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Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Kim Jong-un has had 421 officials 'purged' and executed - report says

Kim Jong-un is using barbaric methods to 'purge' his officials and cling onto power, according to a damning South Korean investigation.

The dictator has had 421 officials executed and exiled since seizing power in 2011, with victims being fed naked to hunting dogs, blown up with anti-aircraft guns, burned alive with flamethrowers and hanged, the report claims.

In some cases, entire families of officials have been executed while others were imprisoned in concentration camps and 'erased from society'.

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As Greater Fall River marijuana industry grows, jobseekers flock to local shops

FALL RIVER — It’s not every day that a brand new job market just falls in your lap.

While many celebrated the 2016 legalization of recreational marijuana as an end of prohibition and a beginning of potentially millions of dollars in revenue for municipalities hosting dispensaries, it also represented the birth of an entire industry.

Depending on how many businesses are approved by the state’s Cannabis Control Commission to open, hundreds, and possibly thousands, of jobs in the Massachusetts marijuana industry could be created by the end of the year. It’s now up to each company to figure out how to fill these jobs when “relevant work experience” was considered illegal just a few years ago.

Fall River-based dispensaries like Northeast Alternatives and Hope Heal Health, which has yet to expand into recreational sales, are making efforts to hire locally, but that means very few applicants have employment histories in the cannabis industry. Because of this, Hope Heal Health President John Rogue said companies are looking for anyone with transferable skills.

“The truth is, you’re trying to qualify people without experience,” he said. “Someone who went to school and came out of an agricultural program is good. A lot of people who work well here came out of the restaurant business and have skill managing a large operation or working in fast-paced environments. People with any level of experience or desire is what we’re looking for.”

Product knowledge helps, but it isn’t mandatory.

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Maduro Detained Jorge Ramos After Being Shown Venezuelans Eating from Garbage Truck

Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro stormed out of an interview with Univision anchor Jorge Ramos after being shown video of citizens eating food scraps from a garbage truck, the journalist said Monday evening.

Earlier Monday evening, Univision said Maduro temporarily detained six of its reporters, including Ramos, at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas after asking questions the disputed Venezuelan president “didn’t like.”

The network also reported the team’s recording equipment was confiscated before being released. The crew was released around three hours after the incident started, said the network.

“[W]hen I showed him these images, he said that the interview was over,” the Univision anchor said. “He didn’t like the things we were asking, about the lack of democracy in Venezuela, the torture of political prisoners, about the humanitarian crisis that they are living,” he added.

More here with the video

Latins, Israel, and Hezb'allah

A conservative website, TruNews, had a commentator ridicule Mike Pompeo for claiming the Hezeb’allah was in Venezuela.

So Mike Pompeo, the other day -- I don’t know if you guys caught this. I had heard it, but it registered today -- that He said that Hezb’allah is making inroads into Venezuela -- TruNews on YouTube (4:18 -- set to right time)

Though Christian and conservative, TruNews is critical of Zionism; and it seemed absurd to the speaker that Arab terrorists could be infiltrating South America. For those unaware, it might indeed seem crazy that Hezb’allah would be moving into South America. The culture, the religion, and the history are seemingly quite foreign to Islamic interests.

However Arab influence is quite enormous in Latin America, and has been around for roughly a century. As early as 1947, the Palestinians in Chile were politically powerful enough to dissuade a pro-Zionist Chilean government from voting for a partition of the British mandate, allowing for a Jewish state.

Instead, Chile abstained.

Today, Honduras, El Salvador, and Chile all have sizable and powerful Palestinian populations. In Chile’s case, their influence has distorted the politics of the country.

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Some comeuppance for Univision's Jorge Ramos?

Univision's star anchorman, Jorge Ramos, got a taste of what a real dictator is over in Caracas, when, after showing Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro a cell phone video of starving Venezuelans eating out of a garbage truck, found himself and his television crew shoved in a dark room for two and a half hours in detention, only to be released with their expensive television equipment and interview material stolen.

He's lucky they didn't break his nose (which in Maduro's Venezuela was done to a female dissident leader) or throw him in a dungeon for several years without trial (which was done to another top opposition leader). This is what dictators do. This is dictators up close. And this is a vicious dictatorship employing muscle directly from Cuba.

Touchy, touchy bastard.

This brings up the last time Ramos was in the news — getting thrown out of a press conference for interrupting other reporters and breaking the house rules, and then comparing President Trump to a dictator. A few months ago, he even said he wanted to return to Mexico because he was so unhappy with President Trump..

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Everything You Think You Know About Cholesterol is Wrong!

Over 16 percent of U.S. adults have high cholesterol, defined as 240 mg/dl according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Even the average level for Americans, 200mg/dl, is high, they say.

Many health organizations insist that high cholesterol puts people at increased risk for heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States

But Dr. Ellen Kamhi, Ph.D., says this isn’t necessarily true. And other experts reveal information that runs contrary to what most of us have been told about cholesterol over the years.

“This stated fact scares millions of people into taking statin drugs to lower their cholesterol levels,” she says. “But cholesterol is actually an essential part of your body, used to produce cell membranes, steroid hormones, vitamin D and the bile acids your body needs to digest fat.

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Democrat Sen. Whitehouse Fails to Disclose Donor Relationship in Court Filing

Rhode Island senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D.) filed an amicus brief in court cases where cities and counties in California are suing major energy production companies for damages related to climate change, but did not disclose he had taken political donations from the attorneys who are conducting that litigation.

Currently, persons or agencies that file such briefs aren't required to make such disclosures. However, Whitehouse has been one of the leading advocates for exactly that kind of transparency.

