“This whole idea that all of a sudden Assad’s gassing his own people, I think, is total nonsense,” declared Ron Paul in a new RT interview with host Ed Schultz. President Donald Trump has blamed Syria President Bashar al-Assad, along with Russia and Iran, for the alleged gas attack. However, Paul, a former United States House of Representatives member and presidential candidate, points out that “over and over again” the US has claimed the Syria or Russia government is guilty of this or that wrongdoing, from previous gas attacks in Syria to the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in London, but “nothing panned out.” It is just, Paul argues, one “fake news” story after another.
So why the rush to condemn the Syria government and take military action against Syria even though the evidence does not show the Syria government is responsible for the most recent and prior alleged gas attacks? Paul, who founded the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity in 2013 after leaving the US House, suggests that the motivation is connected to foreign policy goals in relation to Saudi Arabia and Iran, as well as the influence of neoconservatives, oil interests, and the military-industrial complex.
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DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
Friday, April 13, 2018
Packers' Brett Favre opens up to Megyn Kelly about concussion issues
Retired Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre does not believe tackle football is safe for children and fears that he may be suffering the long-term effects from 'probably thousands' of concussions over his 20-year career.
As he explained to Megyn Kelly on Thursday’s show, the 48-year-old Favre does not know if he suffers from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) – the degenerative brain disease linked to concussions, which can only be diagnosed posthumously – but he has been showing troubling signs.
'Simple words that normally would come out easy in a conversation, I'll stammer,' said Favre, who played in 321 straight NFL games - a record for quarterbacks. 'Look, I'm 48 years old. Having played 20 years, could it just be, as we all like to say, we get a little bit older? Yeah, I forgot my keys and they were in my hand. Where are my glasses, and they're on your head. You know, I wonder if that's what it is, or do I - do I have early stages of C.T.E.? I don't know.'
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As he explained to Megyn Kelly on Thursday’s show, the 48-year-old Favre does not know if he suffers from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) – the degenerative brain disease linked to concussions, which can only be diagnosed posthumously – but he has been showing troubling signs.
'Simple words that normally would come out easy in a conversation, I'll stammer,' said Favre, who played in 321 straight NFL games - a record for quarterbacks. 'Look, I'm 48 years old. Having played 20 years, could it just be, as we all like to say, we get a little bit older? Yeah, I forgot my keys and they were in my hand. Where are my glasses, and they're on your head. You know, I wonder if that's what it is, or do I - do I have early stages of C.T.E.? I don't know.'
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More shifty accounting: US public sector spending may exceed 60% of GDP
US federal government spending is expected to bloat to over $4.7 trillion during fiscal 2020, according to Congressional Budget Office data released this week. However, aggressive accounting may be hiding a far worse situation.
Total spending by the Trump Administration this fiscal year may be more than double what the non-partisan CBO admits. Worse, overall US federal, state and local government spending may exceed 60% of GDP.
So calculates a Chicago-based accounting watchdog.
“Government budgeting works on a cash basis,” explains Sheila Weinberg, founder and CEO of Truth in Accounting. “That enables them to leave many of their expenses and liabilities off the books.”
Calling out government accountants
Weinberg, a CPA who has testified before Congress and the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board, has been calling out shifty government reporting for nearly two decades.
“Truthful accounting is key for citizens, legislators and the press to understand public finances,” says Weinberg. “Without the right information, it’s hard—if not impossible—to make effective decisions about public policy.”
The scale of the laxness that Weinberg has uncovered is staggering. TIA data suggest that total US government debt currently tops $104 trillion when unfunded liabilities are included, nearly five times as high as the official figures suggest.
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Total spending by the Trump Administration this fiscal year may be more than double what the non-partisan CBO admits. Worse, overall US federal, state and local government spending may exceed 60% of GDP.
So calculates a Chicago-based accounting watchdog.
“Government budgeting works on a cash basis,” explains Sheila Weinberg, founder and CEO of Truth in Accounting. “That enables them to leave many of their expenses and liabilities off the books.”
Calling out government accountants
Weinberg, a CPA who has testified before Congress and the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board, has been calling out shifty government reporting for nearly two decades.
“Truthful accounting is key for citizens, legislators and the press to understand public finances,” says Weinberg. “Without the right information, it’s hard—if not impossible—to make effective decisions about public policy.”
The scale of the laxness that Weinberg has uncovered is staggering. TIA data suggest that total US government debt currently tops $104 trillion when unfunded liabilities are included, nearly five times as high as the official figures suggest.
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Rest In Peace Officer Gannon
**From Massachusetts**
From the ODMP:
Police Officer Sean Gannon was shot and killed while assisting with a warrant service at 109 Blueberry Lane, in Barnstable.
Officer Gannon and his canine partner, Nero, were searching the home and located the wanted man in a closet. The man opened fire, fatally wounding Officer Gannon and wounding Nero. The man then barricaded himself inside the house for two hours before being taken into custody.
The subject was charged with Officer Gannon's murder.
Officer Gannon had served with the Yarmouth Police Department for 7-1/2 years and previously served with the Stonehill College Police Department and Nantucket Police Department.
Is Jim Jordan Running For Speaker?
Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan is getting pressure to throw his name into the mix to replace outgoing Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, but he is not yet willing to say whether or not he intends to make a bid for the speakership in the coming months.
“What’s important is not who the next speaker is, but what the next speaker does,” Jordan told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “It’s time to start delivering on what we told the American people we would do.”
Forty-eight-year-old Ryan officially will not seek re-election in November, validating months of speculation around Washington the speaker was ready to hang up his hat after serving nearly two decades in Congress, he officially announced Wednesday morning. Ryan made the decision to spend more time with his family so as not to be a “weekend” father, he told reporters.
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“What’s important is not who the next speaker is, but what the next speaker does,” Jordan told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “It’s time to start delivering on what we told the American people we would do.”
Forty-eight-year-old Ryan officially will not seek re-election in November, validating months of speculation around Washington the speaker was ready to hang up his hat after serving nearly two decades in Congress, he officially announced Wednesday morning. Ryan made the decision to spend more time with his family so as not to be a “weekend” father, he told reporters.
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Maryland Adopts Automatic Voter Registration
Maryland will join 10 other states and D.C. in automatically putting residents on the voting rolls when they get a driver's license, use a social services agency or buy insurance on the health exchange.
Gov. Larry Hogan let legislation to create the program become law without his signature on Thursday, and it will take effect next July, after the 2018 election.
Voters can decline to be registered. But advocates say the automatic voter registration program's out-opt structure will end up getting more people registered than the current opt-in one.
Already, the Maryland Vehicle Administration and other state agencies offer residents the option of registering to vote. The new law will have state workers informing residents they will be registered to vote unless they decline. It also requires people who electronically file taxes to be offered an opportunity to register to vote.
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Gov. Larry Hogan let legislation to create the program become law without his signature on Thursday, and it will take effect next July, after the 2018 election.
Voters can decline to be registered. But advocates say the automatic voter registration program's out-opt structure will end up getting more people registered than the current opt-in one.
Already, the Maryland Vehicle Administration and other state agencies offer residents the option of registering to vote. The new law will have state workers informing residents they will be registered to vote unless they decline. It also requires people who electronically file taxes to be offered an opportunity to register to vote.
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Traffic camera in New Orleans giving speeding tickets to parked cars
A New Orleans resident has received several speeding tickets over the past few years for racing through town at the blistering speed of ... 0 mph.
Donald Schulz says he’s been issued at least 10 citations since 2011 for having his pickup truck legally parked along Canal Boulevard. The street has a 35 mph speed limit and a stationary traffic camera on the median.
“It’s a nuisance; I've had to take time out of my day several times and go down there and correct the situation,” Schulz told Fox News. “It got so bad that years ago I even had a [telephone] number of a person [in the traffic violations office] so that if I called them directly I didn’t have to go down there.”
