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Friday, March 29, 2019

Chattering Parrot Ocasio-Cortez Thinks Her Green Deal from Hell Can Fix the Flint Water Crisis and Midwest Flooding

NOT ONE SINGLE Democrat voted in support of the Green New Deal Tuesday in the US Senate.
The final vote was 0-57 with 43 cowardly Democrats voting “present.”

They didn’t have the guts to support the monstrosity that would destroy the entire US economy in less than 10 years!

This caused Ocasio-Cortez to suffer a major meltdown.
The unhinged New York Socialist lashed out at Republicans and blamed them for hurricanes and water cleaning system.

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Christian School says NO Ma'aM!

The Fed's Controlled Demolition Of The Economy Is Almost Complete

The Federal Reserve is an often misunderstood entity, not only in the mainstream, but also in alternative economic circles. There is this ever pervasive fantasy on both sides of the divide that the central bank actually “cares” about forever protecting the US economy, or at least propping up the US economy in an endless game of “kick the can”. While this might be true at times, it is not true ALL the time. Things change, agendas change, and sometimes the Fed's goal is not to maintain the economy, but to destroy it.

The delusion that the Fed is seeking to kick the can is highly present today after the latest Fed meeting in which the central bank indicated there would be a pause in interest rate hikes in 2019. As I have noted in numerous articles over the past year, the mainstream media and the Fed have made interest rates the focus of every economic discussion, and I believe this was quite deliberate. In the meantime, the Fed balance sheet and its strange relationship to the stock market bubble is mostly ignored.

The word “capitulation” is getting thrown around quite haphazardly in reference to the Fed's tightening policy. And yet, even now after all the pundits have declared the Fed “in retreat” or “trapped in a Catch-22”, the Fed continues to tighten, and is set to cut balance sheet assets straight through until the end of September. Perhaps my definition of capitulation is different from some people's.

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Don't Cry, I'm not Crying. Someone get the tissues

And the winner of The Post’s Mueller Madness bracket is …

We have a national champion . . . of lousy “collusion” punditry.

It was a tough bracket, featuring some of the biggest names in the prestige press, late-night comedians, ­C- and D-list celebs, scholars, think-tankers and freshly minted Russia experts. But top-seeded Rachel Maddow dribbled and scored her way past them all to clinch The Post’s #MuellerMadness trophy.

Congratulations to Maddow and her MSNBC colleagues!

More than 1,000 readers shared their brackets with us, and a large plurality (nearly a quarter) picked Maddow for the top spot. As reader Jim Murphy said, Maddow “ripped through the field like the Isiah Thomas Indiana team did back in 1981,” fueled by the conviction that it was “her job to educate ‘We the Stupid’ on every rumor and how they all fit together.”

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Suspect Caught with Drugs in Socks Allegedly Tells Police: ‘These Aren’t My Socks’

A man arrested for possession of illegal drugs found in his socks allegedly told police that the socks he was wearing weren’t his, according to reports.

Police in Austintown, Ohio, arrested Damien K. Clark Jr., 20, after the drugs were found in his socks during a traffic stop, according to Fox 13.

Officers pulled Clark over last Saturday for failure to use his turn signal, but upon approaching his vehicle, officers reported that Clark smelled heavily of marijuana. Police also said they spied loose clumps of marijuana on the car’s floorboards.

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"As Many As A Million Calves Lost In Nebraska" – Beef Prices To Escalate Dramatically In Coming Months

According to Agriculture Secretary Sunny Purdue, there “may be as many as a million calves lost in Nebraska” due to the catastrophic flooding that has hit the state.

This is not a rumor, this is not an exaggeration, and this is not based on any sort of speculation. This number comes to us directly from the top agriculture official in the entire country, and it means that the economic toll from the recent floods is far greater than most of us had anticipated. You can watch Purdue make this quote on Fox Business right here, and it is important to remember that this number is just for one state. It is hard to imagine what the final numbers will look like when the livestock losses for all of the states affected by the flooding are tallied up. This is already the worst agricultural disaster in modern American history, and the National Weather Service is telling us that there will be more catastrophic flooding throughout the middle portion of the nation for the next two months.

Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts says that this is the worst flooding that his state has ever experienced. Ricketts originally told us that 65 out of the 93 counties in his state have declared a state of emergency, but that number has now risen to 74. Hundreds of millions of dollars of damage has been done in his state alone, and that is just an initial estimate.

It deeply offends me that the big mainstream news channels have spent so little time covering this disaster. This is the biggest news story of 2019 so far by a very wide margin, but because it happened in the middle of the country they are not giving it the attention that it deserves.


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Joe Biden’s missing 'I' in his talk of 'white man’s culture'

On Tuesday night, former vice president and maybe 2020 Democratic candidate, Joe Biden offered a sort-of apology and a reflection on why he had failed to do more to stand up for Anita Hill almost thirty years earlier. Condemning “a white man’s culture” and calling for broad cultural change, Biden’s forceful remarks generated plenty of media attention and criticism for not dealing more directly with his role and clear ability to have “done something” as the then-chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Biden’s words, aside from rehashing his own culpability, also put front and center the broader cultural reckoning facing the country about our own past — a reckoning that reverberates quite clearly with Trump’s slogan of “Make America Great Again” chock-full of nostalgia for days that were far worse for large portions of the country.

Biden’s remarks hinted at but didn’t quite capture something that Americana country star Jason Isbell wrote about in his haunting song “White Man’s World.” He provides an illustrative rendering of what, I would hope, had been Biden’s goal to convey to his audience:

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Nellie Ohr met Christopher Steele at Mayflower Hotel the day before FBI's Trump-Russia investigation began

Nellie Ohr — Justice Department official Bruce Ohr’s wife — met with Trump dossier author and former British spy Christopher Steele the day before the FBI launched its Trump-Russia investigation.

The meeting took place at the Mayflower Hotel, which was described by President Harry Truman as "Washington's second-best address." President John F. Kennedy once kept an apartment — and a mistress — there. In 2008, Governor Eliot Spitzer of New York used an assumed name to book room 871 and meet a prostitute.

A newly released congressional transcript reveals her research on connections between Russia and President Trump, the Trump family, and Trump associates while she worked at Fusion GPS. She declined to answer most questions about her husband, who served as an unofficial back channel between Steele and the FBI.

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Pending Home Sales Tumble 4.9% YoY - 14th Straight Month Of Declines

With home price growth at the slowest rate since 2012, rates falling, and existing home sales having rebounded notably, pending home sales are expected to slow very modestly in February after rebounding in January, but they fell more than expected.

Pending Home Sales fell 1.0% MoM (against expectations of a 0.5% decline)

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, is (surprise, surprise) optimistic...
“In January, pending contracts were up close to 5 percent, so this month’s 1 percent drop is not a significant concern,” he said.

“As a whole, these numbers indicate that a cyclical low in sales is in the past but activity is not matching the frenzied pace of last spring.”

Yun added that despite the growth in the West, the region’s current sales are well below the sales activity from 2018.
“There is a lack of inventory in the West and prices have risen too fast. Job creation in the West is solid, but there is ll a desperate need for more home construction.”

Tanker Hijacked By Migrant "Pirates" Seized By Special Forces In Mediterranean

Maltese special forces have seized a Turkish oil tanker, El Hibu 1, which had been hijacked by the very migrants it stopped to rescue in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya.

Five of the migrants have been arrested, and are accused of overpowering the vessel's 12-man crew - forcing the oil tanker's captain to cede control "through coercive action," according to the Telegraph, citing Maltese government sources.

77 of the 108 migrants - or 71% - were men, who were traveling with 19 women and 12 children.

"The captain repeatedly stated that he was not in control of the vessel and that he and his crew were being forced and threatened by a number of migrants to proceed to Malta."

The tanker was prevented from entering Maltese waters by a Maltese patrol vessel, after which a special forces unit was dispatched to board the tanker and regain control. The operation was backed up by a patrol vessel, a helicopter and two fast interceptor craft.