"In a Jan. 4 letter to Chief Justice John Roberts, [Sen. Whitehouse] chided the Court for accepting amicus—friend of the court—briefs from ‘special interest groups that fail to disclose their donors,'" wrote the Wall Street Journal editorial board, which broke the news. "He calls out the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, as well as think tanks and policy shops that receive money from right-of-center foundations. Mr. Whitehouse claims these ‘repeat-player' filers are unduly influencing the Court, even as they hide their ‘deep-pocketed corporate contributors.'"

"This is a familiar stand for Mr. Whitehouse, who has long tried to silence his political opponents," the editorial concluded.

Victor Sher and Matt Edling are the two named partners of the law firm Sher Edling, which is bringing suits on behalf of the cities of San Francisco and Oakland and other governments such as Marin and Santa Cruz counties against oil producers such as Exxon, BP, and Shell.

Federal Election Commission records show Sher and Edling have given $6,400 and $1,000 to Whitehouse's political campaign committee, respectively, since 2016.

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FCC to review TV ratings system

Two federal agents stand on a desert highway in front of an open van, reviewing the scene of a massacre. Blood splatter and spent bullet casings litter the asphalt, as one agent describes how the van driver was shot in the back of the head.

“Just another Sunday in paradise,” the other agent says.

And it’s just another episode of the CBS drama “NCIS: Los Angeles,” complete with the graphic violence that has become routine for broadcast and cable television, according to TV watchdog groups.

Now those groups are cheering a directive tucked into Congress’s recent spending bill that requires the Federal Communications Commission to review its ratings system for TV content for the first time since it was implemented more than 20 years ago.

“We’re absolutely thrilled,” said Tim Winter, president of the Parents Television Council. “Never, ever once has there been any oversight as to whether this system is doing what is promised to parents.”

The 2019 federal spending package orders the FCC to report to Congress within 90 days on the status of TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring system, which went into effect in January 1997 to provide information about the content of television programs.

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Former Federal Prosecutor: "We Are In A Civil War... I Buy Guns"

Former federal prosecutor Joe diGenova says civil discourse is over in America, and recommends voting and buying guns because "we are in a civil war."

Speaking with Laura Ingraham on her podcast, diGenova noted that the "all liberal" media has given a pass to both Virginia Governor Ralph Northam (D) and VA Attorney General Mark Herring for appearing in blackface, while similarly glossing over Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax's credible sexual assault allegation.

“There’s two standards of justice, one for Democrats one for Republicans. The press is all Democrat, all liberal, all progressive, all left – they hate Republicans, they hate Trump. So the suggestion that there’s ever going to be civil discourse in this country for the foreseeable future in this country is over. It’s not going to be. It’s going to be total war. And as I say to my friends, I do two things – I vote and I buy guns.”

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Now That Housing Bubble #2 Is Bursting... How Low Will It Go?

Unless the Fed is going to start buying millions of homes outright, prices are going to fall to what buyers can afford.

There are two generalities that can be applied to all asset bubbles:

1. Bubbles inflate for longer and reach higher levels than most pre-bubble analysts expected

2. All bubbles burst, despite mantra-like claims that "this time it's different"

The bubble burst tends to follow a symmetrical reversal of very similar time durations and magnitudes as the initial rise. If the bubble took four years to inflate and rose by X, the retrace tends to take about the same length of time and tends to retrace much or all of X.

If we look at the chart of the Case-Shiller Housing Index below, this symmetry is visible in Housing Bubble #1 which skyrocketed from 2003-2007 and burst from 2008-2012.

Housing Bubble #1 wasn't allowed to fully retrace the bubble, as the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates to near-zero in 2009 and bought $1+ trillion in sketchy mortgage-backed securities (MBS), essentially turning America's mortgage market into a branch of the central bank and federal agency guarantors of mortgages (Fannie and Freddie, VA, FHA).

These unprecedented measures stopped the bubble decline by instantly making millions of people who previously could not qualify for a privately originated mortgage qualified buyers. This vast expansion of the pool of buyers (expanded by a flood of buyers from China and other hot-money locales) drove sales and prices higher for six years (2012-2018).

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Joint Investigation Leads to Multiple Drug and Weapon Charges-Sussex County

