Lies, Lies & More Lies

Folk Festival Study Confirms Smaller Crowds Than Hoped, But $20M Economic Impact

SALISBURY – A new study on this year’s National Folk Festival is expected to help city officials and event organizers better understand its economic impacts.

Last week, the Business, Economic and Community Outreach Network (BEACON) at Salisbury University’s Franklin P. Perdue School of Business released the first phase in an economic impact study of the National Folk Festival.

From Sept. 7-9, downtown Salisbury hosted its first National Folk Festival, a free, outdoor event produced by the National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA) that celebrates arts, culture and heritage through live performances, workshops, demonstrations, children’s activities and more.

And while the festival was accompanied by rain for most of the weekend, the study released last week estimates that more than 60,000 people attended the event, which generated $20 million in total economic impact.

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Publishers Notes: While this is a great article, there is a LOT not mentioned. It's called investigative reporting. 

I learned from a very reliable inside source that many staple restaurants throughout Downtown, (with exception of Roadie Joe's) lost between $20,000.00 to $25,000.00 by being told by Jake Day to make sure they stock heavily for a massive crowd, it did not happen.

While there are NUMEROUS aerial photos, none have been made available, which would clearly allow head counts proving the 63,000 Jake Day claims attended is a bold face lie. 

Peter Franchot allowed, (some say illegally and I agree) a liquor license, (overriding the Wicomico Liquor Board) bars lost a small fortune as well. While these staple businesses have invested millions over the years and have struggled to survive, your local government brought in food and liquor and destroyed any hope for these businesses to profit.

The mere fact that they are now claiming this event created a $20,000,000.00 impact to Salisbury, you'd have to be mentally NUTS in the head to actually believe it. They LIED about the hotels being booked and when Jake Day was recently challenged on the hotel BS he back stepped and then claimed that everyone stayed in Ocean City Hotels instead, another bold face lie. 

While the Dispatch article delivered only the facts they were TOLD, I have a serious problem with ANY one sided article and the failure to dig up the facts and truth. The media has become the mouth piece for leaders only, afraid to rock any boat in fear of retaliation.

Dan Satterfield From WBOC Was Way Off Again On The Weather

Hey Joe, I know this is off topic, but viewers should submit some pictures of the "Dusting" that Dan predicted we would get on Friday nights broadcast. I just finished shoveling some of that dusting just now. Definitely more than and inch and it's still coming down at 5:30! All of this will freeze tonight, and it's going to be a mess when we have to drive to work tomorrow morning!

Publishers Notes: Yes, Dan was, (once again) way wrong on his forecast. I have just returned from a weekend up north, (Connecticut & New York) and dealt with the snow, all of which Dan said was NOT going to happen. 

My Brother left my OC home a just a little while ago and called to tell me he's seen several serious accidents along Rt. 50 from OC to Cambridge, people are driving like Idiots and the roads are frozen.

My Son was going to head back to Annapolis tonight but after hearing his Uncle talk about the accidents he's staying put here on the Shore and he'll get up early tomorrow and head back. 

My message is, stay off the roads, period. I listened to Dan's forecasts before I left on this trip and everyone on WBOC confidently assured everyone we weren't even going to see RAIN, let alone snow and bad road conditions.  The guy needs to be fired because he sucks at his job. 

A Viewer Writes: Local High School Coach

Joe,

Last night I went to the bennett / snow hill girls basketball game in snow hill. I watched the coach from bennett run the score up to 96 to maybe 8 or 10 points for snow hill (53 to 4 at halftime). This coach of bennett girls has to be the worst coach I have ever watched coach a group of young people. He has no idea of what the game of basketball is all about. He happens to have 2 or 3 girls who are fast and can cherry pick all day long. There is no team play no ball movement just run and gun! This is why they lost in the playoffs last year. More complete teams that know how to work together use all five players and move the ball around will beat him every time. The fool actually managed to be given coach of the year last year just because of the talent he currently has on roster he happened to make the playoffs. Never mind his record from past years was beyond dismal to say the least. No plays no conditioning no unselfish play just run and gun! I was told he was shooting for 100 pts but left himself an out in case of criticism, by not playing all his starters at the same time during the fourth quarter! As for what he’s teaching these kids I would have to hope that would be nothing! The other possibilities are worse! This is what passes for coaching in the state of Maryland. Due to the fact that only school board employees are allowed to be a head coach this is what we end up with, someone who never played the game at any level other than a playground pickup game! According to Maryland some of the greatest coaches to have ever had an impact on sports would not be qualified to even think about coaching a school sport in the people’s republic of Maryland! My question is in doing this what has he proved? Or taught the kids? As a coach I would have mandated my ball handlers i.e. starters, move the ball around and make several passes before letting one of the subs take the shot!

