Scotland Confirms First Case of Ebola

A health worker who was treating patients in Sierra Leone has been diagnosed with Ebola in Scotland, the Scottish government announced today.

The health worker arrived in Scotland's Glasgow Airport on a British Airways flight at 11:30 p.m. last night after flying through Casablanca and London's Heathrow Airport.

The patient, who has not been identified, was admitted to the Brownlee Unit for Infectious Diseases at Gartnavel Hospital in Glasgow and placed in isolation at 7:50 a.m. local time.

His contacts are being identified and monitored, according to a statement from the Scottish government.

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Boston mayor proposes longer school day

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh has proposed to make the school day 40 minutes longer for around 23,000 public school students.

Walsh announced in a press conference on Friday that around 60 elementary and middle schools could host longer days in the hopes that children will gain a more comprehensive education.

Teachers in the Boston Teacher Union will be able to vote on the new plan on January 14.

In addition to longer days, teachers would make an annual stipend of $4,464 to pay for their extra hours of work.

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North Korea: The starving resort to cannibalism

“Communist Party officials have reportedly been confiscating what little food there is…”

Instances of cannibalism in two famine-struck provinces in North Korea are on the rise, as reported by London’s Daily Mail. What has been tagged as a “hidden famine,” the drought-plagued farming provinces of North and South Hwanghae have been hit so hard it’s been reported that up to 10,000 people have died of starvation.

One hunger-maddened Korean peasant reportedly killed both of his children for food. Undercover reporters from Asia Press told The Sunday Times (of London) that one man dug up his grandchild’s corpse and ate it.

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Bill de Blasio 2 Hours Late to Wake for Officer Rafael Ramos

On Friday evening, thousands of New Yorkers attended a memorial service for Rafael Ramos, one of the two NYPD officers assassinated a week ago by an Eric Garner protester. The service brought mourners from every corner of the city. Noticeably late was embattled Mayor Bill de Blasio, who made it to the service only just before its conclusion.

Ramos, 40, and partner Wenjian Liu, 32, were shot to death on December 20 as they sat in their patrol car. Both were murdered by a 28-year-old named Ismaaiyl Abdullah Brinsley who claimed he was avenging the death of a man who died after police used a choke hold on him as he resisted arrest in July.

Also in attendance were contingents from dozens of Police departments from as far away as Ohio, Georgia, and Maine—all of whom came to show support for the fallen officer, his family, and their fellow police officers in the NYPD.

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Youth & Adult Volleyball Programs Offered this Winter

Spike Express Youth Volleyball is back for another session this winter! This Youth Volleyball program will be held every Tuesday, January 6 through March 24, 2015 for participants ages 9 -14. Players will work on volleyball skills each week from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. Time will be allotted during each session to allow for teaching, practice and game play. Beginners and all skill levels are welcomed. The cost for this twelve week program is $25 per person ($20 for each additional child). The registration deadline is Friday, January 2. An additional $5 will be applied after the registration deadline.

The Men's 6 on 6 Volleyball League is designed for the player who wants to experience hard-hitting action and skilled competition. The League will meet on Tuesdays, January 6 through March 24, 2015 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. and is open to participants ages 14 and older.

The cost for this exciting volleyball league is $210 per team, all payments must be received prior to participation. The registration deadline is Friday, January 2, 2015.

Team representatives are required to attend the pre-season meeting and agree to act as a liaison between the Recreation Department and their players. Divisions and schedules will be determined based on the number of registered teams (4 team minimum is required). A $25.00 deposit is due at the team meeting Friday, January 2, 2015 at 6:00 p.m. at the Recreation Center in Snow Hill.

For more information on our volleyball programs, contact Chris Roberts at 410-632-2144 ext. 106 orcroberts@co.worcester.md.us. Visit our website at www.WorcesterRecandParks.org for a complete list of our youth programs or to sign up for email announcements. Don't forget to like us on Facebook.

Christmas Day robbery at Pope's retreat

A gang staged a Christmas Day robbery at a convent that the Pope uses as his summer retreat, assaulting the Mother Superior during their rampage.

Three men made off with €5,000 (£4,000) after the raid at Castel Gandolfo, 15 miles from Rome.

The gang broke through a window at 12.30am as the nuns of the Pius XII institute were at prayers as part of their Christmas vigil.