Date Posted: Tuesday, February 26th, 2019

Sussex County– The Delaware State Police in conjunction with the Dorchester County Narcotics Task Force, Caroline County Narcotics Task Force, Maryland State Police Heroin Investigative Unit, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Sussex Drug Unit (SDU), Governor’s Task Force (GTF), and the Seaford Police Department concluded a three month drug trafficking investigation that resulted in multiple search warrants and arrests, with one suspect still at large.
The three month investigation, concluded on February 23, 2019, when 33-year-old James M. Frazier of Cambridge, MD was taken into custody without incident by members of the Special Operations Response Team (SORT) in the Dover area, after a search warrant was executed on his vehicle, a 2018 Lincoln MKZ.  Also in the vehicle and taken into custody without incident, was 37- year-old Trivette A. Jackson of Federalsburg, MD.
Four additional search warrants were subsequently executed in Sussex County at the following locations:
  • 20300 block of  Wesley Church Road, Seaford
  • 22000 block of  Hensley Road, Seaford
  • 900 block of Woodland Mills, Seaford
  • 37400 block of  Burton Village, Rehoboth Beach
As a result of the search warrants at all locations, the following items were seized in total:
  • 453.5 grams of Methamphetamine
  • 261.23 grams of Cocaine
  • 68.78 grams of Crack cocaine
  • 42.82 grams of Heroin
  • 19,549.82 grams of marijuana
  • Over $78,000 in suspected drug proceeds
  • 4 firearms including:
    • Smith and Wesson .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol (reported stolen out of Kentucky)
    • Ruger .357 revolver
    • Smith and Wesson .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol (reported stolen out of Troop 7)
    • Beretta .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol
James Frazier was charged with the following:
  • Possession With Intent to Deliver a Controlled Substance in a Tier 4 quantity (6 counts)
  • Possession With Intent to Deliver a Controlled Substance in a Tier 5 quantity
  • Possession of a Controlled Substance in a Tier 5 quantity (5 counts)
  • Possession of a Firearm By a Person Prohibited (3 counts)
  • Receiving a Stolen Firearm
  • Conspiracy 2nd (3 counts)
  • Possession of  Drug Paraphernalia
Frazier was arraigned before the Justice of the Peace Court 3 and committed to the Sussex Correctional Institution on $809,000.00 cash only bond.
Trivette Jackson was charged with the following:
  • Possession of a Controlled Substance in a Tier 5 quantity
  • Possession With Intent to Deliver a Controlled Substance in a Tier 4 quantity
  • Conspiracy 2nd
  • Possession of  Drug Paraphernalia
Jackson was arraigned before the Justice of the Peace Court 3 and released on $21,000.00 unsecured bond.
Donisha Holland, 25, of Seaford was taken into custody without incident upon the execution of the search warrant on Hensley Road where three children were present.  Holland was charged with the following:
  • Possession With Intent to Deliver a controlled substance in a Tier 4 quantity
  • Possession of a Controlled Substance in a Tier 5 quantity
  • Possession With Intent to Deliver a Controlled Substance in a Tier 2 quantity
  • Possession of a Controlled Substance in a Tier 3 quantity
  • Possession of a Firearm By a Person Prohibited
  • Receiving Stolen Firearm
  • Conspiracy 2nd
  • Endangering Welfare of a Child (3 counts)
Holland was arraigned before the Justice of the Peace Court 3 and committed to the Delores J. Baylor Women’s Correctional Institution on $50,500.00 secured bond.
Troopers have been unable to locate 49-year-old Reginald L. Sample, of Seaford who currently has active warrants for the following:
  • Possession With Intent to Deliver a controlled substance in a Tier 4 quantity (4 counts)
  • Possession of a controlled substance in a Tier 5 quantity (4 counts)
  • Possession of a Firearm By a Person Prohibited (3 counts)
  • Receiving Stolen Firearm
  • Conspiracy 2nd
Reginald L. Sample
Anyone with information in reference to the whereabouts of Sample is asked to please contact Troop 4, Sussex Drug Unit, at 302-856-5850.  Information may also be provided by calling Delaware crime stoppers at 1-800-TIP-3333 or via the internet athttp://www.delaware.crimestoppersweb.com

Governor Hogan Has Led The Fight To Defend The Peace Cross

Supreme Court To Hear Oral Arguments On Peace Cross
“We will see this through and use all means available to keep the Peace Cross fully intact and honoring our veterans for another hundred years.” - Governor Larry Hogan, April 19, 2018
On February 27, 2019, The Supreme Court Will Hear Oral Arguments In Cases Regarding The Constitutionality Of The Peace Cross.
Peace Cross In Prince George’s County Commemorates Marylanders Who Made The Ultimate Sacrifice While Serving The United States In World War I
The Peace Cross Was Erected Nearly 100 Years Ago As A Memorial To Prince George’s County Residents Who Lost Their Lives While Serving The United States In World War I. “The forty-foot Peace Cross is a memorial to residents of Prince George's County who lost their lives during World War I (1914-1918)... The Peace Cross, erected 1919 to 1925 as a monument to Prince George's County residents who lost their lives serving in the United States Armed Forces in World War I, is historically significant for its association with the nationwide trend to erect community memorials to fallen soldiers after World War I.” (“Maryland’s National Register Properties: Peace Cross,” Maryland Historical Trust, Accessed: 2/26/19)
  • The Monument Lists The Names Of The 49 Prince George’s County Residents Who Lost Their Lives Fighting In World War I. (“Maryland’s National Register Properties: Peace Cross,” Maryland Historical Trust, Accessed: 2/26/19)   
Governor Hogan Blasted “Outrageous” Federal Appeals Court Ruling, Declaring Peace Cross Unconstitutional
Governor Hogan Stated That The Decision By A Federal Appeals Court Deeming That The Peace Cross Is Unconstitutional, Was “Outrageous.” GOVERNOR HOGAN: “This is outrageous. The Peace Cross was built in 1925 by families in Prince George's County who joined with the American Legion to honor their fallen from World War I. Marylanders are united in showing respect for our veterans. I’m a native Prince Georgian and have passed by this memorial thousands of times. I view it as an incredible tribute to those who came before us and made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. The idea that memorializing our soldiers killed in battle on foreign lands to make the world safe for democracy is somehow unconstitutional goes against everything we stand for as Americans. Our administration will fight this unacceptable overreach. Enough is enough.” (Governor Larry Hogan, Facebook, 10/20/17)
  • In October 2017, In A 2-1 Ruling A Federal Appeals Court Stated That The Peace Cross Was Unconstitutional.“A federal appeals court on Wednesday declared unconstitutional a towering cross-shaped monument that has marked a major intersection in Prince George’s County for 90 years. In a 2-1 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit said the 40-foot-tall memorial maintained with thousands of dollars in public funds ‘has the primary effect of endorsing religion and excessively entangles the government in religion.’”(Ann Marimow, “Towering Cross-Shaped Monument On Public Land Is Unconstitutional, Court Rules,” The Washington Post, 10/18/17)
  • Federal Appeals Court Ruling In 2017 Overturned A Unanimous Ruling In 2015 By The U.S. District Court For Maryland Which Stated That The Peace Cross Was Constitutional. “A federal court in Maryland has ruled that a cross-shaped war memorial in Prince George's County is constitutional, after an organization argued the structure's presence on public land is a violation of the First Amendment. The U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland ruled Monday that even though the Bladensburg World War I Veterans Memorial, a 40-foot-tall monument erected in 1925, takes the shape of a cross, its purpose is not primarily religious. Therefore, the court found, it does not violate the First Amendment's provision that ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.’” (Jonathan Pitts, “Court Finds Cross Memorial Constitutional,” The Baltimore Sun, 11/30/15)  

Historic moment for city embattled by racial tensions as two black women force mayoral runoff

A former federal prosecutor and a county board leader will face each other in a runoff to become Chicago's first black female mayor after leading a large field Tuesday that included a member of the Daley family that has dominated the city's politics for much of the last six decades.

