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Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Border Patrol Reports 'Large Groups' of Migrants Crossing into Texas

Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley Sector are reporting “large groups” of illegal immigrants crossing the Texas border with Mexico, according to a statement circulated Tuesday. They are mostly composed of unaccompanied minors and families from Central America.

During a two-day period last week, Border Patrol agents assigned to the Weslaco Station reported the apprehension of 112 migrants in two large groups that crossed the border from Mexico illegally on Friday and Saturday. The arrests occurred near the Texas border town of Hidalgo, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials on Tuesday morning.

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Trump Said To Consider Firing Rosenstein

Earlier today we speculated that following the report that Rod Rosenstein had personally approved the raid on Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen, that Trump would likely seek to terminate the Deputy AG, especially after the NYT's report that on Monday night Trump had engaged in an angry public tirade that continued in private at the White House "as the president fumed about whether he should fire Mr. Rosenstein." The NYT also said that last night, the president lashed out at Mr. Rosenstein for having “signed a FISA warrant,” in reference to the role Rosenstein played in authorizing the wiretap of a Trump associate in the Russia inquiry.

Now, it is CNN's turn to double down on the speculation, with a report that Trump is considering firing Rod Rosenstein, "a move that has gained urgency following the raid of the office of the President's personal lawyer."

Such an action could potentially further Trump's goal of trying to put greater limits on special counsel Robert Mueller.

Terminating Rosenstein is just one of the contemplated options in the aftermath of the Cohen raid: Trump could also fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions CNN reports, even though Rosenstein is his most likely target.

To be sure, it won't be the first time Trump has come close to terminating the Deputy Attorney General: last summer Trump also came close to firing Rosenstein, but instead he ordered Robert Mueller to be fired, then backed down after the White House counsel refused to carry out the order according to the NYT, which also reported that in December Trump told advisers Mueller’s investigation needed to be shut down following the launch of several probes aimed at Trump's financial estates; he later backed down.

Several months later, Trump once again feels emboldened as his legal advisers are reportedly telling him they now have a stronger case against Rosenstein.

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Hantler: A George Soros-Backed Prosecutor Under FBI Investigation Indicts Republican Governor Eric Greitens—Because of A Dream

The old saying is true: you can indict a ham sandwich. Actually, it’s even worse: you can indict for a dream about a ham sandwich.

I wish I was kidding, but I’m not.

Here’s the story: In St. Louis, Missouri, in 2018, a man was indicted for a felony for allegedly taking a compromising photograph of his mistress. From the beginning, the details were sketchy: the woman wasn’t sure if she’d seen a flash or heard a phone click. Under cross-examination, she revealed even more uncertainty. Turns out, she’d never actually seen a phone. She’d never seen a camera. She’d never seen a photo.

Oh — and she might have dreamt the whole thing up. That’s right: when asked by the prosecutor whether she had seen a phone, she said it was something she may once have had a dream about.

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New E-Verify.gov Website a User-Friendly Source to Verify Employment Eligibility

WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today announced the launch of our new website, E-Verify.gov. This is the authoritative source for information on electronic employment eligibility verification. E-Verify.gov is for employers, employees and the general public.

The user-friendly website provides information about E-Verify and Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, including employee rights and employer responsibilities in the employment verification process. E-Verify.gov allows employers to enroll in E-Verify directly and permits current users to access their accounts. Individuals with myE-Verify accounts can also access their accounts through E-Verify.gov.

“For the past decade, E-Verify has been the cornerstone of our continued commitment to helping employers maintain a legal workforce,” said USCIS Director L. Francis Cissna. “E-Verify.gov now allows users to better understand and navigate through the employment verification process.”

E-Verify is a free, easy-to-use internet-based system. Employers can access E-Verify anytime, anywhere directly from a web browser. Nearly all employees are confirmed as work-authorized instantly or within 24 hours. The system, which has nearly 800,000 enrolled employers, compares information from an employee’s Form I-9 to records available to the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration to verify authorization to work in the U.S.

On April 18, 2017, President Trump signed the Buy American and Hire American executive order to help reduce illegal immigration and preserve jobs for U.S. workers. To support these objectives, USCIS encourages all U.S. employers to verify all new hires through E-Verify.

Reasons Behind FBI Raid On Michael Cohen Revealed

Initial reports about the FBI's early morning raid of Trump lawyer Michael Cohen's office, home and hotel room suggested that investigators were looking for evidence of bank fraud and violations of federal elections rules - though it was initially unclear if the raid pertained to Cohen's $130,000 payment to former adult film actress Stormy Daniels, or if it was related to Cohen's status as a subject in the Mueller probe.

But rather than let the confusion fester, the New York Times has dispelled the uncertainty with another anonymously sourced report offering more details about the FBI's goals. As it turns out, FBI agents were searching for records regarding payments made to two women who had claimed they had affairs with President Trump, as well as information pertaining to the publisher of the National Enquirer, and his role in paying off one of the women.

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After Election Wi

After the Fidesz party secured a strong majority in the country’s parliament in Sunday’s elections, there have been reports that the new government could adopt a legislation to ban migration-friendly, non-governmental organizations on Hungarian soil.

All NGOs in Hungary that advocate open borders and a liberal approach toward migration might be potentially banned starting from May, Janos Halasz, a Fidesz spokesman said on Monday, cited by the state news agency MTI.

The official noted that the new parliament, which could be formed by the end of April, could adopt the new legislation among its first initiatives.

The law will, among other things, introduce a 25 percent tax on foreign financial assistance to NGOs that support migration in Hungary.

The announcement came a day after Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban won a third term, with his Fidesz party securing a strong majority in the country’s parliament.

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Eight Uncommon Reasons Your Blood Pressure is High

If you've been diagnosed with hypertension — high blood pressure — you're not alone. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, high blood pressure affects 1 in 3 adult Americans, but many people don't even know it.

