ICE removes 36 Cambodian nationals

Criminal convictions include murder, manslaughter, and assault

On Monday, December 17th, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) ICE Air Operations (IAO) flight departed El Paso, Texas carrying 36 Cambodian nationals, of whom 34 are criminals, to their home country of Cambodia in accordance with their final orders of removal.

Criminal convictions included two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, manslaughter, voluntary manslaughter, accessory after the fact of a homicide, sexual assault, three counts of sexual offenses, child abuse, domestic violence, aggravated assault, aggravated assault with a weapon, aggravated robbery, two counts of assault, arson, auto theft, two counts of robbery, robbery with a gun, two weapons offenses, theft, larceny, stolen property, fraud, and five drug convictions.

“As a result of continued diplomatic efforts in coordination with our partners at the Department of State, the implementation of visa sanctions, and the tireless efforts of the ERO Removals Division, removals to Cambodia increased 279% from Fiscal Year 2017 to Fiscal Year 2018. However, there are still nearly 1,900 Cambodian nationals present in the United States with a final order of removal, of whom almost 1,400 are convicted criminals. This most recent removal flight took 34 criminals, many convicted of the most heinous possible crimes, off our streets and made our communities safer. We will continue these efforts to carry out lawfully issued final orders of removal, prioritizing as always the removal of threats to public safety,” said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Executive Associate Director Nathalie Asher.

The flight arrived in Phnom Penh on Tuesday, December 18th, where the Cambodian nationals were turned over to Cambodian authorities.

Public Notice - County Council Meeting January 2, 2018

The regularly scheduled County Council meeting for the first Tuesday of January 2019 has been rescheduled due to it falling on New Year’s Day. 

Instead, the meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 2, 2019 at 10 a.m. in Council Chambers of the Government Office Building, 125 N. Division Street, Salisbury, Maryland. 

Those unable to attend the public meeting in person are welcome and encouraged to watch the live video on the Public Access Channel – PAC 14.

The Left's War on Parenting

Last month, the New York State Education Department made a crucial decision: Commissioner MaryEllen Elia handed authority to local school boards to veto the right for private schools to operate. Those school boards must now determine whether private schools provide an education "substantially equivalent to that received in district public schools." According to Jewish educators Elya Brudny and Yisroel Reisman, "The state government now requires private schools to offer a specific set of classes more comprehensive than what students in public schools must learn." This isn't a problem for Jewish schools alone -- Catholic schools in New York have bucked the legislation, with James Cultrara, executive secretary of the New York Council of Catholic School Superintendents, explaining, "We simply cannot accept a competing school having authority over whether our schools can operate."

Now there's a case to be made that the state has an interest in children learning basic secular studies, and to that end, Cultrara has called for an objective standard for evaluating whether or not schools are properly educating their students. That case is far stronger in a welfare state, in which insufficient education often ends with the public bearing the brunt of such failures.

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Public Notice - December 24, 2018 Council Meeting Cancelled

The Monday, December 24, 2018 Council Meeting has been cancelled.

The Public Notice is attached and posted on the website at the link below:

https://salisbury.md/12/19/2018/public-notice-of-meeting-cancellation-12-24-18

Subject: Here's What Newly-Diagnosed Amnesiac James Comey "Did Not Recall" On Day 2 Of Testimony

Former FBI Director James Comey appeared December 17th, 2018, for a second round of questions by a joint House committee oversight probe into the DOJ and FBI conduct during the 2016 presidential election and incoming Trump administration.

The Joint House Committee just released the transcript online (full pdf below)

Director Blue blog's Doug Ross read through most of the septic backflow so you don't need to. You're welcome:

1. Double Standard: Obama vs. Trump

Trey Gowdy grilled Comey on his vastly different handling of comments by Trump and Obama. When Trump asked Comey whether he could see his way clear to easing up on Flynn, Comey memorialized the conversation in a memo and distributed it to his leadership team, including Andrew McCabe and James Baker.

However, when President Obama on 60 Minutes publicly exonerated Hillary Clinton's mishandling of classified information -- setting the stage for true obstruction of justice -- Comey did nothing. He never talked to the president about potential obstruction, he never memorialized his observations, and he didn't leak anything to the press. These were all things he did with Trump.

He might call it a "higher loyalty", but it looks to us peons like a true double-standard. Democrats get Wall Street Bankster treatment, while the rabble get tossed in the slammer.

2. According to Comey, Flynn had no right to counsel

This is interesting:

Mr. Gowdy. Did Mr. Flynn have the right to have counsel present during that interview?

