Salisbury News: 01/31/18

Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Surveillance memo vote triggers war of words on Capitol Hill

The House Intelligence Committee’s Monday vote to release a classified memo on purported government surveillance abuses has touched off a war of words between Democrats and Republicans, with both sides unloading their rhetorical guns as time ticks down to the memo’s likely publication.

President Trump has five days to decide whether he has any objections to the release, but signs point to him allowing it. The document was pushed by Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and other GOP committee members.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Tuesday there would be a full review before any release, adding: "We want to make sure we do it the right way."

Those who have seen the document suggest it reveals what role the unverified anti-Trump "dossier" played in the application for a surveillance warrant on at least one Trump associate.

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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/01/30/surveillance-memo-vote-triggers-war-words-on-capitol-hill.html

A Year Of Russian Collusion

September 2009.

Obama hadn't even been in office for a whole year when he gave in to Moscow’s biggest demand by dropping the missile defense shield for Poland and the Czech Republic. During his campaign, he had enthusiastically backed the defensive program, declaring, “We have to send a clear signal that Poland and other countries in that region are not going to be subject to intimidation and aggression.”

Like all of his campaign promises that were based on political triangulation, law enforcement, counterterrorism, Jerusalem and gay marriage, it was a campaign lie to be thrown out after the election.

Putin praised Obama’s sellout of our allies as a “brave decision.” In his first year, President Trump touted the sale of Patriot missiles to Poland. That was a truly brave decision.

After the Russian invasion, Obama refused to provide Ukraine with military assistance. While he had handed out weapons to Islamist terrorists in Syria and Libya, the Ukrainians were only offered MREs. The same administration that covertly shipped a fortune in foreign currency on unmarked cargo planes to Russia’s Iranian allies took months to meet Ukrainian requests for boots and spare tires.

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Sex Assault Investigation Reopens On Wyss

NJ Township Re-Opens Sexual Assault Investigation On Democrat Mega-Donor Tied To Hillary And John Podesta

Reclusive Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss — one of the Democrats’ biggest and most secretive donors — is currently under investigation for a 2011 sexual assault, as originally reported in a handwritten complaint by his former employee Jacqueline Long.

The current status of the investigation was confirmed by a Nov. 30, 2017document obtained by TheDCNF in a case titled State vs. Hansjorg Wyss. The document was from the office of Fredric M. Knapp, the Morris County, New Jersey, prosecutor.

The document confirmed the receipt of sexual paraphernalia from Long, including a “purple vibrator.” She alleged in the complaint the device was used by Wyss as a weapon during the assault against her.

Separately, John Mills, the Morris Township, New Jersey, attorney where the alleged assault took place, informed TheDCNF in an email the township could not release any documents concerning the probe because it involved in “an ongoing investigation [that] involves victims’ rights.”

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Coalition of Attorneys General Submit Comments Opposing Rollback of Safety Protections for Offshore Oil and Gas Production

Department of Interior Set to Weaken Safety Regulations Implemented in the Wake of Deepwater Horizon Explosion

BALTIMORE, MD (January 30, 2018) – Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh led a group of Attorneys General in submitting comments to the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), opposing proposed weakening of the agency’s regulations governing safety systems for offshore oil and gas production. The purpose of the regulations, updated and implemented in 2016 after the Deepwater Horizon explosion and spill, was to reduce the environmental and safety risks associated with offshore drilling.

“The Deepwater Horizon oil explosion caused substantial and lasting harm to the environment,” said Attorney General Frosh. “But the lives lost are the most tragic and permanent result of that incident. Rolling back safety protections less than two years after implementation is wrong and jeopardizes human and environmental safety.”

Read more in the full press release: http://www.marylandattorneygeneral.gov/press/2018/013018.pdf

The Media Are Still Covering For Obama

Establishment Media Bury Obama-Farrakhan Photo

The establishment media is ignoring a scandal that could damage former President Barack Obama’s legacy.

A new photo has emerged that shows Obama smiling with Louis Farrakhan, the leader of a black nationalist hate group, at a Congressional Black Caucus meeting in 2005. Obama was a senator at the time. Farrakhan is the longtime leader of the Nation of Islam, which even the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has said is an anti-Semitic, anti-white hate group.

A journalist for a Nation of Islam publication, Askia Muhammad, took the photo but suppressed its publication for 13 years in order to protect Obama’s presidential aspirations. Now, establishment journalists refuse to even cover the photo’s existence, in effect suppressing the photo for a second time.

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Steve Scalise To Illegals: Get In Line

Republican Congressman Steve Scalise told illegal immigrants to “get in line” and wait their turn as Congress works to secure the southern border, Tuesday on “Fox & Friends.”

“We always forget America has the most generous immigration laws already. We let a million people in our country legally. Get in line like everybody else,” Scalise said. “And I think that’s a really good answer. You can stay here while you are doing it.”

Host Brian Kilmeade said allowing illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship could compromise border security.

WATCH:

Healthy in the Morning, Dead by Night

The influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 killed more people than the Great War, known today as World War I (WWI), at somewhere between 20 and 40 million people. It has been cited as the most devastating epidemic in recorded world history. More people died of influenza in a single year than in four-years of the Black Death Bubonic Plague from 1347 to 1351. Known as “Spanish Flu” or “La Grippe” the influenza of 1918-1919 was a global disaster.

