Maryland State Police Prepare For Increased Patrols For Cinco De Mayo

(PIKESVILLE, MD) —As Cinco de Mayo approaches on Sunday, Maryland State Police are urging those who plan to celebrate with alcohol to be safe and smart and avoid impaired and distracted driving.

With an increase in impaired drivers expected throughout the state this weekend, state police will be conducting saturation patrols at each of the 23 barracks focusing on impaired, aggressive and distracted driving. Enforcement this weekend, beginning on Thursday evening and through Sunday will be bolstered by impaired driving saturation patrol funds from the Maryland Department of Transportation’s Highway Safety Office.

Initiatives will include saturation patrols in areas known to have a higher number of DUI crashes or arrests and sobriety checkpoints, which are also conducted in locations where experience indicates they are most appropriate. Additional troopers will be assigned as needed. From May 4-6, 2018, troopers made 119 DUI arrests, 35 criminal arrests and 20 controlled dangerous substance arrests while also issuing 861 speeding citations, 88 seat belt citations and 2,257 citations for other violations.

The State Police Impaired Driving Reduction Effort Team, otherwise known as the SPIDRE team, will also be out in full force this weekend. Since its inception in May 2013 through April 27, 2019, the SPIDRE team has made 2,995 DUI arrests, 138 criminal arrests and 9,109 traffic stops while also issuing 20,240 citations and 4,505 warnings. The goal of the SPIDRE team is to focus on reducing alcohol related crashes in Maryland by targeting areas across the state with high crash rates involving impaired drivers.

Every year more than 160 lives are lost and thousands more are injured in Maryland in crashes involving impaired drivers, according to the Maryland Department of Transportation. Please don’t drink and drive this weekend.

If you are attending a Cinco de Mayo gathering:

• Designate your sober driver in advance and give that person your car keys.
• If you’re planning on driving, avoid drinking.
• Consider using public transportation, call a taxi or use a ride-share service if you don’t have a sober driver.
• Don’t let a friend drive if you think they are impaired.
• If you see someone who you believe is driving impaired, call police.
• Always buckle up.
• Don’t text, use a cellphone that is not hands-free or drive distracted.

If you are hosting a Cinco de Mayo gathering:

• Remember, you can be held liable if someone you served alcohol to ends up in an impaired-driving crash.
• Serve plenty of food and non-alcoholic beverages
• Ensure sober drivers or alternative modes of transportation are set up in advance for guest who are planning to drink alcoholic beverages.
• Have contact information for local taxi companies readily available.
• Take away the keys from anyone who is thinking of driving impaired.

PHILANTHROPIST OFFERS CITY FREE BUILDING TO SAVE DOOMED HUDSON YARDS ARTS CENTER

The owner of a Manhattan arts complex says he’s willing to give away the cultural institution to save it.

William Hillman’s Affirmation Arts, which sits in the path of a planned Hudson Yards park and roadway expansion, faces the wrecking ball, along with nine other nearby properties. He says he’d gladly hand over his building to the city — on the condition it remain intact as a cultural center.

“I would like to give this building to the people of New York City to share with the world,” the artist and philanthropist testified Tuesday at a hearing on plans to condemn his West 37th Street property to make way for the last phase of a park and boulevard north of Hudson Yards.

Hillman would not say how much he expected to get for his renovated, three-story 1920 structure, should the city seize it as planned. But he told THE CITY Thursday donating the building would be “by far the greatest philanthropic gift” of his lifetime.

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Subject: General: America’s Power Grid Vulnerable to Electronic Attack

A senior Air Force general is warning that America's electrical power grid is vulnerable to electronic attacks ranging from nuclear-produced electromagnetic pulse, to tactical electronic weapons from China or Russia, to geomagnetic storms—all of which can plunge the nation into darkness.

Air Force Lt. Gen. Steven Kwast, commander of the Air Education and Training Command in San Antonio, Texas, issued the warning in a telephone interview during a conference earlier this week that brought together experts to find ways to protect against what the military is calling the electromagnetic spectrum, or EMS, threat.

"The American people need to understand that we built western civilization on electricity and information," Kwast said. "Whether it's our 4G LTE and our cell phones, or whether it's our energy grid, electricity and information are the magic sauce for economic development, economic growth, and the vibrancy of our economy."

The infrastructure to support electrical power and information transmission were built without consideration of electronic or other types of attacks, he said.

