Attention

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent our advertisers

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Maryland Authorized Inspection Station Equipment Change Effective Immediately


The Maryland State Police Automotive Safety Enforcement Division has reviewed the current regulation requiring the use of headlight aiming machines to check the aim of vehicle headlights. Due to substantial differences in the readings from machine to machine, and current and evolving automotive technology the use of headlight aiming machines will cease immediately. This is no longer a required inspection tool. Until new regulations are in place, if a vehicle needs headlight alignment, inspection mechanics are to use their experience, training, and knowledge to properly align the vehicle headlights, using manufacturer’s procedure.

If any of the Maryland Inspection Mechanics have questions or concerns about this they should contact their assigned Maryland State Police Vehicle Safety Inspector or Trooper.

Salt Lake Tribune: Prosecutor Wants DOJ to Investigate Possible Harry Reid Connection to Suspected $2M Bribe

A Davis County prosecutor is asking whether the Department of Justice and the FBI backed away from investigating a possible connection between a potential $2 million bribe and Majority Leader Harry Reid.

From the Salt Lake Tribune:

The $2 million cashier’s check was drawn at a St. George bank Nov. 5, 2010.

From there, it was sent by FedEx to a Los Angeles attorney who represented Ireland-based Full Tilt Poker.

Made out to “Mail Media LTD” — a Full Tilt-owned entity used to launder online-gambling funds — the millions then were deposited at Basler Kantonalbank in Switzerland, where Mail Media had an account.

More

Viral story of boy who died in Santa's arms unravels


It was a story many wanted to believe: A terminally ill child gets his last wish to see Santa and dies in his arms.
But the Tennessee newspaper that ran it first now says it can no longer stand by the account.


The Knoxville News Sentinel story quickly went viral after it was published Sunday. USA Today republished the column, which was written by News Sentinel columnist Sam Venable. A host of national news outlets gave it additional coverage, including CNN, who spoke to Santa actor Eric Schmitt-Matzen about his interaction with the boy in his final moments.
"When you get to those pearly gates, you tell 'em you're Santa's No. 1 elf, and I know they'll let you in," Schmitt-Matzen recalled telling the boy.


More

Texas Farmers Cheer Trump EPA Pick

Members of the Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) announced their support for Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head up the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the Trump Administration.

President-Elect Donald Trump tapped Pruitt to be his EPA Secretary earlier this month, Breitbart News reported.

“We anticipate Scott Pruitt, as administrator, understands that common-sense policies are needed by EPA, not burdensome regulations that threaten the livelihood of those who work every day with natural resources,” TFB President Russell Boening of Poth said in a written statement obtained by Breitbart Texas. “We’re confident Scott Pruitt will steer EPA to end the aggressive and punitive approach to regulating that has unfortunately become the agency’s trademark in recent years.”

More

Residents outraged after cross removed from Christmas tree

KNIGHTSTOWN, Ind. (WISH) – Residents in Knightstown are fired up after the town council removed a cross from the town’s Christmas tree.

The issue boiled over Monday morning after the town conceded a court case. Now residents in the area are fighting back.

“It’s just ridiculous,” said Aaron Magee, a Knightstown resident. “I’m very offended that the cross was taken down, and I want it put back up. We all want it put back up.”

It all started after one resident in town filed a lawsuit claiming his civil liberties were being infringed upon. That suit was then picked up by the ACLU.

More

White House petition suggests naming next Navy ship 'USS The Deplorables'

U.S. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus has a penchant for doling out interesting and unconventional names for new warships, but a petition currently on the White House website wants the next major warship to be named something that may be too outlandish even for him.

The petition suggests that the next major vessel be christened “USS The Deplorables,” as the petition notes, “to honor those citizens who rose up to defend America and the Constitution from the globalists.”

The name is taken from a remark Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton made on the campaign trail to refer to supporters of President-elect Donald Trump.

"You know, just to be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables,” Clinton said at a rally in September. "The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic — you name it. And, unfortunately, there are people like that. And he has lifted them up.”

More

This woman confronted three teenage carjackers and won!

VOTE FRAUD? Recount finds too many votes in 37% of Detroit precincts

The State of Michigan plans to audit about 20 Detroit polling locations following reports by The American Mirror and others on irregularities discovered during the recent presidential recount.

The Michigan Bureau of Elections realized that the number of ballots inside recount containers at “a number of places” didn’t match the number recorded by officials.

Conservative activist Ken Crider wrote onFacebook about one example at Detroit Precinct 152 that was highlighted by The American Mirror and shared more than 8,500 times online.

Crider wrote:

Penny Crider and I just got back from helping watch the recount at Cobo Hall in Detroit. On Nov. 8th (election day) the election officials at 8:00 pm shut down the polls. They then reconciled the differences from the machine count and the voter count on the computer. At this point a Metal tag/seal with a serial number is put on the box and the box was taken away.

More

A stranger walks into a school and pays off all overdue lunch balances

Amy Larcinese doesn't know who the man is, the one who walked into her elementary school and paid off the outstanding lunch bills of more than 40 students.