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Cancer Cluster At California Elementary School Results In Removal Of Sprint Cell Phone Tower

A Sprint cell phone tower will be removed from a California elementary school after four students and three teachers were diagnosed with cancer.

Weston Elementary School in Ripon, CA went on high alert after the controversy erupted two years ago - with some parents even pulling their children from school over the tower which Sprint has been paying the school $2,000 per month to place on its property.

The Ripon Unified School District initially defended the cell phone tower earlier this month, with board president Kit Oase saying tests done on the tower had found it was operating within safety standards.
Monica Ferrulli, whose son was treated for brain cancer in 2017, said RUSD has cited an obsolete American Cancer Society study in keeping the tower in place since the controversy erupted two years ago. “It is just denial,” Ferrulli told the board. She vowed that parents will continue to fight and keep their children out of the school. -Modesto Bee

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Accelerating "Eviction Crisis" Parallels The Sub-Prime Mortgage Crisis Of The Great Recession

A new alarming parallel between today’s eviction crisis and the sub-prime mortgage crisis which helped spur the Great Recession has surfaced. The economy is sending warning signs to those who choose to take heed.

The eviction crisis is worsening to the point that Georgia State University authors feel that protections should be put in place to safeguard renters, such as longer eviction notices and legal protection, according to Market Watch. However, that could make the crisis much worse by homeowners simply refusing to rent their properties out at all. More government intervention (whether it’s designed to protect people or not) will only make a very bad situation worse.

Evictions have become a real visible effect of the volatility in today’s economy. Stable housing is increasingly out of reach for many Americans, as both rentals and homes to own grow more expensive, options dwindle, and wages remain stagnant. But some scholars at Georgia State University, in conjunction with a ProPublica journalist, completed a new study which shows that not all evictions are created equal.

The researchers who conducted the study examined “serial” eviction filings (those done repeatedly by a landlord against a tenant). By comparing serial evictions to ordinary ones, the researchers found patterns of landlord “behavior and intentions”, some of which are reminiscent of the worst of the housing crisis a decade ago.


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Reparations. Who Owes them? Who Gets Them?

Wicomico County Teacher Of The Year

Kate Steinle's parents cannot sue sanctuary city for wrongful death, 9th Circuit rules

A U.S. Appeals Court says the parents of Kate Steinle, who died in 2015 after an undocumented man shot her as she walked with her father on a San Francisco pier, cannot sue the city whose sanctuary policies were widely blamed for the tragedy.

Steinle’s killer, Jose Inez Garcia-Zarate, was released by the San Francisco sheriff, Ross Mirkarimi, after a drug case against him was dropped. The sheriff’s office, which had ended contact between jail employees and immigration officials, ignored a request by federal authorities to hold Garcia-Zarate until they could assume custody and did not inform them that he was being released.

Three months later, Garcia-Zarate, who had been deported to his native Mexico five times, killed Steinle.

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https://www.foxnews.com/us/kate-steinles-parents-cannot-sue-sanctuary-city-for-wrongful-death-9th-circuit-rules

House Republicans plan another push to force a vote on anti-infanticide legislatio

House Republicans are making another move to get the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act to the floor of the chamber for a vote, but there’s another big hurdle they’ll have to clear.

Tuesday morning, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise announced that a discharge petition for the bill, which failed in the Senate, will be filed on April 2. The catch? It’ll have to be signed by a majority of House members to get the bill to the floor.

With the current House makeup, that will require all Republicans and 20 Democrats to sign the petition.

Right now, there are currently three vacancies in the House. With 197 House Republicans, the magic number for a majority is 417, instead of the 418 required under normal circumstances. That leaves Republicans with a lot of ground to cover.

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Teen girls ranked by their male peers fought back not to "patronize" but to "educate"

A group of teen girls in Maryland is fighting back after their male classmates circulated a list rating and ranking 18 of them by their appearance. The Washington Post first reported that the list was sent around Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School earlier this month.

