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Saturday, December 22, 2018

The Next Financial Crisis is Here, China Edition

This might be the single most important series of articles I’ve written all year.

If you have family or friends who are concerned about the markets, forward them these emails.

The global economy is now facing the Perfect Storm. Many are confused by this because neither the economic data nor the media are presenting a picture that is anywhere near as negative as reality.

The reasons for this are that economic data is BACKWARD looking, not predictive… and the media has a vested interest in promoting a rosy picture (their advertising dollars are closely linked to economic growth/ improvement).

Financial markets, on the other hand, are FORWARD looking. And they tend to reflect reality better than most things, especially when the financial system is entering a profound change like we are today.

So what is The Perfect Storm?

Today we're discussing China.

According to the media, China is the next superpower. We are told incessantly that China owns more of our debt than any other country. Moreover, we are told that China buying up the rest of the world or cutting trade deals that will destroy the $USD.

In reality, the Chinese financial system is teetering on the brink of collapse. The country issues $30 in debt for every $1 in GDP growth.

The debt was taken on by entities that will never pay it back (the country’s BAD loan to GDP ratio is north fo 80%)… and the debt is, for the most part, backed by nothing: time and again, we find that when it comes to collect collateral on a debt transaction in China, there is no collateral.

Imagine a mansion that looks pristine on the outside but is completely rotten inside, with the floors collapsing, mold on the walls, etc. Now imagine that the owner used a fake ID to buy the home and there is no means of finding him or her. Moreover, his or her bank account linked to the home is closed.

That is China today.

The markets know it too… which is why the Chinese stock market has broken its bull market trendline running back to… 1991.

The China Miracle is over.

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The Empire's Sea Of Woes

The noose cinches...

Second-rate George H.W. Bush got a first-rate Washington send-off. For one day it interrupted the downtrend in equity markets. It may mark the US apotheosis of inflated grandiosity. Across the Atlantic, Emmanuel Macron, pretentious popinjay of Gallic grandiosity, has gotten a deserved comeuppance. Brexit, Trump’s election, and nationalist uprisings in Southern and Eastern Europe apparently insufficient warning to the globalists who would rule us, the French rioters are sending yet another wake-up call. If that’s not enough, so too are many of the nations outside the Euro-American welfare state asylum.

The crazies’ kings, queens, and courtiers face a dwindling inheritance and mounting debt, but spend lavishly to keep up appearances. Falling markets and rioting taxpayers are unwelcome reminders that the money’s running out, leaving behind a stack of IOUs that won’t be paid. The aristocracy wants to offload the pain to the peasantry, but the riots demonstrate that the peasantry has other ideas. Our betters also want to blame their sea of woes on Eurasia’s leaders, but Russia, China, Russia, Turkey, and Iran are having none of that. They are, however, delighted to see the West crumbling and will do nothing to stop it.

Empire is America’s noose, hubris America’s curse. Once upon a time it didn’t matter much to the American people or their politicians what happened in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, or even Europe. During the nineteenth century, for the most part we minded our own business, and what a business it turned out to be. America became the world’s industrial, technological, and commercial powerhouse.

Success may be the hardest human condition to endure. Few individuals withstand it. For empires, it’s always temporary. They fail and topple from the pinnacle with monotonous regularity. Preceding the fall is that heady feeling of invincibility, just as the those you ignored, scorned, or subjugated on the way up are putting in place their plans to take you down.

World War II left America and its satrapies at the top of the global heap. They neither recognized that their position was the result of fortuitous circumstances nor that their embrace of income taxes, central banking, welfare and warfare states, and governments’ ever-expanding interference in the lives of their citizens would eventually undercut their preeminence. Not until financial catastrophe, insurrection, and the relative progress of nations outside the empire unmistakably confronts them will they recognize that things have changed.

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Your Biometrics: Silent Witnesses Against You And Tools To Track You

Another week has gone by where we have seen a tremendous amount of activity around the world: the French, Belgians, and Dutch are engaged in protests labeled “yellow vest” protests. In actuality, the yellow vests are insignificant: these Euro-Socialist countries require citizens to wear yellow vests in public for protests…for “safety” reasons. Actually it is so that center mass is easier to acquire by their paramilitary police forces. There is a good possibility of a major war escalating from current problems between Ukraine and the separatist provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk. The U.S. phony economy is not doing well.

Quietly and almost unnoticed by the beeves of the American populace are the biometric measures for surveillance and tracking being emplaced by the United States with the cooperation of major corporations. I have written articles on the biometric scanners being used in an Atlanta airport, and that Chicago is following suit, along with Delta using these biometric data collection scanners prior to boarding flights in Los Angeles.

A new article surfaced this week that you need to read. Entitled “FBI plans ‘Rapid DNA’ network for quick database checks on arrestees,” by Tom Jackman on December 13, released by the Washington [Com]Post.

This is very serious, indeed. Here’s an excerpt:

Though DNA has revolutionized modern crime fighting, the clues it may hold are not revealed quickly. Samples of saliva, or skin, or semen are sent to a crime lab by car (or mail), and then chemists get to work. Detectives are accustomed to waiting days or weeks, or longer, for the results. Some labs are so backed up, they take only the most serious crimes. Some samples are never tested. But a portable machine about the size of a large desktop printer is changing that. A “Rapid DNA” machine can analyze the DNA in a swab and produce a profile of 20 specific loci on the DNA strand in less than two hours. Some local police departments and prosecutors have been using Rapid DNA machines for about five years to solve crimes.

How “procedurally harmless” this may sound on the surface, people, there is something that is not mentioned.

With those machines, they will be able to stow them in vehicles... for use door-to-door.

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Peak Deep Fake - Nvidia's Scary AI Generates Humans That Look 100% Real

Believe it or not, all these faces are fake. They have been synthesized by Nvidia’s new AI algorithm, a generative adversarial network capable of automagically creating humans, cats, and even cars.

The technology works so well that we can expect synthetic image search engines soon - just like Google’s, but generating new fake images on the fly that look real. Yes, you know where that is going - and sure, it can be a lot of fun, but also scary. Check out the video. It truly defies belief:

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NYC Mayor Backs Marijuana Legalization and Conviction Expungement

Mayor Bill de Blasio endorsed the legalization of recreational marijuana Thursday and urged the state to automatically expunge marijuana-related convictions from the past, help "diverse participants" get into the legal pot industry and let New York City tax sales.

On the eve of the announcement, de Blasio's administration issued a 71-page report by the Mayor's Task Force on Cannabis Legalization, making the case for marijuana legalization and the possibility for home delivery, but calling for smoking pot in public to remain illegal.

