Statewide Fire Prevention Week

STATEWIDE -   It's time for Fire Prevention Week.  From October 7-13 the Office of the State Fire Marshal is joining forces with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) United States Fire Administration (USFA) and fire departments throughout the State to remind residents to LOOK. LISTEN. LEARN.  BE AWARE.  FIRE CAN HAPPEN ANYWHERE.   During this year's fire safety campaign, fire departments will be spreading the word about, “Look. Listen. Learn. Be aware. Fire can happen anywhere,” works to educate people about three basic but essential steps to take to reduce the likelihood of having a fire––and how to escape safely in the event of one:

        LOOK

        Look for places fire could start.  Take a good look around your home.  Identify potential fire                  hazards and take care of them.

        LISTEN

        Listen for the sound of the smoke alarm.  You could have only minutes to escape safely once              the smoke alarm sounds.  Go to your outside meeting place, which must be a safe distance from          the homes and everyone should know where to meet.

        LEARN

        Learn two ways out of every room.  Make sure all doors and windows leading outside open                  easily and are free of clutter.

          "All too often a tragedy occurs involving a dwelling fire that claims the life of an occupant and/or occupants," said State Fire Marshal Brian S. Geraci.  "Sadly, in many of these occurrences, a lack of operating smoke alarms is revealed during the investigation.  It is our hope that ‘Fire Prevention Week’ will help us reach folks throughout the State of Maryland before they've suffered a tragic loss resulting from the effects of fire."  In 2017, firefighters in the United States responded to an estimated 1,319,500 fires. An estimated 499,000 of those occurred in structures, and an estimated 820,500 occurred outside of structures or involved vehicles. These fires accounted for an estimated 3,420 deaths, 2,810 of which occurred in structures and 610 in non-structure, vehicle, or outside fires.         

Below are some of the safety tips that firefighters and safety advocates will be emphasizing: 

•  Keep anything that can catch fire away from your stove top.
•  All heaters need space.  Keep anything that can burn at least three feet from heating   equipment.
•  Make sure everyone in your home knows the smoke alarm sound and what to do if they hear   it.
•  Find two ways out of every room.
•  Make sure doors and windows are not blocked.
•  Get outside to your meeting place.
•  Make sure you close your bedroom door at night.

          Fire Prevention Week is actively supported by fire departments across the country.  Additionally, fire Prevention Week is the longest running public health and safety observance on record.

Trump Warns It's A "Very Scary Time" In America... For Men

Following his outspoken remarks on the Kavanaugh allegations and the confirmation process yesterday, President Trump stopped briefly to talk to reporters on the South Lawn before leaving the White House today.

"It’s a very scary situation when you’re guilty until proven innocent,” the president told reporters as he departed the White House on Tuesday.

“It’s a very scary time for young men in America when you can be guilty of something you may not be guilty of. This is a very difficult time.”

ABC News

✔@ABC

Pres. Trump: "It's a very scary time for young men in America, when you can be guilty of something that you may not be guilty of." https://abcn.ws/2NXAjC1 

1:32 PM - Oct 2, 2018

More 

The story of Tim Tebow’s ‘Promise’ speech inspiring the 2008 Florida Gators

Anti-Kavanaugh protesters accosting senators have ties to Soros

The women involved came from a nonprofit called Center for Popular Democracy that has received funding from liberal billionaire George Soros, records show

When Sen. Jeff Flake was accosted by two women in an elevator on Capitol Hill, it was seen as one of the most striking moments of last week’s Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination battle.

In the morning, Flake put out a statement indicating his support for Kavanaugh, but following the elevator incident, he made a dramatic call in the committee room for a one week delay so an FBI investigation could investigate sexual abuse allegations against the nominee.

Flake admitted afterwards that the elevator moment “certainly struck a chord” with him.

Just three days later, three women harassed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as he walked through the terminal at Reagan National Airport.

“How many stories of sexual violence do you need to hear in order to believe woman,” one of the woman asked McConnell during Monday’s incident. Video shows McConnell looking straight ahead.

More

FBI Has No Plans To Interview Dr. Ford In Kavanaugh Probe: Reports

With Arizona Senator Jeff Flake waffling over whether he will ultimately vote to confirm Trump SCOTUS pick Brett Kavanaugh, NBC News - the news organization that Lindsey Graham has accused of colluding with Democrats to sabotage Kavanaugh's nomination- has confirmed that the FBI will not interview Dr. Christine Blasey Ford as part of its expanded background-check probe into Kavanaugh.

Though many suspected this was the case when the bureau neglected to reach out to Ford over the weekend, the way NBC tells it, this fact could become ammunition for Democrats who are seeking a further delay of a confirmation vote.

Using phrasing which suggests that the White House is still working to constrain the Kavanaugh probe despite Trump repeatedly insisting that the opposite is true, NBC reported that the administration believes "Ford's public testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee was sufficient and the FBI would be wasting its time speaking to her again about allegations of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, said a source familiar with the Trump administration's thinking."

More

Marijuana activists arrested outside Rep. Andy Harris's office

Two pro-marijuana activists were arrested Tuesday after advocates tried to confront Rep. Andy Harris at his Capitol Hill office in an incident that left the congressman with a bruised wrist.

U.S. Capitol Police officers responded at about 12:15 p.m. to a report of “unlawful demonstration activity” outsideMr. Harris’s office in the Longworth House Office Building and two of the demonstrators smoked marijuana in the hallway near his office, according to Capitol Police.

Kristin Furnish, 28, from Salisbury, and Rachel Ramone Donlan, 46, from Washington, D.C., were charged with illegally possessing a controlled substance and consuming marijuana in a public place.

