Rahm Emanuel Refuses to Refund Improper Red-Light Camera Fines

The City of Chicago is currently mired in a red-light camera scandal replete with bribes to city officials, indictments, and improperly timed cameras geared to hand out illicit fines. But despite all this, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel refuses to refund the improperly levied fines.

Emanuel, who is running for re-election next year, faces a petition sponsored by challenger Bob Fioretti demanding that the $7.7 million in fines generated by the red-light cameras be refunded. The improper fines resulted from yellow light timers being reduced from the legal three seconds to 2.9 seconds.

But Emanuel, President Obama's former chief of staff, handed down the decision through Chicago transportation commissioner Rebekah Scheinfeld that the fines were perfectly legal. "These were valid violations," Scheinfeld said in a recent meeting of the city council.

During the meeting, West Side Ald. Emma Mitts claimed the red-light cameras are worse in the City's black community.

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Rand Paul: Stephanopoulos 'Originated' War on Women Attack, Scott Brown Right to Have Concerns

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire — Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) told Breitbart News on Wednesday that former Sen. Scott Brown is right to have concerns over ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos being the debate moderator on Thursday night.

“I don’t think this would be the first time his [Stephanopoulos’] impartiality has been questioned,” Paul said in a phone interview. “If you go back to the previous presidential debates, many people have brought up that the whole questioning about birth control was originated as a campaign theme by Stephanopoulos and there’s questions about whether that was done in coordination with Democrats.

"It’s always hard to have someone be perceived as an objective arbiter on a debate if they spent most of their life as a partisan.”

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Boosting Your Immune System: What NOT to Eat

Tis the season for the flu shot propaganda machine to rev into high gear, as Big Pharma, the CDC, and the mainstream media urge people to roll up their sleeves and have toxins like mercury and formaldehyde injected into them, all in the name of “staying healthy this winter.”

There’s a much easier way to stay healthy that also involves toxins – the ones in our food supply. Only I recommend avoiding them instead of injecting them directly into your body.

If you consume processed foods on a regular basis, you’re forcing your immune system to work to protect you against the things you are ingesting, instead of fighting off viruses and germs.

Many people thoughtlessly poison themselves every single day. They have some white sugar and fluoride in the morning coffee. They have some MSG-laden, highly salted saturated fat at lunch and wash it down with a neurotoxic, artificially sweetened drink. Dinner gets picked up at a convenient drive-thru window, and it’s enriched with more MSG and some GMO high fructose corn syrup. Don’t even get me started on that late night snack in front of the TV. Most of what typical Americans eat can hardly even be considered actual food.

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Here's What Cocaine Does To The Human Body

Last week Wall Street found that it had another cocaine-fueled scandal on its hands when an investment banker's ex-wife accused her husband of intense drug abuse.

Less than a week later, a banker in Hong Kong was arrested as a suspect in the murder of two prostitutes. Police found a small amount of cocaine in his home.

This isn't necessarily everyday stuff, but it wasn't much of a shock, either. Cocaine has been an illicit way for bankers to keep up with clients, parties, and long hours for decades.

That has its consequences, though.

Cocaine can harm numerous parts of the human body, from your nasal passages to your sexual stamina. No small thing.

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Dan Bongino Outlines When He’ll Concede — Before Doing Something You’ve Probably Never Heard a Politician Do

Maryland congressional candidate Dan Bongino (R) is down roughly 2,000 votes in the race against John Delaney (D) in the 2014 midterm elections, and says he is waiting to concede until the remaining absentee ballots are counted.

“There’s 6,000 outstanding ballots. We’re only down by about 2,000. A lot of them are military. So there’s still a shot, however small it may be,” Bongino said, speaking in his first interview since the ballots were counted on TheBlaze Radio’s Pat and Stu Wednesday.

“Is there a recount in the future do you think, Dan?” co-host Stu Burguiere asked. “Especially if it closes at all?”

Bongino, a former Secret Service agent, said he didn’t want to “spin anybody’s wheels” with boastful talk of certain victory. Officials will begin counting absentee ballots on Thursday, and he said they will see how it shakes out.