But the Secret Santa has brought relief to many struggling families.
 

Larcinese is the principal at H.W. Good Elementary in western Pennsylvania. Nearly half the kids at the school are from financially struggling families and who qualify for free and reduced school lunches.

Like at other public schools, students who don't quality for free lunches have accounts where parents put in money every month. But sometimes -- especially around this time of the year when household expenses rise -- some of those accounts go into the red.
 

On Wednesday, a man came in through the school doors and wrote a check for $864 to wipe off all those overdue amounts. He then offered to provide funds to cover one child's lunch for the rest of the school year.
More

State University Working to Inject "Black Studies" Component Into Every Major

Racialists have hijacked taxpayer-funded university and course requirements

Taxpayer-funded Eastern Michigan University is currently implementing an 11-point “Black Student 10-Point Plan” which — among much else — will compel every department on campus to inject a “black studies” course into “the curriculum of every major.”

“Work on the Black Student 10-Point Plan has been underway for nearly a year and progress is being made,” Eastern Michigan staffer Calvin Phillips said at meeting last week, according to a school press release.

“A course on Black studies will be built into the curriculum of every major,” says point #3 of the “Black Student 10-Point Plan.”

Read more

CareFirst awards $575,000 to support West Baltimore initiatives


CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield awarded $575,000 to five nonprofits at an event Monday morning in West Baltimore, adding to previous donations the insurer has made to the community since last year's unrest.

The funds will support organizations CareFirst has worked with previously, such as Catholic Charities of Baltimore, Health Care for the Homeless, the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation and the University of Maryland Baltimore Foundation. The money will be used to help fund the nonprofits' services in West Baltimore, as well as a new partner organization, Penn North Recovery Center.

The health-related aid is the latest round of donations CareFirst has made to West Baltimore, an area that has seen a rise in fresh funding and new initiatives following the April 2015 unrest. CareFirst alone has donated almost $800,000 to West Baltimore in the time since.

More

Gingrich: 'Russian Hacking' Only Exposes Obama & Hillary's Utter Incompetence

The left was not too worried about 5 foreign intel agencies hacking Hillary's top secret email

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich says that the ‘Russian hacking’ story only exposes the fact that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were completely incompetent at cybersecurity.

“Barack Obama is now saying that his administration was so incompetent, that they stood around sucking their thumb, while the Russians snuck in and hacked an American election because of the utter incompetence of the Obama defense system,” Gingrich told Sean Hannity, expressing amazement as to why the White House would want to draw attention to such a situation.

“We’re now supposed to believe the guys who failed….because they were too stupid to protect the system,” he added, noting that the whole farce would be comedy if it was a movie.

Hannity pointed out that the media was less interested in the innumerable examples of Democrats engaging in underhanded and illegal behavior to impact an election.

More

Tax Preparedness Series: Tax Records – What to Keep

ANNAPIOLIS (December 14, 2016) – As tax filing season approaches, the Internal Revenue Service has information for taxpayers who wonder how long to keep tax returns and other documents.

Generally, the IRS recommends keeping copies of tax returns and supporting documents at least three years. Some documents should be kept up to seven years in case a taxpayer needs to file an amended return or if questions arise. Keep records relating to real estate up to seven years after disposing of the property.

Health care information statements should be kept with other tax records. Taxpayers do not need to send these forms to IRS as proof of health coverage. The records taxpayers should keep include records of any employer-provided coverage, premiums paid, advance payments of the premium tax credit received and type of coverage. Taxpayers should keep these – as they do other tax records – generally for three years after they file their tax returns.

Whether stored on paper or kept electronically, the IRS urges taxpayers to keep tax records safe and secure, especially any documents bearing Social Security numbers. The IRS also suggests scanning paper tax and financial records into a format that can be encrypted and stored securely on a flash drive, CD or DVD with photos or videos of valuables.

From "Fake News" To "Fake Intelligence"

Never in the history of the Central Intelligence Agency has it and its surrogates so blatantly and boldly interfered in a U.S. election. The U.S. media, in a matter of hours, altered course from concentrating on «fake news» about innocent pizzerias being linked to child sexual exploitation to spotlighting «fake intelligence» about Russia’s alleged cyber-espionage operation designed to elect Donald Trump president. The CIA leaked to The Washington Post, the owner of which has a $600 million contract with the CIA to provide cloud computing, findings of a secret report on Russia’s alleged «fixing» of the 2016 U.S. presidential election to favor Trump over Democrat Hillary Clinton.

The scandal-plagued Mrs. Clinton was defeated by Trump not because of nefarious cyber-sleuths from Moscow but because she and her campaign forgot how Barack Obama’s and her husband’s free trade deals destroyed the economic lifeblood of America, particularly in the «rust belt» Midwestern states. Rather than talk jobs and the economy, Mrs. Clinton’s campaign concentrated on such trivial matters as trans-gender restrooms and a former Miss Venezuela harping in poor housemaid English about how she was insulted over her weight by Trump.