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Donald Schulz says he’s been issued at least 10 citations since 2011 for having his pickup truck legally parked along Canal Boulevard. The street has a 35 mph speed limit and a stationary traffic camera on the median.
“It’s a nuisance; I've had to take time out of my day several times and go down there and correct the situation,” Schulz told Fox News. “It got so bad that years ago I even had a [telephone] number of a person [in the traffic violations office] so that if I called them directly I didn’t have to go down there.”
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http://www.foxnews.com/auto/2018/04/11/traffic-camera-in-new-orleans-giving-speeding-tickets-to-parked-cars.html
Judge Andrew Napolitano: The real threat to Donald Trump
In the midst of worrying about North Korea, Syria and Democrats taking control of the House of Representatives this fall, President Donald Trump is now worrying about a government assault on his own business, which targeted his own lawyer.
Michael Cohen has been the personal lawyer for Trump and for the Trump Organization -- the umbrella corporation through which Trump owns or manages nearly all entities that bear his name -- for many years. Cohen is so closely connected to the Trump Organization that one of his two law offices is located on the 26th floor of Trump Tower, just a few doors from the corner office formerly occupied by Trump himself.
On Monday, shortly before dawn, a team of FBI agents bearing a search warrant from a federal judge broke in to the offices of the Trump Organization and removed computers, files, tax returns and telephones from Cohen’s office. At about the same time, three other teams of FBI agents performed raids. One was at another of Cohen’s offices a few blocks away, and his vacant New York City apartment and hotel rooms he had been occupying were searched, too; and agents also seized personal and professional files and equipment from those venues.
Did the FBI lawfully break in to the headquarters of the president’s family business and cart away files and equipment from his lawyer, as well as legal and financial files of the president himself? The short answer is: yes.
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Michael Cohen has been the personal lawyer for Trump and for the Trump Organization -- the umbrella corporation through which Trump owns or manages nearly all entities that bear his name -- for many years. Cohen is so closely connected to the Trump Organization that one of his two law offices is located on the 26th floor of Trump Tower, just a few doors from the corner office formerly occupied by Trump himself.
On Monday, shortly before dawn, a team of FBI agents bearing a search warrant from a federal judge broke in to the offices of the Trump Organization and removed computers, files, tax returns and telephones from Cohen’s office. At about the same time, three other teams of FBI agents performed raids. One was at another of Cohen’s offices a few blocks away, and his vacant New York City apartment and hotel rooms he had been occupying were searched, too; and agents also seized personal and professional files and equipment from those venues.
Did the FBI lawfully break in to the headquarters of the president’s family business and cart away files and equipment from his lawyer, as well as legal and financial files of the president himself? The short answer is: yes.
More
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/04/12/judge-andrew-napolitano-real-threat-to-donald-trump.html
Missouri State Senator Who Called for President Donald Trump's Assassination Calls for Slave Reparations
A black Missouri state senator who said she hoped President Donald Trump would be assassinated is now calling for reparations for blacks because of slavery.
During the debate over a tax bill on April 17, Democrat Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal (University City) took to the Senate floor at the state capital in Jefferson City to demand that the state pass a reparations policy. Chappelle-Nadal also criticized members of her own party for not joining in her effort, the Kansas City Star reported.
Chappelle-Nadal insisted that Democrats like Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) are “no different” than Republicans who generally oppose reparations for slavery.
“Neither one of them give a heck about the black community, only the votes,” Chappelle-Nadal said during her comments on the floor of the Senate.
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During the debate over a tax bill on April 17, Democrat Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal (University City) took to the Senate floor at the state capital in Jefferson City to demand that the state pass a reparations policy. Chappelle-Nadal also criticized members of her own party for not joining in her effort, the Kansas City Star reported.
Chappelle-Nadal insisted that Democrats like Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) are “no different” than Republicans who generally oppose reparations for slavery.
“Neither one of them give a heck about the black community, only the votes,” Chappelle-Nadal said during her comments on the floor of the Senate.
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Illegal Alien Accused of Ramming Motorcyclist Off the Road Arrested
Chilling video appears to show attempted murder of rider
An arrest has been made following a road rage incident where a car rammed into a motorcyclist, pushing him off the road in Sarasota, deputies announced.
Sarasota County deputies said they arrested 30-year-old Magdiel Medrano-Bonilla on Tuesday.
Video captured Sunday shows a man on a motorcycle, Darin Hendrickson yelling for the driver of a car to pull over.
Read more
An arrest has been made following a road rage incident where a car rammed into a motorcyclist, pushing him off the road in Sarasota, deputies announced.
Sarasota County deputies said they arrested 30-year-old Magdiel Medrano-Bonilla on Tuesday.
Video captured Sunday shows a man on a motorcycle, Darin Hendrickson yelling for the driver of a car to pull over.
Read more
Brave New World? 64 Million Americans Live In Multi-Generational Households
The old America we knew, where living standards more than doubled each generation, has ceased to exist as new evidence suggests the percentage of Americans living in multigenerational households is at its highest since the post–World War II economic expansion.
Heavily indebted Americans are readjusting to a deterioration in living standards. Many of society’s lower-income consumers have already reshaped their lifestyles — towards living in a home with at least two adult generations. In other words, more Americans than ever in the last half-century are returning to their parents’ basement.
According to a new Pew Research Center report of census data, a record 64 million Americans, accounting for some 20 percent of the total U.S. population, lived in multigenerational family households in 2016, representing a three-decade continuous progression in this type of household formation — despite government propaganda that indicates economic improvements since the Great Recession.
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Heavily indebted Americans are readjusting to a deterioration in living standards. Many of society’s lower-income consumers have already reshaped their lifestyles — towards living in a home with at least two adult generations. In other words, more Americans than ever in the last half-century are returning to their parents’ basement.
According to a new Pew Research Center report of census data, a record 64 million Americans, accounting for some 20 percent of the total U.S. population, lived in multigenerational family households in 2016, representing a three-decade continuous progression in this type of household formation — despite government propaganda that indicates economic improvements since the Great Recession.
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Female corrections officers busted for sex in public
Two female corrections officers were busted for getting a little too frisky before work — having sex in a car outside a Colorado 7-Eleven, police said.
The officers, who were wearing their Colorado Department of Corrections uniforms during the public encounter early Sunday, were identified as Mary Torrez, 37, and Sarah Ippolito, 26, according to a police report obtained by KUSA.
A clerk spotted the women in the back seat of a silver Kia outside the Denver store just before 5:30 a.m., about 30 minutes before they were supposed to start their shifts at the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility, their supervisor later told police.
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The officers, who were wearing their Colorado Department of Corrections uniforms during the public encounter early Sunday, were identified as Mary Torrez, 37, and Sarah Ippolito, 26, according to a police report obtained by KUSA.
A clerk spotted the women in the back seat of a silver Kia outside the Denver store just before 5:30 a.m., about 30 minutes before they were supposed to start their shifts at the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility, their supervisor later told police.
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FIGHT OUTSIDE ATLANTA CHICK-FIL-A: Woman pulls gun during brawl in Chick-fil-A drive-thru (VIDEO)
ATLANTA - Channel 2 Action News has obtained exclusive video of a fight between several women in a Chick-fil-A drive-thru Wednesday morning.
According to police, officers were called to the Chick-fil-A on Bill Kennedy Way SE just after 9 a.m. because of the fight.
"I heard yelling and then I saw some woman waving a gun around," a witness told Channel 2 Action News.
More/Video
According to police, officers were called to the Chick-fil-A on Bill Kennedy Way SE just after 9 a.m. because of the fight.
"I heard yelling and then I saw some woman waving a gun around," a witness told Channel 2 Action News.
More/Video
Ben Sasse: Donald Trump Ready to Rejoin TPP and Help American Farmers
Senator Ben Sasse said that President Donald Trump was interested in rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership to put more pressure on China by opening up more Asian markets to agricultural exports from the United States.