Mr. Harris’s office said protesters tried to “forcibly enter” the office after the congressman entered through a private door, “bruising his wrist as they tried to force the door open.”

Mr. Harris said the incident demonstrates the problem with political discourse today.

More

Hillary: Trump 'Has Been Racist, He’s Been Sexist, He’s Been Islamophobic’— Base 'Responding' to 'Prejudices'

Tuesday at the Atlantic festival in Washington D.C., former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said President Donald Trump “has been racist, he’s been sexist. He’s been Islamophobic. He has been anti-LQBTQ.”

She added, “He has a view of America that is incredibly constricted. And he talks to that America. He talks to them all the time. And it’s by no means a majority, as we know. But it is a very hard core who are responding to him and supporting him for a variety of reasons. Whatever they might be, economic reasons, Supreme Court reasons, or some of these other more troubling biases and prejudices.”

More/Video

Shocker: Dianne Feinstein does not want the FBI report released

Uh-oh! It looks as though DiFi (or as Clarice Feldman calls her, ChiFi) has an inkling that that traps may be springing and witnesses singing in ways that will not help the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee and beyond. Yesterday, she said of the forthcoming FBI report demanded by Judiciary Committee Dems plus Flake, "It would seem to me that if people are going to be identified, this ought to be held very close."

Wait! I thought the American people had a right to know!

For reasons known to himself but not me, Mitch McConnell agrees:

McConnell confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that the report will only be seen by senators and will not be made publicly available.

Is Mitch planning to use it for leverage, threatening to expose bad behavior by Judiciary Committee Dems? Or the witness Blasey Ford? Or her well connected lawyers?

More

Watch Live! President Trump Rally in Rochester, MN

Since this is a live event you will need to click "READ MORE" below to view the video.  The video will auto play.

Party-led probe finds Keith Ellison abuse claims 'unsubstantiated'

Minnesota Democrats met with plenty of skepticism Monday after a party-led investigation into domestic-abuse allegations against Democrat Rep. Keith Ellison concluded that the claims were “unsubstantiated.”

Susan Ellingstad, a Minneapolis attorney hired by the Minnesota Democrat-Farmer-Labor Party, said her internal investigation was “unable to substantiate the claim of physical abuse” made by Karen Monahan, Mr. Ellison’s ex-girlfriend, according to the report leaked to the Associated Press.

Minnesota DFL chairman Ken Martin said in a statement afterward to media outlets that the party would forward the 15-page report to local authorities “to let them review the contents and determine whether further investigation is warranted.”

His decision did little to squelch perceptions that the probe was hopelessly conflicted, given that Ms. Ellingstad is a law partner of DFL attorney Charlie Nauen, and Mr. Ellison serves as deputy chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

“I don’t know why anyone would be surprised by that. The Democrat Party hires lawyers close to the Democrat Party to investigate a sensitive candidate, and they come back saying ‘not enough here,’” said University of Minnesota political science professor Larry Jacobs. “I don’t think that was surprising.”

More

Perjury??

A man who dated Brett Kavanaugh’s primary accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, for six years claims she had no fear of flying, no fear of small spaces or rooms with single exits, and once used her psychology training to prepare a friend for a polygraph examination, according to a Tuesday Fox News report.

In a sworn statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee dated Tuesday, the California man claims to have met the then-Christine Blasey “in 1989 or 1990,” then had been romantically involved with her for about six years from 1992 to 1998. In that time, he claims to have witnessed Ford, then studying psychology, coach a close friend as she prepared for government administered polygraph exams. Fox News’s Shannon Bream posted a redacted version of the letter on Twitter:

The man’s claims appear to contradict Ford’s testimony under oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week...

More

Jeep Stolen In Salisbury

Walter E. Williams: Racial Disparities in School Discipline

President Barack Obama’s first education secretary, Arne Duncan, gave a speech on the 45th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday” at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, where, in 1965, state troopers beat and tear-gassed hundreds of peaceful civil rights marchers who were demanding voting rights. Later that year, as a result of widespread support across the nation, the U.S. Congress passed the Voting Rights Act. Secretary Duncan titled his speech “Crossing the Next Bridge.” Duncan told the crowd that black students “are more than three times as likely to be expelled as their white peers,” adding that Martin Luther King would be “dismayed.”

Gail Heriot, a law professor at the University of San Diego and a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and her special assistant and counselor, Alison Somin, have written an important article in the Texas Review of Law & Politics, titled “The Department of Education’s Obama-Era Initiative on Racial Disparities in School Discipline” (Spring 2018). The article is about the departments of Education and Justice’s “disparate impact” vision, wherein they see racial discrimination as the factor that explains why black male students face suspension and expulsion more often than other students.

More

WALSH: How We Know That Christine Ford Is A Liar

I was among those who tried to be gentle with Christine Ford in the early going, though I never took her story at face value. I thought perhaps she was mistaken or misremembering. I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt, even as the inconsistencies piled up. Like many supporters of Brett Kavanaugh — and Kavanaugh himself — I theorized that something bad may have happened to her, but she accidentally misconstrued the events in her mind or subconsciously infused Kavanaugh into her memory of the event.

Now I think it is time to stop being so gentle. It is just not possible to avoid the plain reality anymore: Christine Ford is a liar. She may still have been victimized in some form at some point in the past, but it is no longer possible for a rational person to conclude that this is all an innocent case of mistaken identity. Someone is a liar here. And it seems very clear that the liar is Ford.

