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Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Chelsea bomber sentenced to rot away in prison

An unrepentant, homegrown Islamic terrorist was sentenced to multiple life terms behind bars Tuesday for setting off a time bomb that injured 31 people in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood as part of a planned wave of attacks across New York and New Jersey.

Ahmad Khan Rahimi, an Afghan immigrant who became radicalized through online postings by al Qaeda and ISIS, had faced ​at least one mandatory life sentence since a jury convicted him in October on eight counts, including use of a weapon of mass destruction.

Chilling surveillance videos played at Rahimi’s trial showed pedestrians enjoying a temperate Saturday night before they recoiled in shock and ran for their lives when his pressure-cooker bomb blew up outside a home for the blind and disabled around 8 p.m. Sept. 17, 2016.

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The Obama DOJ’s Long History Of Politicization

The Department of Justice under former President Barack Obama has been held up by critics of President Donald Trump's White House as above reproach, untainted by the political bias some allege runs rampant in the current administration.

In light of this revisionist history, it is worth examining the numerous examples of political bias in the Obama Justice Department. Here are five examples:
Funneled Financial Crisis Settlement Money To Liberal Groups And Excluded Conservative Groups

Emails written by Obama DOJ officials, obtained by the House Judiciary Committee in October as part of an ongoing investigation, revealed the agency engaged in a systemic effort to funnel money garnered from settlements with big banks to liberal advocacy organizations.

The agency effectively skirted Congress's budgetary authority by requiring that major financial institutions donate to a group of affordable housing nonprofits and legal advocacy organizations as part of settlement agreements resulting from predatory mortgage lending practices. The investigation has thus far yielded evidence implicating the Obama DOJ in using mandatory donations to funnel roughly $1 billion in settlement money to activist groups, including The National Council of La Raza, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition and the National Urban League. The list of third-party organizations were unrelated to the legal settlements, except through general claims that they would use the funds to aid the low-income Americans most severely harmed by predatory lending practices.

Another internal email exchange reveals that DOJ officials made a concerted effort to prevent the allocation of settlement funds to a conservative legal group.

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Judge orders release of sealed Bill Clinton documents from Ken Starr probe

A federal judge has ordered the unsealing of documents from then-Independent Counsel Ken Starr’s two-decade old probe that led to former President Bill Clinton’s impeachment.

Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia granted the order Monday in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from CNN.

According to the judge’s order, CNN journalist Katelyn Polantz requested on Feb. 9, 2018 that eight sealed matters arising from Starr’s 1998 investigation of Clinton “be unsealed and made public.”

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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/02/13/judge-orders-release-sealed-bill-clinton-documents-from-ken-starr-probe.html

Workforce Training Program Provides Entry to Green Careers

Work2Live WELL Recruiting Applicants in Baltimore & Cambridge

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources, in partnership with the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, today launched a new workforce development, skills and training program, Work2Live WELL, designed to provide entry into the emerging careers fields of the environment and natural resources.

Pilot program recruiting 30 adult applicants in the Baltimore City and Cambridge area. 

Free Tree Seedlings Available on Lower Eastern Shore

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources is offering free tree plantings to help improve water quality in targeted Lower Eastern Shore communities.

Somerset and Worcester County landowners who have a creek, drainage ditch, stream or other waterway on or near their property are eligible for free tree seedlings through the department’s Backyard Buffer program.

Trees planted along waterways help enhance and improve water quality by absorbing excess nutrients, reducing sediment, stabilizing stream banks and lowering water temperatures.

Each “buffer in a bag” contains 25 native, bare-root tree seedlings suited for planting in wet soil conditions. The bundle will include five river birch, five swamp white oak and five black locust, in addition to 10 loblolly pine. All seedlings are 1-year-old and about 8 to 10 inches tall.

Maryland Forest Service staff will provide information on tree maintenance and planting techniques, in addition to suggestions on other good native species at the time of pick up.

All tree requests must be received by March 23. Interested homeowners should contact Dakota Durcho by cellphone at 443-235-1634 or email to reserve their seedlings for an early April pick up. Quantities are limited so reservations will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

Leftist Google Employees Conspire To Undermine Breitbart’s Ad Revenue

Left-wingers at Google are engaged in a relentless effort to demonetize Breitbart News from its AdSense platform and are linking advertising clients to the anti-Breitbart, far-left pressure group Sleeping Giants.

Previously, Google employees have contacted Breitbart News to reveal an atmosphere of indoctrination and intimidation, driven by leftist zealots at the company.

Current and former employees at Google now tell us that those same zealots are trying to use the company’s immense power against Breitbart News. In addition to placing pressure on management to take action against the site, they are also working to undermine Breitbart’s reputation with advertisers.