Or better yet slow the game down a bit. I would never ask a kid to not do their best but there are other ways of getting them involved and having them work on other skills while also winning! I’m certainly glad he has no influence on my children! Shame on him and shame on Bennett and shame on Wicomico county public school system and shame on Maryland for not allowing better alternatives as coaches!

A concerned parent!

Salisbury Needs To Learn From Other Communities Experienced With Heavy Snow

As I traveled into upstate New York recently, one of the many things that stood out was how they handled locating fire hydrants in heavy snow storms. 

It sure makes a lot more sense then depending on toads being 100% cleared so you can see tiny blue markers in the road. 

Rep. Adam Schiff: Trump Faces The 'Real Prospect Of Jail Time'

Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who is set to take over the House Intelligence Committee when Democrats reclaim the House of Representatives in January, told Face the Nation Sunday morning that he believes President Donald Trump faces the "prospect" of "real jail time" after prosecutors accused the president of directing his former attorney, Michael Cohen, to issue payments to two of the president's alleged former mistresses.

""There’s a very real prospect that on the day Donald Trump leaves office, the Justice Department may indict him," Schiff said. "That he may be the first president in quite some time to face the real prospect of jail time."

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Oval Office Throwdown

President Donald Trump, future House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer erupted in an on-camera fight in the Oval Office over border wall funding on Tuesday.

The president argued that funding the wall was a “national emergency” and proposed $5 billion in funding. Schumer refused, insisting that he would only provide just $1.6 billion in border security funds.

In response, Trump said he would shut down the government and take responsibility for it if they failed to include additional wall funding.

“I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck, because the people of this country don’t want criminals and people that have lots of problems, and drugs pouring into our country,” he said in response to Schumer. “So I will take the mantle, I will be the one to shut it down, I’m not going to blame you for it.”

Trump admitted that border security was a “tough issue” noting that Pelosi and Schumer opposed the idea of a wall. He cited border statistics showing that illegal traffic dropped very substantially after they finished portions of the wall barriers.

“I don’t think you should have a debate in front of the press,” she said.

Schumer also protested that the discussion was taking place in front of the press.

“Let’s debate in private,” he pleaded.

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A Viewer Writes: Loud TV Advertisements

Joe, Over the years I have become increasingly agitated at loud advertisements. I’ve had to turn my volume control down on each occasion. I know legislation was passed to address this, but nothing has resulted from that. The typical response is the stations are not responsible for altering the signal they get from the network. Believe if you will, but I don’t. Is there anything that can be done? Automobile ads are the worst. They treat everyone as a knuckle-dragging dope, as they themselves appear. Thanks for your interest.

Is Maureen O’Hara’s “Miracle on 34th Street” the greatest Christmas movie?

While in her prime as the Queen of Technicolor, Irish actress Maureen O’Hara was in one of the greatest Christmas movies ever made.

It was when watching the 1994 remake of “Miracle on 34th Street” that I truly fell in love with the enormity that is the holiday season and Christmas in America and in New York, in particular.

Now lucky enough to work right alongside Macy’s where much of the action is set, the arrival of each Christmas reminds me of the joy as a young girl of flicking over the TV stations in December to discover a young girl just like me on the screen fighting for the right of Kris Kringle to be identified as Santa Claus.

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Central American Migrants Demand Trump Pay $50K Each To Go Home

Two groups of Central American migrants delivered a list of demands to the US Consulate in Tijuana in Tuesday, with one group demanding to be let into the United States, or be paid

The first group demanding action, numbering about 100, arrived at the U.S. Consulate at about 11 am Tuesday.The migrants said they were asking that the Trump Administration pay them $50,000 each or allow them into the U.S.