There's a reason why sex crimes prosector Rachel Mitchell doesn't find Ford's story credible. There are too many gaps and the gaps are too suspicious. It's not just that Ford can't remember — it's that she specifically can't remember any of the details that might prove or disprove her claim. She also can't remember the things she did and said even in the last few months. If her memory really is that terrible, she knows her memory is that terrible, and she knows that she can't therefore be "100 percent certain" that Kavanaugh was the assailant. At a minimum, her claims of certainty are a lie.

But it's more than that. Ford's story has changed to get around Kavanaugh's defenses. These aren't random changes in the narrative. These are targeted and calculated changes. If we are going to absolve her of dishonesty at this point, we must believe that her memory lapses are just coincidentally convenient, and that gaps in her story are coincidentally convenient, and the changes in the story are coincidentally convenient. The coincidences are simply too convenient and too numerous to truly be coincidental.

More/Video

Ocasio-Cortez: We Can't Compromise With 'Insane People' on the Right 'Holding the Country Hostage'

Democratic congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said in a new interview her party couldn't compromise with the "insane people" on the right holding the country "hostage."

Asked by Vanity Fair how she intended to balance her desire for rapid, progressive change with the need in Washington to make deals, Ocasio-Cortez said Democrats too often compromise even before getting to the table.

"When you’re dealing with these insane people holding the country hostage on the right, you can’t go in with your end point. You have to go in with a strong position," she said. "If they’re trying to end Planned Parenthood, I don’t think we go in with, ‘No, let’s keep Planned Parenthood.' I think we go in with, ‘Let’s expand women’s rights to health care and have it guaranteed in every state.' I think we can compromise on our tactics and how we get there, but we can’t compromise where we’re going."

She said she was "a thousand percent" committed to helping Democrats win the House, calling it "existential for the country" and invoking the possibility of impeaching President Donald Trump.

More

Ex-fiancee of suspect in DC 'mansion murders' testifies at trial

The former fiancee of a man being tried for the brutal murders of a wealthy Washington DC family and their housekeeper testified that he had wads of cash on him when he came to visit her in New York just days after the killings.

Daron Wint, 37, previously pleaded not guilty to 20 felony charges, including murder, kidnapping, extortion and arson in the 2015 killings of business executive Savvas Savopoulos, his wife, Amy, their 10-year-old son, Philip, and their maid Veralica Figueroa.

Their bodies were discovered on May 14 of that year after a fire at their $4.5million mansion.

More

Hazleton Pennsylvania man charged with defrauding the United States

SCRANTON, Pa. — A Hazleton, Pennsylvania man, was charged Monday in a criminal information with defrauding the United States, and with the unlawful procurement of naturalization, following a joint investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation. The charges were filed on Feb. 1, 2017, but remained under seal until Sept. 27, 2018.

Lucas Hernandez-Torres, 47, pleaded guilty to the charges on April 25, 2017, and is awaiting sentencing, and faces a maximum penalty under federal law of 10 years imprisonment.

Hernandez-Torres admitted to defrauding the IRS by allowing other conspirators to claim his dependents as their own, thereby incurring federal tax credits and refunds. Hernandez-Torres received kickbacks in return, and also made false claims in his personal tax returns for wages that he had not earned, thus accruing additional tax credits. The offenses occurred for tax years 2010 through 2014. Hernandez-Torres, a Mexican National, also made false statements on a naturalization application.

Top FBI Lawyer Flips: Russia Probe Was Handled In "Abnormal Fashion" And Rife With "Political Bias"

James Baker, a former top FBI lawyer, told congressional investigators on Wednesday that the Russia probe was handled in an "abnormal fashion" and was rife with "political bias" according to Fox News, citing two Republican lawmakers present for the closed-door deposition.

"Some of the things that were shared were explosive in nature," Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., told Fox News. "This witness confirmed that things were done in an abnormal fashion. That's extremely troubling."

Meadows claimed the "abnormal" handling of the probe into alleged coordination between Russian officials and the Trump presidential campaign was "a reflection of inherent bias that seems to be evident in certain circles." The FBI agent who opened the Russia case, Peter Strzok, FBI lawyer Lisa Page and others sent politically charged texts, and have since left the bureau. -Fox News

Baker, who worked closely with former FBI Director James Comey, left the bureau earlier this year.

Lawmakers did not provide any specifics about the interview, citing a confidentiality agreement signed with Baker and his attorneys, however they said that he was cooperative and forthcoming about the beginnings of the Russia probe in 2016, as well as the FISA surveillance warrant application to spy on former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.

More

Nolte: New Evidence Eliminates Christine Blasey Ford's Residual Credibility

Breitbart News has already gone into great detail to lay out the facts that unravel the allegations Christine Blasey Ford andDeborah Ramirez made against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Since these individual reports, Ford’s story has continued to crumble.

Real Clear Politics has looked at the records surrounding Ford’s claim that an extensive 2012 remodel of her home involving two front doors triggered her memory of Kavanaugh’s alleged 1982 assault attempt.

Documents, however, show that the remodel took place in 2008 and that the second front door was not an odd request from a traumatized woman fearing she could not escape, but someone looking to make extra income renting out part of her home — possibly in violation of local zoning laws.

More

Pro-Choice Man Filmed Kicking Woman at Pro-Life Protest

Pro-life demonstrators held an annual "Life Chain" event across Canada on Sept. 30, but one of the peaceful protesters ended up facing violence.

Marie-Claire Bissonnette spoke to a man who she said had been defacing the participants’ signs and clothes, including scribbling on the back of a 10-year-old girl, and after she talked for a few seconds, the man roundhouse kicked her in the shoulder. He claimed to be targeting the phone she was using to record him and he soon fled the scene, according to an article she wrote forLifeSiteNews, a pro-life publication.