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This Bear Ain’t Playin’ Games with the Bulls (The Stock Market Crash is in. Cash is in now, too!)

This ain’t no ballgame. This bear has shown up for blood, not sport. The Nasdaq intraday hit the 20% down mark that is widely regarded as qualifying for a change from a bull market to a bear market. A close at that level would have made it as official as a declaration of a bear market gets.

As can be expected, the major index whose stocks played the largest role in forming the bull market of the last decade doesn’t die easy, so the NASDAQ bounced off the bear barrier for today, but it rests an easy day trip from officially killing the longest-living bull in history.

While the NASDAQ now hangs by its horns from the precipice, the Russel 2000, another major index, has already gone over the edge and is officially a bear market; and the Dow Jones transportation sector entered a bear market a little over twenty-four hours ago. So, market sectors are sliding over the edge faster than I can post articles now.

Of course, I’ve been saying for almost a month based on all the characteristics of a bear market that this is a bear market. So, it is no surprise to me that it keeps developing that way. If it looks like a bear, walks like a bear and bawls like a bear and bites like a bear, it must be a bear. (If you ask Russel, it certainly is.) The last time the Nasdaq entered a bear market was in 2009, and it exited in just three weeks. I’m suspecting this time lasts longer!

Consider that the bull’s paroxysms are happening when the Fed is still at an interest rate and balance-sheet height that would normally be considered quite accommodating. Consider, also, that it is convulsing in a year of record stock buybacks funded by record repatriation of foreign profits in a time of record tax breaks and hugely expanded government stimulus spending! Stop and really think about that mouthful because the Fed’s Great Recovery Rewind is so potent it is overpowering all of that muscle to throw this bloody bull over the cliff.

In an upcoming article, I’ll lay out the headwinds (more like hurricane) I see hitting stocks, bonds, and the economy in general in 2019. I anticipate that will be my first subscriber-only article (at least in its initial release). In this article, however, I want to give a general recap for everyone of the bearish facts (call it my bearometer) about the market’s present action that show how severe the bull’s death throes have been so far. (A brief history of how the bear has mauled the bull so far.)

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Rand Paul: Government Shouldn’t Be Kept Open To “Keep Spending Money Like There’s No Tomorrow”

‘We borrow more than a million-and-a-half dollars a minute’

Senator Rand Paul has said that while he opposes a government shutdown, spending is out of control and it should not be allowed to continue.

“People worry about the government shutting down, and I understand that, but they should also worry about keeping the government open,” Paul said during a Fox News appearance.

Citing $22 trillion in federal debt, Paul urged that “We shouldn’t willy-nilly shut the government down, but also shouldn’t just keep it open and keep spending money like there’s no tomorrow.”

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ISIS images of a beheaded Scandinavian tourist were sent to victim's MOTHER

Horrific images showing one of the murdered Scandinavian tourists being beheaded in Morocco have been sent to a victim's mother, it has emerged.

ISIS fanatics gloated about the killing of Dane Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, and Norwegian Maren Ueland, 28, by spreading the gruesome footage on social media.

The clip, in which a suspected ISIS terrorist shouts 'it's Allah's will', was also sent to friends of Ms Jespersen via 'private messenger', it has been claimed.

It has since been revealed that horrific images of the slain tourists have been posted on the Facebook page of Ms Ueland's mother Irene. Some Moroccans bizarrely posted the images in a misguided bid to express sympathy along with calls for the killers to be executed.

Earlier, it was claimed that footage itself had been sent to friends of Ms Jespersen. While it is not clear exactly who sent them the footage, there will be strong suspicions it would have been from warped ISIS sympathisers.

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UK Official Admits Mass Immigration Keeps Wages Low

Endless supply of cheap foreign labor damages native population

Home Secretary Sajid Javid has admitted that mass migration has kept wages low for British workers. The endless supply of cheap foreign labor damaging the prospects of ordinary Brits seems to be finally sinking in.

In an interview with The Spectator, the rumoured Tory Leadership contender said that he was not in favor of a strict limit on numbers, but that it was clear the current open borders approach had hurt the prospects of British workers: “If you can continue to get as much low-skilled labor as you want, where’s the pressure for you to attract more people from the domestic workforce? The obvious way to do that is to gradually increase wages.

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'Voter Suppression Land': Why Deep Blue New York Has Challenges

In 2016, when the governor of Ohio was asked why he had signed a bill to limit early voting, he had a simple retort: He pointed to another state that had no early voting at all.

When North Carolina’s governor was sued for cutting early voting in his own state, his lawyers cited that same state as rebuttal.

In each case, the state in question was New York. Deep blue, liberal-ideal New York.

Despite its reputation for sterling progressivism, New York has some of the most restrictive election laws in the nation. It is one of just 12 states without early voting. No other state holds its federal and state primary elections on different days. Voters who want to change their party affiliation must do so more than a year before the election, a rule that famously left Ivanka Trump unable to vote for her father in the 2016 Republican primary.

“New Yorkers would be aghast if anyone accused New York of voter suppression,” said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. But, she said, “the antiquated nature of our laws and the failure to enact any common-sense reforms for years puts us kind of in voter suppression land.”
View Full Story From New York Times

Walgreens Employee With Concealed Carry Permit Fatally Shoots Armed Assailant Who Jumped the Counter

A Tulsa, Oklahoma Walgreens employee with a concealed carry permit, drew his weapon and fatally shot an armed customer after the two engaged in an argument over photographs that led the customer to first pull out his handgun. Tulsa police identified the deceased man as 52 year old William Hurley. They noted to the Associated Press that a second Walgreens employee and a second customer were also struck by gunfire, but both are expected to survive.

The altercation reportedly started when the Walgreens employee attempted to verify that Hurley was the owner of photographs that had been left at Walgreens for more than a year. Security video reportedly shows Hurley pull out a handgun and jump over the counter at the store before grabbing the photos from the employee. At the same time, other employees were trying to call the police.

Hurley then looked as though he was going to leave with the photographs, but for some reason returned back into the store and headed back toward the clerk.

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*Update #2* Troopers Investigating Report of Shots Fired- Christiana Mall

Newark - The Delaware State Police continue to investigate the incident that was reported as shots being fired last evening at the Christiana Mall.

The incident occurred on Friday, December 21, 2018 at approximately 8:37 p.m., when the State Police received a report of shots being fired at the Christiana Mall located at 132 Christina Mall, Newark. Troopers who were already on site as part of the regularly scheduled security detail and the Christiana Mall Security Officers immediately began to follow safety protocols and procedures. During the response, their were various reports of the suspects being at different businesses. With the assistance of multiple surrounding agencies, the building was evacuated and secured, and traffic was diverted away from the area. A search of the building as well as the surrounding area was conducted and deemed safe.