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The Obamacare Shuffle

Playing politics with health care before the midterms

I received a letter from my health-care exchange last month informing me that I could keep my health plan. In all caps, the letter included the following sentence: “If you are satisfied with your current plan, you do not have to do anything.”

What a relief! This letter indicated that there was at least some competence associated with Obamacare, and I was happy that I wouldn’t have to spend more time searching for a new plan. Lots of other Americans probably received a similar letter and had similarly positive reactions.

I flipped to the last page, and it was a voter-registration application. Why did my exchange include a voter-registration form in the mailing about my health care? That seemed odd.

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Pre-election Democrats

Ben Stein: 'This President Is the Most Racist President There Has Ever Been in America'

On Fox News Channel’s “America’s Election HQ” on Sunday, hosted by Shannon Bream, actor and commentator took on President Barack Obama and the notion that Republican budget cuts have been used to hurt people of color since they sometimes rely on assistance from the federal government.

Stein downplayed those cuts and explained that using them as a political tool was a means by Obama to racialize the vote.

“The [budget] cuts have been absolutely minuscule, absolutely tiny unbelievably small,” Stein said. “And much more important has been the fact the Republicans by virtue of supporting the policies that stopped the crash in 2008-2009 from being a Great Depression stopped a real economic catastrophe. The Republicans are the ones who save this economy, not the ones that ruin this economy and as I say, whatever little tiny cuts they made here or there in welfare programs -- they were tiny, absolutely tiny.”

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Accused Cop Killer Kept Surprising Inventory In Hideout

Candles. A book of the New Testament. Contact lenses. A loaded pistol. A religious plaque. DVDs.

Those are just a few of the various items that police recovered in an abandoned airplane hangar near where Pennsylvania ambush suspect Eric Frein was captured last week.

Search warrant documents released Wednesday list more than 100 items recovered from the Birchwood-Pocono Airpark hangar, including maps, survival gear, a bolt-action rifle and a sniper rifle. They also recovered five magazines and more than 200 rounds of ammunition.

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Thanksgiving Day Buffet

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Offering a traditional Thanksgiving Buffet with all the fixings!  Smoked, Fried, and Roasted Turkey along with Mashers & Gravy, Stuffing, Sweet Potato Casserole, Buttered Peas, Collard Greens, and Cranberry Sauce! The buffet will also include an assortment of house-made pies and desserts!

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Evolution Craft Brewing Co. Public House

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Ben Carson officially changes political parties, rejoins GOP

The Senate wasn’t the only political player bracing for a party switch on Tuesday.

Ben Carson, the pediatric neurosurgeon turned conservative sensation after he confronted President Obama at a prayer breakfast last year, used Election Day to officially change his party affiliation from independent back to Republican, moving yet another step closer to a possible 2016 presidential run.

Mr. Carson, who grew up poor in Detroit and rose to success as a doctor at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Maryland, made the paperwork change in his new home state of Florida. He filed the paperwork in Palm Beach County.

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More Guns Plus Less War Equals Real Security

Last week's tragic shootings in Canada and Washington state are certain to lead to new calls for gun control. The media-generated fear over "lone wolf terrorists" will enable the gun control lobby to smear Second Amendment supporters as "pro-terrorist." Marketing gun control as an anti-terrorist measure will also enable gun control supporters to ally with those who support any infringement on liberty done in the name of "homeland security."

As with most infringements on liberty, gun control will not only make us less free, it will make us less safe. Respecting the right of the people to keep and bear arms is the original and best homeland security policy. Restricting the right of people to arm themselves leaves them with no effective defense against violent criminals or a tyrannical government.

Every year, thousands of Americans use firearms to stop violent criminals. One notable example occurred in September, when Oklahoman Mark Vaughan used a rifle to stop a knife-wielding co-worker who had already killed one person and wounded another. Unfortunately, most of the media coverage focused on speculation that the assailant was motivated by "radical Islam" rather than on Vaughan's use of a firearm to protect innocent lives.

It is no coincidence that states that pass "concealed carry" laws experience a drop in crime. Since passing concealed carry in Texas in 1995, murder in the state has declined by 52 percent. In comparison, the national murder rate declined by only 33 percent.

