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Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Transgender Air Force Officer On Trump's Ban And His Supportive Fellow Troops

Late on Friday night, with President Trump's previous ban still tied up in the courts, the administrationannounced new restrictions on transgender troops serving in the military.

Transgender persons with a history or diagnosis of gender dysphoria are disqualified from military service, except under limited circumstances.

Transgender persons who require or have undergone gender transition are disqualified from military service.

Transgender persons without a history or diagnosis of gender dysphoria, who are otherwise qualified for service, may serve, like all other Service members, in their biological sex.

Defense Secretary James Mattis says transgender service members could "undermine readiness, disrupt unit cohesion and impose an unreasonable burden on the military."

"You can look at the data and see just the opposite is true," Lt. Col. Bryan (Bree) Fram told NPR's All Things Considered on Monday. Fram is an active-duty astronautical engineer in the Air Force, and is one of the thousands of transgender troops serving openly in the U.S. military — though he emphasized that his views were his own, and don't reflect those of the Air Force or Defense Department. Fram also serves as policy chair for Spart*a, an organization that represents active duty transgender service members.

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Democrats do it too: Maryland’s “forgotten gerrymander” reaches Supreme Court

Republicans have perfected the gerrymander. There’s one clear Democratic case in Maryland, and it’s a doozy.

Maryland’s sixth, it’s the forgotten gerrymander,” Maryland’s Republican governor, Larry Hogan, tells me with a rueful laugh.

Forgotten, perhaps, in relation to the Republicans' wider and more ambitious efforts to dominate redistricting after the 2010 census. But when MarylandDemocrats redrew the state’s congressional maps, they shuffled 375,000 in or out of the state's sixth congressional district, the most complete makeover of any district in the country. Next week, Maryland’s sixth will be under the national spotlight when the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments in Benisek v. Lamone, the latest case that aspires to make partisan gerrymandering unconstitutional.

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CFR: RIP NWO

Trump successfully killing the ‘liberal world order,’ concludes globalist think tank

The New World Order is on its last legs because of President Trump, says the Council on Foreign Relations.

“Liberalism is in retreat. Democracies are feeling the effects of growing populism. Parties of the political extremes have gained ground in Europe,” wrote the globalist think tank’s Charles Haass last week.

“Even the US is experiencing unprecedented attacks from its own president on the country’s media, courts, and law-enforcement institutions.”

In other words, Trump has attacked the corporate propaganda media, the liberal kangaroo courts who defend lawless sanctuary city policies, and the corrupt leadership at the top of the FBI and former President Obama’s DoJ who conspired against Trump and covered for Hillary Clinton.

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Bat-wielding sisters savagely beat woman in alleged road rage incident

A Florida woman was savagely beaten with a bat when an enraged sister-duo chased her through a shopping plaza during an alleged road rage incident.

Mikaela Barboza told WSVN she hopes her cellphone video will help police capture the two women who assaulted her on Thursday. The 26-year-old said she was driving down U.S. 441 in Lauderdale Lakes when she cut a woman off. Barboza recalled another woman — said to be the sister of the woman who she initially cut off — was in a separate vehicle and began yelling at her.

“You cut my sister off, that’s disrespectful,” Barboza told WSVN on Sunday about what the sister said.

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http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/03/26/bat-wielding-sisters-savagely-beat-woman-in-alleged-road-rage-incident.html

Protest Signs Admit Real Agenda Behind 'March For Our Lives'

The end of the Second Amendment, by force

While the ‘march for our lives’ against gun violence was ostensibly about the effort to regulate so-called “assault weapons,” protest signs seen at the event betrayed its real agenda – the end of the Second Amendment, by force if necessary.

The gathering of around 200,000 people in Washington DC was reported as a “call for tighter gun laws,” but going by what was written on the placards of those attending, it was about the elimination of the right to bear arms entirely.

“Yes, in fact I am here to take your guns,” said one sign.

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What Fed Chair Powell Forgot To Mention

Son of the Imperial City

What are the chances of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell being wrong? The chances he’ll be wrong on the economy’s growth prospects, the direction of the federal funds rate, and inflation itself? Our guess is his chances of being wrong are quite high.