Further investigation revealed that there was a large fight between multiple subjects. During this incident, a glass container broke and a metal sign fell to the floor. Patrons and employees immediately began fleeing the area. There has been no evidence recovered of any weapons being present or discharged. At this time, it appears that the fight within the mall is the cause of the mass exit of patrons and employees.

Various reports of minor injuries have been made by victims that occurred while fleeing the mall.

The Christiana Mall remains open during regularly scheduled holiday hours at this time.

Spot On


Jennie-O recalls ground turkey products over salmonella concerns

Consumers should check their freezers, as more than 164,000 pounds of Jennie-O turkey products are being recalled over possible salmonella contamination.

The Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), which announced the recall on Friday, said the products subject to the recall “bear establishment number 'EST. P-579' inside the USDA mark of inspection or on the side of the tray.”

The potentially affected items were produced on Oct. 22 and Oct. 23 and were distributed to retailers across the nation. These are the labels consumers should be on the lookout for.

“FSIS is concerned that some product may be frozen and in consumers’ freezers. Consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to consume them. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase,” the agency said.

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https://www.foxnews.com/health/jennie-o-recalls-more-than-160000-pounds-of-ground-turkey-over-salmonella-concerns

‘Innocent Until Proven Guilty’? Not At Most American Universities

Students attending America’s colleges and universities believe they should receive proper due process if they are accused of breaking campus rules, yet most schools fail to provide them with such fairness.

A recent report from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) found some alarming statistics about the nation’s top 53 institutions of higher learning, including that nearly three-quarters of them do not presume the innocence of students accused of a range of crimes, such as vandalism, theft, or sexual assault. Some 90% do not guarantee accused students the right to cross-examine their accusers (or vice versa). Further, not one of the schools surveyed by FIRE includes the due process rights required under the new, proposed Title IX regulations from the Education Department.

“Students accused of serious campus offenses routinely face life-altering punishment without a meaningful opportunity to defend themselves,” Susan Kruth, lead author of the FIRE report, said in a statement. “Universities need to provide basic procedural protections that help ensure accurate outcomes, and right now they overwhelmingly do not.”

FIRE found the top universities using the U.S. News and World Report’s annual rankings, and rated the institutions based on how many of 10 “fundamental procedural safeguards” provided to students. Those 10 safeguards are:

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Celeb Alyssa Milano Trashes Purple Heart Hero For Wall Fund - Realizes BIG Mistake Too Late

Triple-amputee vet Brian Kolfage started raising money to build President Trump’s wall on Monday. In three short days, at the time of this article, Airman Kolfage had raised over $9 million and that number is rising fast.

Most everyone was stunned that that much money had been raised in that short amount of time, but Americans want the wall, and Airman Kolfage saw a way to get it built despite congressional Democrats blocking Trump’s efforts to begin construction.

Of course, the triple-amputee veteran’s actions triggered the left. They’re crying about it all over social media. Enter has-been actress Alyssa Milano who everyone loved before she stuck her nose into politics.

Milano tweeted about Kolfage’s wall funding project:

“Oh, yes! Let’s #GoFundTheWall while not taking care of our veterans. Cool. Cool. Cool.”

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Drug Investigation Leads to Multiple Arrest- Millsboro


Millsboro–  The Delaware State have arrested multiple suspects in connection with a drug investigation.
On December 20, 2018, members of the Sussex Drug Unit (SDU) and the Governor’s Task Force (GTF) concluded a two month drug investigation into the sale of illegal drugs at a residence in the 28000 block of Mount Joy Road.   A search and seizure warrant was obtained for the residence as a result of the investigation.  The search warrant was executed with the assistance of the Special Operations Response Team (SORT).
As a result the following items were seized from the residence and sheds on the property:
  • 519 bags of Heroin (3.633 grams)
  • 22.27 grams of Marijuana
  • Over $5,000.00 in suspected drug proceeds
  • Smith and Wesson MP15 .22 caliber rifle
  • Kel-tec P11 9mm handgun
  • .22 caliber rifle
  • A moped was confirmed to be stolen and recovered
Three subjects were taken into custody without incident.
Clarence Mobley, 29 of Millsboro was charged with Possession of a controlled substance in a Tier 3 quantity and Possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance.  He was arraigned before the Justice of the Peace Court 2 and committed to the Sussex Correctional Institution $10,000.00 secured bond.
Daquon Johnson, 23 of Millsboro was charged with Possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, Possession of a Deadly Weapon By a Person Prohibited, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.  He was arraigned before the Justice of the Peace Court 2 and committed to the Sussex Correctional Institution on $8,000.00 secured bond.
Jerrontae Holden, 24 of Delmar was charged with Possession of a Firearm or Ammunition by a Person Prohibited, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and a capias for Violation of Probation. He was arraigned before the Justice of the Peace Court 2 and committed to the Sussex Correctional Institution on $9,000.00 cash only bond. 

FDA warns some antibiotics can cause fatal heart damage

Certain antibiotics can cause painful and sometimes fatal damage to the body's main artery, the Food and Drug Administration said Thursday.

Fluoroquinolone antibiotics might raise the risk of an aortic dissection, and people who are already at risk should be cautious about taking those antibiotics, the FDA said.

"A U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review found that fluoroquinolone antibiotics can increase the occurrence of rare but serious events of ruptures or tears in the main artery of the body, called the aorta. These tears, called aortic dissections, or ruptures of an aortic aneurysm can lead to dangerous bleeding or even death," the FDA said in a statement.

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Appeals Court Rules Against Ocean City, Remanding Dumsers Case Back For New Trial

OCEAN CITY — Christmas came early for the heirs of the historic building facing possible removal on the east side of the Boardwalk when a state appeals court on Friday ruled against the Town of Ocean City, sending the case back to Worcester County Circuit Court for a new trial.

The building on the east side of South Division Street near the south end of the Boardwalk has been home to different businesses and attractions over the last century-plus after an enterprising young man first built in 1905. Since the 1970s, the iconic building has been home to a Dumser’s Dairyland ice cream parlor that has served the popular treat to generations of residents and visitors to Ocean City.

Ownership of the property was called into question in 2016 after the second of two 25-year agreements between the town of Ocean City and the heirs of the original owner, Nathan Rapaport, who first built the structure back in 1905, expired. In April 2017, a Worcester County Circuit Court judge issued an opinion in favor of the town of Ocean City. As a result of that ruling, the Rapaport heirs were temporarily enjoined from any use of the property and were given a timeline at that time to remove or demolish the historic building.

