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Friday, September 29, 2017

DEA Head Chuck Rosenberg Resigns. Now Who Takes Over?

The Washington Post and New York Times have reported that Chuck Rosenberg, acting head of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), will resign at the end of this week. The Times attributed Rosenberg’s departure to his growing conviction that President Trump “had little respect for the law.”

Rosenberg, who will step down on October 1, was a holdover from the Obama Administration. He’s been running the agency in an acting capacity since 2015, when he took over for then-DEA Administrator Michelle Leonhart. Leonhart resigned over her mishandling of a scandal involving DEA agents and prostitutes. Leonhart had also disagreed strongly with how President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder handled state-legal marijuana.

Rosenberg moved over to guide the DEA after serving as chief of staff to then-FBI Director James Comey. Comey was fired by President Trump earlier this year, and the action did nothing to improve the relationship between the President and his acting DEA administrator. When Trump suggested that police “please don’t be too nice” when handling criminal suspects, Rosenberg rejected his comments in an email sent to DEA employees. “We have an obligation to speak out when something is wrong,” he wrote.

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Will Trump allow release of JFK assassination papers?

Scholars are eagerly awaiting the anticipated release of thousands of never-before-seen government documents related to President John F. Kennedy's assassination.

Now, they're waiting to see whether President Donald Trump will block the release of files that could shed light on a tragedy that has stirred conspiracy theories for decades.

The National Archives has until October 26 to disclose the remaining files related to Kennedy's 1963 assassination, unless Trump intervenes.

The CIA and FBI, whose records make up the bulk of the batch, won't say whether they've appealed to the Republican president to keep them under wraps.

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Pending Home Sales Plunge; NAR Admits "The Housing Market Has Essentially Stalled"

After dismal drops in existing and new home sales, this morning's pending home sales data for August was a disaster, tumbling 2.6% MoM (3.1% YoY) to its lowest SAAR since January 2016.

This is the second YoY decline in sales in a row, with SAAR tumbling to its lowest since Jan 2016..

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says this summer’s terribly low supply levels have officially drained all of the housing market’s momentum over the past year.

“August was another month of declining contract activity because of the one-two punch of limited listings and home prices rising far above incomes,” he said.

“Demand continues to overwhelm supply in most of the country, and as a result, many would-be buyers from earlier in the year are still in the market for a home, while others have perhaps decided to temporarily postpone their search.”

With little relief expected from the housing shortages that continue to plague several areas, Yun believes the housing market has essentially stalled.

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Crowd Boos As Entire Cowboys Team, Owner, & G.M. 'Take A Knee' In Arizona

In an apparent demonstration of unity, the entire Dallas Cowboys team, Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones, as well as executive vice presidents Stephen Jones, Charlotte Anderson and Jerry Jones Jr., all decided to 'take a knee', notably before the national anthem was sung.

Boos were heard from the crowd in Arizona which reportedly included a large number of Dallas fans...

"...as they take a knee collectively, boos can be heard from this sell-out crowd in Arizona..."

As ESPN reports, Jerry Jones and his daughter, Charlotte Jones Anderson, said their players wanted to take a knee as a statement for equality and unity, but also wanted to separate that message from the national anthem.

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Sen. Bob Corker Announces Retirement One Day After Breitbart Reports on His $3 Million Swamp Deal

Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) announced late Tuesday afternoon he will not be seeking re-election to a third term in the Senate in 2018, just hours before polls were scheduled to close in the Alabama U.S. Senate Republican runoff election between conservative Judge Roy Moore and Corker’s establishment ally, Senator Luther Strange (R-AL).

Corker’s surprising announcement came one day after the publication of the third story in a series by Breitbart News that documented his sweetheart deal investment in a Mobile, Alabama retail center arranged by a law firm that donated $28,000 to Luther Strange’s Senate campaign. In that deal, Corker is expected to receive more than $3 million in sales tax payments made by Alabama consumers to the City of Mobile over the next twenty years as part of a sales tax rebate incentive to a development company in which Corker has a 13 percent ownership interest.

Corker has made a number of high profile political missteps over the past several years that have hurt his approval ratings among likely Tennessee Republican primary voters.

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Bill O'Reilly Stuns On Hannity

Former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly appeared on “Hannity” Tuesday, addressing the beliefs of the far-left in America.

“They’re after–they don’t want capitalism. They don’t want the electoral college. They don’t want white people…generally calling the shots. So they have to mobilize minority Americans to be angry,” O’Reilly told Sean Hannity.

O’Reilly also claimed that far-left agents, which he believes to be “evil,” want to “destroy the Constitution” by changing it.

“‘Who forged it? Slave owners — Thomas Jefferson, George Washington. We can’t have a Constitution that they made — we have to have a new one!’ That’s the end game,” O’Reilly said.

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Mo Brooks on NFL Protest Controversy: Terminate Any Federal Support of Professional Football

Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) said on Tuesday that the federal government should not financially support the NFL because of players’ disrespectful “take a knee” protests during the national anthem.

