Coast Guard repatriates 28 Cuban migrants

MIAMI — The Coast Guard Cutter Isaac Mayo crew repatriated 28 Cuban migrants Thursday to Cuba, following two separate interdiction cases.

A Coast Guard Air Station Miami HC-144 Ocean Sentry fixed-wing aircraft crew located a rustic vessel traveling northbound approximately 20 miles north of Cuba, Saturday. The Coast Guard Cutter Kathleen Moore crew arrived on scene and safely embarked 19 Cuban nationals who attempted to enter the United States illegally.

The Kathleen Moore crew interdicted a second illegal entry attempt by stopping a 25-foot rustic vessel with 10 Cuban migrants aboard approximately 58 miles northeast of Matanzas, Cuba on Monday with assistance by a Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater HC-130 Hercules fixed-wing aircraft crew.

One of the 19 individuals interdicted at sea was transferred to local Miami-Dade Police law enforcement due to an open arrest warrant for grand theft auto in Miami-Dade County.

“The Coast Guard and our partners continue to maintain a constant presence in the Florida Straits with both air and surface assets,” said Capt. Mark Vlaun, staff judge advocate of Coast Guard 7th District. "Today's safe and swift repatriation is reflective of our interagency commitment to stop illegal and unsafe entry by sea into the United States before these voyages end in tragedy on the open ocean."

Once aboard Coast Guard cutters, all migrants receive food, water, shelter and medical attention.

"We cannot stress enough that these illegal migration attempts are dangerous, futile, and often times fueled by rumor or coaxed by criminals who will lie to or exploit migrants," said Capt. Willie Carmichael, Deputy Chief of Enforcement of Coast Guard 7th District.

Approximately 144 Cuban migrants have attempted to illegally enter the U.S. via the maritime environment since Oct. 1 in fiscal year 2018 compared to 1,951 Cuban migrants in fiscal year 2017. These numbers represent the total number of at-sea interdictions, landings and disruptions in the Florida Straits, the Caribbean and Atlantic.

The cutter Kathleen Moore is a 154-foot Sentinel class cutter homeported in Key West, Florida. The cutter Isaac Mayo is a 154-foot Sentinel class cutter homeported in Key West, Florida.

Jim Jordan Roasts Comey Double Standard

Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio said the American people are tired of the way former FBI Director James Comey and Democrats have been favored with a double standard, Thursday on “Fox & Friends.”

“This is ridiculous,” Jordan said. “The American people are so fed up with this two standards. One standard for us regular folk and a different standard if your name is Clinton, Comey, Lynch, Lerner. That’s what American people are fed up.”

“The fact that five of the top people. This is what should concern Mr. Comey,” Jordan continued. “He’s been fired. Andrew McCabe has been fired for lying four times, three times under oath. Jim Baker, former chief counsel has been demoted and reassigned at the FBI. Peter Strzok deputy head of counter intelligence, demoted, reassigned. Lisa page, FBI council demoted, reassigned. These are the top people at the FBI. That’s what he should be concerned about.”

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E. coli-infected salad saga rages on: 31 more sickened, bringing the total to 84

The E. coli outbreak linked to tainted romaine lettuce has grown and sickened 84 people from 19 states, US officials say.

The US Centers for Disease Control said Wednesday that at least another 31 cases are believed to be tied to romaine lettuce grown in Yuma, Arizona.

The agency says those infected range in age from 1 to 88. More than half of are female.

Forty-two people have been hospitalized, including nine battling kidney failure as the agency scrambles to sniff out the source of the E. coli outbreak.

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Attorneys General Urge Trump Administration to Not Strip Consumer Protection Financial Bureau of Investigative Authority

BALTIMORE, MD – Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh, joining a coalition of 16 attorneys general, called on the Trump Administration to respect the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) investigative authority. Since its inception, the CFPB has issued civil investigative demands to companies and individuals who may be violating the law and taking advantage of consumers. Civil investigative demands are a critical law enforcement tool that enable the CFPB to carry out investigations by obtaining documents, financial records, and company policies and procedures. However, the Trump Administration is now considering weakening the CFPB’s use of civil investigative demands.

“The CFPB was created in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to protect consumers from financial scams and abusive financial business practices,” said Attorney General Frosh. “CFPB investigations of big banks like Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America have returned millions of dollars to consumers. Stripping the CFPB of its investigative authority would clear the way for Wall Street to return to the illegal policies and practices of a decade ago.”

Read more in the full press release:http://www.marylandattorneygeneral.gov/press/2018/042618.pdf

Stephen Foster statue removed from Pittsburgh park amid criticism

A 118-year-old statue of the 'Oh! Susanna' songwriter was removed from a Pittsburgh park Thursday after criticism that the work is demeaning because it includes a slave sitting at his feet, plucking a banjo.

In October, the Pittsburgh Art Commission voted to take the Stephen Foster sculpture out of Schenley Plaza and find it a new home. For now, it will remain in a storage lot, out of the public view.

On Thursday, workers used straps and construction equipment to lift the 10-foot-bronze statue off its base. It was strapped to a flatbed truck and taken away.

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Trey Gowdy: James Comey's definition of a leak 'is what the rest of us call a felony'

Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., disputes ex-FBI Director James Comey's definition of a "leak."

During an interview with Fox News' Bret Baier on Thursday, Comey denied that he ever leaked the content of his memos, which recount his interactions with President Trump. He rationalized that his memos were personal documents, like a "diary," and claimed he did not think the contents of his memos were classified, including one conveyed to the media through a friend.

Speaking with Fox News' Tucker Carlson afterwards, Gowdy said Comey "has a definition of the word leak that no one else has."

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Who Will Bail America Out Then?

It begins to look like The USA will litigate itself into Civil War Two with the first battle being half the lawyers in the Department of Justice prosecuting the other half until Anthropogenic Global Warming puts the DC Swamp completely underwater and all parties concerned scuttle off into the deep blue sea.