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Willie Robertson: Our American dream started out smack in the middle of a nightmare. Then this happened

Diligent hands will rule.

– Proverbs 12:24

As long as there’s been an America, there have been entrepreneurs.

We started businesses on our kitchen tables and living room couches, and in our backyards, farms, and garages. Sometimes we started with nothing, and sometimes we got a stack of seed money from a friendly bank or family member.

We sweat, strain, cry, laugh, and work our tails off to make something from nothing and build a better life for our families and ourselves. Sometimes we’ve gone bust and sometimes we’ve succeeded far beyond our wildest dreams. Even the biggest companies start out small, and we’re the ones who started them.

In the process, we founded this nation, built it into the world’s economic superpower, and inspired the world with our achievements.

America has always been a land of business visionaries, risk-takers, and doers, of growers, makers, wheeler-dealers, traders, sellers, merchants, and go-getters. American economist William Baumol described an entrepreneur as “the individual willing to embark on adventure in pursuit of economic goals.” Management expert Peter Drucker described entrepreneurship as “the act that endows resources with a new capacity to create wealth.”

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https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/willie-robertson-our-american-dream-started-out-smack-in-the-middle-of-an-american-nightmare

War Hawk Hillary Armed Jihadist Killers in Syria -- Has the Nerve to Lecture Trump on "Empowering ISIS" After He Pulls Troops from Region!

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton knew that the US was sending arms from Libya to Syria back in 2011, a year before the Benghazi consulate attacks.

Hillary Clinton denied she knew about the weapons shipments during public testimony (under oath) in early 2013 after the Benghazi terrorist attack.

Senator Rand Paul questioned Hillary Clinton about this gun running program back in January 2013 during her testimony on the Benghazi terrorist attack.

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Ted Malloch: Hillary Clinton Knew About, Approved and Paid for Trump-Russia Dossier!

Hillary Clinton knew about, approved, and paid for the Trump-Russia dirty dossier from the beginning and hid the fact from the press.

The Democrat candidate for President in 2016 was an experienced pro, who had seen her way through many political campaigns, including contentious primaries against Obama, for the US Senate in New York, in Arkansas, and of course twice for her very husband, Bill– the 42nd President.

Clinton had a reputation for toughness and a harsh spirit with a knack for details and a large sized ego to match.

Some saw her as “bitch”, conceited, and a Yale Law School, Ivy League, feminist, know it all. Others, who worked with her, had a more benign view but nonetheless readily admitted — she made all the decisions.

Nothing got past her, her grip, or her two cents.

There wasn’t a policy, a message, or a statement that went out that she did not see and did not approve. In fact, she often revised things two or three times slowing down the well-oiled machine.

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Just Like That!


Man who sniffs dirty socks daily hospitalized with fungal infection in lungs, reports say

A man in China who reportedly sniffed his dirty socks each day learned the hard way that his habit is apparently a health danger.

The man, identified only as Peng by the Daily Mail, reportedly developed a habit of sniffing his socks each day after work. But this unusual custom allegedly landed him in the hospital after the Zhangzhou resident complained of chest pains, tightness in his chest and a cough, Science Alert reported.

Initially, doctors at Zhangzhou's 909 Hospital suspected that Peng, 37, had pneumonia. But when his symptoms persisted, doctors re-questioned the man and he eventually admitted he was “addicted to smelling his socks that he had been wearing,” he said, according to the Daily Mail, which cited local Chinese media.

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https://www.foxnews.com/health/man-who-sniffs-dirty-socks-each-day-is-hospitalized-with-fungal-infection-in-lungs-report

Baby Its Cold outside...


Border wall GoFundMe may need to issue refunds after millions raised

A grassroots online campaign to fund President Trump’s proposed border wall roared past $8.7 million on Thursday, but questions remained about whether the feds would be able to accept the gift.

As of Thursday evening, 143,821 people had donated $8,742,182 toward Air Force veteran Brian Kolfage’sGoFundMe campaign, titled We the People Will Fund the Wall, just a little over three days after its launch.

The pledge drive aims to raise $1 billion to “uphold our laws, and get this wall BUILT!” Kolfage, a Purple Heart recipient who lost both legs and an arm in Iraq, wrote on the campaign’s web page. “It’s up to Americans to help out and pitch in to get this project rolling.”

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What Does County’s Route 589 Rezoning Mean? More Commercial Development Near Casino Most Likely

SNOW HILL – Route 589 could see an increase in commercial development following a decision by county leaders to rezone a section of properties near Ocean Downs Casino.

The Worcester County Commissioners on Tuesday voted 5-2 to rezone 14 properties along McAllister Road and Route 589 to C-2 commercial. Though the majority of the properties have been used residentially, proponents of the rezoning argued that the neighborhood was not what it was when those homes were built.

“They’re sitting right across from the casino,” local real estate agent Jim Motsko said. “That changed everything.”

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Trump Tweets Photo Of New Proposed Border Wall. Internet Explodes.

President Donald Trump tweeted out a photo of his new proposed border wall on Friday which shows a wall comprised solely of metal bars with spikes on top.

Trump's tweet comes after he said earlier in the day: "I hope we don't but we are totally prepared for a very long shutdown."

"A design of our Steel Slat Barrier which is totally effective while at the same time beautiful!" Trump tweeted.

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OC Elementary Again Earns State Blue Ribbon Honor

OCEAN CITY – State officials named Ocean City Elementary School a Maryland Blue Ribbon School this week.

Ocean City Elementary, which received the distinction previously in 2001 and then went on to be named a National Blue Ribbon School, was one of six schools recognized Tuesday by the Maryland State Department of Education.

Superintendent of Schools Lou Taylor shared the news with the public at the end of Tuesday’s school board meeting. He stressed that while schools applied to receive the honor in the past, now the distinction was based solely on performance.

“They take all the data and they look at different things,” Taylor said. “It’s a selection process we have no control over.”

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Billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein settles another lawsuit

Billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has settled yet another lawsuit — this time with a woman who claimed she was recruited by the renowned pedophile as a sex slave more than a decade ago.

The woman, Sarah Ransome, sued Epstein and alleged madam Ghislaine Maxwell in Manhattan federal court last year for forcing her into sex acts in 2006 and 2007, when she was in her 20s.

She more recently claimed they directed her to have sex with Epstein’s powerful friends, including notable lawyer and Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz, the Miami Herald reported.

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Pope Francis to sex abusers: Turn yourselves in

Francis on Friday dedicated his annual Christmas speech to the Vatican bureaucracy to abuse, evidence that a year of devastating revelations has shaken his papacy and caused a crisis of confidence in the Catholic hierarchy.