Her phone survived the encounter and so she has shared the video online. In it, she confronts him about destroying private property by vandalizing the protesters’ signs and clothes, which he shrugs off before arguing that abortion should be legal to help rape victims. Then, he kicks her.

"[The man] forcefully roundhouse-kicked me in the shoulder, which sent my phone flying and I yelled for someone to call the police. In defence of his violence he claimed he’d meant to kick my phone, and then, as a fellow Life Chain participant dialed 9-1-1, he yanked off the ribbon I’d been wearing on my chest and ran away, heading east," Bissonnette wrote.

More

Troopers Arrest Seaford Man for Burglary-Seaford

Seaford - The Delaware State Police have arrested a Seaford man for burglary and other related charges.

The incident occurred on Tuesday, October 2, 2018 at approximately 6:25 p.m. when Troopers were dispatched to a residence on the 12000 block of Concord Road for a report of a burglary in progress. A neighbor had contacted the homeowner who was not home at the time, to advise them that a male subject was inside of their residence. Upon arrival, Troopers located a side door that was ajar and appeared to be damaged, there was also a fire that was burning outside the rear of the residence. When Troopers entered the residence, they located a subject sitting in the middle of the living room floor with drug paraphernalia and .21 grams of marijuana beside him.

The suspect, identified as 37-year-old Austin M. Ayers was taken into custody without incident. It was learned that Ayers had previously been issued a no contact order with the residence. Ayers was transported back to Troop 5 where he was charged with the following:
Burglary Second Degree Dwelling
Possession of Drug Paraphernalia
Criminal Mischief
Breach of Release
Possession of Marijuana

Ayers was also charged by the Delaware State Fire Marshal’s office in reference to setting the fire.

Ayers was arraigned before the Justice of the Peace Court 2 and committed to the Sussex Correctional Institution on $5,601.00 secured bond.

Ellison: I'm Considering Resigning From the DNC

Democratic National Committee deputy chair Keith Ellison said Wednesday he is considering resigning from the DNC in order to concentrate fully on his run for Minnesota attorney general.

Ellison announced in June he would forgo running for a seventh term in Congress to seek the attorney general position. Last year, Ellison was pushed by the party's far-left flank for the DNC chairmanship but was defeatedby Tom Perez, the preferred pick of former President Barack Obama.

"You know, I've been evaluating that recently, so we'll see," Ellison told WCCO radio of stepping down from the DNC. "I need to put 100 percent of my time, energy and resources into the race and my office, so it is something I am considering."

Ellison's campaign has been rocked by his ex-girlfriend Karen Monahan's accusation that Ellison physically and emotionally abused her in 2016, which the congressman has denied. The Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party in Minnesota conducted an internal investigation and found the claim to be unsubstantiated.

"Look, the DFL wasn't trying to look out for me, it was just looking out for itself to make sure that its brand was strong," Ellison said of the state party's report.

More

Maryland Fishing Report: Oct. 3

Photo by Rich Watts

Welcome to “Rocktober!”
Heavy rains continued through much of last week, but we finally had some beautiful sunny weather over the weekend. Many anglers got out on the bay to enjoy action with striped bass, bluefish and southern visitors such as speckled trout and red drum.

---

Forecast Summary: Oct. 3-9

This begins a special time of year. No, it isn’t pumpkin spice season. It is Rocktober – a time of cooling waters, shorter days and acres of breaking fish and screaming gulls. This week, anglers will be treated to stable weather with moderate temperatures, low winds and a very low chance of rain. Expect improving water conditions for gamefish, including the mighty rockfish. With uniformly mixed waters, there will be plenty of cool, well oxygenated water from the surface down into deeper waters of at least 30 feet for hungry fish to roam. However, the Don’t Fish Below Depth at Swan Point and the Bay Bridge is 16 and 25 feet, respectively.
At the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration buoys, water temperatures are cool, with the Susquehanna River at 65 degrees, Gooses Reef at 73 degrees, Point Lookout at 73 degrees. Temperatures should remain stable as the week of moderate temperatures continue. Expect poor water clarity from the high flows coming from most rivers and streams. The Susquehanna River’s muddy water will likely extend down to near Gooses Reef. In addition, there is poor water clarity on the Potomac River down below Breton Bay with the worst water clarity from Mattawoman Creek upriver from the high flows. There will be above average tidal currents Friday through Tuesday as a result of the new moon Oct. 9.
For the full weekly fishing conditions summary and more, pleasure be sure to check out Click Before You Cast.

---

Upper Chesapeake Bay

Here is a surprise catch of a young spotted sea trout from the upper bay, caught in a cast net. Photo by Rich Watts

There is still some debris in the upper bay due to the Conowingo Dam operating with as many as eight spill gates open last week, however the size and the quantity of the debris has decreased. Water continues to be stained from runoff and the flow is higher than average, but the situation should steadily improve with dryer, sunny weather.
According to local tackle shops, chumming and fishing with cut menhaden chunks continues to produce striped bass in the usual locations, along the 20-foot to 25-foot channel edges at Swan, Love and Podickory points. Live-lining with spot and jigging has been good around the Bay Bridge pilings and rock islands. Numbers of bluefish seems to be down this year due to high freshwater flows and low salinity.
For those seeking live baits, spot will be harder to find as water temperatures slowly go down in early October. They can still be found in the lower Magothy River and the shallower side of the Bay Bridge in about 15 feet of water, including the area around Sandy Point and Dolly’s Lump/Hackett’s Bar.
We have also received reports that striped bass are starting to move up into the various rivers, such as the Patapsco, and are being caught from shore on bloodworms and peeler crabs and also from boats while jigging. Top water baits, or poppers, are working near piers and structures in the rivers, especially during low light periods like mornings, evenings and overcast days. Trolling the mouth of rivers is also producing with light bucktails and small paddletail swimbaits.
Fishing for large white perch continues to be good in the tidal rivers and along shoreline structure for those casting small spinners, spinnerbaits such as Perch Pounders and Super Rooster Tails, and smalljigs with plastic Twister Tails. Some anglers like to tip their jigs and spinners with small pieces of blood work to provide a scent trail. Channel catfish have been active and aggressive from the Susquehanna Flats down to Matapeake and can be caught in all of the region’s tidal rivers. Some larger channel catfish are being reported from the Podickory Point area on cut bait.