The new central planner-in-chief. Central banks are facing a special case of the socialist calculation problem pertaining to the financial system. Like the comrades in the former Eastern Bloc, who tried to adjust their plans based on prices they were able to observe in the capitalist West, their best bet is to simply follow market rates. Unfortunately market rates – especially at the short end of the yield curve – are subject to an observer-participant feedback loop with the Fed, so the dilemma cannot be entirely avoided. The ritual pouring over reams of “data” may feel like a sensible activity, but ultimately it cannot solve the problem either. [PT]

What you see, unfolding before your very eyes, is a great exercise in futility. To this endeavor, the Federal Reserve has claimed central authority of the command center. The federal funds rate, the Fed’s balance sheet, economic stagnation, massive asset bubbles, and the limits of central planners are the topics of focus. Where to begin?

Powell got into the central banking business through uncommon means. To his credit, he’s not an economist. This is a great improvement over former Fed Chair, and intellectual ditherer, Janet Yellen. Like President Trump, we didn’t have the patience for her egghead PhD economist act.

Powell, on the other hand, is a lawyer turned investment banker. He didn’t spend his formative college years being indoctrinated at the church of Keynes. But that doesn’t mean his brain hasn’t been equally softened over. For Powell received an indoctrination of another sort – one that began the moment he inhaled his first breath.

You see, Powell is a son of the Washington D.C. Imperial City. He was born and raised in D.C. and has lived nearly his entire life there. He knows how the nation’s capital works. Namely, that ever expanding debt levels are needed to keep the banks of the Potomac River firm enough to support its giant command and control money suck operation.

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Video: Candidate For Sheriff In N.C. Suggests KILLING Americans To Take Their Guns

A whole new meaning to ‘March For Our Lives’

A candidate running for the office of Sheriff in North Carolina was caught on video advocating all manner of anti- Second Amendment policies, including a suggestion that it is ok to murder Americans to take their firearms.

Daryl Fisher, seen in the following footage, listed every gun control measure he could think of and admitted he was in favor of them.

Fisher then noted that many pro-gun Americans often repeat the phrase “I’ll give you my gun when you pry (or take) it from my cold, dead hands.”

“OK” Fisher said, implying that he is fine with law enforcement literally killing Americans to take their guns away.

The comment prompted laughter from Fisher’s supporters.

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Breaking News: North Korea's leader is said to have met secretly with China's president. It was Kim Jong-un's first trip out of the country since taking power.

North Korea’s enigmatic young leader, Kim Jong-un, made an unannounced visit to Beijing, meeting with President Xi Jinping weeks before planned summit meetings with American and South Korean leaders, Chinese Central TV reported on Wednesday.

The visit amounted to Mr. Kim’s international debut: It was the 34-year-old leader’s first trip outside North Korea since he took power in 2011, and his first meeting with another head of state. The surprise discussions added another layer of complexity to the rush of global diplomacy around North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

'Hitler Youth' Student Gun Control March Invades Washington


Follows in footsteps of Nazis who disarmed Jews before the Holocaust

The “Hitler Youth” invasion of Washington D.C. took place today as young fascists-in-training were corralled into the nation’s capitol to demand that government authoritarians strip away the civil liberties of all law-abiding Americans in the name of “gun control.”

Just like Hitler Youth enthusiasts, these fascists-in-training are told they’re “saving lives” for “a better future,” and that the only thing standing in their way is a bunch of violent gun owners who want to murder every baby in sight. (The irony of all these left-wingers actually condoning the abortion murder of babies, of course, is completely missed in all this.)

What none of these children are being told, of course, is that Hitler took away gun rights from the Jews before exterminating six million of them in the Holocaust. It’s so much easier to commit genocide, Hitler discovered, when the people you’re tying to murder can’t fight back.

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WALSH: The NRA Has Killed Zero People. Here's How Many Planned Parenthood Has Killed.

Planned Parenthood has joined the war against the NRA and gun rights. I’m impressed they could find the time, considering they're also wrapped up in their war against babies and life itself.

It was revealed today that the Parkland survivors-turned-activists are being funded, in part, by the abortion giant. This is no surprise, as Planned Parenthood has been very outspoken about “ending gun violence.” It has been somewhat less outspoken about ending forceps violence.