“He looked right at Larry Kudlow and said, ‘Larry go get it done,’” Sasse said, recounting the meeting to White House reporters.
Sasse and other members of Congress and governors from agriculture states met with the president at the White House to express concerns about higher China tariffs hurting American farmers.
Senators Deb Fisher (R-NE), Pat Roberts (R-KS), and John Hoeven (R-ND), who also attended the meeting, confirmed Trump’s interest in rejoining TPP.
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“He looked right at Larry Kudlow and said, ‘Larry go get it done,’” Sasse said, recounting the meeting to White House reporters.
Sasse and other members of Congress and governors from agriculture states met with the president at the White House to express concerns about higher China tariffs hurting American farmers.
Senators Deb Fisher (R-NE), Pat Roberts (R-KS), and John Hoeven (R-ND), who also attended the meeting, confirmed Trump’s interest in rejoining TPP.
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Chinese Spies Engaged in Massive Theft of U.S. Technology
China is engaged in large-scale theft of American research and technology from universities, using spies, students, and researchers as collectors, experts told Congress on Wednesday.
Compounding the technology theft, the administration of President Barack Obama weakened U.S. counterintelligence efforts against foreign spies by curbing national-level counterspy efforts, a former counterintelligence official disclosed during a House hearing.
Michelle Van Cleave, former national counterintelligence executive, said shortly after the creation of the office of the director of national intelligence in 2004, a national counterspy program against foreign spies was restricted during the administration of President George W. Bush.
"Unfortunately, the backsliding continued under President Obama," Van Cleave told two subcommittees of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee.
Van Cleave said a directive issued by then-DNI James Clapper in 2013 and still in force reduced the national counterintelligence program authority by directing all counterspy programs to be run by individual departments or agencies.
"Gone was any dedicated strategic [counterintelligence] program, while elite pockets of proactive capabilities died of neglect," she said.
"Read between the lines of existing CI guidance and you will not find a whiff of a national-level effort left, other than caretaker duties such as taking inventory and writing reports."
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[And they are still issuing student visas to the Chinese? --Editor]
Compounding the technology theft, the administration of President Barack Obama weakened U.S. counterintelligence efforts against foreign spies by curbing national-level counterspy efforts, a former counterintelligence official disclosed during a House hearing.
Michelle Van Cleave, former national counterintelligence executive, said shortly after the creation of the office of the director of national intelligence in 2004, a national counterspy program against foreign spies was restricted during the administration of President George W. Bush.
"Unfortunately, the backsliding continued under President Obama," Van Cleave told two subcommittees of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee.
Van Cleave said a directive issued by then-DNI James Clapper in 2013 and still in force reduced the national counterintelligence program authority by directing all counterspy programs to be run by individual departments or agencies.
"Gone was any dedicated strategic [counterintelligence] program, while elite pockets of proactive capabilities died of neglect," she said.
"Read between the lines of existing CI guidance and you will not find a whiff of a national-level effort left, other than caretaker duties such as taking inventory and writing reports."
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[And they are still issuing student visas to the Chinese? --Editor]
WHAT? — Russians Apparently Pushed A Fake Hillary Clinton Sex Tape On Porn Sites
The latest establishment media excuse for Hillary Clinton’s election loss is a new level of absurd–Russian fake porn of Hillary Clinton.
NBC News reported Tuesday: “A pornographic video that falsely claimed to show Hillary Clinton engaged in a sex act has been traced back to an account that Reddit acknowledged on Tuesday is linked to Russia’s Internet Research Agency.”
“One of Rubinjer’s posts on Reddit’s largest pro-Trump community, r/The_Donald, titled ‘This is How Hillary gets black votes,’ links to an animated gif of the fake porn video that is still available on the platform,” the articlereads. “The same sex tape was posted five times to PornHub under the name ‘Leaked Hillary Clinton’s Hotel Sex Tape with Black Guy,’ and also the porn site SpankBang.”
NBC News also reports that the fake video got over 250,000 hits on PornHub.
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NBC News reported Tuesday: “A pornographic video that falsely claimed to show Hillary Clinton engaged in a sex act has been traced back to an account that Reddit acknowledged on Tuesday is linked to Russia’s Internet Research Agency.”
“One of Rubinjer’s posts on Reddit’s largest pro-Trump community, r/The_Donald, titled ‘This is How Hillary gets black votes,’ links to an animated gif of the fake porn video that is still available on the platform,” the articlereads. “The same sex tape was posted five times to PornHub under the name ‘Leaked Hillary Clinton’s Hotel Sex Tape with Black Guy,’ and also the porn site SpankBang.”
NBC News also reports that the fake video got over 250,000 hits on PornHub.
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Former NYPD cops busted for $1.4M disability fraud
Three former New York City cops were busted Wednesday and charged with ripping off the federal government with $1.4 million in false disability claims.
One of the ex-cops, Gerard Scparta, 53, stands accused of stealing $638,000 from the Social Security Administration over two decades with fake claims that he suffered from depression and anxiety.
In reality, he was earning big bucks — as much as $1.6 million between 2004 and last year — as a security guard and host at an unnamed strip club, the feds said.
Scparta, of Campbell Hall, NY, was allegedly helped by a co-worker, who is now cooperating, and crooked lawyer, who has also pleaded guilty.
His case stems from a New York state case that nabbed more than 100 retired NYPD officers and firefighters who raked in millions with the help of disability consultant Thomas Hale.
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One of the ex-cops, Gerard Scparta, 53, stands accused of stealing $638,000 from the Social Security Administration over two decades with fake claims that he suffered from depression and anxiety.
In reality, he was earning big bucks — as much as $1.6 million between 2004 and last year — as a security guard and host at an unnamed strip club, the feds said.
Scparta, of Campbell Hall, NY, was allegedly helped by a co-worker, who is now cooperating, and crooked lawyer, who has also pleaded guilty.
His case stems from a New York state case that nabbed more than 100 retired NYPD officers and firefighters who raked in millions with the help of disability consultant Thomas Hale.
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CBO Quietly Revises GDP Growth Outlook Upwards
Much of the mainstream media’s attention has been focused on the Congressional Budget Office’s report that the federal deficit would top $1 trillion by 2020, blaming Republican tax reform for it. Typical is this Reuters headline: “U.S. budget deficit to balloon on Republican tax cuts.”
But the MSM has largely overlooked or ignored a major point of revision within the CBO report. Last year, the CBO surmised that the Republican tax cuts would have little immediate impact on the nation’s economic growth and estimated 2018 GDP at just 2%. That estimate has now been revised up to 3.3% — not a small adjustment.
The CBO has also adjusted its 2019 estimates up to 2.4% from what was only 1.5% GDP growth.
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But the MSM has largely overlooked or ignored a major point of revision within the CBO report. Last year, the CBO surmised that the Republican tax cuts would have little immediate impact on the nation’s economic growth and estimated 2018 GDP at just 2%. That estimate has now been revised up to 3.3% — not a small adjustment.
The CBO has also adjusted its 2019 estimates up to 2.4% from what was only 1.5% GDP growth.
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Chairman Pai Tells Senate Democrats the FCC Won’t Be Investigating Private News Company
Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai said on Thursday the government would not heed calls from Senate Democrats to investigate a private broadcaster for its "news activities."
Responding to a letter sent by Senate Democrats calling for an FCC probe into the Sinclair Broadcasting Group, Pai said such an investigation would be "chilling" to free speech.
"Thank you for your letter requesting that the Commission investigate a broadcaster based on the content of its news coverage and promotion of that coverage," Pai said in a letter to Sen. Maria Cantwell (D., Wash.). "In light of my commitment to protecting the First Amendment and freedom of the press, I must respectfully decline."
"A free media is vital to our democracy," Pai said. "That is why during my time at the Commission I have consistently opposed any effort to infringe upon the freedom of the press and have fought to eliminate regulations that impede the gathering and dissemination of news."