In the fall of 1918 the Great War in Europe was winding down and peace was on the horizon. The Americans had joined in the fight, bringing the Allies closer to victory against the Germans. Deep within the trenches these men lived through some of the most brutal conditions of life, which it seemed could not be any worse. Then, in pockets across the globe, something erupted that seemed as benign as the common cold. The influenza of that season, however, was far more than a cold. In the two years that this scourge ravaged the earth, a fifth of the world’s population was infected. The flu was most deadly for people ages 20 to 40. This pattern of morbidity was unusual for influenza which is usually a killer of the elderly and young children. It infected 28% of all Americans (Tice). An estimated 675,000 Americans died of influenza during the pandemic, ten times as many as in the world war. Of the U.S. soldiers who died in Europe, half of them fell to the influenza virus and not to the enemy (Deseret News). An estimated 43,000 servicemen mobilized for WWI died of influenza (Crosby). 1918 would go down as unforgettable year of suffering and death and yet of peace. As noted in the Journal of the American Medical Association final edition of 1918:

“The 1918 has gone: a year momentous as the termination of the most cruel war in the annals of the human race; a year which marked, the end at least for a time, of man’s destruction of man; unfortunately a year in which developed a most fatal infectious disease causing the death of hundreds of thousands of human beings. Medical science for four and one-half years devoted itself to putting men on the firing line and keeping them there. Now it must turn with its whole might to combating the greatest enemy of all–infectious disease,” (12/28/1918).

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Rosenstein -- Agent of the Deep State Coup

The confirmation of Rod Rosenstein to be Deputy Attorney General by a lopsided 94-6 vote should have set off warning bells. It is odd that a Trump nominee would get much Democratic support, if any. But his role in appointing his buddy Robert Mueller to lead a bogus Russian collusion probe and his history of looking the other way when Hillary Clinton is involved shows the Democrats had high hopes for Rosenstein, hopes realized by actions documented in the four-page House Intelligence Committee memo:

A secret, highly contentious Republican memo reveals that Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein approved an application to extend surveillance of a former Trump campaign associate shortly after taking office last spring, according to three people familiar with it.

The renewal shows that the Justice Department under President Trump saw reason to believe that the associate, Carter Page, was acting as a Russian agent…

The memo’s primary contention is that F.B.I. and Justice Department officials failed to adequately explain to an intelligence court judge in initially seeking a warrant for surveillance of Mr. Page that they were relying in part on research by an investigator, Christopher Steele, that had been financed by the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign

Steele’s discredited “research,” which relied heavily on input from Russian sources, was paid for by the DNC and the Hillary Clinton campaign, which puts Rosenstein in the position of aiding the efforts of one political party to overturn the results of an election won by the other political party by okaying domestic spying on an American citizen.

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Report: CDC Utilizes Fear-Mongering to Sell Vaccines

Make health decisions based on sound science, not scare tactics

Every year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and pharmaceutical companies mount an aggressive campaign in the mainstream media to persuade Americans to get their flu shots.

Flu shots are big business: industry analysts estimate that within the next five years, the U.S. flu vaccine market will be worth almost $3 billionannually. And profit margins are growing as manufacturers increase price premiums for the newer four-strain vaccines.

The U.S. expects to distribute roughly 166 million doses for the 2017-18 flu season, up from 146 million doses in the previous year. As pharmaceutical companies bombard American consumers with ubiquitous billboards, drugstore enticements and radio announcements to “get your flu shot now,” the CDC has advised the industry to hike demand through the use of a “recipe” of scare-mongering messaging. (See Figure 1) CDC recommends “creating concern, anxiety and worry” among the American public.

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City Of Fruitland: BOIL WATER ADVISORY

Amazon, Berkshire, JPMorgan to Partner on Cheaper Healthcare for Staff

Three corporate giants are teaming up to combat what billionaire Warren Buffett calls a “hungry tapeworm” feasting on the U.S. economy: health care.

Amazon.com Inc., Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. said they plan to collaborate on a way to offer health-care services to their U.S. employees more transparently and at a lower cost. The three companies plan to set up a new independent company “that is free from profit-making incentives and constraints,” according to a short statement on Tuesday.

The health-care industry has been nervously eyeing the prospect of competition from Amazon for months. While the new company created by Amazon, Berkshire and JPMorgan would be for their U.S. staff only, this is the first big move by Amazon into the industry. The new collaboration could pressure profits for middlemen in the U.S. health-care supply chain.

Health-care spending was estimated to account for about 18 percent of the U.S. economy last year, far more than in other developed nations. Despite efforts to curb costs, studies suggest that U.S. doctors and hospitals continue to provide too much health care. In a survey of physicians’ perspectives published last year in the journal PLOS One, the average estimate was that 20 percent of medical care was unneeded, including about a quarter of tests, a fifth of prescriptions and more than one in 10 medical procedures.

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This Doctor Thinks He’s Found a Way to Treat CTE.

[Last] summer, Dr. Charbel Moussa, director of the Georgetown University Laboratory for Dementia and Parkinsonism, presented a possible treatment for dementia and Parkinson’s at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in London.

In previous research, Moussa had discovered a way to treat one of the underlying physical causes of dementia and Alzheimer’s, as well as a host of other neuro-degenerative diseases. Many such neurological conditions are marked by an abnormal amount of certain proteins (specifically, tau and amyloid), and Moussa had found a way to clear the brain of this “toxic buildup” — and in turn, reduce brain inflammation and improve cognitive performance.

Immediately, some people began asking him about whether the treatment could also be applied to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, the brain disease that’s dominated headlines and beleaguered the sport of football for the past decade. An accumulation of tau proteins in the brain is the signature characteristic of CTE, and Moussa’s research seemed a natural fit for the infamous disease.

The only problem? Despite the NFL and other football organizations saying they’re taking the threat of CTE seriously, no one will fund a CTE-specific version of Moussa’s work.

“We’ve had several attempts to start clinical trials with CTE,” says Moussa. “There’s a lot of interest, but unfortunately it comes from individuals, and not institutions that want to finance a trial.”

CTE first burst into the mainstream 15 years ago, when forensic pathologist Bennet Omalu discovered the first case in a former NFL player when he conducted an autopsy on former Pittsburgh Steelers center Mike Webster. More than 100 more cases have been discovered since then.