Since Planned Parenthood has decided to interject here, I think it could be worthwhile to compare their organization with the despised NRA. After all, some companies that have joined in the NRA boycott still donate to Planned Parenthood. And, while Republicans are accused of being “owned” by the NRA, the Democrats accept millions of dollars every year from Planned Parenthood. In return, they give 500 million dollars of tax money to Planned Parenthood. A sweet deal, if you can get it. The two groups are just donating money to each other, back and forth, and the media is too busy worrying about the NRA’s lobbying practices to notice the fact that the Democrats and Planned Parenthood are practically making love to each other in broad daylight.

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At some Philly homes, toilets get flushed into the city's drinking water source. The underground detectives are on the case

Two weeks ago, Joe Ferretti, a Philadelphia Water Department supervisor, pried open a manhole cover next to a scenic Schuylkill River bank, flicked on a flashlight, and peered down.

Ferretti saw evidence that sewage was flowing freely into the river at a stone outfall known as S050204.

In some Philadelphia homes, human waste, shower water, dirty dish grease, and other stuff that belongs in the sanitary sewer system is going down the wrong pipe, sending it to waterways that feed the Delaware River — the city’s primary source of drinking water. The city does filter and treat the water it draws from the river, so drinking water would not be contaminated. However, sewage in the river could pose a threat to people who swim in it.

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Dem Rep Wasserman Schultz Introduces Legislation Requiring Background Checks on Ammunition Buyers

Monday, Miami NBC affiliate WTVJ reported on Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s (D-FL) news conference announcing the Ammunition Background Check Act of 2018, which was legislation requiring background checks to purchase ammunition.

Surrounded by students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Wasserman Schultz said, “Unlike firearm purchases, someone who wants to go into a store that sells ammunition can buy as much ammunition as they want without so much as being asked their first name.”

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Rapper Killer Mike to 'Progressive' Gun Grabbers: 'You're not Woke,' and 'You're Going to Progress Us into Slavery'

While students and activists geared up to march in Washington, D.C., and across the country in support of new restrictions on the Second Amendment, rapper Killer Mike warned that gun control is way the progressive left can return black Americans to slavery.

In an interview with NRATV’s Colion Noir, Killer Mike explained how the left equates gun control with progress and observed, “[They are] going to progress us into slavery.”

In the lead-up to the March 14 school walk out for gun control, Killer Mike said he told his kids, “I love you, but if you walk out that school walk out my house.”

“You can’t continue to be the lackey,” the Atlanta-based rapper and business owner said. “You’re a lackey of the progressive movement because you have never disagreed with the people who tell you what to do.”

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How to Fall Asleep Fast - In Less Than 2 Minutes

Have you ever unexpectedly found yourself with a snatch of time in which to steal a nap? You tried to settle into the chair or nook in which you found yourself, closed your eyes, and then . . . you just sat there, drowsy but awake. Despite feeling quite tired, you couldn’t fall asleep, and soon the time was up before you had gotten in so much as a wink. Talk about frustrating! Not only did you not get to nap, you didn’t do anything else either; if you weren’t going to fall asleep, you could have done something productive instead!

It’s quite a knack to be able to fall asleep at the drop of a hat, regardless of where you are and what’s going on around you. To steal some shuteye at airports and on flights, on break times and car rides, in public places and private spaces — in all the interstices of life. Not to mention how grand it is to be able to go out like a light as soon as your head hits the pillow each night.

It probably seems, however, that this is simply a knack that some folks have and others don’t, with the latter group being much larger than the former.

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More than 17,000 Detroit households at risk for water shutoffs

About 17,461 Detroit households are at risk for water shutoffs next month when the city's water department resumes its controversial program, the Free Press has learned.

The potential shutoffs have angered some local activists who argue the city should instead create a comprehensive affordability plan to help prevent service interruptions altogether.

Water shutoffs have long been a divisive issue in Detroit. The shutoffs made international headlines in 2014 when tens of thousands of shutoffs began, catching the attention of United Nations officials.

"When I got here, 50,000 people were at risk of being shut off and 44,000 were actually shut off," Water and Sewerage Director Gary Brown said in an interview. "The United Nations was here, people were picketing, and rightly so, saying this was inhumane and unfair."

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Senator Fraser Anning says white South African farmers in 'genocide' from 'subhuman' black thugs

An Australian senator claims white South African farmers are suffering a 'state-sponsored genocide' at the hands of their black countrymen.