Francis acknowledged that the church in the pasthad failed to treat the problem seriously, but vowed that going forward, it would never cover up or dismiss cases again and would “spare no effort” to find justice for pedophiles.

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Obama's Organizing for America joins forces with Eric Holder-run group on voter activism

Former President Obama announced Thursday that his political operation, Organizing for America, would be joining forces with the group run by his former attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr., in a striking pre-2020 partnership.

The two men announced the decision in emails to their respective supporters, saying it means Mr. Holder’s National Democratic Redistricting Committee will now have access to Mr. Obama’s powerful grassroots network.

The pair didn’t say anything about the 2020 presidential race, which Mr. Holder has suggested he’s eyeing, but the new closer ties to Mr. Obama’s operation is bound to be viewed through the lens of the Democratic primary.

Mr. Obama had already been a major booster of Mr. Holder’s group, which works to roll back Republican-drawn state congressional maps. Democrats believe much of the GOP’s success in House races earlier this decade was due to controlling the redistricting process in big states such as Pennsylvania, Florida and Michigan.

“I couldn’t be prouder to have the OFA grassroots family join ours and welcome even more dedicated, idealistic Americans to our mission and to the belief that our country works best when everyone’s vote counts and our elections are a battle of ideas — not who draws the lines,” Mr. Holder said.

More here

North Ocean City Beach Stand Bid Interest, Prices On Decline; Council Mulls Policy Changes

OCEAN CITY — Faced with declining revenue from the north-end beach stand parcels, resort officials this week considered increasing the maximum threshold for the number of parcels a single operator may hold in the interest of sparking competition.

The results of the auction for 18 beach equipment vendor parcels on the north end of Ocean City from 85th Street to the Delaware line were announced this week, revealing a sharp decline in most from the previous three-year bidding cycle. Overall, the bids for the 18 north-end parcels were down about 10 to 12 percent.

The bids for some parcels were down by as much as 81 percent, 77 percent and 71 percent with many others in the 40-50 percent range. There was one parcel on which the bid increased by 113 percent, but that was somewhat of an anomaly. Overall, the combined bids for the 18 parcels came in at $148,700, or roughly down $20,000 from the $168,100 in the last bidding cycle for the same section of beach.

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Hating The President Is Not a Strategy, As Bill Kristol Just Learned

Going all in on attacking President Trump isn’t proving to be a particularly effective business strategy for media outlets.

The Weekly Standard, a 28-year old neoconservative institution, is reportedly headed towards dissolution after its founder, Bill Kristol, devoted almost three years of work to attacking the President and his supporters.

It’s not just Kristol. The entire world of clickbait Trump-hate seems to be in jeopardy, including sites that cater to the liberal base.

The same week that The Weekly Standard’s troubles broke, Vanity Fair dropped a bombshell report about the struggles faced by those hip, millennial-targeted left-wing rags with the cool names and rabidly anti-Trump headlines strewn across your social media feed. Vice, Vox, Mic, Buzzfeed, Mashable — they’re all either looking for buyers or seriously reevaluating their strategies in hopes of becoming profitable. Mic laid off most of its workers. Vice and Vox are firing staff left and right.

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"Outraged" Trump Claims 19,000 Missing Strzok Texts Would Have Exposed Mueller Probe "Hoax"

Mere hours before his former National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, is expected to be sentenced for lying to the FBI (and hours after Robert Mueller finally released a heavily redacted sentencing memo), an angry President Trump once again lashed out at the FBI on twitter over former Agent Peter Strzok and his former "FBI lover" Lisa Page, who deleted some 19,000 texts exchanged on their company phones that should have been collected during a Congressional investigation into the presence and influence of anti-Trump bias inside the bureau.

Trump raged that the "biggest outrage yet" in the "long, winding and highly conflicted" Mueller 'Witch Hunt' was the fact that some 19,000 text messages between Strzok and Page were "purposely & illegally deleted." Trump believes those messages, if recovered, would have explained the whole "hoax."

Trump has a point: On Thursday, the Justice Department's internal watchdog revealed that special counsel Robert Mueller's office scrubbed all of the data from FBI agent Peter Strzok's iPhone, while Page's phone had been scrubbed by a different department, according to a comprehensive report by the Office of the Inspector General released on Thursday.

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Protestor Who Climbed Statue of Liberty Found Guilty on All Counts

A woman who staged an illegal protest on the Statue of Liberty on July 4th has been convicted on all counts, the New York Post reports.

Therese Okoumou, an immigrant from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, scaled the foot of the monument amid “Abolish ICE” demonstrations staged in opposition to the Trump administration and federal immigration policies.

Okoumou, who was receiving legal advice from fellow #Resist activist Michael Aventti, has been convicted of trespassing, interference with a government agency and disorderly conduct and now faces up to 18 months in prison.

“The woman told investigators that she was protesting Trump’s zero-tolerance policy on immigration and separating families at the border,” the Post reported, citing police sources.

Her actions prompted an emergency closure and evacuation of Liberty Island on one of its busiest days of the year, and her apprehension took nearly three hours, putting some officers at great risk.

Following an initial court appearance, Okoumou held a press conference wearing a t-shirt reading, “White Supremacy Is Terrorism.”

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Teen charged with third shooting, second murder in 8 months

TUPELO, Miss. — A Mississippi teen was jailed after officials arrested him for the drive-by shooting death of a 66-year-old woman.

Lee County Sheriff Jim Johnson told news outlets 17-year-old Latavious Betts was charged as an adult with murder and aggravated assault in Annie Walton’s Dec. 7 death.

Johnson said Betts fired a dozen or more shots into a house near Verona, killing Walton and wounding four others.

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Nancy Pelosi: Democrats Will Act 'Boldly' to Criminalize Private Gun Sales

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) indicates the incoming Democrat majority will act “boldly” in pursuit of criminalization of private gun sales.

On December 17, 2018, Breitbart News reported that Rep. Mike Thompson’s (D-CA) pledge to pass universal background checks, a gun control which criminalizes private gun sales. Thompson predicted that the gun control will be passed within the new Congress’s first 100 days.

The Hill reports that Pelosi is in full support of Thompson’s push and promises the incoming majority will act “boldly and decisively” to secure the new gun laws.

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An election hacked — by Democrats

It seems like a blatant case of election trolling: a deceptive stealth campaign using social media and bots to discredit one candidate and even siphon votes from him to a randomly chosen third-party hopeful.

Only this wasn’t Russian hackers trying to influence the outcome of the 2016 Trump-Clinton presidential contest.

As The New York Times reports, it was a secret project, carried out on Facebook and Twitter, by Democratic tech experts, with one purpose: to weaken the Republican candidate in the 2017 Alabama special election for a US Senate seat.