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Study Shows We Are Born Creative Geniuses But The 'Education' System Dumbs Us Down

“You are more powerful than you know and they fear the day you discover it!”

Truth

I remember listening to a talk by Sir Ken Robinson several years ago; about how backwards the education system is, and the imperative to implement major reform. Although he certainly gave an exceptional presentation on the matter, what ultimately captured my mind was the mention of what I now consider the most important study I have ever heard of in my life — a study in divergent thinking.

NASA — who houses the world’s foremost space program and some of the brightest people on the planet — contacted Dr George Land and Beth Jarman to develop a highly specialized test that would give them the means to effectively measure the creative potential of their rocket scientists and engineers. As a result, the duo came up with an unorthodox test, rooted in the process of divergent thinking; which is the ability to look at a particular problem and propose multiple solutions.

NASA were very pleased with the efficacy of the test results, and so it proved to be a huge success. But for Land and Jarman — who had obviously explored the concept of creativity in great detail whilst devising this test — they decided they wanted to explore and try understand the true source of creativity better. Was it a genetic trait? The result of life experience? Something else??

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Wicomico County Public Schools

Update for Fruitland schools at 5:25 p.m.: Due to a lack of water in the City of Fruitland after a water main break, after-school activities were canceled for Fruitland Intermediate, Fruitland Primary and Bennett Middle School. Wicomico Schools will continue to be in contact tonight with the City of Fruitland as the city works to restore water service. We will update families of these three schools with any new information we receive.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Donna C. Hanlin, Chief Academic Officer Frederick Briggs, and the three school principals express their appreciation for how well students, staff and families handled today's unanticipated disruption in routine.

SPD Weekly Briefing 1-30-18

WCSO Press Releases - Jan 26, 2018

Incident: Possession of Cocaine
Date of Incident: 25 January 2018
Location: 900 Block of Booth Street, Salisbury, MD
Suspect: Antoine L. Tilghman, 27, Salisbury, MD
Narrative: On 25 January 2018 a deputy stopped a vehicle operated by Antoine Tilghman for erratic driving. Upon making contact with Tilghman, the deputy detected an odor of marijuana emanating from Tilghman’s vehicle. During a subsequent search of Tilghman’s vehicle, the deputy located evidence of marijuana use. Furth search uncovered an unlabeled pill bottle that held what was identified as cocaine.
The deputy placed Tilghman under arrest and transported him to the Central Booking Unit where he was processed and taken in front of the District Court Commissioner. Following an initial appearance, the Commissioner released Tilghman on $10,000.00 unsecured bond.
Charges: Possession of Cocaine and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia

Incident: Possession of Cocaine
Date of Incident: 25 January 2018
Location: Brown Street, Salisbury, MD
Suspect: Micah J. White, 64, Salisbury, MD
Narrative: On 25 January 2018 a deputy stopped a vehicle operated by Micah White for a seat belt violation. Due to the observations of the deputy, a drug scan by a WCSO K9 team was requested, during which the K9 alerted to the odor of illegal drugs in the vehicle. During a subsequent search, the deputy recovered what was identified as crack cocaine.
The deputy transported White to the Central Booking Unit where he was processed and taken in front of the District Court Commissioner. Following an initial appearance, the Commissioner released White on Personal Recognizance.

Charges: Possession of Cocaine

WCSO Press Releases - Jan 30, 2018

Incident: Possession of Heroin
Date of Incident: 26 January 2018
Location: 200 block of Locust Terrace, Salisbury, MD
Suspect: Stephen Early Garner, 34, Laurel, DE
Narrative: On 26 January 2018 at 3:37 AM, a deputy attempted to stope a vehicle operated by Stephen Garner for an equipment violation on Salisbury Boulevard in the area of Main Street. Instead of stopping, Garner increased his speed and attempted to elude the deputy who pursued him to the 200 block of Locust Terrace at which point he was stopped when the street ended in a cul de sac and taken into custody. Following his arrest, Garner was discovered to be in possession of what was identified as heroin along with a supply of syringes.
The deputy placed Garner under arrest and transported him to the Central Booking Unit where he was processed and taken in front of the District Court Commissioner. Following an initial appearance, the Commissioner released Garner on Personal Recognizance.
Charges: Possession of Heroin and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia

Incident: Violation of a Protective Order
Date of Incident: 26 January 2018
Location: 28000 block of Riverside Drive Extended, Salisbury, MD
Suspect: Kevin S. Bullis Jr., 20, Salisbury, MD
Narrative: On 26 January 2018 at 8:55 AM, a deputy responded to a residence in the 28000 block of Riverside Drive in Salisbury for the report of a subject inside the residence in violation of a Protective Order. Upon arrival, the deputy observed that Kevin Bullis, who had been served a Protective Order that barred him from the residence, was inside the residence in defiance of the order.
The deputy placed Bullis under arrest and transported him to the Central Booking Unit where he was processed and taken in front of the District Court Commissioner. Following an initial appearance, the Commissioner detained Bullis without bond pending a bond review in the District Court.
Charges: Violation of a Protective Order

Incident: Violation of a Protective Order
Date of Incident: 26 January 2018
Location: 35000 block of East Line Road, Willards, MD
Suspect: Mohammad Arshad, 59, Willards, MD
Narrative: On 26 January 2018 at 2:55 PM, a deputy responded to a reported disturbance at a residence in the 35000 block of East line Road. Upon arrival, the deputy observed that a subject later identified as Mohammad Arshad was in the driveway involved in a confrontation. During the ensuing investigation, the deputy learned that Arshad had been served a Protective Order that barred him from the property.
The deputy placed Arshad under arrest and transported him to the Central Booking Unit where he was processed and taken in front of the District Court Commissioner. Following an initial appearance, the Commissioner detained Arshad in the Detention Center without bond pending a District Court Bond Review.
Charges: Violation of a Protective Order

Breaking News: U.S. prosecutors sought information on FIFA and Olympic organizations in a far-reaching investigation of international sports corruption

The Justice Department is exploring possible racketeering, money laundering and honest services fraud charges related to two track and field world championship events and the business executives who have consulted on bids for various other elite competitions, according to one of the subpoenas, which was obtained by The New York Times.

