Free Republic

American Jewish liberals can congratulate themselves – finally, the boycott of Israel has gone mainstream with Montgomery County, MD, deciding to drop its “Sister City” agreement with the Israeli town of Beth Shemesh. The reason for this unprecedented decision to stick it to a poor Jewish township within the “green line” has to do not with the Palestinians, but with the internal affairs of the Jewish state – namely, the recent spate of ugly attacks against women by some members of a local ultra-Orthodox sect. Celebrating this “brave” decision by his hometown, Marc Tracy pointed out in “Tablet” that Montgomery...

Pelosi endorses Rep. Jackson for reelectionBy Jordy Yager - 02/18/12 12:24 PM ET Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) has endorsed Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), whose reelection bid has been plagued by an ethics investigation. Pelosi joins President Obama and several other top Democrats in their endorsement of the Chicago lawmaker as he goes up against former Democratic Rep. Debbie Halvorson (Ill.) in a fierce primary battle next month. Though Halvorson has raised only one-fifth the amount of money that Jackson has, she has waged a relentless campaign against the incumbent lawmaker, frequently pointing to the House Ethics Committee’s ongoing...

The Maryland House of Delegates narrowly approved legalization of gay marriage late Friday, clearing the way for final passage next week and the expected signature of Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley. That would make Maryland the eighth state with a law on the books legalizing gay marriage, though it would have to survive an expected attempt to block it by referendum. In debate before the vote, Delegate Anne Kaiser, one of seven openly gay members of the House, said that she wanted, "Marriage. Nothing more. Nothing less." The final vote tally was 71-67, with the minimum number of votes needed for...

n his New York Times bestselling book, Throw Them All Out, Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer revealed how members of Congress enrich themselves and their relatives using earmarks and insider information. Now, the Washington Post, following in Schweizer’s footsteps, has conducted a study that found 16 members of Congress have used their power of the purse to benefit companies, colleges, and community groups tied to their relatives. *snip* Among those cited in the Washington Post report were the following (below):

Marylanders might have some extra inspiration when they download "Angry Birds" to their smartphones in coming months. The state would charge a 6 percent sales tax on virtually every downloaded product under an obscure provision in Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposed budget. In other words, that 99-cent downloaded song from iTunes would corst $1.06, and smartphone apps, e-books for your Kindle, ringtones, chat discussions and other digital products would get pricier. Among the few exceptions, gift certificates and gift cards would not be taxed.

Population increase is a natural sign of political health. By that measure, Baltimore has been sick a long time. Six straight decades of depopulation have reduced the city by a third. The "experts" assert that immigration is the key to a population rebound. In his Persian Letters, Montesquieu reflects on the fate of the great cities of Constantinople and Isfahan: "People, attracted for a thousand reasons, ought to flock to them from every direction. Yet they are decaying internally and would long since have perished, had not their sovereigns in almost every century caused entire new nations to enter and...

MIDDLETOWN, Md. - Heidi, the Golden Retriever puppy, loved to play - especially in water. "If there was a puddle in the driveway, she'd go roll in," says her owner Lynette Kaufmann. But when you called her name, Heidi came right away. That's why Kaufmann knew something was wrong Wednesday on her farm in Middletown, Maryland. For years, Lynette and her husband have been foster parents for rescue dogs, including Molly, who has a spinal injury. "I can't stand to think of a dog not having a home," she says. After a short run on the farm the other four...

Traveled by Native Americans, presidents, generals, gypsies and families seeking a new life in the west, “The Great Road,” known today as Frederick Road or Route 355, provided a path for both the adventurer and the entrepreneur. As the main route northwest from Georgetown, the last port on the Potomac River, it was heavily traveled from the mid 18th century until it was replaced by Interstate 270 in the 1960s. It began as an Indian trail leading from the Piscataway settlement at the mouth of Rock Creek to the great “Conestoga,” a trail that included footpaths and waterways (what we...