Independent senator Fraser Anning urged the Australian government to grant farmers refugee status in a speech to a rally in Brisbane on Sunday.

'This is the start of a genocide as far as I'm concerned, and it's only going to get worse because the genocide has just started,' he said.

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Mother and sister of fallen Indiana deputy attacked at courthouse

The mother and sister of an Indiana sheriff's deputy who was fatally shot in 2016 were attacked in a courthouse Monday.

Howard County Deputy Carl Koontz died two years ago after he was shot while attempting to serve a warrant in Russiaville.

His sister, Alice, 27, and their mother, 54-year-old Jackie, were in the Howard County Courthouse in Kokomo for a paternity hearing when a man identified as Bryson Small, 36, allegedly assaulted them, Fox 59 reported.

Witnesses reportedly said Small was walking toward the Koontzs when he attacked them. The women were knocked to the floor and hit several times, officials said.

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Students Call Thomas Jefferson "Icon" Of White Supremacists

A statue of Thomas Jefferson has raised the ire of student activists at Hofstra University, who are demanding that administrators remove his visage from campus.

JaLoni Amor, a Hofstra student and Black Lives Matter activist, released a petition calling for the statue’s removal on March 17, proclaiming that Jefferson has been embraced as an “icon” by “white supremacist and neo-nazi organizations” like the Ku Klux Klan.

“The Sondra and David S. Mack Student Center is one of the central points for on-campus life and student activities,” the petition reads.

“It is unfortunate then that a bronze sculpture of a 71-year-old Thomas Jefferson, gifted to the university by Hofstra Trustee David Mack, is right in front of the Student Center.”

“Jefferson has been embraced as an icon by white supremacist and neo-nazi organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan,” the petition continues, calling attention to Jefferson’s past as a slave owner who committed rape.

Shortly after, Amor created a Facebook event for an upcoming protest titled, “Jefferson Has Gotta Go!” slated for March 30. More than ten organizations are listed on the event’s flyer, including the Democrats of Hofstra University, Queer and Trans People of Color Coalition, The Gender Identity Federation, and Young Democratic Socialists of Hofstra.

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Pulse Shooter's Father Was FBI Informant

The FBI had a decade-long confidential informant relationship with the father of Pulse nightclub shooter Omar Mateen, prosecutors admitted Saturday, 12 days into the trial of his wife.

The undercover relationship with the father, Seddique Mateen, continued even though the bureau was tipped off in 2012 that its informant was himself raising money to plan a terrorist attack on the government of Pakistan.

The father’s status also played a role in the FBI’s decision not to seek prosecution of Omar in 2013 after they investigated him for violent threats, attorneys for the shooter’s wife said. If Omar had gone to prison in that case, the infamous Pulse shooting might have been avoided.

Omar Mateen killed 49 people and injured 68 others at a gay nightclub in Orlando in June 2016.

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Lawless: Atlanta Police To Stop Responding To Shoplifting Calls

Blue cities too understaffed to address crime, but still call for gun control

Officers will no longer respond to shoplifting calls uptown, announced the Atlanta Police Chief.

“You can only do so much,” Erika Shields told local media. “We are going to change how we handle shoplifting calls, and primarily – for the most part – we will not be responding to them.”

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Research: Amnesty for Illegal Aliens Would Cost U.S. Taxpayers $2 Trillion

Giving amnesty to the millions of illegal aliens living across the United States will cost American taxpayers about $2 trillion, a researcher predicts.

Princeton Policy Adviser President Steven Kopits says in his latest research on illegal immigration that handing over amnesty to illegal aliens would come with a “steep” price tag for American taxpayers.

Kopits notes that if illegal aliens are given amnesty, they will “sooner or later” become “eligible for government programs.”

Although not many illegal aliens have reached retirement age yet, Kopits predicts that by 2025 and into the 2030s, more and more illegal aliens will become eligible for taxpayer-funded retirement programs like Social Security and Medicare.

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Immunotherapy Trials Reveal New Paths to Cancer Cure

In the winter of 2013, Sue Scott, then 36, had already planned her own funeral.

Her cervical cancer was spreading fast. Multiple rounds of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery had all failed. Tumors were invading her liver and colon, and squeezing her ureters.

Her last chance was to enroll in an experimental trial in which doctors were trying to partially replace patients' immune systems with T-cells that would specifically attack cancers caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV), a common sexually transmitted infection.

