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Artist: Jason Snyder
This Current Gallery profiles the work of Solomons, Maryland Artist: Jason Snyder
http://artwhino.com/, http://www.jasonsnyderart.com This Current Gallery profiles the work of Solomons, Maryland Artist: Jason Snyder ... more -
Maryland Cops Put 53 Non-Violent Activists on Terrorist List
Maryland State police placed the names of 53 left-leaning political activists into federal and state databases, labeling them as terrorists, the state's police chief admitted Tuesday.
Evidence that the state police had been infiltrating anti-war and anti-death penalty groups first came to light in July following a government sunshine lawsuit filed by the ACLU on behalf of a prominent peace activist named Max Obuszewski.
Police added Obuszewski and others to a federal database called the Washington-Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area database, The nation's main terrorist watch list is built from nominations from federal databases, but Maryland's current police superintendent told Maryland lawmakers that he didn't think the activists made their way onto that list, according to the Washington Post.
The Maryland spying on peace groups took place in 2005 and 2006, under the leadership of then-police superintendent Thomas Hutchins.
Hutchins defended the spying and the use of undercover informants in anti-war planning meetings, the Post reported.
"I don't believe the First Amendment is any guarantee to those who wish to disrupt the government," he said. ...
But Sen. James Brochin (D-Baltimore County) noted that undercover troopers used aliases to infiltrate organizational meetings, rallies and group e-mail lists. He called the spying a "deliberate infiltration to find out every piece of information necessary" on groups such as the Maryland Campaign to End the Death Penalty and the Baltimore Pledge of Resistance. When Hutchins called their members "fringe people," the audience of activists who filled the seats in the hearing room in Annapolis sighed.
The state is sending letters to those who were labeled as terrorists in the databases and trying to remove their names.
Threat Level is not surprised by the news.
When state and local police are charged with rooting out terrorists inside the United States, set up inside Fusion Centers and tasked with tracking all threats, police are bound -- if only out of boredom or need to keep their budget -- to find or manufacture terrorists somewhere.
In writing about these fusion centers in January 2007, we predicted this would happen:
Expect to see more fusion of legitimate political groups with terrorist groups in the future. These are the kinds of bureaucratic mechanisms that lead police to label Quakers as "criminal extremists," to infiltrate anti-war groups, peaceful protests and Critical Mass bike rides, and to file reports on anti-war protesters in Pentagon databases.
It's the architectural imperative. Maryland State police placed the names of 53 left-leaning political activists into federal and state databases, labeling them as terro... more -
Advantages of medevac transport challenged
One study, for example, found that helicopter transport made no difference for patients with severe injuries. Another found that while helicopter patients got initial treatment more quickly, they arrived at a hospital later than patients transported by ground ambulance.
Even as emergency medical officials in Maryland consider stricter criteria for flying patients, in the wake of last weekend's fatal medevac helicopter crash in Prince George's County, some trauma specialists think they should be exploring a more fundamental question:
Should accident victims be transported by helicopter at all, especially in urban areas?
The idea borders on heresy in Baltimore, a city whose pioneering trauma center became a global model and where Dr. R Adams Cowley coined the phrase "golden hour," defining how quickly a patient should get to a hospital to have the best chance of survival. "Whenever someone says they want to ratchet it back," says Dr. Thomas M. Scalea, physician in chief at Shock Trauma, "I tell them 'OK, how many people can die next year to make that worthwhile?'"
Yet with more than 500,000 medical transport flights now being operated in the United States each year, and eight fatal accidents in the past year, some trauma specialists question how often they are used.
Skeptics, including a few of the nation's top trauma surgeons, cite studies that cast doubt on some of medevac's basic assumptions - that helicopters get patients to a hospital faster than ambulances, or that they increase a trauma patient's chance of survival.
If hospitals and emergency medical systems assessed the research objectively, the skeptics argue, many systems would limit helicopter use to rural emergencies or extreme situations such as high-rise evacuation and offshore rescue.
