STATE POLICE AND PARTNERS BRING IN 33,405 POUNDS OF FOOD DURING HUNGER ACTION MONTH

BALTIMORE -- Earlier today at each of the Maryland Food Bank's three facilities, representatives from the Maryland State Police and the Maryland Department of Transportation joined food bank executives in welcoming a caravan of squad cars, trucks, buses and other official vehicles stuffed to the brim with 33,405 pounds of donated food. The loaded vehicles convened at the food bank locations in Baltimore, Salisbury, and Hagerstown to deliver and weigh donations gathered from across the state during Hunger Action Month.

"This outpouring of support is absolutely overwhelming," said Deborah Flateman, Maryland Food Bank president & CEO. "We are truly grateful to each and every person who donated a dollar or a can of food, as well as to all of our partners who, quite literally, did the heavy lifting. The passion to end hunger in Maryland is palpable."

Throughout September, food donations from generous Marylanders were received at all Maryland State Police barracks as well as select State Highway Administration buildings, Motor Vehicle Administration offices and inspection stations, BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport, the Port of Baltimore, and even in designated toll lanes at the Baltimore Harbor and Fort McHenry tunnels, as well as other Maryland roadways.

New this year, an online option to donate through the food bank's virtual food drive platform added to the success, allowing supporters to designate specific food items to be purchased with their cash donations. Those still interested in donating can do so online at https://fooddrive.mdfoodbank.org/.

Today's weigh-ins wrapped up yet another successful Hunger Action Month, which for the first time included a challenge to Maryland's elected officials to "be a voice" on social media and help bring awareness to the issue of hunger. Elected officials ranging from Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley to Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, as well as state senators and gubernatorial candidates, uploaded selfies with personal messages about ending hunger in Maryland. To see who took part in the challenge, search #BeAVoiceMFB on Twitter and Facebook.

Transgenderism Is A Mental Illness, Not A Civil Rights Issue

If someone came to a doctor and asked him to cut off a perfectly healthy arm because it just felt “wrong” for the arm to be there, should the doctor do it? This isn’t an idle question because this does happen with a mental illness called Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID). People who have it feel as if they’re not supposed to have a certain body part, like an arm or leg. As a general rule, doctors won’t remove a healthy body part; so some of these poor deluded people crush, mangle, burn, or otherwise deliberately destroy their own arms or legs in order to get a surgeon to slice them off.

This raises a question: Are surgeons who refuse to remove healthy limbs from people with BIID doing them a service because they’re mentally ill or are they denying them their civil rights? MOST of us would say that a surgeon who refuses to cut off a healthy leg is doing the right thing.

Of course, not everyone would agree. In fact, there are some people who will tell you that mental illness is a “super power.”

Members of the mad pride movement do not always agree on their aims and intentions. For some, the objective is to continue the destigmatization of mental illness. A vocal, controversial wing rejects the need to treat mental afflictions with psychotropic drugs and seeks alternatives to the shifting, often inconsistent care offered by the medical establishment. Many members of the movement say they are publicly discussing their own struggles to help those with similar conditions and to inform the general public.

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Middle School Team Pulls Off "Ugly Kardashian" Trick Play

One middle school recently pulled off one of the most creative--and creatively named--trick plays we've seen.

 Was it a great idea or just unfair?

GRAPHIC Disturbing video exposes cattle abuse

She Woke Up to Sound of Her ‘Stalker’ Kicking in Her Door. He Was Left in ‘Disbelief’ at What Was Waiting for Him on the Other Side.

In a blog post, the victim explained that she was forced to move, get a restraining order, and obtain a concealed carry permit after Jackson started “stalking” her. Further, she’s apparently had to go to extreme lengths to keep Jackson out of her home, including sleeping with a chair in front of the door.

The woman seemingly penned the blog post, titled “I shot my stalker tonight,” following the terrifying incident and told her story: 

I’m writing this staring at the mess the police left for me, in a bit of a fog. After 6 months of stalking and threats against my life my stalker finally snapped and decided to kick my door in and make good on his promise.

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Walking Is the Super food of Exercise

Walking may never become as trendy as CrossFit, as sexy as mud runs or as ego-boosting as Ironman races but for fitness experts who stress daily movement over workouts and an active lifestyle over weekends of warrior games, walking is a super star.

For author and scientist Katy Bowman, walking is a biological imperative like eating. In her book, “Move Your DNA: Restore Your Health Through Natural Movement," she suggests there are movement nutrients, just like dietary nutrients, that the body needs.

“Walking is a superfood. It’s the defining movement of a human,” said Bowman, a biomechanist based in Ventura, California. “It’s a lot easier to get movement than it is to get exercise.”