Breitbart News has obtained a screenshot (withheld to protect our source) that shows Google ad account manager Aidan Wilks advising another company – a client of Google’s – that advertising on Breitbart may impact their “brand safety.”

In the screenshot, Wilks can be seen linking Google’s client to the website of Sleeping Giants, a far-left organization that has repeatedly targeted Breitbart and other conservative-leaning news sites with false claims of racism and bigotry.

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Democrats Oppose Sealing Border-Law Loopholes

Democrats are quietly rejecting the legal reforms needed to stop waves of migrants from walking through President Donald Trump’s proposed concrete-and-rebar wall.

The fundamental disagreement over border-law loopholes is rarely cited by media, even as Democrats gradually admit they can fund construction of the wall. But the disagreement over the legal reforms threatens to tie up the Senate’s high-visibility debate on immigration, which has already gotten tangled in a dispute over sanctuary cities.

The border-law problem was casually admitted on Monday by the Democrat’s top amnesty advocate, Sen. Dick Durbin. He spoke at an informal press conference on Monday, according to the Washington Times, and he said:

While Democrats have said they are open to fencing, manpower and technology, Republicans argue about half of illegal immigrants don’t come across the U.S.-Mexico border but enter legally as visitors and don’t leave.

Republicans say the border can’t be secure unless the conditions that entice people to attempt illegal immigration are solved, such as the jobs magnet, an asylum system susceptible to fraud, and easier treatment of illegal immigrant children and families from Central America than from Mexico.

… Democrats said that was reaching too far. “Believe me, we’re not going to solve that problem this week,” Mr. Durbin said.

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Third Phase of Nunes’ Investigation Will Focus on Obama CIA Director John Brennan

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) is next planning to investigate the role former CIA Director John Brennan and other Obama intelligence officials played in promoting the unverified dossier on Trump, according to a new report.

“In phase three, the involvement of the intelligence community will come into sharper focus,” a senior investigator told RealClearInvestigation’s Paul Sperry in a report.

Nunes will also focus on President Obama’s first CIA Director Leon Panetta, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former National Security Adviser Susan Rice, and former Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, among others, the report said.

“John Brennan did more than anyone to promulgate the dirty dossier,” the investigator told Sperry. “He politicized and effectively weaponized what was false intelligence against Trump.”

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Eating Slowly May Be Key To Losing Weight

If you want to shed some pounds without changing what you eat, try changing how you eat. A new study finds that three simple eating habits could make all the difference when it comes to fitting into those older, tighter pants collecting dust in your closet.

Researchers from the Kyushu University Graduate School of Medical Sciences say people who eat their meals slowly, avoid nighttime snacking, and don’t go to sleep until at least two hours have passed since dinner are more likely to see their waistlines shrink.

For the study, the researchers obtained data from regular checkups of 59,717 Japanese men and women diagnosed with type-2 diabetes during 2008 and 2013. In addition to having their BMI and waistlines measured, they also submitted blood and urine samples, and completed questionnaires on their health and lifestyles.

The surveys included questions on eating and sleeping habits, including a self-assessment of how fast the participants ate food, how soon they went to bed after dinner, and the frequency with which they snacked at night. About 37 percent admitted gobbling down their meals quickly, while only 7 percent took his or her time with each bite.

Upon their first checkups, the researchers found the small minority that ate slowly tended to show healthier lifestyles than those who ate fast or at normal speeds.

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Judge Nap Slams Susan Rice Over Odd Email

Fox News legal analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano zeroed in on former National Security Adviser Susan Rice for an email she wrote in 2017, attempting to shield former President Barack Obama from legal and political scrutiny.

The email, which Rice addressed to herself on inauguration day, documented a meeting with Obama about the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) probe of President Donald Trump and said Obama had handled everything “by the book.”

“Only one person could have told her to write the email and she keeps falling on her sword for him,” Napolitano said Tuesday on “Fox & Friends.” “Remember when she went all over the networks with the crazy narrative about Benghazi, was caused by a video? We know that’s not true. And the comments she made about Bergdahl serving with honor and that’s not true. But these things were stated to back up statements previously made by her boss Barack Obama.”

WATCH:

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Media Releases Update

In Time for Valentine’s Day — CBP Seizes $31 Million in Fake Perfume

Nogales CBP Officers Apprehend Three People in Separate Failed Smuggling Attempts

Rio Grande Valley Sector seizes nearly $6M worth of marijuana

60 illegal aliens apprehended in stash houses in Rio Grande Vallley

'A disgrace that Lapid is the main witness' against PM Netanyahu

Politicians from across the political spectrum responded on Tuesday evening to the police recommendations that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu be indicted in both the “Case 1000” and “Case 2000” investigations.

Tourism Minister Yariv Levin (Likud) said, "The despicable move to carry out a coup against the will of the voter was revealed tonight. It is a disgrace that the main witness against Prime Minister Netanyahu is the politician Yair Lapid, who has been trying to replace him for years."