While America's nationwide economy is reportedly firing on all cylinders, the picture is very different from 10s of 1000s of Alaskans dealing with a state-wide recession forced to turn to the government for healthcare and food prompting questions from state lawmakers about the sustainability of those 'safety-net' programs.

Some states are more equal than others...

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FBI Director Wray "Shocked To His Core" By FISA Memo, McCabe 'Removed' Next Day, More Heads To Roll: Report

FBI Director Christopher Wray was allegedly "shocked to his core" after viewing the four-page FISA memo Sunday night - hours before asking Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe to step down, according to journalist Sara Carter.

Hannity sat down once again with journalist Sara Carter, whose sources say McCabe may have instructed FBI agents to alter their "302" forms - the paperwork an agent files after interviewing someone:

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Entire Town Of Fruitland Is Without Water

The entire Town of Fruitland is currently without water due to a water main break at Camden and School Street. Their hope is to be completely back on line this evening.

Canadians say they contracted parasitic hookworms on beach

A young Canadian couple who recently returned from holiday in the Dominican Republic are warning vacationers not to get the 'sand between your toes' after picking up some nasty parasites.

Katie Stephens, 22, and Eddie Zytner, 25 said that their feet became noticeably itchy in the middle of their week-long getaway to the Caribbean earlier this month after strolling the beaches of the IFA Villas Bavaro Resort in Punta Cana.

'[We] found that we were scratching our feet quite a bit,' Stephens told CTV News on Friday, adding that they had heard about sand fleas and 'kind of assumed it was that at first.'

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Comptroller Urges Marylanders to Save During Shop Maryland Energy Weekend February 17 to 19

Sales tax waived on qualifying ENERGY STAR products

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Comptroller Peter Franchot is urging Marylanders to take advantage of big savings as part of the annual Shop Maryland Energy weekend from Saturday, February 17, through Monday, February 19. These three days, consumers will not pay the state's six percent sales tax on qualifying ENERGY STAR appliances.

"Shop Maryland Energy weekend is a great time to take advantage of potentially hundreds of dollars in savings on ENERGY STAR products that are good for the environment," Comptroller Franchot said. "Whatever modest sacrifice this tax-free shopping weekend creates for the state budget, it's minimal compared to the relief consumers will feel when purchasing Energy Star products completely tax-free."

The Comptroller will visit the following cities and towns to promote Shop Maryland Energy weekend. Details about each visit will be released ahead of the planned stops.
Hagerstown: Tuesday, January 30
Pikesville: Monday, February 12
Cambridge: Thursday, February 15
Silver Spring: Friday, February 16

During the Shop Maryland Energy event, air conditioners, washers and dryers, furnaces, heat pumps, standard-size refrigerators, compact fluorescent and LED light bulbs, dehumidifiers and programmable thermostats that have been designated as meeting or exceeding the applicable ENERGY STAR efficiency requirements developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy will be tax-free. A list of ENERGY STAR items may be found at energystar.gov/products or at marylandtaxes.com.

Breaking News: The F.B.I. director clashed with the president, condemning a push to release a G.O.P. memo accusing the bureau of mishandling the Russia inquiry

Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director, clashed publicly with the president for the first time on Wednesday, condemning a push by House Republicans to release a secret memo that purports to show how the bureau and the Justice Department abused their authorities to obtain a warrant to spy on a former Trump campaign adviser.

Hillary Clinton slammed for no-apology response to harassment story

Hillary Clinton’s latest return to the spotlight is being met with criticism.

While the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate took some ribbing for her cameo Sundayat the Grammys, there’s even more “fury” over her response to the bombshell report that she helped protect a senior adviser to her 2008 campaign amid accusations he sexually harassed a subordinate. Without apologizing, she said simply that women should be “heard” – and meanwhile showed up in a Twitter clip giving a shout-out to “activist b----es” the same day that report was published.

The New York Times first revealed the 2008 incident Friday, reporting that Clinton intervened to help keep her faith adviser, Burns Strider, on board. She effectively overruled then-campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle, who wanted to fire Strider.

Strider was sent to counseling and lost several weeks of pay, but remained on staff while the younger woman was moved to a new role.

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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/01/29/hillary-clinton-slammed-for-no-apology-response-to-harassment-story.html

Security cameras caught an elephant sneaking across the China-Laos border over the weekend

Americans Who Practice Yoga Contribute to White Supremacy, MSU Professor Claims

Americans Who Practice Yoga Contribute to White Supremacy, MSU Professor Claims

White people who do a downward-facing dog are contributing to a “system of power, privilege, and oppression,” according to a Michigan State University professor.

Shreena Gandhi, a religious studies professor at Michigan State, claims in an article she recently co-authored that Americans who practice yoga are contributing to white supremacy and promote the “yoga industrial complex.”

White Americans should learn yoga’s history, acknowledge the cultural appropriation they engage in and possibly reduce the cost of yoga classes for poor people, a group that often includes people of color and “recent immigrants, such as Indian women to whom this practice rightfully belongs,” Gandhi argued.

Read more

Breaking News: The Department of Justice moved to dismiss the remaining corruption charges against Senator Robert Menendez, the New Jersey Democrat

The Department of Justice moved on Wednesday to dismiss the remaining charges against Senator Robert Menendez, a week after acquitted Mr. Menendez of seven of the 18 charges he had faced.