"In Maryland there's a culture that you ought to use a helicopter and you have to go to Shock Trauma," said Dr. Kenneth L. Mattox, chief of surgery at Ben Taub General Hospital in Houston. "But why? The little data we have says ground ambulances are superior." One study, for example, found that helicopter transport made no difference for patients with severe injuries. Another found that while... more -
The End of the U.S. Financial System as We Know It?
A number of Republican House members and staff, along with others who are plugged in, are telling me that Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats will come back with a new bill that includes all the left-wing stuff that was scrubbed from the bill that was defeated today in the House.
As this scenario goes, the House Democrats need 218 votes, and they have to pick up a number of black and Hispanic House members who jumped ship because the Wall Street provisions, in their view, were too benign. So things like the bankruptcy judges setting mortgage terms and rates, the ACORN slush-fund spending, the union proxy for corporate boards, stricter limits on executive compensation, and much larger equity ownership of selling banks through warrants will all find itself back in the new bill. Of course, this scenario will lose more Republican votes. But insiders tell me President Bush will take Secretary Paulson’s advice and sign that kind of legislation.
Personally, if this scenario plays out, I would probably withdraw my support for the rescue mission and switch to plan B, which would center on the FDIC and its bank-recapitalization powers. The bank-ownership issue, in particular, could lead to heavy nationalization of America’s financial system with a three-house Democratic sweep in November.
I’m not forecasting, because I don’t know the next bill’s content. And while McCain’s polls are heading south, he could still win. But a three-house Dem sweep to implement some off the very onerous provisions being talked about could set up the end of the U.S. financial system as we know it.
I’m gonna wait and see. Obviously, the financial markets are in total collapse today. And the economic outlook is suffering.
Tough day. One of the worst I can remember.
Lawrence Kudlow A number of Republican House members and staff, along with others who are plugged in, are telling me that Nancy Pelosi and the Democra... more -
Mom tells cops icy bodies in freezer are her kids
LUSBY, Maryland (AP) -- A mother told police that child-sized human remains uncovered in her basement freezer were those of her two adopted daughters, and police believe that she is responsible for their deaths.
Police were investigating an abuse complaint Saturday when they discovered the remains encased in ice.
The mother told investigators that they had been in her southern Maryland home for at least seven months, and police said they are considering the case a homicide.
"We have reason to believe that's the two children in the freezer," Lt. Bobby Jones of Calvert County Sheriff's Office said Monday. "We believe that the mother, who adopted the two children, is responsible for it."
Autopsies would need to be completed before they know for sure that the remains are of the girls, who would be 9 and 11.
Deputies made the gruesome discovery in the home in Lusby, about 50 miles southeast of Washington. They were there with a search warrant to investigate the treatment of a girl who had run away and "showed signs of extreme abuse and neglect," the sheriff's department said.
The girl's mother, 43-year-old Renee Bowman, has been arrested, and a judge has ordered her held without bail.
She is charged with first-degree child abuse in the beating of the runaway 7-year-old, who was found wandering in the neighborhood wearing only a blood- and feces-soaked T-shirt.
The girl escaped from a locked bedroom by jumping out a second-story window, and Bowman admitted beating her with a "hard-heeled shoe," officials said.
Bowman told detectives that she brought the remains in the freezer with her to Lusby when she moved from Rockville, about 60 miles away, in February. Montgomery County Police are investigating whether the deaths took place in Rockville. Bowman has not been charged in the older girls' deaths. LUSBY, Maryland (AP) -- A mother told police that child-sized human remains uncovered in her basement freezer were those of her two ad... more -
Medical helicopter crashes in Md. park, killing 4
DISTRICT HEIGHTS, Md. (AP) -- A medical helicopter carrying victims of a traffic accident crashed in a suburban Washington park early Sunday after reporting bad weather, killing four of the five people aboard, authorities said.
It was the deadliest medevac helicopter accident in Maryland since the State Police began flying those missions nearly 40 years ago.
A veteran pilot, a flight paramedic, a county emergency medical technician and one of the traffic accident victims died in the crash, authorities said.