Six of the girls who appeared on the list told CBS News that when they saw the list, they felt objectified and decided it was time to stop accepting the excuse that "boys will be boys."

Jane Corcoran said she never wants another girl to feel the way she did when she saw her appearance rated on a list circulated by boys at her high school.

"I think that the female generation is always thinking what did I do to deserve this? And the answer is we did not do anything," Corcoran said. "In my head, you know, I tried to push away the thoughts that, you know, a number does not define me and I put out a confident front but it's really hard to think about 'Why is this girl a point better than me?'"

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Jussie Smollett could take home NAACP Award Saturday

"Empire" actor Jussie Smollett is having a big week.

His charges for allegedly staging a hoax hate crime against himself were dropped, and this weekend he could take home a big award.

Smollett is nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 50th NAACP Image Awards on Saturday.

He hasn't said whether he'll attend the televised ceremony or not.

But Smollett arrived in Los Angeles Wednesday night.

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Disney bans smoking at U.S. theme parks

Visitors will soon no longer be able to smoke at any of Disney's U.S. parks, the company announced in a blog post Thursday. Starting May 1, Disney will eliminate all smoking sections from Walt Disney World, Disneyland, California's Downtown Disney and Florida's ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex and all water parks.

Disney said smoking areas will be available outside the parks' entrances.

"As we expand our offerings, we will continue to take steps to enhance the guest experience and make it more enjoyable for everyone who visits," a Disney spokesperson told CBS News.

E-cigarettes and vape pens are included in the ban, a Disney spokesperson said.

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Pelosi: We have a ‘moral obligation’ to future generations on climate change, but not against killing them in the womb

Once again, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has played the faith and morality cards to push for an agenda item, starkly showing up her own hypocrisy in the process.

“If you believe, as I do, that this is God’s creation, this planet, we have a moral responsibility to be good stewards of it,” Pelosi said Tuesday. “But even if you don’t subscribe to that, you know we have a moral responsibility to future generations.”

The speaker made the remarks at a press conference for the “Climate Action Now Act” alongside other House Democrats.

Contrast that with Pelosi’s pro-abortion position, which is in direct opposition to the teachings of her faith, since she self-identifies as a Catholic.

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Maryland native nominated to be next Marine Corps commandant

WASHINGTON – For the first time in history, a Maryland native is poised to step into the highest-ranking position in the United States Marine Corps.

After a likely Senate confirmation of President Donald Trump’s nomination, Lt. Gen. David H. Berger, 59, would take over command of the Marines from the current commandant, Gen. Robert Neller, in the summer. He also would be promoted to general.

Born and raised in Woodbine, Maryland – a rural town in between Frederick and Baltimore – the three-star general attended Tulane University in Louisiana and graduated with an engineering degree in 1981. While there, he played on the college’s lacrosse team, according to a yearbook.

After graduation, Berger was commissioned in the Marine Corps as an infantry officer. He served as a company commander in a reconnaissance battalion of the 2nd Marine Division during the first Gulf War.

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Ocean City’s Paid Parking Season Begins April 1

Ocean City, Maryland – : Ocean City’s paid parking season begins April 1 and will remain in effect until October 31. Rates are $2 per hour on the street and in municipal parking lots and $3 per hour in the Inlet Parking Lot. Handicapped vehicles (with a handicapped plate or visible placard) may park for up to one hour at no-charge on-street or in municipal lots only.

Last year the town converted the old “Pay and Display” system to new solar-powered kiosks with a “Pay by Plate” feature. With the current system you must enter your license plate number first before paying for your time. There is no need to place a receipt on the dashboard, you just pay and go. In addition, time can be extended at the kiosk with your plate number.

Enforcement for on-street and municipal lot parking and Inlet Lot parking vary.


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JORDAN AND MEADOWS QUESTION CHAIRMAN CUMMINGS’S DECISION TO DEPART FROM RESPONSIBLE OVERSIGHT

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH), Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Congressman Mark Meadows (R-NC), Ranking Member of the Government Operations Subcommittee, raised serious concerns about Chairman Cummings’s decision to seek information and material unrelated to the Committee’s oversight of the federal government.