The exact causes of hypertension are puzzling to most physicians, but several factors may play a role including being overweight, smoking, and lack of exercise. If your weight is under control, you don't smoke, you exercise regularly, and you eat a healthy diet, but your blood pressure is still high, what else could be contributing to your problem?

"The fact is that medical experts admit they don't have a clue why 90 percent of people suffer from what is known as 'essential hypertension,' which is persistent and pathological high blood pressure for which no specific cause can be found," says neurosurgeon Dr. Russell Blaylock, author of The Blaylock Wellness Report. "But there are many uncommon causes of hypertension," he tells Newsmax Health.

Check out the following causes of high blood pressure you may not have considered:

Federal Investment In Junk College Majors

Students Pursuing Risky Degrees Draw More Than $25 Billion In Yearly Federal Loans

Noël Flynn is spending more than 80 percent of her income to pay back tens of thousands of dollars in debt for her Art Therapy degree. In 2016 alone, the Department of Education loaned $25.9 billion to students who, like Flynn, chose degrees under the umbrella of the liberal arts and humanities, an analysis by The Daily Caller News Foundation found.

A significant portion of those students are unlikely to have the means to pay back their debt after graduating.

“I find myself struggling financially, and the biggest reason why is student loans,” said Flynn, 23, who says she was told the loans “wouldn’t be overwhelming” once she graduated.

Most federal student loan programs do not require a credit check, nor do they require a cosigner. Rather, the loans are backed by nothing more than the borrower’s future earnings with a college degree, but the kind of degree isn’t a consideration in the loan process.

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"Attorney–Client Privilege Is Dead!": Trump Lashes Out At FBI After Cohen Raid

President Donald Trump is feeling the heat Tuesday morning.

After the FBI raided the home, office and hotel of longtime Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen - purportedly seizing privileged information regarding communications between Cohen and his clients (a group that, of course, includes the president) - President Donald Trump took some time out from a meeting with military leaders to blast both the special counsel and his own attorney general for allowing the "witch hunt" to proceed.

In a surprisingly intense rebuke, Trump described the raid as "disgraceful," "a whole new level of unfairness" and even went as far to describe it as "an attack on our country." Once again, he brought up the fact that "no one is looking at the other side".

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The US Government Colludes in Mass Deaths by Opioids

In essence, the Obama Administration and US Congress gave drug companies a free pass

The major pipeline for trafficking opioid drugs starts with pharmaceutical manufacturers, who are intentionally distributing opioids far beyond any legitimate need.

2 MILLION OPIOID ADDICTS IN THE US.

300,000 DEATHS SINCE THE YEAR 2000 IN THE US.

A significant percentage of this human carnage results from illegal distribution of opioids.

Here is the open secret:

A 2016 LAW SIGNED BY OBAMA SHACKLED THE DEA (DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION) IN ITS EFFORTS TO CRACK DOWN ON BIG PHARMA TRAFFICKERS.

That law is the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act of 2016, passed by Congress and signed by President Obama on 4/9/16.

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The Winter That Will Not Quit

It is time to pay attention to cold climate change—the reality of life we are all going to experience. This month, this year is the start to a cold that will chill the earth and all its inhabitants. This is spring in Manhattan in the above picture, where in Central Park they had their biggest April snowstorm in 36 years. Now we are well into Spring and cold, wintry conditions are still what most Americans are having to deal with.

As we move forward into spring it is a lot colder then we would expect in a seriously warming planet. The headlines for the weekend of the 7th of April read: Record-breaking, ‘ridiculous’ April cold and snow set to hit northeastern U.S. this weekend “Temperatures in the New York City are expected to drop as much as 20 degrees below normal. The Arctic blast will be cold enough to dump snow from Washington to Boston. The harshest weather is set to hit the north and central U.S., with temperatures dropping 30 degrees below normal.”

On April 3, 2018 we had Frost or freeze advisory for Oregon, California, Texas, Oklahoma. A freeze watch means sub-freezing temperatures are possible. These conditions could kill crops and other sensitive vegetation.

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Lost Dog 4-11-18: UPDATE

Please help us find this lost greyhound dog!!!

Lost greyhound dog in the Salisbury, Maryland area of Centinnial/Pemberton/Nithsdale. She went missing on Tuesday, April 10th around 3:45pm. Please if you see or spot this dog let us know ASAP. Her name is Mako and she is very shy. Please share and help us find her! If you have any information please call or text 443-859-3901

Senator Eckardt Wrap Up

Senator Addie Eckardt, District 37

2018 End of Session Wrap Up

April 10, 2018
The Maryland General Assembly adjourned on April 9, 2018; thank you to all who participated in making this year’s legislative process so successful. Despite some areas of disagreement, both the Administration and the General Assembly were able to find common ground and work in a bipartisan fashion on many important policy initiatives to benefit Marylanders during this productive session. During the interim, please do not hesitate to reach out to my office to discuss recent or future legislation.
Fiscal Year 2019 Operating Budget

While I was hoping to give more back to taxpayers, the final FY 2018 budget ($44.4 billion), is a product of compromise between both parties, the Governor, and the legislature. The budget achieves the Spending Affordability Committee goals while preserving more than $1.0 billion in reserves. Growth has been limited to only $951 million, or 2.2%, with tax reduction through an increase in the standard deduction and an expansion of eligibility for the Earned Income Tax Credit, and an increased pension benefit for veterans and correctional officers. Public school funding exceeds $6.5 billion, including $15 million in new State funding to promote safety at our schools. Regarding higher education, funding for Maryland’s public colleges and universities is increased while tuition growth is limited. Maryland will continue to provide vital health care services; Medicaid funding will allow the State to provide coverage to 1.4 million residents; a 3.5% rate increase will be provided to serve the developmentally disabled and those with behavioral health needs.