Political outsider Lori Lightfoot, who was a federal prosecutor in northern Illinois, and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle were the top two vote-getters among 14 candidates, but neither received more than the 50 percent needed to avoid an April 2 runoff. The winner will succeed Mayor Rahm Emanuel to lead the nation's third-largest city. Emanuel did not seek re-election.

Among those they defeated was William Daley, who has never held major elected office but featured the most famous surname in the race. His father, Richard J. Daley, and brother, Richard M. Daley, held the city's top job for nearly 43 years of a 55-year span before Emanuel took the oath in 2011. Daley is a former U.S. Commerce secretary who, like Emanuel, served as White House chief of staff to President Barack Obama.

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Dulles CBP Seizes 410 Pounds of Khat in Air Cargo from Nigeria

Total 1,404 Pounds Seized at Dulles and BWI during February

STERLING, Virginia –
Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) seizure of khat shipments continued Monday when officers bagged another 410 pounds in air cargo at Washington Dulles International Airport.

During February, CBP officers seized more than 1,400 pounds of the green, leafy plant at Dulles and at Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI). All shipments arrived from Nigeria.

In this latest seizure, CBP officers examined a shipment February 20 from Nigeria that was manifested as “dry moringa oleifera” and destined to an address in Dallas. Officers discovered seven boxes with a combined 80 bags of a green, leafy product. The shipment weighed 186.28 kilograms, or about 410 pounds, 11 ounces.

CBP submitted samples to a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) botanist who verified the substance Friday as Catha Edulis, commonly known as khat. Officers seized the khat Monday. The khat will be destroyed.

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Embattled GOP candidate Mark Harris not running in North Carolina congressional special election

Mark Harris, the GOP contender in North Carolina's uncalled 9th Congressional District race, has opted not to run in the special election ordered by state officials after an election fraud scandal.

The North Carolina pastor who ousted incumbent Rep. Robert Pittenger in the last primary cycle cited health concerns caused by the legal battles he and his campaign faced during the certification process for the election. Harris confirmed in a prepared statement that he will be undergoing surgery next month.

"Given my health situation, the need to regain full strength, and the timing of this surgery the last week of March, I have decided not to file in the new election for Congressional District 9."

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Texas Dem Introduces Mandatory Reporting Bill In State House

Remember when “victim blaming” was a bad thing?

Supposedly it still is, but only on some things. It seems that teaching that a woman should be responsible for her safety is “blaming the victim” for not stopping a rape–even though no one is saying or even believing that–but it’s perfectly fine to try to penalize the victim for having their guns stolen.

A bill in Texas, of all places, seeks to criminalize people who have their guns stolen and don’t immediately report it to authorities.

A bill introduced this legislative session seeks to make it a crime to fail to report a lost or stolen gun to law enforcement authorities.

State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez said it’s a law that doesn’t exist and needs to be on the books.

“We know when guns are stolen or lost, a crime will be committed with that weapon,” he said.

House Bill 1207 would require a gun owner whose weapon is lost or stolen to report it to authorities within five days of first realizing the weapon is gone. Failure to do so would mean the person would face a Class C misdemeanor and the loss of their eligibility for a license to carry for five years.

Rodriguez thinks the law would cut back on “straw purchases,” which are a federal crime.

“The ‘straw purchase’ is me giving (a gun) to someone that really shouldn’t be allowed to have one,” Rodriguez said.

He thinks it’s a commonsense bill that should make it through the floor.

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Trans Athletes Win 1st & 2nd in Girls Track Champs

BREAKING NEWS: Maryland Republican Party Calls for Del. Lisanti to Resign

Annapolis, MD - Statement from Maryland Republican Party Chairman Dirk Haire:

"The Maryland Republican Party is calling for the immediate resignation of Delegate Mary Ann Lisanti. Her comment referring to Prince George's County as a "ni**er district" is beneath the office of Delegate, and we agree with the Legislative Black Caucus that her apology was inadequate."

President Trump UNBELIEVABLE Trade Deals just Made the US Millions

YES, WE SHOULD LET MOTORCYCLES RIDE BETWEEN CARS

EVERY CALIFORNIA DRIVER'S seen it: While you're sitting in your car on the freeway, creeping through traffic, one motorcyclist after another zips by, riding between lanes. It may seem unfair (why does he get to go ahead!?) and unsafe (won't he be hit!?), and for those reasons, illegal.

It's not. At least not in California. Lane splitting, also called lane sharing and traffic filtering, is 100 percent legal in the Golden State, simply because it's not illegal. It's not mentioned anywhere in the rules of the road.

Now, California politicians are looking to make it legit, with a bill that would make lane splitting explicitly legal—and, naturally, regulate it a bit. The bill sailed through the state Assembly without debate, and is headed to the Senate.

And if you care about congestion, carbon emissions, or motorcyclist safety, that's a good thing.