An 18-year-old woman also injured in the traffic accident survived. She was in critical condition at a hospital.
"This is a devastating tragedy for the families of all the victims," State Police Superintendent Terrence Sheridan said.
Killed in the crash were pilot Stephen Bunker, 59; flight paramedic Mickey Lippy, 34; emergency medical technician Tanya Mallard, 39; and 18-year-old Ashley Youngler. DISTRICT HEIGHTS, Md. (AP) -- A medical helicopter carrying victims of a traffic accident crashed in a suburban Washington park early ... more -
Cal Bears Examiner: Cal Bears victorious in Volleyball and Soccer
The Cal Bears finished up an 'Invitational' and a 'Classic' in women's sports today, while a men's team ensured that they'll be moving up in the polls.... The Cal Bears finished up an 'Invitational' and a 'Classic' in women's sports today, while a men's team ... more
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Artist: Leah S. Bassett
This Current Gallery profiles the work of Ellicott City, Maryland Artist: Leah Sarah Bassett
http://artwhino.com/, http://myspace.com/leahsarah_art This Current Gallery profiles the work of Ellicott City, Maryland Artist: Leah Sarah Bassett ... more -
Cigarette taxes are up -- so is smuggling
When Maryland doubled the cigarette tax to $2 a pack, some residents may have found a reason to quit. Smugglers, on the other hand, seem to have found a motive to step up their activities.
Since the tax increase took effect in January, agents with the Maryland Comptroller's Office have seized more than 46,000 packs of contraband cigarettes - smokes brought illegally across state lines. That's a nearly four-fold increase from about 13,000 packs seized over the same period in 2007.
And in the largest bust so far this year, agents confiscated nearly 8,000 cigarette packs after stopping a man driving a Chevrolet Astro van on Interstate 495 this month.
State officials say they would be hard-pressed to blame the sharp rise in smuggled smokes solely on higher taxes, but they suspect that the levy is a factor. Maryland has one of the highest tobacco taxes in the nation; neighboring states have some of the lowest.
Virginia's levy, for instance, is 30 cents a pack. That means a carton in the Old Dominion is $17 cheaper than in the Old Line State, creating an opportunity for smugglers to make a quick buck by selling out-of-state cigarettes here.
"It's just become even more profitable for smugglers now," said Jeffrey A. Kelly, director of the comptroller's field enforcement division, adding that his agents on surveillance duty also have spotted more Maryland residents in Virginia buying cigarettes. When Maryland doubled the cigarette tax to $2 a pack, some residents may have found a reason to quit. Smugglers, on the other hand, se... more -
Tractor-Trailer plunges from Chesapeake Bay Bridge
A tractor-trailer crashed Sunday on the eastbound Bay Bridge and plunged into the water, killing the driver, authorities said.
Two other people were seriously injured in the three-vehicle accident, Maryland Transportation Authority spokesman Jonathan Green said. He did not immediately release the identities of those involved in the crash. The tractor-trailer fell about 30 to 40 feet off the bridge into shallow water about 4 a.m. Sunday, Green said. The 18-wheeler was upright and its top was visible in about 10 feet of water in the Chesapeake Bay.
Green did not know what caused the crash. Authorities shut down the span to investigate and were routing vehicles to a parallel bridge. "Traffic has potential for backups," said Green, who advised travelers to adjust their schedules or plan alternate routes. Maryland Transportation Authority Web cameras showed traffic had slowed to a crawl in both directions on the parallel span.
The scenic four-mile bridges, which peak at about 186 feet, are a major artery to the Delaware and Maryland beaches. The eastbound span opened in 1952 and the parallel structure opened about 20 years later. A tractor-trailer crashed Sunday on the eastbound Bay Bridge and plunged into the water, killing the driver, authorities said. ... more -
MD mayor's dogs killed by SWAT after cops deliver pot
A SWAT team raided the home of a Washington, D.C.-area mayor, killing his two black Labrador retrievers and seizing an unopened package of marijuana delivered there.