Religious and community leaders gathered outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices in Baltimore to protest the looming deportation of a Mexican woman who has four grandchildren in the United States. Josefina Rodriguez Vega, a 58-year-old undocumented immigrant living in Hagerstown, Maryland, was arrested last June for driving without a license and turned over to ICE. After several months under house arrest, Rodriguez Vega was taken last Thursday to an ICE detention center on Maryland's Eastern Shore, far from her home. With the legal options all but exhausted, she now faces imminent deportation to Mexico.

We now have to pay a 5-cent tax for each paper or plastic shopping bag we get at stores in Montgomery County, Maryland. And I've already gotten suckered into it twice on opening day. (This new tax went into effect Jan. 1 -- kind of like my free Wendy's Frosties, only it doesn't require me to bring my own cups!) I remember when the bag trend hit Washington, D.C., a couple years back, where everyone was charged 5 cents every time they needed a bag for purchases of food and alcohol (including, as luck would have it for me, Subway)....

Surgeons in Sweden have replaced the cancerous windpipe of a Maryland man with one made in a laboratory and seeded with the man’s cells. The windpipe, or trachea, made from minuscule plastic fibers and covered in stem cells taken from the man’s bone marrow, was implanted in November. The patient, Christopher Lyles, 30, whose tracheal cancer had progressed to the point where it was considered inoperable, arrived home in Baltimore on Wednesday. It was the second procedure of its kind and the first for an American. “I’m feeling good,” Mr. Lyles said in a telephone interview from his home, where...

Charles Hauboldt, a Texas funeral home owner, wants nothing more than to see his Houston Texans bury the Baltimore Ravens’ Super Bowl drive at this Sunday’s big game at M&T Bank Stadium. He’ll get his chance as the winning bidder for a playoff ticket auctioned by a Texas Catholic priest and rabid Ravens’ fan. Hauboldt’s high bid of $2,115 won him the ticket, a flight to Baltimore, lodging and ground transportation – not to mention the chance to sit next to Trinitarian Father Stan DeBoe, the man who put the ticket up for grabs. The money will be used to...

Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley has proposed a one-cent increase in the state’s sales tax in order to close the $1.1 billion deficit facing the state along with a bevy of other tax increases. He signed legislation in 2008 increasing the state’s sales tax to six percent; his latest proposal would increase the tax to seven percent. Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller (D-Calvert) has said he is not in favor of increasing the sales tax. Instead, he said he favors increasing the state’s gas tax by 5 to 15 cents per gallon. (At 25 years as president of the Maryland...

(For the short version, skip to the "Body of Comment" section.) This is a personal rant, and is why I will leave Maryland as soon as I can afford to. Please indulge. Thank you. The state of Maryland kicks a man while he is down. April 2010, I lost my job as a computer programmer. Though I interview at least twice a week, jobs are competitive and very hard to get. Perhaps my biggest pet peeve is the trend for employers to tell me, "You're hired. You will start as soon as we get the budget for the project approved."...

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley proposed Tuesday that the state spend $372 million on new school construction next fiscal year, unveiling a key initiative in his push to increase capital spending during the 2012 General Assembly. The proposed funds would be the second-most allotted by the state and would be well above the state-recommended minimum of $250 million for annual school construction. Mr. O'Malley, a Democrat, will recommend the spending as part of his proposed budget, which he will introduce this month. The assembly is expected to amend and pass a budget during its 90-day regular session, which begins Wednesday. “These...

News Print Article | Email Friend | Reprint Permissions Abortionist will be extradited to Maryland to face murder charges by Operation Rescue staff Tue Jan 10, 2012 12:19 EST Comments (0) Tags: abortion, nicola riley, operation rescue, steven brigham SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, January 10, 2011 (OperationRescue.org) – Abortionist Nicola Irene Riley made a brief appearance in court yesterday morning in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she waived an extradition hearing, clearing the way for her to be transported to Maryland to face murder charges. Riley was indicted last month by a Maryland grand jury on one count of first-degree...