"But we see evidence of China and Russia looking at that as a vulnerability in American society and we have to be mindful of that," the three-star general said.

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Chelsea Clinton Making Millions By Hardly Working, New Report Says

Chelsea Clinton once made $600,000 a year to produce a few “feel-good pieces” for NBC News — where she was a “special correspondent.” Somehow, the 39-year-old has amassed a huge fortune and now lives in a $10 million “luxury fortress” in Manhattan.

So the Daily Mail decided to take a look at the former first daughter’s income, and what they found was fascinating.

Chelsea Clinton, 39, took home just over $600,000 last year for her work as director on the boards of IAC and Expedia, according to records obtained by DailyMail.com.

The IAC board met just six times in 2018, while some members of the Expedia board were only obligated to attend two meetings last year.

Those two companies are both headed up by the family’s good friend Barry Diller, the billionaire businessman and longtime partner of designer Diane von Furstenberg, who is often spotted attending Broadway shows with Chelsea and her parents.

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Most Americans Don't Support Voting Rights For Jailed Felons

A resounding majority of Americans don’t support giving prisoners the right to vote in national elections, a poll found.

In the HarrisX survey for The Hill released Thursday, 69% of registered voters said incarcerated felons shouldn’t be allowed to retain their voting rights; 31% favored the idea.

The chief champion of voting access for prisoners has been Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a front-runner in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, but that position has come under fire from Republicans and a few Democrats, including another White House contender, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.

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'Medicare for all' means choice for none

“Medicare for all” is another name for socialized health insurance. The Congressional Budget Office published a paper on the general idea this week, reigniting debates over the costs.

Follow the defenses of “Medicare for all” closely enough, through their twists and turns, and eventually you end up in a dead-end alley from which there is no escape. Democrats’ plans to supposedly open up Medicare to everybody always end up in the same place: They absolutely must bar people from choosing to buy their own insurance instead.

The winding debate goes like this: Conservatives point out that turning the federal government into a massive health insurer for all Americans would increase federal spending by $32 trillion.

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Democrats eat fried chicken

Larry C. Johnson: Intel and Law Enforcement Tried to Entrap Trump

The preponderance of evidence makes this very simple–there was a broad, coordinated effort by the Obama Administration, with the help of foreign governments, to target Donald Trump and paint him as a stooge of Russia.

The Mueller Report provides irrefutable evidence that the so-called Russian collusion case against Donald Trump was a deliberate fabrication by intelligence and law enforcement organizations in the United States and the United Kingdom and organizations aligned with the Clinton Campaign.

Breaking news today, courtesy of the New York Times, is that a man with a long history of working with the CIA and a female FBI Informant, traveled to London in September of 2016 and tried unsuccessfully to entrap George Papadopolous. The biggest curiosity is that US intelligence or law enforcement officials fully briefed British intelligence on what they were up to. Quite understandable given what we now know about British spying on the Trump Campaign.

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The Wheels Of Real Justice Are In Motion Now: Kunstler Fears The "Desperate Resistance" Next Move...

"Impeachment is too good for him,” Nancy Pelosi declared of the president on Thursday after “his lapdog” - as she styled Attorney General William Barr - refused to be whipped by grandstanding Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee. What did Madam Speaker have in mind then? Dragging Mr. Trump behind a Chevy Tahoe over four miles of broken light bulbs? Staking him onto a nest of fire ants? How about a beheading at the capable hands of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN)?

Mr. Barr’s stolid demeanor during the Wednesday session was a refreshing reminder of what it means to be not insane in the long-running lunatic degeneration of national politics.

Of course, the reason for the continued hysteria among Democrats is that the two-year solemn inquiry by the august former FBI Director, Mr. Mueller, is being revealed daily as a mendacious fraud with criminal overtones running clear through Democratic ranks beyond even the wicked Hillary Clinton to the sainted former president Obama, who may have supervised his party’s collusion with foreign officials to interfere in the 2016 election.

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HAMAS FIRES NEARLY 300 ROCKETS FROM GAZA; 6 ISRAELIS WOUNDED, 1 SERIOUSLY

Israel appeared to be on the verge of a prolonged escalation of its conflict with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad after close to 300 rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip towards southern Israeli communities on Saturday, striking several homes and leaving one elderly woman severely wounded by shrapnel.

The attacks occurred in advance of Israel’s Independence Day and 10 days before the Eurovision Song Contest.

Dozens of projectiles were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system, according to the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.