More

Executive Bob Culver Visits The White House

Minneapolis police won't investigate Keith Ellison abuse allegations, cite conflict of interest

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minneapolis Police Department said Wednesday that it won’t investigate domestic abuse allegations against Rep. Keith Ellison due to a conflict of interest.

State Democratic officials asked Minneapolis police to conduct an investigation after an attorney with links to the party found an ex-girlfriend’s claims unsubstantiated.

Minneapolis police said they won’t handle the matter due to a conflict, or the appearance of a conflict, and they are talking with other agencies to see where they can refer the case. The department didn’t elaborate on the conflict.

An ex-girlfriend of Ellison, Karen Monahan, alleged in August that the Democratic congressman dragged her off a bed by her feet while screaming obscenities at her in 2016.

Ellison, a deputy chairman of the Democratic National Committee who is now running for Minnesota attorney general, has denied the allegation.

More

'Neighborhoods Are Crying Out': Baltimore Is Nation's Deadliest Big City, Says FBI

Baltimore continues its descent into chaos. The Democratic Party has been asleep at Baltimore City Hall for nearly five decades, as the now de-industrialized region had the highest homicide rate among the nation’s 50 largest cities (population over 500,000) last year and the second-highest violent crime rate overall, according to new crime statistics released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Since the American High (the late 1960s), the city's population has been halved. Baltimore was once at the center of American ingenuity for its massive steel manufacturing plants -- but not so much anymore. The city has been rotting from within for decades. When one thinks of Baltimore today, automatically The Wire, 2015 riots, and murders come to mind.

According to The Baltimore Sun, the city has sustained a vicious upcycle in violent crime since 2015, when the per annum number of homicides soared well above 300 for three consecutive years after civil unrest that followed Freddie Gray’s death from injuries suffered in police custody.

More

Mark Meadows: ‘Strong Suggestion’ That Undercover FBI Sources Taped Trump Campaign

North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows said Wednesday that there is a “strong suggestion” that undercover FBI sources secretly taped members of the Trump campaign.

“Now whether that was a confidential human source taping an individual, that’s what I believe it is, but it’s important that we look at this because the whole narrative of ‘Spygate’ and tapping and all of that have been narratives that are out there but unproven,” Meadows, the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, told Hill.TV.

“There’s a strong suggestion that confidential human sources actually taped members within the Trump campaign,” the Republican continued. “There is strong suggestions in that some of the text messages, emails, and so forth who was involved, that extraordinary measures were used to surveil.”

Meadows, a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, did not specify what information he has seen. But the Department of Justice has recently provided documents about the FBI’s investigation to several House committees, including Oversight and the House Judiciary Committee.

More

The Feinstein/Ford Blockade: Chronology, Testimony, and Hypocrisy

“An allegation standing alone is not necessarily sufficient to conclude that conduct occurred.”

That was the conclusion of the Democrat attorney hired to investigate domestic-violence allegations against DNC Deputy Chairman, aspiring Minnesota Attorney General, and Rep. Keith Ellison. His victim had medical records and a police report associated with her charges, and had discussed the alleged assault with others. Additionally, there is at least one other assault allegation against Ellison noted in a 2005 police report by another woman.

These charges are more serious, more recent, better documented, and more suggestive of a pattern of abuse than the unsupported, unsubstantiated, uncorroborated, and in fact refuted allegations that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh groped another teenager 36 years ago.

But Ellison’s defenders incessantly remind us that the allegations against Ellison could be false, especially the lawyer who cleared him — whose firm has given more than $500,000 to Democrat candidates.

Again, “An allegation standing alone is not necessarily sufficient to conclude that conduct occurred.”

Of course, nothing close to that assertion, or its inherent assumption of innocence (a foundational standard of constitutional Rule of Law), entered the rhetorical lexicon of Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats in their “search and destroy” mission against Judge Kavanaugh. That charade, scripted by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), disgracefully used a distressed woman with conflicted memories, Christine Ford, as a political pawn. Feinstein seems to have achieved the optics Democrats were after, enraging their largest voter constituency, women, whom Demos treat like emotionally incontinent dupes.

More from Mark Alexander's column..

Breaking News: Two undecided G.O.P. senators suggested they were satisfied with the F.B.I. report on Brett Kavanaugh. Democrats called the inquiry incomplete.

Senators Jeff Flake of Arizona and Susan Collins of Maine did not say that they will vote for Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, President Trump’s second Supreme Court nominee.

But both made positive remarks after a closed-door briefing in which Republicans were told that no witnesses corroborated the accounts of Judge Kavanaugh’s main accusers.

Read More »

Dershowitz: What If Kavanaugh Was a Liberal Muslim Accused of Terrorism?

As a law professor for half a century, I tested the consistency and strength of my students' arguments by constructing thought experiments in the form of challenging hypothetical cases — we called them hypos. So let’s construct one to test the arguments being offered in the Kavanaugh case.