In a statement, Alex Azar, the newly appointed secretary of Health and Human Services, announced the resignation of the director, Brenda Fitzgerald, citing her “complex financial interests that have imposed a broad recusal limiting her ability to complete all her duties as the C.D.C. director.”

America is waking up to the farce that is feminism

First, there was Dr. Jordan Peterson’s infamous takedown of feminist Cathy Newman, whose debate on feminist issues has garnered almost 5 million views on YouTube and almost 75,000 comments to date, not to mention a slew of op-eds.

Now, there's President Trump’s refusal to call himself a feminist.

I have high hopes that America is waking up to the farce that is feminism. “For the first time in decades, if not ever, [feminism’s] tenets are being publicly challenged,” writes Corey Schink for Sign fo the Times.

It is long overdue, for we can now expose feminism for what it is: a war on men, on children, and on family.

Today, it is widely accepted that women in America always get the short end of the stick. According to feminists, women have been oppressed for centuries. We’re told not enough progress has been made and that society still hasn’t leveled the playing field. This philosophy is so embedded in our culture that Americans don't question it. We don’t even label it “feminist” to think this way; it’s just commonplace to believe women suffer discrimination.

Turn on the television, flip through a magazine, or search America’s airwaves, and you’ll be deluged with stories about women who wonder how their needs can best be met, how they can balance their lives better, or how they can deal with the myriad of problems and dangers they face. Women’s grievances dominate the conversation.

But just as smoking went out of fashion, so will feminism.

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Governor Hogan Announces Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Initiatives

Proposed Legislation, Record Funding Will Continue Bay Restoration Progress

ANNAPOLIS, MD – Governor Larry Hogan today announced proposed legislation and outlined important federal, state, and local initiatives to continue protecting and restoring the Chesapeake Bay and encouraging environmental stewardship in Maryland.

“The Chesapeake Bay is truly Maryland’s greatest natural asset, and stewardship of this precious resource for future generations is a role I take incredibly seriously,” said Governor Hogan. “We will continue to provide record state support and tireless advocacy at the federal level for Bay restoration, and develop innovative policy solutions that encourage all Marylanders to become guardians of our environment.”

Hogan Administration Initiatives

Governor Hogan recently filed the Septic Stewardship Act of 2018, which will provide targeted fee relief to homeowners with septic systems, and incentivize local Septic Stewardship Plans to ensure systems are operated and maintained, including provisions such as routine pump-outs and inspections.

The legislation allows the state’s Bay Restoration Fund to be used to reimburse homeowners for the cost of on-site sewage systems pumping if their county creates a Septic Stewardship Program. The bill also exempts homeowners who voluntarily upgrade to Best Available Technology (BAT) systems without any state or federal financial assistance from paying the Bay Restoration fee. It also shifts additional funding to support agricultural cover crop practices, which are proven, cost-effective methods to reduce nutrient runoff into the Bay.

“Clean water begins at home and on the farm, and the Septic Stewardship Act of 2018 will help deliver state and local support for both,” said Governor Hogan. “This legislation will build on our administration’s remarkable Chesapeake Bay restoration progress, record funding, and common sense regulatory reforms by incentivizing septic system maintenance and agricultural best practices to reduce runoff and protect the Bay.”

The administration also continues to make significant progress addressing sediment pollution flowing through the Conowingo Dam on the Susquehanna River, a top environmental priority of the Hogan administration. Maryland Environmental Service recently selected a vendor to conduct a pilot program to dredge behind the dam and develop beneficial reuses for the dredged material. A Request for Proposal (RFP) for the project was issued following the governor’s second Conowingo Dam Summit in August 2017.

Budgetary Actions

The Hogan administration’s proposed Fiscal Year 2019 budget for the Chesapeake Bay, at over $1.1 billion, includes record levels of funding for key Chesapeake Bay conservation and regulatory innovation programs, including $52.9 million for the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund, marking the third year in a row that the Hogan administration has fully funded Bay restoration efforts. The FY 2019 budget marks the first time since 2008 that no funding for transfer tax programs, including Program Open Space, is diverted to the General Fund. In total, these programs receive $253 million, an increase of $67 million from FY 2018.

The governor’s FY 2019 budget also provides $6 million for the administration’s Clean Water Commerce Program for innovative nutrient and sediment projects, and $8 million for Maryland Department of the Environment’s Energy and Water Infrastructure Program, which reduces emissions and the cost of cleaning water by deploying energy efficiency and renewable energy projects at water and wastewater treatment plants. The administration also remains committed to implementing the governor’s historic Phosphorus Management Tool (PMT) regulations, with leadership by the Maryland Department of Agriculture.

Federal Advocacy Efforts

Train carrying members of Congress hits truck in Virginia

A train carrying members of Congress heading to a retreat in West Virginia has hit a truck, Republican lawmakers have said.

WASHINGTON — A chartered train carrying dozens of GOP lawmakers to a Republican retreat in West Virginia struck a garbage truck south of Charlottesville on Wednesday.

No lawmakers were believed injured, but it at least one person in the truck was said to be seriously injured.

The train hit a garbage truck, Rep. Roger Marshall tweeted.

Photos shared on Twitter from the scene also show what appeared to be a damaged trash truck and trash littering the sides of the train tracks.

Marshall, a Kansas Republican, was among the GOP members of Congress headed to the Greenbrier resort in White Sulfur Springs for a three-day issues retreat featuring appearances by President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.

“We’re fine, but our train hit a garbage truck. Members with medical training are assisting the drivers of the truck,” Rep. Greg Walden, R-Oregon, wrote on Twitter.

Albemarle County police said they were called to the scene of a crash involving a train and a vehicle in Crozet.