While the majority of rockets launched by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fell in open areas, several hit homes in communities in southern Israel, including in Beersheba, Sderot and Ashkelon.

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UPDATED:: Country House wins 2019 Kentucky Derby after Maximum Security gets disqualified

UPDATED:

Country House has won the 145th Kentucky Derby on Saturday after Maximum Security became the first horse to be disqualified in the race. 

Rain poured for nearly an hour before post time, forcing officials to downgrade the track condition to sloppy for the third year in a row. This year's race was tinged with drama days before the race, as the favorite Omaha Beach, was forced to pull out over breathing issues.

Source

'BIGGER THAN WATERGATE': Trump Mocks New York Times For 'Finally' Reporting On FBI 'Spying' Into His Campaign

President Trump on Friday dinged The New York Times for "finally" reporting that the FBI sent a "spy" to meet with a member of his 2016 campaign staff to see if the campaign was working with Russia.

"Finally, Mainstream Media is getting involved — too 'hot' to avoid. Pulitzer Prize anyone? The New York Times, on front page (finally), 'Details effort to spy on Trump Campaign.' @foxandfriends This is bigger than WATERGATE, but the reverse!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

Trump's tweet followed the publication on the Times' front page of a story headlined "F.B.I. Sent Investigator Posing as Assistant to Meet With Trump Aide in 2016." The story said in September 2016, the Federal Bureau of Investigation dispatched a woman to meet with then-Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos to gather information on allegations that the Trump campaign was colluding with Russia to alter the outcome of the presidential election.

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Barney Frank: Beto O’Rourke ‘May Be Regretting That He’s Straight’

Barney Frank (D., Mass.), the former congressman whose live-in personal aide ran a male escort service out of their Washington, D.C., apartment in the 1980s, recently weighed in on the success of South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who is vying to become the first openly gay president in history.

In an interview with the Boston Globepublished on Friday, Frank said Buttigieg's sexuality was "an advantage" that has helped him stand out in a crowded Democratic primary field dominated by straight white men. "If he were straight, I don't think he would be doing as well," Frank said.

Frank even suggested that Buttigieg's rivals might be wishing they were gay, because it would allow voters to signal their lack of bigotry by supporting them. "It attracts attention to [Buttigieg] and he gets points for being open and honest and gives people a chance to affirm their lack of prejudice," Frank said. "I think Beto O’Rourke may be regretting that he’s straight."

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The Worm Has Turned on the Democrats

The Democrats and their media colluders are belching last gasps of impotent protest as their dreams of interfering with the 2016 presidential election come to a screeching halt.

Through forlorn partisan lenses, they have watched the Mueller report, their joyride vehicle on the glorious highway to impeachment, spring four flat tires, all because of nails they placed on the road themselves.

As we watch the mainstream media grow hysterically strident, and the insolent Senate Democrats lash out at Attorney General William Barr for refusing to validate their malicious witch hunt, we realize we are witnessing their gobsmacked reaction to justice served cold.

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Florida Teachers Can Be "Good Guy With A Gun" Under New Bill Allowing Them To Pack Heat

Florida's House of Representatives passed a bill on Wednesday allowing full-time teachers to carry guns in the classroom - expanding on a program launched in the wake of the deadly Parkland high school shooting in February, 2018
 
The bill, passed by a vote of 65 to 47 after two days of debate in which Republicans thwarted Democratic legislators' attempts to amend, stall or kill the measure. It was approved by Florida's Senate last week by a vote of 22 to 17, and now heads to the desk of Republican Governor Ron DeSantis who is expected to sign it into law, according to Reuters.

Teachers who complete a 144-hour training course as part of the voluntary guardian program will be allowed to carry.

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Shocking New Study Finds 137 Million Americans Suffered "Medical Financial Hardship In The Past Year"

The healthcare system in the United States is deeply broken, and it is causing massive financial pain for millions of American families

Previously, I have published articles where I talked about how medical bills are the primary factor in two-thirds of all personal bankruptcies in the United States, and that Americans had to borrow a whopping 88 billion dollars last year to cover medical costs. This is happening even though more than 90 percent of all Americans have some form of health coverage. Thanks to soaring deductibles and health insurance policies that are absolutely riddled with loopholes, more Americans than ever are being wiped out by medical bills. And now a brand new study that was conducted by researchers from the American Cancer Society has discovered that 137.1 million Americans suffered “medical financial hardship in the past year”. The following comes directly from the study…

