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Monday, March 05, 2018

Mexican man assumes American's identity for 37 years, steals $361,000 in government benefits

It started as a rather straightforward Social Security fraud investigation — a man receiving disability benefits pretending to live in the United States when in fact he lived in Tijuana.

What authorities uncovered was a 37-year identity theft scheme by an unauthorized immigrant and repeat felon who bilked federal, state and local governments out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in benefits, according to a plea agreement entered in San Diego federal court this week.

Andres Avelino Anduaga — if that’s even his real name — admitted to assuming the identity of a U.S. citizen in 1980. Armed with a fake birth certificate, he developed a seemingly legitimate persona by applying for a California driver’s license, Social Security number and U.S. passport.

The official documents identified him as Abraham Riojos, born in Alpine, Texas, in 1958.

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Russian TV Exposes Rothschilds & Educates Citizens on New World Order

Russia’s TV networks are educating people about the Rothschilds and the threat of their excessive global power.Russian president Vladimir Putin is said to be “readying” his people to stand up to the New World Order as the country prepares to separate from the world banking system.TV shows aim to educate citizens on the history of the Rothschild-controlled IMF and why globalism is a threat to the nation.It’s a stark contrast to the West where the mainstream media is constantly shoveling propaganda down the throats of the public.No wonder the Western MSM is so keen to demonize Russia…Zero Hedge reports: Putin is readying his people to divorce from the international banking system altogether, and start over with a nationalistic platform, backed by thousands of tons of gold, and growing alliances with Europe, China and the BRICS nations, the Middle East and several emerging powers…Watch more below and click in the link!!!

Full Text & Video

Amazon earned $5.6B in 2017, but paid no federal taxes

Jeff Bezos’ sprawling e-commerce giant Amazon reportedly raked in more than $5.6 billion in U.S. profits in 2017, but despite that, the company essentially paid $0 in federal income taxes.

That’s largely attributable to “excess stock-based compensation deductions” and the effect of the 2017 Tax Act, according to the company’s U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing earlier this month. In other words, Amazon was able to leverage the tax credits and breaks to zero out taxes it owed this year, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economy Policy (ITEP), a non-partisan think tank.

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The S&P 500 Is Internally Broken

The S&P 500 is internally broken. You don’t see it in price yet, but you can see it in the internals. For weeks I’ve been outlining my concerns of narrow leadership in markets including in late January before the big correction in The Narrow Rally and even this week inTech Cracks before the resumption of weakness this week.

The correction and subsequent bounces have deepened these concerns. Why? Because despite rallies that, for now, have saved the trend in price they have utterly failed to repair the damage in internals and I can show you this with one key chart: The cumulative-advance-decline mix versus the $SPX.

See for yourself, the price advance early in the week rejected precisely at the underbelly of the broken trend line:

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Latest Qanon Posts 3-4-18 : BOOM!

Former Cable News Host Running For Congress Claims To Have Never Voted. Why? ‘Disgust’

Dylan Ratigan, former cable news host, announced on February 21 that he will be seeking to unseat Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) in the 2018 mid-term elections.

Upon his announcement, Ratigan admitted in a tweet that he had never voted before:

Duke's roommate selection process to be randomized for diversity's sake

Incoming first-year students for Duke University’s class of 2022 will not have the opportunity to choose their roommate after the school decided students were choosing roommates with “very similar backgrounds to their own.”

“In the last few years, we’ve seen increasing numbers of students who have pre-selected roommates, often with very similar backgrounds to their own,” an announcement letter reads. “While this may make the transition to college seem somewhat easier, we’ve also seen that this can work against your having the best educational and social experience in the long term.”

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The three minute prayer that can change your life

Every year millions of people around the world observe Lent, a 40-day period of reflection and fasting that lasts from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. Many people approach this occasion with the best of intentions—to slow down, be more patient, and pray. But in our busy, fast-paced world, taking our foot off the gas and finding time to pray can often be difficult.