The raiders made for the Mother Superior’s office, and began to search it for cash.

Hearing noises, she went to investigate but was grabbed, threatened and pushed to the floor.

The men then made her lead them to her bedroom, and forced her to hand over a cashbox containing money for the convent’s bills.

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This firefighter got drunk and decided to do something really stupid

FRANKLIN COUNTY, Kan. — Instead of responding to an emergency call, this firefighter allegedly created one of her own.


Chelsea Matthew, 24, a volunteer firefighter in Kansas, is accused of taking a fire truck on a joy ride while intoxicated, according to KCTV.

While driving the truck with sirens blaring, Matthew used the radio to contact emergency dispatchers. When asked what the emergency was, Matthew allegedly said she was being followed by a fellow firefighter who was trying to kill her.

Dispatchers sent a deputy to investigate the situation. Law enforcement was able to get Matthew to pull the fire truck over safely. The fire truck was not damaged during the unauthorized trip.
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Republicans see diversity in their 2016 hopefuls

WASHINGTON (AP) — Long criticized as the party of old white men, Republicans are seeing a diverse group of people step up for possible contention in the 2016 presidential race.

This class of contenders could include two Hispanic senators, an Indian-American governor, a female business leader and an African-American neurosurgeon. In a group that could exceed a dozen Republican White House prospects, all but a few are in their 40s or 50s, while one of the oldest white men is a fluent Spanish speaker whose wife is a native Mexican.

This development is a point of pride for those Republicans who have long pushed for a welcoming “big tent” party.

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The Destruction Of The Middle Class Is Nearing The Final Stages

The events of the past few months seem astounding when taken in all at once. The plan to destroy the U.S. dollar and the American middle class is moving at an ever increasing speed.

At the recent G20 meeting the nations agreed that bank deposits would no longer be considered money. These bank deposits become the property of the banking institution and as such can be used any way the bank wants. This means that any money you deposit in a bank now is no longer yours but makes you an investor in the bank and subject to lose that money if a banking crisis takes down the bank.

The spending bill just passed by congress makes the American taxpayer responsible for any derivatives loses that banks may suffer. These derivative holders now have first priority when any funds are paid out and depositors are relegated to last place. FDIC insurance will have to pay out these funds but it has no where near enough money to pay the more than 300 trillion in losses that will be suffered in a banking crisis. That means any depositor has little hope of getting anything back. In order for depositors to get anything back massive money printing would have to take place making any payout amount to only pennies on the dollar.

And if you don’t think there is any danger of a banking crisis in America you may want to keep in mind that the Treasury Dept. has recently ordered $200k worth of 72 hr emergency kits for dispersion to every major bank in America. These are known by many as bug-out-bags and are used to support individuals when disaster strikes and they have to care for themselves for the first few days of crisis.

New legislation now gives pension plans the ability to cut benefits to pensioners in the future making the future welfare of these people uncertain. They say it is necessary to prevent these funds from going bankrupt. It will “apply to multi-employer pensions, where a group of businesses in the same industry join forces with unions to provide pension coverage for employees. The plans cover some 10 million U.S. workers,” You may be happy to know this will not affect congressional pensions, as long as they are funded by the taxpayers.

The sanctions being placed on Russia are beginning to destabilize the world in many ways. The sudden drop in oil prices will send ripples through many foreign nations and cause an already tense situation to become highly flammable. It seems this is what is wanted to provoke a new world war and hide the complicity of bankers and politicians in the coming destruction of the economy.

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WISCONSIN GAZETTE: REPEAL OF ‘STUPID’ 2ND AMENDMENT PAST DUE

On December 28, the Wisconsin Gazette (WG) ran a column claiming “it is long past time to repeal the stupid Second Amendment.”

The Second Amendment has been part of Constitution since 1791. But according to the WGcolumn, the individual right to keep and bear arms did not exist until the Supreme Court’s ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008).

Here’s an excerpt from the column:

The fate of the Second Amendment should have been sealed when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that past rulings by their predecessors were wrong, that in fact, the amendment that provided for a “well regulated militia” really guaranteed every individual the right to own a gun. Wow. That is an interesting reading of the English language. What the Supremes have done is to not only warp the meaning and make it into twisted law, but to further prohibit states and local governments from declaring their places free of legal guns. The conservative court once again [ruled] against the power of states, a principle that used to be associated with darn liberals who wanted to make sure everyone had the right to vote, for example, even though they weren’t properly white enough.