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Delegate loses leadership post for using racial slur

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A Harford County lawmaker is accused of using a racial slur at an after hours club. Now, there are calls for the delegate to resign.

The controversy has become public with a Washington Post piece Monday. Since then, Delegate Mary Ann Lisanti has apologized, but Tuesday night, some are saying that's just not enough and for the first time, there is an organized call for the delegate to resign.

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Woman who attacked man wearing 'MAGA' hat was illegal immigrant, taken into ICE custody

A woman who was arrested last week for allegedly attacking a man wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat at a Massachusetts restaurant is an illegal immigrant from Brazil, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said.

ICE officers detained Rosiane Santos, 41, on Tuesday after they discovered she was in the U.S. illegally, Boston 25 News reported.

"Deportation officers with ICE's Fugitive Operations Team arrested Rosie Santos, an unlawfully present citizen of Brazil," ICE said in a statement. "Santos is facing local charges for assault and other offenses. She is presently in ICE custody and has been entered into removal proceedings before the federal immigration courts."

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https://www.foxnews.com/us/woman-who-attacked-man-wearing-maga-hat-was-illegal-immigrant-taken-into-ice-custody

Rasmussen: Food Stamps Are Going to Those ‘Willing to Abuse the System’

Kristina Rasmussen, the vice president of federal affairs for the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA), said the government needs to do more to crack down on food stamp fraud because many of the benefits are going to those “willing to abuse the system.”

“It’s really disturbing. Taxpayers work really hard to earn their money and the government takes a good portion of it. And some of that money does go into a social safety net that’s supposed to be there for people who really need our help,” Rasmussen told Sirius XM’s Breitbart News Sunday with Breitbart News Deputy Political Editor Amanda House.

Rasmussen referenced a January 2019 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report which found that at least $1 billion in food stamp benefits had been trafficked each year in the U.S., but she mentioned that the amount of fraud in this country “could be a lot higher than that.”

“Food stamp criminals can be a creative bunch and they are always coming up with new schemes once the authorities catch on to one, but generally speaking, there are two big buckets of fraud: Its people who are getting access to the program who shouldn’t be getting access … or folks who are accessing the program who really aren’t eligible,” Rasmussen said.

Rasmussen then went on to explain how food stamp fraud schemes work and how criminals go around government rules to use food stamps for unintended purposes to commit fraud.

How Mr. Trump Can Scale Back Birthright Citizenship Without Congress

President Donald Trump last fall floated the idea of ending universal birthright citizenship by way of executive order.

The reaction from the political and chattering classes was uniformly hysterical. Democrats called it racist. Many Republicans, including then-outgoing Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, dismissed the move as “obviously” unconstitutional.

Yet the case for ending birthright citizenship is quite strong, on both legal and economic grounds.

The text of the Constitution does not define who qualifies for American citizenship, and it gives Congress exclusive power over naturalization. The 14th Amendment, which Congress passed in 1868 to enshrine core legal rights for newly freed slaves and their children, grants citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.”

That last clause—”subject to the jurisdiction thereof”—generates the current controversy over birthright citizenship. Advocates of the status quo argue that a child born to illegal immigrants or tourists clearly qualifies, since the newborn child is “subject” to our laws.

The federal government has adhered to this interpretation only since 1940.

The 14th Amendment’s authors would have disagreed with this practice. Sen. Lyman Trumbull of Wisconsin, a key voice in the adoption of the amendment, explicitly said the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” means “[n]ot owing allegiance to anyone else,” namely, a foreign government. He went on to say, “It is only those persons who come completely within our jurisdiction, who are subject to our laws, that we think of making citizens.”

More here

Public Charter School Facility Fund

Important Legislation Ensures Students In Public Charter Schools Receive Proper FundingNote: House Appropriations Committee to Hold Hearing on House Bill 156 on Tuesday, February 26, 2019, 1:00 PMSenate Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs Committee to Hold Hearing on Senate Bill 172 on Tuesday, February 26, 2019, 1:00 PM
“Public charter schools already have limited resources to begin with and are then often forced to divert these resources for things like rent and facility repairs, which prevents them from having the funds needed to invest in innovative programs and classroom activities. Across the nation, public charter schools are leading the way on innovation. Washington, D.C. for example, provided over $140 million dollars in funding for public charter schools just this year, including over $3,000 per student.” - Governor Larry Hogan, January 23, 2019
Public Charter School Facility Fund
Governor Hogan’s Proposed Legislation Provides $1,600 In Per-Pupil Funding For Each Public Charter School Student. “There is a Public Charter School Facility Fund. The purpose of the Fund is to provide funding on an annual basis  to public charter schools in the State to acquire, plan, develop, finance, construct, lease, improve, repair, and maintain public charter school facilities. The Department shall administer the Fund… The Governor annually shall appropriate to the Fund an amount that equals or exceeds the total aggregate enrollment in public charter schools in the State multiplied by $1,600. The amount of funding provided to a public charter school under this section for a single fiscal year may not exceed $1,600 per pupil enrolled in the public charter school as of September 30 of that fiscal year.” (‘House Bill 156,” Maryland General Assembly, 1/23/19)      
  • Governor Hogan Committed Nearly $4 Million In His Fiscal Year 2020 Budget For Construction Projects At Maryland’s Public Charter Schools. “Governor Hogan’s recently introduced Fiscal Year 2020 budget designates $2.6 million specifically for construction projects at public charter schools, as well as $1.2 million from the Healthy School Facility Fund, created by bipartisan legislation enacted last year, specifically to fix critical heating and air conditioning issues and other necessary maintenance improvements at public charter schools.” (Press Release, “Governor Larry Hogan Announces Initiatives To Support Public Charter Schools,” Office Of The Governor, 1/23/19)
Governor Hogan Has Been A Champion Of Public Charter Schools
In 2015, Governor Hogan Enacted Legislation Providing Greater Flexibility To Public Charter Schools. "During the 2015 legislative session, the governor introduced and championed legislation to improve and expand public charter schools in Maryland for the first time in nearly a decade. In May 2015, Governor Hogan signed into law Senate Bill 595, the Public Charter School Improvement Act of 2015, which provided greater flexibility to public charter schools.” (Press Release, “Governor Larry Hogan Announces Maryland Charter Schools Week,” Office Of The Governor, 5/3/16)
  • The Baltimore Sun Editorial Board: Without Governor Hogan’s Desire To Strengthen Charter Schools, Reform Would Not Have Taken Place; Law Represents A “Modest Step Forward.” "Without Mr. Hogan’s influence, there almost certainly would have been no discussion of reforming Maryland's charter school law, which is arguably the most restrictive in the nation. The General Assembly gutted many of the important elements in the governor's legislation, but the final product represents at least a modest step forward and a basis from which Mr. Hogan can seek more reforms in the future.” (Editorial, “Hogan’s First 100 Days,” The Baltimore Sun, 4/27/15)
In 2017, Governor Hogan Introduced Legislation To Establish The Maryland Public Charter School Authority, An Independent Statewide Public Charter School Authorizer.