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FBI: Abducted Philadelphia Woman Found Alive In Maryland; Suspect Arrested

A Philadelphia woman whose abduction was caught on surveillance video has been found alive in Jessup, Maryland, and a suspect is in custody, an FBI official told reporters Wednesday evening.

The man arrested in connection with the abduction of Carlesha Freeland-Gaither has been identified as Delven Barnes, 37, FBI special agent in charge Ed Hanko said.

Barnes is currently being held on attempted capital murder charges in another case, Hanko said.

Freeland-Gaither was rescued after authorities identified the vehicle used in her abduction and put it under surveillance in Maryland, Hanko said. Jessup is southwest of Baltimore.

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Police charge 90-year-old man, 2 pastors with feeding homeless

Fort Lauderdale police charged three men -- including two pastors and a 90-year-old man -- for feeding the homeless in public on Sunday, the first such cases made by the city after the a new ordinance effectively banning public food sharings took effect Friday.

The first to be charged was homeless advocate Arnold Abbott, 90, who has been feeding the homeless in Fort Lauderdale for more than 20 years. Also cited were two Christian ministers -- Dwayne Black, pastor of The Sanctuary Church in Fort Lauderdale, and Mark Sims of St. Mary Magdalene Episcopal Church in Coral Springs.

All three men face up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.

"One of the police officers said, 'Drop that plate right now,' as if I were carrying a weapon," said Abbott, who runs a nonprofit group called Love Thy Neighbor, Inc. "It's man's inhumanity to man is all it is." 



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Why Did Kenneth Tate Lose His Job?

Kenneth Tate, the dude who was on the elevator with President Obama at the Centers for Disease Control, carrying a gun, got fired from his job with a contractor working for the CDC. And Tate wants to know: Why?

Several things as first reported about the story appear to be wrong, according to the New York Times.

1. Yes, he was carrying a gun. But unlike the first impression conveyed to us, he wasn’t just carrying a gun. He was a security officer carrying the gun issued to him by the CDC.

2. He doesn’t have any felony convictions. In fact, he hasn’t even been convicted of a misdemeanor. He may not quite be a boy scout. He has been “arrested several times, including on charges of robbery and assault, but never convicted,” according to the New York Times. Still, innocent until proven otherwise.

3. It appears he was taking photos not in the elevator – which made him seem like some kind of personal-space-invading lunatic – but outside as Obama left. He claims he stood back when the Secret Service told him too.

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Somerset County Sheriff's Office Press Release 11-5-14

Jeffrey Maurice Fisher Jr. of Salisbury, arrested 10-16-14 for driving under the influence of alcohol, driving while impaired by alcohol, possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Fisher was released on citations pending court actions. The arrest was the result of an investigation of a parked vehicle along Ocean Highway in the area of Eden Allen road.

William Bruce Johnson of Princess Anne, arrested 10-22-14 on a warrant for failing to appear in court. Johnson was held on a $10,000 bond.

Ronald Cleon Moore of Crisfield, arrested 10-22-14 on a warrant for violation of probation. Moore was later held without bond.

Steven Edward Lemon of Temeranceville Virgiinia, arrested 10-26-14 on a warrants for failing to appear in court. Lemon was later released on personal recognizance.

Darren T. Whittington of Goldsboro Maryland, arrested 10-28-14 on a warrant for failing to appear in court. Whittington was held on a $250.00 bond.

John Nelson Price of Westover, arrested 10-29-14 on a warrant for failing to appear in court. Price was later released on an unsecured bond.

Alvin Thompson Jr. of Princess Anne, arrested 11-3-14 on warrants for possession of suspected cocaine, and possession with the intent to distribute cocaine. Thompson was held on a $500,000 bond.  

How The Clintons’ Candidates Did (Not Well)

Bill and Hillary Clinton were the most sought-after surrogates on the campaign trail this cycle – criss-crossing the country to stump for Democrats in places where President Barack Obama couldn’t.