Mrs. Clinton has been reduced to appearing in public dressed in purple outfits looking like the children’s character «Barney» the dinosaur.Clinton’s «purple haze» is a continuation of George Soros’s election-overturning «Purple Revolution». While Soros-paid protesters commit acts of vandalism across the country, the failed presidential candidate is pathetically complaining about «fake news». But when it comes to the CIA’s «fake intelligence» about Russia and the U.S. election, some of Mrs. Clinton’s ardent supporters are demanding that the results of the November 8th election be rejected and that President Obama remain in office indefinitely until a new election can be sorted out. Of course, none of this is constitutional. And the Clintonistas even have a novel solution for dealing with the certain resulting protests by states that voted for Trump and his supporters: Obama must declare martial law and suspend the U.S. Constitution.

More

Bay Club Property Eyed For 434-Site Campground; Berlin Asked To Consider Annexation In Future


BERLIN – Plans to redevelop the Bay Club as a 434-site campground are moving ahead.

On Monday, attorney Hugh Cropper told the Berlin Town Council that his client, the Carl M. Freeman Companies, was proceeding with plans to turn the popular golf course into a rental campground.

“It’s going to be a great asset to the area and a good use of this property,” Cropper said.

Rumors regarding the potential redevelopment of the Bay Club have been circulating for months. Cropper promised town officials in August that he’d share plans for the golf course with them if the property owner decided to proceed. He said Monday his client was ready to move ahead with the project and was making an effort to keep the town informed.

“We want to be open and transparent,” Cropper said.

More

Proof Foreign Governments Did Interfere In Election - to Help Hillary!

Hillary Clinton has received financial compensation from multiple foreign entities

Hillary Clinton has a rich history of being influenced by outside forces, yet the media is currently focused on claiming Russia helped Trump get elected despite having no substantial evidence.

Private emails found on Hillary Clinton’s private email servers during her tenure as Secretary of State provide a clearer picture of the “pay-to-play” connections between Clinton’s State Department, the Clinton Foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative and the private investment consulting and investment firm of Teneo Holdings, Inc. in Manhattan.

For a full list of the foreign governments Clinton has answered to, you can download an extensive spreadsheet because the list is almost too large to publish in a web-friendly format.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the top two players:

– A Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, bragged about the Saudis funding 20% of Clinton’s presidential campaign earlier this year.

– The Communist Chinese have put massive amounts of money into the pockets of Clinton via U.S. subsidiaries.

More

Sign up, drop in to Westside Community Center’s programs


Salisbury, MD – When it’s cold outside, exercise and have fun inside by taking part in a Westside Community Center program.

The Youth Indoor Soccer League will start Saturday, Jan. 21. The league is open to boys and girls in the following age groups: 4-6, 7-9, 10-12 and 13-15. Games will be played on Saturdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. and the season includes six games.

The fee is $25 for Westside Community Center members and $40 for nonmembers. Register by the Jan. 6 deadline at the Westside Community Center or the Wicomico Youth & Civic Center Box Office (Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m.).

The Westside Community Center also offers drop-in programs for adults.

Adults ages 18 and older can participate in Adult Drop-In Volleyball on Monday nights from 7-9:30 p.m. and Adult Drop-In Basketball on Wednesday nights from 7-9:30 p.m. The fee for each program is $3 per night.

The Westside Community Center is located at 21109 Bivalve Lodge Road in Bivalve.

For questions about these programs or to volunteer for the indoor soccer program, contact C.R. Krauss at 410-873-2993 or ckrauss@wicomicocounty.org. For the indoor soccer program, people may also reach Kevin Gravenor at 443-783-0193 and kevin.gravenor827@gmail.com.

Sunshine strip: Solar road panels to power homes

A road covered in a layer of thin solar panels that can help power homes and offices is to be built in the UK next year.

The quarter-inch photovoltaic material can be glued on top of a traditional road surface and is tough enough to withstand lorries driving over it, according to the engineers behind the scheme.

Colas, a subsidiary of the French engineering firm Bouygues, is planning to test its Wattway solar road at up to three trial sites in the UK. One of the locations is likely to be near Cambridge.

In areas with 1,000 hours of sunshine a year, just 12ft of road surface can provide enough electricity to power the lights and electrical appliances of one home. Cambridge averages about 1,500 hours of sunshine a year.

More

The Mainstream Media Is Asking For A Government Bailout Via Censorship

The current controversy is different. Many people in Washington are irate over Wikileaks — not because the email were untrue but because they proved what many had long suspected . . . that Washington is a highly corrupt place full of truly despicable people. For people who make their living on controlling media and information, it was akin to the barbarians breaching the walls of Rome. So the answer is to call for government regulation to combat what will be declared “fake” news or propaganda. It is only the latest effort to convince people to surrender their rights and actually embrace censorship.