Prince George's County Police said Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo brought a 32-pound package of marijuana into his home that had been delivered by officers posing as delivery men. The Tuesday evening raid was conducted by county police narcotics officers and a sheriff's office SWAT Team.
The package was addressed to Calvo's wife, Trinity Tomsic. His mother-in-law had asked the supposed delivery men to leave the package outside. Calvo has not been charged, though police said he, his wife and his mother-in-law are "persons of interest" in an ongoing investigation.
"We never opened the box. We have nothing to do with this box," Calvo said.
Sheriff's office spokesman Sgt. Mario Ellis says deputies "apparently felt threatened" when they shot the dogs.
Calvo said officers entered about 7:30 p.m., first shooting 7-year-old Payton. They then pursued 4-year-old Chase, who ran away and was shot by police from behind, he said.
Calvo said he doesn't have any idea how the package ended up at his house. He called the raid "the most traumatic experience" of his life.
Calvo, who called his town "Mayberry inside the Capital Beltway," gets a small stipend as mayor and works at the SEED Foundation, a nonprofit that runs public boarding schools for at-risk students. His wife works as a state finance officer.
"These were two beautiful black Labradors who were well-known in the community. We walked them twice a day; little kids knew their names and would come up to them and pet them," he said. A SWAT team raided the home of a Washington, D.C.-area mayor, killing his two black Labrador retrievers and seizing an unopened packag... more -
Mayor Targeted in Drug Raid
The Mayor of Berwyn Heights, Md. was the target of a drug raid Wednesday after a package containing several pounds of marijuana was shipped to his home, according to police.
Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo is still reeling after a team of heavily armed sheriff deputies burst into his home Wednesday.
"It was an explosion followed immediately by gunfire," said Calvo.
The deputies bound the mayor and fired shots, killing the Calvo's two black Labradors. Calvo tearfully expressed his love for his "good dogs" while showing ABC 7 reporter Brad Bell, exactly where they were shot by a Prince George's county sheriff.
According to sources, the deputies armed with a warrant were acting on behalf of a drug squad for Prince George's County Police. Detectives had learned that a box containing more than 30 pounds of marijuana had been shipped from Arizona and was addressed to Calvo's wife at their Berwyn Heights address.
After the Calvo's brought, unknowingly they claim, the package into their home Tuesday evening, the waiting officers moved in. The Calvo's said the box wasn't even opened when the officers stormed into their residence.
When asked if he is a drug dealer, Calvo said, "Of course not!" The mayor said he has no idea where the marijuana came from.
Neither Calvo, his wife nor her mother, who also lives in the home, have been arrested or charged with anything. Police said the investigation remains open.
The Calvo's insisted the investigation shouldn't involve them, saying the event was very traumatic to deal with. "We have to heal," said Calvo. The Mayor of Berwyn Heights, Md. was the target of a drug raid Wednesday after a package containing several pounds of marijuana was sh... more -
Victims of Maryland's police infiltration speak out
In classified reports compiled by the Maryland State Police and the Department of Homeland Security, I am "Dave Z." This nickname was given by an undercover agent known to us as "Lucy." She sat in our meetings of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, smiling and engaged, taking copious notes about actions deemed threatening by the Governor of Maryland, Robert Ehrlich. Our seditious crimes, as Lucy reported, involved such acts as planning to set up a table at the local farmer's market and writing up a petition. Adding a dash of farce to this outrage, she was monitoring us in the liberal enclave of Takoma Park, Maryland, a place known more for vegans than violence, more for tie-dying than terrorism..
Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act and the ACLU, we now know that "Lucy" was only one part of a vast, insidious project. The Maryland State Police's Department of Homeland Security devoted near 300 hours and thousands of taxpayer dollars from 2005 and 2006 to harassing people whose only crime was dissenting on the question of the war in Iraq and Maryland's use of death row.
My dear friend Mike Stark, a board member of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty is at times referred to in "Lucy's" report as a "socialist" and an "anarchist." One can only assume this is the pathetic time-honored tradition of reducing people to simple caricatures, all the better to garner Homeland Security grant money.