It was rather a shock to see the photo lineup of all those familiar faces — Comey, Hillary, McCabe, Loretta Lynch et. al. — in the criminal referral “matters” sent over to the DOJ by congress on Wednesday, as if they were some mob of goombahs caught running a waste management kickback racket in the Hackensack mud-flats. But the evidence trail has been in plain sight for more than a year that Justice Department officials of various ranks and stripes colluded to bring off a legalistic coup d’etat against the loathed and despised winner of the 2016 election — with a little help from (of all things and personae) Russia, as in that political smallpox blanket known as the Steele Dossier.

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Finland's 'basic income' program a failure

The Finnish government reportedly announced Tuesday that it will end the country’s universal basic income program by year's end -- and appears to be taking on new measures to cut benefits to those who do not actively seek employment.

Finland was considered the first European country to pay a monthly check of $685 to its unemployed between ages 25 and 58. It was considered a pilot program -- serving 2,000 randomly selected jobless people -- that its founders hoped to expand.

“It’s a pity that it will end like this,” Olli Kangas, who oversees the Finnish government agency that focuses on social welfare and helped design the program, told the New York Times.

David Whitley summed up Finland's decision in the Orlando Sentinel.

"Proponents said the program wasn’t comprehensive enough to gauge its merits," Whitley wrote. "Critics say it would have required a 30 percent tax increase on an already over-taxed population to be viable."

But some cities, including San Francisco, continue to look into the basic income theory, the Times wrote. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in 2017 said that basic income should be explored “to make sure that everyone has a cushion to try new ideas.”

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Weekly Fishing Report

Patience is supposed to be the hallmark of an angler, but many had theirs strained this past opening weekend for trophy striped bass season.

In the past couple of days we have seen water temperatures finally reach acceptable temperatures for the fish.

Most understand it has been a chilly spring, and low water temperatures have delayed striped bass spawning in the tidal rivers.

There was a big spawn on the Choptank River, and the Nanticoke, Patuxent and Potomac rivers should be on the same general schedule. 

Read more.

The Most Innovative City in the Country? Fayetteville, N.C.

Fayetteville, N.C., population 205,000, is the most innovative city in the country, according to a new report from Governing in collaboration with the nonprofit Living Cities.

The second annual Equipt to Innovate report, released this week, assesses municipal governments on a range of metrics -- including data use and strategic planning, racial equity in decisionmaking, and citizen engagement.

Fayetteville was a high performer in last year's inaugural report, in which Phoenix was ranked No. 1, but the North Carolina city rose to the top in this year's evaluation.

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Progressive Democrats say Steny Hoyer should resign over primary shenanigans

Progressive liberals called Thursday for the resignation of Rep. Steny Hoyer after a secret recording emerged in which the second-ranking member of House Democratic leadership urges a congressional candidate to pull the plug on his campaign in a Colorado race to clear the way for the preferred choice of the national party.

The Intercept unearthed the secretly taped audio in which Mr. Hoyer, Maryland Democrat, urges Levi Tillemann, who served in the Obama administration, to drop out of the race in Colorado’s 6th Congressional District and says the party supports his primary opponent Jason Crow.

Mr. Tillemann secretly taped Mr. Hoyer when they met at a hotel in December.

Charles Chamberlin, executive director of Democracy For America, responded by demanding that Mr. Hoyer resign or abandoned his leadership post as House Minority Whip.

“The secret recordings of Steny Hoyer trying to push a grassroots progressive candidate out of a race for Congress exposes the work Hoyer has done for years actively undermining progressive power in Congress and ensuring the Democratic Party is filled with elected officials who are politically incapable of standing up to the corporate interests who profit off the country’s growing racial and economic inequality,” Mr. Chamberlin said.

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Bavaria Places Christian Crosses in State Buildings to Reflect 'Christian Values'

The government of Bavaria has ordered that Christian crosses be placed in the entrances of all its public buildings, a rule that goes into effect on June 1, reported BBC News.

Markus Soder, the minister president of Bavaria and member of the Christian Social Union political party, said the crosses are not to be viewed as state-sanctioned religious symbols but as a "clear avowal of our Bavarian identity and Christian values."

Crosses already are compulsory in Bavaria's public school classrooms and in courtrooms.

Bavaria is located in the southeast corner of Germany and its largest city is Munich.

"The cross is a fundamental symbol of our Bavarian identity and way of life," said President Soder in a statement, as reported by the BBC. "It stands for elemental values such as charity, human dignity and tolerance."

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Religious Liberty Attorney Confirmed to Federal Bench

Religious liberty advocates received a boost in federal courts after the Senate confirmed one of the nation's leading First Amendment attorneys to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Senate voted to approve President Trump's nominee, Kyle Duncan, to Louisiana's Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday. Duncan is the former general counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a nonprofit law firm that "exists to defend the free exercise of all faiths, from Anglican to Zoroastrian," as it says on its website. The group has been involved in some of the most high profile religious liberty cases in the nation in recent years, helping nuns at the Little Sisters of the Poor and religious business owners at Hobby Lobby resist the Obama administration's contraception and abortifacient mandate.

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ICE boss takes on NY Gov. Cuomo, calls slams 'insult' to agency

The head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) accused New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo of making "grandstanding" and "inaccurate" comments Wednesday after armed agents raided an upstate dairy farm last week and allegedly handcuffed a man who tried to record an arrest.

Cuomo, a Democrat rumored to be a contender for the party's 2020 presidential nomination, said that the agency "is violating the law and endangering public safety" and threatened to sue ICE if such raids continued.

"The reckless and unconstitutional practices ICE is deploying in our communities violate everything we believe in New York and are an assault on our democracy," Cuomo added. "I demand ICE immediately cease and desist this pattern of conduct, and if they fail to do so, I will pursue all available legal recourse and commit to doing everything in my power to protect the rights and safety of all New Yorkers."