– From Jonathan Turley’s: Washington Post Issues Correction To “Fake News” Story

Watching Hillary Clinton attack “fake news” and calling for legislative action against free speech she doesn’t like got me thinking. Why is she doing this? Yes, it’s obviously related to her notorious personality trait of never taking responsibility for anything and attaching herself to an invented controversy in order to deflect blame for her monumentally embarrassing loss to Donald Trump. But there’s more going on here. A lot more.

To set the stage, we need to examine the types of people who are most jumping on the “fake news” meme. What you’ll find is that it’s a who’s who of the most contemptible and corrupt people in America. As Glenn Greenwald so accurately noted in his piece published earlier today:

Those who most loudly denounce Fake News are typically those most aggressively disseminating it.

But the problem here goes way beyond mere hypocrisy. Complaints about Fake News are typically accompanied by calls for “solutions” that involve censorship and suppression, either by the government or tech giants such as Facebook. But until there is a clear definition of “Fake News,” and until it’s recognized that Fake News is being aggressively spread by the very people most loudly complaining about it, the dangers posed by these solutions will be at least as great as the problem itself.

Just in case you think the above is an exaggeration, is there an individual in America more distrusted and more widely viewed as a compulsive liar than Hillary Clinton? The list of her outright lies is nearly endless (see: Video of the Day – Watch Hillary Clinton Lie for 13 Minutes Straight). Not only that, but Hillary Clinton was more than happy to promote obvious fake news stories one week before the election. Here’s the most egregious example:

More

Tired of abductions, Mexican townsfolk kidnap drug boss’ mom

MEXICO CITY — In one of the stranger chapters of Mexico’s drug war, angry people in a southern town kidnapped the mother of a gang leader to demand the release of their loved ones.

The government of Guerrero state said Tuesday that it was sending about 220 soldiers and police to try to defuse the situation in Totolapan.

The town has been controlled for years by a drug gang boss whose proper name is Raybel Jacobo de Almonte, but who is better known as “El Tequilero.”

De Alamonte has lived up to his nickname, which translates roughly as “The Tequila Drinker.” In his only known public appearance, he was captured on video drinking with the town’s mayor-elect. De Alamonte mumbles inaudibly and has to be held up in a sitting position by one of his henchmen.

More

Trump: Companies That Leave U.S. Will Have a 'Very, Very Substantial Tariff or Tax to Pay'

Friday at a rally for Louisiana Senate candidate Republican John Kennedy in Baton Rouge, President-elect Donald Trump restated his proposal to impose a “substantial tariff or tax,” on the imports of companies that move production out of the United States.

Trump said, “We don’t want companies to leave our country, go to another country, and sell their product and then sell the product where they left. Now we have all unemployed people. They had jobs for 32 years. I mean Carrier is a great example, and Carrier— we did a great job with Carrier, but, you know, they announced it a year and a half ago, they already have a plant built. Think what you could do if they haven’t started or haven’t said anything yet. They’re not going to leave because we’re going to put up a very high tax, and if they want to build their plant out of this country, that’s fine, but if they think they’re going to sell their product back into the country and have no tax, that’s not going to happen anymore folks, not going to happen, and therefore they’re not going to leave. They may leave a state and go to a different state. Maybe they’re having a hard time with their employees.”

More

SPD Press Release - (UPDATE Bank Robbery Arrests-Bank of Delmarva) 12-14-16


Mississippi Governor: 'No Syrian Refugees For Us Until D.C. Takes Some’

We think they would be a threat to Mississippians, he said

Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant informed Stuart Varney that his state has not accepted any ‘Syrian refugees’ to date, and has no plans to even consider doing so until the District of Columbia takes some first.

Appearing on Thursday on Varney and Co., Governor Bryant discussed the stand he has taken against the Obama administration on behalf of his constituency.

“[We have taken] none so far, so certainly we can claim that as a win,” he said. “In November of 2015, I sent a letter to the President saying much of the same that other governors had said – that we will simply just refuse to accept Syrian refugees because we don’t think that they can be properly vetted.”

“We don’t know the specific background or identities of these individuals. We think they would be a threat to Mississippians.”

More/Video

Gingrich: Furor over CIA report on Russian election meddling 'stupid'

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Monday that calls for an investigation of claims Russian government actors intervened in the U.S. election were "as stupid as anything I've seen the left try."

"Think about it. Barack Obama’s now saying that his administration was so incompetent that they stood around sucking their thumb while the Russians snuck in and hacked into an American election because of the utter incompetence of the Obama defense system," Gingrich told Fox News' Sean Hannity on 'Hannity'.

"Now, I don’t know why one would want to go make that case."

Gingrich went onto say that he did not believe the claims of Russian hacking had any effect on the outcome of the election.

"I don’t believe that the Russians carried Pennsylvania. I think Donald Trump did," the former Speaker said. "I don’t think that the Russians carried Wisconsin ... I don’t think the Russians carried Michigan. Donald Trump did. The problem the left has is they cannot come to grips with the reality that the American people are turning against them, that the American people defeated them, and frankly, if the election were held today, the margin would be even bigger."