A thought experiment: President Hillary Clinton nominates the first Muslim-American to the Supreme Court. Let’s call him Amir Hassan. He is highly qualified and his nomination is widely supported by most Democrats and some centrists.

Most Republicans oppose him and accuse him of being a judicial activist. Then several witnesses place him at a mosque at which terrorism was advocated. He claims he went there to hear all sides of the issue. One witness places him in a terrorism training camp but that account is not corroborated. One final witness identifies him as the man who planted the bomb that blew off his leg at a demonstration. He categorically denies any association with terrorism.

How would the Senate, the media, ACLU and the public deal with these accusations?

More here

Report: Trump Drops Safeguards Against Chinese Technology Theft

The U.S. ambassador to China has temporarily blocked a proposal by White House aide Stephen Miller to “make it impossible” for Chinese citizens to study in the United States, according to the Financial Times.

The report, which includes a description of the meeting where President Donald Trump sided with Ambassador Terry Branstad, also warns that Trump may develop alternative reforms amid the growing worries about the Chinese government’s determined theft of U.S. commercial secrets and scientific discoveries.

The theft is greatly helped by many American executives and laboratory directors who cut their payroll costs by sidelining Americans graduates while hiring cheap Chinese software programmers, scientists and laboratory technicians.

According to the report by the Financial Times:

As the administration debated ways to tackle Chinese espionage, Stephen Miller, a White House aide who has been pivotal in developing the administration’s hardline immigration policies, pushed the president and other officials to make it impossible for Chinese citizens to study in the US, according to three people familiar with internal discussions.

The report, likely leaked by Branstad or his aides, continued:

According to the three people familiar with the discussions, ahead of the Oval Office meeting Mr Branstad argued that Mr Miller’s plan would take a much bigger toll on smaller colleges, including in Iowa, than on wealthy Ivy League universities.

More here

['Follow the Money'.. Chinese students pay FULL tuition at American universities. --Editor]

Nolte: New Evidence Eliminates Christine Blasey Ford’s Residual Credibility

Breitbart News has already gone into great detail to lay out the facts that unravel the allegations Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez made against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Since these individual reports, Ford’s story has continued to crumble.

Real Clear Politics has looked at the records surrounding Ford’s claim that an extensive 2012 remodel of her home involving two front doors triggered her memory of Kavanaugh’s alleged 1982 assault attempt.

Documents, however, show that the remodel took place in 2008 and that the second front door was not an odd request from a traumatized woman fearing she could not escape, but someone looking to make extra income renting out part of her home — possibly in violation of local zoning laws.

A sworn statement released by a man alleging to be Ford’s former boyfriend appears to have answered one very important question. During her testimony last week, why did sex crimes prosecutor Rachel Mitchell ask Ford if she had ever helped someone prepare for a polygraph? It was such an out-of-nowhere question, a seeming waste of time.

More

Mark Dice, A Must See Video

AMAZING: Lindsey Graham Sets Trap By Quoting Clinton Defender James Carville. The Left Falls In Head-First.

On Wednesday, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) made an audience of liberals gasp when he paraphrased prominent Democrat operative James Carville, a rabid defender of alleged sexual assaulter and former President Bill Clinton, while speaking at The Atlantic Fest.

"This is what's degrading: 'This is what you get when you go through a trailer park with a hundred-dollar bill,'" said Graham, when asked about President Donald Trump's "degrading" treatment of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's accuser Christine Blasey Ford.

A collective gasp was heard from the audience, appalled by what Graham had just said.

More

Surveillance State: Those Signs Showing Your Speed May Be Spying On You

Those signs that show you how fast you are traveling may be a part of a United States government surveillance program. That sign might not only be there to remind you what the speed limit is but a part of a dystopian “Big Brother” spy network.

“There used to be an old police saying, ‘If you robbed a bank, please drive carefully,’” former NYPD Detective Sergeant and Bronx Cold Case Squad commander Joseph Giacalone told Quartz. Giacalone that if a getaway driver didn’t do anything to attract the attention of police and get pulled over, they usually had a half-decent chance of fleeing.

“But that’s no longer in effect because you can drive slow, you can stop at every red light, but these license plate readers and surveillance cameras track your every movement.”

According to recently released US federal contracting data, the Drug Enforcement Administration will be expanding the footprint of its nationwide surveillance network with the purchase of “multiple” trailer-mounted speed displays “to be retrofitted as mobile LPR [License Plate Reader] platforms.” The DEA is buying them from RU2 Systems Inc., a private Mesa, Arizona company. But that’s not all. Two other related contracts have been found, as reported by Quartz.

The two contracts show that the DEA has hired a small machine shop in California, and another in Virginia, to conceal the readers within the signs. An RU2 representative said the company providing the LPR devices themselves is a Canadian firm called Genetec. The DEA’s most recent budget describes the program as “a federation of independent federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement license plate readers linked into a cooperative system, designed to enhance the ability of law enforcement agencies to interdict drug traffickers, money launderers or other criminal activities on high drug and money trafficking corridors and other public roadways throughout the U.S.” But focuses primarily along the southwest border region, and the country’s northeast and southeast corridors.

The problem, however, is a big one.

More

POLITICS OF SLEAZE BACKFIRES — 75% of Americans Blame DIANNE FEINSTEIN for Kavanaugh Confirmation Fiasco

This wasn’t supposed to happen?

The Democrat Politics of Sleaze Backfires!

Last month Democrats held a double-digit lead in midterm enthusiasm over Republican voters.

Then they slimed Judge Brett Kavanaugh with 11th hour groping and raping charges.

It was their worst sleaze since the pussy grab video.

Less than three weeks later the Democrat enthusiasm edge has completely vanished.

