr. Bundy as a lawbreaker engaged in “illegal grazing on public lands,” while Mr. Klayman blasted them as “vicious leftist vigilantes that have no respect for ordinary folk or ranchers like Cliven Bundy.”

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Outgoing Virginia Gov. McAuliffe says he'd deck Trump if provoked

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Outgoing Democratic Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe told a national television audience he'd knock President Donald Trump to the floor if the president ever tried to intimidate him.

During an interview Thursday on MSNBC's "Hardball," Chris Matthews asked McAuliffe how he would respond if Trump tried to intimidate him during a debate by hovering over him, as he did in a 2016 debate with Hillary Clinton, a close friend of McAuliffe's.

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Jerry Seinfeld Under Fire for Visit to Counter-Terror Training Academy in Israel

Comedy legend Jerry Seinfeld is under fire for visiting an counter-terror training academy during a recent trip to Israel.

The academy, Caliber 3, describes itself:

Caliber 3 was established in 2003 by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Col. Sharon Gat (Res.) and has since become the leading Counter Terror & Security training academy in Israel. Today Caliber-3, run by active military members of the IDF, offers top security solutions, high threat protection, intelligence operations and tactical training to military, law enforcement, government agencies and commercial clients around the globe.

Criticism over Seinfeld’s visit reached a point at which Caliber 3 removed Facebook posts about it. Those posts included photos (which were removed as well). But Maxim magazine quoted the deleted Caliber 3 posts, saying they described the fact that Seinfeld brought his family “for a special and exciting activity with displays of combat, Krav Maga, assault dogs and lots of Zionism.”

And photos of Seinfeld’s visit made the rounds on social media, drawing jeers from pro-Palestinian voices.

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Limbaugh: Leftist Reactions ‘Faux Rage,’ ‘Made Up’ for Cameras, Microphones

Friday on his nationally syndicated radio show, conservative talker Rush Limbaugh dismissed the reaction to the remarks reportedly made by President Donald Trump deeming some nations to be “shithole countries” during a meeting with a bipartisan group of congressional leaders on immigration policy.

Limbaugh called it “faux rage” and said much of it was an act for the cameras and microphone.

“All I can tell you is I have been there,” Limbaugh said. “I have been in the midst of these kinds of firestorms, folks. And I can tell you this is all faux rage. It is faux anger. It is faux outrage. It is made up. It is for the cameras. It’s for the microphones. It’s for the audience. It’s based on the presumption everybody finds Trump reprehensible and always has and this is just the final straw. And I don’t believe these people are sincerely outraged. They are sincerely excited because it is yet what they believe is another opportunity to get rid of Trump.”

Limbaugh predicted this would be another failed effort to undermine the president’s credibility in the eyes of the American people.

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The Missing Democrat Agenda

Oh, to have been a fly on the wall in Elizabeth Warren's house as people went crazy over the prospect of Oprah 2020. I can only imagine Warren's reaction. Did she yell at the TV? Mutter under her breath? Immediately call her media consultant in panic?

We know the slight got to her. By midweek she was making the rounds on cable. There she was, with Mark Warner of Virginia, reminding us of her existence, talking about God knows what, and smiling uncomfortably when asked, inevitably, what she thought of the Lady O.

Watching Warren and Warner, I had a vision of the next Democratic ticket. How ironic if Democrats, having lost to President Trump with a liberal woman and a boring Virginia centrist in 2016, respond four years later by nominating … a liberal woman and a boring Virginia centrist.

And how embarrassing for the two-dozen-plus Democratic officeholders mulling presidential runs that media and Hollywood would kick over the punch bowl in a mad rush to embrace as the party savior a billionaire TV star with no government or political experience and no discernible ideology or agenda. What Matthew Walther called Oprahysteria signified nothing less than Democratic leeriness and hesitancy at the coming primary fight. Crowded, aged, liberal, boring, and pale, the emerging 2020 Democratic field is no reason for excitement. Tossing Oprah into the mix livens things up.