In response, ICE Deputy Director Thomas Homan said Cuomo's remarks were "an insult to ICE's sworn law enforcement officers who conduct their lawful mission professionally and with integrity."

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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/04/25/ice-boss-takes-on-ny-gov-cuomo-calls-slams-insult-to-agency.html

Carson wants poor to pay more rent, work for assistance

HUD Secretary Ben Carson on Wednesday unveiled a major overhaul of the rental-housing system, proposing to increase the share of rent that low-income households must pay before receiving assistance and allow public housing authorities to impose work requirements.

The proposal to reshape the way HUD helps 4.5 million people meet their rent is part of a broader Trump administration push to link anti-poverty programs to employment.

Carson — who often refers to his own up-from-nothing life story as a parable for the poor and said last year that poverty is "a state of mind" — has long called on HUD to focus on helping people get off assistance, rather than expanding the benefits it provides.

The current system, Carson said on a conference call with reporters, creates "perverse incentives, including discouraging these families from earning more income and becoming self-sufficient."

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Interview with Dr. Suzanne Humphries over vaccine troll "mass shooting" murder threat

Voting Rights for Felons Becoming a Key Issue for Democrats

Florida has emerged as a battleground in the fight over the 6 million people, in and out of jail, who can't vote because they were convicted of a felony.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott won a big legal battle Wednesday, but the fight over voting rights for felons in his state is far from over.

Scott was under a court order to revise the state's system for restoring voting rights. Currently, former offenders in Florida have to wade through a difficult and protracted clemency process, which a federal judge last month deemed "fatally flawed." He gave the state until April 26 to revamp its process.

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Cosby goes berserk moments after guilty verdict is read

NORRISTOWN, Pa. — Bill Cosby went berserk Thursday — just moments after he was convicted of sexual assault — as lawyers argued over whether he should be allowed ​to remain ​free on bail.

Prosecutors in Montgomery County Court were arguing that the fallen comedian was a flight risk and someone with “limitless wealth.”

“He has a plane,” District Attorney Kevin Steele told the judge.

That’s when Cosby suddenly stood up and screamed, “He doesn’t have a plane, you a–hole! That shows what you know!”

The explosive outburst p​​rompted Judge Steven O’Neill to yell, “That’s enough!” and Cosby’s publicist Andrew Wyatt to scramble to the well.

O’Neill ultimately ruled that Cosby could remain free on $1 million bail but must surrender his passport. He was ordered to stay in Montgomery County pending his sentencing, which was not scheduled.

“Because of his age, his medical issues, I am not going to simply lock him up because of this,” said O’Neill.

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America’s $1 trillion student debt problem heads into its sixth year

Student debt has been a $1 trillion problem for at least six years.

Six years ago, on April 25, 2012, activists took to the streets to mark the country’s outstanding student loan debt surpassing $1 trillion. And in the years since, many of the trends that pushed student debt levels to climb have persisted, and in some cases, they’ve gotten worse.

Focusing on the $1 trillion mark is somewhat “arbitrary,” given that it doesn’t change the debt burdens individuals are managing every day, said Mark Huelsman, a senior policy analyst at Demos, a left-leaning think tank. (Outstanding student debt reached $1 trillion during the second quarter of 2012, according to the Federal Reserve, which includes April.)

Still, Huelsman said these kinds of “big round numbers” can help galvanize people around the issue. “Rising student debt has really happened over a 20-year period,” he said.

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The Cost Of Raising Kids In America Is Soaring

Today, roughly one in five women in the U.S. doesn’t have children. Thanks in part to this decline in birthrate, for the first time in U.S. history, there may soon be more elderly people than children.

Based on trends in costs, it’s evident why many families are choosing to have fewer children — or in some cases, no children at all.

The cost of having children in the U.S. has grown exponentially since the 1960s, when the government first started collecting data on childhood expenditures. Between 2000 and 2010, the cost shot up by 40%.

As of 2015, American parents spend, on average, $233,610 on child costs from birth until the age of 17, not including college.This number covers everything from housing and food to child care and transportation costs. As a mother myself, as well as a sociologist who studies families, I have experienced firsthand the unexpected costs associated with having a child.

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Breaking News: Hundreds of Palestinians stormed the fence between Gaza and Israel. Israeli troops opened fire, killing at least 3 and wounding hundreds.

Urged on by a Hamas leader who told them not to fear death but to welcome martyrdom, hundreds of Palestinian protesters, at least two armed with handguns, stormed the security barrier from Gaza into Israel on Friday.

Israeli troops responded with lethal force, wounding hundreds, at least several fatally.

Read More »

When Will All Americans Wake Up?

A New U.S. 24-Hour Precipitation Record: 49.69" on Kauai, HI on April 15? by Dr. Jeff Masters

The National Weather Service in Hawaii reported on Wednesday that preliminary data from a rain gauge on the north shore of Kauai at Waipa, one mile west of Hanalei, received 49.69” of rainfall over the 24-hour period ending at 12:45 pm April 15. If verified, this would break the all-time U.S. 24-hour rainfall record of 43.00” in Alvin, Texas set on July 25 – 26, 1979, during Tropical Storm Claudette. The record-setting rains on Kauai were due to an upper-level low located to its west on April 14 - 15, combined with a surge of rich low-level moisture. This set-up brought radar-estimated rainfall rates of 2 – 4” per hour to the north shore of the island.

The National Weather Service office in Honolulu noted that the rain gauge where this new data was downloaded from "is operated by the Waipa Foundation which is a non-profit organization. Data from the gauge are not telemetered for real-time display and are used for watershed modeling and monitoring studies." In the coming months, data from this gauge will be reviewed by the National Climatic Extremes Committee to determine whether this instrument is reliable enough to accept as a new U.S. record.