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Train carrying GOP lawmakers to retreat hits trash truck

A chartered train carrying Republican lawmakers to a retreat collided with a trash truck Wednesday morning, a congressman said.

The train was carrying House and Senate Republicans to the retreat in West Virginia when it hit the truck, Rep. Carlos Curbelo, of Florida, said on MSNBC.

“Thankfully it does appear that most people are OK here, some minor injuries,” he said, adding he hoped the driver and any passengers in the truck were also unharmed.

“We were on our way to West Virginia and it was a sudden impact, a loud noise and everyone was jolted,” he said.

A statement from Amtrak said the crash happened at 11:20 a.m. in Crozet, Va.

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Tucker: McCabe Under DOJ Investigation

Fox News’ Tucker Carlson revealed on air Monday that Andrew McCabe, the now-resigned deputy director of the FBI, is the subject of at least one internal investigation at the Department of Justice.

“We have exclusive new information tonight about one of the most perplexing mysteries in Washington,” Tucker said at the start of his Monday show. “As you may have heard, Andrew McCabe, he’s the deputy director of the FBI, announced today he is leaving his job, and the most obvious question is–why is he doing that? Was he pushed or did he decide to leave himself? Well you may know McCabe’s name because he’s been in the news repeatedly over the past several years. In 2016, it emerged that McCabe’s wife had taken a large sum of money collected by one of Hillary Clinton’s closest friends.”

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Kunstler: "The 'Resistance' Is Dragging The Country Into Dangerous Madness"

For those of us who are not admirers of President Trump, it’s even more painful to see the Democratic opposition descend into the stupendous dishonesty of the Russian Collusion story. When the intelligentsia of the nation looses its ability to think — when it becomes a dis-intelligentsia — then there are no stewards of reality left. Trump is crazy enough, but the “resistance” is dragging the country into dangerous madness.

It’s hard not to be impressed by the evidence in the public record that the FBI misbehaved pretty badly around the various election year events of 2016. And who, besides Rachel Maddow, Anderson Cooper, and Dean Baquet of The New York Times, can pretend to be impressed by the so far complete lack of evidence of Russian “meddling” to defeat Hillary Clinton?

I must repeat: so far. This story has been playing for a year and a half now, and as the days go by, it seems more and more unlikely that Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller is sitting on any conclusive evidence. During this time, everything and anything has already leaked out of the FBI and its parent agency the Department of Justice, including embarrassing hard evidence of the FBI’s own procedural debauchery, and it’s hard to believe that Mr. Mueller’s office is anymore air-tight than the rest of the joint.

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Crash 'Risk' Is Soaring: "This Is Where They Lost Their Minds"

Last week, the U.S. equity market climbed to the steepest valuation level in history, based on the valuation measures most highly correlated with actual subsequent S&P 500 10-12 year total returns, across a century of market cycles.

As Didier Sornette correctly observed in Why Markets Crash,

“The collapse is fundamentally due to the unstable position; the instantaneous cause of the crash is secondary.”

My sense is that investors are going to learn this again the hard way.

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Supreme Court to hear Maryland gerrymandering challenge in March

Gov. Larry Hogan (R) found help from a few friends before filing a brief Monday with the U.S. Supreme Court that challenges partisan gerrymandering.

Hogan filed the brief — along with former California Govs. Gray Davis (D) and Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), and current Ohio Gov. John R. Kasich (R) — in the case Benisek v. Lamone, which challenges Maryland’s 6th Congressional District as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.

The court issued a calendar for its March sitting last week, setting the oral arguments in the case for March 28.

The governors’ amicus brief was coordinated by Common Cause, a nonpartisan organization that has advocated for good government policies at the national and state level.

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Super Bowl weekend DUI enforcement

The kickoff of America’s unofficial holiday is just days away. No matter which team you want to see win or which commercials you’re eager to watch, when it’s time for the Super Bowl everyone is a fan. We want to remind you, the best defense is a Designated Driver.

Have a game plan for Sunday night so everyone knows who the designated driver is. Drunk driving can result in serious crashes, injuries or death. If you don’t have a designated driver to make sure friends get home safely, use a taxi or other ride-share options.

If you see someone who appears to be driving impaired, call 9-1-1. Additional troopers from the North East barrack will be on DUI enforcement patrols in Cecil County throughout the Super Bowl weekend.

This upcoming Super Bowl weekend, be a team player. Keep impaired drivers from getting behind the wheel, designate a sober driver before the game.

Canada Risks Popping Marijuana Bubble As Prices Dive Before Legalization

A recent Statistics Canada report confirms price deflation has hit the marijuana industry in an even more significant way than expected, as a downward slide in prices puts a squeeze on profits for producers in the soon-to-be-legal market.

According to data published last Thursday by Statistics Canada, the annual change in the average cost per gram declined 7.7 percent in 2017 verse the prior year, this is the most significant decline in more than a decade, as the Trudeau administration prepares for legalization as soon as July.

Bloomberg believes the decline in prices is not a force of demand, but more on the oversupplied side.

It’s not a lack of demand that’s driving prices lower. Spending on the drug has climbed by 6 percent a year on average since 1961, the Ottawa-based agency said in its most detailed portrait yet of the industry, as it gears up to include legal marijuana in its estimates of the economy’s gross domestic product.

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HiLLaRiE ANToiNeTTe..

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Woman charged in bicycle crash that killed Upstate teacher, troopers say

Heather Renee Hall charged in the death of Jeffrey Gordon Pierce, troopers say

SPARTANBURG COUNTY, S.C. — An Inman woman has been charged in a crash that killed a Spartanburg County teacher, according to the South Carolina Highway Patrol.

Heather Renee Hall, 31, was booked into the Spartanburg County Detention Center on Sunday for a charge of reckless vehicular homicide, records show.

he crash happened on about 8:30 a.m. July 11, 2017 on New Cut Road.