The fourth consecutive balanced budget under Governor Hogan, does not resort to any kind of budgeting gimmicks such as shifting funds out of dedicated accounts, high bond sale premiums, or “running up the credit card.”. Reports given to the General Assembly indicate that without structural changes, Maryland’s spending growth will outpace revenue growth by 1.2% annually. While long-term reform to mandates are needed, this budget holds the line for a fourth straight year; to remain balanced despite the revenue/spending imbalance, this is a serious achievement for Maryland. Lastly, there are no new taxes along with this budget; this budget demonstrates Maryland’s commitment to fiscal responsibility and being open for business.
Fiscal Year 2019 Local Initiatives in the Capital Budget
 
DORCHESTER COUNTYTOTAL
Chesapeake Grove – Senior Housing and Intergenerational Center1,050,000
Patriot Point375,000
Maces Lane Community Center200,000
DORCHESTER COUNTY TOTAL1,625,000
 
TALBOT COUNTYTOTAL
YMCA Senior Center in St. Michaels500,000
Avalon Theatre200,000
TALBOT COUNTY TOTAL700,000
 
WICOMICO COUNTYTOTAL
Maryland Food Bank3,500,000
Salisbury Animal Health Laboratory4,975,000
Arthur Perdue Stadium580,000
City of Salisbury500,000
Rotary Labyrinth100,000
WICOMICO COUNTY TOTAL9,655,000
Senator Eckardt’s 2018 Passed Sponsored Legislation

Nun Carjacked at Gunpoint in Northeast, Police Say

A nun who was fully dressed in her habit was carjacked at gunpoint in Northeast D.C., police say.

The nun was walking on Quincy Street in Brookland around 7 p.m. Monday to her parked car.

A man approached her, brandishing a gun and demanding her keys, police said.

She complied, and the man drove off in her car, police said.

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Carolina Reaper: Thunderclap Headaches Produced by Chili Pepper

The Carolina Reaper, the world's hottest chili pepper, can produce painful thunderclap headaches by narrowing the brain arteries when eaten, according to BMJ Case Reports.

The notorious Carolina Reaper chili pepper was linked to one case cited by the medical journal of causing reversible cerebral vaso-constriction syndrome, or RCVS, a temporary artery narrowing in the brain often accompanied by thunderclap headaches, BMJ Case Reports said.

The report detailed the case of an unidentified 34-year-old man suffering from thunderclap headaches who was admitted to a hospital after taking part in a hot pepper eating contest, even though he had no significant medical history.

His symptoms started with dry heaves and developed intense neck and occipital head pain that became holocephalic, the report said.

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Dershowitz: 'Deafening Silence of ACLU'

Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz reacted to a federal raid on the office of President Donald Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen.

Dershowitz said it is a "dangerous day today for lawyer-client relations."

He said that federal agents confiscated many items from the office, and predicted that they included confidential documents and files pertaining to attorney-client privilege discussions with Trump.

Dershowitz said that Trump's team, as well as Cohen, have thus far cooperated with the Robert Mueller-led probe into alleged Russian collusion.

"If this were Hillary Clinton [having her lawyer's office raided], the ACLU would be on every TV station in America jumping up and down," he said. "The deafening silence of the ACLU and civil libertarians about the intrusion into the lawyer-client confidentiality is really appalling."

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http://insider.foxnews.com/2018/04/09/alan-dershowitz-rips-aclu-silence-michael-cohen-trump-lawyer-office-raid

STATE SCORES HOLD STEADY AS MORE STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES AND ENGLISH LEARNERS PARTICIPATE IN NATIONAL ASSESSMENTS


BALTIMORE (April 10, 2018) – Maryland student scores held steady on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for 2017, while including more students with disabilities (SWD) and English learners (EL).

Long criticized for a high number of students excluded from the NAEP testing population, Maryland has dramatically changed course. For the first time, the State met federal participation targets for both students with disabilities and English learners for each subject in both tested grades. Just four years ago, some exclusion rates were above 60 percent.

“It is important that all of Maryland’s students be counted in any assessment to give us a clear view of how well our schools and students are doing,” said Dr. Karen Salmon, State Superintendent of Schools.  “Our school systems have met the challenge, and yet this change in the tested population did not dramatically shift outcomes.”

 Image NAEP Chart Grade 4 and 8 Students w Disabilities Reading
      Image NAEP Chart Grade 4 and 8 Students with Disabilities Math

        
     Image NAEP Chart
Note: -------- Reporting standards not met nationally in 2005 for English Learning student group. Sample size for that year is insufficient to permit a reliable estimate.

NRA Shares 3 Essential First Steps for a New Gun Owner

A firearm can help you protect your home, safeguard your family and even put dinner on the table, making them an essential item for anyone willing to learn how to use them.

Taking that first step can be intimidating, though, especially in today’s political climate. You should not be afraid to handle or use your first gun, or to exercise your Second Amendment rights. Familiarizing yourself with the firearm you have purchased until you know everything about it and learning the general rules of gun safety will allow you to join the ranks of responsible gun owners.

The NRA suggests the following steps for new gun owners:
Brush up on Gun Safety Rules

Both firearm safety in general and the specific safety details about your chosen handgun; you can find these in your owner’s manual. The most important components are:

· Muzzle management: where you are pointing the gun

· Trigger discipline: how you are holding the gun/where your trigger finger is

These two principles are at the heart of gun safety, and the first things a new owner should be aware of. A class at your local range and the manual to your new gun can help you become comfortable with safety and handling rules, but knowing these fundamentals is just the first step.

Make Safety Checks a Habit

'Dreamers' Can't Get In-State Tuition, Rules Arizona Supreme Court

Arizona colleges can't give in-state tuition to young immigrants covered under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Monday.