Democrats unwilling to stand up to Ocasio-Cortez, 'tell her no,' Rush Limbaugh says

Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh criticized Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Monday, saying she was not “any different” than the children who confronted Sen. Dianne Feinstein in her office last week after the New York Democrat asked “is it okay to still have children?”

“So Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez thinks it’s time to stop having kids because of climate change. The world is not going to be livable. It’s not gonna be worth living in if we don’t make drastic changes. And she just keeps spewing this stuff. And there’s nobody to tell her no. There isn’t a single person in the Democrat Party with any guts to tell her no,” Limbaugh said on his daily radio show.

“They’ve bought totally the indoctrination of climate change,” Limbaugh told his audience, asking out loud why young liberals are fascinated with issues like Mars and rockets among other things.

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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/democrats-unwilling-to-stand-up-to-ocasio-cortez-tell-her-no-over-far-left-ideas-rush-limbaugh-says

Global Warming: Los Angeles Has Coldest February in 60 Years

Los Angeles is officially experiencing the coldest February in nearly 60 years, according to the National Weather Service, as the city has endured a series of storms and is bracing for more later this week.

The Los Angeles Times reported Monday evening:

This month is the coldest February in downtown Los Angeles in nearly 60 years, with the average high temperature at 60.6 degrees as of Sunday. That’s a full 8 degrees below the normal average temperature, the National Weather Service said in a news release announcing the record lows.

It hasn’t been this cold since 1962, when the average high temperature for the month in downtown L.A. was 59.8 degrees, the weather service said.

The state is experiencing even more storms and cold weather, as a new “atmospheric river” — a front of moisture from the Pacific — is expected to dump rain on Northern California through mid-week.

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Another Democrat Governor Pulls National Guard Troops From Border

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers joined a growing number of Democrat governors by ordering his state’s National Guard troops to leave the U.S.-Mexico border.

Evers issued an executive order Monday that withdraws 112 National Guard troops from their posts along the southern border. The first-term Democrat, while blasting President Donald Trump’s claims that a national crisis exists at the border, argued the issue is best left to Customs and Border Patrol.

Evers follows fellow first-term Democrats Gavin Newsom of California and Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico in ordering their states’ National Guard off of the U.S.-Mexico border—moves that are meant to be an act of defiance against Trump’s immigration agenda.

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SU Announces Plans for New Student Housing Complex

SALISBURY, MD---Salisbury University will break ground on the largest facility in campus history this fall, converting the former Court Plaza Shopping Center and Temple Hill Motel sites on Route 13 into a 750-bed student housing complex.

Comprised of three separate buildings connected by a central courtyard, the first building in the five-story, 323,371-square-foot complex is expected to open in August 2021, with the remaining two following in 2022. Cost is projected between $70 and $80 million.

“Since the SU Foundation, Inc., purchased these properties in 2017, we have been excited about their potential,” said Jason Curtin, SU vice president of advancement and external affairs and Foundation executive director. “One of our goals is to develop a signature facility to mark the arrival into the City of Salisbury and the University from the south. With that objective in mind, we are very happy with the renderings we have seen so far. We also are pleased that we will be able to offer this new living space to our students using no state appropriations.”

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Md. Democratic Party official says 2A activists are ‘terrorists in the making,’ deletes social media post

A Maryland Democratic Party official and former state Senate candidate has now deleted a controversial social media post that has sparked some to call for an apology – and even his resignation.

Maryland Democratic Party Secretary Robbie Leonard on Monday posted to his personal Facebook page a photograph of a Second Amendment activist standing on a street corner in Annapolis holding a sign that reads “We Will Not Comply,” a slogan adopted by gun rights advocates to broadcast their frustration with restrictive gun laws.

“Time to dox some homegrown terrorists,” wrote Leonard.

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Man, 81, Wearing Red MAGA Hat Assaulted

Prosecutors say an elderly man was assaulted inside a New Jersey supermarket after he was confronted over a “Make America Great Again” hat he was wearing.

Somerset County Prosecutor Michael Robertson says the 81-year-old Franklin Township man was shopping at the Shop Rite on Elizabeth Avenue Monday afternoon when he was approached regarding his red cap.

The victim was assaulted and sustained minor injuries, according to prosecutors. He declined medical attention at the scene.

No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.

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Planned Parenthood: 'There's No Such Thing' As Infanticide.