More

Gen. Vallely: 'Nobody's Going to Bully America Anymore'

President-elect Donald Trump has assembled a "good team" to manage the nation's cybersecurity against hacking attacks from Russia or China, according to retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely.

In an interview Monday with "Newsmax Prime" host J.D. Hayworth on Newsmax TV, Vallely, the chairman of Stand Up America, said Trump is right to deal with both U.S. adversaries from a position of strength.

"They have to know you're strong and not weak and when they know that, you can cut a hell of a deal with the Russians, with China, and all the rest out there who may be seen to be our adversaries," he said.

"I'm very elated we're going to have a very strong team and nobody's going to bully America anymore. We're not going to take it anymore, America first, and that's what it's all about, standing up for us, our citizens, and the great traditions we have in the United States."

Vallely said in a meeting with Trump six weeks ago along with 200 other officers, "cybersecurity was the top issue that he discussed with us."

More

Trying to overturn a free and fair election

The world has turned itself upside down. Only yesterday the liberals and the left (the “progressives,” as they want to be called) regarded the CIA as the locus of evil, the gang that couldn’t shoot straight, forever poisoning gentle minds with a diet of conspiracy and tall tale.

In those gloomy days of the Cold War, where every day was seasoned with a sharp wind and a cold rain, it was the Democratic intellectuals who were forever chiding the rest of us that the Soviet Union was not so bad, the Russians just wanted to be understood and maybe deserved an occasional cuddle. It was the Republicans and other conservatives who were mindless rubes who imagined there was a mad Russian under everybody’s bed.

Now the CIA, in the liberal/left’s fevered dreams, is the last bulwark of the republic, the last remaining hope to turn the 2016 election result on its head and deprive Donald Trump of the victory he won. The Russians, it now turns out, are just as bad as the conservatives said they were.

President Obama, who mocked Mitt Romney four years ago for suggesting that Russia and Vladimir Putin was America’s No. 1 enemy, now says it was Mr. Romney who was smart and got it right four years ago. The president himself, in his telling, is the man dumber than a cypress stump.

The president, at last awake and paying attention to Russian cyber warfare, wants answers, and by noon on Jan. 20.

More here

'Info Warfare'

A retired Army intelligence officer dismissed the theory that the Russians hacked the election in favor of Donald Trump, instead putting forth his own theory — CIA Director John Brennan is playing political games.

Retired Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer told WMAL Radio on Monday that Brennan is trying to undermine the president-elect out of deference to his boss, President Barack Obama.

"This is purely political, and I believe that John Brennan is a political animal," Shaffer said. "Everything they are telling me is Brennan is doing this out of loyalty to President Obama. It's called information operations, information warfare, and that's what I believe is going on."

More

Pelosi’s daughter leads effort to block Trump through Electoral College

The accusations of Russian interference in the November presidential election have provided a last-minute lifeline for the long-shot effort to head off Donald Trump at the Electoral College.

Ten electors, led by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s daughter Christine Pelosi, demanded Monday an intelligence briefing on Russian interference by Monday, when the Electoral College makes the vote official.

Flipping the Electoral College seems to be the only hope left for Trump opponents. Recount efforts in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania have backfired.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee urged Trump opponents to participate in a protest scheduled for all 50 state capitols Monday aimed at persuading electors to cast their ballots for someone other than the Republican real estate mogul.

More here

Piers Morgan: 'Sore Loser Fury' of Clinton, Dems 'Profoundly Un-American'

Former CNN personality Piers Morgan on Tuesday blasted Hillary Clinton and the Democrats for their "breathtakingly stupid and highly dangerous Hail Mary pass" to endorse the attempt to overturn the election via an Electoral College coup.

Morgan, now an editor for the Daily Mail, pulled no punches, calling the effort "disgustingly hypocritical," given all the saber-rattling from Clinton and Co. against President-elect Donald Trump when he warned of a rigged election and promised to challenge the results before the election.

But then he won, and now it's Clinton and the Democrats who are trying to weaken the country's institutions, Morgan writes for the Daily Mail.

"Their deluded, defiant, sore loser fury has known no bounds," Morgan wrote. "This is not just an unprecedented and dangerous attack on democracy, it’s profoundly un-American."

More

Podesta Joins Demand For US Intel Officials

Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta and Christine Pelosi are joining a call to force intelligence officials to give members of the electoral college intelligence briefings on Russia’s potential ties with President-elect Donald Trump.

The two prominent Democrats added their support to a letter drafted by 10 members of the electoral college. They asked Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to share information about Russia and the 2016 election season.

“The Electors require to know from the intelligence community whether there are ongoing investigations into ties between Donald Trump, his campaign or associates, and Russian government interference in the election, the scope of those investigations, how far those investigations may have reached, and who was involved in those investigations,” they wrote. “We further require a briefing on all investigative findings, as these matters directly impact the core factors in our deliberations of whether Mr. Trump is fit to serve as President of the United States.”