And 75% of American voters blame Senator Dianne Feinstein for the sleazy politics.

More

Christine Ford’s Close Friend and Alleged Witness Leland Keyser Testifies for THIRD TIME That She Was NEVER at Party with Kavanaugh

The fourth alleged witness in Christine Blasey Ford’s story of alleged sexual assault by Judge Brett Kavanaugh denied the allegations in September.

Leland Ingham Keyser says she has no recollection of EVER BEING AT A PARTY with Brett Kavanaugh and does not know him.

Ms. Keyser is a lifelong friend of Christine Blasey Ford and was one of her best friends in high school.

THERE ARE NO WITNESSES WHO HAVE CONFIRMED CHRISTINE BLASEY FORD’S ACCUSATIONS!
NOT ONE!

Leland Keyser is working with the Judiciary committee and has testified for the THIRD TIME now that she has NEVER been at a party with Brett Kavanaugh.

National Security expert Tony Shaffer knows Leland’s attorney.
This does not look good for Christine Ford.

I personally know the attorney who represents Ms Keyser – and he is a straight shooter. This is very damaging to Ms Ford's account – her own best friend of that early 80s period doesn't know Kavanaugh and has no knowledge of any "party" as Ford claimed: https://t.co/s76HONroLH

More

Koppel on CNN's Coverage of Trump: ‘CNN’s Ratings Would Be in the Toilet Without Donald Trump’

Veteran journalist Ted Koppel on Monday night said CNN's ratings "would be in the toilet" if it weren't for President Donald Trump, noting how the president has been good for ratings and made the network a lot of money.

Koppel, who served as the anchor for ABC's "Nightline" for 25 years and was a broadcast journalist for ABC another 20 years before that, participated in a panel discussion at the National Press Club, where he spoke of the media's coverage of Trump.

"I think that we've left out a key word. Everybody here keeps talking about ideology and politics. Money, money, money. Donald Trump has been very very good for baseball," said Koppel, referring to the news industry.

"He has been wonderful for the industry. Your boss acknowledged as much a number of months ago during the campaign," Koppel said in reference to CNN president Jeff Zucker.

More

Judge Strikes Down Law Requiring Abortion Clinics to Establish Hospital Service for Emergencies

A federal judge struck down a 20-year-old Kentucky law that requires abortion clinics to have established agreements with hospitals and ambulances in the event of medical emergencies.

Judge Greg Stivers of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky – an Obama appointee – handed a victory to abortion rights activists when he ruled that the law mandating that abortion clinics establish “transfer agreements” with hospitals and ambulance services violates a woman’s right to abortion.

“The court has carefully reviewed the evidence presented in this case and concludes that the record is devoid of any credible proof that the challenged regulations have any tangible benefit to women’s health,” Stivers wrote in his ruling. “On the other hand, the regulations effectively eliminate women’s rights to abortions in the state. Therefore, the challenged regulations are unconstitutional.”

More here

Top FBI lawyer offers 'explosive' testimony on 'abnormal' handling of Russia probe

Former top FBI lawyer James Baker gave "explosive" closed-door testimony on Wednesday detailing for congressional investigators how the Russia probe was handled in an "abnormal fashion" reflecting "political bias," according to two Republican lawmakers present for the deposition.

"Some of the things that were shared were explosive in nature," Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., told Fox News. "This witness confirmed that things were done in an abnormal fashion. That's extremely troubling."

Meadows claimed the "abnormal" handling of the probe into alleged coordination between Russian officials and the Trump presidential campaign was "a reflection of inherent bias that seems to be evident in certain circles." The FBI agent who opened the Russia case, Peter Strzok, FBI lawyer Lisa Page and others sent politically charged texts, and have since left the bureau.

More

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/top-fbi-lawyer-baker-offers-explosive-testimony-on-abnormal-handling-of-russia-probe-into-trump-campaign-lawmakers

Ingraham: The academic resistance at Yale, Harvard, Georgetown is beyond belief

The left is moving in lockstep in its sleazy effort to obliterate not only the Supreme Court confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh, but the man himself.

We've seen Soros-funded activists confronting senators in elevators to stall Kavanaugh's confirmation along with choreographed impromptu press conferences and rallies. We've seen Hollywood stars staging their tedious walkouts to urge the Senate to vote against Kavanaugh. And now academia has engaged, so watch out.

A provost distinguished professor at Georgetown University named Carol Christine Fair tweeted this last weekend:

"Look at this chorus of entitled white men justifying a serial rapist arrogated entitlement. All of them deserve miserable deaths while feminist laugh as they take their last gasps. Bonus, we castrate their corpses and feed them to swine? Yes."

So, no longer content to indoctrinate our children, academic liberals like Fair are now advocating violence against conservatives. When she was exposed by Campus Reform, the professor accused them of bullying her. Now, she's a damsel in distress.

More

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/laura-ingraham-kavanaugh-saga-the-academic-resistance-at-yale-harvard-georgetown-is-beyond-belief

Rep. Jackson Lee intern arrested in doxxing of GOP senators

A Democrat congressional intern was arrested Wednesday and accused of posting the personal information of at least one Republican senator during last week's hearing about sexual assault claims against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, authorities said.

U.S. Capitol Police said 27-year-old Jackson Cosko was charged with making public restricted personal information, witness tampering, threats in interstate communication, unauthorized access of a government computer, identity theft, second-degree burglary and unlawful entry. Police added that the investigation was continuing and more charges could be filed.

Senior congressional sources tell Fox News that Cosko most recently worked as an unpaid intern for Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas. He previously worked with Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and former Democrat Sen. Barbara Boxer of California. A LinkedIn page with Cosko's name on it describes him as a "Democrat Political Professional & Cybersecurity Graduate Student."