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Education Professor Praises Laziness

Applying critical theory, leftists tear down everything that is noble and worthy of respect. Economic accomplishment is denounced as “greed” or “privilege.” War heroes are psychopaths or suckers. Great historical figures including the Founding Fathers are bigots. The awesome heritage of Western Civilization is trashed in favor of dysfunctional Third World savagery. After the old virtues that heritage rests on have been swept aside, they will be replaced by new, progressive virtues — like laziness:

Prof. Ryan Evely Gildersleeve, whose background is “primarily out-of-classroom learning contexts with non-dominant youth,” argues today in the research journal Qualitative Inquiry that “lazy practices can become useful for postqualitative inquiry that seeks to disrupt normative explanations of the world.”

Gildersleeve is Chairmoonbat of Higher Education at the University of Denver. He intones:

“As political action, laziness, then provides postqualitative inquiry with an additional tool for contributing to social justice via social research. Laziness combats the neoliberal condition in which academic research is situated and might serve as a virtue of postqualitative inquiry.”

As we have learned, “neoliberal” is a pejorative among academics, who use the term to denounce personal responsibility and individual liberty.

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Journalists FALSELY Report U.S. Ambassadors Resigned Over Trump’s Alleged Comments

A number of journalists falsely reported that two U.S. ambassadors resigned in protest of alleged comments President Donald Trump made Thursday, when he was accused of using vulgar language to describe many third-world countries.

Reuters reported Friday that U.S. Ambassador to Panama John Feeley had resigned, citing his unwillingness to advance Trump policies.

"As a junior foreign service officer, I signed an oath to serve faithfully the president and his administration in an apolitical fashion, even when I might not agree with certain policies," he wrote in his resignation letter. "My instructors made clear that if I believed I could not do that, I would be honor bound to resign. That time has come."

Because the Reuters story came the day after the Trump comments, media outlets like MSNBC falsely assumed the two were connected.

But in fact, Feeley's resignation was first reported on Thursday afternoon, before Trump's alleged comments were publicized. The State Department later told reporters Feeley decided to resign back in December.

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LEGENDARY COMMENTS BY GEORGE CHEVALLIER 1-13-18


East Main Street
The year 1909 can be the year that defines the beginning of a new Salisbury. That was the year the dam broke and let all the water out of Humphreys Lake. Before that year, Main Street was simply Main Street. There was no East or West associated with the name. Main Street started at Division Street and proceeded west. Any reference to a Main Street address before 1909 would later be West Main Street.

The land exposed by the rupture of the dam was purchased by a group of local businessmen that formed the Salisbury Realty Company. They purchased 65 acres from the Humphreys family and dug out a channel to the east as far as the railroad. The dirt they dug out was used to build up the remaining acreage. When this had settled enough to build on, they began to sell lots in the area.

There was a building across what is now East Main Street along Division Street. It had been a prime building site in Salisbury for many years. When it burned down to its foundation in the fire of 1886, there were many that wanted to extend Main Street eastward to the edge of Humphreys Lake.

Now, Salisbury had at that time a form of government consisting of town commissioners. They could have prevented the rebuilding of the structure by simply not allowing the building permit to go through. They didn’t, and a new building was erected on the old foundation, even complying with the new standards of building with brick according to the codes put in place to try to avoid another fire like the one in 1886 that destroyed most of downtown Salisbury.

By 1888, Salisbury had implemented a new form of government consisting of a mayor and city council. This new form of government was more receptive to the idea of extending Main Street to the east. So they used their governmental powers and condemned the Davis House hotel, and it was torn down after the dam broke. Main Street was extended to the east and East Main Street was established.

Buildings began to emerge on land that was once under water. The picture above was taken in 1919 and shows a dirt street about 100 yards east of Division Street before anything had been built. The tallest building in Salisbury, the Wicomico Hotel, was still six years in the future. The biggest boost to the area was the Post Office. It lent a sort of permanence to the street, and other buildings soon followed.