The April 14 – 15, 2018 event also brought a 25.92” 2-day precipitation total for the perennial Hawaiian wet spot Mt. Waialeale, Kauai, and a 24-hour total of 27.52” to Hanalei, Kauai. Personal weather station KHIHANAL2 in Hanalei recorded 43.49” in the 24 hours ending at 4:18 am April 15, at which time the station stopped sending data. The owner of this gauge noted in their “Status” message, though, that they received 34.73” of rain on April 15, and it is possible that this gauge received a 24-hour precipitation total approaching the 49.69” measured two miles to its west, at Waipa. I contacted the owner of the gauge, and he commented that "having years of experience with the WU, VWS and my WMR200’s I am confident and stand behind my readings 100%. Being a surfer, we follow the weather world wide and especially in Hawaii waters for surf predictions."

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Giuliani: Not 'a stitch of evidence' that Trump colluded with Russia

Former New York City Mayor and brand-new Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani is already playing the role of pit bull for the president, telling a New Hampshire television station that the Russia probe is 'a disgrace.'

'I can guarantee you this: When Mueller is finished, no matter whatever he does, he's not going to have a stitch of evidence that he colluded with the Russians,' Giuliani told WMUR. 'There isn't a person in the world who thinks he's guilty of collusion with the Russians.'

During his appearance, Giuliani hammered former FBI Director James Comey too.

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Ladies Firearms Day

On May 19, 2018, at 10AM USTASC will be hosting a ladies firearms day. Learn to shoot better and learn how to clean and upkeep your firearms.

$150.00, plus range fee. Ladies only. Bring friends and have fun!

Register at www.ustasc.com or call 888-813-4434.

Here Is The Next Big Threat Facing American Farmers

Despite the media's assertion that President Trump's animating political principle is "stay loyal to the base", the White House is coming incredibly close to alienating one of the president's most reliable constituencies: The American farming community.

Farmers practically begged Trump to back down from his burgeoning trade war when China slapped tariffs on 128 products, including walnuts and California wine. And when Chinathreatened to deploy one of the most powerful weapons in its trade arsenal: tariffs on US soybeans, it only further escalated the tension.

But China's tariffs on agricultural products are only a small part of the problems facing American farmers.

As we pointed out earlier this month, the White House's tariffs on aluminum and steel attempted to solve one problem but created another. And the "unintended consequences" from the steel tariffs are hurting agricultural jobs across the Midwest.

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Cruz: Use Antitrust Laws to Break ‘Massive Power’ of Tech Lords

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) recommended usingantitrust laws to curb the “massive power” of Facebook and other technology companies during a Tuesday interview with SiriusXM hosts Rebecca Mansour and Joel Pollak on Breitbart News Tonight.

Pollak asked Cruz about possible solutions to “censorship of conservatives” on Facebook and across the broader internet landscape.

Cruz described technology companies’ growing control over the flow of information as a threat to democratic processes. He said, “I think, number one, the growing power of tech to censor speech is a profound threat. We’re seeing now some two-thirds of Americans are getting their news through social media, and these tech companies are hard-left. They are are partisan Democrats, and what we’re seeing is they’re amplifying the views they agree with, those of liberal Democrats, and they are suppressing the views of conservatives. They are blocking conservatives.”

Cruz added, “The scope of the power is truly unprecedented. You think back to the heights of yellow journalism, when publisher William Randolph Hearst controlled much of media and in fact got America into the Spanish-American War. These tech companies have power William Randolph Hearst could never have imagined.

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WATCH: Diamond & Silk Testify Before Congress And All Hell Breaks Loose

"If the shoe was on the other foot and Mark Zuckerberg was a conservative and we were liberals, all fences and all chains would have broke loose."

On Thursday, social media sensations known as Diamond and Silk appeared before Congress to testify about alleged censorship and discrimination practiced by Facebook, and all hell broke loose.

In one tense exchange, the two women went toe-to-toe with Democratic Rep. Hank Johnson of Georgia, who dismissed the women's concerns and slammed them for "bashing Facebook" while making "a ton of money" on the platform.

Diamond and Silk refuted the claim and said they were merely bringing the issue of censorship of conservatives "to the light" and had not in fact made a ton of money because of said censorship. The women claim they were effectively demonetized for six months.

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BREAKING: Broward Deputy Union Drops Hammer On Sheriff Scott Israel

In an overwhelming vote, the Broward Sheriff's Office Deputies Association announced it has "no confidence" in Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel and is going to ask Florida Governor Rick Scott to remove him from office over his handling of the Parkland shooting.

Out of the 628 officers in the union, 534 voted that they had no confidence in Sheriff Israel. Union President Jeff Bell said that it was the "union's first vote of no confidence against a sheriff."

WPBF Investigative reporter Terri Parker noted that the union said Sheriff Israel was a liar, deputies were demoralized and the police force was understaffed.

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Epstein: ‘No Paper Trail’ for Google Search Manipulation

Manipulation of search suggestions by companies like Google leaves “no paper trail,” and is almost impossible to detect, says Dr. Robert Epstein, lead author of new research that shows search engines can dramatically shift the opinions of undecided voters by manipulating their search suggestions.

Earlier today, Breitbart News exclusively reported on Dr. Epstein’s latest research on the Search Suggestion Effect (SSE), which shows that the political preferences of undecided voters can be shifted by up to 43 percent if a search engine like Google were to implant links to negative information about a political candidate in their search suggestions.

In correspondence with Breitbart News, Epstein explained how a company like Google could do this while leaving “no paper trail for authorities to follow.” Indeed, his work on the 2016 election suggests that the tech giant may already have done so, to favor Hillary Clinton.

“Search suggestions are ephemeral. They’re generated on the fly and then disappear, leaving no trace, unlike news articles and videos, which tend to stay online” said Dr. Epstein.

