Tampon tax is real. Women everywhere pay their governments extra to have periods

Sometimes it’s hard to be a woman. And sometimes, by which we mean every month for roughly 30 years, it’s downright expensive.

If periods are the price women pay for the ability to make new humans, the “tampon tax” — sales tax applied to sanitary products — is the price they pay, er, because the government can make them. Just think of the taxman as a particularly audacious low-cost airline charging you to use the bathroom on a plane.

You can understand why it’s making people mad. From Australia to Italy, Malaysia to the UK, many of the countries that charge tampon tax now find themselves the targets of a growing campaign to have such levies scrapped.

So how exactly do women pay extra to have periods? And which countries make them do it? Sorry, sisters: It’s more than you might think.

What is tampon tax?

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CNN Intel Analyst: Hillary's Server A Deal-Breaker, 'I Can't Tell You How Bad This Is'

CNN Intelligence and Security Analyst and former CIA spy Robert Baer said that Hillary Clinton’s server and the material reportedly on it is a deal-breaker, adding, “I wonder if she’s capable of being president,” “you and I’d get fired, and possibly jailed. This could be a felony,” and “[this] is a transgression that I don’t think the president of the United States should be allowed to have committed on Saturday’s “CNN Newsroom” on CNN International.

Baer said of the security classifications mentioned in reports about the material on Clinton’s server, “You don’t get anymore secret than that. ‘TK’ is talent keyhole, relates to satellite — very classified satellite photography. ‘SI’ is special intelligence, which could relate code breaking, the National Security Agency, even Snowden didn’t get into that. And if this, in fact, was on a private server, you and I’d get fired, and possibly jailed. This could be a felony.”

He added, “If this was on her server, and it got into her smartphone, there’s a big problem there. Seriously, if I had sent a document like this over the open Internet, I’d get fired the same day, escorted to the door, and gone for good, and probably charged with mishandling classified information.”

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14-year-old shot seven times by police

14-year-old Radazz Hearns was shot seven times by officers in Trenton, New Jersey. Attorney Samuel Anyan and Slimes Jackson, Hearns' mother, join to discuss.

View HERE.

Chicago Tribune: Hillary Clinton Has Democrats in a Panic

John Kass of the Chicago Tribune says Hillary Clinton’s failure to handle her own scandals with any transparency is the only reasons Democrats are considering 2016 candidates like Joe Biden or Al Gore.

From the Chicago Tribune:

America isn’t yearning for Al Gore, the $200 million man, to run for president and save us from those 1 percenters and their obnoxious carbon footprints.

The same holds true for Crazy Uncle Joe Biden. The vice president has as much bad video in his past as Donald Trump, only his are worse, since Biden’s come in strange accents.

But they’ve been floated out there, listing like balloons in our presidential parade, because the Democrats are in a panic. And you know why:

Hillary Clinton is in the early stages of political sepsis.

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What's Inside? Salisbury Maryland Residents

That's right, the Liberals have scared the residents of Salisbury into hiding, too afraid to join the race for Mayor and or City Council.

Perhaps we'll finally see a change in the name of the City to Caitlynville and the town will gain HERO status. 

Are you MEN or MICE?

Maryland judge rules large oil shipment records are public

BALTIMORE (AP) — A Maryland judge has ruled records describing large oil shipments by rail subject to disclosure under the Maryland Public Information Act.

Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Lawrence Fletcher-Hill’s ruling was made late last week, and advocates for disclosure praised the ruling Monday.

Rail companies CSX and Norfolk Southern sued the Maryland Department of the Environment last summer to stop the state from releasing information about the routes and estimated amounts of crude oil traveling through the state. The court action came after news organizations, including The Associated Press, filed requests for disclosure.

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How Obama gets it wrong

No military option against Iran remains

Defending the Iran nuclear deal he negotiated in Vienna, Secretary of State John Kerry has repeatedly asserted something that has been much ignored in the discussion surrounding it — that all options which the United States possesses today to stop Iran going nuclear will be there for a future U.S. president in 10 years. Similarly, President Obama breezily assures us, “The same options that are available to me today will be available to any U.S. president in the future.”

Were it only true.

The major options available to the president in the face of an Iranian nuclear threat are covert (sabotage, cyberwarfare) and military (precision airstrikes with bunker-busting bombs). Mr. Obama has these at his disposal today. But his successor is unlikely to have them in 10 years.

Why? For seven reasons.

First, amazingly, the Vienna nuclear agreement requires the Europeans to assist Iran with training and technology in protecting its nuclear sites and program against sabotage. It is no coincidence that, in 2013, when Mr. Obama deviated from his earlier insistence on Tehran ceasing uranium enrichment in favor of negotiating a deal permitting continued enrichment, the CIA and NSA “drastically curtailed its cooperation withIsrael.” This cooperation, aimed at disrupting the Iranian nuclear project, had enjoyed “significant successes over the past decade,” according to veteran military and intelligence analyst Ronen Bergman.