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Police outside cop funeral turn backs on NYC mayor

NEW YORK (AP) — Thousands of police officers from across the nation packed a church and spilled onto streets Saturday to honor Officer Rafael Ramos as a devoted family man, aspiring chaplain and hero, though an air of unrest surrounding his ambush shooting was not completely pushed aside.

While mourners inside the church applauded politely as Mayor Bill de Blasio spoke, hundreds of officers outside turned their backs on him to protest what they see as his support for demonstrators angry over killings by police.

The rush of officers far and wide to New York for Ramos' funeral reminded some of the bond after the Sept. 11 attacks and Superstorm Sandy. Vice President Joe Biden promised that the "incredibly diverse city can and will show the nation how to bridge any divide."

Still, tensions were evident when officers turned away from giant screens showing de Blasio, who has been harshly criticized by New York Police Department union officials as a contributor to a climate of mistrust that preceded the killings of Ramos and his partner, Wenjian Liu.

Sgt. Myron Joseph of the New Rochelle Police Department said he and fellow officers turned their backs spontaneously to "support our brothers in the NYPD."

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Here’s What Shariah Law Apparently Has to Say About Women’s Facebook Passwords

An Islamic preacher says that women who keep their social media and cellphone passwords secret from their husbands are violating shariah law, asserting that husbands are entitled to and must demand to know that information.

The Middle East Media Research Institute reported that Palestinian cleric Sheik Khaled Al-Maghrabi gave a lecture at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque earlier this month in which he said women who withhold the passwords to their cellphones, computers or social media accounts, including Facebook, are violating Islamic law.

“In marital relations, the wife must not keep any secrets from her husband,” Al-Maghrabi said according to MEMRI. “If the wife has a cell phone and she uses a password, but refuses to give her husband the password, this constitutes a violation of Islamic law. This is prohibited. A woman is not allowed to block her cell phone from her husband.”

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NSA reports detail decade's worth of privacy violations

The National Security Agency has quietly released more than a decade of reports detailing surveillance activities that potentially violated U.S. citizens' privacy rights.

Covering NSA activities from mid-2001 to 2013, the heavily-redacted reports document possible abuses, including instances of employees emailing classified information to unauthorized recipients or issuing “overly broad or poorly constructed data queries that potentially targeted” Americans.

The agency, required by executive order to submit the reports to the President’s Intelligence Oversight Board, posted the information publicly on Christmas Eve in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from the American Civil Liberties Union.

One of the released reports, from 2012, said an NSA analyst "searched her spouse’s personal telephone directory without his knowledge to obtain names and telephone numbers for targeting." The analyst was "advised to cease her activities."

In another case from 2012, information on a U.S. citizen was "disseminated to a foreign partner" before later being recalled and its deletion confirmed, according to the report.

In 2009, a U.S. Army sergeant received punishment, including a reduction in rank, after he used an NSA system "to target his wife," according to The Wall Street Journal.

Civil-liberties groups pounced on the disclosures.

The documents show “how the NSA has misused the information it collects over the past decade," said Patrick Toomey, a staff attorney with the ACLU’s National Security Project. "They show an urgent need for greater oversight by all three branches of government."

The NSA, though, said that the "vast majority" of cases "involve unintentional technical or human error."

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Breaking: Black Male in Trench Coat Stabs Five People at Popular DC Restaurant

A black male entered McFadden’s Restaurant and Saloon on Saturday night and stabbed five people before fleeing the popular establishment.

There were reports of blood all over the floor.

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ANTI-POLICE PROTESTERS PLAN TO DISRUPT NEW YEAR’S EVE CELEBRATIONS

Anti-police protesters are planning to disrupt New Year’s Eve celebrations at major metropolitan sites. The website Stop Mass Incarceration calls upon activists to not allow New Years Eve 2015 “to go down because business as usual in Amerikkka includes wanton police murder of Black people.”