"Lapid, who lost twice in the elections, is trying to conquer the government by means of an untrustworthy testimony. There is no doubt that the truth will come to light and the government will continue to lead Israel in our own way and under the confident leadership of Prime Minister Netanyahu," he added.

Coalition chairman MK David Amsalem (Likud) said, "There is nothing new, the target was already set two years ago. Dozens of arrows were fired at the target in the hopes that one of them would reach the target and after turning every stone, in every corner of the world, the police did everything possible to hit the target."

"According to my understanding, this is an illegitimate process that endangers every democratic state in the world. In a democratic state, a regime is replaced in the ballot box, and not through the army or the police."

MK Amsalem said that "during the deliberations of the Interior Committee on the Recommendations Law, the amazing fact came up that close to 80 percent of the police recommendations are rejected by the State Prosecutor's Office. I hope that they will seriously consider the evidence. To me and to a large number of citizens who do not go to Rothschild [to protest], It is clear what the decision is supposed to be."

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Open Mic Night At Trader Lee's Tonight

Come to West OC tonight and join an incredible group of people dusting off the cob webs on their instruments from a long winter. Festivities start around 8 pm. 

Trader Lee's is on the corner of Rt. 50 and Rt. 611.

Fort Bragg soldier Levi Goss arrested for 2013 rape

A soldier stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina was arrested on Friday in connection to a 2013 cold case rape out of Texas.

Levi Austin Goss, 24, was finally connected to the brutal beating and sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl in Cypress, Texas after he was arrested for drunk driving last year and ordered to submit his DNA to a national database.

That DNA was a match for that found on the girl's body after the violent incident five years ago.

Harris County Sheriff's Deputies also showed a picture of Goss to a witness, who correctly identified him as the suspect.

The witness told police at the time that they saw a man go into a bathroom at an Exxon gas station about a mile from the scene of the crime. He was wearing a bloodied grey shirt and had scratches on his neck and face, and told workers he had been in a fight.

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Student Accused of Sexual Assault Wins Big in Court

A U.S. magistrate judge has recommended that a student accused of sexual assault at James Madison University be awarded nearly $850,000 after he successfully sued the institution.

The student, called John Doe in court filings, sued the university in 2015 after he was found responsible for sexual assault.

A university panel initially considered him not responsible, but his accuser, called Jane Doe in court documents, appealed that decision -- John Doe was then suspended until the spring 2020 semester and barred from campus.

John Doe filed a lawsuit, alleging his 14th Amendment due process rights had been violated. A federal district court judge ruled in his favor last year, ordering that James Madison reinstate him.

The magistrate judge has recommended the court give John Doe a total of $849,231 -- roughly $795,691 in attorney’s fees and about $53,539 in litigation costs -- a surprisingly large payment.

The court’s ruling follows a trend of an increasing number of male students accused of sexual assault who have pursued court action against colleges and won.

Source

New Names Emerge In Dossier Investigation

The Republican-led investigation into the infamous anti-Trump dossier has recently revealed several intriguing links between Christopher Steele, lawyers, lobbyists, Democratic politicians, a former State Department official, and a Russian oligarch close to Vladimir Putin.

Most of the revelations come thanks to Sen. Chuck Grassley. The Iowa Republican released a letter in January that cited the names of several political operatives and lawyers who had not previously been linked to the dossier Steele wrote while on the payroll of the Clinton campaign and DNC.

And Thursday, a batch of text messages leaked to Fox News revealed that Steele used a back channel to communicate with Democratic Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

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'Life masks' made from heads of Native American prisoners

They sat, one by one, at the damp Florida outpost of Fort Marion, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean in St. Augustine – occupying, in something of a cruel twist, the oldest European masonry fort on a continent that had previously been only theirs. It was the summer of 1877, and more than 70 chiefs and warriors – Arapaho, Comanche, Cheyenne, Kiowa – had been forced by the US government to abandon the vastness of their beloved Great Plains for the confines of a crumbling military installation on a coastline they never knew existed.

They were leaders-turned-prisoners, pawns in the US encroachment upon native land and the ‘civilization’ efforts of earnest officers. And they endured a further, rare indignity: they were fitted with tight caps over their heads, given only straws in their nostrils to breathe, then coated with plaster – the subjects of ‘life masks’ meant to advance ‘Indianology.’

Now, more than 140 years later, those life masks serve as a stark reminder of a dark time in American history. They’re no longer on display at the Smithsonian, as they once were; instead, they’re in storage both there and at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University, which houses a duplicate collection. The masks evoke a range of emotion from those who view them, and such sensitive items beg the question: What, really, is best to do with them?