Mr. Comey. No.

Oooooooookay.

3. Comey confirmed McCabe called Flynn to initiate "entrapment"; contradicts himself on counsel

And:

Mr. Gowdy. Why not advise General Flynn of the consequences of making false statements to the FBI?

Mr. Comey. ...the Deputy Director [McCabe] called him, told him what the subject matter was, told him he was welcome to have a representative from White House Counsel there...

So Comey is saying that Flynn didn't have the right to counsel (item 2), and then states that he does have the right to a White House counsel attending the meeting.

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Immigration: The Hidden Driver of the Opioid Epidemic

More than 900 Americans died every week from opioid-related overdoses in 2017. Every American community, big or small, has experienced the epidemic’s merciless, corrosive advance across our cities and towns. It is human tragedy, a family tragedy, and a national crisis.

The issue is complicated by the fact that tens of thousands of Americans need prescription pain medications for legitimate medical reasons. Pharmaceutical companies have been innovative in creating potent opioid based medicines and they were, and remain, rewarded with successful sales.

Some patients, however, abuse legitimate drugs, lie to treating physicians, and illegally sell otherwise lawful drugs. But the real problem is not from frazzled doctors, bad patients or bad medicine. The overwhelming source of the problem is cheap but powerful drugs coming in from Mexico by way of China.

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Each Chicagoan Owes $140,000 To Bail Out Chicago Pensions

As of the 2017 City of Chicago Actuarial Report, each Chicagoan would have to pony up $140,000 to make pensions solvent.

WirePoints reports Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel wants a Constitutional Amendment to address Illinois Pension Woes.

The mayor's plan cannot possibly work because Chicago is far too deep in pension debt to do anything but default.

Nonetheless there is some benefit in the idea for the simple reason it may force the legislature to think about things as they are, not as they want them to be.

Kudos to Rahm Emanuel for broaching the subject of a constitutional amendment for pensions and for using cost-of-living adjustments as an example of why the amendment is so necessary.

The possibility of an amendment in Illinois has experienced a revival of sorts since Arizona recently amended its constitution for a second time. Already, the Chicago Tribune, Crain’s and Mayoral candidate Bill Daley have supported an amendment in some form. And COLAs are finally being recognized as a key driver of Illinois’ pension crisis.

However, it would be a mistake – as some may be tempted to do – to think that an Illinois fix is as simple as COLA reforms via a narrow, Arizona-style constitutional amendment. Instead, Illinois needs an amendment that’s as broad as possible if it hopes to fix the pension crises playing out all over the state.

Collectively, Illinois governments owe more than $400 billion in pension debts alone, based on Moody’s most recent methodology.

Its a particular problem for Rahm Emanuel, as Chicagoans are the most swamped of all. Each city household is on the hook for $140,000 in overlapping state and local retirement debts.
Piecemeal Approach Cannot Work

WirePoints discusses changes in Arizona and accurately concludes piecemeal changes won't work for Illinois.

Here's a hint, they won't work for Arizona or any other state or municipality either. Ridiculous COLA adjustments are only a tiny piece of the problem.
More Substantial Fixes Needed

WirePoints concludes and I agree:

"Any Illinois amendment should repeal the protection clause and say expressly that the state may modify past and future pension benefits notwithstanding the state constitutional contract clause or anything else in the Illinois constitution that might conflict."

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Gingrich: 'The Democratic Party Is Refusing to Protect Americans'

Wednesday on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich President Donald Trump is “hardly caving in” if he accepts a one or two-week extension to avoid a government shutdown over Christmas.

Gingrich explained while Democrats may be winning a short-term victory, their message on border security is flawed.

Speaking about Trump, Gingrich said, “He will come back again and again. The Democratic party is refusing to protect Americans, and presently, every time somebody who is here illegally kills somebody it is going to show up and the president will say, this is because the Democrats refuse to protect Americans. I don’t know that’s a good position for them to look out to 2020, as a party that doesn’t want to protect America.”

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Public Notice: Changes to Recreational and Commercial Tautog Fishery

The secretary of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources pursuant to the Code of Maryland Regulations 08.02.05.20, announces changes to the recreational and commercial tautog season and catch limits from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2019. This action is consistent with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Amendment 1 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Tautog.

Effective 12:01 a.m. Jan. 1, 2019, the season and catch limits are:
Jan. 1-May 15: 4 fish/person/day
May 16-June 30: Closed
July 1-Oct. 31: 2 fish/person/day
Nov. 1-Dec. 31: 4 fish/person/day

All other rules remain the same.