More

MSP: Salisbury Barrack DUI Arrests for 12/02/16 through 12/09/2016


Salisbury Barrack DUI Arrests for 12/02/16 through 12/09/2016

Christian C. Gwynn 22yoa Salisbury, MD

Patrice Inez Newbill 26yoa Hurlock, MD

Abigail Denise Hernandez 28yoa VA

Carlo Javier Gudiel Pacheco 28yoa Salisbury, MD

Mary Ann Elizabeth Patrick 31yoa Delmar, MD

Md. Member of Electoral College Demands Briefing on Russia

BALTIMORE (WJZ)– A Maryland member of the electoral college is among those demanding national intelligence briefings on Russian interference in the presidential election.

One of the roles of the electoral college is to make sure no foreign government has improper influence in the presidential election.

A group of electors wants to know whether there are ongoing investigations into ties between Donald Trump, his campaign or associates and Russian interference in the election. Howard County Elector Courtney Watson is among them.

“And it’s not really a partisan issue, it’s an American issue and we want to make sure that we represent the people when we go in to vote as electors to make sure we’re fully informed,” said Watson.

More

East Coast fishermen file appeal over cost of government-required 'at-sea monitors'

SEABROOK, N.H. – David Goethel built his life off the profits of cod, trolling the waters of New England for 30 years netting the region's once-abundant signature fish.

"My slice of the American Dream was paid for from fishing," Goethel said from behind the wheel of his 44-foot fishing trawler on a windy Friday afternoon in December. "Cape Cod house, two cars, four college educations – it all came out of the fish hole in this boat."

But a controversial federal mandate is threatening to put him out of business, he claims.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, requires groundfishermen -- those who catch cod, haddock and other common bottom-dwelling species -- to carry on board "at-sea monitors." The observers, hired by three for-profit companies, are third-party workers whose task it is to observe fishermen's compliance with federal regulations and ensure annual quotas are not exceeded.

The dispute lies in the cost of the monitors and who should pay for them: Fishermen are billed on average $700 a day when a regulator is present.

More

Anti-Christian Group Upset at Air Force Football Coach Tweeting Bible Verses

An anti-Christian group has criticized a recent decision by the Air Force Academy not to punish an assistant football coach for posting Bible verses on Twitter, a report says.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) had demanded that the Air Force sanction tight ends coach Steed Lobotzke for sharing Bible verses on his Twitter account. The group’s representative, Mikey Weinstein, called the tweets “Christian evangelizing via twitter” which he claims “blatantly” defies Air Force regulations, according to The Gazette.

On multiple occasions Coach Lobotzke tweeted out verses from the Christian Bible. On his Twitter landing page Lobotzke describes himself as a “follower of Christ, family man and football coach,” and notes that “Tweets are my own views.”

More here

Trump trashes CIA probe determining Russia worked to get him elected

The Trump transition team rebuffed reports Friday evening of a CIA investigation that determined Russian government operatives worked to tilt the 2016 presidential election in President-elect Trump's favor, saying it's "now time to move on."

"These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction," Trump's team said in a statement. "The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. It's now time to move on and 'Make America Great Again.'"

U.S. officials briefed on a secret investigation said individuals with ties to the Russian government were involved in disseminating hacked emails from Democratic officials to the likes of WikiLeaks during the campaign season, according to reports. The motive, they said, was not simply to damage trust in the U.S. electoral system, but was specifically tailored to help Trump defeat his Democratic presidential rival, Hillary Clinton.

"It is the assessment of the intelligence community that Russia's goal here was to favor one candidate over the other, to help Trump get elected," a senior U.S. official briefed on an intelligence presentation made to U.S. senators told the Washington Post. "That's the consensus view."

More

Police: Baltimore hits 300 homicides for the year

BALTIMORE (AP) — Baltimore police say the city has hit a grim benchmark, reaching 300 homicides so far this year.

The 300th homicide of 2016 was recorded Tuesday night. Police say two men were found with gunshot wounds in northwest Baltimore and both were taken to hospitals, where one of them later died.

Last year, the city hit the 300 mark on Nov. 14.

More

Pension Ponzi Squared: New Jersey Wants To Sell Debt To Its Own Insolvent Funds

After struggling to raise debt from third parties to repair crumbling infrastructure, the state of New Jersey has come up with a "clever" approach to fundraising that entails selling debt to their own insolvent pension funds...something we've dubbed the "Pension Ponzi Squared." Of course, because when everybody else shuns your debt for being too risky who better to sell it to than yourself?

With $3.4 billion in annual benefits payments versus only $1.9 billion in contributions, funds like the New Jersey Public Employees' Retirement System already qualified as a plain vanilla ponzi scheme. But, using what little pension assets they have left (38% net funded) to buy debt in the entity that ultimately backstops their liabilities is a whole new level of madness. As we recall, the mortgage CDO^2 didn't work out so well back in 2008.

More

Florida Paid $26.2 Million For Dead People's Medicaid

A Florida agency paid an estimated $26.2 million in Medicaid benefits over a five-year period to dead people, a government watchdog reported Tuesday.