“I believe we ought to terminate all federal government support of the NFL,” Brooks told Breitbart News following the Conversations with Conservatives event at the Capitol. “That would include the termination of any and all advertising that is done on behalf of the federal government — military and non-military — to the extent we do any.”

“The same thing with any other professional sport that insults our country and our flag and our anthem as the NFL has done,” said Brooks, who is a member of the House Freedom Caucus.

CNN Money reported in 2015 the NFL teams get “billions in subsidies from U.S. taxpayers.”

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All that kneeling ignores the real cause of soaring black homicides

The FBI released its official crime tally for 2016 on Monday, and the data flies in the face of the rhetoric that professional athletes rehearsed in revived Black Lives Matter protests over the weekend.

Nearly 900 additional blacks were killed in 2016 compared with 2015, bringing the black homicide victim total to 7,881. Those 7,881 “black bodies,” in the parlance of Ta-Nehisi Coates, are 1,305 more than the number of white victims (which in this case includes most Hispanics) for the same period, though blacks are only 13 percent of the nation’s population.

The increase in black homicides last year comes on top of a previous 900-victim increase between 2014 and 2015.

Who is killing these black victims? Not whites, and not the police, but other blacks.

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Record $135 billion a year for illegal immigration, average $8,075 each, $25,000 in NY

The swelling population of illegal immigrants and their kids is costing American taxpayers $135 billion a year, the highest ever, driven by free medical care, education and a huge law enforcement bill, according to the the most authoritative report on the issue yet.

And despite claims from pro-illegal immigration advocates that the aliens pay significant off-setting taxes back to federal, state and local treasuries, the Federation for American Immigration Reform report tallied just $19 billion, making the final hit to taxpayers about $116 billion.

State and local governments are getting ravaged by the costs, at over $88 billion. The federal government, by comparison, is getting off easy at $45 billion in costs for illegals.

President Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and conservatives in Congress are moving aggressively to deal with illegals, especially those with long criminal records. But their effort is being fought by courts and some 300 so-called "sanctuary communities" that refuse to work with federal law enforcement.

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Multiple Foreign Nationals Criminally Charged For U.S. Election Fraud

A county-level grand jury in Ohio indicted several foreign nationals for election fraud related to the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections.

Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien announced Thursday that the Franklin County Grand Jury returned indictments against seven foreign nationals who allegedly voted illegally in recent U.S. elections.

Originally, the Secretary of State and Ohio Attorney General referred 36 cases to O’Brien’s office of non-citizens who “had registered and/or voted in recent elections in Franklin County.”

After further investigation by the Board of Elections and Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office, seven foreign nationals, who were not U.S. citizens, were criminally charged “for registering and voting in elections” in Franklin County.

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Strange Endorsement Is Just the Latest Awful Advice Trump Received from Jared Kushner

To no one’s surprise, President Donald Trump is apparently “furious” over his woefully misguided decision to go all-in for Luther Strange in Alabama’s U.S. Senate primary.

It was a decision that blew spectacularly up in the president’s face last night with Strange’s massive 10-point loss to Roy Moore, an outsider much closer in spirit to Trumpism than establishment crony Strange.

In what is becoming a disturbing pattern, Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner was apparently one of those who advised the president to back Strange, to once again sail into big, jagged rocks — a humiliation for Trump that anyone with any real-world political sense should have (and did) seen coming from a mile away.

Appointed under shady circumstances, Strange is a walking-talking poster child for everything Trump ran against, a good ole’ boy, Republican establishment backslapper strongly backed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has done nothing but post failure after failure since Trump’s inauguration.

What makes this Kushner catastrophe even more notable than the others (which I will get to), is that this time Trump led with his chin, was out there publicly championing a sure-loser, and most importantly, was doing so in defiance of his own base.

For the first time since he stepped into the political arena, Trump did not look like a leader, he looked led — he looked like a weak politician being handled and manipulated..

More here

LFL | NATIONAL ANTHEM RESPONSE

Breaking News: Tom Price, the health secretary, has resigned.

Already in trouble with Mr. Trump for months of unsuccessful efforts to repeal and replace President Barack Obama’s health care program, Mr. Price failed to defuse the president’s anger over his high-priced travel by agreeing to pay a portion of the cost and expressing “regret” for his actions.
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Addison Russell knocks over Cardinals fan's nachos, delivers him new ones

Some Wounded Warriors Can't Take a Knee, NFL

Whenever I hear about NFL players who take a knee during the national anthem, I am reminded of the double amputees that have returned from America’s wars and the fact that while, because of their sacrifice over centuries, we are entitled to speak freely, none of us are entitled to a particular forum.