Researchers say emerging evidence suggests that combined physical activity and inactivity may be more important for chronic disease risk than physical activity alone.

“Actively sedentary is a new category of people who are fit for one hour but sitting around the rest of the day," Bowman said. “You can’t offset 10 hours of stillness with one hour of exercise.”

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THE GLOVER REPORT: HANKY PANKY IN STATE GOVERNMENT? REPUBLICANS FOLLOW MONEY TRAIL ON FAILED HEALTHCARE WEBSITE TO DGA

By Doni Glover, www.bmorenews.com

(BALTIMORE - September 30, 2014) - To say the least, I found last week’s news on WBAL TV 11 about statements by Larry Hogan very interesting. Hogan, the Republican gubernatorial candidate in Maryland, asserts a financial connection between Governor Martin O'Malley's Democratic Governors Association (DGA) fundraising and the Health Care Exchange contracts. Now, the Republicans believe that the money donated to the DGA is being funneled into Anthony Brown's campaign.

So, I asked the Hogan camp for more details.

This is the overview they shared:

• Governor O’Malley led the Democratic Governors Association (DGA) as chairman from 2010 to 2012 and immediately thereafter assumed the role of finance director, leading the organization’s fundraising efforts.

• UnitedHealth Group, the parent company of Optum/QSSI, donates $375,000 to the DGA in 2011 and $275,000 to the DGA in 2012. CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield (BCBS) donates $25,000 to the DGA in 2012. The Blue Cross Blue Shield Administration, an association of 37 independent locally operated BCBS companies, donates $525,000 dollars to the DGA from 2011 to 2014.
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Allah Made Me Do It

Stop me if you’ve heard this story before.

A Muslim convert who recently became very religious beheads a woman while reportedly shouting Islamic phrases. The authorities rush to convince everyone in sight that it has nothing to do with Islam.

I’m not talking about Alton Nolen in Oklahoma at the end of September, but Nicholas Salvador in the UK at the beginning of September. Salvador, a Nigerian Muslim convert, beheaded an 82-year-old European woman with a foot-long blade. Nolen killed a 54-year-old American woman with a 10-inch blade.

The bios of both men are fairly similar to the beheaders of British soldier Lee Rigby. The perpetrators were Nigerian converts to Islam. Alton Nolen was a black convert to Islam. They had a history of criminal behavior followed by a conversion to Islam and the inevitable bloody ending.

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Who’s A Seaman? Supreme Court May Chart The Waters

EWELL, Md. (AP) — William Smith Dize’s life revolved around water.

The boat captain worked the waters of the Chesapeake Bay, and when he wasn’t operating a boat, he was working on them and around the dock.

But when Dize got sick and sued his employer in 2008, claiming a boat maintenance project led to a deadly respiratory illness, he quickly found himself navigating stormy waters.

His bosses said his work did not qualify him to be a “seaman,” a designation needed to sue his employer under a federal law.

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SCHOOLS SCRAMBLE TO HELP TEENS WHO CROSSED BORDER

FRANKFORD, Del. (AP) -- American schools are scrambling to provide services to the large number of children and teenagers who crossed the border alone in recent months.

Unaccompanied minors who made up the summer spike at the border have moved to communities of all sizes, in nearly every state, Federal data indicates, to live with a relative and await immigration decisions. The Supreme Court has ruled that schools have an obligation to educate all students regardless of their immigration status, so schools have become a safe haven for many of the tens of thousands of these young people mostly from central America living in limbo.

Delaware's rural Sussex County has long attracted immigrants, partly because of work in chicken factories, and soybean and corn fields. The district's population is more than one-quarter Hispanic, and for years has offered an early learning program for non-English speakers.

Still, officials were caught off guard by about 70 new students mostly from Guatemala - part of the wave crossing the border - enrolling last year, mostly at Sussex Central High School. The Indian River School District over the summer break quickly put together special classes for those needing extra English help.

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Hollywood’s attack on men: Will the industry change its gender stereotyping following UN summit?

LOS ANGELES – “I’ve seen my father’s role as a parent being valued less by society,” actress Emma Watson, an Ivy League graduate and a U.N. Goodwill Ambassador, said in a now-celebrated speech at the United Nations last week. “We don’t often talk about men being imprisoned by gender stereotypes but I can see that they are.”

And perhaps nowhere is male gender stereotyping more prevalent than in the entertainment and advertising industries, which have made billions in the past few decades portraying adult males as lazy, clueless, emasculated idiots. Think everything from “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” “Super Bad” and “The Hangover” to ABC’s “Modern Family,” “Man Up” and television’s beloved Homer Simpson.