On Monday night, Senate Democrats blocked the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which would mandate doctors perform medical care to infants born alive after a failed abortion.

In other words, Democrats just went on record as pro-infanticide.

Planned Parenthood, America’s largest abortion mill, quickly came out to spin the ghoulish optics for Democrats, chalking up the no-vote as a “win” for women.

Planned Parenthood Action Fund and the abortion company’s leader, Leana Wen, issued tweets suggesting there is no such thing as born-alive survivors of abortions or even late-term abortions.

“There is no such thing as abortion until or after birth,” reads the Planned Parenthood tweet. “Trump's position on abortion is so extreme that he lies to the American public to incite fear & violence against women making personal decisions & abortion providers trying to provide their patients the best care possible.”

“Today, the Senate will vote on a bill that criminalizes doctors for a practice that doesn’t exist in medicine or reality,” said Wen. "We must call this out for what it is: a direct attack on women’s health and rights."

During Congressional testimony on September 23, 2016, Arina Grossu explained:

Data that the CDC collects also confirms babies are born alive after attempted abortions. Between the years 2003 and 2014 there were somewhere between 376 and 588 infant deaths under the medical code P96.4 which keeps track of babies born alive after a “termination of pregnancy.”

The CDC concluded that of the 588 babies, 143 were “definitively” born alive after an attempted abortion... It also admitted that it’s possible the number is an underestimate (B).

We know it is an underestimate because these are just reported numbers from hospitals, not abortion facilities. Gosnell is only one abortionist who was responsible for "hundreds of snippings" of born-alive babies, yet he did not report even one. His numbers alone exceed the “definitive” numbers of the CDC.

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Prager: Too Many Liberals Want to Believe America Is Racist

The reactions of many on the left to the case of Jussie Smollett prove two important things:

1. There is little racism in America.

2. The left—white and black—is morally and psychologically impaired.

There is no doubt that most Americans on the left, including black Americans, are distraught over the fact that Smollett faked the “racist” attack on him. Apparently, leftists, Democratic leaders, and, most depressingly, many of his fellow blacks wish Smollett had been attacked by white racist homophobes.

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., a white leftist, tweeted, “I hope this was not something that Mr. Smollett did to himself, or created … .”

Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart told MSNBC there has been “an atmosphere of menace and hate” since Donald Trump was elected president, which made “people want to believe” Smollett’s story.

Exactly. Capehart, a black leftist, wanted to believe that racists yelling “This is MAGA country” beat up blacks.

Another black leftist who writes hate columns for The Washington Post, Nana Efua Mumford, wrote: “I wanted to believe Smollett. I really did.”

Again, exactly. Mumford wanted to believe that racists yelling “This is MAGA country” beat up blacks.

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Democrats push to regulate voting rules in 11 states under new Voting Rights Act

House Democrats on Tuesday introduced legislation to require 11 states and dozens of counties with recent histories of voter discrimination to receive approval from the federal government before making any changes to their election laws.

The Voting Rights Advancement Act is a move to repair the Voting Rights Act of 1965, part of which was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013. That decision outraged Democrats who said the court essentially gutted a key provision of the law that was meant to correct decades of discriminatory treatment of black voters.

The 11 states that are expected to be affected under the new VRAA are Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia. The new list is slightly shorter than the one had the bill become law last year when 13 states were predicted to be covered. The two states no longer covered under the new bill are Arizona and Arkansas.

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Dorchester County Sheriff's Office

On Thursday, February 21, 2019 deputies from the Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office responded to 4445 Waddells Corner Road, Hurlock, Md. for a reported Breaking and Entering and theft. Upon arrival deputies were advised that during the night an unknown person had broken into several outbuildings and had removed items valued at over five thousand dollars. The investigation revealed that a Chainsaw, 1 pair of rubber boots and a Polaris UTV had been taken. Deputies working with officers from the Hurlock Police Department were able to track the Polaris from the scene across fields and into a yard in Hurlock where the unit was hidden. The investigation resulted in the recovery of the items and the arrest of 28 year old James Michael Fisher Jr. of 302 North Main Street, Apartment B, Hurlock, Md. He was charged with Second Degree Burglary, Theft over $500.00, Trespassing on Posted Property and being a Rogue and Vagabond. He was ordered Held without Bond.

Initiative Nets Multiple Arrest in the Coverdale Crossroads Area- Bridgeville

Bridgeville- The Delaware State Police in a collaborative effort with the Sussex Governor’s Task Force (GTF), Sussex Drug Unit (SDU), supplemented by Troopers from Troop 5 and Troop 7, Probation and Parole Officers and the Special Operations Response Team (SORT) netted multiple arrests in the Coverdale Crossroads Community area.
The on-going initiative, began on January 28, 2019.  This initiative was in response to an increase in gun violence and reported shooting incidents in the Coverdale Crossroads Community area.  The area is a well-known open-air drug market and had experienced three reported shooting incidents between January 14 and January 20, 2019.  To date, a total of 94 individuals were arrested.  There were a total of 60 Felony charges, 165 Misdemeanor charges, 167 Traffic charges, and 44 court capiases cleared.
As a result of this operation a total of seven firearms, 40.75 grams of cocaine, 22.86 grams of heroin, and 217 grams of marijuana were seized.  Also recovered during this initiative were the following:
  • 1 Suboxone tablet
  • 6 Schedule III pills
  • 2.67 grams of methamphetamine
  • 5 Topiramate (100 mg pills)
  • 4 Tramodol Hydrochloride (50 mg pills)
  • 9 Oxycodone pills
  • 1 Suboxone strip
  • 6.5 MDMA pills
Attached are the links to the three reported shooting incidents between January 14 and January 20, 2019.  These incidents continue to remain under investigation by the Delaware State Police Major Crimes Unit. If anyone has information in reference to these cases, they are asked to please contact Detective C. Simpson at 302-752-3855. Information may also be provided by calling Delaware Crime Stoppers at 1-800-TIP-3333, via the internet at www.delaware.crimestoppersweb.com.
The success of this operation goes beyond proactive crime enforcement. Reducing the gun violence and drug activity positively affects the daily lives of residents living in the Coverdale Crossroads Community area.  The Delaware State Police are working proactively with several community groups to improve their quality of life.