"Most relevant here, I have repeatedly made clear that the FCC does not have the authority to revoke a license of a broadcast station based on the content of a particular newscast," Pai said.
More here
Responding to a letter sent by Senate Democrats calling for an FCC probe into the Sinclair Broadcasting Group, Pai said such an investigation would be "chilling" to free speech.
"Thank you for your letter requesting that the Commission investigate a broadcaster based on the content of its news coverage and promotion of that coverage," Pai said in a letter to Sen. Maria Cantwell (D., Wash.). "In light of my commitment to protecting the First Amendment and freedom of the press, I must respectfully decline."
"A free media is vital to our democracy," Pai said. "That is why during my time at the Commission I have consistently opposed any effort to infringe upon the freedom of the press and have fought to eliminate regulations that impede the gathering and dissemination of news."
"Most relevant here, I have repeatedly made clear that the FCC does not have the authority to revoke a license of a broadcast station based on the content of a particular newscast," Pai said.
More here
Shapiro: The Death of the DOJ and the FBI
This week, the FBI raided the office, hotel room and home of President Trump's personal attorney and self-described "fixer," Michael Cohen. According to various media reports, the Department of Justice signed off on a warrant for the search; presumably, the law enforcement agency is searching for evidence regarding Cohen's $130,000 payment to pornography actress Stormy Daniels, who allegedly had a one-night stand with Trump in 2006. Cohen has openly stated that he paid Daniels to shut up about her peccadillo with Trump — and he has said that Trump had no knowledge of the payment.
That presents a problem. If Cohen paid off Daniels without Trump's knowledge, that raises the question as to whether their agreement was binding. If not, then Trump may have been party to a violation of campaign finance law, since a $130,000 in-kind donation is well above any legal limit. And if Cohen and Trump coordinated that arrangement, none of their communications on the matter are subject to attorney-client privilege.
So, it's quite possible that the FBI and DOJ may have just ensnared Cohen and, by extension, Trump, in a serious scandal.
But this raises another question: Where the hell were the FBI and DOJ when it came to Hillary Clinton? Trump himself has been enraged by the disparity between law enforcement's treatment of Clinton and its treatment of him. He rightly points out that the FBI and DOJ worked to exonerate Clinton, with former FBI Director James Comey going so far as to change the definition of existing law to avoid recommending her indictment for mishandling classified material. And not only did then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch meet with former President Bill Clinton on a tarmac in the middle of the election cycle and the investigation of his wife; Lynch's Department of Justice allowed Cheryl Mills, Hillary Clinton's top aide, to claim attorney-client privilege..
More here
That presents a problem. If Cohen paid off Daniels without Trump's knowledge, that raises the question as to whether their agreement was binding. If not, then Trump may have been party to a violation of campaign finance law, since a $130,000 in-kind donation is well above any legal limit. And if Cohen and Trump coordinated that arrangement, none of their communications on the matter are subject to attorney-client privilege.
So, it's quite possible that the FBI and DOJ may have just ensnared Cohen and, by extension, Trump, in a serious scandal.
But this raises another question: Where the hell were the FBI and DOJ when it came to Hillary Clinton? Trump himself has been enraged by the disparity between law enforcement's treatment of Clinton and its treatment of him. He rightly points out that the FBI and DOJ worked to exonerate Clinton, with former FBI Director James Comey going so far as to change the definition of existing law to avoid recommending her indictment for mishandling classified material. And not only did then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch meet with former President Bill Clinton on a tarmac in the middle of the election cycle and the investigation of his wife; Lynch's Department of Justice allowed Cheryl Mills, Hillary Clinton's top aide, to claim attorney-client privilege..
More here
The Deep State Closes In On The Donald, Part 1
Perhaps we have missed something: Like the possibility that the canyons of Wall Street are actually located on another planet several light years from earth!
Otherwise, how can you explain the equipoise of a stock market sitting at the tippy-top of a nine-year bubble expansion and confronted with the potential outbreak of World War Three?
Folks, like some alien abductors, the Deep State has taken the Donald hostage, and with ball-and-chain finality. Whatever pre-election predilection he had to challenge the Warfare State has apparently been completely liquidated.
Trump's early AM tweet yesterrday, in fact, embodies the words of a man who had more than a few screws loose when he took the oath, but under the relentless pounding of the Imperial City's investigators, partisans, apparatchiks and lynch-mob media has now gone stark raving mad. To wit:
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Otherwise, how can you explain the equipoise of a stock market sitting at the tippy-top of a nine-year bubble expansion and confronted with the potential outbreak of World War Three?
Folks, like some alien abductors, the Deep State has taken the Donald hostage, and with ball-and-chain finality. Whatever pre-election predilection he had to challenge the Warfare State has apparently been completely liquidated.
Trump's early AM tweet yesterrday, in fact, embodies the words of a man who had more than a few screws loose when he took the oath, but under the relentless pounding of the Imperial City's investigators, partisans, apparatchiks and lynch-mob media has now gone stark raving mad. To wit:
More
Democrats Demand Government Investigate Company’s ‘News Activities’
Democratic senators are demanding the government investigate the "news activities" of the Sinclair Broadcasting Group, saying they want a federal probe into a private news organization because they are "strong defenders of the First Amendment."
Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, and others sent a letter Wednesday to Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai arguing Sinclair is unfit to hold broadcasting licenses because it objects to "fake news."
"We write to express our grave concerns regarding Sinclair Broadcasting Group's conduct," the Democratic senators said. "This conduct affects its fitness to hold its existing broadcast licenses and its fitness to acquire even more broadcast licenses through the proposed merger with Tribune Media Company."
"In particular, we have strong concerns that Sinclair has violated the public interest obligation inherent in holding broadcast licenses," the senators continued. "Sinclair may have violated the FCC's longstanding policy against broadcast licensees deliberately distorting news by staging, slanting, or falsifying information (traditionally known as the news distortion standard)."
"Multiple news outlets report that Sinclair has been forcing local news anchors to read Sinclair-mandated scripts warning of the dangers of ‘one-sided news stories plaguing our country,' over the protests from local news teams," they said.
More here
Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, and others sent a letter Wednesday to Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai arguing Sinclair is unfit to hold broadcasting licenses because it objects to "fake news."
"We write to express our grave concerns regarding Sinclair Broadcasting Group's conduct," the Democratic senators said. "This conduct affects its fitness to hold its existing broadcast licenses and its fitness to acquire even more broadcast licenses through the proposed merger with Tribune Media Company."
"In particular, we have strong concerns that Sinclair has violated the public interest obligation inherent in holding broadcast licenses," the senators continued. "Sinclair may have violated the FCC's longstanding policy against broadcast licensees deliberately distorting news by staging, slanting, or falsifying information (traditionally known as the news distortion standard)."
"Multiple news outlets report that Sinclair has been forcing local news anchors to read Sinclair-mandated scripts warning of the dangers of ‘one-sided news stories plaguing our country,' over the protests from local news teams," they said.
More here
DOJ To Up Fight on Sexual Harassment in Public Housing
The Department of Justice is partnering with the Department of Housing and Urban Development to help fight sexual harassment in public housing, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Thursday, as part of a week in which sexual crime has been a major focus of DOJ activity.
"We've seen many cases—especially in public housing—where a landlord will exploit vulnerable women and threaten them with eviction unless they provide him with sexual favors," Sessions explained. "We're not going to tolerate that."
The new program is part of federal law enforcement commitment to observing National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. According to Sessions, the exploitation and sexual harassment of women in public housing represents a serious issue. DOJ has successfully recovered $600,000 in damages for 15 victims of sexual harassment over the pass six months, he noted.
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"We've seen many cases—especially in public housing—where a landlord will exploit vulnerable women and threaten them with eviction unless they provide him with sexual favors," Sessions explained. "We're not going to tolerate that."