Approximately 137.1 million (95% CI 132.7–141.5) adults reported any medical financial hardship in the past year. Hardship is more common for material, psychological and behavioral domains in adults aged 18–64 years (28.9%, 46.9%, and 21.2%, respectively) than in adults aged ≥ 65 years (15.3%, 28.4%, and 12.7%, respectively; all p < .001). Lower educational attainment and more health conditions were strongly associated with hardship intensity in multivariable analyses in both age groups (p < .001). In the younger group, the uninsured were more likely to report multiple domains of hardship (52.8%), compared to those with some public (26.5%) or private insurance (23.2%) (p < .001). In the older group, individuals with Medicare only were more likely to report hardship in multiple domains (17.1%) compared to those with Medicare and public (12.1%) or Medicare and private coverage (10.1%) (p < .001).

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13 Things the Insane Dems Blamed on Trump

Catherine Pugh is the 12th Baltimore mayor to resign from the office. Here's a look back at the others.

Mayor Catherine Pugh, who announced Thursday that she was resigning, is not the first Baltimore mayor to take that path. Or even the second. Or the third.

Actually, 11 others have pulled the plug on their mayoral careers and for a variety of reasons — including to become governor.

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Trump, Putin discuss nukes, Venezuela in ‘long and very good’ talk

President Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin had a “very productive talk” over the phone Friday while discussing nuclear and trade agreements.

The two world leaders also discussed the political chaos unfolding in Venezuela as beleaguered President Nicolas Maduro is being pressured to cede power, according to the White House.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters the president was “making clear that the United States stand with the people of Venezuela.”

Trump tweeted that among topics discussed was special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on his investigation into Russia.

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Pig 'Ebola' Virus Sends Shock Waves Through Global Food Chain

What started with a few dozen dead pigs in northeastern China is sending shock waves through the global food chain.

Last August, a farm with fewer than 400 hogs on the outskirts of Shenyang was found to harbor African swine fever, the first ever occurrence of the contagious viral disease in the country with half the world’s pigs. Forty-seven head had died, triggering emergency measures including mass culling and a blockade to stop the transportation of livestock. Within days, a government notice proclaimed the outbreak “effectively controlled.”

It was too late. By then, the disease had literally gone viral, dispersed across hundreds of miles in sickened animals, contaminated food, and in dirt and dust on truck tires and clothing. Nine months later, the contagion has spread nationwide, crossed borders to Mongolia, Vietnam and Cambodia, and bolstered meat markets globally.

While official estimates count 1 million culled hogs, slaughter data suggest 100 times more will be removed from China’s 440 million-strong swine herd in 2019, the Chinese zodiac’s “year of the pig.” The U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast in April a decline of 134 million head -- equivalent to the entire annual output of American pigs -- and the worst slump since the department began counting China’s pigs in the mid 1970s.

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DOJ shoots back at Pelosi’s claim that Barr ‘lied to Congress’

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Thursday that Attorney General William Barr lied to Congress, something she noted would be a “crime.” The Department of Justice has called these accusations “baseless,” “reckless,” “irresponsible,” and “false.”

On Wednesday, Barr testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. He had been asked to answer questions related to special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report on the investigation into whether or not the Trump campaign colluded with Russia in the months leading up to the 2016 presidential election.

During the hearing, Senate Democrats accused Barr of covering for President Donald Trump instead of respecting the integrity of the investigation. Barr told the committee that Trump “fully cooperated with Mueller’s investigation,” a point Democrats contested since Trump himself refused to be interviewed by Mueller. Also under scrutiny was Barr’s summary of the Mueller report, which Mueller had said in a letter did not adequately reflect his results. The full Mueller report, with redactions, was released more than three weeks after Barr’s summary.
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Trump says he will declassify 'everything' about warrants Obama used to spy on his campaign

President Donald Trump claimed on Thursday that it's likely former FBI Director James Comey led an effort to spy on his campaign in 2016.

And he told a Fox News Channel interviewer that he intends to declassify documents related to controversial surveillance warrants 'pretty soon.'

White House officials have vented both publicly and privately for more than a year about warrants the Obama Justice Department obtained from a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court to monitor Carter Page, then a Trump campaign foreign policy adviser.

The president signaled Friday morning that a reckoning was near.