As an editor of books by such authors as Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, and as the author of “Life Everlasting: Catholic Devotions and Mysteries for the Everday Seeker,” I sometimes find it hard to pray, too. But some years back, a friend of mine turned me on to a 400-year-old spiritual exercise that has revolutionized my life, ultimately helping me feel less anxious and stressed. It’s called the examen, a Christian mindfulness tool developed by 16th century mystic St. Ignatius of Loyola. Its objective is to bring us closer to God. It’s a perfect exercise not just for people preparing for Easter, but for all who believe in God and need a little help shifting focus.

The examen is a series of short reflections and questions that asks us, first, what is drawing us near God and, sec­ond, what is drawing us away from God. What fears and worries are blocking us from seeing and feeling God in our lives? Ignatius believed that it is often easy for us to overlook God in our actions and thoughts. He also believed that it was important not only to pay attention to what was going on inside the head, but even more so to pay atten­tion to what was going on inside the heart..

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WCSO Press Release

Cumbey, Virginia
Incident: Second Degree Assault
Date of Incident: 03 March 2018
Location: Old Ocean City Rd, Parsonsburg, MD
Suspect: Cumbey, Virginia Lynn, 50, Parsonsburg, MD
Narrative: On 03-03-18, Deputies were dispatched to a residence in the 33000 Block of Old Ocean City Rd, Parsonsburg, for a domestic assault. Two residents got into an intense argument that turned physical. The victim was transported to PRMC for treatment of injuries received during the assault. Deputies identified the suspect as Virginia Cumbey. Cumbey was arrested and transported to Central Booking.
Charges: Assault in the Second Degree

Facebook's Fake Fact-Checkers Bust The Babylon Bee

The Christian satire site is warned by the social media giant against propagating "fake news."

One of our favorite satire sites, The Babylon Bee, recently ran a humorous story entitled “CNN purchases industrial-sized washing machine to spin news before publication.” Hours later, Adam Ford, the Bee’s founder, received a notice from Facebook warning that his story had been flagged as false content by its “independent fact-checker” Snopes. Furthermore, the social media giant threatened, “Repeat offenders will see their distribution reduced and their ability to monetize and advertised removed.”

To say the least, Ford was surprised — not over being “fact-checked,” as this was not the first time that Snopes has “fact-checked” The Babylon Bee, but rather by the action taken by Facebook. Ford stated, “This is the first time Facebook has used that to threaten us with reduced reach and demonetization.” He added, “Also it seems that anyone who clicked on the article got a notice that it was ‘disputed.’”

Hours later, after suffering a fully deserved barrage of blowback and mockery, Facebook later admitted its action was a mistake: “There’s a difference between false news and satire. This was a mistake and should not have been rated false in our system. It’s since been corrected and won’t count against the domain in any way.”

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Tech Addiction Breeds Narcissism

Millions of Americans are now more concerned with their "online presence" than their real world one.

We are becoming a nation of narcissists — one technological addiction after another.

Unsurprisingly, parents have become the chief enablers of this trend. A whopping 85% of themallow their children under six years of age to access and use technology, and the amount of time American children eight years of age and younger spend in front of mobile screens tripledbetween 2013 and 2017.

And like a hand in a glove, much of what these children access with that technology is social media. Social media that “has taken neoliberalism’s self-centered mantra and pumped it full of cocaine-laced steroids,” asserts columnist Aleks Eror, who adds that it has also “bloated humanity’s capacity for self-obsession to new extremes.”

It has also driven hypocrisy to new extremes. Many tech titans who enriched themselves getting other peoples’ children to embrace their hardware and software took a decidedly low-tech approach with their own children. Microsoft’s Bill Gates even prohibited his three children from owning a cell phone until they were 14.

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Look No Further Than DC for School Choice Need

Just 42% of high school seniors will graduate in '18. School choice naysayers ignore the evidence at their feet.
Our nation’s capital is home to many rich and affluent lawmakers and lobbyists. Which means most of them have the resources to send their children to the most prestigious private schools inside the Beltway. That’s understandable, but their school selection also adds to the enormous disconnect they have with lower-income groups.