The nuclear deal thus renders future sabotage and cyberwarfare against Iran — such as the Stuxnet virus, which wrecked a fifth of Iran’s centrifuges in 2010 — more difficult; perhaps, in time, even impossible.

Second, Mr. Obama has himself admitted the possibility that, at the deal’s expiration, “the breakout times would have shrunk almost down to zero.” (So much for his current claim that “Iran [would be] further away from a weapon” in 10-15 years). This means there might not be time to act even militarily, since Iran may well already have one or more nuclear weapons.

Third, Tehran will have had the time to reinforce existing underground facilities and build new, deeper ones that might be impervious to airstrikes. This means that the 30,000-pound Massive Ordnance Penetrator, the bunker-busting bombs which can penetrate Iran’s underground nuclear facility at Fordow, might not be enough to do the job.

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Don't Judge Blacks Differently

The problem with the White House’s heroin program

With the country in the grips of a great American heroin relapse, the White House on Monday announced a new strategy to subdue the epidemic, pairing law enforcement officials with public health workers and deploying them in 15 states rife with opioid addicts.

The program, funded by $2.5 million from the Office of National Drug Control Policy, is billed by the Obama administration as an example of the president’s emphasis on treatment, not jail, for drug users. But as word spread, one high profile critic attacked the plan as an attempt of co-op the rhetoric of reform without adopting the actual policies. Others, meanwhile, are unlikely to be impressed.

Thomas McLellan was President Obama’s chief scientist for drug control policy from 2009 to 2012, the person in charge of programs precisely like this one. He’s watched in horror as the death rate for heroin overdoses has quintupled since 2002, cutting through class and color lines to become as popular as crack cocaine in the 1980s—all without inspiring a major federal response.

“Our reply is $2.5 million?” an incredulous McLellan told msnbc. “That is not close to the financial commitment that is needed.”

“There are research-tested, cost effective public health and public safety measures that could reduce opioid use and related deaths, but not at this price,” he continued. “I hope they ultimately take this problem seriously and provide the commitment the public is looking for.”

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Admiral Lyons Sums It Up

Public Execution-Style Shootings Occurring in D.C.

Washington, D.C., has gun control–lots and lots of gun control–and execution-style shootings are taking place in public.

For example, The Washington Post describes a shooting that occurred “in front of a Metrobus … [in] Northwest Washington’s Park View neighborhood” in July. In that attack, the gunman ran up Georgia Street and shot a 33-year-old victim in the back, then stood over the collapsed victim and “shot him two more times.”

Witnesses described the shooting as a “straight up execution,” pointing out that it occurred “right in the middle of a main thoroughfare of Washington, D.C.”

Like many of the surging homicides in D.C., the execution in Park View remains unsolved.

D.C. has witnessed a “23 percent” increase in homicides this year, and gun crime in general is also climbing sharply. The Washington Post reports there were “1,183” gun crimes in D.C. from January to July 2015, whereas there were “983” crimes during the same period in 2014, “1,168” in 2013, and “1,143” in 2012. Summer gun crime stats–crimes occurring in June and July–showed “428” in 2015, “333” in 2014, “337” in 2013, and “322” in 2012.

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Hogan Stands By Housing Secretary; Expresses Disappointment In Lead Paint Remarks

Governor Larry Hogan has expressed his disappointment with remarks made last week by Housing and Community Development Secretary Ken Holt regarding lead poisoning victims.

Hogan's response came as 30 Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to Holt today, asking for the Republican official to resign.

Holt had not responded to the letter all day, but late this afternoon, department spokeswoman Audra Harrison issued a statement confirming Holt met with the governor.

"The secretary met with the governor earlier today at which time the governor expressed his disappointment with the secretary's comments," Harrison said.

" Secretary Holt is committed to working with advocates, legislators, and families to move forward, rebuild trust, and strengthen the already-strong record DHCD has on this important issue."

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20 More Stupid Things Said by U.S. Politicians

Why Hillary’s college tuition plan won’t work

Cutting college tuitions must start with eliminating waste and fraud

In the days ahead millions of kids will pack their bags and leave home (hopefully for good) to go to college. For parents experiencing this for the first time: welcome to the biggest financial scam in America. Richard Vedder, an economist at Ohio University and an expert on college costs puts it very plainly: “Colleges and universities may be the least cost-efficient institutions in the United States. No industry, perhaps other than prostitution, has seen less productivity improvements than higher education.”