The court issued a brief decision order saying justices unanimously agreed with the Arizona Court of Appeals' ruling that said existing federal and state laws don't allow the Maricopa Community Colleges to grant in-state tuition rates for DACA recipients.

A full opinion further explaining the court's ruling will be released by May 14, the order states.

The court released the order Monday to allow Maricopa Community Colleges students and the state to have as much time as possible to plan for those affected by the ruling.

More than 2,000 DACA recipients, commonly referred to as "dreamers," currently attend community college or a state university in Arizona and pay in-state rates. The ruling will make DACA recipients pay much more to attend these schools, as out-of-state rates are about triple the cost of in-state tuition.

View Full Story From The Arizona Republic

The Bipartisan Food Stamp Reforms Congress Won't Talk About

The farm bill expected to be unveiled this week offers Republicans a rare opportunity to reshape one of the largest federal anti-poverty programs.

This week, the U.S. House Agriculture Committee is preparing to unveil a draft of the farm bill, which Congress reauthorizes every five years.

It's expected to include proposed reforms for food stamps, officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). In the past year, bipartisan groups, including former agriculture secretaries and state officials who administer SNAP under Republican and Democratic administrations, have put forward ideas to ensure the program is improving people’s health at the same time that it's alleviating hunger.

But those ideas won't be the ones that show up in the bill.

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Bank of America will dis companies that make ‘military-style’ weapons

Bank of America officially took sides in America’s gun debate Tuesday, announcing it would no longer do business with companies that make “military-style” weapons.

Bank of America Vice Chairman Anne Finucane told Bloomberg TV on Tuesday said her bank has told those companies “it’s not our intent to underwrite or finance military-style firearms.”

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5 Privacies You Didn't Know You Lost

Mueller violated Michael Cohen's constitutional rights just by seizing his records says Dershowitz

A famed Harvard legal scholar is raising concerns about the Justice Department's ability to responsibly handle some documents seized Monday from Trump lawyer Michael Cohen's offices.

Among the scooped-up papers, and lurking on phones and hard drives, is likely to be a cache of material that's covered by attorney-client privilege.

Prosecutors are not permitted access to those files, and the DOJ's standard practice is to set up a 'taint team' – a group of agents and lawyers not connected to the Cohen case or the special counsel probe into all things Russia – to decide what they can see.

But 'taint teams don't work,' Alan Dershowitz told DailyMail.com on Tuesday, because seizing the material in the first place was a violation of Cohen's constitutional rights – even if it's never used in court.

Dershowitz was at the White House on Tuesday afternoon in advance of a dinner appointment with the president, according to two officials.

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Pistol-packing ‘Women for Trump’ graduation photo brings torrent of ‘hate’

All it took for University of Tennessee senior Brenna Spencer to spark a viral gun debate was a “Women for Trump” shirt and a personal handgun.

Gun control advocates were none too pleased this week when a 22-year-old “Volunteer” attracted nearly 75,000 “likes” to her graduation picture. Reactions to the pro-Second Amendment image also garnered the attention of media outlets ranging from ABC News to The New York Post.

“I did think that it would get a little attention but not to this degree,” Ms. Spencer told ABC for an interview published Monday. “It was really, really surprising to see the amount of hate that I got.”

The photo was taken Saturday outside the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga.

“I don’t take normal college graduation photos,” a caption with her tweet says.

Some of the negative feedback included:

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg Maxed Out Donations to Pelosi, Other Dems This Cycle

Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer, has maxed out political donations to a number of Democratic candidates including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) this cycle, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

Sandberg, who has embarked on a Facebook "apology tour" over its Cambridge Analytica data scandal, admitted that the social media giant knew that the firm had mishandled data two and half years ago but failed to act at the time.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday testified in front of Congress on the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

However, Zuckerberg's testimony transcript skips from the year 2007 to 2013 and makes no mention of the company's assistance to President Barack Obama's reelection campaign. Many members of the committees have been recipients of campaign cash from the Facebook Inc. PAC, the political action committee of the company. Zuckerberg has only donated $5,000 this election cycle, all of which went to Facebook's PAC.

Sandberg, on the other hand, has given generously to Democrats this cycle..

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Russia vetoes US resolution on Syrian chemical weapons investigation

Russia on Tuesday vetoed a U.S.-led resolution to establish a process for investigating the apparent chemical weapons attack in Syria, during the second consecutive day of debate on the incident at the United Nations Security Council.

"Russia will not be able to support the American draft,” Vasily Nebenzia, Russian ambassador to the U.N., said Tuesday just before the vote.

The U.S.-drafted resolution received 12 of the Security Council’s 15 votes. Russia, one of five members with veto power on the panel, was joined by Bolivia in voting against the resolution, and China abstained.

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Trucking industry pushes teen drivers to fill big rig shortage

Trucking groups are backing legislation that would allow truck drivers younger than 21 years old to cross state borders to help fill a driver shortage, as safety groups argue younger drivers are more likely to be involved in fatal accidents and that the bill’s training requirements are inadequate.

Most states allow 18-year-olds to obtain a commercial driver’s license, yet federal law prevents them from driving outside state borders until they are 21.

But legislation introduced in March by Republican Reps. Duncan Hunter of California and Trey Hollingsworth of Indiana called the Developing Responsible Individuals for a Vibrant Economy Act would allow teens to drive between states after completing a 400-hour training program.

“Unfortunately, we see many young Americans faced with the choice of either taking on thousands of dollars in college debt or entering into a job market with grim prospects for untrained workers,” Hunter said.

“This is a common-sense approach that creates job opportunities for younger workers and provides a vital resource to America’s trucking industry that is critical in supporting our growing domestic economy,” he added.

More here

Beef and Dumpling Fundraiser!: Sunday at 12 PM - 4:30 PM

Help the Harcum Family SAVE Beechnut Farms! Join us April 15th, for Food and Fun!