East Main Street was eventually extended across the former lake bottom to its present destination of Old Ocean City Road. This entailed building East Main Street to the present Davis Street, which was formerly the edge of Humphreys Lake. It was not the scenic area we know today as the City Park. The City Park was built in the 1930’s as a project of the WPA, one of President Roosevelt’s ideas to get men working again during the devastating Depression of the 1930’s. The mayor at the time was L. Thomas Parker, and he is known as the father of the Municipal Park. His son is Henry Parker, a former county councilman for many years. Wicomico Middle School was built in 1931 over the area that had been used as a dump. When they built it at a cost of $450,000, it was so large and modern that at the dedication ceremonies it was stated that it would serve the area for at least two generations. In less than five years it was expanded.

Snow Hill Road in the city was built to extend from Lincoln Avenue to East Main Street. Before this change, Snow Hill Road flowed into Lincoln Avenue in the city. The restructuring of the geography of the city was greatly impacted by the new land obtained by the emptying of Humphreys Lake.

East Main Street had become a location to have thriving business entities which continue to this day.

Records show psych professor who ‘diagnosed’ Trump as crazy doesn’t have a license

Now, that’s ironic. It turns out that the Yale professor/psychiatrist who diagnosed Trump as crazy, doesn’t have a valid license in her home state of Connecticut. Allegations, accusations and rumors started swarming on Twitter about this woman. Bandy Lee also just deleted her Twitter account. All of this stems from her making an unethical diagnosis of President Trump as mentally unstable and then meeting with a dozen Democrats last December over it. She even said he should be physically removed from office and committed. That’s called a coup.

Following Lee’s comments, the American Psychiatric Association released a statement on Tuesday warning members of its profession to refrain from making public diagnoses of public figures like Trump without a proper medical exam. She has never even met the President, so Lee violated the Goldwater Rule big time here. The Goldwater rule is the informal name given to Section 7 in the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) Principles of Medical Ethics that states it is unethical for psychiatrists to give a professional opinion about public figures they have not examined in person and from whom they have not obtained consent to discuss their mental health in public statements. It is named after presidential candidate Barry Goldwater.

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STD Rates Reach Record High

The rise of sexually transmitted diseases is challenging public health departments.

When Fredrick Echols joined the St. Louis County Department of Public Health as director of communicable disease control services a couple of years ago, he did an assessment of the county’s sexually transmitted disease (STD) program. It wasn’t hard to see where things could be improved. “I saw some gaps in services,” Echols says, “particularly in the community.”

Echols is referring to the fact that the county had made almost no effort to involve community members in a conversation about safe sex. The absence of a discussion has contributed in part to its distinction for more than a decade as home to the nation’s highest rate of STD infections. The number of chlamydia cases in St. Louis County increased by more than 500 in 2016, gonorrhea cases were up by 1,300 and syphilis cases also spiked, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

But what’s particularly troubling is that St. Louis County isn’t alone. With more than 2 million cases reported in 2016, STD rates nationwide are at a record high. “STDs are a persistent enemy, growing in number and outpacing our ability to respond,” Jonathan Mermin, director of the CDC division that deals with STD tracking and prevention, said in a press release accompanying a September report on the issue.

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Somerset County Sheriff's Office reports most recent arrests

Andrew Craig Roberts Jr. of Westover, arrested 12-26-17 on warrants regarding possession of CDS with the intent to deliver, distribution of CDS within a school zone, firearms possession with felony conviction, illegal passion of a firearm, possession of marijuana less than 10 grams, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Roberts was later held without bond.

Ronald Morris Boulden of Pocomoke, arrested 12-30-17 for driving while under the influence of alcohol, driving while impaired by alcohol, reckless drivi9ng, and negligent driving. Boulden was later released on citations pending court actions. The arrest was the result of a traffic stop conducted by Deputies in the area of Market St. Pocomoke.