School choice is vehemently opposed by Democrats, but the fact is that Washington, DC, is Exhibit A in the need for a wider range of options for ill-prepared students. Last year, 73% of high school seniors in DC graduated, The Washington Post reports, but that figure is estimated to plummet to just 42% this year.

Interestingly, there’s a nefarious reason for the considerable decrease. The Post writes that DC “had celebrated a 20-point increase in its graduation rate since 2011.” However, “The likely drop in the graduation rate is the latest fallout from an investigation that cast doubt on the validity of diplomas awarded last year. The graduation rate in 2017 was 73 percent, but the probe revealed that one in three graduates received their diplomas in violation of city policy. Those students had walked across graduation stages despite missing too many classes or improperly taking makeup classes.”

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From Wicomico County Executive Bob Culver

In partnership with the Maryland Department of General Services, the Governor's Office of Community Initiatives, and the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, Wicomico County Executive Bob Culver has accepted an offer from Governor Larry Hogan to receive a tractor trailer load of food kits containing more than 25,000 nutritiously balanced meals.

In anticipation of these food kits, Executive Culver has coordinated a warehouse for delivery, forklifts, and pallet jacks and has reached out to those organizations who could utilize the food kits. The Executive also decided to share this opportunity with both Somerset and Worcester Counties. The recipients in these three counties will include various nonprofit organizations, homeless shelters, aged residents, and those less fortunate.

We are very grateful to Governor Hogan for providing Wicomico County with the opportunity to help feed the disadvantaged and provide benefit to the tri-county area.

Armed Robbery Investigation In Salisbury


NRA, Gun Groups See Membership Soar After Florida Massacre

As left-wing advocacy groups and its mainstream media allies continue their daily bombardment of the National Rifle Association (NRA), desperately seeking to make gun enthusiast groups a scapegoat for the Parkland high school massacre, it now appears their efforts have embarrassingly backfired, having only succeeded in dramatically boosting memberships in the NRA and pro-gun groups, according to Time (magazine).

Over the past two weeks, leftist organizations mounted an all-out assault on the NRA, terrorizing their corporate partners on social media who offer discounts for NRA members. We have seen this before; the tactic is part of a Democrat-led agenda, and for the most part, it worked, as major corporations across the entire United States were forced through public and internal pressures to sever their NRA relationship.

According to CNN, here are some of the companies that have distanced themselves from the NRA over the past few weeks:

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Bastardi says.. We're Not Done Yet!

You saw that we gave you a good heads-up here on SBYNews about the Nor'easter we've just experienced. (You didn't hear that on the TV news, did you? :-)

That's because we are paying attention. Were you ready for it?

And once again, we will give you a warning that there is likely more trouble ahead.

For decades, Joe Bastardi at Weatherbell.com has been analyzing the past weather patterns (rather than staring at the computer models), and he had been saying that the weather that produced this past storm was very much like the patterns from 1962. And the results turned out to be about the same.

But unlike the people who stare at computer models, Joe called it weeks in advance.

Guess what? There is another pattern developing that is similar to March of 1993, when a BIG storm came up out of the Gulf of Mexico and bombed the eastern seaboard..

About March 13th is what we are looking at.. is that enough notice?

Be ready.

West Virginia college creates competitive bagpipe band

ELKINS, W.Va. — Recruiting efforts are currently underway to form the West Virginia Highlanders of Davis & Elkins College Grade V. Students versed in playing the bagpipes can earn up to a $5,000 scholarship per year based on audition performance.

Members of Grade V will share the same MacLeod of Lewis Scottish plaid and perform in parades and other special events along with the West Virginia Highlanders of Davis & Elkins College. In addition, they will compete at regional Highland festivals and games, and learn more about piping and Scottish traditions.

The current 20-member Highlanders pipe and drum band has a long history with Davis & Elkins College and the Randolph County community.

Formed in October 1947 as the official band of the H.W. Daniels Post 29 American Legion, the Highlanders group has continued many of its long-held traditions of music and dress with roots in Scottish heritage.