The new program is part of federal law enforcement commitment to observing National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. According to Sessions, the exploitation and sexual harassment of women in public housing represents a serious issue. DOJ has successfully recovered $600,000 in damages for 15 victims of sexual harassment over the pass six months, he noted.
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IRS Head Sees Huge Task Ahead to Administer New Tax Law
The acting head of the IRS says the current tax-filing season has gone well, while acknowledging the tough challenge the cash-strapped agency faces of administering the new tax law that will affect 2019 returns.
Acting IRS Commissioner David Kautter told Congress Thursday that some 79 million refunds totaling about $226 billion have been issued as of April 6, averaging $2,900 — up $13 from last year.
Around 80 percent of returns filed claimed a refund. The final year under the "old" tax regime, 2017, has to be accounted for by taxpayers in returns by Tuesday.
The agency, pummeled for years by criticism from congressional Republicans and funding cuts, now must administer and enforce the most sweeping overhaul of the U.S. tax code in three decades.
Kautter told the Senate Finance Committee that the new law "requires extensive work by the IRS this year and next." The paperwork alone is immense: about 450 forms and instructions will have to be amended.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the panel's chairman, said the new burden falls on an agency with a history of mismanagement and taxpayer abuse that is laboring under funding and technology deficits.
"On the one hand, the IRS has made marked improvements in recent years," Hatch said. "But, on the other hand, it is an agency stuck in the past. It relies on software and core processing systems designed during the Kennedy administration. IRS employees routinely have to manually input return information into agency computers, and often require taxpayers to send information via fax machine."
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Acting IRS Commissioner David Kautter told Congress Thursday that some 79 million refunds totaling about $226 billion have been issued as of April 6, averaging $2,900 — up $13 from last year.
Around 80 percent of returns filed claimed a refund. The final year under the "old" tax regime, 2017, has to be accounted for by taxpayers in returns by Tuesday.
The agency, pummeled for years by criticism from congressional Republicans and funding cuts, now must administer and enforce the most sweeping overhaul of the U.S. tax code in three decades.
Kautter told the Senate Finance Committee that the new law "requires extensive work by the IRS this year and next." The paperwork alone is immense: about 450 forms and instructions will have to be amended.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the panel's chairman, said the new burden falls on an agency with a history of mismanagement and taxpayer abuse that is laboring under funding and technology deficits.
"On the one hand, the IRS has made marked improvements in recent years," Hatch said. "But, on the other hand, it is an agency stuck in the past. It relies on software and core processing systems designed during the Kennedy administration. IRS employees routinely have to manually input return information into agency computers, and often require taxpayers to send information via fax machine."
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Watergate Every Week: Using the FBI to Suppress a Political Revolution
In the early seventies, political operatives disguised as delivery men broke into a Washington D.C. office. These efforts to spy on the political opposition would culminate in what we know as Watergate.
In the late teens, political operatives disguised as FBI agents, NSA personnel and other employees of the Federal government eavesdropped, harassed and raided the offices of the political opposition.
The raids of Michael Cohen’s hotel room, home and office are just this week’s Watergate.
Political operatives have now seized privileged communications between the President of the United States and his lawyer. Despite fairy tales about a clean process, these communications will be harvested by the counterparts of Peter Strzok, who unlike him are still on the case at the FBI, some of it will appear in the Washington Post and the New York Times, and some will be passed along to other political allies.
That’s what happened at every juncture of Watergate 2.0. And it only follows that it will happen again.
Just like the eavesdropping, the process will be compartmentalized for maximum plausible deniability. The leakers will be protected by their superiors. The media will shrilly focus the public’s attention on the revelations in the documents rather than on the more serious crimes committed in obtaining them.
Nixon couldn’t have even dreamed of doing this in his wildest fantasies. But Obama could and did. Now his operatives throughout the government are continuing the work that they began during his regime.
More here
In the late teens, political operatives disguised as FBI agents, NSA personnel and other employees of the Federal government eavesdropped, harassed and raided the offices of the political opposition.
The raids of Michael Cohen’s hotel room, home and office are just this week’s Watergate.
Political operatives have now seized privileged communications between the President of the United States and his lawyer. Despite fairy tales about a clean process, these communications will be harvested by the counterparts of Peter Strzok, who unlike him are still on the case at the FBI, some of it will appear in the Washington Post and the New York Times, and some will be passed along to other political allies.
That’s what happened at every juncture of Watergate 2.0. And it only follows that it will happen again.
Just like the eavesdropping, the process will be compartmentalized for maximum plausible deniability. The leakers will be protected by their superiors. The media will shrilly focus the public’s attention on the revelations in the documents rather than on the more serious crimes committed in obtaining them.
Nixon couldn’t have even dreamed of doing this in his wildest fantasies. But Obama could and did. Now his operatives throughout the government are continuing the work that they began during his regime.
More here
Who Misbehaves?
Claims that school discipline is unfairly meted out ignore actual classroom behavior.
Race advocates and the media are greeting a new Government Accountability Office report on racial disparities in school discipline as a vindication of Obama administration policies. The GAO found that black students get suspended at nearly three times the rate of white students nationally, a finding consistent with previous analyses. The Obama Education and Justice Departments viewed that disproportion as proof of teacher and principal bias.
Administration officials used litigation and the threatened loss of federal funding to force schools to reduce suspensions and expulsions radically in order to eliminate racial disparities in discipline.
The GAO report, which implicitly rubber-stamps the Obama approach, comes just as Trump education secretary Betsy DeVos is evaluating whether to rescind Obama’s school discipline directives. DeVos should go forward with that rescission: the administration’s policies were fatally flawed, as is the GAO report that attempts to justify them.
The GAO report ignores the critical question regarding disciplinary disparities: do black students in fact misbehave more than white students?
Read more here
Race advocates and the media are greeting a new Government Accountability Office report on racial disparities in school discipline as a vindication of Obama administration policies. The GAO found that black students get suspended at nearly three times the rate of white students nationally, a finding consistent with previous analyses. The Obama Education and Justice Departments viewed that disproportion as proof of teacher and principal bias.
Administration officials used litigation and the threatened loss of federal funding to force schools to reduce suspensions and expulsions radically in order to eliminate racial disparities in discipline.
The GAO report, which implicitly rubber-stamps the Obama approach, comes just as Trump education secretary Betsy DeVos is evaluating whether to rescind Obama’s school discipline directives. DeVos should go forward with that rescission: the administration’s policies were fatally flawed, as is the GAO report that attempts to justify them.
The GAO report ignores the critical question regarding disciplinary disparities: do black students in fact misbehave more than white students?
Read more here
Amendment Proposed To OC Smoking Ordinance
OCEAN CITY – Efforts to amend a smoking ban on the beach and Boardwalk were initiated at a resort committee meeting this week.
In an Ocean City Police Commission meeting Monday, Councilman Wayne Hartman began a discussion on amending the town’s smoking ordinance to include any substance.
Currently, smoking tobacco or vaping is banned along the beach and Boardwalk except within 15 feet of designated smoking areas.
Hartman, however, argued the ordinance should be amended to prohibit smoking any substance, not just tobacco.
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In an Ocean City Police Commission meeting Monday, Councilman Wayne Hartman began a discussion on amending the town’s smoking ordinance to include any substance.
Currently, smoking tobacco or vaping is banned along the beach and Boardwalk except within 15 feet of designated smoking areas.
Hartman, however, argued the ordinance should be amended to prohibit smoking any substance, not just tobacco.
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Child Sex Abuse Conviction
SNOW HILL — A Berlin man was found guilty last week of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl and now awaits his fate pending a pre-sentence investigation.
Last Thursday, a Worcester County Circuit Court jury deliberated for about 20 minutes before returning guilty verdicts on all counts against William Edward Wilson, Jr., 47, of Berlin, for sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl while she slept in her home in August 2017. Wilson was found guilty of a third- and fourth-degree sex offense and second-degree assault.