Within a few months, her tumors completely disappeared.

This March, she celebrated five years cancer-free and according to her doctors appears to be fully cured.

The trial at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, a US government-funded research hospital, was a breakthrough because it offered the first evidence that immunotherapy, which has already seen some success in blood cancers and melanoma, could work against cervical cancer.

A closer examination of why Scott's cells worked so well has also led to a new discovery that may be helpful in killing other kinds of solid tumors.

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Poll: Majority of Facebook Users ‘Likely to Quit’ Over Privacy Concerns

A Rasmussen poll shows that 51 percent of Facebook users are “very” or “somewhat” likely to quit Facebook over privacy concerns.

Rasmussen, one of the most accurate pollsters in the 2016 presidential election, polled 639 Facebook users and found that the recent scandal currently embroiling the social media giant appears to be taking a toll on users’ trust.

Only 17 percent believe their “personal data” is “very” secure on Facebook, while 31 percent believe it is only “somewhat secure.” A full 48 percent believe it is either not “very secure” (31 percent) or “not at all secure” (17 percent).

When asked, “How likely are you to quit Facebook all together because of privacy concerns?,” a majority of 51 percent said “very” (16 percent) or “somewhat” likely (35 percent).

Only 47 percent said “not very” or “not at all likely.”

Facebook is currently under fire over the news that a data analytics firm, Cambridge Analytica, harvested information from millions of Facebook users. At first it was believed that the firm worked for the Trump campaign in 2016, but that now appears to be just another piece of mainstream media fake news.

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Overhaul of U.S. Telecoms Database Sparks Fear of Catastrophic Failure

An impending overhaul of the national U.S. telecommunications database is prompting fears the transition could spark a catastrophic failure, crippling emergency communications networks across the United States, according to industry insiders who told the Washington Free Beacon the foreign firm handling the upcoming transition may not be prepared to initiate the switch.

On April 8, a foreign firm will initiate the first phase in a Federal Communications Commission-mandated overhaul of the national telecoms database that stores and facilitates millions of American phone numbers.

The national database, known as the Number Portability Administration Center (NPAC), handles millions of phone transactions each day. It is being taken over by a foreign-owned firm with a past of breaching U.S. national security clauses banning it from employing foreign workers, such as those tied to China. NPAC handles around 1.8 million phone transactions a day.

iConnectiv, formally known as the Swedish-owned firm Telecordia, has been working on an expedited timeline to implement to transition after it was forced to restart its work in the wake of a national security scandal.

Telecordia was caught in 2016 using a Chinese engineer to work on the sensitive database, a violation of national security clauses included in the firm's contract with the U.S. government.

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Political Pawns Ignorantly March Against Gun Rights

Ignorance of the unknown can be easily manipulated into fearing the unknown.

A display of this all-too-common scenario was on full display over the weekend in Washington, DC, where thousands of folks descended in an emotive and illiterate display of anti-firearms virtue-signaling. This protest of gun rights was ironically dubbed the “March for Our Lives.” Organizers touted the crowd as being upwards of 800,000, but in reality it was just over 200,000.

Note that DC is 95% Democrat and the surrounding suburbs share similar percentages. Consequently, any leftist confab can draw hundreds of thousands of Demo government-dependents, either because they or a member of their household is employed by a bureaucracy or because they are boondoggle contractors, all of whom live in or near the Swamp. So turnout for such rallies is not at all representative of the sentiments of our nation, though the optics certainly imply that, as portrayed by the Leftmedia.

And what was the message?

Trump Chooses Readiness for Real War Over Culture War

Lost in all the screaming, pearl-clutching and whining over the crap-sandwich omnibus, which President Donald Trump told the American people was a crap sandwich before signing it, was the fact that Trump also made a big decision on military readiness. He issued a new directive in line with recommendations made by Secretary of Defense James Mattis.

The gist of the policy is that those who have undergone gender-reassignment surgery are disqualified from serving, as are those who are transitioning. Some service members are being grandfathered in, but they have to meet deployability standards. Those diagnosed with gender dysphoria can serve, provided they show three years of medical stability.

First of all, many Americans — including at least two of your Patriot Post team members — are what might be called “involuntary civilians” due to medical issues or history. There’s a whole list of disqualifying medical conditions available at Military.com.