Veteran peace activist in Baltimore, Max Obuszewski, who initiated the suit, was as well consistently shadowed as he walked down the streets. His "primary crime" (their lingo) was entered into the homeland security database as "terrorism - anti govern(ment)." His "secondary crime" was listed as "terrorism - anti-war protestors." The database is known as the Washington-Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, or HIDTA. Yes, a respected peace organizer of many decades standing is checked as a terrorist, his actions listed as criminal, for doing nothing more than exercising his rights. It boggles the mind.
Former police superintendent Tim Hutchins defended these totalitarian practices by saying, "You do what you think is best to protect the general populace of the state." (The article mentioned that Hutchins is now a federal defense contractor. I guess The Global War on Terror is just the gift that keeps on giving for the Hutchins family.)
But "protect the general populace" from what? The surveillance continued even after it was determined that we were planning nothing more dangerous that carrying clipboards in a public place. Hutchins and the Ehrlich administration have undertaken an ugly violation of our civil rights, manipulating fears of terrorism to stamp out dissent. In classified reports compiled by the Maryland State Police and the Department of Homeland Security, I am "Dave Z." This nic... more -
Police surveillance of war protestors reveals: plans to distribute fliers; suspici...
What have we learned from the Maryland State Police's undercover spying program targeting peaceable groups opposed to the death penalty and the war in Iraq, other than that the police are prone to ludicrous misspellings? Well, here's a sampling of the "intelligence" gleaned during 288 hours of police surveillance in 2005-06, in reports unearthed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland:
· On Oct. 3, 2005, an undercover state police agent attending a meeting of activists ferreted out the fact that antiwar protesters were laying plans to distribute fliers at the Towson Town Center mall.
· On July 11, 2005, an officer attending an antiwar meeting held by "an activist named Bernie" and "five middle-aged women" discovered that in a protest held a week earlier at the National Security Agency, peaceniks shared cookies with NSA guards who issued them a citation for trespassing.
· On June 6, 2005, an agent who infiltrated an anti-death-penalty protest in Baltimore reported "no problems" at the event, attended by about 25 known and "currently unidentified recurrent death penalty protestors."
American governments have an inglorious history of spying on domestic dissidents; compared with FBI operations during the Red Scare, the Maryland State Police seem like Keystone Kops. But it's a mistake to dismiss Maryland's police espionage against its own residents as the work of hapless bunglers. In fact, it is pernicious and symptomatic of a post-Sept. 11 erosion of respect for fundamental civil liberties.
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Justice Department regulations explicitly prohibit police from gathering information on groups and individuals unless "there is reasonable suspicion that the subject of the information is or may be involved in criminal conduct or activity." But with state and local law enforcement agencies awash in federal money meant to root out domestic terrorist plots, civil libertarians have warned that police will start seeing potential terrorists and plots everywhere, "reasonable suspicion" be damned. The Maryland episode and other recent cases in Colorado and Massachusetts suggest their concerns are justified.
If the authorities equate dissent with criminal intent, they undermine the impulse for free speech and political activity itself. The specter of police infiltration can sow suspicion and paranoia and prompt people to keep their mouths shut. Could anything be more anti-American than that?
The police, invoking the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, suggest that any operation undertaken for any reason is legitimate. "In a post-9/11 world," said Col. Terrence B. Sheridan, superintendent of the Maryland State Police, officers are duty-bound "to protect the citizens of Maryland from threats foreign and domestic." But if they cannot distinguish five middle-aged peaceniks from criminals, the police themselves become the real threat to American society. What have we learned from the Maryland State Police's undercover spying program targeting peaceable groups opposed to the death p... more -
Maryland troopers spied on activist groups
Undercover Maryland state troopers infiltrated three groups advocating peace and protesting the death penalty — attending meetings and sending reports on their activities to U.S. intelligence and military agencies, according to documents released Thursday.
The documents show the activities occurred from at least March 2005 to May 2006 and that officers used false names, which the documents referred to as "covert identities" - to open e-mail accounts to receive messages from the groups.