NFL players are employees of a larger organization, just like Curt Shilling was when ESPN fired him for what he thought was protected speech. The speech is protected. Your access to a particular forum is not. They are teammates in a sport that pays these allegedly oppressed spoiled brats millions. Their teammates may share a different view, so does the locker room become a game prep area or a debating society? Does the field remain a sporting arena or a campaign rally? Those who take a knee were indeed given that right by many who no longer have knees and are privileged to take a knee in a sport paid for by millions of fans who may disagree with them and who paid to see a game, not a protest. Players who take a knee think they are being patriotic, when they are merely being elf-indulgent and selfish. Go rent out a stadium and invite people to pay just to see you take a knee and see if anybody shows up. The response by the NFL Players Association is disingenuous:

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NEWS IN NUMBERS

15 out of 25

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017
Major metro areas with the highest black-white segregation that are in the Rust Belt.
Source: Brookings

$3 million a day

SEPTEMBER 27, 2017
Money Florida lost by suspending tolls to help speed up evacuations and relief efforts for Hurricane Irma. It amounted to more than $45 million.
Source: CBS Miami

12 hours

SEPTEMBER 26, 2017
Amount of time HealthCare.gov will be shut down on every Sunday but one during open enrollment for maintenance. Critics have accused the Trump administration of intentionally making it harder for the Affordable Care Act to succeed by also shortening the enrollment period and cutting funding for advertising and navigators, people who help others buy ACA insurance.

Less than 1 day

SEPTEMBER 25, 2017
Time it took Gatorade to settle a lawsuit from California accusing the company of false advertising for implying in an online game that drinking water slows runners down. The game has since been disabled, and the state is now $300,000 richer.

More than 24

SEPTEMBER 22, 2017
Illinois state lawmakers who have either resigned this year or said they won't seek re-election, which is about 15 percent of the General Assembly and an unusually large exodus. Many have cited the state's political gridlock and increasingly angry citizenry as reasons for moving on.

36

SEPTEMBER 21, 2017
States that would face federal funding cuts in 2026 if the Graham-Cassidy bill to repeal Obamacare becomes law. Almost all of them expanded Medicaid. Meanwhile, most of the states that didn't expand Medicaid would see an increase in federal funding.

7

SEPTEMBER 20, 2017
Democratic governors and state attorneys general who are women, which accounts for 20 percent representation. The Democratic Attorneys General Association hopes to increase that number and recently launched "the 1881 Initiative" -- named for the first year that a woman ran, unsuccessfully, for state AG -- to help.

Forget Congress: Trump and the states can fix healthcare on their own

Once again, it appears healthcare reform has died in Congress, and now that time is running out for Republicans to take advantage of the Senate's budget reconciliation rules, it looks as though there's virtually no chance healthcare reform will be passed in the near future.

Adding insult to injury was a Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, statement announcing her rejection of the Graham-Cassidy healthcare proposal, in which she complained the legislation would have cut too much of the federal government's funding of Medicaid and that the bill would "open the door for states to weaken protections for people with pre-existing conditions … Some states could allow higher premiums [and] … could also limit specific categories of benefits for Affordable Care Act policies, such as eliminating coverage for mental health or substance abuse treatment."

Let's get this straight: Collins says she opposes the Graham-Cassidy proposal because it would reduce federal involvement in healthcare and allow states to choose what kind of healthcare policies would work best for their own people. What a stunning statement from a Republican senator and alleged supporter of free-market, pro-liberty reforms!

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McConnell Pledges to Support Roy Moore and Donald Trump’s Agenda

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) congratulated Judge Roy Moore on his blowout victory in the Alabama Senate GOP primary over Sen. Luther Strange (R-AL) — the candidate he backed.

“I would like to congratulate Roy Moore on his victory in Alabama tonight,” McConnell said in a statement.

McConnell added that Moore “ran a spirited campaign centered around dissatisfaction with the progress made in Washington” — not acknowledging his own role as senate majority leader or support for Strange.

“I share that frustration,” McConnell said, pledging to support Trump’s agenda, noting it was what “the American people voted for last November.”

“We look forward to Judge Moore’s help enacting that agenda when he arrives,” he said:

McConnell pledged to back Moore in the general election scheduled for December 12 against Democrat Doug Jones and urged those active in the primary election to “redouble” their efforts in the general election.

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Trump: Ask Senate If They Still Have Confidence in Mitch McConnell

President Donald Trump still has confidence that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell can do his job, despite a list of political failures in the Senate.

Two separate efforts to replace Obamacare have failed in the Senate under McConnell’s leadership, and he was dealt a heavy blow after his preferred candidate, Sen. Luther Strange, lost big in Alabama in spite of the establishment’s spending millions to beat outsider candidate Roy Moore.

Trump said Republican senators had to decide for themselves if they still want McConnell to lead them.

“I do have confidence in him, yes,” Trump replied to reporters when asked if he still has confidence in McConnell. “But it’s really not up to me; it’s up to the Senate.”

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Trump ‘Embarassed and Pissed’ by Strange Endorsement Mistake

Multiple reports Wednesday cited White House sources claiming President Donald Trump is “embarrassed” over the outcome of Tuesday’s Alabama U.S. Senate election and understands he made a mistake in endorsing, along with Chamber of Commerce and Republican leadership, Luther Strange over Judge Roy Moore.

Trump “knew [endorsing Strange] was a mistake but one he was willing to make because Luther was loyal,” a senior White House official told CNN. A person familiar with his mindset said the President went to bed “embarrassed and pissed.”