Beef and Dumplings Dinner - $15.00 a person/ticket
FOR TICKETS: Contact Rebecca Harcum or Hailey Fretz by Direct Message.

Includes: Beef, Dumplings, Mash Potatoes, Gravy, Green Beans, Rolls, and a choice of tea, coffee, or water. (Bar Purchases Available)

Extras:
Baked Goods Available!
Basket Raffles!
50/50!
Music!
Meet Farm Owners William Blan Harcum Jr and Rebecca Harcum!
And more!

WCSO Press Release - Apr. 10, 2018


Incident: CDS possession, Obstruction, Resist Arrest
Date of Incident: 09 April 2018
Location: E Church St, Salisbury, MD
Suspect: Keen, Holly L; 42, Salisbury, MD
On 04-09-18 at 1200 hrs, a Deputy was patrolling the area of Rt 13 and E Church St, Salisbury. The Deputy saw a traffic violation and completed a traffic stop on a vehicle driven Holly Keen. A Sheriff’s Office K9 Handler arrived at the scene to assist the primary Deputy. Keen became uncooperative and walked away from the scene. The Deputies ordered Keen to return, and she continued to walk away. The Deputies attempted to handcuff Keen, who resisted arrest.

The CDS detection K9 alerted to the odor of CDS coming from the car. Deputies located suspected crack cocaine and paraphernalia in the car.

Keen was arrested and transported to Central Booking where she was held on $5000 bond.

Charges: CDS Possession, CDS Paraphernalia, Obstruction and Hindering, Disturbing the Peace, Fail to Obey a Reasonable Order, Resisting Arrest, Attempt of Driver to Elude Uniformed Police on Foot, and additional traffic charges.

Judge Rules Members of Electoral College Must Follow Popular Vote

A federal judge dismissed a case in which three members of the Electoral College from 2016 challenged a Colorado law requiring them to cast their vote for president to represent the state's popular vote winner.

Three Democrat members of Colorado's nine-person delegation to the 2016 Electoral College sued the Colorado secretary of state when he insisted that their votes go to Hillary Clinton after the results of the 2016 election in which she won more votes in the state than Trump.

At the time, the so-called "faithless" electors were not trying to change their vote from Clinton to Trump, but were hoping to spark a trend in which electors for Clinton from other states would instead cast all of their votes for John Kasich in an attempt to deny victory to Trump but still leave a Republican as the president.

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Williams: Black Political Power Means Zilch

It's often thought to be beyond question that black political power is necessary for economic power and enhanced socio-economic welfare. That's an idea that lends itself to testing and analysis.

Between 1970 and 2012, the number of black elected officials rose from fewer than 1,500 to more than 10,000. Plus, a black man was elected to the presidency twice. Jason Riley, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, tells how this surge in political power has had little beneficial impact on the black community.

In a PragerU video, "Blacks in Power Don't Empower Blacks," Riley says the conventional wisdom was based on the notion that only black politicians could understand and address the challenges facing blacks. Therefore, electing more black city councilors, mayors, representatives and senators was deemed critical. Even some liberal social scientists now disagree. Gary Orfield says, "There may be little relationship between the success of ... black leaders and the opportunities of typical black families." Riley says that while many black politicians achieved considerable personal success, many of their constituents did not.

After the 2014 Ferguson, Missouri, riots, which followed the killing of Michael Brown after he charged a policeman, much was made of the small number of blacks on the city's police force. Riley asks: If the racial composition of the police force is so important, how does one explain the Baltimore riots the following year after Freddie Gray died in police custody? Baltimore's police force is 40 percent black. Its police commissioner is black. Its mayor is black, as is the majority of the City Council. What can be said of black political power in Baltimore can also be said of Cleveland, Detroit, Philadelphia, Washington, Atlanta and New Orleans. In these cities, blacks have been mayors, police chiefs, city councilors and superintendents of schools for decades.

More here

'Journalist' killed on Gaza border - a senior Hamas terrorist

Israeli security officials pushed back on claims IDF forces killed an Arab journalist during riots on the Israel-Gaza border recently, saying the slain photographer was in fact a veteran member of the Hamas terror organization.

Last Friday, Yasser Murtaja, 30, was killed during clashes on the Israel-Gaza frontier.

Arab media outlets described Murtaja, a resident of the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis, as a “photo journalist”, and said he had been killed by IDF fire.

On Tuesday, however, Israeli security officials pushed back on the claim, telling Walla! News that Murtaja was in fact a long-time member of the Hamas terror group. The sources told Walla! Murtaja held the rank of Neqqib, or Captain, in Hamas.

“For years he served as an officer with the rank of Neqqib in Hamas’ security forces in the Gaza Strip,” the sources said.

“He was an activist who was involved with activities as part of [Hamas’] security apparatus on a daily basis, and provided a great deal of aid for their activities.”

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Open Mic Night Tonight At OC Billiards @ Trader Lee's

There's only two weeks left for Open Mic Night. If you play an instrument or sing songs, come join us tonight. Even if you just enjoy great talent you are welcome to join all of us for what always proves to be a great time. Sign up starts at 8 PM.  

Man Who Shot Himself on the Beach Last Summer

SNOW HILL - On April 10 th , 2018, Ibrahima Diallo, 19, of Frederick, MD. was found guilty of having a handgun on his person, possessing a firearm by a minor, and illegally possessing a firearm and ammunition after having been disqualified, after a jury trial before the Honorable Judge Brian Shockley in the Circuit Court for Worcester County.

On June 9 th , 2017, members of the Ocean City Police Department responded to the 75 th Street Medical Center to meet with an individual who had reportedly been shot in the leg. Initially, Mr. Diallo informed the Ocean City Police Department that an unknown individual had shot him. Mr. Diallo later retracted that statement and gave a written statement to the Ocean City Police Department stating that he had in fact shot himself and lost the handgun somewhere on the beach. As a result, the Ocean City Police Department closed a vast section of the beach and performed an extensive search of the sand in an attempt to recover the handgun.