A report from the South Carolina Highway Patrol said Hall was driving 62 mph in a 45 mph zone. It said a witness reported seeing Hall using her phone while driving.

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DNC Unraveling: CEO Quits After 8 Months Amid Bailing Megadonors And Cash Panic

The Democratic National Committee has suffered yet another major setback - losing its CEO after just eight months on the job amid a massive cash crunch, the loss of a major donor, the leaking of emails which revealed rampant corruption throughout the DNC, and the still-unsolved murder of IT staffer Seth Rich.

Veteran Democrat operative Jess O'Connell left her post as CEO for personal reasons after taking on the role last May according to one DNC official, however no official reason has been given to DNC staffers.

"Rebuilding the party will take time. While it isn't an easy task, we developed a strategy, we implemented it, and we won races up and down the ballot in 2017," O’Connell said in a statement to NBC.

"While I've made the decision to pass the baton, our work remains far from over and under Tom Perez's leadership and direction, our party will continue to build on the progress we've made in 2017,” O'Connell continued.

Not so much according to Politico's Beatrice-Elizabeth Peterson:

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Subject: Reeling from Dismal State Budget, La. Gov. Takes Aim at ‘Obscene’ College Coaching Salaries

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards is making headlines for taking aim at skyrocketing college football coaching salaries. He said routine multi-year multi-million contracts were “obscene” and that coaching pay should be capped.

“I am concerned,” Edwards, a Democrat, told the editorial board atThe Advocate in Baton Rouge last week. “I do think that there has to be some look nationally at some sort of salary caps for the organizations. This is an arms race, and it’s gotten out of control. Some of the salaries and buyouts are obscene, and they can create all sorts of problems.”

The governor’s tough talk on coaching salaries this week comes against the backdrop of a historic budget crisis that has plagued the state for years and at a time when Edwards is asking lawmakers to decide between raising taxes by more than $800 million or slashing funding for major departments across the state and cutting back on the number of sheriffs, district attorneys and prison cells. At other times, Edwards has said some of the state colleges might have to be shuttered temporarily to help shore up the budget.

In his meeting with The Advocate, the governor acknowledged that the coaching salaries aren’t being paid by taxpayers but that “the general public doesn’t necessarily know that.”

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REPORT: McCabe Threatened To 'Torch The FBI' If Forced Out Of Bureau Without Pension

McCabe requested to meet privately with then-White House chief of staff Reince Priebus in February 2017 so that he could tell Priebus that everything in a New York Times article titled, "Trump Campaign Aides Had Repeated Contacts With Russian Intelligence," was "bulls***." The Federalist reports:

McCabe claimed to want Priebus to know the FBI’s perspective that this story was not true. Priebus pointed to the televisions that were going non-stop on the story. He asked if the FBI could say publicly what he had just told him. McCabe said he’d have to check, according to the book.

McCabe reportedly called back and said he couldn’t do anything about it. Then-FBI director James Comey reportedly called later and also said he couldn’t do anything, but did offer to brief the Senate Intelligence Committee on the matter later that week, suggesting they’d spill the beans publicly.

Sounds like Trump's serious about draining the swamp.

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New Book: McCabe Initiated White House Meeting That Led To Leak

The FBI’s top brass initiated conversations with a White House official that were quickly leaked to CNN, according to a new book.

Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe asked to speak privately with White House chief of staff Reince Priebus following a February 2017 intelligence briefing. The scene is described in “Media Madness,” Howard Kurtz’s new book on the press and its relationship with the Trump administration. McCabe said he asked for the meeting to tell Priebus that “everything” in a New York Times story authored by Michael S. Schmidt, Mark Mazzetti, and Matt Apuzzo was “bullsh-t.”

The story was yet another one of those anonymous “bombshells” you’ve heard so much about during the Trump era. It was headlined “Trump Campaign Aides Had Repeated Contacts With Russian Intelligence” and was sourced to not one, not two, not three, but four “current and former American officials.” It was just like every other similar story Americans have read or seen in the past year — no indication that the three reporters had verified, much less seen, the underlying evidence, but lots of threatening language insinuating treasonous collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, all sourced to high-ranking but anonymous officials.

CNN’s Pamela Brown, Jim Sciutto, and Evan Perez reported a very similar story, also sourced to anonymous officials. Sciutto is a former Obama administration appointee who is close to Obama administration officials. Perez has extensive ties to Fusion GPS, the Democrat-funded firm that created the Russia narrative.

McCabe claimed to want Priebus to know the FBI’s perspective that this story was not true. Priebus pointed to the televisions that were going non-stop on the story. He asked if the FBI could say publicly what he had just told him. McCabe said he’d have to check, according to the book.

McCabe reportedly called back and said he couldn’t do anything about it. Then-FBI director James Comey reportedly called later and also said he couldn’t do anything, but did offer to brief the Senate Intelligence Committee on the matter later that week, suggesting they’d spill the beans publicly.

You’ll never guess what happened next, according to the book:

Harley-Davidson closing Kansas City plant as motorcycle sales fall

MILWAUKEE — Harley-Davidson's sales fell sharply in 2017 and the company will move ahead with a plan to consolidate manufacturing operations, including the closure of its Kansas City, Mo. plant.

The world's largest maker of heavyweight motorcycles has struggled to reverse a four-year sales slide, with growth overseas somewhat helping offset a decline in the U.S. bike market.

The Milwaukee-based company said its net income fell 82% in its fiscal fourth quarter to $8.3 million, compared with a year earlier. Earnings per share were 5 cents, down from 27 cents a year earlier. Revenue was $1.23 billion, up from $1.11 billion.

The earnings drop came in part because of a charge associated with President Trump's tax cut and a $29.4 million charge for a voluntary product recall.