The primary third-degree sex offense conviction carries a maximum penalty of 10 years. Sentencing was deferred pending a pre-sentence investigation and a date has not been set. In addition, Wilson must register as a abuTier III sex offender. Wilson’s bond was revoked and he will remain in custody at the Worcester County Detention Center pending sentencing.
Last Aug. 17, officers with the Worcester County Bureau of Investigation (WCBI) responded to a domestic complaint on Libertytown Road in Berlin. Upon arrival, detectives met with the father of a 10-year-old victim who told police Wilson had sexually assaulted her while she slept.
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Last Thursday, a Worcester County Circuit Court jury deliberated for about 20 minutes before returning guilty verdicts on all counts against William Edward Wilson, Jr., 47, of Berlin, for sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl while she slept in her home in August 2017. Wilson was found guilty of a third- and fourth-degree sex offense and second-degree assault.
The primary third-degree sex offense conviction carries a maximum penalty of 10 years. Sentencing was deferred pending a pre-sentence investigation and a date has not been set. In addition, Wilson must register as a abuTier III sex offender. Wilson’s bond was revoked and he will remain in custody at the Worcester County Detention Center pending sentencing.
Last Aug. 17, officers with the Worcester County Bureau of Investigation (WCBI) responded to a domestic complaint on Libertytown Road in Berlin. Upon arrival, detectives met with the father of a 10-year-old victim who told police Wilson had sexually assaulted her while she slept.
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Rep. Harris: We Must Get Our Nation’s Finances in Order
“The Balanced Budget Amendment would have been a common-sense addition to our Constitution. Considering the fact that the government has saddled future generations with a $20 trillion national debt, balancing our budget is a critical principle to get our nation’s finances in order. Now we should consider President Trump’s idea to cut some of the overspending in the latest Omnibus bill through rescissions.”
New SNAP Proposal Aims to Get Millions Off Welfare, Back to Work
Getting able-bodied adults off of welfare and back into the workforce is the focus of reforms to federal transfer programs in a bill released by the House Agriculture Committee Thursday.
"We need to begin to define success differently—not by how many people we serve, but rather how many people we aid in climbing the economic ladder," Agriculture Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Conaway (R., Texas) wrote in an op-ed in Thursday's USA Today.
About 42 million Americans benefit from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly referred to as food stamps. That includes millions who are able-bodied adults who both are not seniors and do not have young children. At the same time, unemployment has plummeted and the Federal Reserve has found that employers are still seeking more workers to fill positions.
In other words, there is a large population of welfare recipients who could be getting back to work and off the dole at the same time that the economy is prepared to accept even more workers.
The new bill proposes to simplify and expand work requirements associated with SNAP in an effort to combat this disparity..
More here
"We need to begin to define success differently—not by how many people we serve, but rather how many people we aid in climbing the economic ladder," Agriculture Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Conaway (R., Texas) wrote in an op-ed in Thursday's USA Today.
About 42 million Americans benefit from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly referred to as food stamps. That includes millions who are able-bodied adults who both are not seniors and do not have young children. At the same time, unemployment has plummeted and the Federal Reserve has found that employers are still seeking more workers to fill positions.
In other words, there is a large population of welfare recipients who could be getting back to work and off the dole at the same time that the economy is prepared to accept even more workers.
The new bill proposes to simplify and expand work requirements associated with SNAP in an effort to combat this disparity..
More here
How The Establishment Media May Justify South Africa Taking Land From Whites
White farmers in South Africa may lose all their land without any compensation, but Newsweek thinks they have nothing to worry about.
Their property loss is all going to the noble cause of “poverty reduction.”
That’s the argument made in an article published by Newsweek last week. The article, written by white South African professor Ben Cousins, aims to obfuscate the property confiscation proposed by the South African government as merely “land reform.”
Cousins dismisses the concerns of white South Africans as paranoia driven by demagoguery. The professor sees the “land reform” as uncontroversial because it is supported by the majority of black people and white-owned land is “stolen land” anyway.
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Their property loss is all going to the noble cause of “poverty reduction.”
That’s the argument made in an article published by Newsweek last week. The article, written by white South African professor Ben Cousins, aims to obfuscate the property confiscation proposed by the South African government as merely “land reform.”
Cousins dismisses the concerns of white South Africans as paranoia driven by demagoguery. The professor sees the “land reform” as uncontroversial because it is supported by the majority of black people and white-owned land is “stolen land” anyway.
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Equal Pay Myths
It probably doesn’t come as news that airline companies pay pilots more than cabin crew—but according to the dogma of the gender wage gap, we’re supposed to find this fact troubling. The British government now requires companies to report their raw gender gap—that is, the difference in the median hourly wages earned by their male and female employees. Ignoring occupational differences, seniority, employment history, hours worked, or any of the countless other factors affecting salaries, these data are misleading at best. Nevertheless, when budget airline EasyJet reported a 51 percent pay gap between its male and female employees, the company knew that its reputation perched on the edge of a PR abyss.
And that’s the whole point of the exercise: simplify statistics to shock people at the seeming injustice done to women and shame companies into action; refuse to compare similar job functions; ignore the fact that, like every other airline, EasyJet’s pilots are disproportionately male, while their cabin crews skew female; forget that almost all carriers compete for the same 4 percent of the world’s female pilots; and whatever you do, don’t mention that the EasyJet CEO, who was in charge of this bigoted organization and also its highest-paid employee until retiring earlier this year, was a woman..
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And that’s the whole point of the exercise: simplify statistics to shock people at the seeming injustice done to women and shame companies into action; refuse to compare similar job functions; ignore the fact that, like every other airline, EasyJet’s pilots are disproportionately male, while their cabin crews skew female; forget that almost all carriers compete for the same 4 percent of the world’s female pilots; and whatever you do, don’t mention that the EasyJet CEO, who was in charge of this bigoted organization and also its highest-paid employee until retiring earlier this year, was a woman..
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Google's File On You Is 10 Times Bigger Than Facebook's - Here's How To View It
With all the attention paid to Facebook in recent weeks over ‘data breaches’ and privacy violations, even though what happened with Cambridge Analytica is part of their standard business model, it’s easy to forget that there are four other Big Tech corporations collecting just as much - if not more - of our personal info.
Google, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft are all central players in “surveillance capitalism” and prey on our data. New reports actually suggest that Google may actually harvest ten times as much as Facebook.
With all the attention paid to Facebook in recent weeks over ‘data breaches’ and privacy violations, even though what happened with Cambridge Analytica is part of their standard business model, it’s easy to forget that there are four other Big Tech corporations collecting just as much - if not more - of our personal info.
Google, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft are all central players in “surveillance capitalism” and prey on our data. New reports actually suggest that Google may actually harvest ten times as much as Facebook.
More
Google, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft are all central players in “surveillance capitalism” and prey on our data. New reports actually suggest that Google may actually harvest ten times as much as Facebook.
With all the attention paid to Facebook in recent weeks over ‘data breaches’ and privacy violations, even though what happened with Cambridge Analytica is part of their standard business model, it’s easy to forget that there are four other Big Tech corporations collecting just as much - if not more - of our personal info.
Google, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft are all central players in “surveillance capitalism” and prey on our data. New reports actually suggest that Google may actually harvest ten times as much as Facebook.
More
Huckabee on Cohen Raid: ‘Nobody Busted Down Cheryl Mills’ Door’
Wednesday, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee weighed in on the raid of President Donald Trump attorney Michael Cohen, questioning the true purpose behind it.
“This is clearly an attempt to intimidate the president, to do everything possible to intimidate his attorney,” Huckabee said on Fox News Channel.
“Nobody busted down Cheryl Mills’ door. Nobody went into Huma Abedin’s house when Anthony Weiner, her husband, had all kinds of information that he shouldn’t have had on his computer. I mean, there’s something tawdry about all this.”