Watson works with the HeForShe initiative, which encourages men to stand up for women’s equality—but the actress also brought an important point into the spotlight: Men are plagued by gender stereotypes too. Will her highly praised speech spur a change in Hollywood? Or will the industry continue to tear males down by portraying them as lovable idiots who ought to be banned from the domestic sphere?

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Andy Harris Comments About First Diagnosed Case Of Ebola In The US

Andy Harris, M.D.

The first case of ebola has been diagnosed in the US. While this is concerning, it is important to remember a few things. Ebola currently spreads from direct contact with bodily fluids from a patient already sick with the virus, it does not spread through the air. Hospitals in the US have isolation units and the capacity to treat those with ebola. The CDC and health care providers are the best in the world and should be able to prevent significant spreading. Some drug treatments for ebola look promising, but the FDA must work with industry to remove red tape and quickly get safe treatments to patients.

No, America isn’t Communist. It’s only 70% Communist.

“The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Workers of the world, unite!”

Most people remember Karl Marx’s most potent points and phrases, and the mountain of corpses his disciples left behind, especially in the 20th century.

However, most forget or don’t even know the specific policies that Marx advocated.

Within his 1848 Communist Manifesto, Marx outlined a list of ten short-term demands. These, he thought, would be the precursor to the ideal stateless, classless communist society.

Ironically in today’s world, Marx’s demands look pretty much mainstream.

That is because nearly every single item on the list has been implemented to varying degrees in the United States.

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CASA VOTING: Organizations Team Together To Push For Immigrant Voting And Rights

Caption This Photo 9-30-14

Local Pot Laws Change This Week

WASHINGTON -- Under a bill passed by the Maryland General Assembly in April, penalties for possessing marijuana will loosen statewide later this week.

Starting Wednesday, Oct. 1, possessing a small amount of marijuana will no longer be a crime.

According to the measure, which is labeled SB 364, having less than 10 grams of marijuana will be a civil offense, similar to a traffic ticket.

It will not lead to a criminal record or carry jail time.

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Ron Paul Explains Why The "Scottish Referendum Gives Reasons To Be Hopeful"

Even though it ultimately failed at the ballot box, the recent campaign for Scottish independence should cheer supporters of the numerous secession movements springing up around the globe.

In the weeks leading up to the referendum, it appeared that the people of Scotland were poised to vote to secede from the United Kingdom. Defeating the referendum required British political elites to co-opt secession forces by promising greater self-rule for Scotland, as well as launching a massive campaign to convince the Scots that secession would plunge them into economic depression.

The people of Scotland were even warned that secession would damage the international market for one of Scotland’s main exports, whiskey. Considering the lengths to which opponents went to discredit secession, it is amazing that almost 45 percent of the Scottish people still voted in favor of it.

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Investigation: Balt. Police Brutality Settlements Cost Taxpayers $11.5M

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — The allegations revealed in a Baltimore Sun investigation. They involve people who suffered broken bones, head trauma and even death—allegedly after altercations with city police.

Mike Hellgren, in partnership with the Sun, takes you inside these troubling cases.

For years, Baltimore City police have grappled with excessive force complaints. Now an exhaustive Baltimore Sun investigation revealed more than 100 people have won settlements and judgments that, along with legal fees, cost city taxpayers $11.5 million over the past four years.

Victims include a pregnant accountant, a woman selling church raffle tickets, a deacon, an 87-year-old grandmother and another grandmother, Barbara Floyd. The city paid her $30,000. She said she was trying to get her grandson into her house when officers claimed she was interfering with his arrest.

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6 foods that help fight the flu

Getting your flu shot isn't the only way you can help prevent the flu. What you eat can also help lower your odds of coming down with a nasty bug, says Rachel Berman, R.D., health content manager for About.com. Check out her favorite flu-preventing foods:

Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin seeds are full of zinc, which helps white blood cells fight off illness. Try these Sweet and Spicy Pepita Clusters to get your fix.

Sweet and Spicy Pepita Clusters -

Tuna

This fish is an excellent source of selenium, which helps protect cells from free-radical damage and boosts your immunity. Try this healthy Mediterranean Tuna Sandwich to ward off the flu in a delicious way.

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Pediatricians Urge IUDs Or Implants For Teen Girls

Teen girls who have sex should use IUDs or hormonal implants - long-acting birth control methods that are effective, safe and easy to use, the nation's most influential pediatricians' group recommends.

In an updated policy, the American Academy of Pediatrics says condoms also should be used every time teens have sex, to provide protection against sexually transmitted diseases that other forms of birth control don't provide, and to boost chances of preventing pregnancy.

Condoms alone are the most common birth control choice among teens, but with typical use they're among the least effective methods at preventing pregnancy. Both long-acting methods are nearly 100 percent effective, with lower failure rates than birth control pills, patches and injections, the academy says.

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