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Reports of a Helicopter Crash in the Chesapeake Bay

Florida teens stranded in ocean saved by boat named 'Amen' after desperate prayer for help

Two Florida teens were enjoying senior skip day at the beach when they found themselves stranded in the ocean.

Tyler Smith and Heather Brown, Christ's Church Academy students who've been friends since fourth grade, were swimming off of Vilano Beach, near St. Augustine, on Thursday, April 18, when they realized they might not make it back to shore.

Weak and tired from fighting the waves for two hours and two miles offshore, the 17-year-old soccer players told Fox News they started praying to God and crying out for help.

“I cried out: 'If you really do have a plan for us, like, come on. Just bring something,'” Tyler recalled to FOX 30.

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https://www.foxnews.com/us/florida-boat-prayer-teens-amen

The New Cheney

I can't think of a better illustration of our partisan divide than the reactions to Attorney General William Barr's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Democrats are furious at Barr's defense of his roll-out of the Mueller report and his assertions of executive power. Some Democrats want Barr to resign, others want him to be impeached, and Nancy Pelosi says he's guilty of lying to Congress. Republicans have found a hero.

Barr is the new Dick Cheney: a stocky, bespectacled, confrontational, blunt, intelligent, unapologetically conservative, experienced, and high-powered official who believes in and fights for the office of the president. Just as Democrats loathed Cheney as a bugaboo manipulating President George W. Bush to further the interests of Halliburton, they attack Barr as a dishonest factotum of President Trump's. The qualities that drove Democrats batty over Cheney—his inscrutability, his cleverness, his asperity, and above all his success—make them incensed about Barr. These happen to be qualities Republicans find appealing.

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FBI informant report fuels Obama spying claims

The FBI used a female informant to try to pry information from a Trump campaign adviser during the 2016 election season, The New York Times reported Thursday, fueling allegations that the Obama administration spied on a political opponent.

The woman was deployed to meet with George Papadopoulos, a foreign policy adviser to the campaign, at a London bar as part of the FBI’s investigation into suspected coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign, the newspaper reported.

“There is a word for this in the English language: spying,” said Brad Parscale, President Trump’s campaign manager for the upcoming election. “For two years, Democrats and their allies in the media have lied to the American people about the Russia collusion hoax, when all along the real scandal was the Obama administration using the Justice Department to spy on a political adversary’s campaign.”

Mr. Papadopoulos said Thursday that he is not sure the woman, who gave her name as “Azra Turk,” was working for the FBI. He figures she was more likely with the CIA, which he said was probably working with Turkish intelligence.

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Leftist students freak out, get arrested by campus cops — after yet another allegedly stolen MAGA hat

It appears another gaggle of left-wing college students have allowed the sight of a "Make America Great Again" hat — the iconic symbol of President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign that's more or less become kryptonite to leftists — get the better of their decision-making skills and emotions.

What happened?
A Texas State University student shot video Wednesday of what he told Campus Reform occurred after another student stole his MAGA hat amid a heated political discussion on campus.

The clip shows one student in a light purple shirt dropping and kicking the student's MAGA hat as campus police confront her.

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LOCATED.....MSP: Missing Juvenile In Salisbury

SUBJECT HAS BEEN LOCATED

Baltimore ranked among nation's 'dirtiest' cities - but D.C. is even worse

BALTIMORE (WBFF) - Baltimore is among the country's "dirtiest" cities - although Washington, D.C. is worse.

That's according to a new study from Quality Logo Products, which makes promotional products.

The company did "in-depth surveys of 2,732 individuals and some fascinating insights into America’s personal hygiene behaviors."

Out of 25 major cities that were studied, Baltimore came in 16th place for personal hygiene.

But, if it makes you feel better, Washington, D.C., was 23rd!

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Sen. Josh Hawley: FBI Officials Tried to Overturn Results of a Democratic Election

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, said officials like former FBI agent Peter Strzok tried to overturn the results of a democratic election by launching an investigation into the Trump campaign for Russian collusion.

Hawley read aloud a text from Strzok to his former lover and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page on August 26, 2016: “Just went to the southern Virginia Walmart. I could SMELL the Trump support.”

“Smell is capitalized,” he said. “In my view, you want to know what’s really going on here? You want to know why the counterintelligence investigation really happened? You want to know why we’re all really sitting here today? That’s why — right there,” he said, gesturing to the text of the tweet.