As the father of two college kids I can personally attest to the astonishing rip-off of college tuition costs. One son just graduated from Northwestern. All in — room, board and tuition — cost $62,500 a year. Yes, he learned a lot, but let’s be honest. Mostly what I paid for was a four-year party and a reprieve from having to get a job.

Universities justify the swindle of middle class America with the tuitions that are double what they would be if they only grew at the rate of inflation, with statistics about hundreds of thousands of dollars of higher earnings for kids with college degrees. True. Except that a very plausible case could be made that college doesn’t make kids smart, but rather kids who go to college are smarter and have higher earnings potential to begin with.

Peter Thiel, one of the great investors of all time says that for really bright and talented 18 and 19 year olds, college is a detriment to success and he sponsors a program to get kids to leave college early and get on with starting their own businesses.

Which brings me to Hillary Clinton’s new ten-year plan to make colleges more affordable by offering up $350 billion of taxpayer subsidies. She’s right that colleges are unaccountable, lack transparency and are overpriced. “College is supposed to help people achieve their dreams, but more and more paying for college actually pushes those dreams further and further out of reach,” Mrs. Clinton declared. “That is a betrayal of everything college is supposed to represent.”

Exactly.

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Number of Hillary Clinton’s emails flagged for classified data grows to 60 as review continues

While media coverage has focused on a half-dozen of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s personal emails containing sensitive intelligence, the total number of her private emails identified by an ongoing State Department review as having contained classified data has ballooned to 60, officials told The Washington Times.

That figure is current through the end of July and is likely to grow as officials wade through a total of 30,000 work-related emails that passed through her personal email server, officials said. The process is expected to take months.

The 60 emails are among those that have been reviewed and cleared for release under the Freedom of Information Act as part of a open-records lawsuit. Some of the emails have multiple redactions for classified information.

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Man pleads guilty in murder of missing teens

ELKTON — A man accused of killing two teens who vanished from an Elkton neighborhood last summer is facing a 30-year prison term after accepting a plea deal — one in which some of the conditions will remain secret until his sentencing on Friday.

The defendant, Donald Ray Bennett, 31, of Elkton, pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder Monday.

By way of his guilty pleas, Bennett admitted to “strangling and choking to death” Jesse Grant Veasey, Jr., 16, and Ricardo Eugene Levenberry, 19, after picking them up in Hollingsworth Manor in August 2014 to buy drugs from them — albeit 16 hours apart from each other, according to a statement of fact read aloud by Assistant State's Attorney Karl H. Fockler IV.

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Protest at Easton Planned Parenthood Facility on August 22 warns: “PP Sells Baby Parts”

Easton, Maryland, In light of recent revelations that Planned Parenthood has been harvesting and selling aborted baby parts, concerned citizens of the Eastern Shore are calling for a protest at the Planned Parenthood facility at Easton Health Center, 8579 Commerce Drive, #102, Easton, Maryland, 21601, on August 22 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. This effort is part of a National Day of Protest taking place at Planned Parenthood offices and abortion facilities all across the United States http://www.protestpp.com to raise awareness about Planned Parenthood’s trafficking of aborted baby parts.

Undercover videos (see links below) released by the Center for Medical Progress reveal that Planned Parenthood abortion clinics, with the sanction of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, are involved in the harvesting of body parts of unborn children aborted in their facilities and profiting from their sale contrary to federal laws prohibiting such practices. The videos show high-level Planned Parenthood executives haggling over the prices of fetal specimens. The videos also raise ethical questions about the exploitation of unborn children for financial gain and risks to women’s health if abortion procedures are altered solely to procure more profitable specimens.

As a consequence of this public scandal, several states have initiated investigations of Planned Parenthood and legislation has been introduced in Congress to defund the abortion giant. Planned Parenthood currently receives over $500 million in taxpayer funding annually.

WHO: Concerned Citizens of the Eastern Shore

WHAT: Press conference, prayer vigil and protest signs calling attention to PP’s baby parts trafficking

WHERE: Planned Parenthood, 8579 Commerce Drive, #102, Easton, MD 21601

WHEN: August 22, 2015 from 9:00 a.m. to11:00 a.m.

The ProtestPP.com coalition is headed by Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, Created Equal, 40 Days for Life and the Pro-Life Action League, and is co-sponsored by fifty state and national pro-life organizations.

Local spokesman Cathy Keim said:

“All politics is local. We cannot only look to Washington, DC and our state governments to solve this problem. Planned Parenthood is located in large and small communities all across America. Each community with a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic or satellite office needs to take action against the killing of babies and the trafficking of their body parts. Concerned local citizens from the Eastern Shore will be sending the message that it’s well past time for Planned Parenthood to be run out of town!”