Now compare the sex-transition process as described by Buzzfeed (not exactly a conservative bastion) or WebMD (generally non-political) to a couple of prescriptions for inflammatory bowel disease (a disqualifier for enlistment), having a hernia, or poor vision (which wiped out the military career of one Tom Clancy and kept Ronald Reagan stateside in World War II).

WebMD describes some very major surgical procedures in the sex-transition process. These are only “necessary” because of a serious mental condition called gender dysphoria, and that’s not to mention a high likelihood of suffering post-surgery anxiety or depression, as well as physical complications arising from the reassignment surgery. After reading those sites, ask yourself this question: Would I consider someone going through that process as being able to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan for a year?

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The Happiest Teens Use Smartphones, Digital Media Less Than An Hour A Day

Worried about your child’s smartphone use getting out of hand? You should be. A new study finds that teens who are hooked on their phones and other digital devices are “markedly” unhappier than their less-plugged-in peers.

Researchers from San Diego State University and the University of Georgia examined data on more than a million 8th, 10th, and 12th grade American students participating in the long term “Monitoring the Future” study. Participants were polled on their mobile device and computer use and their amount of face-to-face social interaction with others. They were also surveyed on their level of overall happiness.

The authors found that teens who spent more time hanging out with friends in person and less time texting or video chatting were happier than those who spent more time in front of a screen. There was a notable increase in overall life satisfaction for students who participated in more extracurricular activities or sports, as well as those who read actual print publications more frequently. The research team believes that habitual use of smartphones or computers to socialize was a key factor in how unhappy a participant felt.

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David Hogg Caught Lying About Where He Was During Parkland Shooting

Anti-gun activist told CBS he was at home during massacre

Anti-gun activist David Hogg made contradictory statements about where he was when the Parkland shooting took place, based on several video interviews.

For example, in this interview, Hogg describes being in an “AP environmental science” class when he heard gunshots, which he claims prompted his teacher to shut the door.

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Local Luncheon Benefit In Powellville

Hey Joe:

I am not sure that you have a community calendar to list this however if you don’t thanks anyway.

Soup & Sandwich Luncheon

April 28th 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Powellville Vol. Fire Dept. at 5085 Powellville Rd. Pittsville, MD

Several types of soups and sandwiches. Oyster Fritters will be on sale also. Baked table with goodies.

Everyone welcome

Benefits Friendship UMC on Friendship Rd. Pittsville, MD

We are a little country school just trying to keep our doors open.

Former Michigan State dean faces charges stemming from Nassar scandal

Charges will be announced on Tuesday against a former Michigan State University dean who supervised ex-USA Gymnastics physician Larry Nassar before Nassar was convicted of sexually abusing female athletes, a county sheriff said.

William Strampel, 70, the former dean of Michigan State's College of Osteopathic Medicine, was being held in the Ingham County jail and will be arraigned in court on Tuesday, when charges against him will be announced, Ingham County Sheriff Scott Wriggelsworth told Reuters.

Strampel faces multiple charges, at least one a felony, the Detroit Free Press newspaper reported. Wriggelsworth declined to say what charges Strampel faces. Strampel's attorney could not be reached for comment on Monday after his arrest.

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Public Notice: 2018 Summer Flounder Season, Size Limit and Creel Limit

The secretary of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, in response to the action taken for summer flounder at the February 2018 Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission meeting, pursuant to the Code of Maryland Regulations 08.02.05.12F, announces the season, catch limit and minimum size for the summer flounder fishery for April through December 2018. Effective 12:01 a.m. April 1, 2018:

The season is open April 1-Dec. 31, 2018.

Recreational anglers may keep up to four summer flounder per person per day.

The recreational minimum size for summer flounder is 16.5 inches in all Maryland state waters.

The commercial hook and line minimum size for summer flounder is 16.5 inches in all Maryland state waters.

The commercial minimum size for summer flounder caught by gear other than hook and line is 14 inches.

All other rules remain the same.

This replaces the public notice for this fishery that was effective Jan. 1, 2018.

Did Facebook’s ‘favors’ for the Obama campaign violate federal law?

Controversy continues to swirl around how the consulting firm Cambridge Analytica obtained personal data from over 50 million Facebook users without their knowledge and used it to target ads to individuals in an effort to help Donald Trump be elected president in 2016.