In 1990, the Highlanders began carrying a banner with their new affiliation and name - the West Virginia Highlanders of Davis & Elkins College. The band now represents the community and the college at various public events, and performs at multiple college functions, including commencement, Founders’ Day and other special events.

More here

Md. Attorney General Frosh defends Hillary Clinton lawyers against state-bar complaint

Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh’s office offered a new explanation Friday for why the state has refused to pursue a bar complaint against Hillary Clinton’s lawyers over their role in deleting her emails: They changed the rules.

Mr. Frosh’s office said a rules change last year — after the complaint was filed against David E. Kendall, Cheryl Mills and Heather Samuelson — gives them permission to ignore a complaint brought by Ty Clevenger, a crusading lawyer who says he’s being stonewalled because of politics.

The case has taken a number of twists, with bar counsel, charged with reviewing lawyer complaints, initially saying Mr. Clevenger wasn’t aggrieved — though the rules at the time didn’t require that proof. Then, at a state circuit court hearing, the attorney general’s office called Mr. Clevenger’s complaint “frivolous.”

Now, in oral argument at Maryland’s highest court Friday, state lawyers said a rules change that had been in place before the circuit hearing — but which they forgot about at the time — gives them permission to refuse to investigate any complaints from people who don’t have personal knowledge.

In this case, they said, Mr. Clevenger is getting his information from press reports, which they said is no longer enough to force a probe.

“The reason for denying the complaint here is he had no personal knowledge,” said Michele J. McDonald, who argued the case for Mr. Frosh, a Democrat, and the state bar.

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Breaking News: Speaker Paul Ryan criticized President Trump's proposed tariffs, saying they could lead to a damaging trade war: "We are extremely worried"

The statement was a dramatic departure for Mr. Ryan, a top leader in Mr. Trump’s own party, who worked in lockstep with the president to pass a $1.5 trillion tax cut last year.

Delta discovers the perils of PC

Delta Airlines opened Pandora's Box when it caved in to a wave of complaints – likely the result of a sophisticated operation to turn a handful of activists into what looks like tens of thousands of individual emails, tweets, Instagram messages, and Facebook posts – and ended its program of discounts for NRA members.

Angry Georgia legislators worried about their constituents being dissed passed a bill stripping a $40 million a year in sales tax exemption on aviation fuel, a move that will directly impact the airline's bottom line if the governor signs the bill (update: he signed it) and it becomes law.

According to USA Today, only 13 passengers have ever used the NRA discount, which reveals how trivial it was. Airlines, car rental companies, and other firms in competitive industries hand out discount offers like Halloween candy to groups with large memberships. But the well organized gun-grabbers saw an opportunity to embarrass the NRA by pressuring companies to shun the discount arrangements they have made with it.

In other words, this is entirely a symbolic battle, but one with real-world consequences.

In the end, I think that that by weaponizing these affiliate discount programs, the Progressives have done themselves harm. First of all, the nonprofit sector is dominated by Progressives. O'Sullivan's Law, first formulated almost three decades ago, has proven accurate: "All organizations that are not actually right-wing will over time become left-wing." So, as affiliate discounts end, it will hit the coffers of progressive-dominated groups that take the heaviest damage.

The second level of damage could be even more of a hit against Progressives, because one of the core techniques for intimidating its enemies – the use of bots and other technology to make a small group of activists appear to be a mass movement – is being exposed.

More here

Navarro: Media Reaction to Steel and Aluminum Tariffs a ‘Bunch of Horse-Puckey’

Peter Navarro, director of the White House National Trade Council, defended President Donald Trump’s announcement of steel and aluminum tariffs on Thursday.

“We can’t really have a country without a solid steel industry and without a solid aluminum industry, and right now, those industries are under siege,” Navarro said in an interview on Breitbart News Saturday with Washington Political Editor Matthew Boyle on SiriusXM Patriot 125.

Navarro decried the “hair on fire” reaction from cable news and the press, calling it the “biggest bunch of horse-puckey that you can imagine.”