Safety Commission Recommends Scrapping Obama Race-Based School Discipline Policy

A federal school safety commission led by members of the Trump administration is recommending that the Departments of Justice and Education rescind the Obama-era school policy that urged more lenient forms of discipline in public schools for students of color and those of other minority groups.

In its final report released Tuesday, the commission concluded the “guidance” issued by the Obama administration in 2014 “may have paradoxically contributed to making schools less safe.”

Some education policy experts have observed the Broward County school district’s policy that includes consideration of race and minority status where discipline is concerned, inspired the Obama administration’s guidance and may have played a role in the fact that Nikolas Cruz remained under the radar until his shooting rampage in Parkland, Florida, on February 14.

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Package Thief vs. Glitter Bomb Trap

Danish Minister Tells Somalis ‘Go Home and Rebuild Your Country’

Denmark’s migration minister Inger Støjberg has told the country’s Somali migrants to return home and work on improving their own country after the Danish government ruled parts of Somalia safe.

Since the Immigration Service began its review of refugee residency permits in early 2017, nearly 1,000 Somalis have had their Danish residency permit revoked, reports the Danish Broadcasting Corporation.

Of those, 516 had been directly granted asylum while another 412 were family members who joined them as through chain migration, also known as “family reunion” or “family reunification”.

“If you no longer need our protection and your life and health are no longer at risk in your home country, and specifically in Somalia, you must of course return home and rebuild the country from which you came from,” Ms Støjberg said.

The automatic right to asylum from countries like Somalia was revoked in Denmark’s 2015 amendment to its Immigration Act.

As a result, the Immigration Service announced in autumn 2016 that it would use the new legal basis to review about 1,200 residence permits given to Somalis because of changes to “general conditions” in parts of their country, whereby “there is no longer a basis for asylum, simply because they come from there”.

More here

DOJ handling of Trump, Clinton probes shows potential ‘abuse of prosecutorial discretion’

The Justice Department's divergent handling of the Clinton email and Russia investigations -- avoiding false-statement charges in one, while pursuing several in the other -- could demonstrate an "abuse of prosecutorial discretion," The Federalist senior editor Mollie Hemingway argued on the “Special Report” All-Star Panel Monday night on Fox News.

She discussed the DOJ and FBI's conduct ahead of former national security adviser Michael Flynn's sentencing, set for Tuesday, on a false-statement charge to which he pleaded guilty. Several other individuals also have been charged for false statements in the Russia case -- though no such charges were pursued during the lengthy investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email use while secretary of state.

“We have a really good test case. We have the FBI and the Department of Justice going after Hillary Clinton for breaking the law on classified information in which we saw the Department of Justice and FBI just bend over backwards, you know, giving immunity -- handing it out like candy, getting nothing in return, declining to prosecute anyone for false statements even though a ton of people have made false statements," Hemingway said.

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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dojs-handling-of-trump-clinton-probes-show-potential-abuse-of-prosecutorial-discretion-mollie-hemingway

Border Wall ‘Only Humanitarian Way’ to Prevent Deaths

Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, said a border wall is “the only humanitarian way” to deal with a “crisis” of migration across the U.S.-Mexico border, offering his remarks in an interview on Monday with Breitbart News Senior Editors-at-Large Rebecca Mansour and Joel Pollak on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Tonight.

Following a discussion about the death of a seven-year-old Guatemalan migrant girl while in the Border Patrol’s custody, Judd recommended construction of a border wall as a humanitarian measure to dissuade migrants from undertaking dangerous journeys to enter the United States.

Customs and Border Protection officials released a detailed timeline relating to the death of seven-year-old Jakelin Amei Rosmery Caal Maquin. The young girl crossed the New Mexico-Mexico border on December 6 as part of a group of 163 migrants and died shortly after midnight on December 8. Nery Gilberto Caal, the girl’s father, reportedly told the Guatemalan Consul General he had “no complaints” about how Border Patrol agents treated him and his daughter, saying agents did everything possible to help his daughter.

Judd wrote in an opinion editorial published in July:

If Democrats and the media elite truly cared about the safety of illegal immigrants, they’d be down on the border right now working to build the wall President Trump wants America to have.

As a veteran Border Patrol agent, I know firsthand that a secure border with the big beautiful wall the president is building is the only humane and permanent solution to the crisis at the border.

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They Have You Trained...