"That’s why we’re here today. I cannot believe that a top official of this government with the kind of power that these people had would exercise their own prejudices, and that’s what this is — it’s open, blatant prejudice — would try to use that and try to overturn a democratic election, and to my mind, that’s the real crisis here, and it is a crisis."

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In ‘lawless’ world of service dogs, many families suffer

All the counseling, therapy and medication did little to ease 9-year-old Sobie Cummings’ crippling anxiety and feelings of isolation. And so a psychiatrist suggested that a service dog might help the autistic child connect with other kids.

To Glenn and Rachel Cummings, Mark Mathis seemed like a dream come true. His kennel, Ry-Con Service Dogs, was just a couple of hours away, and he, too, had a child with autism. But what clinched the decision were Mathis’ credentials.

“Is Ry-Con a certified program? Yes,” stated an online brochure. “In 2013, Mark was certified as a NC state approved service dog trainer with a specialty in autism service dogs for children.”

Ten months and $14,500 later, the family brought home a shaggy mop of a dog that Sobie had come to view as her “savior.” But when they opened the front door, Okami broke from Glenn Cummings’ grasp and began mauling one of the family’s elderly dogs — all as Sobie watched from the stairs in mute horror.

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Ala. Rep. John Rogers: Donald Trump Jr. 'evidently retarded,' 'his mother should've aborted him'

Alabama state Rep. John Rogers blasted Donald Trump Jr. as “evidently retarded” on Thursday after the president’s son condemned him for controversial comments he made defending abortion.

Mr. Rogers, a Democrat, sparked a backlash Wednesday after he told lawmakers during a filibuster against an abortion ban that “some kids are unwanted, so you kill them now or you kill them later.

“You bring them in the world unwanted, unloved, and you send them to the electric chair. So, you kill them now or you kill them later,” Mr. Rogers said in opposing House Bill 314, which passed the House later Wednesday.

Mr. Trump Jr., President Trump’s eldest son, called Mr. Rogers‘ remarks “truly sickening” in a tweet Wednesday evening, writing, “This is stomach curling and makes Ralph Northam look like a moderate on abortion. Every Democrat running for President needs to be asked where they stand on this. The extreme turn we’ve seen from Dems on abortion recently is truly sickening.”

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Sen. Graham asks Mueller if he wants to refute AG Barr's testimony

Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham on Friday sent a letter to special counsel Robert Mueller asking him if Attorney General William Barr misrepresented their phone call in his Senate testimony.

Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mr. Barr told lawmakers that the special counsel did not object to his four-page letter to Congress, but rather the media coverage of it.

This week a newly revealed letter raised speculation that Mr. Mueller was unhappy with how the special attorney general presented his work.

In Senate testimony, Mr. Barr said the special counsel’s beef was with the press coverage, not him. Mr. Mueller’s letter does not mention the media.

“Please inform the Committee if you would like to provide testimony regarding any misrepresentation by the attorney general of the substance of that phone call,” Mr. Graham wrote.

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82 Arrested in Multi-State Child Exploitation Operation Named “Operation Southern Impact III”

Decatur, GA – A total of 82 people were arrested, and 17 children were rescued or identified as victims during a mutually coordinated operation between eight (8) southeastern states. The joint, proactive operation, Operation Southern Impact III, was coordinated by ten (10) Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces in those eight states and focused on persons who possess and distribute child pornography and those who are sexually exploiting children in other ways using technology and the internet. The planning for Operation Southern Impact III began approximately 4 months ago and culminated in 3 days of investigative actions to include search warrant executions, undercover operations, arrests and sex offender compliance verification visits in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. A total of 171 law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies participated in the operation.

The arrestees ranged in age from 20 to 70. Some of their occupations included non-profit employee, small business owner, store clerk, mechanic, daycare administrator, youth group leader, former high school band director, freelance photographer, construction worker and painter. During the operation, 134 search warrants were executed and 215 knock and talks were conducted in those eight (8) states. During those search warrants and knock and talks, 861 digital devices were previewed and 1,613 digital devices were seized. Of those devices seized 203 were mobile phones.

These investigative actions resulted from both reactive cases such as cybertips received by each ICAC Task Force from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), and proactive cases such as peer-to-peer investigations and proactive, on-line undercover investigations. Daily each task force receives numerous cybertips from NCMEC related to online child exploitation. During Operation Southern Impact III, the investigations related to 248 cybertips were progressed through the execution of these search warrants and knock and talks, and through the seizure of digital devices which will be forensically processed in the coming weeks. There were 22 internet safety presentations or related events held during the operation as well.