The handgun was never recovered despite the massive search.

At trial, Mr. Diallo’s defense was that his original statement was true, and he had in fact been shot by a friend, but not wanting to incriminate his friend, he contrived the story of shooting himself.
Assistant State’s Attorney Lauren Bourdon argued to the jury that Mr. Diallo’s argument defied logic, and the jury agreed.

Interim State’s Attorney, Bill McDermott stated, “Mr. Diallo tried to game the system. He thought he could lie to The Ocean City Police Department and use smoke and mirrors on a Worcester County Jury – he obviously underestimated both.”

Mr. McDermott praised the hard work of Assistant State’s Attorney Lauren Bourdon in trying what was a difficult case due to the Defendant’s attempts to circumvent the truth, and The Ocean City Police Department, specifically, Detective Carl Perry and Sgt. Greg DeGiovanni for their exceptional investigation.

Sentencing has been deferred pending a pre-trial investigation. McDermott noted that the State would also attempt to seek restitution for The Town of Ocean City for the resources they deployed searching the beach.

Sanders: ‘You Guys Should Be Spending A Little More Time On’ Syria Instead Of Stormy Daniels, Michael Cohen

Sarah Sanders berated reporters at the White House Tuesday for focusing their questions on the FBI’s Monday raid on Michael Cohen’s office instead of the escalating situation in Syria.

Following a bizarre exchange in which Playboy’s Brian Karem ceded a question to NBC News’ Kristen Welker, Sanders stated she is “not aware of what the process is and who signs off on those specific types of things,” in reference to the Cohen raid.

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Warren Calls for Equal Pay for Women, Fails to Mention Own History of Not Paying Staff Equally

Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) on Tuesday once again used Equal Pay Day to signal her support for equalizing the gender pay gap between men and women—without addressing her own history of failing to pay Senate staffers equally.

Warren went on Twitter to commemorateEqual Pay Day, created by the National Committee on Pay Equity to symbolize how far into the next year women must work to match the annual earnings of men. The Massachusetts senator declared her support for ensuring that workers are paid equally, regardless of gender, and pointed to a ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as affirmation.

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Kaine Acknowledges Obama Admin Failed to Rid Syria of Chemical Weapons

Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine (Va.) acknowledged Tuesday that the Obama administration failed to rid Syria of the Assad regime's chemical weapons, despite repeated claims from the past administration that it completely eliminated the stockpile.

MSNBC's Willie Geist asked Kaine on "Morning Joe" about the Obama administration's program to take and destroy chemical weapons held by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has used such weapons on his own people, including unarmed civilians, dozens of times during Syria's ongoing conflict.

"As you know well, President Obama's secretary of state, John Kerry, believed that they had 100 percent, in their words, of chemical weapons out of Syria, that their policy had worked," Geist said. "Clearly, that was wrong, we know now. How did they get it so wrong there?"

"Well, it was clear that massive amounts of the chemical weapons stockpile was destroyed; Virginians were involved in that effort to destroy chemical weapons," Kaine responded. "But there were both chemical weapons they spirited away and then there's also—Syria uses some kinds of chemicals that were not officially on the banned list but that nevertheless have significant health impacts when they're used, and when a nation is using chemical weapons against their own civilians it's a humanitarian disaster."

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WaPo Calls Out Pelosi for Misleading Claim That ‘Middle-Class’ Americans Will See Higher Taxes Under Trump Tax Law

The Washington Post fact checker on Tuesday gave House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) "two Pinocchios" for her misleading claim from last week that 86 million middle-class families will see a tax increase under the Republican tax reform law.

"Eighty-six million middle-class families will see a tax increase while they advertise it as a middle-class bill," Pelosi said at a town hall in California on April 4.

That claim is misleading, the Post found, since more than 80 percent of taxpayers are expected to get a tax cut and less than 5 percent are expected to get a tax increase under the overhaul, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.

Pelosi's 86-million number comes from the fact that, in 2027, the last year of the tax cut, a majority of Americans will see a tax increase, while only 25 percent of taxpayers will see a tax cut. The bottom 80 percent of taxpayers—who Pelosi classifies as "middle class"—will see a greater percentage of tax hikes.

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Facebook’s Largest Black Lives Matter Page Is a Scam Tied to a White Labor Activist

The largest Black Lives Matter page on Facebook is actually a scam tied to a white man in Australia that funneled money to Australian bank accounts, according to a report published Monday.

The page "Black Lives Matter" had nearly 700,000 followers, more than twice as much as the official page for the Black Lives Matter protest movement. The page owners also ran another Facebook Group with the same name, "Black Lives Matter," which had almost 40,000 members, the largest Facebook group for the movement.

But, according to a CNN investigation, the page linked to several online fundraisers that brought in "at least $100,000 that supposedly went to Black Lives Matter causes in the U.S.," only then to funnel the money to Australian bank accounts.

The page also linked to several websites concerning black rights issues, with urls like blackpowerfist.com, tied to Ian Mackay, an official with Australia's National Union of Workers.

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Golden Gloves Results

Rosecroft Raceway, Fort Washington…..

On Saturday evening April 7 th , the best up and coming fighters from Maryland, Delaware and Washington D.C. converged on the Rosecroft Raceway for the finals of the 2018 Washington DC Golden Gloves Championships. After five weeks of preliminary bouts, only the best of were left to face off for the title of Golden Gloves Champion. Although a large number of the boxing gyms
 entered are from Baltimore and D.C. , Salisbury was very well represented. Of the ten novice weight classes, one of the spots was filled by, 152 lb Main St. boxer Markeese Hines. Of the ten open class weight divisions, Thomas Mottinger at 200lbs and James McMurdo representing 200 plus were out of Main St. Gym.