More

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/rep-jackson-lee-intern-arrested-in-doxxing-of-gop-senators-during-kavanaugh-hearing

Republicans, Outraged by ‘Circus,’ Now Match Democrats in Voter Enthusiasm

A new poll indicates that Republicans have closed the Democrats’ formerly wide gap in voter enthusiasm, thanks to the ongoing crisis surrounding the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court.

A new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll released Wednesday found that 80% of Republicans now say the November elections are “very important,” compared with 82% of Democrats — a statistical tie, well within the poll‘s 4-point margin of error.

The poll was conducted on October 1st (Monday), as the FBI was conducting its supplemental probe of allegations of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh. The 12-year veteran of the D.C. Circuit was recently accused of groping a girl when he was in high school — a claim he denies. Republican Senators have called Democrats’ attempt to derail Kavanaugh’s confirmation a “circus” — a point on which both the GOP establishment and the conservative base seem to have found elusive agreement

In July, only 68% of Republicans said the midterm elections were “very important,” compared to 78% of Democrats.

More

McConnell: ‘We’re Not Going to Be Intimidated’ by Protesters

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) issued a stern message to protesters opposed to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in a fiery Senate floor speech Wednesday: Your intimidation tactics will not stop the full Senate from voting on the judge’s confirmation.

“Colleagues, including my friend, the Democrat leader, have tried to get Judge Kavanaugh to withdraw from this process because of these uncorroborated and sometimes absolutely ridiculous allegations,” McConnell began. “When that didn't work, then the far-left tried to bully and intimidate members of this body, Republican United States senators. They’ve tried to bully and intimidate us.”

“One of our colleagues and his family were effectively run out of a restaurant in recent days by these people. And other reported that protesters physically blocked his car door,” McConnell said. “Some have seen other organized far-left protesters camp out at there homes.”

He continued: “I’m not suggesting we’re the victims here, but I want to make it clear to these people who are chasing my members around the hall here or harassing them at the airports or going to their homes-- we’re not going to be intimidated by these people. There is no chance in the world they’re going to scare us out of doing our duty."

More

Obama Drug Use From Dreams Of My Father 1995

Uranium One: FBI Refuses To Release Three-Dozen Secret Memos Involving Clintons, Russia And Obama

The FBI has refused to declassify 37 pages of materials related to the Uranium One deal, citing national security and the privacy issues, reports The Hill's John Solomon. The documents are thought to contain information regarding then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's involvement, as well as the Obama administration's knowledge of the controversial deal.

The existence of the documents became known after a recent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) release of related material contained an entry entitled "Uranium One Transaction." The publicly available portion includes benign material, such as public letters from members of Congress who demanded information on the Uranium One approval.

Perhaps the FBI’s unexpected “release” — and I use that word loosely, since they gave up no public information of importance — in the FOIA vault was a warning flare designed to remind America there might be evidence worth looking at.

One former U.S. official, who had access to the evidence shared with CFIUS during the Uranium One deal, said this to me: “There is definitely material that would be illuminating to the issues that have been raised. Somebody should fight to make it public.”

That somebody could be President Trump, who could add these 37 pages of now-secret documents to his declassification order he is considering in the Russia case. -The Hill

William Campbell and the FBI

In October of 2017, John Solomon and Alison Spann broke the story of former CIA and FBI undercover agent, William D Campbell - who remained unnamed until this year. Campbell was deeply embedded in the Russian nuclear industry while Robert Mueller was the Director of the FBI - which paid him a $51,000 "thank you" award for his service.

“For several years my relationship with the CIA consisted of being debriefed after foreign travel,” Campbell noted in his testimony, which was obtained by this reporter. “Gradually, the relationship evolved into the CIA tasking me to travel to specific countries to obtain specific information. In the 1990’s I developed a working relationship with Kazakhstan and Russia in their nuclear energy industries. When I told the CIA of this development, I was turned over to FBI counterintelligence agents.” -saracarter.com

More

NBC "A Co-Conspirator In The Destruction Of Kavanaugh" According To Lindsey Graham

Senator Lindsey Graham, who made headlines last week after excoriating Democrats over their "unethical sham" investigation of Brett Kavanaugh, now says that NBC is a "co-conspirator" in the "destruction" of the Supreme Court nominee.

In an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Graham said: "NBC, they’ve been a co-conspirator in the destruction of Kavanaugh from my point of view,” he said. “… do you think NBC would’ve done that if this had been a Democratic male nominee? All I can say is that there the journalistic integrity has been destroyed over this case."

TPM Livewire@TPMLiveWire

Lindsey Graham tells Sean Hannity NBC has been a "co-conspirator" in the "destruction of Kavanaugh."

9:07 AM - Oct 2, 2018

• 11
• See TPM Livewire's other Tweets

Twitter Ads info and privacy

Graham, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, lambasted his Democratic colleagues for sitting on allegations of sexual assault levied against Kavanaugh by Stanford researcher Christine Blasey Ford.

"If you wanted an FBI investigation you could have come to us. What you want to do is destroy this guy’s life, hold this seat open, and hope you win in 2020. You’ve said that, not me," Graham seethed across the room. "This is the most unethical sham since I’ve been in politics and if you really wanted to know the truth, you certainly wouldn’t have done what you did to this guy."

"Boy y’all want power, God I hope you never get it. I hope the American people can see through this sham, that you knew about it and you held it, you had no intention of protecting Dr. Ford, none!" he added. "I hate to say it because these have been my friends, but if you were looking for a fair process, you came to the wrong town at the wrong time."

More