Reportedly, Stephen K. Bannon, Breitbart News executive chairman and, until recently, Trump’s own White House chief strategist, was a particular focus of the president’s anger over Roy Moore’s landslide victory. Bannon pulled out all the stops to rally pro-Moore forces in the closing days of the campaign, making multiple TV appearances, and working to bring a team of populist-nationalist all-stars to the Yellowhammer state for Moore, including former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, ex-UKIP leader Nigel “Mr. Brexit” Farage, Duck Commander founder Phil Robertson, and fellow ex-White House adviser Dr. Sebastian Gorka.

Gorka also emphasized that supporting Moore was a loyal move for Trump supporters like him. He told Fox News’s Brett Baier on Friday:

"The president has gone with the forces of the establishment on this one candidate. But guess what happens – when Judge Moore wins on Tuesday, it will strengthen the president, because now he’ll be able to go to the establishment GOP – to the swamp dwellers and say, ‘Hey guys, we are back on my agenda. This wasn’t worth it.’

Despite his reported frustrations with the defeat of his chosen candidate, Trump appeared Tuesday to have come around to Gorka’s way of thinking on the matter..

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Illegal immigration costing record $135 billion a year

The swelling population of illegal immigrants and their kids is costing American taxpayers $135 billion a year, the highest ever, driven by free medical care, education and a huge law enforcement bill, according to the the most authoritative report on the issue yet.

And despite claims from pro-illegal immigration advocates that the aliens pay significant off-setting taxes back to federal, state and local treasuries, the Federation for American Immigration Reform report tallied just $19 billion, making the final hit to taxpayers about $116 billion.

State and local governments are getting ravaged by the costs, at over $88 billion. The federal government, by comparison, is getting off easy at $45 billion in costs for illegals.

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Donald Trump cuts Barack Obama's refugee policy in half

President Trump, in just eight months in office, has succeeded in upending U.S. refugee policy, cutting by more than half the 110,000-refugee target that the Obama administration had bequeathed him and dramatically shifting the demographics of who is accepted.

Gone is President Obama’s overwhelming focus on Muslims, and particularly on Syrians fleeing a civil war that his administration facilitated. Under Mr. Trump, the rate of Syrian refugees has been cut by more than 80 percent, and Christians have overtaken Muslims in total refugees resettled.

“It’s impossible to escape the clear message that there’s a new sheriff in town,” said Matthew O'Brien, research director at the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which advocates for stricter refugee controls.

The Trump changes have reverberated around the globe, with the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees drastically cutting the number of refugee candidates it submits to the U.S.

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Media continues to bash Donald Trump

Stirring racial divisiveness instead of sticking to the news

The president-bashing liberal media ignore a church shooting and distort constructive efforts in Puerto Rico

The left works overtime to control everyone’s sense of reality. They have lost the hearts and minds of Americans so all they can do now is arrange various public Kabuki dramas insisting that America (and Americans by default) are no good and not worth standing for.

For a media that remain pathologically fixated on their hatred for the president, having to cover other news is anathema to them. Who knows, events they could cover might help President Trump; or if they stop attacking him for a few days people might have a moment to consider the president without him being slathered in media crazy sauce.

So, as Mr. Trump received praise for guiding the nation through hurricanes, which played a part in his approval ratings rise, it’s no surprise the left lurched forward and decided more racial division and complaining about America were necessary.

“Taking a knee” has become the new “Hands up, don’t shoot” scenario for liberal activists. As their hero Hillary Clinton wanders around the country continuing her “Tour J’accuse,” major league football players decided to kneel (again) during Sunday’s football games.

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Left Targets Roy Moore for Personal Destruction

Thursday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” co-host Joe Scarborough said former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore’s victory over Sen. Luther Strange (R-AL) in the Alabama Senate primary meant the Republican Party was “infected” with”stupidity” and “ignorance.”

Scarborough said, “I’m tired of the debates about whether the Republican Party will be the conservative party or the liberal party. I’m just tired of us being the stupid party.”

On Moore, Scarborough said, “You’ve got a guy that wants to get elected to the United States Senate doesn’t even know what DACA is or the DREAMers are which means he is so isolated from any news, from any knowledge of the debate in Washington, D.C., that you even wonder why he’s applying for the job? I mean, this would be — this would be like somebody that decided to be a judge that didn’t even know we didn’t have a religious freedom amendment in our Constitution, the First Amendment.”

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Republicans Push For 2nd Special Counsel To Investigate Hillary, Comey, & Lynch

Their crimes are well documented, but will congress have the guts to press forward?

As Robert Mueller’s investigation into Trump-Russia collusion turns into a witch-hunt in search of anything, or anyone that can be scapegoated to justify the year long circus originating from a Hillary Clinton-John Podesta concocted story to explain away their failed $2 billion election disaster, documented crimes were committed by Hillary Clinton, James Comey, and Loretta Lynch.

Perjury, obstruction of justice, secret airport tarmac meetings, leaking of government documents, and the destruction of 33,000 government emails... perhaps the GOP has finally mustered up the balls to bring in the real criminals to justice.

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A school librarian rejected a shipment of books donated by Melania Trump

A school librarian in Cambridge, Massachusetts, rejected a shipment of books that was donated by first lady Melania Trump, according to CBS Boston.