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GOP advances proposal to change Senate rules

Republicans are advancing a proposal to change the Senate’s rules to speed up consideration of President Trump’s nominees.

The Senate Rules and Administration Committee on a party-line 10-9 vote passed a resolution on Wednesday from Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) that would substantially cut down on the amount of debate time needed for hundreds of nominations.

Because Republicans have a one-seat advantage on the committee, they were able to pass the proposal without any support from Democrats.

Republicans say the change is necessary because Democrats are using the Senate’s rulebook to slow-walk Trump’s picks.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a member of the committee, said Democats are “wasting the Senate’s time” by dragging out debate time even as lawmakers aren’t actively debating.

“At some point the question is what is a constructive use of the Senate’s time,” he said ahead of the vote.

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Wicomico Dwelling Fire Liberty Street

NOTICE OF INVESTIGATION

Date:   April 25, 2018

Time:   1:07 p.m.

Location / Address:  636 Liberty St., Salisbury, Wicomico Co.

Type of Incident:  Fire

Description of Structure / Property:   Two story wood frame single family dwelling

Owner / Occupants:   Tina and Tracy Smiley

Injuries or Deaths:  None

Estimated $ Loss: Structure:  $20,000                      Contents: $2,000

Smoke Alarm Status:  Present and activated

Fire Alarm / Sprinkler Status:  n/a

Arrests(s):   None

Primary Responding Fire Department:  Salisbury FD

# of Alarms:  1     # Of Firefighters:  15

Time to Control:  15 minutes

Discovered By:  Occupant

Area of Origin:   Kitchen

Preliminary Cause:  Accidental, cooking

Donald Trump Responds to ‘Love’ from Kanye West: ‘Thank You Kanye, Very Cool!’

President Donald Trump responded to artist Kanye West, after the rap superstar expressed love and support for the president.

“You don’t have to agree with Trump but the mob can’t make me not love him,” West wrote. “We are both dragon energy. He is my brother. I love everyone. I don’t agree with everything anyone does. That’s what makes us individuals. And we have the right to independent thought.”

West commented on Twitter after receiving backlash from liberal fans for saying positive things about the president.

“Thank you Kanye, very cool!” Trump responded on Twitter shortly after Breitbart News asked Press Secretary Sarah Sanders at the White House press briefing whether the president had communicated recently with West.

In response to Trump, West posted a picture of a Trump MAGA campaign hat that was autographed by the president as well as a screen image of the president’s tweet.

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Ex-Clinton 'Ethics' Aide Resigns After Taped Tirade At Cops: "You May Shut The F**k Up!"

Police released a video Tuesday showing a former financial adviser to Hillary Clinton getting involved in a heated, profanity-laced confrontation with several officers.

60-year-old Caren Z. Turner’s outburst was recorded as she threw what amount to a toddler-like temper tantrum.

“You may shut the f— up!” Turner screams at an officer at one point.

Turner, who is a Democrat, had previously served on finance committees for Hillary Clinton, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine.

Most recently, Turner has been a commissioner with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and was chairwoman of its ethics committee, Politico reported. She was forced to resign last week because of the interaction with police during Easter weekend.

“The Port Authority has zero tolerance for ethics violations,” PA spokesman Ben Branham told the website.

According to a police report from March 31, 2018, Turner’s daughter had been pulled over on Route 9W by Tenafly, N.J., police, but allegedly could not provide proof of insurance or registration. So Turner was called to the scene to help resolve the matter, NJ.com reported.

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Breaking News: A House panel released its report on Russian election meddling, saying it found no evidence the Trump campaign was involved. Democrats dissented.

The House Intelligence Committee released on Friday a roughly 250-page report on Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, laying out Republicans’ conclusion after a yearlong investigation that they had found no evidence that the Trump campaign aided Moscow’s efforts.

Their conclusions are certain to be attacked by Democrats on the committee, who have accused the Republicans of prematurely closing the investigation and failing to conduct it with the rigor that the subject called for out of a desire to protect President Trump. The committee also released dissenting views from the Democrats.

Read More »

5 Major Problems With Public Schools, And Why You Might Want to Consider Other Options for Your Kids

On April 23rd of this year, parents across America staged a "walk out" (taking their kids out of schools) to protest the sexually explicit and perverse instructions by Planned Parenthood that is being taught in their schools. PJ Media has previously reported exactly how the Planned Parenthood curriculum uses pornography to teach sexual deviancy.

Is this the kind of education you want your kids in elementary school, middle school, or high school to learn? If not, then maybe you should consider doing a protest at your school. It might help. Or it might not. My hunch is that the educrats in charge of your public schools by and large will not care. The educrats in charge might remove a thing or two today, but they will bide their time, and eventually sneak in more destruction later, when parents are not looking.

(This article is not a cut against the many dedicated and courageous teachers who slug it out day after day in the public schools. They are missionaries, trying to be lights in a very tough environment. I am simply asking if parents should continue to keep their kids in environments that are increasingly harmful to their moral, physical, and academic wellbeing.)

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Ex-Gitmo Prisoners Freed Under Obama ‘Vanished’ After Return to Libya

An estimated 150 former Guantánamo Bay prisoners liberated as part of former President Barack Obama’s efforts to shut down the U.S. military detention center “risk being killed—or could end up becoming threats themselves,” the New York Times (NYT) acknowledged this week.

Obama reduced the number of detainees held at the facility, commonly known as Gitmo, from 242 to 41 when he took office.

The previous administration reportedly convinced about three dozen nations to take in 150 “lower-risk” prisoners from dangerous countries like Yemen and Libya.

Senegal, one of the countries who took in some of the prisoners, already deported two of them back to “their chaotic birth country of Libya,” where they “vanished” once they “fell into the hands of a hard-line militia leader who has been accused of prisoner abuse,” the Times reveals.