Hines fought a very strategic bout utilizing a lot of the defensive movement he had been working on for the weeks leading up to the finals. “His movement was really slick and he looked in complete control, as he moved right or left at will. When he chose to close in for exchanges he did it clean and got out unscathed. We were pushing Markeese to increase the nuber of punches he was throwing, but it wasn’t enough to get the nod form the judges.” Said Coach Hal Chernoff. Hines was pleased with his silver medal performance against Quinton Stephen out of Headbanger’s Gym in D.C. Upon finishing his first Golden Glove Tournament, Hines will go right back to work in the gym and prepare to move up into the open class division, now that he has exceeded the novice class limit of ten sanctioned bouts.

Thomas Mottinger, Main Street’s heavyweight entered the ring with a bit of a mental edge. He had faced his opponent Shaka Williams two times previously and won both times, one being in Salisbury. Mottinger has been on a mission since the 2017 Golden Gloves where he dropped a very close decision in the Regional Golden Gloves. For him to avenge that loss he knew he had to win big in the D.C. finals. Mottinger’s punching powers had Williams moving around the ring for most of the three-three minute rounds, but Mottinger was able to cut him off at will and land solid punches, giving him the unanimous win. Mottinger will now move on to the Regional Golden Gloves where he will meet the best heavyweight from the North Carolina/Virginia Championships.

In the last bout of the evening, Prince St Elementary school teacher, James, “Matt” McMurdo or Mr. McMurdo as his students know him. Battled in a crowd-pleasing display of power and determination, but was unable to outpoint 6’6” Malik Titus fighting out of “Time To Grind Boxing” in Baltimore. The six time Golden Glove Champion drew on his experience to deal with the fierce punching power and unrelenting pressure McMurdo kept on Titus through the entire fight. “Matt worked very hard for this fight and this was his first open class appearance in a tournament. He fought one of the best in his class and we knew Malik’s experience was going to be a factor, so we just tried to stick to our game plan and
take him out of his rhythm as much as possible. Matt was successful at times but Malik’s experience let him make the right adjustments to get the win. Malik has a solid shot at winning it all at the national level.” Said Chernoff. “ We entered five fighters this year, and came away with two gold medals and three silver medals, that is something we are all very proud of. They represented Main St, and more importantly Salisbury in a big way.

Facebook Has Dozens of Ex-Obama and Ex-Hillary Staffers in Senior Positions

During his recent apology tour, Mark Zuckerberg notably failed to mention recent revelations about the Obama 2012 campaign’s exploitation of the platform’s weak pre-2014 data protections to harvest masses of data from non-consenting users. The number of ex-Obama staffers on his payroll, according to Linkedin, might explain why.

The establishment media narrative on the Facebook data scandal hit a snag last month. They hoped the story would be restricted to Cambridge Analytica, a data analytics firm that they linked to the Cruz and Trump campaigns, and their alleged misuse of data. But a bigger story soon emerged, linked to a longtime media favorite: Barack Obama.

By the admission of Barack Obama’s former media analytics director, Carol Davidsen, the former president hoovered up far more data without users’ consent in 2012, when Facebook’s data policies were (as Facebook now concedes) far more vulnerable to exploitation than they were in 2016.

In the words of Carol Davidsen, who oversaw data analytics at Obama for America in 2012, the campaign was “actually able to ingest the entire social network of the U.S.” Davidsen made these comments publicly as early as 2015, but they received little attention at the time.

More here

Navy Probes Complaint About 'Illegal' Bible Display

The Navy is reportedly investigating a complaint a Bible display inside a hospital in Okinawa – the Navy's largest overseas – was used by sailors to convert Japanese citizens to Christianity.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reported Rear Adm. Paul Pearigen, the commander of Navy Medicine West, in San Diego, got the complaint from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation last week.

The nonprofit charges military leaders placed a Christian Bible on a Prisoner of War/Missing in Action display inside the hospital's public gallery March 26.

A placard on the "Missing Man" display told visitors in English and Japanese the religious book "represents the strength gained through faith to sustain those lost from our country, founded one nation under God," the Union-Tribune reported.

"The statement on the exhibit's placard is nothing more than an illegal, unconstitutional proselytization from an extremist, fundamentalist Christian sect," wrote lawyer Donald Rehkopf Jr. of Rochester, N.Y., who is representing the foundation.

"We reached out initially to the hospital at the beginning of the week, but they didn't take care of this," said Mikey Weinstein, a former Air Force officer and the foundation's founder.

"This might've violated our treaty with Japan."

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OUCH!

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/09/nyregion/trump-tower-fire-sprinklers.html

Farmers Market Not Returning To Berlin

BERLIN – Though the Downtown Berlin Farmers Market has closed after more than 30 years in business, the town is expected to welcome a new market by summer.

Late last week, organizers of the farmers market used social media to share news of the market’s closure. On Monday, Berlin Economic Development Director Ivy Wells said she was already in communication with various entities in an effort to begin a new market in town.

“I see this as an opportunity for the town to really start a wonderful farmers market,” Wells said.

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Delinta White Sentencing


Leah Wright Sentencing


David Claudas Sentencing


Mueller Reportedly Investigating Trump Links To Ukrainian Who Gave Clintons More Than $13 Million

Right before the close, reports that the FBI had raided the office, home and hotel room of Trump attorney Michael Cohen slammed stocks to their lows of the day. The news provoked a furious response from Trump, who again accused Mueller of conducting a "witch hunt" while slamming senior officials in his own Justice Department, who signed off on Mueller supplying the evidence that led to the raid to the local US attorney's office.