CBS Boston on Wednesday reported that Liz Phipps Soeiro of Cambridgeport Elementary School turned down the works Trump intended to send.

The White House chose one school in all 50 states to receive a package of 10 books authored by children’s literary author Dr. Seuss.

The initiative was meant to promote education and childhood literacy as part of National Read-A-Book Day.

Soeiro on Tuesday penned an editorial for the Horn Book’s Family Reading blog explaining why her school did not need the donation.

“My students have access to a school library with over nine thousand volumes and a librarian with a graduate degree in literary science,” she wrote.

“Multiple studies show that schools with professionally staffed libraries improve student performance,” Soeiro added.

“You may not be aware of this, but Dr. Seuss is a bit of a cliché, a tired and worn ambassador for children’s literature,” she told Trump.

More Elite enlightenment here

"Feeling The Bern": Wasington D.C. Dominates New STD Per Capita Rankings From The CDC

The Centers for Disease Control just released their latest study on sexually transmitted diseases and provided yet another reason why Congress has a lower approval rating than that last paper cut you got that you could have sworn nearly sliced your finger completely off.

As the charts below illustrate, the miscreants who run our federal government, in between their extramarital affairs of course, apparently helped Washington D.C. to "dominate" the CDC's state-by-state rankings for STDs in 2016. With respect to Chlamydia outbreaks, for example, Washington D.C.'s reported cases exceeded the national average by 118% and the next closest state of Alaska by 40%.

In 2016, a total of 1,598,354 cases of Chlamydia trachomatis infection were reported to the CDC, making it the most common notifiable condition in the United States. This case count corresponds to a rate of 497.3 cases per 100,000 population, an increase of 4.7% compared with the rate in 2015. During 2015–2016, rates of reported chlamydia increased in all regions of the United States.

Winning...
But it's not just Chlamydia, our political elites "dominated" across the board in 2016 when it came to reported cases of STDs with theoutbreak of Gonorrhea in our nation's capital reaching a staggering 230% above the national average.

In 2009, the national rate of reported gonorrhea cases reached an historic low of 98.1 cases per 100,000 population. During 2009–2012, the rate increased slightly each year to 106.7 cases per 100,000 population in 2012 and has increased steadily during 2014–2016. In 2016, 468,514 gonorrhea cases were reported for a rate of 145.8 cases per 100,000 population, an increase of 18.5% from 2015.

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D.C. Circuit lets stand concealed-carry ruling, cheering gun-rights activists

Case could head to Supreme Court

A federal appeals court let stand Thursday a decision that it is unconstitutional to require firearms owners prove a “good reason” in order to carry legally a concealed handgun in the nation’s capital — a win for gun rights advocates that has the potential to send a significant Second Amendment case to the Supreme Court.

The D.C. government had petitioned for the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to rehear a lawsuit against the city’s gun laws, but the court declined to revisit the 2-1 decision handed down earlier this year, noting that none of the 10 judges who considered the matter requested a vote on it.

The decision leaves in place the D.C. Circuit’s prior ruling, which found that the city’s “good reason” requirement was unconstitutional.

It also sets up the potential for the Supreme Court to take up the case as the decision creates a split with four other federal circuits that have found discretionary permitting schemes elsewhere are legal.

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Black woman OWNS NFL NARRATIVE!

Navy Returns to Compasses and Pencils to Help Avoid Collisions

Urgent new orders went out earlier this month for United States Navy warships that have been plagued by deadly mishaps this year.

More sleep and no more 100-hour workweeks for sailors. Ships steaming in crowded waters like those near Singapore and Tokyo will now broadcast their positions as do other vessels. And ships whose crews lack basic seamanship certification will probably stay in port until the problems are fixed.

All seemingly obvious standards, military officials say, except that the Navy only now is rushing the remedies into effect after two collisions in two months left 17 sailors dead, despite repeated warnings about the looming problems from congressional watchdogs and the Navy’s own experts dating to 2010.

The orders issued recently by the Navy’s top officer for ships worldwide, Vice Adm. Thomas S. Rowden, drew on the lessons that commanders gleaned from a 24-hour fleet-wide suspension of operations last month to examine basic seamanship, teamwork and other fundamental safety and operational standards.
Continue reading the main story

Collectively, current and former officers said, the new rules mark several significant cultural shifts for the Navy’s tradition-bound fleets. At least for the moment, safety and maintenance are on par with operational security, and commanders are requiring sailors to use old-fashioned compasses, pencils and paper to help track potential hazards, as well as reducing a captain’s discretion to define what rules the watch team follows if the captain is not on the ship’s bridge.

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Breaking News: The State Department is set to pull much of its staff out of the embassy in Havana, Cuba, after mysterious attacks that injured 21 people

The announcement, first reported by CBS News, will come just three days after Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson met with Bruno Eduardo Rodríguez Parrilla, Cuba’s foreign minister, in Washington. That meeting failed to persuade Mr. Tillerson that the Cubans could guarantee the safety of the remaining American employees in Havana, prompting him to decide to pull much of the embassy staff, an American official said.
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Voter group puts 248 counties on notice over bloated voter rolls

New York City appears on list for first time

The Public Interest Legal Foundation is warning nearly 250 counties that they could face a lawsuit over bloated voter rolls, after their own analysis released Monday found they have more people registered to vote than could theoretically be eligible.