He said that the ten percent tariff on aluminum would only raise the cost of a six-pack of beer by about a cent-and-a-half and would only raise the construction cost of a $330 million Boeing 777 Dreamliner by about $25,000.

“There’s virtually no downstream effects, despite what the pundits might be saying on TV, and it’s all good for the aluminum industry,” he said.

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Mike Huckabee booted off CMA Foundation Board -- Conservatives need not apply

Former Arkansas Gov. and GOP presidential contender Mike Huckabee – long an advocate for music and the arts – was forced to resign from the Country Music Association Foundation Board Thursday, less than a day after being appointed, because of backlash against his conservative views.

Country music, once an inclusive industry that welcomed conservatives and people of faith, has now become an exclusive, politically correct group, indistinguishable from the rest of the entertainment industry.

The message country music fans received this week is that if you share Huckabee’s conservative political views there’s no room for you in country music.

The Country Music Association Foundation encourages kids to pursue music by helping students get involved in music programs and providing access to instruments. Huckabee used to showcase country music stars on his Fox News Channel show and play bass guitar with the stars he featured. He credits music for giving him confidence as a kid and for a lot of success in life.

You have to wonder what threatens these people so much about conservative values that it would elicit such hatred and intolerance toward someone who simply has a different opinion. All Huckabee did was get elected to the foundation, and the next day he was bullied into resigning, without having said a word.

In fact, in his resignation letter he said: “All of us have deep passions about our beliefs. I do about mine. But I hate no one. I wish upon NO ONE the loss of life or livelihood because that person sees things differently than me.”

"How can we hope to tackle the issue of bullying in our schools when adults won’t stop bullying each other? We’ve reached the point where some people are offended about getting offended and so bully the other side into silence. We have to stop this insanity."

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Trump Warns "It's Time For Change" In The Countries Responsible For America's Trade Deficit

Update: President Trump is showing absolutely zero signs of backing away from his trade tariffs plan and has just tweeted...

"We are on the losing side of almost all trade deals. Our friends and enemies have taken advantage of the U.S. for many years. Our Steel and Aluminum industries are dead. "

Which as the chart below shows is true. Trump has a warning...

"Sorry, it’s time for a change! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
We are on the losing side of almost all trade deals. Our friends and enemies have taken advantage of the U.S. for many years. Our Steel and Aluminum industries are dead. Sorry, it’s time for a change! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
*  *  *

"It's not the economy, it's China stupid!"

Racially Charged Rant Results in Punishment for Air Force NCO

Nellis Air Force Base officials say they've removed a noncommissioned officer from her supervisory role after she made racially insensitive comments about her subordinates in a Facebook video that went viral on social media last month.

"In accordance with the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Geraldine Lovely was held accountable for her actions," Maj. Christina Sukach, 99th Air Base Wing spokeswoman, told Military.com on Wednesday. Sukach clarified on Thursday that Lovely had been removed from her position as a supervisor of other airmen.

Sukach, who withheld details of Lovely's rank in her initial statement, said that while specifics of the case cannot be released, "99th Air Base Wing leadership is satisfied with the outcome."

"A military member's administrative record is protected by the Privacy Act of 1974," Sukach said. "These cases are not tried in social media but handled through the fair and due process afforded to military members under public law and regulations."

She added, "Nellis Air Force Base leadership emphasizes that any activity which disparages anyone because of their race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation will not be tolerated. Service members are responsible for their own actions, to include social media. Our airmen are too valuable, and our mission is too complex and perilous, to accept anything less than the tenets of our core values: integrity, service before self, and excellence in all we do.

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NGO: China Using ‘Predictive Policing’ to Put Thousands in Communist ‘Education’ Camps

The NGO Human Rights Watch revealed this week that China is using data compilation technology to enact “predictive policing” measures resulting in the arrest and disappearance of Chinese citizens to “political education camps” based on the potential that they may someday defy the government.