They flew into red states to stump for vulnerable Democrats, aided candidates from their home states and campaigned for family friends, former aides and other longtime confidants. Their itineraries included several stops in the politically significant states of Iowa and New Hampshire for Democrats in competitive Senate and House races.

But not even the Clinton’s political star power could spare Democrats from Tuesday’s bloodbath. Just 17 candidates backed by either Clinton won, compared to 31 who lost. One race will go into a December runoff, and 9 races had yet to be called as of early Wednesday.

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Verizon, AT&T tracking their users with ‘supercookies’

Verizon and AT&T have been quietly tracking the Internet activity of more than 100 million cellular customers with what critics have dubbed “supercookies” — markers so powerful that it’s difficult for even savvy users to escape them.

The technology has allowed the companies to monitor which sites their customers visit, cataloging their tastes and interests. Consumers cannot erase these supercookies or evade them by using browser settings, such as the “private” or “incognito” modes that are popular among users wary of corporate or government surveillance.

Verizon and AT&T say they have taken steps to alert their customers to the tracking and to protect customer privacy as the companies develop programs intended to help advertisers hone their pitches based on individual Internet behavior. But as word has spread about the supercookies in recent days, privacy advocates have reacted with alarm, saying the tracking could expose user Internet behavior to a wide range of outsiders — including intelligence services — and may also violate federal telecommunications and wiretapping laws.

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Voters in Three More States Reject Photo Enforcement

Voters in four US jurisdictions had the opportunity to vote on red light or speed cameras yesterday, and voters rejected the cameras. From TheNewspaper.com:

Voters in four jurisdictions were emphatic Tuesday in sending the message to local politicians that they do not want speed cameras or red light cameras in their community. By margins of over 70 percent, residents of Cleveland and Maple Heights, Ohio; Sierra Vista, Arizona (with 26 percent of votes tallied); and St. Charles County, Missouri voted to add themselves to the growing list of cities and counties that have outlawed photo ticketing."After four-and-a-half years we've finally done it," initiative organizer Jason Sonenshein told TheNewspaper. "It's great to have finally accomplished our goal."
With the vote was 77.5 percent in favor of the ban, Sonenshein expressed surprise at how late in the election campaign that Xerox, the city's private camera vendor, began pouring money into saving the lucrative program. Local radio and television advertisements featured former Senator George Voinovich praising cameras on Xerox's behalf. At the end of the night, it turned out not to matter with late results matching the sentiment of the early returns.
Activists in nearby Maple Heights also spent their time and effort with street-corner protests to bring awareness to the ballot initiative, not having the funding for a slick advertising campaign like the camera industry does.

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Forget the ‘Scholar-Athlete’

Last year’s column “Dishonest Educators” (1/9/2013) reported on the largest school cheating scandal in U.S. history. In more than three-quarters of the 56 Atlanta schools investigated, teachers changed student answers on academic achievement tests. Cheating orders came directly from school administrators. The cheating was brazen. One teacher told a colleague, “I had to give your kids, or your students, the answers because they’re dumb as hell.” Atlanta’s not alone. Teacher cheating has been discovered in other cities, such as Philadelphia, Houston, New York, Detroit, Baltimore, Los Angeles and Washington.

Rampant academic cheating is not confined to primary and secondary schools. Cheating occurs in the nation’s colleges, as discovered during an investigation at the Chapel Hill campus of the University of North Carolina, the state’s flagship university. Over two decades, more than 3,100 students enrolled in and received credit for taking nonexistent phantom classes in the university’s department of African and African-American studies. Nearly 50 percent of the students taking the phantom classes were athletes on the university’s football and basketball teams.

Students officially enrolled in African and African-American studies lecture courses that never met. According to a university-commissioned report, Deborah Crowder, the department’s administrative assistant, required students to turn in a single paper. The papers were often largely plagiarized or padded with fluff. The students were given A’s or B’s after a cursory read. The classes were widely known on campus as “paper classes.” The department’s chairman, Julius Nyang’oro, was the professor of record for many of the fake classes. The university’s academic support program for student-athletes notified both Nyang’oro and Crowder of what grades students needed “to remain academically or athletically eligible.”

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