What comes to mind when Mexican immigrant Elsa Garcia thinks of Baltimore's drawbacks? "Basura. O las drogas," said the East Baltimore resident. "Trash. Or drugs." Then, quickly, comes her list of Baltimore's pluses: Her husband has been able to find construction work. They have affordable housing. Police are not automatically suspicious of immigrants. (SNIP) At her inauguration, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake set the goal of increasing the city's population by 22,000 people — 3.5 percent — in 10 years. Drawing native-born people back from the suburbs and working to retain current residents will help stem the population decline but cannot alone...

In a video posted at The Blaze Wednesday, Fred Mason, President of the AFL-CIO in Maryland and the District of Columbia, called former Rep. Cyntia McKinney (D-GA) and Communist guerilla Che Guevara heroes. "Without a person like Cynthia McKinney, there would not have been a Barack Obama," he said while speaking at Baltimore's Union Baptist Church in late August. "And I was reminded of one of my heroes, Che Guevara, and his contribution to the Cuban Revolution," he added. According to Mason, Guevara was "an internationalist," who "was about oppressed people everywhere." "Anywhere there was suffering, he spoke out against...

Drivers leaving the newly opened Intercounty Connector at Exit 10 for Layhill Road have a choice listed on the big, green overhead sign: They can head south onto Layhill to go to Glenmont or travel north to go to Norwood. Norwood? “Anybody who’s lived here any length of time would say, ‘Norwood? Where’s Norwood?’ ” said Elizabeth Hartge, a lifelong resident of the area whose great-great-grandfather built the family homestead in 1855. Even local history buffs are stumped. “I wouldn’t know to call it Norwood,” said Cathy Case, interim director at the nearby Sandy Spring Museum and a resident of the...

A Maryland community is up in arms after state highway workers removed an American flag honoring military personnel from a traffic circle and threw it into a dump truck. “We want our flag back,” Rhonda Winkler told Fox News & Commentary. “We are patriots and we love America.” Winkler and her family erected the flag in a traffic circle three years ago in the town of Woodbine. They posted the flag to honor their nephew, a soldier deployed to Afghanistan. About a month ago a car crashed into the roundabout damaging a tree and destroying the original flag. So Winkler’s...

Gov. Martin O’Malley said Thursday that he was surprised and “very disappointed” when he learned that Richard Stewart, a member of the Governor’s Redistricting Advisory Committee, pleaded guilty last Thursday to failing to pay almost $4 million in federal Social Security and income taxes for a company he owned. “We had gone through the vetting process,” O’Malley said when he appointed Stewart, a Prince George’s businessman, to the five-member committee that drew the new lines for congressional and legislative districts. “It’s beyond me how anyone would take an appointment like this” and not disclose he was under investigation, said the...

Former Prince George’s County Councilwoman Leslie E. Johnson, who followed her husband’s ambitions into politics last year, will now follow in his footsteps to prison. Federal Judge Peter J. Messitte sentenced Johnson Friday to 12 months and one day in prison, despite arguments by her defense attorneys that her sentence should be downgraded to probation only. “Mrs. Johnson, I regret to say you are not an innocent spouse, you are a complicit spouse,” Judge Messitte said. “You knew at least along the way what he was doing. You knew the money was tainted.” Johnson also must serve two years under...

Pelosi: GOP tax bill ‘doesn't have a shot’By Mike Lillis - 12/09/11 01:01 PM ET Republican "extremism" is the only thing stopping Congress from finalizing an extension of the payroll tax cut and getting out of town for the holidays, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi charged Friday. The California Democrat hammered the tax package from House Republicans, warning that the addition of "poison pill" riders — particularly language expediting approval of the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline — means the bill is dead on arrival. "Their proposal doesn't have a shot," Pelosi said during a brief press event in the...

The following are statements issued by Patricia Nalley, President of the Anne Arundel County Board of Education, Dr. Kevin M. Maxwell, Superintendent of schools, and Vicki Plitt, Principal of Glen Burnie High School. Additionally, the school sent home a letter to parents this afternoon explaining the situation.