But a more serious case of apparent misconduct involves Facebook data going to a different presidential campaign – this time in 2012. In this case, which is getting far less attention, Facebook reportedly voluntarily provided data on millions of its users to the re-election campaign of President Obama.

If true, such action by Facebook may constitute a major violation of federal campaign finance law as an illegal corporate campaign contribution. The matter should be investigated by the Federal Election Commission – an agency I am quite familiar with, because I served as one of its commissioners from 2006 to 2007. The commission enforces campaign finance laws for congressional and presidential elections.

A federal law bans corporations from making “direct or indirect” contributions to federal candidates. That ban extends beyond cash contributions to “any services, or anything of value.” In other words, corporations cannot provide federal candidates with free services of any kind. Under the Federal Election Commission’s regulations, “anything of value” includes any “in-kind contribution.”

More here


http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/03/26/did-facebook-s-favors-for-obama-campaign-constitute-violation-federal-law.html

American who escaped Al Qaeda captivity says FBI, under Mueller and Comey, betrayed him

After he escaped from Al Qaeda in Syria, American photojournalist Matt Schrier investigated his own kidnapping and uncovered what he describes as a pattern of "betrayal" by FBI agents handling his case.

Schrier is now asking hard questions of former FBI Director Robert Mueller, who now leads the special counsel Russia probe, and former FBI Director James Comey who was fired by President Trump in May 2017.

"Not every FBI agent is bad. Some are very good people," Schrier told Fox News. "But the ones that are bad need to be weeded out. And the ones who let them be bad, and who turn their head, need to be exposed."

In an exclusive cable interview that first aired Monday on "The Story" with Martha MacCallum, Schrier went in depth, sharing emails, financial records and formal letters of complaint, which backed up allegations that after he was taken hostage in 2012, the FBI monitored his accounts as Al Qaeda terrorists used his money to buy at least a dozen computers and tablets.

While he was tortured and held by al Nusra, the brutal Al Qaeda franchise in Syria, Schrier claimed the FBI put intelligence gathering ahead of his personal security, hoping to track the computers and tablets to learn more about Al Qaeda recruits and future plots..

More here


http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/03/26/american-who-escaped-al-qaeda-captivity-says-fbi-under-mueller-and-comey-betrayed-him.html

China views concessions after Trump’s tough trade moves

President Trump’s aggressive trade policies are forcing some tough customers to cut new deals, with China talking about opening its market to U.S. companies and South Korea nearing a deal to reduce steel exports and buy more American cars.

The threat of a trade war gave Wall Street the jitters when Mr. Trump rolled out big tariffs and other get-tough measures, but it also rattled Beijing, Seoul and other trading partners.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said Monday that Beijing wanted trade talks and not a trade war with the U.S. He stressed his country’s willingness to remove barriers to American business and reduce the U.S. trade deficit with China, which is the chief demand from Mr. Trump.

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Parkland School Shooting Survivor: We Need Government Control, Not Gun Control

During the March 26 airing of The Story with Martha MacCallum, Parkland school shooting survivor Kyle Kashuv said that we need government control rather than gun control.

He did this by stressing that the Parkland attack did not result from a lack of gun laws but a failure of government to do its job.

Martha MacCallum pointed out that the speakers at Saturday’s march preached gun control while omitting any mention of the myriad government agency failures that may have contributed to the occurrence of the Parkland school shooting. She said, “When you think about all the different places that failed, starting with Sheriff Scott Israel, with the FBI, with the local police who had been to this house 29 times, I didn’t hear any of that this weekend during these very forceful demonstrations.”

Kashuv responded:

Gun control won’t solve this issue. We’ve seen that we have to hold our government accountable, we have to. The main reason why school shootings continuously happen is that our government is not doing its job. It’s clear that when the government does do its job these shootings don’t occur.

MacCallum and Kashuv then talked back and forth about Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who is frequently lambasted by the student gun grabbers.

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Cat rescued after being stuck on a pole for three days

Gypsy the cat, a resident of Phoenix, Arizona, was rescued by a utility worker after being stuck on a power pole since Friday, according to nearby residents.

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Camp Barnes Receives Contribution from Atlantic Community Thrift Shop

Frankford- On Friday, March 23, 2018, the Atlantic Community Thrift Shop (A.C.T.S.) donated $50,000 to Camp Barnes Inc. The Atlantic Community Thrift Shop is located at 34634 Atlantic Avenue in Ocean View, DE 19970, and has been a huge supporter of Camp Barnes.