In fact, an internal report boasts that “we created an elaborate ‘false flag’ operation that planted the idea” that GOP candidate Roy Moore’s campaign “was amplified on social media by a Russian botnet.”

It also created a social-media boost for obscure independent candidate Mac Watson, in hopes of drawing votes from Moore. And it worked, getting Watson an interview with The Washington Post.

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Here Are The Six Most Corrupt Congressmen Of 2018, According To A Watchdog Group

A conservative-leaning watchdog group says House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are the biggest congressional scofflaws of 2018, for their anemic handling of the settlement slush fund that used an unlimited pot of taxpayer money to pay off congressional staff in exchange for signing legal papers barring them from taking public their claims of sexual harassment and other mistreatment by their congressional employers.

Congress members briefly claimed to be shocked at the victim-gagging slush fund when the media reported on it, but in reality, members of both parties in the House’s leadership oversaw it for years. The Committee on House Administration voted on each settlement and put out statistics that severely understated the scope of the problem. Former Democratic Michigan Rep. John Conyers, whose settlement sparked the initial furor, resigned, and the media moved on from the story.

A bill by then-Rep. Ron Desantis that would have named the congressmen who benefited from these payoffs in past years went nowhere, while the bill agreed to by the administration committee and the Senate is more anemic.

“Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi now has an opportunity to act further and we will be encouraging her to finally bring an end to this systematic cover-up. Every day that goes by without releasing the names of Members who have received taxpayer money to settle harassment and discrimination claims is another day of cover-up and another day more innocent people are put at risk of becoming victims,” said Kendra Arnold, executive director of the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT).

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Campaign to Halt Classroom Indoctrination Gets a Boost from New Website

The David Horowitz Freedom Center has completed a comprehensive update and reorganization of StopK12Indoctrination.org, a website devoted to halting indoctrination in America’s public schools. The site exposes instances of classroom and curricular indoctrination across the United States and seeks to work with parents and legislators to enact a Code of Ethics for K-12 Public School Teachers in their states.

Our public schools have traditionally been the cornerstone of our country's democratic values, but no longer. As recent events documented on StopK12Indoctrination.org reveal, no age group and no corner of our K-12 classrooms are immune from the left's ideological aggression.

• At the Edina School District in Edina, Minnesota, all employees, even bus drivers, must take "Equity and Racial Justice Training" instructing them that "dismantling white privilege" is at the core of the district's mission. They must acknowledge their racial guilt, and embrace the district's "equity" ideology.

• To enhance "cultural diversity," students at Maryland's La Plata High School were ordered to copy the Islamic creed "Shahada" which states in part, "There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah." One worksheet distributed by the school stated, "Most Muslims' faith is stronger than the average Christian."

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Senate approves historic, bipartisan prison sentencing reform bill

The Senate Tuesday approved an historic and bipartisan reform of the criminal justice system that aims to reduce the sentences of nonviolent offenders and cut recidivism rates by helping prisoners productively rejoin society.

With the House of Representatives almost certain to pass the bill, the Senate vote sets up a major legislative victory for President Trump — who has promised to sign it — as he approaches the halfway point of his four-year term.

The legislation, with the help of the White House, won an easy Senate majority despite conservative GOP opponents and the early reluctance of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who had just weeks ago downplayed the likelihood of taking up the measurethis year.

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Psychologist: Leftists Who Turn to Marxism Lack Structure in Their Lives

Clinical psychologist and psychology professor Dr. Jordan Peterson told Breitbart News on Thursday that radical Leftists turn to Marxism because they lack a structural hierarchy.

“What’s happening on the radical Left end of the spectrum, is that there’s a concerted effort to criticize the structure of current hierarchy,” said Dr. Peterson, “and maybe to criticize the idea of hierarchy itself, to consider the West and capitalistic structures as fundamentally as oppressive patriarchies.”

“You need a hierarchy,” he added, “You can’t actually orient yourself in the world without a hierarchy.”

Dr. Peterson, who spoke to Breitbart News at Turning Point USA’s 4th annual Student Action Summit in West Palm Beach, Florida, said that individuals need to be able to prioritize what is most important in their lives.

“That immediately creates a hierarchy,” said Dr. Peterson, “because everything you do has to be related to that.”

The psychologist added that “the radical deconstructionist types” oftentimes turn to a modified form of Marxism, because they lack the structure that one needs in order to prioritize what is best for themselves and their family.

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Greg Gutfeld Fires Back After James Comey Attacks Fox News

Fox News host Greg Gutfeld fired back at James Comey on Monday after the former FBI director blamed the network for instilling “fear” in House Republicans.

Comey spoke to reporters after his closed-door testimony Monday on Capitol Hill and argued that Republicans are attacking him and the FBI because they want to avoid the wrath of Fox News hosts. (RELATED: House Committees Release James Comey Transcript)

“At some point, someone has to stand up and in the face of fear of Fox News, fear of their base, fear of mean tweets, stand up for the values of this country and not slink away into retirement but stand up and speak the truth,” Comey said. “I find it frustrating to be here answering questions about things that are far less important than the values this country is built upon.”

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Washington Post Reporter Fails to End Vet’s Wall Funding Campaign

A reporter with the left-wing Washington Post disapproves of a triple-amputee veteran’s Go Fund Me campaign to pay for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border that has raised more than $13 million. The reporter tried to shut it down, claiming the effort violated the fundraising website’s terms because it discriminated against mostly Latinos trying to get into the United States.

Tony Romm, who is a tech reporter for the Post and contributes to MSNBC and other leftist media outlets, announced his effort to shut down veteran Brian Kolfage’s wall funding campaign that has raised almost $14 million in five days.

“So there’s an effort on GoFundMe to raise cash money for a border wall. Has more than $5M in donations (seeking $1B) and claims to have contacts in the Trump admin (have asked for more). But it got me thinking: is that, like, allowed on the site?” Romm tweeted.

“GoFundMe terms prohibit attempts to raise cash money rooted in ‘intolerance of any kind relating to race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, sex, gender or gender identity, or serious disabilities or diseases,’ among other limits,” Romm tweeted.

“So I asked GoFundMe if this wall fundraiser violates that.

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A Viewer Writes: Twas the night before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas
and all thru the state's
people were still reeling
over Thanksgiving debates,

there's Russia & Puttin'
Trumps collusion galore
and Hillary & Comey
are they planning some more?

China was breaking
Momma was mad!
Brother, (now sister)
screams out, Trans fats not bad!

With me in my Trump hat
Just got it, it's new
I just want some darn peace,
Momma's shouting. ME TOO!