New York City’s big counties are on the list, with New York County — also known as Manhattan — listing 54 percent more names on its voter rolls than the total number of people of voting age, according to Census Bureau figures.

The other boroughs also made this PILF list this year, as did San Diego in California.

All told, some 248 total counties spanning 24 states were getting warnings for having bloated voter rolls in the 2016 election, the PILF said. That’s up from 144 counties across 21 states warned after the 2014 election.

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Greetings Maryland Hunters and Trappers:

This edition of the Guide to Hunting and Trapping coincides with the 150th anniversary of the Maryland Natural Resources Police (MNRP). It is my pleasure to use this space to celebrate this milestone for our peers in law enforcement and recognize several units of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources who contribute to the wildlife conservation mission of the department.

In recent years we have been fortunate to watch the NRP team develop a finer focus on wildlife violators and poaching enforcement. To that end, we saw the first Poaching Restitution Act sentences and license suspension penalties handed down by Maryland courts this year. The successful adjudication of these cases is also a tribute to our partners in the legislature and the Maryland Hunting Coalition.

We also saw the ranks of our NRP grow despite a number of critical vacancies borne of personnel retirements. Recruiting new staff is one of the more under-valued elements of any agency operation. We are fortunate to have a committed and dedicated team at our Human Resources Service and their efforts contribute immensely toward maintaining a skilled workforce for our law enforcement and other wildlife conservation operations.

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Trump: The NFL Has To Change Or ‘Their Business Is Going To Go To Hell’

Donald Trump is standing firm against the NFL and its tolerance of players kneeling during the national anthem, saying Wednesday that if it continues the NFL’s business is “going to go to hell.”

Before boarding Marine One at the White House on Wednesday, Trump stopped to speak with reporters and again addressed the national anthem protests that have happened across the NFL.

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"There's A Time For War": Bannon Vows Full Assault On Republican Establishment

Following Roy Moore's decisive win in Alabama earlier this week (something we covered here), Steve Bannon has predictably seized on the momentum vowing that it is only the beginning of his "war" against the Republican establishment. Per McClatchy:

“There’s a time and season for everything under heaven. And sometimes there’s a time for peace. And sometimes there’s a time for war,” he told a raucous, religious revival-style crowd packed into a barn.

“Yeah!” a woman yelled back.

“We’re not going to hug out our differences,” he continued. “We’re going to have to fight for our differences.”

With several seats opening up in the Senate in 2018, including Senator Bob Corker's of Tennessee who recently announced his retirement, conservatives see no reason why they can't beat out establishment Senators across the deep south.

The hard-right’s fight for total control of Donald Trump's Washington is just getting started.

The victory of deeply conservative candidate Roy Moore in Tuesday’s hotly contested Alabama Senate primary has emboldened activists and potential candidates alike, threatening to set off a wave of tough GOP races and ushering in a new era of internecine Republican warfare that party leaders had hoped would end when they won control of the government.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that this is going to be a determining factor for a lot of Deep South states, no question,” said Mississippi State Sen. Chris McDaniel, who lost a hugely controversial primary contest against Sen. Thad Cochran in 2014 but is considering another Senate primary run in 2018. “If Alabama can send a true conservative to Washington, and Texas can send a true conservative to Washington, so can Mississippi and Tennessee and Florida and other states.”

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Trump preparing executive order to let Americans purchase health insurance across state lines

President Trump is preparing an executive order to allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines, a reform conservatives have long championed as a way to bring costs down and stir greater competition in the national marketplace.

The executive action gives the White House a chance to follow through on at least one promise related to healthcare reform, after Senate Republicans' second attempt to repeal and replace Obamacare failed this week. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul first mentioned the action during a TV appearance Wednesday morning, saying Trump was considering taking matters into his own hands.

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Feds: Every legal Mexican immigrant sponsors six more to US

While President Trump has his eyes on curbing illegal immigration, federal rules are allowing legal immigrants to "sponsor" several more family members from their countries, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

On average, legal immigrants have been sponsoring three additional immigrants. And newly arrived Mexicans are sponsoring an additional six family members.

The statistics analyzed by the Center for Immigration Studies find that sponsorships exceed initial immigration numbers.

Called "chain migration" because the first immigrant acts as a link to many others legally allowed to follow, the practice is having a huge impact on the U.S. Sponsors are "native-born citizens or naturalized citizens."

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They Fire Coaches Who Kneel in Silent Prayer, But Celebrate Players Who Kneel in Protest

Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) said Monday that if NFL players are celebrated for kneeling during the national anthem, then so should high school coaches who kneel in prayer at the end of the game.

“We can’t say to one football coach you’re fired if you kneel in silent prayer at the end of the game, but to a player, if you kneel in protest to a game, you’re celebrated,” Lankford said.

“For whatever reason in America, if individual players kneel in protest at a football game, that’s seen as free speech. We do have high school coaches that have kneeled in silent prayer, and they’ve been fired,” he said.