Harley-Davidson worldwide retail motorcycle sales fell 6.7% in 2017 compared to 2016. The company's U.S. sales fell 8.5% and international sales were down 3.9%.

Harley has taken steps to counter what's been a prolonged downturn, including tightening motorcycle inventories.

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Kentucky becomes 1st state in nation to require Medicaid recipients to work

Shortly after the waiver was announced that allows the state of Kentucky to implement a work requirement for Medicaid benefits, House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi said: “The elderly, disabled, pregnant women will suffer from today’s draconian decree.”

However, she was not accurate.

The work requirement will apply to people like Tara Bassett, who is educated and worked full time until she was sidelined with severe depression. She already puts in 15 hours a week and picks up side jobs. As you watch her work, she appears able bodied.

“I am able bodied except for this little problem up here,” Tara gestures to her head, “called mental illness.”

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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/01/29/kentucky-becomes-1st-state-in-nation-to-require-medicaid-recipients-to-work.html

Hey Google, Who Is Jesus Christ?

The NFL's super mistake: Turning down a pro-national anthem commercial from a veterans group

AMVETS recently submitted a powerful Super Bowl ad to the NFL asking the country to stand for our National Anthem. It depicts a veteran holding the American Flag with the words #PleaseStand.

But the NFL is refusing to run it. This is a giant mistake — for the league, the sport and our country.

As a matter of disclosure, I should tell you that I am a football guy. I started playing football as a child growing up in a blue-collar family with my single mom, and continued to play through high school and college. I was a middle linebacker, and to be honest, I still think like one. I’ve got Indianapolis Colts gear for every season and my whole family schedules our time around Colts games. The Messers are football fans.

But the NFL has not made me proud as a fan lately. For nearly a year, the country has watched the NFL act as a megaphone for the left’s "Take a Knee" protests. They have given airtime and a massive public platform to their athletes who’ve chosen to kneel during the anthem and disrespect our flag, our country and our military. The commissioner and many NFL owners bent over backwards to accommodate that political speech.

Corrupt Baltimore Cops Admit Planting Guns, Using GPS-Locators To Rob Drug Dealers

Over the past year, the Baltimore Police Department has undoubtedly gained national attention in a corruption scandal involving the Gun Trace Task Force, running wild on the streets of Baltimore.

Members of this elite group were charged with “racketeering and other corruption, accused of robbing citizens, making illegal arrests and filing for thousands of dollars in overtime they never worked,” said the Baltimore Sun.

Maurice Ward, one of the Gun Trace Task Force detectives, took the stand Tuesday in the case of officers Daniel Hersl and Marcus Taylor who were charged with robbery, extortion, fraud and firearm charges.

Ward’s testimony provided a somewhat shocking account of how detectives used GPS locators to follow drug dealers, and then, eventually rob them of their cash and drugs.

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Nurse Dies After Receiving Mandatory Flu Shot

A West Virginia nurse died of complications from the flu this week after being forced to receive a mandatory flu shot at the hospital she worked at.

Stacy Sparks died Sunday after catching pneumonia while battling the flu, the Williamson Daily News reported.

Healthcare workers in the U.S. are required by law to receive flu shots or risk being suspended or fired from their job.

President Trump recently announced that he is laying the groundwork to ban mandatory vaccinations in the U.S. so that needless deaths such as Stacy’s can be avoided.

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After 24 Years In Congress, Corrine Brown Starts New Life In Prison

Former Florida Democratic Rep. Corrine Brown reported to federal prison Monday to start her five year sentence for multiple crimes, including tax fraud and corruption.

Brown, 71, turned herself in to the Sumter Correctional Institution in Florida, one of the largest federal prisons in the country, which houses both violent and non-violent offenders. Brown will be serving her five-year sentence at a minimum-security satellite facility, which keeps roughly 391 other female inmates.

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James “Bud” Church To Forego Run For State Delegate

BERLIN- After considerable soul searching and input from family, friends and colleagues, Worcester County Commissioner James “Bud” Church this week has decided to forego a run at the House of Delegates District 38-C seat and instead will seek re-election locally.

Church, who has served as the Worcester County Commissioners District 3 representative since 2002, said this week he has spent considerable time and energy recently considering a run at the District 38-C House of Delegates seat. The seat is currently held by Delegate Mary Beth Carozza (D-38C), who has already filed for the State Senate District 38 seat in the upcoming election in November.

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47 Percent of Americans Think Life Begins at Conception

Most Americans believe that life begins in the first three months of pregnancy, but nearly half of them believe it begins at the very moment of conception — when a sperm and an egg fuse to create a zygote with unique human DNA.

According to a new survey, 47 percent of Americans said life begins at conception, while only 14 percent said it begins at "viability outside of the womb," and only 10 percent said life begins "when a baby is born."

Nearly two-thirds of Americans (62 percent) said life begins either at conception or within the first three months of pregnancy, according to the survey, which wasreleased by Marist Poll and the Knights of Columbus (KoC) earlier this month.

This view helps to explain why Americans favor broad restrictions on abortion. According to the poll, half of Americans (50 percent) said abortion should only be legal in cases of rape, incest, or a threat to the life of the mother; or only to save the mother's life; or never at all. A full 76 percent said abortion should be restricted to the first three months of pregnancy, or these rare cases.

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National Anthem Protester Malcolm Jenkins Gives His Super Bowl Tickets to a Convicted Felon

As a member of the Super Bowl-bound Philadelphia Eagles, national anthem protester and social activist Malcolm Jenkins is allotted a group of tickets for the upcoming Super Bowl.

Ever the activist, Jenkins decided to give his tickets to a convicted murderer who is out on parole.

The Eagles strong safety told the media that he read about convicted murderer Kempis Songster who was getting out of prison and decided to reward the killer with Super Bowl tickets, CBS Sports reported.

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