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Somali Migrant Plotted to Kill Queen and Jewish Londoners

A Somali migrant and Dutch national living in the UK discussed killing Her Majesty The Queen with a fellow Islamic State jihadist supporter, a court has heard.

Aweys Shikhey also allegedly fanaticised about shooting Jewish people near his home in London and attacking Tottenham Hotspur football club with Kenya-based Somalian Abdirahman Idrissa Hassan in conversations dating back to May 31st, 2016.

“It is good to shoot them live,” Mr. Shikhey allegedly said in a chilling message, Court News reports, as well as discussing details of the plot including weapons and ammunition.

“May God bestow you in killing [former Prime Minister] David Cameron and the old woman [Queen] Elizabeth,” Mr. Hassan is claimed to have replied to Mr. Shikhey in another message.

The London-based terror suspect has a Somalian wife and children living in Holland and is accused of plotting to join jihadi fighters in Syria.

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From the 'Settled Science' Files: USDA Nutrition Guidelines Upside Down

New research finds that high carbohydrate intake is worse for one's health than a diet high in fats.

Go ahead and put a slice of cheese and extra bacon on that burger. A recently published study in The Lancet calls into question the long-running nutritional guidelines advocated by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) since its formation in 1960. The study, which followed 135,335 people in 18 countries on five continents, found that “high carbohydrate intake was associated with higher risk of mortality, whereas total fat and individual types of fat were related to lower total mortality.” It was also concluded, “Total fat and types of fat were not associated with cardiovascular disease, myocardial infarction, or cardiovascular disease mortality, whereas saturated fat had an inverse association with stroke.” The researchers suggest, “Dietary guidelines should be reconsidered in light of these findings.”

This research seems to corroborate a 2010 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that asserted, “There is no significant evidence for concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease.”

Yet the USDA nutritional guidelines continue to promote the notion that a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet is healthier. Meanwhile, the obesity problem in America has only been getting worse. Of course, government-recommended dietary guidelines on food consumption may not be the primary culprit for America’s obesity epidemic, as lower average activity levels since the 1980s may be the greater cause. But the point is that the science is not settled on this issue, even though the USDA has projected it as such for decades.

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Macron threatens to attack Syria over chemical weapons

France will launch attacks if proof emerges that the Syrian regime has used banned chemical weapons against its civilians, President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday, according to the AFP news agency.

"We will strike the place where these launches are made or where they are organized," Macron was quoted as having told the presidential press corps.

At the same time, he added, that “today our services have not established proof that proscribed chemical weapons have been used against civilian populations."

"As soon as such proof is established, I will do what I said," Macron warned, while adding that "the priority is the fight against the terrorists, the jihadists".

The Syrian regime itself, either during or after the conflict, “will be answerable to international justice," he added.

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Democrats Hate Trump More Than They Love America

Last Tuesday's State of the Union response may have been a tipping point for the American Left.

“Church … family … police … military … the national anthem … Trump trying to call on all the tropes of 1950s-era nationalism. The goal of this speech appears to be to force the normalization of Trump on the terms of the bygone era his supporters are nostalgic for. #SOTU—MSNBC host Joy Reid’s reaction to the State of the Union

Last Tuesday may have been a tipping point for the American Left. Reid’s reaction to Trump’s address, along with a number of equally contemptible reactions by other members of the Democrat/Media Complex, have exposed American leftists for who they really are: people would rather hate Trump — and his supporters — than love America.

How could Reid be so contemptuous of Americans who go to church, believe in strong families and support the police, the military and the national anthem? Because the groundwork for that sentiment was laid almost a decade ago. "They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations,” said then-candidate for president Barack Obama in 2008.

And in case Obama didn’t make it clear enough, Hillary Clinton doubled down. “You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right?” she stated in 2016. “The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic — you name it.”

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Venerable B-52 May Outlive Snazzier, Younger Bombers

The B-52, which people have called "aging" seemingly for ages, is now likely to outlive its younger, snazzier brother bombers, the swing-wing B-1 and the stealthy B-2.

Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson announced Monday that her service will begin retiring the B-1 and B-2 fleets as soon as it has built enough B-21s, the next-generation bomber that is still on the drawing board and is expected to begin entering service in the mid-2020s. The pace of retirement will depend on how quickly the B-21 is acquired.

An Air Force spokeswoman, Ann Stefanek, said the B-1 and B-2 are likely to keep flying into the early 2030s.

The B-52 is expected to soar past those timelines, remaining part of the combat force until mid-century.

Aware of the political ramifications of any change in the structure of the bomber force, Wilson said the number of bomber bases will not shrink.

"If the force structure we have proposed is supported by the Congress, bases that have bombers now will have bombers in the future," Wilson said. "They will be B-52s and B-21s."