Democrats in Congress have proposed a new racial profiling ban that could thwart state and local laws on immigration enforcement, such as the controversial Arizona law currently tied up in federal court, by witholding federal funding for state and local law enforcement agencies engaged in "racial profiling" and empowering the Department of Justice (DOJ) to file lawsuits against state and local governments. Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and lead sponsor Ben Cardin, D-Md., are pushing the End Racial Profiling Act of 2011, which would, among other things, "withhold federal law enforcement funding if local and state governments failed to adopt effective...

President Barack Obama and the First Family will attend Towson University's men's basketball game against Oregon State Saturday afternoon at the Towson Center, the school announced today. A capacity crowd is expected for the game, scheduled for 2 p.m. tip-off. To accommodate expected delays entering the Towson Center, the ticket office, will call windows and gates will open at noon. All fans must be in the arena by 1:45 p.m., according to the school.

Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry took a shot at Rep. Steny Hoyer on Tuesday, arguing that the Maryland Democrat is part of a culture in Washington that is “making a great living up there…at our expense.” In a speech in Iowa, the Texas governor outlined a plan to slash government spending in part by reducing salaries for lawmakers. Asked about the proposal earlier in the day, Hoyer suggested that Perry was pandering to the Tea Party. “When people like Steny Hoyer come out there and go, 'Is this guy being serious?' Yeah, you better believe it Steny. Americans are serious....

The Columbia Association, which operates 23 pools in Howard, will join other communities that have made similar accommodations to create a more welcoming atmosphere for Muslims and other female swimmers. BALTIMORE SUN When Shehlla Khan’s husband became ill, it fell on her to take their three children to the pool. But for Khan, who is Muslim, the task was difficult. The Columbia resident said she was concerned about people watching her swim in the conservative, cover-all dress required by Islamic dress codes, and thinking: “What’s wrong? Why can’t you take it off?”

Baltimore broadcaster Lisa Simeone fired back Wednesday night after National Public Radio told the Baltimore Sun it was looking into her role as a spokesman for a group involved in the Occupy D.C. movement. The public radio veteran expressed puzzlement as to why NPR "objects" to her exercising her "rights as a citizen," and she questioned why such big-name NPR correspondents and hosts as Mara Liaason, Scott Simon and Cokie Roberts are allowed to operate under what appears to be a different standard than the one being applied to her. At issue is whether NPR feels her activities on behalf...

The Wall Street Occupiers have become embroiled in a slew of sexual assault allegations in recent weeks, and now Baltimore joins the list of cities with Occupations that have resulted in rape charges. In an interview with Fox Baltimore, a distraught woman who had previously joined the Occupiers claimed she was raped and robbed Friday night at the Occupy Baltimore’s waterfront campsite.She made it clear that none of the Occupiers came to her aid or tried to help her identify her attacker afterwards. The unidentified woman also told reporters that she couldn’t go home because her attacker had taken her...

Received in email from Mark Levin: ~~~~~~~~~~ In just one week I will be speaking at AFP Foundation's 5th annual Defending the American Dream Summit in Washington, DC and I hope you will attend! I will be joined by GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain, Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Judge Andrew Napolitano, BigGovernment.com's Andrew Breitbart, conservative authors Dinesh D'Souza and Jonah Goldberg, and many more for this exciting two-day event. AFP Foundation wants as many of you to attend as possible. Right now you can sign up for 25% off the $169 registration cost using the code AFPF25. Click here to register...

BALTIMORE (WJZ) – Indecent exposure. Videos of Baltimore students having sex spreading worldwide. WJZ first broke news of both sex scandals, and there are two police investigations underway at this hour. The incidents are provoking strong opinions online. Mike Hellgren has new insight into the controversy. Video of students as young as 14, having sex on school grounds in Baltimore has spread online.

Gov. Martin O’Malley has signed legislation outlining Maryland’s congressional redistricting map The Democratic governor signed the measure on Thursday, shortly after the state Senate took a final vote to correct about 24 typographical errors in the bill. The House of Delegates passed the bill on Wednesday. Maryland has eight seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The districts were being redrawn for the next 10 years in response to the 2010 census. Democrats who control the General Assembly say the map reflects population growth in the suburbs of the nation’s capital and along the Interstate corridor northwest of Washington. But...