When asked how the group came up with the $50,000 figure, organizer Alfonso Guerrero Ulloa of Honduras,said they chose that number as a group. -SD Union Tribune

It may seem like a lot of money to you," said Ulloa. "But it is a small sum compared to everything the United States has stolen from Honduras," referencing American intervention in Central America.

The group gave the US Consulate 72 hours to respond, however they have not decided on a course of action if their demands are not met.

"I don’t know, we will decide as a group," Ulloa said, defiantly.

The second caravan group of around 50 migrants delivered a letter to the Consulate around 1:20 p.m., and asked for the US to speed up the asylum process to 300 asylum seekers per day at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. The border crossing currently processes between 40 and 100 asylum seekers per day - a pace which pro-migrant groups have said is too slow and violates American and international laws which call for an immediate process.

"In the meantime, families, women and children who have fled our countries continue to suffer and the civil society of Tijuana continue to be forces to confront this humanitarian crisis, a refugee crisis caused in great part by decades of U.S. intervention in Central America," reads the letter.

15 or so of the migrants who delivered the second letter had participated in an unsuccessful hunger strike several weeks ago.

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DHS Spox: 30-Foot Bollard Fence Is Part of Trump’s Promised Wall

The 30-foot bollard-style barrier that has been constructed along the United States-Mexico border in Calexico, California is part of President Trump’s promised border wall, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson says.

In an exclusive interview with SiriusXM Patriot’s Breitbart News Tonight, DHS spokesperson Katie Waldman said the recently finished bollard barrier in Calexico is part of the Trump border wall.

“In Calexico, we just finished our first, what DHS will call the first Trump border wall because what was previously there was dilapidated, old landing mat [which] was replaced with a 30-foot steel bollard,” Waldman said. “And I think before this administration, before President Trump took office, that is never something that would have been built.”

“Border Patrol listed this as a priority going back to 2009, yet it languished in the previous administration without any action despite Border Patrol ranking this as their top priority,” Waldman said. “And President Trump saw that, took it up, funded it, and because of that, we have a 30-foot wall. I don’t know about you, but I have never seen a fence that’s 30 feet high. It’s quite a site to see.”

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President Trump IMPORTANT Speech Signs Exec Order amid Cohen Sentenced 3 Years in Prison

Commission Investigating Parkland Votes 13-1 to Arm Teachers

The commission investigating the February 14 Parkland school shooting voted 13 to 1 Wednesday to arm teachers.

The Associated Press reports that the commission recommended allowing “teachers who volunteer and undergo extensive background checks and training…to carry concealed guns on campus to stop future shootings.”

The vote comes just weeks after Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, lead investigator on the commission, announced that he wanted to see teachers armed in Florida.

On November 21, Breitbart News reported that Gualtieri said the investigation into the Parkland shooting had changed his views on armed teachers; that he went from opposing it to supporting it. He noted, “People need to keep an open mind to it as the reality is that if someone else in that school had a gun it could have saved kids’ lives.”

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Jon Kyl to Resign from McCain’s Senate Seat at Year’s End

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) announced Friday that Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) will resign from the Senate on December 31st, paving the way for a second appointment to the seat held by the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).

“Thank you for appointing me to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy created by John McCain’s death,” Kyl wrote in a statement. “It has been an honor and a privilege to again serve the people of Arizona.

“When I accepted your appointment, I agreed to complete the work of the 115th Congress and then reevaluate continuing to serve. I have concluded that it would be best if I resign so that your new appointee can begin the new term with all other Senators in January 2019 and can serve a full two (potentially four) years,” the outgoing senator continued. “Therefore, I will resign from the U.S. Senate effective 11:59 p.m. EST December 31, 2018.”

Ducey, who is required by law to appoint a Republican to the Senate seat, said an appointment decision “will be announced in the near future.”

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Saliva Test For Early Detection Of Alzheimer’s Disease Looks Promising

Catching the development of Alzheimer’s disease early on can make a world of difference in helping to treat the devastating condition. Scientists have long sought to find accurate, easier methods of detecting the disease, and now a promising new study shows that a simple saliva test might just do the trick.