Officially nicknamed the Stratofortress and informally known as the Big Ugly Fat Fellow, the B-52 gained lasting fame in Vietnam as an aerial terror. It is scheduled to stay in service until 2050, assuming it gets planned upgrades, including new engines.

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[Related: B-52 Drops Record-Breaking Payload During Strikes on Taliban]

The FISA Memo and the Demos' Deep-State Operatives

The memo's conclusions, though at risk of being lost in all the Demo/MSM hyperbole and the clashing titan political egos, are serious and troubling.

After weeks of hyperbolic political and media speculation, President Donald Trump authorized the declassification and release of the House Intelligence Committee memo regarding abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) by a handful of Barack Obama’s deep-state activists in key positions within the Department of Justice.

The FISA court was proposed by former Sen. Ted Kennedy in 1977 and signed into law by Jimmy Carter in 1979. It was established to track foreign spies, but in recent year re-authorizations, counter-terrorism has often been cited as justification. Apparently in 2016, the Obama administration officials justified using it for purely political purposes.

The House memo’s conclusions, though at risk of being lost in all the Demo/MSM hyperbole and the clashing of titan political egos, are serious and troubling. They expose a corrupt and conspiratorial assault on Liberty and Rule of Law.

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The Republican Woman Aiming for Bob Corker’s Senate Seat Just Got a Key Endorsement

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.), who is vying for the Republican nomination to replace retiring Sen. Bob Corker (Tenn.) in the Senate, received a big endorsement Tuesday from the Susan B. Anthony (SBA) List.

Susan B. Anthony List, which was founded in the 1990s, is an organization composed of 333,000 advocates who help elect pro-life men and women to Congress. The organization's goal is to reduce the number of abortions performed nationwide and ensure that pro-life voices are included in public discourse.

SBA specifically listed Blackburn's pro-life record and her willingness to defund Planned Parenthood after the Center for Medical Progress released secretly-recorded online videos of the organization's employees discussing the sale of baby organs.

"Marsha Blackburn is a tireless pro-life champion who never hesitates to go on offense on behalf of unborn children and their mothers," Marilyn Musgrave, the organization's vice president of government affairs, said in a released statement.

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You're fired: Trump to rid 'worst' federal workers, automatic raises, fat bennies

President Trump plans to take the huge federal Civil Service off cruise control, ending automatic pay increases that go to 99.7 percent of the workforce, trimming fat benefit packages, and for the “worst,” rolling out his trademark phrase from The Apprentice, “You’re fired!”

In his budget, set for release Monday, his administration is planning the biggest reform to the federal workforce in decades, using models from Amazon, Google, and a handful of well-operating agencies.

Officials said the overall goal is to bring the 1950s-styled Civil Service into the digital age, introduce automation, reward “the best” with bonuses, make it easier to hire and fire, and provide “flexibility” by moving employees where they are needed and even rehiring skilled retirees.

Gone would be the automatic reward of pay “step” increases of 3 percent to 5 percent which 99.7 percent of workers get, regardless of their performance. Also targeted, said the officials, are annual reviews that now give “everybody” a grade of four or five on a scale of five. And benefits, now 47 percent higher than in the private workforce, according to a congressional report, will be trimmed.

“This is a subject that essentially people have ignored,” said a top Trump budget official at a background briefing. “The American people elected a president that promised dramatic change.”

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San Francisco Unveils 'Safe Spaces' For Injecting Heroin

In 1971, the Nixon administration coined the term “War on Drugs.” Nixon’s crusade to eliminate illegal drug-use turned into propaganda by state-run media and was championed by succeeding presidents, including Reagan. Four decades and counting: The continued failure of the War on Drugs has led the government to waste hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer dollars and turned America’s prison system into a dystopian nightmare.

Prohibition of drugs is not only ineffective, but counterproductive, at achieving positive outcomes for society. Given the fact that the War on Drugs has contributed to an increase in drug overdoses and fostered the creation of powerful drug cartels domestically and internationally.

We have to ask the question: What can America do differently since the War on Drugs has failed?

The answer could be in the city of San Francisco, as the Department of Public Health is on pace to open two safe injections sites this July, which could become the nation’s first legal, safe injection site aimed at curbing the opioid epidemic. The facilities are considered safe spaces where drug abusers can inject drugs, such as heroin and fentanyl, under the careful supervision of trained medical staff to respond in the event of an overdose or other medical emergencies, said CNN.

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Backstabbers! Republicans betray American taxpayers

While American taxpayers were nestled snug in their beds, congressional Republicans were plotting to pass the second-largest spending increase in a decade.

The Republican-controlled Congress voted to raise caps on spending by $300 billion over the next two years. There are some estimates that suggest the bill will increase government spending by $1.5 trillion.

Shame on us for taking the Republicans at their word. These are the same rapscallions who promised to cut spending and reduce the size of government.