*Update* Troopers Seek Public's Assistance Identifying Armed Robbery Suspect-Laurel

Laurel– The Delaware State Police are seeking the public’s assistance in identifying the pictured suspect who is wanted in connection with an armed robbery at a truck stop.

The incident occurred on Monday, December 17, 2018 at approximately 8:32 p.m. when Troopers were dispatched to the Oasis Travel Plaza located at 30759 Sussex Highway in reference to an armed robbery. It was determined that a subject had entered the business displaying a handgun. The suspect demanded cash from the female store clerk and proceeded to order another female patron who was in the store to the ground.

Anyone with information regarding this incident or the identity of the pictured suspect is asked to contact Troop 4, Major Crimes Unit, Detective K. Archer at 302-752-3791. Information may also be provided by calling Delaware crime stoppers at 1-800-TIP-3333 or via the internet at http://www.delaware.crimestoppersweb.com

Troopers Investigating Armed Robbery of Laurel Truck Stop

Laurel - The Delaware State Police are investigating an armed robbery that occurred at a truck stop last evening.

The incident occurred on Monday, December 17, 2018 at approximately 8:32 p.m. when Troopers were dispatched to the Oasis Travel Plaza located at 30759 Sussex Highway in reference to an armed robbery. It was determined that a subject had entered the business displaying a handgun. The suspect demanded cash from the female store clerk and proceeded to order another female patron who was in the store to the ground.

The suspect obtained an undisclosed amount of cash prior to fleeing the scene. The clerk and the patron were not injured as a result of this incident.

The suspect was described as a black male wearing a dark colored shirt, jeans and a mask covering a portion of his face.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact Troop 4, Major Crimes Unit, Detective K. Archer at 302-752-3791. Information may also be provided by calling Delaware crime stoppers at 1-800-TIP-3333 or via the internet at http://www.delaware.crimestoppersweb.com

Judge Rejects Topless Preliminary Injunction

OCEAN CITY — Convinced Ocean City officials have a better understanding of the public sensibilities than the plaintiffs in the case, a federal judge on Thursday ruled against a preliminary injunction that would have allowed women to go topless where men can in the resort

Last January, a civil suit filed in U.S. District Court challenged an emergency ordinance passed by the Mayor and Council in June 2017 prohibiting females from going topless in the same areas as men. The plaintiffs, including local resident Chelsea Eline and four others, filed a motion for a preliminary injunction that would allow them to go topless while the case was decided.

A hearing on the preliminary injunction was heard in federal court on Dec. 7, during which Mayor Rick Meehan, Council Secretary Mary Knight and Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Melanie Pursel testified on behalf of the town. The plaintiff’s lone witness was noted University of Indiana professor Dr. Debra Herbenick, who testified about the changing public sensibilities on female bare-chestedness.

U.S. District Court Judge James Bredar essentially ruled the town’s own representatives, including Meehan, Knight and Pursel, were better judges of the public sensibilities in the resort.

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Indiana girl’s cold case murder solved via DNA website

Indiana prosecutors have obtained a guilty plea in the cold case murder of an 8-year-old girl that was solved using a genealogy website.

John Miller, 59, agreed to serve an 80-year prison sentence as part of the plea deal, according to reports.

Miller was charged in July with raping and killing the girl, April Tinsley, in Fort Wayne 30 years ago.

His arrest came after DNA from the crime scene was uploaded to the GEDmatch website.

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2 Students Explain Why They Defended Teacher Fired Over Transgender Pronouns

Two high school students say they organized a walkout in support of a teacher fired for not using pronouns preferred by a transgender student because they thought they should speak out on a cause they believe in.

“When I wanted to speak out about this, I just found this a great opportunity,” Forrest Rohde, a junior at West Point High School, told The Daily Signal in an interview. “I knew that a lot of people in my school would follow with me.”

School officials, Rohde said, are pushing “a false ideology” on teachers and students.

Rohde’s friend Wyatt Pedersen, a senior at the school in West Point, Virginia, said he thought school administrators were “suppressing” French teacher Peter Vlaming’s First Amendment rights.

The West Point school board voted 5-0 on Dec. 6 to fire Vlaming, saying his refusal to follow orders to use male pronouns in referring to the transgender student “harassed and discriminated against the student” and meant the teacher was “insubordinate.”

Vlaming, 47, told the school board that he did not use male pronouns in referring to the student, who was born female, because of his own religious convictions. He said he also didn’t use female pronouns to refer to the student.

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