According to the United Nations, hundreds of African migrants are being bought and auctioned off at “slave markets” in Libya.

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Taliban Rejects Peace Offer, Vows to Focus on 'Killing and Capturing' U.S. Troops

The Taliban dismissed Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s U.S.-backed peace offer in a statement issued Tuesday announcing the start of their annual spring offensive, which the terrorists vowed will be “mainly” focused “on crushing, killing and capturing American invaders and their supporters.”

Taliban jihadists note that their spring offensive “is based on guerrilla, offensive, infiltrated, and various other new and intricate tactics against the new war strategy of the enemy, mainly focusing on crushing, killing and capturing American invaders and their supporters,” adding:

Its primary target will be the American invaders and their intelligence agents. Their internal supporters will be dealt with as a secondary target while the present and future mischievous plots of the mischief-mongers will be nipped in the bud. In-sha Allah!!! (God willing)

These operations will be launched … with the help of Almighty Allah throughout the country, beginning with the cries of ‘Allah-o-Akbar’ (Allah is the Greatest), a terror casting and heart-piercing war cry for the enemy.

As of October 2017, the Taliban controlled or contested nearly half of Afghanistan, with their power mainly concentrated in rural regions, the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), a watchdog agency, noted this year.

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The Leftist Education Complex Is Failing Children

Earlier this month, the 2017 National Assessment of Educational Progress, a.k.a. The Nation's Report Card, was released. It's not a pretty story. Only 37 percent of 12th-graders tested proficient or better in reading, and only 25 percent did so in math. Among black students, only 17 percent tested proficient or better in reading, and just 7 percent reached at least a proficient level in math.

The atrocious NAEP performance is only a fraction of the bad news. Nationally, our high school graduation rate is over 80 percent. That means high school diplomas, which attest that these students can read and compute at a 12th-grade level, are conferred when 63 percent are not proficient in reading and 75 percent are not proficient in math. For blacks, the news is worse. Roughly 75 percent of black students received high school diplomas attesting that they could read and compute at the 12th-grade level. However, 83 percent could not read at that level, and 93 percent could not do math at that level. It's grossly dishonest for the education establishment and politicians to boast about unprecedented graduation rates when the high school diplomas, for the most part, do not represent academic achievement. At best, they certify attendance.

Fraudulent high school diplomas aren't the worst part of the fraud...

Kanye West: ‘Obama was in Office Eight Years and Nothing in Chicago Changed’

Rap superstar Kanye West continued his Twitter-based enlightenment campaign on Wednesday, bashing former President Obama for failing to bring positive changes to the pair’s native city of Chicago during his eight years in office.

“Obama was in office for eight years and nothing in Chicago changed,” West declared on Twitter.

Indeed, there’s a long list of black rappers who’ve criticism Barack Obama for failing to bring positive change to black communities mired in economic morass, including Killer Mike, Lupe Fiasco, and P. Diddy.

On Wednesday, West described President Trump as his “brother,” announced a potential meeting with Silicon Valley Trump-supporter Peter Thiel, and posted a photograph of himself wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat, signed by President Trump.

“You don’t have to agree with trump but the mob can’t make me not love him. We are both dragon energy. He is my brother. I love everyone. I don’t agree with everything anyone does. That’s what makes us individuals. And we have the right to independent thought,” West tweeted.

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CA Wants to Ban Christian Guidance. No, Seriously.

California Assembly Bill 2943, which was introduced in February and is the subject of a critical forthcoming vote, is chock-full of feckless scientific assertions on human sexuality. More importantly, it takes animosity toward Christianity to a whole new and worrying extreme and even evokes fears of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, in which the government enacts a proscription against books.

According to the bill, “Contemporary science recognizes that being lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender is part of the natural spectrum of human identity and is not a disease, disorder, or illness.” Many scientists would disagree with that — and nature certainly does — but, alas, the text cites the state’s “compelling interest in protecting the physical and psychological well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals” as justification for AB 2493, which “would include, as an unlawful practice prohibited under the Consumer Legal Remedies Act, advertising, offering to engage in, or engaging in sexual orientation change efforts with an individual.”

AB 2493 elucidates, “‘Sexual orientation change efforts’ means any practices that seek to change an individual’s sexual orientation.

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Judge rules bar can refuse service to Trump supporter wearing MAGA hat

A Manhattan judge ruled Wednesday that kicking a Trump supporter out of a bar does not violate the law – because the law does not protect against political discrimination.

Greg Piatek of Philadelphia claims he was refused service and then eventually removed from a New York City bar in January 2017 for wearing a “Make American Great Again” hat, in a lawsuit against the establishment.

“Anyone who supports Trump — or believes in what you believe — is not welcome here! And you need to leave right now because we won’t serve you!” Piatek claims the staff of The Happiest Hour told him.

The lawyer representing The Happiest Hour, Elizabeth Conway, argued that he was not discriminated against because only religious – not political – beliefs are protected under state and city discrimination law.

“Supporting Trump is not a religion,” Conway argued.

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http://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/2018/04/25/judge-rules-new-york-city-bar-can-refuse-service-to-trump-supporter-wearing-maga-hat.html

'Alexa For Kids’: Amazon Wants to Start Spying Younger

Amazon has unveiled “Alexa for Kids,” a version of their Echo home assistant for children.

“Echo Dot Kids Edition can play age-appropriate music, answer questions, tell stories, and more,” explained Amazon, who added that parents can also “control time limits, set bedtimes, [and] review activity.”

Parents will also be able to look at what their kids are using the device for through their own smartphones.