And now, at 8:30 pm ET on a Monday night, the New York Times has reported that Mueller is investigating a $150,000 donation to the Trump foundation that was given from a pro-European Ukrainian businessman during the early days of his campaign.

The donation, which was reportedly solicited by Trump attorney Michael Cohen, was made in exchange for a 20-minute speech that Trump gave about Ukraine and how the US had failed to stop Russia from victimizing the country.

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Breaking News: President Trump warned Russia that missiles aimed at its ally Syria "will be coming, nice and new and 'smart!'"

Mr. Trump’s early morning comments were remarkable in that he is, in some way, telegraphing the United States’ response to a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria, which is something he had previously criticized other leaders for doing.

Accident In Berlin

Berlin Fire EMS dispatched to the area of Rt. 50 and N. Main St. on the scene with entrapment. Use caution in the are.

Bongino Talks Loretta Lynch And Hillary

Radio host and political commentator Dan Bongino said former Attorney General Loretta Lynch may have obstructed justice in an an effort to protect Hillary Clinton.

“I’m going to be listening for every word out of her mouth because Loretta lynch should be talking to a lawyer and so should Jim Comey,” Bongino said on “Fox & Friends” Monday. “They shouldn’t be talking to the American public about book sales and interviews.”

Bongino said both Lynch and Comey may be criminally liable for the way they handled Clinton’s case and said there could be heavy consequences down the road.

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Teacher’s Facebook rant over ‘rude parents and disruptive children’

A teacher has slammed her 'disruptive' students and their 'rude' parents over their lack of respect for her 'poorly paid' profession in a Facebook rant that's gone viral.

Julie Marburger, 45, a mother-of-eight who works at Cedar Creek Intermediate School in Texas, said she had been pushed to quit her role as she feels as though she has 'no way to do the job I was hired to do... teach kids.'

Along with her status, which has had 322,000 likes and more than 400,000 shares, she posted images of her messy classroom, showing broken shelves, books and even an iPad, explaining that many of the items destroyed by the children were paid for out of her own pocket as she has no budget.

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This Is The Turning Point

The driving trends of the past decade are now reversing...

The saying "the worm has turned" refers to the moment when the downtrodden have finally had enough, and turn on their powerful oppressors.

The worms have finally turned against the privileged elites -- who have benefited so greatly from globalization, corruption, central bank stimulus and the profiteering of state-enforced cartels. It doesn’t matter as much as the punditry assumes whether they are turning Left or Right; the important thing is that the powerless have finally started challenging their privileged overlords.

Though the Powers That Be will attempt to placate or suppress the Revolt of the Powerless, the genies of political disunity and social disorder cannot be put back in the bottle. It took a generation of rising inequality, corruption and the erosion of opportunity to create a society of the protected (the haves) and the unprotected (the have-nots), and rubber-stamping more regulations and distributing Universal Basic Income (UBI) will not rebalance a system that is irrevocably out of balance.

But the rise of resistance, as yet nascent, is only half the story: economic trends and cycles are turning as well, and even if the worms remain passively underground, these reversals will disrupt the status quo. The dominant narrative--the rightness, goodness and sustainability of endless growth of consumption and debt--will unravel, and the internal contradictions of this New Gilded Age (widening wealth/income/power inequality) will finally burst through the thin façade of stability that’s been patched together over the past nine years of “recovery.”

Eight Key Trends/Cycles Are Turning

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Elderly women should eat their greens to reduce their risk of stroke

Women who eat broccoli, cauliflower and Brussel sprouts are less likely to suffer strokes, research shows.

Those who ate three or more portions of any types of these vegetables a day had much healthier blood vessels.

The study also found that the 'cruciferous' group vegetables were particularly beneficial.

These include broccoli, cauliflower, kale, turnips, sprouts, bok choi and greens.

The study, by Australian researchers, looked at the thickness of their carotid arteries, a major blood vessel in the neck.

If this is above a certain thickness it can restrict the blood flow to the brain and increase the risk of a stroke. 

NOI 4/8/18 Somerset Dwelling Fire Fairmount Road

NOTICE OF INVESTIGATION

Date:   April 8, 2018
Time:    6:18 p.m.
Location / Address:  27650 Fairmount Road, Fairmount, Somerset Co.
Type of Incident:  Fire
Description of Structure / Property:  Three story wood frame single family dwelling
Owner / Occupants:   Jennifer McShane (Owner)  Lawrence Ordway (Occupant)
Injuries or Deaths:  See below
Estimated $ Loss: Structure:  $50,000                      Contents: $10,000
Smoke Alarm Status:  Present, unknown if activated
Fire Alarm / Sprinkler Status:  n/a
Arrests(s):   None
Primary Responding Fire Department:  Fairmount VFD
# of Alarms: 1      # Of Firefighters:  25
Time to Control:  90 minutes
Discovered By:   Occupant
Area of Origin:  Undetermined
Preliminary Cause:  Undetermined

Additional Information:   Occupant sustained minor burns and was treated on scene by EMS.

NOI 4/9/18 Wicomico Dwelling Fire Royal Mile Blvd.

NOTICE OF INVESTIGATION

Date:   April 9, 2018
Time:   4:26 a.m.
Location / Address:  5363 Royal Mile Blvd., Salisbury, Wicomico Co.
Type of Incident:  Fire
Description of Structure / Property:   Two story wood framed single family dwelling
Owner / Occupants:   David Chambers
Injuries or Deaths:   None
Estimated $ Loss: Structure:  $100,000                      Contents: $50,000
Smoke Alarm Status:  Present and activated
Fire Alarm / Sprinkler Status:  n/a
Arrests(s):   None
Primary Responding Fire Department:  Hebron VFD
# of Alarms:  1     # Of Firefighters:  25
Time to Control:  1 hour
Discovered By:  Occupant
Area of Origin:   Attached front porch

Preliminary Cause:  Under Investigation