More/video
“This is clearly an attempt to intimidate the president, to do everything possible to intimidate his attorney,” Huckabee said on Fox News Channel.
“Nobody busted down Cheryl Mills’ door. Nobody went into Huma Abedin’s house when Anthony Weiner, her husband, had all kinds of information that he shouldn’t have had on his computer. I mean, there’s something tawdry about all this.”
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The share of Americans age 25-29 living with parents is the highest in 75 years
Parents in the US cannot get rid of their kids. The share of young adults in their late 20s living with their parents is the highest it’s been in 75 years.
According to a recent study by the Pew Research Center, 33% of 25-29 year olds lived with their parents or grandparents in 2016. This is almost three times as many as in 1970.
The share of young adults who don’t leave the nest has steadily increased in recent decades, and accelerated after the 2008 financial crisis. Across education levels, race, gender, and region, no group has been immune from the trend.
Pew’s researchers think late twenty-somethings are boomeranging back home because, in contrast to previous generations at this stage of their lives, they are less likely to have a well-paying job and less likely to be married. It turns out that no job and no partner makes living with your parents a lot more appealing.
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According to a recent study by the Pew Research Center, 33% of 25-29 year olds lived with their parents or grandparents in 2016. This is almost three times as many as in 1970.
The share of young adults who don’t leave the nest has steadily increased in recent decades, and accelerated after the 2008 financial crisis. Across education levels, race, gender, and region, no group has been immune from the trend.
Pew’s researchers think late twenty-somethings are boomeranging back home because, in contrast to previous generations at this stage of their lives, they are less likely to have a well-paying job and less likely to be married. It turns out that no job and no partner makes living with your parents a lot more appealing.
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Who Will Investigate the Investigators?
Who was raided and who wasn't raided illustrates the corrupt politics at play in Mueller's probe.
On Monday, the idea that the probe being conducted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller is about “Russian collusion” was revealed to be utterly fraudulent. Despite ongoing cooperation by President Donald Trump and his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, the latter man’s office, home and hotel room were raided by the FBI. In short, the investigation into Russian collusion has expanded to what it was most likely about from the beginning: getting Trump — by any means necessary.
Attorney Alan Dershowitz, progressive idol-turned-pariah due to his penchant for embracing intellectual honesty over ideological demagoguery, put it best. “If this were Hillary Clinton, the ACLU would be on every TV station in America jumping up and down,” he asserted. “The deafening silence of the ACLU and civil libertarians about the intrusion into the lawyer-client confidentiality is really appalling.”
Later on, he called that intrusion unconstitutional.
Dershowitz insisted Mueller is staying within the confines of the Russian collusion case parameters and “farming out” what appears to be an effort to investigate Cohen for “bank fraud, wire fraud and campaign finance violations, according to three people with knowledge of the case,” as The Washington Post reports (or is that leaks?). Nonetheless, those parameters are the epitome of a double standard that may rank as one of the most egregious in the nation’s history.
If this investigation is really about Russian collusion, where are the commensurate raids and/or executions of search warrants against Perkins Coie attorney Marc E. Elias, who represented the Clinton campaign and the DNC, as well as retained Fusion GPS, which compiled the infamous Steele dossier?
More here
On Monday, the idea that the probe being conducted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller is about “Russian collusion” was revealed to be utterly fraudulent. Despite ongoing cooperation by President Donald Trump and his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, the latter man’s office, home and hotel room were raided by the FBI. In short, the investigation into Russian collusion has expanded to what it was most likely about from the beginning: getting Trump — by any means necessary.
Attorney Alan Dershowitz, progressive idol-turned-pariah due to his penchant for embracing intellectual honesty over ideological demagoguery, put it best. “If this were Hillary Clinton, the ACLU would be on every TV station in America jumping up and down,” he asserted. “The deafening silence of the ACLU and civil libertarians about the intrusion into the lawyer-client confidentiality is really appalling.”
Later on, he called that intrusion unconstitutional.
Dershowitz insisted Mueller is staying within the confines of the Russian collusion case parameters and “farming out” what appears to be an effort to investigate Cohen for “bank fraud, wire fraud and campaign finance violations, according to three people with knowledge of the case,” as The Washington Post reports (or is that leaks?). Nonetheless, those parameters are the epitome of a double standard that may rank as one of the most egregious in the nation’s history.
If this investigation is really about Russian collusion, where are the commensurate raids and/or executions of search warrants against Perkins Coie attorney Marc E. Elias, who represented the Clinton campaign and the DNC, as well as retained Fusion GPS, which compiled the infamous Steele dossier?
More here
Accuser testifies that Cosby drugged her with ‘prop’ wine
NORRISTOWN, Pa. — A Colorado woman who saysBill Cosby sexually assaulted her in 1984 became the first accuser to take the stand at the comedian’s retrial Tuesday.
Heidi Thomas, then a 24-year-old struggling actress, described an encounter that seemed to start out innocently enough: with a sip of wine at a private ranch in Reno, Nev., for what was supposed to be acting lessons with the married star.
“He said this is a prop. He said sip on it,” Thomas testified.
But what happened next was anything but part of the script, the witness said.
She said she awoke on a bed fully clothed, while Cosby was naked.
“I remember the voice saying — he always referred to himself in the third person, always ‘Mr. C.,’ or ‘your friend’ — and he said, ‘Your friend is going to come again,’ ” Thomas said.
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Heidi Thomas, then a 24-year-old struggling actress, described an encounter that seemed to start out innocently enough: with a sip of wine at a private ranch in Reno, Nev., for what was supposed to be acting lessons with the married star.
“He said this is a prop. He said sip on it,” Thomas testified.
But what happened next was anything but part of the script, the witness said.
She said she awoke on a bed fully clothed, while Cosby was naked.
“I remember the voice saying — he always referred to himself in the third person, always ‘Mr. C.,’ or ‘your friend’ — and he said, ‘Your friend is going to come again,’ ” Thomas said.
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Ex NFL player Martellus Bennett: 89% of NFL smoke cannabis
Recently retired NFL player Martellus Bennett is spilling the tea on the players in the league, sharing that most actually partake in smoking cannabis.
Bennett appeared on The Simms and Lefkoe Podcast on Wednesday when he was asked whether 70 percent of players smoked weed.
'I want to say about 89 percent,' said the veteran footballer who has played on numerous teams over the course of 10 years.
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Bennett appeared on The Simms and Lefkoe Podcast on Wednesday when he was asked whether 70 percent of players smoked weed.
'I want to say about 89 percent,' said the veteran footballer who has played on numerous teams over the course of 10 years.
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Belgian Islamic Party Announces 'Islamic State' End Goal
The Belgian Islamic party Partij Islam is set to run candidates in 28 municipalities in the upcoming Belgian municipal elections, and have declared their intention to create an Islamic State in which women and men have to ride in separate buses.
The Partij Islam is likely hoping to do well in highly Muslim-populated areas like Molenbeek and Anderlecht where the party already has some representation, HLN reports.
Anderlecht municipal councillor Redouane Ahrouch, the treasurer of the party, told Belgian media: “Our goal is a one hundred percent Islamic state.”
Ahrouch, who works also as a bus driver in Anderlecht, said that many women have complained to him that men were trying to sexually harass and grab them. His solution to the problem, he said, is to separate public transport by sex so that women have their own buses.
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The Partij Islam is likely hoping to do well in highly Muslim-populated areas like Molenbeek and Anderlecht where the party already has some representation, HLN reports.
Anderlecht municipal councillor Redouane Ahrouch, the treasurer of the party, told Belgian media: “Our goal is a one hundred percent Islamic state.”
Ahrouch, who works also as a bus driver in Anderlecht, said that many women have complained to him that men were trying to sexually harass and grab them. His solution to the problem, he said, is to separate public transport by sex so that women have their own buses.