“Use the online Parent Dashboard to review activity, pause Alexa, and set daily time limits at bedtime or throughout the day,” Amazon declared. “Parents can filter explicit songs from Amazon Music and voice shopping is turned off to help prevent unexpected purchases. Alexa even provides positive feedback when kids ask questions and remember to say ‘please.’ You can use compatible Echo devices or the Alexa app to let kids know dinner is ready, ask for help with a chore, or remind them to go to sleep—all without raising your voice. Use Drop In to instantly connect to another Echo device at home, or send an announcement to other Echo devices at once.”

Despite the fact that Amazon’s Echo devices are always listening, and record your conversations, Amazon’s Vice President of Alexa Customer Experience, Toni Reid, claimed, “Consumer trust is of utmost importance to us… We take privacy and security very seriously.”

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Join Us Friday Night, (tonight) At OC Billiards @ Trader Lee's

Our Free Pool Friday was such a huge success last week, we're doing it again. All of our tables were packed the entire night and everyone enjoyed our DJ, no cover charge. Come enjoy free pool, great music and the lowest drink prices in Ocean City. 

Thank God Its Friday 4-27-18

What will you be doing this weekend?

FREE POOL TONIGHT AT OC BILLIARDS @ TRADER LEES

Nowhere else on the Shore can you go out and enjoy FREE POOL, especially on a Friday night. To take it a step further our House DJ will entertain you, all from 8 PM to 2 AM.

If you think you can play, also join us on Sunday for our weekly pool tournament at 1:00 PM where 100% of the entry fees goes directly into the prize money for 1st & 2nd place. Wait, I'm not done. I personally pay for ALL the games in this tournament. $10.00 entry fee, double elimination and a great time for all. 

See you tonight.

Mayor Tries To Address Violence By Telling Businesses When To Close

The city of Baltimore has a real problem. It's been suffering from a wave of violence for some time now. Residents of the city thought it was over. After all, the murder rate for the first three months of this year dropped significantly, undoubtedly a good sign.

Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be.

This month, the city has seen at least 29 murders as the violence surged yet again. This led Mayor Catherine E. Pugh to take to the streets to visit some local businesses. One of the exchanges recorded by the Baltimore Sun was a little concerning, though.

You see, Pugh stood inside of an area convenience store and asked what time the store closed. When the owner responded that they closed at 11:30, that wasn't good enough for Pugh.

"Isn’t that late?" the mayor reportedly responded. "That’s a little late. It keeps the crowds around here. Nine o’clock is nice. We need you-all to close at 9 o’clock at night."

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April 27 th Crab Balls and/or Steamed Shrimp Dinner

The public is invited to a Crab Balls and/or Steamed Shrimp Dinner on Friday, April 27, from 6 - 8 pm at the Delmar

VFW Post, 200 W. State St., Delmar, MD. All dinners will be served with homemade hush puppies and iced tea or coffee. The dinner cost is determined by the single item plate or the combination plate.

Call after 6pm for carry outs, 410-896-3722. Proceeds benefit the many charities and organizations supported by the Delmar VFW.

'Flint Town': Netflix Chronicles Liberalism’s Tragic Disaster

In the 2016 campaign, Democrats decided Flint, Michigan, was going to be the centerpiece evidence of uncaring Republicanism. To Michigan residents, it seemed an odd choice. Even in Flint’s surrounding suburbs, blaming anyone but Flint for Flint’s problems fell on deaf ears.

But this crisis seemed too good to go to waste. So Bernie and Hillary trooped over and joined the chorus that Republicans had poisoned Flint. It was a little like blaming the chaos in Somalia on the U.S. troops who came to feed people.

Flint’s descent into anarchy was decades in the making. Leadership in the city and county was made up of a toxic combination of union and ethnic politics that drove away business and hindered law enforcement. Local Democrats were in charge every step of the way -- except when governors, both Republican and Democrat, sent financial managers to restore some fiscal guidelines to prevent total collapse.

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Breaking News: The leaders of the two Koreas pledge to declare an end to the Korean War this year and to work to rid the peninsula of nuclear weapons

The leaders of North and South Korea agreed on Friday to work to remove all nuclear weapons from the Korean Peninsula and, by this year, to declare an official end to the Korean War that ravaged the nation from 1950 to 1953.

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UK Retailer Under Fire for Selling Women's Clothing in Size 0

Asos, a retailer based in the UK, is fending off criticism for stocking women's clothing in a size 2, which is a size 0 in the United States.

"Asos has come under fire for stocking 'dangerous and irresponsible' size 2 clothing with a 22-inch waist - the same as a six-year-old child," the Mirror reports. The company defends selling these items, saying it's catering to more petite women. Asos also says that "cultural, physical and individual differences are to be celebrated."x

The Mirror notes that Asos, of course, has a point: "While the average woman in the UK is a size 16 with a 34in waist, if a 5ft woman has a 22in waist they would be considered as having a healthy slim BMI."

In other words, a size 2 woman is not necessarily unhealthy. However, we now live in a world where you can blast away at people who aren't fat.

Liberal Democrat MP Norman Lamb told The Daily Mail: "It runs the risk of normalising sizes which are extreme for adults. It sends out a very dangerous signal to teenagers and young women.’"

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Do Conflicts of Interest Matter? In the Michigan Legislature, Not So Much.

Republican state Sen. Darwin Booher of Michigan initially abstained from voting on a 2015 bill that proposed a $12,000 raise for circuit court judges, writing that it “could be perceived as providing a benefit to an individual to whom I am personally related” — his daughter, 49th Circuit Judge Kimberly Booher.

But a year later, the senator did vote on the raises when a House version came back to the Senate. The bill passed and became law, giving his daughter and her peers a salary boost.

Booher is not the only Michigan lawmaker who voted on bills that could potentially benefit them or their close relatives. A Center for Public Integrity analysis of more than 50,000 pages of official legislative journals logging each day’s actions found six other Michigan legislators who voted on bills even when they publicly noted their own conflicts of interest.