There is no question that the U.S. armed forces need every penny allocated in the budget. But domestic spending is out of control.

Republicans said they had no choice but to approve the spending increase because Democrats were willing to hold the military hostage.

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Conservatives who vowed to stop spending keep spending

WASHINGTON - Tea party Republicans arrived in Washington seven years ago with a clear, loud message from angry voters: Slash spending. But once again, spending is going way up.

“Part of our job right now (is) that we keep pounding that Republicans still stand for fiscal responsibility,” said Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., who chairs the House Republican Study Committee, a coalition of conservatives.

But he was on the losing side as the House early Friday cleared a massive two-year spending package that President Donald Trump quickly signed into law. Sixty-seven Republicans voted against the two-year budget plan that became law Friday, but 167 voted yes.

The bill could add as much as $320 billion to the debt over the next 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office, and push the fiscal 2019 deficit past $1.2 trillion,according to the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a research group. The deal included about $100 billion in offsets, not enough to assuage many conservatives.

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Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/congress/article199401849.html#storylink=cpy
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Little-known Black History Fact

The earliest recorded protest against slavery was by the Quakers in 1688.

Quakers, also known as “The Society of Friends,” have a long history of abolition. But it was four Pennsylvania Friends from Germantown who wrote the initial protest in the 17th century.

They saw the slave trade as a grave injustice against their fellow man and used the Golden Rule to argue against such inhumane treatment; regardless of skin color, “we should do unto others as we would have done onto ourselves.”

In their protest they stated, "Pray, what thing in the world can be done worse towards us, then if men should robb or steal us away, & sell us for slaves to strange Countries, separating housband from their wife and children….”

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Rand Paul: Generals Who Surround Trump 'Don't Want to Admit' There Isn't a Military Solution for Afghanistan

Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said while President Donald Trump was “probably the least interventionist minded president we’ve had in a long time,” the generals who surrounded him with didn’t ‘want to admit that there isn’t a military solution” in Afghanistan.

Partial transcript as follows:

MAJOR GARRETT: From your point of view, Senator, on the defense side of the equation is the spending and the mission, are they reckless?

PAUL: I think the mission is- is beyond what we need to be we’re actively in war in about seven countries. And yet the Congress hasn’t voted on declaring or authorizing the use of military force in over 15 years now. So I’ve been one that’s been bugging the Senate and Congress to say how can we be at war without ever voting on it don’t the American people through their representatives get a chance to say when we go to war. I think the Afghan war is long past its mission. I think we killed and captured and disrupted the people who attacked us on 9/11 long ago. And I think now it’s a nation building exercise. We’re spending 50 billion dollars a year. And if the president really is serious about infrastructure, a lot of that money could be spent at home. Instead of building bridges and schools and roads in Afghanistan or in Pakistan. I think we could do that at home and the interesting thing is I think the president’s instincts lean that way but —

GARRETT: His policies, his policies, have not though.

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Left Blasts Jeff Sessions for 'Anglo-American' Reference That Barack Obama Also Used

Democrats and their left-wing allies blasted Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday for making reference to the “Anglo-American” legal tradition, which they construed as racist.

The problem: not only was the reference factually accurate, but it was the same reference that former President Barack Obama had made frequently throughout his career.

Sessions was speaking to a conference of the National Sheriffs’ Association. He said: “The office of sheriff is a critical part of the Anglo-American heritage of law enforcement.”

The media highlighted that remark, and the left pounced on it — as documented by Twitchy:

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Donald Trump Celebrates Black History Month by Recognizing Soldier Who Saved American Flag

President Donald Trump recognized African American History Month on Tuesday, celebrating the story of an American soldier who sacrificed to preserve the American flag.

The president told the story of Sgt. William Carney, the first African-American Medal of Honor recipient. Carney, a former slave, was recognized for rushing to save the American flag from touching the ground, despite taking multiple gunshot wounds.

“He later remarked to his comrades that the old flag never touched the ground,” Trump said, referring to Carney’s story. “That’s a big deal.”

“African-American civil rights champions have brought out the best in America, calling us to live up to our founding creed and the truth that we are all made equal by God,” Trump said.

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Schiff Memo Blocked Because DOJ & FBI Under "Criminal Investigation" Says Former Federal Prosecutor

A former Federal prosecutor claims that the Democratic response to the House Intel Committee's GOP-authored "FISA memo" was blocked on the recommendation of the FBI and DOJ because the agencies are conducting internal investigations into politically motivated malfeasance by specific individuals which the Schiff memo could compromise if released without redactions.

Joe DiGenova, a former Special Counsel who went after both the Teamsters and former NY Governer Elliot Spitzer, made the claim on a Monday interview with radio station WMAL.