More
Cruz, Paul Defend Scott Pruitt. Say He’s Needed To ‘Drain The Regulatory Swamp’
Republican Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas came out in defense of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt as media reports suggest his time in the Trump administration may be nearing its end.
Paul said Pruitt is needed to “drain the regulatory swamp,” while Cruz said Trump is “too cagey to be duped and bullied by the Obama groupies” regarding the Oklahoma attorney general’s fate.
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Paul said Pruitt is needed to “drain the regulatory swamp,” while Cruz said Trump is “too cagey to be duped and bullied by the Obama groupies” regarding the Oklahoma attorney general’s fate.
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Upset About the Sudden Rise in Volatility? Blame Central Banks
The big questions being tossed around Wall Street today are: why are markets such a mess? Why are we getting these wild swings?
The reality is that the markets are NOT a mess. These are actually normal healthy markets. Healthy markets move, sometimes a lot in a small span of time.
The real issue is that from '09 until recently, the market was completely artificial because Central Banks cornered ALL risk by cornering the sovereign bond market.
Remember we are in a debt-based financial system today. Sovereign bonds are the bedrock of that system. They define the "risk free rate of return" against which ALL risk is priced. They're also the senior most collateral owned by the banks to backstop their trading/ derivatives portfolios.
When Fed and other Central Banks cornered sovereign bonds via ZIRP (front end of bond market) and QE (long end of bond market) they forced EVERYTHING to reprice to ridiculously low levels of risk. This is why I coined the term the Everything Bubble in 2014.
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The reality is that the markets are NOT a mess. These are actually normal healthy markets. Healthy markets move, sometimes a lot in a small span of time.
The real issue is that from '09 until recently, the market was completely artificial because Central Banks cornered ALL risk by cornering the sovereign bond market.
Remember we are in a debt-based financial system today. Sovereign bonds are the bedrock of that system. They define the "risk free rate of return" against which ALL risk is priced. They're also the senior most collateral owned by the banks to backstop their trading/ derivatives portfolios.
When Fed and other Central Banks cornered sovereign bonds via ZIRP (front end of bond market) and QE (long end of bond market) they forced EVERYTHING to reprice to ridiculously low levels of risk. This is why I coined the term the Everything Bubble in 2014.
More
Lawsuit to settle whether Howard County school board chairwoman is disabled
Cynthia Vaillancourt has led the Howard County school board for two years, presiding over meetings every month, voting on a budget that exceeds $800 million, and recruiting a new superintendent to the district of 76 schools and 55,600 students.
But during her tenure as board chairwoman, Vaillancourt has been trying to convince a court that she suffers from a cognitive disability that causes her to confuse numbers, take wrong notes, and suffer muddied thinking.
Can she possibly run the board with such symptoms?
The question lies at the heart of her lawsuit to restore her private disability benefits of $82,000 a year.
Vaillancourt once worked as a project manager for a real estate company in Massachusetts. But while pregnant with her daughter in 1989, she suffered swelling in her brain that she says left her unable to continue that same work. She says she also has been impaired by an advanced case of Lyme Disease. She received disability payments for 26 years.
The 55-year-old from Ellicott City was elected to the Howard County Board of Education in 2010, and became chairwoman in 2016.
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But during her tenure as board chairwoman, Vaillancourt has been trying to convince a court that she suffers from a cognitive disability that causes her to confuse numbers, take wrong notes, and suffer muddied thinking.
Can she possibly run the board with such symptoms?
The question lies at the heart of her lawsuit to restore her private disability benefits of $82,000 a year.
Vaillancourt once worked as a project manager for a real estate company in Massachusetts. But while pregnant with her daughter in 1989, she suffered swelling in her brain that she says left her unable to continue that same work. She says she also has been impaired by an advanced case of Lyme Disease. She received disability payments for 26 years.
The 55-year-old from Ellicott City was elected to the Howard County Board of Education in 2010, and became chairwoman in 2016.
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Is Science Offensive? The Blurry Line Between Transgender Athlete and Cheating.
The transgender movement blurs the line between two words: gender and sex.
I am willing to surrender the word gender. The new definition of gender is that it is not a scientific term, but rather a cultural identifier of traits typically related to biological sex. So a biological male who feels like he fits the role society views as female could change his gender because gender is a social construct built around the cultural role of each sex. Since words like “he and she” can refer to gender or sex, to be polite I try to use a person’s preferred pronoun.
But I will not abandon the biological meaning of the word sex, which starts with the fact that men have an X and Y chromosome, and women have two X chromosomes.
These basic differences in the foundation of male versus female DNA present themselves in other biological ways. Men and women have different genitalia. They also have different natural levels of certain hormones present in the body. Male and female bodies tend to differ in size and shape. They tend to store fat and build muscle in different areas and concentrations of the body.
These biological differences also present themselves in varying physical abilities. In general, males tend to run faster than females.
To be sure, countless woman can run faster than most men. Every single elite professional female runner in the Boston Marathon could absolutely slaughter me in any foot race (and I am actually a decent recreational runner).
However elite professional male racers at the Boston Marathon always beat the elite professional female racers at the Boston Marathon. This is not due to lack of training or commitment by female runners, it is due to biological differences between sexes.
But the organizers of the Boston Marathon allow people to register their sex under whatever gender they identify as.
Now here is where the difference between these two words actually matters.
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I am willing to surrender the word gender. The new definition of gender is that it is not a scientific term, but rather a cultural identifier of traits typically related to biological sex. So a biological male who feels like he fits the role society views as female could change his gender because gender is a social construct built around the cultural role of each sex. Since words like “he and she” can refer to gender or sex, to be polite I try to use a person’s preferred pronoun.
But I will not abandon the biological meaning of the word sex, which starts with the fact that men have an X and Y chromosome, and women have two X chromosomes.
These basic differences in the foundation of male versus female DNA present themselves in other biological ways. Men and women have different genitalia. They also have different natural levels of certain hormones present in the body. Male and female bodies tend to differ in size and shape. They tend to store fat and build muscle in different areas and concentrations of the body.
These biological differences also present themselves in varying physical abilities. In general, males tend to run faster than females.
To be sure, countless woman can run faster than most men. Every single elite professional female runner in the Boston Marathon could absolutely slaughter me in any foot race (and I am actually a decent recreational runner).
However elite professional male racers at the Boston Marathon always beat the elite professional female racers at the Boston Marathon. This is not due to lack of training or commitment by female runners, it is due to biological differences between sexes.
But the organizers of the Boston Marathon allow people to register their sex under whatever gender they identify as.
Now here is where the difference between these two words actually matters.
More
Somerset County Sheriff's Office reports most recent arrests
Larry Darnell Jackson of Marion Station, arrested 3-17-18 for possession of suspected cocaine, and marijuana, driving while under the influence of alcohol, driving while impaired by alcohol, driving while impaired by CDS, driving on a revoked, and suspended driver’s license, driver consuming alcohol in passenger area of vehicle, and multiple traffic citations. Jackson was later released on personal recognizance. The arrest was the result of a traffic stop conducted by Deputies in the area of Sam Barnes Rd.
Megan Nicole Parker of Deal Island Rd, arrested 4-1-18 for driving vehicle while impaired by a controlled dangerous substance, and negligent driving. Parker was later released on citations pending court actions. The arrest was the result of an investigation of a vehicle in a ditch in the area of Dorsey Rd, near the marina.
Charlie Dean Martin of Princess Anne, arrested 4-2-18 on a warrant for violation of probation. Martin was later held without bond.
Megan Nicole Parker of Deal Island Rd, arrested 4-1-18 for driving vehicle while impaired by a controlled dangerous substance, and negligent driving. Parker was later released on citations pending court actions. The arrest was the result of an investigation of a vehicle in a ditch in the area of Dorsey Rd, near the marina.
Charlie Dean Martin of Princess Anne, arrested 4-2-18 on a warrant for violation of probation. Martin was later held without bond.
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