The Florida Statewide Medicaid Managed Care Program continued paying people after they died because the agency didn’t update beneficiaries’ death dates or collaborate with other agencies that track deaths, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources Inspector General (IG) found.

“The state agency did not always stop making … payments after a beneficiary’s death, despite its efforts to identify and recover any overpayments,” the IG wrote.

The Florida agency consequently overpaid an estimated $26.2 million, nearly $15.4 million of which was paid with federal money, between July 2009 and November 2014.

More

Reagan: Democrats Secretly Worked With Russia to Oppose My Dad

Did the Russians hack the 2016 election? The CIA, President Obama, and the media think so.

What did we learn from the hacked emails? Well, we learned that Hillary Clinton maintained "both a public and a private position" — one for the voters, one for Goldman Sachs. We learned that the DNC conspired against Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary. We learned about the corrupt inner workings of the Clinton Foundation. And on and on.

In short, we learned the truth.

Sure, it’s offensive that a foreign power would try to manipulate an American election. But it’s not all that different from what President Obama did in 2015, sending $350,000 (U.S. taxpayer dollars!) to a group called OneVoice, supposedly to further peace efforts in Israel. The money was actually spent on a failed attempt to unseat Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

President Obama and OneVoice tried to smear Netanyahu with lies. By contrast, the hacked emails, though stolen, told the truth. Clearly, Democrats are not opposed to manipulating elections. They are only opposed to losing elections.

When my father, Ronald Reagan, was president, Democrat politicians secretly connived with the Soviets in failed attempts to manipulate elections and defeat Ronald Reagan. Former intelligence officer Herbert Romerstein dug through the Soviet archives after the fall of the USSR and uncovered secret documents written by KGB agent Victor Chebrikov.

More

Obama says racism in U.S. surfaces in ‘violent opposition’ to programs to help minorities

In an exit interview on race relations during his two terms, President Obama said racism is evident to him when Americans suddenly voice opposition to long-standing federal programs “as soon as African-Americans or Latinos are interested in availing themselves” of the benefits.

“I’m careful not to attribute any particular resistance or slight or opposition to race,” Mr. Obama said in the interview published Tuesday in The Atlantic.

After eight years in office, the nation’s first black president said he’s not sure how much of the opposition to him by Republicans can be attributed to racism, and how much of it was simply partisanship.

“I do remember watching Bill Clinton get impeached and Hillary Clinton being accused of killing Vince Foster,” he said. “And if you ask them, I’m sure they would say, ‘No, actually what you’re experiencing is not because you’re black, it’s because you’re a Democrat.’ ”

More here

Florida man fakes Trump-inspired hate crime

A Florida man is accused of setting his girlfriend’s car on fire and staging it as a Donald Trump-inspired hate crime before faking his own kidnapping, police said.

Vincent Palmer, 27, of Volusia County, admitted to detectives that he wrote a racist note and taped it to his girlfriend’s mailbox before breaking her car window, dousing the back seat in gasoline, and lighting it on fire, Ormond Beach police said Sunday.

The note read, “I have wathed [sic] you for a long time and your n—r kids don’t belong,” The Ormond Beach Observer reported. The words “KKK” and “TRUMP” were also reportedly written on the note.

Ormond Beach police and firefighters responded to Staci Winn’s home on Biltmore Drive shortly Saturday morning after she discovered her 2015 Chevrolet Sonic was ablaze, The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported.

More

Governor Kasich VETOES Pro-Life 'Heartbeat Bill'

On Tuesday, so-called "Republican" Ohio Governor John Kasich vetoed pro-life legislation dubbed the "heartbeat bill," striking a massive blow to the pro-life movement, which he claims to support. "With the Heartbeat Bill folded into House Bill 493, Kasich used his line-item veto to single out and remove the abortion language since it was accompanied by a $100,000 appropriation to create the Joint Legislative Committee on Adoption Promotion," reports The Columbus Dispatch.

Kasich did sign the other pro-life bill on his desk, which bans abortions after 20 weeks.

Donald Trump promises to move US embassy to Jerusalem as Netanyahu praises ‘clear support’ for Israel

Bill Clinton and George W Bush made the promise to move the embassy, but later backed away, fearing conflict in the region

Moving the United States embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem will be a “big priority” for the incoming Trump administration, according to senior aide Kellyanne Conway.

The United Nations does not recognise the holy city as the capital of Israel, and many of its nations’ embassies remain in Tel Aviv. A formal acknowledgement of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital could spark diplomatic conflict, as it would appear that a country is taking sides in the ongoing dispute with Palestine over the rightful owner of the city.

Nevertheless, Mr Trump has made it clear that he wants to move the US embassy to Israel’s self-declared capital.

“That is a very big priority for this president-elect, Donald Trump,” Ms Conway told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. “He made it pretty clear during the campaign … and as president-elect, I’ve heard him repeat it several times privately, if not publicly.”

She continued: “It is something that our friend in Israel, a great friend in the Middle East, would appreciate, and something that a lot of Jewish-Americans have expressed their preference for.