When out on the front lawn
there arose such a clatter
Antifa was coming
so nothing else mattered

I ran for my gun
for I know my rights,
the 2nd's in trouble
I'm ready to fight!

On Uncles & Aunts
Brothers & Sons,
Daughters & Sisters
the war has begun

to the top of the mountain
to the top of the wall
here's what you get
with NO borders, at all!

Conservatives & Liberals
can't get along
one thinks they're right
the other is wrong,

Our nations divided
We know what that means
Santa's not landing
in this crazy scene.

We heard him exclaim
as he drove out of site
you're a pain in my A$$!!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS, GOODNIGHT

12-10-2018 S.E.D.

Rand Paul Smokes The Weekly Standard: ‘Good Riddance’

Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul mocked the death of The Weekly Standard on Tuesday, calling the magazine a group of “fake conservatives.”

The Weekly Standard’s final issue was published Monday after more than two decades in business. The conservative never-Trump outlet was suffering from low readership and circulation and owners announced last week that the magazine would not survive into 2019.

President Donald Trump took a victory lap amid the magazine’s demise, tweeting, “The pathetic and dishonest Weekly Standard, run by failed prognosticator Bill Kristol (who, like many others, never had a clue), is flat broke and out of business. Too bad. May it rest in peace!”

Sen. Paul joined the president in celebrating the death of The Weekly Standard.

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Wasserman Schultz: We Stand Against Arming Teachers for Self-Defense

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) responded to President Trump’s renewed his calls for armed teachers by stating that “teachers, parents, and students are united against arming our educators.”

On December 19, Breitbart News reported that Trump doubled down on arming teachers, describing such educators as a critical part of “hardening” schools.

Wasserman Schultz responded:

Putting more guns in schools is not the answer to ending senseless mass shootings. Teachers, parents, and students are united against arming our educators.

— Debbie Wasserman Schultz (@DWStweets) December 20, 2018

Wasserman Schultz’ response is surreal when one considers that she is a Representative from a state that witnessed the horrible February 14 Parkland shooting.

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Why Everything That Needs To Be Fixed Remains Permanently Broken

Just in case you missed what's going on in France: the status quo in Europe is doomed.

The status quo has a simple fix for every crisis and systemic problem:

1. create currency out of thin air

2. give it to super-wealthy banks, financiers and corporations to boost their wealth and income.

One way these entities increase their wealth and income is to lend this nearly free money to commoners at much higher rates of interest. I borrow from central banks at 1% and lend it to you at 4.5%, 7% or even 19% or more. What's not to like?

If a bank is insolvent, it can borrow money at 1% from central banks. If Joe Blow is insolvent, the only loan he can get is at 23%, if he can get any credit at all.

3. China has a variant fix for every financial crisis: build tens of millions of empty flats only the wealthy can afford as second or third "investment" flats. If the empty flats start dropping in price, government entities start secretly buying flats to support the market.

4. Empty malls, bridges to nowhere and ghost cities are also a standard-issue fix in China. Built it and they will come, until they don't. But who cares, the developers and local governments (i.e. corrupt officials) already pocketed the dough.

You see the problem: making rich people richer doesn't actually fix what's broken, it only makes the problems worse.

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U.S. Postal Service Allegedly Canceled Christmas Stamps for Being Too Religious

Tavia Hunt was only looking to print some nice stamps for the family Christmas cards. But what she found might become a pivotal Supreme Court case testing the deep state’s war against Christmas.

Lawyers for Hunt on Thursday sent a letter to the U.S. Postal Service demanding an explanation for a policy adopted in early 2017 that allegedly bars “all religious content” from being used on U.S. postal stamps, even those created privately through third-party printers authorized to create customized stamps.

A bar on religious imagery in stamps would be unconstitutional, according to Tavia’s lawyers at First Liberty Institute, a legal group dedicated exclusively to defending religious freedom for all Americans.

Hunt is the wife of Clarke Hunt, the owner of the Kansas City Chiefs. Earlier this year she decided to have custom stamps made from a picture of her family taken in front of the easily recognizable onion-shaped minarets of St. Basil’s Cathedral. It’s a cute if familiar image: American tourists, standing in front of St. Basil’s in silly fur hats. Hunt and two of her daughters are holding a flag reading “Chief’s Kingdom” in the team colors.

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Judge: Deported Migrants Be Flown Back into U.S.

The United States agreed in 1980 to implement the United Nation’s rules on refugees. This means a group of recently deported migrants must be flown back to the U.S. and be given another chance to win asylum, a Democratic-appointed judge declared December 17.

“Congress made clear its intent in promulgating the Refugee Act was to bring the United States’ domestic laws in line with the [U.N.] Protocol,” Judge Emmet Sullivan declared in response to an ACLU lawsuit for several migrants against asylum policies established by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Sullivan added: “The new credible fear policies are arbitrary, capricious, and in violation of the immigration laws,” and so must be discarded.

In turn, the migrants must get another chance to win asylum and citizenship in the United States under the rules established by President Barack Obama’s officials, said the decision in Grace v. Sessions, decided in the U.S. District Court in Washington D.C.

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California cops ‘frustrated’ with sanctuary laws stopping them from working with ICE over twice-deported criminal

A California sheriff whose officers were led on a wild chase earlier this week by a twice-deported illegal immigrant killer says cops are “very frustrated” with sanctuary state laws preventing them from working with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents.

The comments from Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux come following the death of Gustavo Garcia, a 36-year-old who police say embarked on a 'reign of terror' robbing a convenience store, shooting and killing a person and firing at buildings before crashing a truck that he had stolen. The day-long crime spree that began Sunday in the Fresno area also left five injured, including one critical, and Lindsay Police suspect Garcia was involved in an additional murder there.

During the chase Monday that ended in the crash that left Garcia dead, he drove the wrong way at speeds of up to 100 mph and hit four other cars – something that he appeared to have done on purpose, police said.

“We are very frustrated with the fact that the way the laws are set up currently that law enforcement hands are tied,” Boudreaux said Wednesday, noting that in years past, Garcia – who had been in police custody shortly before the rampage -- would have been handed over to ICE in cooperation with them.

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https://www.foxnews.com/us/california-cops-frustrated-with-sanctuary-laws-stopping-them-from-working-with-ice-over-twice-deported-criminal

Troopers Investigating Report of Shots Fired-Christiana Mall

Newark- The Delaware State Police are currently on scene investigating a report of a shots fired incident that occurred at approximately 8:47 p.m. at the Christiana Mall.

There have been no reports of any injuries at this time.