For those in need of a good chuckle, Americans for Tax Reform recommends checking out the Democratic Governors’ Association’s twitter feed. The latest gem came this afternoon, when the DGA sent out a tweet touting Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s denunciation, during an appearance on Fox News this morning, of Republican opposition to Harry Reid’s millionaire surtax in the U.S. Senate. O’Malley began by referring to the current economic doldrums as “the Bush recession,” despite the fact that President Obama is in his third year in office. The good news is that the electorate isn’t buying such nonsense anymore. A new...

NPR Host/Occupy Protester Says She's Been Fired By Tim Graham Created 10/20/2011 - 10:56am AP is reporting NPR host/Occupy protest leader Lisa Simeone has been fired: "A freelance broadcaster who works for music and documentary programs has been fired from a job after NPR questioned her involvement in a Washington protest." Lisa Simeone said Thursday that she was fired from "Soundprint," a documentary show that is not produced by NPR, but by Soundprint Media in nearby Laurel, Maryland. "Simeone says she was fired Wednesday in a phone call during which NPR's code of ethics was read to her." Simeone is...

Did you get raped at Occupy Baltimore? Well, call the police if you must, but do you really want to be the one putting a damper on our good ol' fashioned protest? So seems to be the sentiment behind Occupy Baltimore's "Security Statement." The document touts the protest's plan for how to deal with sexual assault, and it's getting attention for lines like this: Though we do not encourage the involvement of the police in our community, the survivor has every right, and the support of Occupy Baltimore, to report the abuse to the appropriate law enforcement. Granted, while the...

One person was arrested and nineteen were transported to hospitals after a woman poured bleach and Pine-Sol on a fellow customer at a Wal-Mart in Arbutus. The Baltimore County Fire Department said that the store at 3601 Washington Boulevard had to be evacuated for nearly two hours Saturday after the department received reports of people throwing bleach and ammonia at each other. Baltimore County Police issued a statement Saturday afternoon saying that the woman who committed the assault left the store and turned herself in at the Wilkens Precinct, where she was placed under arrest. Most of the injuries were...

A 21-year-old Baltimore man has been arrested for attempting to blow up a military recruitment center in Catonsville with a fake bomb supplied by federal agents. Federal authorities say Antonio Martinez, also known as Muhammad Hussain, attempted to detonate what he believed to be a vehicle bomb this morning at the Armed Forces Career Center in the 5400 block of Baltimore National Pike. Court records paint Martinez as obsessed with Jihad and intent on punishing the military. He praised Nidal Hassan, the U.S. Army major who killed 13 people at Fort Hood, and discussed obtaining weapons and shooting up military...

Secret Service Agent-Turned Senate Hopeful: ‘I Like the President,’ but ‘Policies Just Wrong’ After more than a decade protecting presidents with the Secret Service, Daniel Bongino is currently running against the policies that the most recent president he worked under – President Obama – has moved along. Bongino, who quit his job with the Secret Service in May to run for the Senate as a Republican in Maryland, told us on ABC’s “Top Line” today that it’s nothing personal. “I like the president a lot personally. We had a good relationship. He was a wonderful man to me, and this...

A state lawmaker who was a central figure this year in the drama over whether Maryland would approve same-sex marriage was charged Friday with stealing campaign funds to pay for her wedding. Charges brought by the Office of the Maryland State Prosecutor allege that Del. Tiffany T. Alston (D-Prince George’s) spent thousands of dollars of campaign contributions to pay for wedding expenses and for the salary of an employee in her law firm. In several instances, Alston wrote herself checks from the account of “Friends of Tiffany Alston” and then cashed the checks for personal use, according to the prosecutor’s...