DiGenova: “We’re going to see the [Democrat memo]. It will be heavily edited by the FBI and the Department of Justice and the CIA.The most important part of this story is that on Friday, February the 9th, Rod Rosenstein and Christopher Wray wrote a letter to the White House counsel Don McGahn that they could not agree to the publication of the Schiff memo because it contained national security and law enforcement concerns. It was actually the FBI and the Department of Justice says no [to releasing the memo]. The most important part of that letter is when it says… law enforcement concerns. What does that mean? It means, that there is a criminal investigation underway and release of some of the information in the memo by Mr. Schiff will affect that criminal investigation. I wonder who they are investigating? And the answer is pretty clear. They are investigating the people at the FBI and the DOJ who provided false information to the FISA court over a number of years, including, involving Carter Page.”

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Troopers Seek Publics Assistance in Identifying Theft Suspect

Lewes - The Delaware State Police are asking for the public’s assistance in identifying the above pictured suspect who is wanted in connection with the theft of a wallet.

The incident occurred on Monday, February 12, 2018 at approximately 4:27 p.m. when a 40-year-old victim dropped her wallet in the parking lot of the Roadsters Liquor store located at 1551 Savannah Road. The victim returned to the Liquor store after realizing her wallet was missing and made contact with the store manager. The manager was able to review the store's video surveillance tapes which shows the victim dropping her wallet and approximately three minutes later, the above pictured suspect picks it up. The suspect exits the parking lot, driving a 4-door, maroon colored Acura.

The suspect is described as a black male, wearing an eagles football shirt, black pants with a red stripe, glasses and a white ear piece.

Anyone with information regarding the identity of the pictured suspect or the incident is asked to please contact TFC. Petrella at Troop 7 by calling 302-644-5020. Information may also be provided by calling Delaware crime stoppers at 1-800-TIP-3333 or via the internet at http://www.delaware.crimestoppersweb.com

Happy Valentine's Day


BREAKING NEWS: Shooting Investigation Underway at NSA at Fort Meade

A shooting investigation is underway at the National Security Agency (NSA) in Fort Meade, Maryland.

Anne Arundel County police shared a tweet about a possible shooting just before 7:30 a.m.

From Chopper4, a handcuffed man could be seen sitting on the ground. Nearby, a black SUV appears to have crashed into a barrier at one of the facility's secure vehicle entry gates. Bullet holes could be seen in the vehicle's front window.

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Happy Valentine's Day

Michael Goodwin: Did Hillary Clinton pull off the dirtiest dirty trick in US presidential history?

For law enforcement, Congress and even journalists, exposing misdeeds is like peeling an onion. Each layer you remove gets you closer to the truth.

So it is with the scandalous behavior of the FBI during its probe into whether President Trump’s campaign conspired with Russia in 2016. One layer at a time, we’re learning how flawed and dirty that probe was.

A top layer involves the texts between FBI lawyer Lisa Page and her married lover, Peter Strzok, the lead agent on the Hillary Clinton e-mail probe. They casually mention an “insurance policy” in the event Trump won the election and a plan for Strzok to go easy on Clinton because she probably would be their next boss.

Those exchanges, seen in the light of subsequent events, lead to a reasonable conclusion that the fix was in among then-Director James Comey’s team to hurt Trump and help Clinton.

Another layer involves the declassified House memo, which indicates the FBI and Justice Department depended heavily on the unverified Russian dossier about Trump to get a warrant to spy on Carter Page, an American citizen and briefly a Trump adviser.

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http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/02/12/michael-goodwin-did-hillary-clinton-pull-off-dirtiest-dirty-trick-in-us-presidential-history.html

Democrats’ Filibuster Blocks Senate Immigration Debate

Democrats are blocking GOP Senators from debating proposals sought by GOP voters during the Senate’s debate on immigration, and are demanding the Senate only discuss the terms of an amnesty for millions of illegals.

The surprise Democratic filibuster began Tuesday morning when the Senate’s Majority Leader, GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell, introduced an amendment restricting sanctuary cities, which polls show are very unpopular. Sen. Chuck Schumer quickly refused consent, saying it “doesn’t address dreamers, nor does it address border security.”

“We need to be focusing on making laws that deal with those two issues, not making a point,” Schumer later told reporters. “We want to do two things – protect Dreamers and get 60 votes.”

“The path to sixty [votes] is by focusing” on just those issues, said Sen. Chris Coons who has drafted an amnesty bill with GOP Sen. John McCain. “I think we should stay on this topic until we get this job done,” Coons said, adding:

"If we build bipartisanship in solving this, something that has long been the hallmark of Senator [John] McCain’s leadership in this body for more than three decades, I think we then lay the groundwork for bigger and more important work."

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Student's Science Fair Project Connecting Race And IQ Sparks Investigation

An investigation has been launched into a California high school student's science fair project connecting race and IQ, reports The Los Angeles Times. The school district is reportedly investigating how the controversial project was able to be put on display at the fair in the first place.