“It is a great move. It is an easy move to do based on how much he talked about that in the debates and in the sound bites.”

More

The Most Beautiful Christmas Ad You Will Ever See

DecemberFest THIS Friday, December 16th!











December 16th, 2016 is the next 3rd Friday in Downtown Salisbury.  Even though 3rd Friday won't be hosting outdoor activities and vendors until spring, there is still tons to do in Downtown Salisbury!  So bundle up for a night out filled with live music, art and shopping. Art lovers should be sure to stop in the Gallery Building!  The Salisbury Art Space (formerly Art Institute and Gallery) will be hosting their 2016 Affordable Art Show and Holiday Bazaar.  It's a perfect place to find unique locally made gifts for everyone on your list, and enjoy a meet and greet with Santa and Mrs. Claus!  
Then stop in to the Salisbury University Art Galleriesnew Downtown location across from Maya Bella Pizzeria for Umwelt : The First and Nearest World, a student exhibition curated by Christy Cox that reflects on the millennial society of mass consumer waste, overconsumption of technology, manipulated nature, and instantaneous satisfaction.


Down on Poplar Hill Avenue, The Salisbury Wicomico Arts Council will celebrate 3rd Friday indoors by hosting Christmas Cheer | The Art Promote Peace and Joy, in its elevator-accessible loft space aboveSeason's Best Antiques from 5-9pm.  Join SWAC to enjoy food, drinks, caroling, kids crafts, dancers of the season, and local artisans & crafters!  Then be sure to stop in Season's Best Antiques for their Ugly Christmas Sweater Party, complete with Santa, huge sales on everything in the store, refreshments, door prizes and WSUX (96.3/101.1) broadcasting live!  The participant with the ugliest sweater will win a gift certificate! 



3rd Friday is always a shoppers' paradise, with the downtown shops and boutiques open late with special events and sales!  Kuhn's Jewelers will have refreshments and huge savings, just grab the coupon published online and in all the local papers!  Barefoot Baby Boutique has everything you need to deck out your little ones for the holidays, with specials on holiday gear and jammies, plus all purchases over $50 receive a cute picture frame keepsake ornament!  Angello's Unique Gifts will be hosting RJ Batts, the 13 year old inventor of Tip Tough, who will be doing live demonstrations of his amazing product!



Enza's An Organic Salon is celebrating its 10 year anniversary!  Be sure to stop by Enza's from 6-8pm for an evening of holiday cheer and great deals, special one night only sales, and an amazing gift certificate promotion, where every purchase of $100 gift card will also receive two (2) ten dollar gift certificates as a bonus gift! 


The downtown bars and restaurants are ready with live music for 3rd Friday!  Roadie Joes will have the acoustic duo Half Naked Nation from 5:30 to 8:30 plus local rockers Eastwood late night and DJ SL ten til close.  Brew River will have live acoustic by Butler and Jamison from 6pm til 10pm and Market Street Inn will have DJ Juan spinning all your favorites late night.  

Merry Christmas

Jimmy Stewart filmed this scene in ONE TRY because the tender feelings in his expressions of love for Jesus could not be vainly repeated. "I have only one of these in me," he said. "I'm absolutely serious when I say this is one of the greatest honors I've ever had."

Intelligence Officer Who Personally Met the Democratic Email Leaker Confirms Leaker Is with AMERICAN INTELLIGENCE Services

The former intelligence analyst, British Ambassador to Uzbekistan, and chancellor of the University of Dundee, Craig Murray, wroteyesterday:

As Julian Assange has made crystal clear, the leaks did not come from the Russians. As I have explained countless times, they are not hacks, they are insider leaks – there is a major difference between the two.

***

I know who leaked them. I’ve met the person who leaked them, and they are certainly not Russian and it’s an insider. It’s a leak, not a hack; the two are different things.

In other words, Murray – a close friend of Julian Assange – says he knows for a fact that there were no hacks at all … instead, an American insider leaked the information to Wikileaks.

More

Revitalizing Downtown Salisbury Gift Set

It's Happening!

Could free-market health care make a comeback?

Exclusive: Elizabeth Lee Vliet, M.D., lauds Trump pick of Rep. Tom Price for HHS

Note: Dr. Vliet is a member of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, AAPS.

Congratulations to President-elect Donald Trump for a common-sense and much-needed approach to selecting the new secretary of health and human services: Instead of a lawyer or another bureaucrat, Trump selected a competent, knowledgeable physician and surgeon Rep. Tom Price, M.D.

The Department of Health and Human Services is the third-largest federal agency – often described as a moribund, over-budget, bloated bureaucracy rife with waste and fraud – which controls Medicare and Medicaid, on which millions of Americans depend. HHS itself is desperately in need of strong medicine.

Dr. Price, a longstanding member of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), is well-known to the medical community as a physician who has been a proponent of sound medical practice, has fought for common-sense reforms and market-based solutions on rising medical costs, and has worked to reduce the escalating government interference in medical decision-making. Dr. Price has also worked to improve access to medical care and specialists for patients in the government-run programs.

More