IG: Prosecution Was Declined for Senior DOJ Official Who Sexually Assaulted a Subordinate

A senior Justice Department official working in the Office of Justice Programs pressured one subordinate "into a sexual relationship with him in exchange for a promotion," "sexually harassed two other subordinates," "sexually assaulted" yet another subordinate, and then “lacked candor” with the Office of the Inspector General when the IG investigated these matters, according to an investigative summary published by the IG.

The unnamed prosecutor or prosecutors to whom the IG referred this case, however, declined to prosecute the senior Justice Department official.

Instead, the man was allowed to retire.

When asked by CNSNews.com, the Justice Department would not say whether this former senior official is now receiving a federal pension or has been allowed to keep a security clearance.

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Congressman Andy Harris’ Statement on H.J. Res. 46

WASHINGTON, DC: Congressman Andy Harris, M.D. (MD-01) made the following statement about H.J. Res. 46, an attempt to overturn President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency along the U.S. southern border:

“In the modern era, presidents have declared 58 national emergencies, including 31 that remain active today. President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency is not an unprecedented executive use of power and responds to our national drug crisis, human sex trafficking atrocities, and horrific gang violence - much of which stems from our unprotected southern border. Even today, Maryland has the second highest frequency of MS-13 gang activity in the nation -- only behind California – and we cannot stand for such gang violence.

The emergency declarations by previous administrations already establish that the president can reallocate unused funds from other programs. Of course, the president would not have to move funds or declare a national emergency if Congress provided adequate funding for comprehensive border security. In the face of a national security crisis along our southern border, I support the president in his declaration of a national emergency and the reallocation of funds from related programs, such as the drug forfeiture program and drug interdiction initiative.”

Jerome Hudson to Be Featured #Blexit Speaker in Ralph Northam’s Backyard

Breitbart News entertainment editor Jerome Hudson has been named a featured speaker at the latest BLEXIT rally, set to kick off in Richmond, Virginia, on March 3.

Hudson joined Breitbart News in 2015. Called a “rising star” by nationally syndicated talk show host Dennis Prager, Jerome was a senior research analyst at the Government Accountability Institute where he assisted in research for Breitbart News senior editor-at-large Peter Schweizer’s New York Times Best-selling book Clinton Cash. Jerome is also a member of Project 21, The National Leadership Network of Black Conservatives. His forthcoming book, 50 Things They Don’t Want You to Know, will be available everywhere this fall from Harper Collins.

As entertainment editor of one of the most widely read news outlets in the world, Hudson, who is young and black, is uniquely qualified to take on and expose how Hollywood’s most affluent and influential elites spearhead smear and boycott campaigns against Breitbart News with the express purpose of silencing voices like his.

Blexit co-founder Candace Owen told Breitbart News that she chose to bring Blexit to Virginia because the state has “become our nation’s capital for Democrat hypocrisy.”
“It’s a state which has spent the last two years tearing down statues that were deemed reminiscent of racial unrest is being governed by a man who thinks black face and Ku Klux Klansmen hoods are appropriate Halloween attire,” Owens said, referring to the embattled Virginia governor who has ignored calls to resign from office by major Democrat party leaders after he admitted to wearing blackface.

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Democrat Rep Likens Border Agents to Nazi Collaborators

A Democratic congresswoman likened border security officials following Trump administration protocols to people following orders in Nazi Germany.

Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D., Penn.), speaking Tuesday at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on the administration's policy on separating children at the border, said she was struck by what she called the "denial of humanity" to illegal immigrants.

"When you say that the cause of migration is legal loopholes or bad judicial decisions, rather than the dire conditions of violence and poverty in these people's home countries that's literally driving them from home, I think it's easier to slam the door against these kids and these families," she said. "This hearing is a recognition and an insistence that on that humanity … a recognition that just following orders is no more an excuse today than it was back in Germany."

The euphemism of "following orders" is commonly used in reference to those who collaborated with the Nazi regime in the 1930s and 1940s.

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United Methodist Church strengthens ban on same-sex marriage, LGBT clergy

The United Methodist Church voted on Tuesday to uphold and strengthen its ban on same-sex marriage and LGBT clergy in a move likely to alienate large numbers of followers who had pushed for reform.

By a vote of 438-384, delegates from around the world attending the church's General Conference in St. Louis reinforced a United Methodist Church policy established in 1972 stating that "the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching."

Known as the Traditional Plan, the new policy includes penalties for breaking its rules and asks those who will not obey it to find another church.

The Traditional Plan is designed to serve as a coherent United Methodist Church policy on LGBT clergy and their marriage practices after years of inconsistency among individual United Methodist churches, with some churches denouncing homosexuality as a sin and others embracing gay and lesbian clergy members.

Before opting for the Traditional Plan, delegates rejected an alternative known as the One Church Plan, which would have allowed individual churches to decide whether to perform same-sex marriages and welcome gay and lesbian clergy members. Under that plan, the statement that homosexuality is at odds with Christianity would have been eliminated.

The vote roiled many in America's second-largest Protestant denomination. Tom Berlin, a delegate, told Reuters that some supporters of the One Church Plan held small protest demonstrations afterward.

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