The individuals in question do not face any criminal charges; instead, HRW states, their government profiles indicate that they are likely to engage in anti-communist activity in the future.

The data analysis system that compiles the relevant information – the “Integrated Joint Operations Platform” (IJOP) – has allegedly gone live in Xinjiang, China’s westernmost province, home to the nation’s ethnic Uighur minority. The Uighurs are predominantly Muslim and culturally distinct from the nation’s Han minority, facing significant discrimination from the government and pressure to learn Mandarin and integrate with the Han.

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Teacher Coalition Seeks to End Obama School Discipline Policy

The school discipline policy that may have allowed Nikolas Cruz to escape arrest by Broward County law enforcement and ultimately purchase the firearm he used to kill 17 people is in effect in over 50 school districts across the country.

“He probably wouldn’t have been able to buy the murder weapon if the school had referred him to law enforcement,” veteran FBI agent Michael Biasello told RealClearInvestigations (RCI).

In 2014, the Obama administration issued a “Dear Colleague” guidance that threatened school districts – whose disciplinary measures showed a disproportionately greater number of minority students affected – could be subject to investigation by the Departments of Justice and Education, regardless of whether the behaviors leading to the discipline were unacceptable.

Deborah York, now a retired teacher in Edina, Minnesota, tells Breitbart News she sees “a lot of fear in schools, not only physical fear of being assaulted or violently abused, but ‘system fear’ that’s coming from the top down about gag orders and data privacy, where you can’t talk among your fellow teachers, even to share information.”

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MAN SENTENCED ABOVE THE GUIDELINES FOR OCEAN CITY DUI

SNOW HILL – On March 2nd, 2018, Stanley Faison, 51, of Waldorf, MD., was sentenced for Homicide While Driving Under The Influence by Administrative Circuit Court Judge, The Honorable Brian D. Shockley. Mr Faison was found guilty after a jury trial in January of this year for the death of 23 year old J.R. Ednie during Cruisin’ Week in Ocean City of last year.

Bill McDermott, Interim State’s Attorney for Worcester County sought enhanced penalties for Mr. Faison as he was a subsequent offender, having been previously been found guilty in North Carolina of DUI in 2011 and then again most recently, just 27 days before this incident in Minnesota.

The maximum penalty for Homicide while Driving Under the Influence is five years in prison, however, due to the State’s notice of intent to seek enhanced penalties which was filed in October of 2017, Mr. Faison faced a maximum penalty of ten years of incarceration.

The sentencing guidelines as calculated by the Maryland Sentencing Commission indicated a guidelines range of six months to three years based on the gravity of the offense and his prior history. However, McDermott called the sentencing guidelines “abhorrent” for a third time offender who kills someone. He asked Judge Shockley to sentence Mr. Faison above the guidelines, a relatively rare occurrence.

McDermott noted the purposes of sentencing and stated, “nothing we do can ever bring J.R. back, but sentencing Mr. Faison above the guidelines, who appallingly was found guilty of his second DUI only twenty-seven days prior, might deter future drunk drivers from killing people in Worcester County.”

After listening to family members and testimony, Judge Shockley sentenced Mr. Faison to double what was the top of the guidelines – ten years suspend all but six years in the Department of Corrections. He will be subject to three years of supervised probation following his release.

“There’s a reason why four of the last five years Worcester County has had the highest conviction rate of any county in the State for Driving Under the Influence. Between our law enforcement officers who put together solid cases, to our prosecutors who take every case seriously, if you drive drunk and kill someone – be prepared for prison”, McDermott commented after sentencing.

After sentencing, the Ednie family thanked Judge Shockley, McDermott, Detective Karsnitz and all the men and women who worked so hard to bring justice for J.R.

WOW, What A Mess!

As many of you know, SBYNews has been down since Saturday night. It turns out the storm had a delayed effect on us as there were outside line issues that have just now been corrected.

I apologize for the inconvenience and will get right to getting us back up and running.

Stand By

Please be patient.  We are experiencing technical difficulties.  We are working to correct the problem and get the blog up and running as soon as possible.