Links to the first three Center for Medical Progress undercover videos:

Video 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjxwVuozMnU

Video 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjCs_gvImyw

Video 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw2xi9mhmuo

Cardin, Mikulski Lead Team Maryland In Announcing Federal Funding To Combat Heroin Trafficking In Washington / Baltimore Region

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Barbara A. Mikulski, together withU.S. Representatives Steny H. Hoyer, Elijah E. Cummings, Chris Van Hollen, C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, John P. Sarbanes, Donna F. Edwards and John Delaney (all D-Md.) today announced that $2.5 million in federal funding has been awarded to the Washington/Baltimore region together with regional partners to combat heroin and fentanyl drug trafficking through the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program. The Washington/Baltimore HIDTA will also receive nearly $250,000 to support drug trafficking prosecution of those supplying heroin and fentanyl to Baltimore.

In addition to the Baltimore/Washington HIDTA, regional programs in Appalachia, New England, Philadelphia/Camden, and New York/New Jersey will share in the $2.5 million in federal funding for the Heroin Response Strategy in an unprecedented partnership to address the severe heroin threat facing those communities.

“Every part of Maryland is working to confront the rise in heroin trafficking and opiate-related medical emergencies, and this federal funding can provide critical support in their efforts to stop the suffering that inevitably accompanies the spread of this scourge,” saidSenator Cardin. “This funding also will boost the capacity for regional cooperation among law enforcement officials and agencies, a welcome counter-measure to a complex and persistent threat to our communities.”

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Chickens

Worcester County Sheriff's Office Press Release 8-18-15

• Date & Time: August 16, 2015/0203 hours
• Case #: 150000732
• Location Occurred: 10138 Old Ocean City Blvd Berlin, MD.
• Accused: David Banach 38 YO W/M
• Charges: Possession cds not marijuana (2 COUNTS), CDS ADMN equip/poss, possession of paraphernalia, expired registration.
• Narrative:  On August 16, 2015 at approximately 0203 hours a Worcester County Sheriff’s Deputy observed a 2009 Ford Focus that had expired registration. The Deputy conducted a traffic stop on the Ford Focus at the Berlin Food Lion. The Deputy made contact with the driver identified as David Banach. A probable cause search was conducted on the vehicle. A Deputy recovered heroin, prescription medication, and numerous pieces of drug paraphernalia in the vehicle and on Banach’s person. Banach was arrested and taken in front of a District Court Commissioner where Banach was released .

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•  Date & Time: August 15, 2015 at 1917 hours
• Case #: 150000730
• Location Occurred: 12741 Ocean Gateway (Tangier Outlets) West Ocean City, Maryland
• Accused: JUVENILE W/F 17 yo
• Charges: Disorderly Conduct, Assault 2nd degree
• Narrative: On Saturday, August 15, 2015 Worcester County Sheriff’s Deputies were dispatched to the area of the Tangier Outlets in reference to an assault that had just occurred on a bus. Upon arrival the Deputy met with the victim who had a facial injury. The victim stated a female had punched him on the bus. The Deputy removed the juvenile female from the bus and while attempting to question her, the juvenile became disorderly at the bus stop and in the parking lot of the Tangier Outlets. The Deputy arrested the juvenile for disorderly conduct and Assault 2nd degree. The juvenile was released to a parent pending a court date

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• Date & Time: August 13, 2015/1945 hours
• Case #: 150000724
• Location Occurred: 10218 Racetrack Rd Berlin, MD.
• Accused: Richard Moore 44 YO W/M State Line Rd Delmar,De
• Charges: Trespassing, Disorderly Conduct
• Narrative: On August 13, 2015 at approximately 1945 hours a Worcester County Sheriff’s Deputy responded to the Ocean Downs Racetrack/Casino in reference to a trespasser. The Deputy observed Richard Moore in the parking lot of the Casino acting in a disorderly manner. The Deputy was informed Moore had been removed from the property and trespassed from the property earlier in the night by another Deputy and security staff. Moore was arrested for disorderly conduct and trespassing and released on criminal citations pending a trial date.

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• Date & Time: August 16, 2015/1706 hours
• Case #: 150000737
• Location Occurred: Old Bridge Road West Ocean City, MD.
• Accused: Kebba Wadda 47 YO B/M of West Ocean City,MD
• Charges: Trespassing, MDOP, Harassment.
• Narrative: On August 16, 2015 at approximately 1706 hours a Worcester County Sheriff’s Deputy responded to a residence on Old Bridge Road West Ocean City, Maryland. The Deputy made contact with a homeowner who stated an individual identified to be Kebba Wadda had disconnected his air conditioning units. Wadda had been trespassed from the residence on August 13, 2015 by Deputies. Wadda had also been arrested the night prior on a warrant that charged Wadda with burglary, trespass, MDOP, and harassment of the same victim at the same residence. Wadda was again arrested and taken before a court commissioner. Wadda was held on $15,000 bond.