The mall is currently being evacuated and safety protocols are being followed to ensure the area is safe. All traffic is being diverted from the area. Motorist should expect delays and seek alternate routes of travel.

The investigation is in its early stages with further information being released as it becomes available.

Orlando Home Sales Tank And Inventory Floods Market: Markings Of A Housing Slowdown

A new housing report from the Orlando Regional Realtor Association published Monday shows November home sales have declined and inventory is building as interest rates have quickly cooled the real estate market.

Home sales plunged 6.9% last month to 2,575 while the number of homes for sale jumped to a 3.3-month supply, the largest inventory build in more than one year.

Real estate agents have told the Orlando Sentinel that interest rate increases have completely removed buyers from the market.

“There has been a shock in how quickly interest rates have gone up,” said Eric Soto, a real estate agent and co-owner of TC Orlando Homes based in Altamonte Springs.

What is happening in Orlando mirrors trends nationally: Existing home sales have peaked, reflecting declining affordability, greater price reductions, and deteriorating housing sentiment.

As we have mentioned before, real estate markets across the country are at turning points, where housing prices have not just plateaued, but could soon experience a noticeable drop in 2019.

In Greater Orlando, November single-family home prices stalled from the month before.

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These 8 Red Flags Warn Us We're Speeding Toward An Economic Collapse Right Now

This isn’t exactly an article loaded with Christmas cheer, but there’s a very good reason that my family has strictly limited our holiday splurges this year. It’s because all the signs right now seem to indicate the US is hurtling toward an economic collapse.

It’s inevitable, of course. Our economy has been artificially propped up for decades, since abandoning the gold standard. We’re $21 trillion dollars in debt, an unfathomable number. The fact that other countries still lend us money boggles the mind. If the United States was a person with such a high ratio of debt that we aren’t paying off, we wouldn’t even be able to buy a car with one of those 25% interest loans, that’s how bad our credit would be.

Not only that, but there are some parties who seem to want to see the economy go belly up for their own greedy and nefarious purposes.

Here are the red flags that have me concerned about an imminent economic collapse.
The stock market is crashing.

Right now, the market is on track for a month that is equivalent to the crash of 1929, when the Great Depression began. Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 are down by 8% during a month that is usually really good. Michael Snyder reported:


The ferocity of this stock market crash is stunning many of the experts, and many investors are beginning to panic. Back in early October, the Dow hit an all-time high of 26,951.81, but on Monday it closed at just 23,592.98. That means that the Dow has now plunged more than 3,300 points from the peak of the market, and many believe that this stock crash is just getting started. (source)

And Snyder isn’t alone. Even the mainstream is reporting on our precarious situation. (Albeit, just to make the President look bad.)

Dr. Ron Paul told CNBC (and they actually published it!) that we’re headed for a depression in the next 12 months.

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Ex-Newberry Detention Center Officer Arrested For Having Sex With Inmate

A former officer at the Newberry County, South Carolina detention center is facing a sex crimes charge stemming from an alleged “sexual relationship” with an inmate that allegedly took place over a decade-and-a-half ago.

Rebecca Carol Adams, 41, of Newberry, S.C. was arrested and charged with first degree criminal sexual misconduct this week. According to a probable cause affidavit accompanying the warrant for her arrest, Adams “willfully and unlawfully engaged in sexual intercourse (oral and vaginal)” with former S.C. Department of Corrections (SCDC) inmate Raymond Carwise between the dates of March 24 and July 15, 2003.

Carwise was “assigned to the Newberry County detention center as an inmate trustee” at the time of the alleged affair, the affidavit stated.

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The Psychological Warfare Behind Economic Collapse

The concept of using the economy as a weapon is not an alien one to most people. Generally, we understand the nature of feudalism and how various groups can be herded onto centralized plantations to be exploited for their labor. Some people see this as a consequence of “capitalism,” and others see it as an extension of socialism/communism. Sadly, many people wrongly assume that one is a solution to the other - meaning they think that crony capitalism is a solution to communist centralization or that communism is a solution to the corruption of crony capitalism. The reality is that this is just another false paradigm.

What is most disturbing is that the majority of the public have no grasp whatsoever of the true solution to the problem of corrupt or totalitarian economies: free markets.

Free markets have not existed within the global economy on a large scale for at least the past 100 years. The rise of central banking has eroded all vestiges of freedom in production and trade. Crony capitalism with its focus on corporate power and monopoly has nothing to do with free markets, despite the arguments of rather naive socialists who blame “free markets” for the problems of the world. If you ever hear anyone making this claim, I suggest you remind them that corporations and their advantages are a creation of governments.

The protections of corporate personhood, limited liability, unfair taxation of small business competition and legislation shielding corporations from civil lawsuits are all generated by government. Therefore, corporations and crony capitalism are much more a product of socialist-style systems, not free markets. In a true free market devoid of constant government interference and favoritism, corporations could not exist and would be obliterated over time by the competitive environment. And without limited liability, business moguls that violate the rule of law and harm others would be subject to personal prosecution and jail time instead of simply paying a fine. The cost/benefit ratio for corrupt business would disappear and thus corrupt businesses would flounder.

At the very core of the combination of corporate power and government protection (what some might say is the classical definition of fascism), rest the central banks, globalist institutions and the banking elites behind them. Central banks are the stewards of the various plantations (nations) and oversee the exploitation of these societies and their labor. Major globalist constructs like the IMF or the Bank for International Settlements are the policy makers for the national central banks. They hand down the strategy, and the central banks implement that strategy in concert. At the top of the pyramid sit the round table groups and the international bankers themselves, reaping the rewards of the cycle of theft.

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White House: We Don't Want to Shut Down the Government, We Want to Shut Down the Border

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders suggested Tuesday the Trump administration wouldn't force a partial government shutdown over funding for its long-promised border wall.

Speaking with Fox News, Sanders said there were other ways to attain the $5 billion it wants to build the wall, which President Donald Trump previously said Mexico would pay for and was a cornerstone of his successful 2016 campaign.

In a contentious meeting last week with Democratic congressional leaders Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), Trump said he would be proud to have a government shutdown over border security if he didn't get the funding he wanted. But Sanders sounded different on Fox News on Tuesday, after she was asked by host Bill Hemmer if the administration would accept $2.5 billion from Congress in a continuing resolution to keep the government funded.

"We have other ways that we can get to that $5 billion that we will work with Congress if they will make sure that we get a bill passed that provides not just the funding for the wall, but there is a piece of legislation that's been pushed around that Democrats actually voted 26-5 out of committee that provides roughly $26 billion in border security, including $1.6 billion for the wall," she said. "That's something that we would be able to support as long as we can couple that with other funding resources to get to the $5 billion."

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