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Trump Administration to Review Fed’s $1.45 Trillion Student Loan Portfolio

The Trump administration is addressing the U.S. government’s $1.45 trillion student loan portfolio, including hiring consultants to advise on selling all or portions of the portfolio to private investors.

The Wall Street Journal, citing “administration officials familiar with the matter,” said the move comes after a surge of defaults on loans and individuals taking advantage of federal debt-forgiveness plans that have led to reduced federal coffers.

The Journal reported:

The Education Department has hired the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. to study how much money could be lost if low repayment rates persist, an agency spokeswoman said. Meantime, President Trump’s top economic advisers in the White House are studying ways to improve the program’s finances, senior administration officials said.

More here

Shocking video of children in Philadelphia Muslim Society: 'We will chop off their heads' for Allah

Disturbing footage of Muslim kids saying they would sacrifice themselves and kill for the "army of Allah" surfaced from an Islamic center in Philadelphia.

The Muslim American Society (MAS) Islamic Center in Philadelphia posted the video to its Facebook page celebrating "Ummah Day" in which young children wearing Palestinian scarves sang and read poetry about killing for Allah and the mosque in Jerusalem.

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), a watchdog group, alerted Fox News to the video.

"These are not isolated incidents; they are happening in major centers of the country – including in Pennsylvania," MEMRI said in a statement.

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https://www.foxnews.com/us/video-philadelphia-muslim-society-children

Chicken BBQ Today!

Walk ups welcome!

Build The Wall

May The 4th

Saturday Morning Funnies

Truck Driver Charged in Colorado Pileup That Killed 4

Prosecutors on Friday filed 40 charges, including four counts of vehicular homicide, against a 23-year-old truck driver accused of causing a fiery pileup that killed four people on a Colorado highway last week.

Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederos of Houston was "operating the vehicle under circumstances where he was exhibiting extreme indifference to the value of human life," Jefferson County District Attorney Pete Weir said.

Defense attorney Robert Corry called the charges "excessive, duplicative and prosecutorial overkill."

The truck was going at least 85 mph on a part of Interstate 70 where commercial vehicles are limited to 45 mph, police say.

Aguilera-Mederos told investigators that the brakes on his semitrailer failed. He plowed into vehicles on the crowded highway April 25 just after it descends from mountains west of Denver, setting off a 28-vehicle chain reaction of explosions from ruptured gas tanks, authorities said.

Just before the crash, police say the truck traveled past a ramp to the side of the highway that is designed to safely stop trucks and other vehicles that have lost their brakes.

The speeding truck had a "free and unobstructed path" to the ramp but instead swerved away from it, police said.

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Berlin MSP Press Release 5-3-19 (Fatal MVC)

Annual Spring Heritage Festival in Mardela Spring on May 11

On Saturday , May 11, the Westside Historical Society will be producing the 32nd Spring Festival celebrating the traditions, heritage, and life in this part of lower Delmarva! Festivities will begin at 8:30 am with a parade featuring many of these traditions, and highlighting the prize-winning Mardela High School Marching Band, under the direction of Cory Boltz.

The fun continues at the Mardela Springs Recreation Park on Railroad Ave., where there will be games, face painting, a special showing of “mini-hennies” (that’s miniature mules for those who never had the experience of watching farmers plowing with mules!), display of Vintage and Antique Cars, a great Silent Auction, live music, exhibits and vendors. And, of course!, great food – BBQ chicken, dumplings, chicken salad, roasted nuts and more! And, the Rainy Day Raffle that has been going on since January, will end with the drawing of the lucky person who wins $100! Of course, you can buy tickets if you haven’t already done so! Vendors who have not yet reserved a spot can call Vivian Calder at 410-713-9309. In the afternoon, beginning about 2:30 a Mini-concert of music played by Donna Adler on the 19th century pump organ will be held in the Barren Creek Church, built in 1842, at 110 Main Street. Several families come annually to have a “family reunion” at the Festival, and any who would like to do so are welcome!! Bring your lawn chairs and join in the fun!

All this is FREE of course. Parking will be available near the Park, on Station Street and nearby, but Festival attendees who come early for the parade are asked to park before 8:30 to keep the streets clear for the parade. For more information, email Westside Historical Society at westsidehistorical@gmail.com or phone 410-713-9309 or 410-726-8047.