Also included in the 46 pages of documents, obtained by the Maryland chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, is an account of an activist's name being entered into a federally funded database designed to share information among state, local and federal law-enforcement agencies on terrorist and drug trafficking suspects.
ACLU attorney David Rocah said state police violated federal laws prohibiting departments that receive federal funds from maintaining databases with information about political activities and affiliations.
The activist was identified as Max Obuszewski. His "primary crime" was entered into the database as "terrorism - anti govern(ment)." His "secondary crime" was listed as "terrorism - anti-war protestors." The database is known as the Washington-Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, or HIDTA.
"This is not supposed to happen in America," said Mr. Rocah. "In a free society, which relies on the engagement of citizens in debate and protest and political activity to maintain that freedom ... you should be able to attend a meeting about an issue you care about without having to worry that government spies are entering your name into a database used to track alleged terrorists and drug traffickers."
Mr. Rocah called the surveillance "Kafka-esque insanity."
State police Chief Col. Terrence B. Sheridan said the agency "does not inappropriately curtail the expression or demonstration of the civil liberties of protesters or organizations acting lawfully."
The surveillance of Mr. Obuszewski, of Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore, and another person came to light during his trial for trespassing and disorderly conduct in a 2004 protest outside the National Security Agency's headquarters in Fort Meade, Md.
Documents released by the prosecution revealed that the protesters had been under surveillance by an entity called the Baltimore Intelligence Unit.
The Maryland ACLU sued last month, claiming the state police refused to release public documents about the surveillance of peace activists.
The documents, which include intelligence reports and printouts from the database, show that several undercover officers from the state police's Homeland Security and Intelligence Division attended meetings of three groups: Mr. Obuszewski's group; the Coalition to End the Death Penalty; and the Committee to Save Vernon Evans, a convicted murderer who was slated for execution.
The documents show at least 288 hours of surveillance over the 14-month period. The undercover officers attended at least 20 organizing meetings at community halls and churches and a dozen rallies against the death penalty, including several at the state's SuperMax jail in Baltimore.
Included in the documents are references to a proposed sit-in at the offices of Baltimore County State's Attorney SandraA. O'Connor. However, they show no trooper reports of violence or threats of violence. Organizers repeatedly stressed the importance of peaceful and orderly demonstrations, the documents show.
***Article continues, click link to read*** Undercover Maryland state troopers infiltrated three groups advocating peace and protesting the death penalty — attending meetings and... more -
Ólafur Arnalds covers Ace of Bass and Frou Frou
Ólafur Arnalds is a classical composer from Iceland and recently visited the US.
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Identity Theft from Speeding?
People caught speeding in Maryland have their social security number, date of birth, and other personal information available to anyone online on the Maryland Courts Website.
Anyone think the State of Marlyand should remove this information ASAP? People caught speeding in Maryland have their social security number, date of birth, and other personal information available to anyon... more -
Local Maryland Webzine/Blog
Check it out, its fairly new, and not all the way finished, but should be pretty cool.
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Baltimore "worse than life under Soviet Communism"
This is from a blog very critical of Baltimore entitled "Baltiless." The writer states that he has three friends, two of whom were raised in Soviet territories and a third who grew up in communist China. All three agree that Baltimore is worse off than any city in their home countries when they were younger. This is from a blog very critical of Baltimore entitled "Baltiless." The writer states that he has three friends, two of wh... more
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Baltimore Post-Punks Revel in Hometown Glory
These are three songs by Double Dagger, an art punk band from the currently cutting-edge Baltimore city indie scene. They are incredibly intense live, and their 2007 album Ragged Rubble has brought much acclaim. Some EPs were announced for this spring, though they haven't come out yet, unfortunately. Quite frankly they are the best punk band in America, if not the world, right now. They can be found online at posttypography.com/doubledagger.
Songs:
"Luxury Condos For The Poor"
"No Allies"
"The Psychic"
[Video by YouTube user hexplosion.] These are three songs by Double Dagger, an art punk band from the currently cutting-edge Baltimore city indie scene. They are incredi... more
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