Aunshae Denise Cottman of Princess Anne, arrested 12-31-17 for violating a protective order. Cottman was later held without bond.

Drug Addicts Could Soon Get Their First Safe Haven in America

Supervised injection facilities, which only exist in other countries, encounter roadblocks everywhere they're proposed in the U.S. But as the opioid epidemic rages on, one might open this year.

The Baltimore Health Department has a history of taking risks to help drug addicts. In an effort to prevent outbreaks of HIV and hepatitis, the city was one of the first to open a needle exchange where addicts can swap dirty needles for clean ones. It also made national headlines when the city's health commissioner, Leana Wen, opened the door for any resident to buy naloxone, the life-saving antidote to an opioid overdose.

But there's at least one evidence-based method for helping people with substance abuse problems that Wen is hesitant to propose: supervised injection facilities.

Supervised injection facilities (SIF) are places where addicts can safely use their own illegal drugs under the watchful eye of a medical professional and with clean paraphernalia provided by the city. Also present are people who can connect users with social services, including drug and mental health treatment and housing assistance. Dozens of studies have shown that SIFs reduce overdoses and do not increase drug use or crime in the community.

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NEWS IN NUMBERS

2,800

JANUARY 12, 2018
Votes that may have been mistakenly cast in Virginia in November because, according to a Washington Post analysis, the voters' addresses may have been assigned to the wrong district. Six races were decided by less than 500 votes, and one was decided by a coin flip.

31,000

JANUARY 11, 2018
Qualified students that California State University turned away last year, which represents the school's most rejections.

$306 billion

JANUARY 10, 2018
Cost of damages from natural disasters that happened in 2017, which is a record high, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

40%

JANUARY 9, 2018
Portion of plastic discarded in the U.S. last year and then sent to China, the largest global importer of most recyclable materials. That won't be the case anymore, though, because the country recently banned "foreign waste."
Source: Governing

90%

JANUARY 8, 2018
Area of offshore reserves that, under the Trump administration's proposal released on Thursday, would be leased in the next five years to oil and gas companies for drilling. Many coastal governors, including Florida's Rick Scott, a Republican who has a close relationship with the president, immediately opposed the plan.

More than 800%

JANUARY 5, 2018
Annual increase in Wyoming's revenue from leasing land to oil and gas companies. The hike is largely due to rebounding oil prices, which hit record lows in 2016, and the Trump administration being friendlier to oil and gas companies than Obama. The state, however, still faces a more than $700 million budget gap.

Attorney General Frosh Files Opposition to EPA Proposal to Repeal Regulations on High-Polluting Trucks

BALTIMORE, MD – Joining a coalition of 12 attorneys general, Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh today filed his strong opposition to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposal to repeal regulations that place strict emissions standards on highly polluting “glider” trucks. Known as the 2016 Glider Rule, the regulations mandate that most engines installed in “gliders” – new heavy-duty truck bodies outfitted with refurbished or rebuilt pre-2010 highly polluting engines – meet the same emissions standards applicable to all newly manufactured engines.

“Yet again, EPA Administrator Pruitt is showing his true colors – ignoring his legal obligation, and failing to protect the American people from environmental harm,” said Attorney General Frosh. “The Glider Rule was put into place to enforce vehicle emission standards, and helps create a more fair and balanced approach to enforcing those standards on the truck industry.”

Read more in the full press release: http://www.marylandattorneygeneral.gov/press/2018/010518a.pdf

Why listening to music could make you deaf

People are ignoring advice and permanently damaging their hearing while listening to loud music on headphones, an audiologist has warned.

William Shapiro, clinical associate professor at New York University Langone, says that young people in particular are at risk.

He says that one in five teenagers have some form of hearing loss due to noise exposure.