Jordan and Meadows sent two letters to Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-MD). The first letter asks why Chairman Cummings chose to use Committee resources to investigate a news organization’s editorial decision. The second letter seeks to understand Chairman Cummings’s decision to seek ten years of documents relating to the President’s personal finances from accounting firm Mazars USA.


Jordan and Meadows also wrote separately to Mazars USA expressing concerns with the Chairman’s inquiry.
 

Full text of the letters to Chairman Cummings can be found here and here.

Full text of the letter to Mazers USA can be found here.

GOP calls for Adam Schiff's resignation in Intelligence Committee clash

House Intelligence Committee Republicans on Thursday demanded Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., resign from his role on the panel during a hearing on Russian interference tactics, provoking a clash between the two parties.

Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, a top member of the panel, told Schiff his claims of collusion between President Trump during the Mueller investigation and afterward undermine his ability to act as chairman of the committee.

“We have no faith in your ability to discharge your duties and urge your immediate resignation as chairman of the committee,” Conaway said.

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U.S. Projected to Add 1.5M Illegal Aliens to Population this Year

The United States is projected to add about 1.5 million illegal aliens to the American population by the end of the year, should current rates of Catch and Release, border crossings, and visa overstays pan out.

This year, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Catch and Release policy — whereby border crossers and illegal aliens are readily released from federal custody into the interior of the U.S. — is on track to release roughly 434,000 border crossers and illegal aliens into the country by the end of the year. This projection is based on current estimates that more than 36,000 border crossers and illegal aliens have been released from DHS custody every month since the beginning of the year.

Additionally, Princeton Policy Advisors researcher Steven Kopits projects that in 2019, there will be up to 500,000 illegal aliens at the southern border who successfully cross into the U.S. undetected by Border Patrol agents. These are foreign nationals whom federal immigration officials are unaware of and are usually only deported after they commit a crime in the U.S.

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Abrams' Adviser: Biden's Offer to Join Ticket as VP 'Exploitative'

Stacey Abrams has shot down rumors that she may join Joe Biden’s ticket as his running mate, with an adviser telling BuzzFeed News Thursday that the former vice president’s offer was “exploitative.”

"What makes it particularly exploitative is that Biden couldn’t be bothered to endorse Stacey in the gubernatorial primary," the adviser said. "Now he wants her to save his ass. That’s some serious entitlement."

Advisers to Biden floated the idea of choosing Abrams to Axios last week, since the popular Georgia Democrat would bring diversity and excitement to the ticket.

Abrams on Wednesday rejected the rumors during an appearance on “The View.”


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Cops And Courts – March 29, 2019

Cab Ride To Drug Market Leads To Arrest

OCEAN CITY — An Ocean City man was arrested on heroin possession charges last week after an undercover Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officer allegedly observed him taking a cab to a known distribution location in Delaware.

Street Head Butting

OCEAN CITY — An Ocean City man was arrested on assault and other charges this week after allegedly head-butting a woman, resulting in a wound that required stitches, and later throwing her phone in a pool.

Domestic Dispute Leads To Broken Hotel Door

OCEAN CITY — A Pennsylvania woman was arrested for malicious destruction of property after allegedly destroying a door frame at a midtown hotel during a domestic incident.

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Mayor Pugh apologizes for book deal with UMMS.

BALTIMORE —Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh spoke out Thursday for the first time about her book deal with the University of Maryland Medical System.

The news conference was scheduled with little notice after the mayor was released from a four-day stay in the hospital for treatment of pneumonia.

"I sincerely want to say I apologize that I have done something to upset the people, the people of Baltimore that I love and care for," said Pugh.

Pugh was hoarse and visibly tired as she addressed the controversy about her deal with the University of Maryland Medical System.

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Chicago police to bill Jussie Smollett for cost of hate crime probe

Chicago officials, incensed by prosecutors’ abrupt and largely unexplained decision to drop all charges against “Empire” star Jussie Smollett, plan to slap the actor with a “bill” for the cost of the investigation, authorities said Thursday.