The student, who is said to be of Asian descent and is enrolled in C.K. McClatchy High School's advanced Humanities and International Studies (HISP) program, hypothesized that the lack of racial diversity in the HISP program was tied to IQ, in his project aptly titled "Race and IQ."

The project was submitted to the school's fourth annual science fair on Monday, but after sparking sufficient outrage by staff, students, and community members, the project was removed on Wednesday.

"If the average IQs of blacks, Southeast Asians, and Hispanics are lower than the average IQs of non-Hispanic whites and Northeast Asians, then the racial disproportionality in (HISP) is justified," said the hypothesis of the project.

The student's project concluded that the racial disproportionality of HISP was "justified."

“The lower average IQs of blacks, Southeast Asians, and nonwhite Hispanics means that they are not as likely as non-Hispanic whites and Northeast Asians to be accepted into a more academically rigorous program such as HISP. Therefore, the racial disproportionality of HISP is justified," stated the project.

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Utah woman charged $702 fine to get back her stolen car

A Tooele woman said she had to pay a hefty bill to get her car back after it was stolen over the weekend.

Police and the towing company said that's because they were following policy and state law when the stolen vehicle was found and recovered.

It's a policy that many might not know about, but the situation could happen to anyone.

Andrea Igloe didn't expect to find her car missing after bible study Saturday evening from her church on Main Street in Tooele.

"I just walked outside and it was gone," she said.

The car was locked and she had the keys. She said the car thief or thieves had to break in, then jump start the vehicle.

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http://www.foxnews.com/auto/2018/02/01/utah-woman-charged-702-fine-to-get-back-her-stolen-car.html

Swimming in cold water could relieve pain

Swimming in cold water could be an alternative to strong painkillers, doctors believe.

A short, sharp plunge into the open sea cured a British man of the debilitating pain he had been suffering for two and a half months.

Experts at Cambridge University and the University of East Anglia have now called for research into cold-water therapy as a treatment for serious pain, in light of his case.

Doctors believe the shock of sudden immersion may have disrupted his nervous system, jolting him out of a cycle of pain.

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Teacher, 35, on life support after catching the flu

A mother-of-five special education teacher is on life support after contracting two flu strains - and her family fear the second was contracted in hospital.

Crystal Whitley, 35, of Mullin, Texas, was diagnosed with the flu on January 22 and given Tamiflu to treat her ailment - just four months after giving birth.

Two days after her diagnosis, Whitley's husband called 911 in panic, and she was airlifted to a hospital in Dallas where she was diagnosed with sepsis, double pneumonia, and MRSA, a staph infection that is resistant to many antibiotics.

Speaking to Daily Mail Online, distraught friends and family members of Crystal, who has two biological children and three step-children, say they're in shock as doctors try to wean her off her ventilator while fighting the deadly viruses.

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A Viewer Writes: While shopping I found this game

When shopping for a toy all of the sensitive parents may want this one but it should be clear because the color blue is offensive to something somewhere for no reason at all.

Could Chinese-style market-rigging could be happening in US?

The world — especially as it relates to stock markets — really is a small place.

Case in point: The Chinese government rigged its stock market before trading began this week. And that, in turn, helped US equities stage a strong rally on Monday.

The news about China came courtesy of Bloomberg, which reported from Asia that “over the weekend, the China Securities Regulatory Commission and other regulators sent informal directives to some major stockholders encouraging them to purchase more shares in the mainland-listed firms they invest in.”

The term “informal” really doesn’t apply to the Chinese government. Its requests are really commands.

Quoting anonymous sources, Bloomberg also said that Chinese officials called some mutual funds and told them “to avoid being net sellers of equities as well.”

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Why elites love 'diversity' and why it is so dangerous for everyone else

You are a bigot and a hater if you don’t agree with Nancy Pelosi that all of the DACA recipients deserve not just immediate citizenship and the right to vote for Democrats, but that they are morally superior to those of us born as citizens. In fact, we are lucky they chose to grace us with their presence. No stunt is too weird – no even an 8-hour speech in well-photographed and celebrated stiletto heels -- if the goal is to extol the virtues of open borders.

For more than a decade. we all have endlessly been lectured, “Diversity is our strength,” and the only permitted reaction to the arrival of MS 13, honor killings, and clitoridectomies is to “Celebrate Diversity.”

And it is not just Americans subjected to this nonsense. The elites of most of the Western democracies are intent on forcing their own peoples to absorb millions of immigrants from cultures with values hostile to their own. Ask the German women gang raped in Cologne, the Swedes cautioned about going out alone at night, or the Jews of France, subject to lethal attack on the streets if wearing identifiably Jewish garb.

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