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Hungary's PM: "We Don't See Them As Refugees, We See Them As Muslim Invaders"

In an interview with German newspaper Bild, Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orban called the migrant crisis an invasion.

He said:

“We do not consider these people to be Muslim refugees, we regard them as Muslim invaders.”

“One has to cross four countries to arrive from Syria in Hungary”, Orban said.

“Those people do not run for their lives but seek a better life. The refugees should have requested admission in advance, but instead they had breached the border illegally.”

As Deutsche Welle reports, according to Orban what Europe has seen was not a wave of refugees, but an invasion. He mentioned that he never understood how in a country like Germany the chaos and the illegal crossing of borders could be celebrated as something good.

When asked by Bild whether it was fair for Germany to accept hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants while Hungary accepted none, Orban responded:

"The difference is, you wanted the migrants, and we didn't."

Migration, he said, threatens the "sovereignty and cultural identity" of Hungary.

The Hungarian prime minister rejected the idea that his country should accept people from Muslim-majority countries.

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Governors line up to get waivers from offshore drilling

Governors from coastal states issued public calls to get their own carve-outs from a new administration policy opening up coastal waters around the country for offshore oil drilling.

The push came after Florida Republican Gov. Rick Scott, a favorite of President Donald Trump, secured a special waiver for his state from Interior secretary Ryan Zinke.

The Interior Department overseas vast federal lands and resources and oversees leases to private drillers.

'New York doesn't want drilling off our coast either,' New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo tweeted Wednesday. 'Where do we sign up for a waiver @SecretaryZinke?'

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The Next Financial Crisis Will Be Worse Than the Last One

We made it through 2017.

And if you look at the stock and asset markets, as Donald Trump tends to do (and as Barack Obama did, too), you’d think all is fine with the world.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose about 24% last year. The Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index rose 6.20%. The price of one bitcoin rose about 1,646%.

And so far 2018 has been more of the same.

On the flip side of that euphoria however, is the fact that the median wage rose just 2.4% last year and has remained effectively stagnant relative to inflation. And although the unemployment rate fell to a 17-year low of 4.1%, the labor force participation rate dropped to 62.7%, its lowest level in nearly four decades.

That’s particularly difficult for new entrants to the workforce, such as students graduating under a $1.3 trillion pile of student loan debt. (Not to worry though: Goldman Sachs is promoting a way to profit from this debt by stuffing it into other assets and selling those off to investors, a la shades of the subprime mortgage crisis.)

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Leaked Memo: DACA Amnesty Is 'Critical Component of Democratic Party's Future Electoral Success'

A leaked memo from the left-wing organization, the Center for American Progress Action Fund, admits that passing an amnesty for the nearly 800,000 illegal aliens shielded from deportation by the President Obama-created Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program is “a critical component of the Democratic Party’s future electoral success.”

According to the memo sent to Democrats, which is co-authored by former Hillary Clinton official Jennifer Palmieri, the Democratic Party is relying on a DACA amnesty deal — that President Trump seems more open to now than ever before — in order to ensure future wins in Congressional and presidential elections.

The memo states:

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Trump Slams "Sneaky" Feinstein For "Possibly Illegal" Testimony Release

President Trump lashed out at Sen. Dianne Feinstein on twitter for unilaterally releasing the full transcript an interview between congressional investigators and the founder of Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm that commissioned the controversial dossier on Trump during the 2016 campaign.

In a tweet, Trump called the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee “sneaky” and said her release of the more than 300-pages of interviews between Glenn Simpson and Judiciary Committee lawmakers and lawyers was "possibly illegal."

Trump also called for Feinstein to face a primary challenge in her reelection campaign in 2018.

"The fact that Sneaky Dianne Feinstein, who has on numerous occasions stated that collusion between Trump/Russia has not been found, would release testimony in such an underhanded and possibly illegal way, totally without authorization, is a disgrace" adding "Must have tough Primary!"

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