“The City of Chicago will be sending Mr. Smollett a bill,” said Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.

“From a 30,000-foot view, the bill will include the hours, the overtime, the financial costs and the resources that were used” in probing what the Windy City’s cops, mayor and even prosecutors still believe was a hoax, Guglielmi said.

And that tally won’t even touch on outside resources Chicago cops called in to crack the firestorm case.

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Embattled Chicago prosecutor Kimberly Foxx never legally recused herself from Jussie Smollett case

Cook County, Ill., State's Attorney Kimberly Foxx never legally recused herself from the Jussie Smollett case, her office said Thursday.

“The State’s Attorney did not formally recuse herself or the Office based on any actual conflict of interest,” Foxx’s spokeswoman Tandra Simonton said in a statement, two days after the charges against the "Empire" actor were dropped. “As a result, she did not have to seek the appointment of a special prosecutor under [state law].”

The spokeswoman said Foxx’s office used the word “recuse” to talk about her involvement in the case as a “colloquial use” rather than the legal definition of the term.

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Modern 9-1-1 system will increase state and local fees

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland – Legislation that would increase state and local 9-1-1 fees in Maryland — part of the Next Generation 9-1-1 initiative that would allow faster communication with emergency responders via text, photos and videos — passed both the House and Senate this week.

Senate bill 339, cross-filed with House bill 397, would address cybersecurity and technology updates, provide oversight and accountability, fill staffing shortages and establish a new funding method for the new 9-1-1 system.

The legislation — Carl Henn’s Law — was named after a Rockville, Maryland, native who was struck by lightning in 2010 during a sudden storm. Emergency operators were not immediately reachable at the time as the 9-1-1 system received an overwhelming volume of calls, according to written testimony from Carl’s wife, Carol Henn. Carl Henn suffered significant brain stem damage and died.

“I have had three people die in my district when 9-1-1 has failed,” bill sponsor Sen. Cheryl Kagan, D-Montgomery, said during a hearing on Feb. 26. “That has inspired my efforts on this issue.”

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Thank God It's Friday 3-29-19

What will you be doing this weekend?

OC Air Show MOU Approved

OCEAN CITY — Resort officials this week approved a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for future Ocean City Air Show events after concerns raised last week were resolved.

Last week, the proposed MOU outlining the responsibilities of the town and the promoter of the Ocean City Air Show for 2020 and 2021 was derailed after concerns were raised about certain language regarding the flexibility of the dates. Councilman John Gehrig said the MOU as written allowed for the promoter to ostensibly move the air show dates, a responsibility he believed belonged to the town because of its fiscal contribution to the event and possible schedule conflicts with other special events.

It was pointed out the air show’s headliners, including the U.S. Navy Blue Angels and the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, for example, often set their schedules as far as two years in advance. It was said affording the promoter some flexibility to move the event from one weekend to another helped ensure the resort got at least one of them each year. For his part, Gehrig said he understood the complexities of securing the top jet teams, but wondered if the restrictive language of the MOU was necessary.

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Devin Nunes Sending Criminal Referral to DOJ over Spygate: ‘Time to Go on Offense’

House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes (R-CA) is planning to send a criminal referral next week to the Justice Department that will detail “multiple referrals on a number of different crimes,” including leaking classified information, as part of his investigation into misconduct at the Justice Department and the FBI.

“As of now, it’ll be one criminal referral but with multiple referrals on a number of different crimes,” he told Breitbart News on Wednesday in an exclusive interview. “We will have some leakers in there for sure.”

He said on the ending of the Special Counsel investigation, after it found the Trump campaign did not collude with Russia, “We knew this was a joke from the beginning, and I’ve said as much for a long time. Basically from the time our report came out, which has been a year. But now, the real work begins. It’s good to not have that sitting out there. But we have to now go on offense and track down all these dirty cops and bad players.”

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Leaked page From Mueller Report