The announcement says that as Americans around the country ringing in the New Year must be disrupted:

“The refusal of grand juries in Ferguson and Staten Island to indict the cops who murdered Michael Brown and Eric Garner made this clear. So the powerful, beautiful and necessary outpourings that have disrupted this society’s normal routine must continue and escalate on New Years Eve and into the New Year.

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SPD PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT –UNATTENDED VALUABLES

SPD Press Release 12-29-14 (Shoplifting)

WCSO: Can you help ID the perpetrators??

Wicomico County Sheriff's Office

Can you help ID the perpetrators??

Incident: Vandalism, 26 December 2014

Location: 25000 block of Collins Wharf Road, Allen, MD

On 26 December 2014 at 8:11 AM a deputy began an investigation into a reported act of vandalism on the property of a sod farm in the 25000 block of Collins Wharf Road in Allen. Sometime during the overnight hours, an unknown subject drove a vehicle across the sod farm causing substantial damage to the product.

Anyone with any information about the identity of the perpetrators in this crime is asked to contact the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office.

Information may also be relayed anonymously to Crime Solvers of the Lower Eastern Shore at 410-548-1776. Information relayed to Crime Solvers that leads to an arrest will be eligible for a cash reward up to $1,000.00

The Interview was censored for release

Sony cut 10-minute Kim Jong-un gay orgy scene from 'The Interview' before releasing it to theaters

Sony producers censored The Interview when they released the controversial movie last week, editing out at least on racy scene depicting North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un participating in a gay orgy.

The scene was described in a version of the film's script, which was released online in a hack on the Sony production company, but did not appear in the film released online and in a few small movie theaters.

The hack is believed to have been carried out by a group with ties to the North Korean regime, which threatened action against Sony if they released the movie critical of their leader.

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WCSO Press Releases December 29, 2014

THIS IS A LONG PRESS RELEASE. PLEASE CLICK THE 'READ MORE' LINK BELOW TO SEE THE ENTIRE RELEASE

Cooper, VernonIncident: WCSO Most Wanted Arrest

Date of Incident: 15 December 2014

Location: Baltimore, MD

Suspect: Vernon Alonzo Cooper Jr., 25,Middle River, MD

            

Narrative:    On 15 December 2014 authorities located and arrested one of Wicomico County’s “Most Wanted” fugitives, Vernon Alonzo Cooper in Baltimore. Cooper was being sought on a Circuit Court Bench Warrant that had been issued after Cooper violated the terms of his probation following a conviction on charges stemming from a high speed pursuit that traversed Wicomico County.

Cooper was transported back to Wicomico County where he was detained without bond pending an appearance in front of a Circuit Court Judge.

Charges: Violation of Probation

Walker, DavidIncident: Fugitive Arrest

Date of Incident: 19 December 2014

Location: Delaware

Suspect: David Clyde Walker Jr., 43, Delmar, MD

            

Narrative:    On 19 December 2014 a deputy extradited David Walker back to Wicomico County from Delaware where he was being detained as a fugitive from Wicomico County. Walker was being sought on five Circuit Court Bench Warrants and one District Court Bench Warrant, all issued after he failed to appear for cases where he had been charged with Burglary, Theft and traffic related charges.

Walker was detained in the Detention Center without bond.

Charges: Failure to Appear

Parks, NicholasIncident: Habitual Beggar

Date of Incident: 19 December 2014

Location: U.S. Rt. 13 at Northpointe Dr., Salisbury, MD

Suspect: Nicholas W. Parks, 28, Delmar,MD

            

Narrative:    On 19 December 2014 at 2:30 PM a deputy observed a subject identified as Nicholas Parks standing in the median strip of U.S. 13 in the area of Northpointe Drive and observed that Parks was holding a sign that stated “Homeless Need Help.” The deputy also observed that Parks walked into the roadway to collect money from passing motorists. The deputy had warned Parks the day before to stay away from this location and to stop walking into the roadway to collect money. The deputy was also familiar with multiple encounters where law enforcement had warned Parks about soliciting in the roadway.

The deputy placed Park sunder arrest for Failing to Obey the previous warnings and violation of the County Ordinance that prohibits vagrants soliciting for money.

Parks was processed at the Central Booking Unit and taken in front of the District Court Commissioner.Following an initial appearance, the Commissioner released Parks on Personal Recognizance.

  

Charges: Failure to Obey a Lawful Order and Habitual Beggar