“Now the First Amendment’s the First Amendment.."

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Why didn't TV networks show angry, booing NFL fans Sunday or Monday?

With President Donald Trump's attacks against protesting NFL players still reverberating, the league's TV partners decided to air live coverage of the national anthem before Week 3 games. Those partners left out a key element of the coverage: crowd shots of angry fans.

Networks typically do not televise the national anthem except for the Super Bowl and other special occasions, but they recognized there would be intense viewer interest this past weekend.

Some fans, if they reacted at all, happily clapped and cheered during protests, but others did not, and they angrily let their home teams know it. The audio mics picked up the boos. Yet the TV networks mostly avoided crowd shots Sunday, so there was never a chance for viewers to see fans jeering players.

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Cop Forced to Pay $6.3M of Own Money to Family of Innocent 70yo Man He Cuffed and Watched Die

Malakoff, TX — As TFTP has frequently reported, if police officers are not held accountable for their actions in one department, they will simply change departments and continue abusing citizens. We call them gypsy cops. One such gypsy cop is Ernesto Fierro, whose time has finally come.

In 2005, Fierro was allowed to resign from the Dallas Police Department after he was involved in two hit-and-runs in which he fled the scene. That would be a felony conviction for the average citizen, but police officers are often given a pass for their crimes, allowed to resign and be employed elsewhere at another LEA (law enforcement agency).

Later, Fierro was employed in 2011 with the Ferris, Texas, Police Department when he was involved in the death of a motorcyclist during a high-speed chase. Had Fierro been held accountable for his actions in Dallas and later in Ferris, he might not have allegedly killed William Livezey Jr. (70), of New Sharon, Iowa. But, he was not held accountable and was therefore allowed to strike again.

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Sen. Lankford: Russian Internet Trolls Stoked NFL Debate

A U.S. senator on Wednesday said Russian internet trolls, seeking to polarize Americans, helped fuel a debate ignited by President Donald Trump over whether NFL players should have the right to kneel during the national anthem.

The assertion, made by Republican James Lankford, comes as congressional investigators probing Moscow's alleged meddling in the 2016 presidential election are focusing on how Russian agents used social media to spread divisive political content.

"We watched, even this weekend, the Russians and their troll farms, their internet folks, start hashtagging out #TakeAKnee and also hashtagging out #BoycottNFL,” Lankford, who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said during a hearing on threats faced by the United States.

"They were taking both sides of the argument this weekend ... to try to raise the noise level of America and make a big issue seem like an even bigger issue as they are trying to push divisiveness in this country," Lankford said.

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A Very Important Message


Fuel cell breakthrough could extend battery life

Scientists have developed a new technique to examine the inner membrane of a fuel cell, in a breakthrough that could be a ‘game changer’ for cleaner energy.

The lifetime of a fuel cell relies on a process called oxidation, or the breakdown of its central electrolyte membrane – and, researchers have now found a way to observe the formation of the chemicals that give rise to this process.

As oxidation can cause holes to form in the membrane and eventually cause the cell to short circuit, the new work could now help to develop ways to prevent this damage, and extend the life of the fuel cell.

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SHOCK REPORT: NFL’S OAKLAND RAIDERS THREW GAME AFTER WHITE QB REFUSED TO KNEEL FOR NATIONAL ANTHEM

In other words, an epic level scandal

A new report from The Armstrong and Getty Radio Show has sent shockwaves throughout the sports world after it was claimed that members of the NFL’s Oakland Raiders may have purposefully allowed their star quarterback to get sacked multiple times after he refused to kneel during the National Anthem.

If true, this would essentially mean that an NFL football game was illegally thrown over anger that one of the teams star white players did not believe that kneeling during the nations anthem was the correct way to protest supposed racial injustice in America.

In other words, an epic level scandal.

During the anthem, virtually the entire team was seen kneeling other than the teams coaches and star quarterback Derek Carr. Unfortunately, this may have not set well with the teams offensive line as they were apparently the players who spearheaded the entire idea to kneel as a team in the first.

“This is one hell of a scandal with the NFL, could ruin the whole league,” claimed the show before detailing the fact that Carr was sacked two times in a row on the teams second drive and that the teams usually dependable center snapped the ball at the wrong time in three different instances. Extremely capable receivers also made multiple “weird” drops of passes thrown by Carr that T.V. announcers even noted at the time.

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nfl fans young and old burn gear across America after latest anthem protests

Awesome

Support President Trump Tomorrow


Thank God Its Friday 9-29-17

What will you be doing this weekend?

DUI Crash

Type of Incident: Motor Vehicle Collision- Impaired Driver-Opiates
Date and Time: 9/28/2017 1846 hours
Location: US RT 113/ Worcester Hwy at Carey Rd, Berlin MD
Vehicles: Vehicle #1- 2000 Chrysler 300 DE REG# 193810

Accused: Anthony Michael Roadarmel (25) of Selbyville, DE

On 9/28/2017 at approximately 6:46pm, Troopers from the Berlin Barrack responded to a report of a motor vehicle collision with injury in the area of US Rt 113 at Carey Rd, Berlin Maryland.