WASHINGTON -- Undocumented immigrants and dozens of supporters, including the pro-amnesty group Casa de Maryland, rallied outside Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices in the District Wednesday, demanding relief for four women facing deportation. The women, all mothers of young children, were among the protesters, clutching posters of their families and chanting. After a brief news conference, the protesters attempted to enter the federal building but were stopped by guards. About 30 minutes later, an ICE official emerged from the front entrance and briefly spoke with the women, but did not allow them to enter.

...Maryland raised approximately $6 million in July from the increase in the sales tax on alcohol (from 6% to 9%). If the new revenue in July turns out to be the monthly average, it would add approximately $72 million a year, less than the $85 million projected, when the increase was approved.ATR sounded the alarm this past April, noting that the alcohol tax increase was poor policy. Simply put, lifestyle taxes on alcohol and tobacco rarely fulfill their revenue projections and are neither a sustainable nor stable tax base. When Washington, D.C. increased the city’s cigarette taxes, they actually saw...

Chase had planned to spend the weekend in Ocean City painting but returned home early because of rain. He decided instead to set up at the Inner Harbor in front of the Harborplace shopping complex. Chase had laid out outdoor carpet, lined up cans of spray paint and set up his tip buckets when the video shows the two officers approached him and said he couldn't operate without a permit. The video shows Chase explaining that he had won a court injunction in U.S. District Court and had a right to paint where he was. Officers argued the laws were...

Fossil of the baby nodosaur. No, this isn't Jurassic Park. Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine with help from an amateur fossil hunter in College Park, Md., have described the fossil of an armored dinosaur hatchling. It is the youngest nodosaur ever discovered, and a founder of a new genus and species that lived approximately 110 million years ago during the Early Cretaceous Era. Nodosaurs have been found in diverse locations worldwide, but they've rarely been found in the United States. The findings are published in the September 9 issue of the Journal of Paleontology. "Now we...

Tanker carrying more than 3,000 gallons of gas stolen on Maryland's Eastern ShoreArticle by: Associated Press Updated: September 13, 2011 - 6:47 PM WORTON, Md. - Authorities in Maryland say a tanker truck carrying more than 3,000 gallons of gasoline has been stolen. **SNIP** The truck has an Alger Oil logo on the tank. It was stolen in northeast Maryland Monday or early Tuesday.

My neighborhood of 65 houses, located in a prosperous section of the most liberal county in liberal Maryland, is close to Washington, DC. We are close enough so that ten years ago today, we could see the smoke rising from the Pentagon. Today there is only one American flag displayed in this neighborhood. Mine.

In an example of how government at every level wastes tax dollars, one U.S. county is spending around $4 million in combined federal and local funds to house a dozen homeless people in an affluent community.That translates into more than $330,000 per person, which means that Uncle Sam might as well buy them each their own, fully furnished house. After all, the median single-family home in the U.S. costs around $172,000 so the government could also throw in a few years worth of utility bills and even groceries.Instead officials in Bethesda Maryland will spend the money to operate a three-story...

Maryland ranks as one of the most pro-union states in the country, according to a new study by a D.C. think tank. Out of the 50 states in the nation, Maryland tied for 40th on a ratings scale that favored free market and limited government, according to the Competitive Enterprise Institute. The study analyzed labor laws and regulations in each state, as well as current union deals in states where labor agreements are already in place. The ranking puts Maryland among the bottom 10 states in the study, just ahead of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut..... Experts say Maryland...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A Maryland teenager from Pakistan is being held in U.S. custody on terrorism charges, accused of soliciting funds and recruits to help a Pennsylvania woman known as Jihad Jane, two people close to the investigation confirm. Juvenile charges filed last month accuse the 17-year-old of helping Colleen LaRose support overseas terrorists she had met online, they said Friday.

A Pennsylvania woman known to authorities as "Jihad Jane" was charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, conspiracy to kill in a foreign country, making false statements to a government official and attempted identity theft. The indictment, unsealed Monday, charges that Colleen R. LaRose, and five unindicted co-conspirators recruited men on the Internet to wage violent jihad in South Asia and Europe, and recruited women on the Internet who had passports and the ability to travel to and around Europe in support of violent jihad.