Researchers from the University of Alberta say they’ve identified three biomarkers that indicate Alzheimer’s, as well as mild cognitive impairment, a more common condition with minimal impairment compared to Alzheimer’s or dementia. The finding could be groundbreaking should it prove worthy of use in a clinical setting.

“So far, no disease-altering interventions for Alzheimer’s disease have been successful,” says Roger Dixon, a professor in the university’s Department of Psychology, in a news release. “For this reason, researchers are aiming to discover the earliest signals of the disease so that prevention protocols can be implemented.”

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November: Foreign Workers See Nearly 5X Job Growth of Americans

Foreign workers saw nearly five times as much job growth as native-born American workers did last month, Bureau of Labor Statistics data reveals.

In November 2018, foreign-born worker employment increased 5.1 percent compared to the same time last year. Meanwhile, native-born Americans saw an employment increase of only about 1.2 percent year-to-year, almost five times less job growth as their foreign worker competitors.

The foreign-born workforce — those who are employed and looking for work — also had significantly higher gains than native-born Americans. Last month, the number of foreign-born workers in the labor force increased almost five percent. At the same time, native-born Americans in the labor force increased only 0.66 percent.

The labor force participation rate among foreign-born workers increased 1.2 percent, while the labor force participation rate for native-born Americans increased only 0.2 percent from year-to-year.

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Egyptian President: Migrants Must ‘Abide by Laws, Customs, and Culture’ of the West

Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has urged migrants to “completely abide by the laws, customs, traditions, and culture” of the countries they move to, or — better yet — to work on making their home countries worth staying in.

“Every country has the right to protect its people and their interests,” the Arab leader told the World Youth Forum in Sharm-el-Sheikh, explaining that Western countries had the right to uphold human rights “in a framework that preserves [their] national interests.”

The former army general told his audience in no uncertain terms: “[I]f you go to another country as a guest, you must completely abide by its laws, customs, traditions and culture. You must abide by them completely. If you are not willing to do this, don’t go” — advice which would have provoked outrage from the left-liberal commentariat had been issued by a Western leader.

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Australia to Follow Donald Trump’s Lead with Israel Embassy Move

Australia is ready to follow U.S. President Donald Trump and recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s official capital and move its embassy there.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison expected to announce the historic change Saturday in the face of widespread opposition from the Muslim world.

AFP reports Australian holiday makers heading for nearby Muslim-majority Indonesia have been warned of a possible backlash after the announcement is made and they should “exercise a high degree of caution” while Arab nations are talking of a financial sanctions against Australia.

Mr. Morrison will argue Israel has the right to choose its own capital and peace talks are dead in the water, so there is no real peace to threaten if Australia moves its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

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Maine’s 2nd District Recount Proceeding Faster Than Expected

The recount in Maine’s controversial 2nd Congressional District race, where the state’s new “rank voting” system was used for the first time in American history, is proceeding faster than anticipated.

When the secretary of state in Maine, Democrat Matt Dunlap, announced the beginning of the recount last Thursday, his office said it would take about four weeks, putting its completion in January, possibly after the convening of the 116th session of Congress on January 3.

But late Monday, Dunlap’s office announced the recount was proceeding ahead of plan.

“Democratic Secretary of State Matt Dunlap’s spokeswoman said election officials processed about 80,000 ballots as of Monday afternoon,” NECN reported.

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The 10 Worst Christmas Songs of All Time

Not many things can get people in the spirit of the holiday season like Christmas music. There’s music for everybody this time of year – from the sacred to the secular, and from the traditional to the ultra-modern.

I’ve always been a fan of Christmas music, and my collection is as eclectic as one could expect. In my opinion, it’s hard to screw up Christmas music. But bad Christmas music does exist, and when Christmas music is bad, it’s awful!

Here are the ten worst examples of Christmas music. I know that even bad Christmas music has its fans, so not everyone is going to agree with my choices. But I think most of you will understand, and some of you might even agree with me.

10. “Merry Christmas Baby,” Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers (and various cover versions)

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Best Pink Panther Scene