Camp Barnes, a non-profit organization, is a recreational overnight summer camp run by the Delaware State Police in which there is no fee to attend. The camp is for boys and girls between the ages of 10-13. The Camp has served the needs of thousands of children throughout Delaware. For over 60 years, Camp Barnes has remained basically unchanged. It was originally designed to provide the children who were unable to attend summer camp an opportunity to experience life at a summer youth camp.

The donation from the Atlantic Community Thrift Shop will go towards the continued renovations and general operations of the camp. A.C.T.S. has supported the camp over the years through financial donations, and staff members volunteering at the camp.

CONVENIENCE CENTERS, LANDFILL, BRUSH PILE, FERRIES GOOD FRIDAY & EASTER HOLIDAY SCHEDULE

Salisbury, MD … On Friday, March 30, 2018, the Newland Park Landfill, Brush Pile and all external Convenience Centers and the Whitehaven Ferry & Upper Ferry will be open regular hours. On Sunday, April 1, 2018, the Newland Park Landfill, Brush Pile and all external Convenience Centers will be closed. The Whitehaven Ferry & Upper Ferry will be open regular hours.

For more information, please contact the Newland Park Landfill at 410-548-4935. Ferry information is available by calling 410-543-2765.

Regulatory Relief Arrives for Family Farmers Raising Chickens

Farmers raising chickens all around Delmarva breathed a sigh of relief after Congress passed, and President Donald Trump signed, an omnibus spending bill that restores an exemption for farmers from burdensome regulations under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, or CERCLA. This development followed testimony on Capitol Hill by Delmarva Poultry Industry, Inc. executive director Bill Satterfield in favor of standalone legislation restoring the farm exemption from CERCLA reporting. The effort to restore the exemption was led by farmers and animal agriculture groups around the country.

CERCLA is a law enforced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that require entities releasing hazardous substances, like ships or factories, to notify the federal government for emergency response purposes only. When the law was passed, EPA did not believe that reports on the routine release of low levels of ammonia from chicken houses, for instance, was included in the intent of the law. However, a lawsuit was filed by several environmental groups saying animal agriculture should not be excluded, and in April 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled in favor of those groups. EPA then informed farmers they would need to make multiple reports estimating the routine air emissions from their chicken houses beginning May 1, 2018, although EPA had not been able to provide farmers with approved methods of determining those estimates.

Sens. Tom Carper and Chris Coons of Delaware, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland cosponsored the original legislation restoring agriculture’s longstanding exemption from CERCLA reporting. The inclusion of a permanent CERCLA exemption in the omnibus bill achieves the same result as those House and Senate bills.

The new law does not create a new reporting exemption. It merely restores the CERCLA reporting requirements to where they were since 2008, and it does not change reporting requirements under a different federal law (the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act, or EPCRA) that requires emissions reporting to state and local emergency response agencies.

“With the looming uncertainty of CERCLA reporting now taken off farmers’ plates, chicken growers can turn their focus back to producing an economical, safe and wholesome supply of food for the United States and the world,” Satterfield said.

President Trump expelled 60 Russians and closed a consulate in response to the poisoning of an ex-spy in Britain

The expulsions are the toughest action taken against the Kremlin by President Trump, who has been criticized for not being firm enough with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

Exodus: Baltimore Residents Flee Collapsing City, Census Figures Warn

Baltimore City ranks somewhat high on the “shithole” list for its widespread death and destruction. After fifty years of failed democratically controlled leadership, the eastern and western districts of the inner-city have deteriorated into a complete and utter war-zone. This is not a new phenomenon but has been worsening for decades.

In 2017, the city’s population hit a 100-year low, as residents abandoned their neighborhoods to escape the opioid-infused violent crime that continues to ripple through the city streets. In fact, the violent crime is so severe in the region, that the homicide rate is now the highest in the entire country.

According to The Baltimore Sun, the U.S. Census Bureau recorded one of the most significant population declines for Baltimore City than any jurisdiction in the nation this past year. The city had the second-largest decline of any county for 2016 through 2017, second only to Cook County (Chicago), according to the latest figures from the U.S. Census Bureau.

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