Preliminary investigation revealed that a 2000 Chrysler 300 was traveling North Bound 113 south of Carey Rd when it left the roadway, collided with a guardrail and subsequently came to final rest in the wood line.

Troopers contacted the operator and sole occupant of the vehicle (Anthony Roadarmel, 25 of Selbyville,DE ) who appeared impaired by opiates and was being treated on scene by EMS.

Anthony Roadarmel was transported to PRMC with unknown injuries. Troopers responded to PRMC and continued their investigation with Roadarmel. Roadarmel was determined to be under the influence of opiates and subsequently refused a blood test. Roadarmel was subsequently charged and released on related traffic citations. No other vehicles were involved in the collision.

Disposition: citations issued for DWI/DUI-Drugs / Reckless driving, Negligent & Driving Failure to drive right of center.

Weekly Fishing Report

The heat and humidity hanging over Maryland continues to hold a grip on us, but it won't be long before fall is here to stay.

The striped bass fishing in the upper bay remains rather stable this week due to warm weather keeping water temperatures in the mid-70s. However, at some point in early October we usually get a combination of cold fronts with strong northerly winds, cooling air temperatures, and rainfall, which will cause a drop in water temperature and salinity in the upper bay.

Click here to read the rest of the report.

Packers, Bears players lock arms during national anthem, while some Green Bay fans follow suit

Green Bay Packers players, coaches and staff locked arms during the national anthem Thursday night, a plan they revealed earlier this week, prior to their game against the Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field. Many Bears players and coaches did the same.

Some fans in the stands also locked arms in unison with the Packers, while others held their hands over their hearts and some saluted during the singing of The Star-Spangled Banner.

A chant of "U-S-A" rolled through the stadium prior to the anthem.

Green Bay players released a statement through the team website Tuesday night inviting fans to join them in portraying unity, locking arms in the stands during the national anthem.

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2020


Nolte: CNN Caught Using Fake News to Turn Puerto Rico into Trump’s ‘Katrina’

So what is the actual situation on the ground on the island of Puerto Rico? Obviously, there is no small amount of devastation thanks to Hurricane Maria, which did incalculable damage earlier this month. Which brings us to the next question… What has the federal government’s response been to this crisis? More specifically, what has President Trump’s response been?

Well, according to Puerto Rico’s own governor, Ricardo Rosselló, he is quite satisfied and was on PBS less than 48 hours ago praising Trump’s attention and response to the crisis:

PBS’S OHN YANG: Governor, are you getting all the aid you need or getting it fast enough from the states?

GOV. RICARDO ROSSELLO: First of all, we are very grateful for the administration. They have responded quickly.

The president has been very attentive to the situation, personally calling me several times. FEMA and the FEMA director have been here in Puerto Rico twice. As a matter of fact, they were here with us today, making sure that all the resources in FEMA were working in conjunction with the central government.

We have been working together. We have been getting results. The magnitude of this catastrophe is enormous. This is going to take a lot of help, a lot of collaboration. So, my call is to congressmen and congresswomen to take action quickly and conclusively with an aid package for Puerto Rico.

Two days prior to that, the Associated Press reported on more praise and appreciation from Puerto Rico’s governor. What especially stands out is Rosselló’s praise for the administration’s pro-active pre-planning, and the island’s Resident Commission informing us that Puerto Rico has never received this kind of coordination before:

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NFL Binkie


Protest


Good Question


A SHORT LOVE STORY

A man and a woman who had never met before, but who were both married to other people, found themselves assigned to the same sleeping room on a trans-continental train.
Though initially embarrassed and uneasy over sharing a room, they were both very tired and fell asleep quickly, he in the upper berth and she in the lower.

At about 1:00 AM, the man leaned down and gently woke the woman, saying “Ma’am, I’m sorry to bother you, but would you be willing to reach into the closet to get me a second blanket? I’m awfully cold.”

“I have a better idea,” she replied. “Just for tonight, let’s pretend that we’re married.”

“Wow! That’s a great idea!” he exclaimed.

“Good” she replied, “get your own freaking blanket.”

After a moment of silence, he farted.

The End

Parks in the Dark: Spooky events this Halloween

By day, Maryland State Parks are showing off their vibrant views and welcoming visitors with every cozy comfort the season brings. Cabin stays, harvest crafts, hayrides, pumpkin patches, warm cider. We’ll get to that with the next article, but first, let’s take a look at what some of our parks are up to when the sun goes down and the ghouls come out. 

Trump Praises Dallas Cowboys for Standing During National Anthem: ‘Big Progress Being Made’

President Donald Trump praised the Dallas Cowboys on Tuesday for rising for the national anthem before their Monday night game against the Arizona Cardinals.

Since saying Friday that players who don't stand for the national anthem should be fired from their teams, Trump has tweeted repeatedly about the issue, saying the league should require them to stand and demanding they respect the American flag.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and the rest of the team knelt together before the anthem in solidarity with teams that protested across the league on Sunday in response to Trump's remarks. The initial gesture drew boos from the crowd in Phoenix.

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