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Comey memos shared more broadly than previously thought

The James Comey memos that leaked to the media and were a catalyst for the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller were more widely shared than previously known, three sources familiar with the matter tell Fox News.

Sources identified former U.S. Attorney and special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald as the likely recipient, and did not rule out a third individual, in addition to Columbia law professor Daniel Richman, who shared contents with the media. The memos documenting Comey’s private conversations with the president are now the subject of a Justice Department Inspector General review over the presence of classified information.

Patrick Fitzgerald is a longtime friend of Comey's and now his lawyer, as first reported by Talking Points Memo. Fitzgerald did not respond to emails or a voicemail seeking comment.

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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/04/25/comey-memos-likely-shared-with-former-us-attorney-patrick-fitzgerald-sources-say.html

Fort Worth gang member executed for murder of girl, grandmother

HUNTSVILLE, Texas – A prisoner on Texas death row for killing a 5-year-old girl and her grandmother in a gang-related shooting at a child's birthday party in Fort Worth a decade ago was executed Wednesday evening.

Erick Davila received lethal injection for using a laser-sighted semi-automatic rifle to spray bullets at about 20 people -- more than a dozen of them children. Annette Stevenson, 48, and her granddaughter, Queshawn Stevenson, were killed and four others were wounded, including the girl who was celebrating her 9th birthday.

Davila, 31, belted to a gurney in the Texas death chamber, offered no apologies. He appeared almost cocky as several relatives of his victims entered the witness area of the death chamber, raising his head off the gurney and acknowledging some that he appeared to know.

"I may have lost the fight but I'm still a soldier," he said when asked by the warden if he wanted to make a statement. "Take it as it is. To my supporters and family, y'all hold it down. Ten toes down. That's all I got to say."

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http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/04/25/fort-worth-gang-member-executed-for-murder-girl-grandmother.html

CBP Officers at Imperial Valley Ports Intercept Three Narcotic Smuggling Attempts worth over $1.2M

IMPERIAL VALLEY, Calif. — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers working at the Andrade and Calexico West ports of entry intercepted attempts this weekend to smuggle cocaine and methamphetamine valued over $1.2 million.

The first seizure occurred on Friday, April 20, at about 5:07 p.m., at the Andrade port of entry, when a CBP officer encountered an 81-year-old male U.S. citizen driving a gray 2000 Ford Expedition. The officer decided to refer both the driver and vehicle for further examination.

CBP officers conducted an intensive inspection that included the use of a canine unit. After the canine alerted to the vehicle, officers found 91 wrapped packages of methamphetamine hidden in various locations throughout the vehicle’s doors, gas tank, and spare tire. The weight of the narcotic was 108 pounds with a street value of approximately $270,000.

The driver, a resident of Yuma, Arizona, was arrested for the alleged narcotic smuggling attempt.

The second seizure occurred the next day, Saturday, April 21, at about 3:20 p.m., at the Andrade port when an officer encountered a 23-year-old male Mexican citizen in a white 2017 Renault Duster. During the inspection, a canine team alerted to the vehicle. Officers escorted both the driver and vehicle to secondary inspection.

During the secondary inspection, officers utilized a canine team and found 35 wrapped packages of methamphetamine and 26 packages of cocaine concealed inside a non-factory compartment in the cargo area of the vehicle.

The weight of the narcotic was 47 pounds of methamphetamine and 69 pounds of cocaine with a combined estimated street value of $892,500.

The driver, a resident of Los Algodones, Baja California, was arrested for the alleged narcotic smuggling attempt.

A few hours later, at about 10:07 p.m. at the Calexico West port of entry, a CBP officer encountered a 44-year-old male U.S. citizen driving a 1999 Dodge Dakota. The CBP officer referred the driver and vehicle to the secondary area.

Forgotten Skills Millennials Need to Know How to Do, From Wilderness Training to Home Economics

I am only 56 years old (yes, I know, just a child). However, people of my generation and way before took for granted many skills that we see quickly vanishing. I interviewed one young man today who is of the "millennial" generation (he is 21) and he surprised me because he knew so well most of these skills that I will discuss in this article! Much has been written lately on the forgotten skills of millennials (and probably others who come after my generation) and the need to address this growing problem.

In this article, I will address only the physical skills that we are rapidly losing as a culture. In a future article I will deal with the social skills we seriously need to bring back. Everyone needs to know the following skills ASAP in order to be a tough, functioning, self-reliant adult:

1. Home economics skills.

Back in the ancient world we called this "home ec" in high school. (One of the best courses I took in high school was a home ec class called "Maternal and Infant Care." Lots of guys took it. We learned a bunch about what it takes to run a household, to change diapers, and to basically prepare for being a husband and father. I can tell you that class certainly made me think twice about the seriousness of raising a family. Wish we had more classes like that one that taught me real-life skills.

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Happy 4/20? How marijuana legalization is ruining the unofficial stoner holiday.

The legendary pot-judging contest called the Cannabis Cup has somehow managed to flourish under prohibition. Maybe because prohibition was relatively simple.

High Times magazine brought the gathering to at least one U.S. city each year for most of this decade, even when recreational pot was illegal in all 50 states.

Local opposition was hardly an obstacle then. The cup drew thousands to a Detroit jazz club in 2011, even though suspicious police officers repeatedly intruded on what the Detroit Free Press called its “sealed medicating tent.”

Flash-forward to 2018: Pot has been legalized in nine states since, including California this year. You’d think this weekend’s Cannabis Cup in San Bernardino, Calif., would be a smokeout to remember.

It’s scheduled to begin Friday — 4/20, the high holiday for stoners — and High Times has estimated at least 20,000 will attend the event, to celebrate their drug’s newfound legitimacy as they sample gourmet weed, pet baby goats, get high on a Ferris wheel and see Rick Ross and Lil Wayne perform onstage.

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