The White House - 1600 Daily: The days after Parkland

President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump visit Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Maddy Wilford her family | February 16, 2018 (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)

The days after Parkland
Following last Wednesday’s horrific shooting at a Parkland, Florida, high school, President Donald J. Trump addressed the Nation and issued a Proclamation honoring the victims and their families. 

On Friday, the President and First Lady visited with survivors at a Florida hospital and addressed law enforcement officers at the Broward County Sheriff’s Office to pay their respects and express their full support. The President also spoke with local officials such as Parkland Mayor Christine Hunschofsky to receive updates and thank them for their leadership. 

“Our entire Nation, w/one heavy heart, continues to pray for the victims & their families in Parkland, FL,” the President tweeted Friday. “To teachers, law enforcement, first responders & medical professionals who responded so bravely in the face of danger: We THANK YOU for your courage!” 

The President also spoke with Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) about proposed legislation to strengthen the Nation’s background-checks system for firearms. While discussions are still ongoing, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said yesterday, President Trump is supportive of the effort. 

Watch President Trump speak at Broward Health North Hospital.

Presidents’ Day—or ‘Washington’s Birthday’?

Merriam-Webster Word of the Day - Demarcate

WORD OF THE DAY February 21, 2018

demarcate    verb | dih-MAHR-kayt     Definition   1 : to fix or define the limits of : delimit   2 : to set apart : distinguish   Scroll down for more about demarcate       WORD GAMES AND QUIZZES: WEEKLY CHALLENGE   Namesakes Word Quiz   When names become words and then we ask you about them.     PLAY NOW     Nailed this quiz? We have plenty more to try!  TAKE ME THERE     Plus:   SEE WHAT LOOKUPS ARE TRENDING NOW!         Did You Know?   Demarcate is set apart by its unique history. Scholars think it may have descended from the Italian verb marcare ("to mark"), which is itself of Germanic origin (the Old High German word for boundary, marha, is a relative). Marcare is the probable source of the Spanish marcar (also "to mark"), from which comes the Spanish demarcar ("to fix the boundary of"). In 1494, a

Former Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Sentenced to Prison for Accepting Bribes to Dismiss Indictment Against Colombian Narcotics Kingpin

A former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI) Special Agent was sentenced today, Feb 15, to 36 months in prison for accepting bribes in exchange for orchestrating, through multiple misrepresentations to numerous government agencies, the dismissal of a drug trafficking indictment filed against a fugitive narcotics kingpin, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

According to admissions in his plea agreement, Christopher V. Ciccione II, 52, of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, accepted cash and other things of value and used his official position to cause a drug trafficking indictment against Colombian national Jose Bayron Piedrahita Ceballos to be dismissed.  Piedrahita and Colombian national Juan Carlos Velasco Cano met with Ciccione in Bogota, Colombia in December 2010, where they provided him with approximately $20,000 in cash, dinner, drinks and prostitutes.  In exchange, Ciccione disclosed the identities of confidential sources cooperating against Velasco three times,  made numerous misrepresentations to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and HSI management, and altered law enforcement records to represent to decision makers that Piedrahita was a “former” suspect of a closed investigation, rather than a “current” subject; that Piedrahita was “never positively identified” during that investigation; and that his case should be dismissed because no one could obtain probable cause to “supersede another indictment.”  Ciccone also falsified the concurrence of several other federal agents and attempted to parole Piedrahita into the United States.

Quote of the Day - Shakespeare

Otho Stuart, as Brutus.
Photo from Berkeley.edu

"There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, at the flood, leads on
to fortune.  Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries.  At such a full sea are we now afloat, and we must take the current when it serves or lose our ventures."

Photo of the Day - Bad Moon

A bad moon on the rise?

If you have a great photo from anywhere in the south central Ohio vicinity (or elsewhere) that you would like to share, please forward it for consideration for the Photo of the Day to SouthCentalBulldog@gmail.com.
(Unless otherwise credited, all photos are by the editor.)

Washington Court House: A City in Decline - Part 4, A Photo Essay

These photographs, taken over the past week or so, serve to show the decline of our community through illustration, rather than mere words.  Words do convey a message, but images often create a more lasting impression.

Included within, are a number of photos showing some positive changes around town; the type of changes we need more of.  Regrettably, the negative exceeds the positive.  Had the deterioration of our community occurred in one fell swoop, people would be up in arms.  But, deterioration happens slowly, incrementally, over a long period of time.  As such, it goes unnoticed and is accepted as being "just the way it is".

It is time for our fellow citizens to take off the blinders, stand up, demand change and work toward it.  All is not lost, unless we concede defeat.  I've not yet begun to fight.  How about you; are you willing to fight for change?
Previous articles may be found here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. 

Click on the photos to enlarge.

A Downtown Abandoned

Losing our History

Roots in Ripon - Norway in My Heart

Image from Madison365

Roots in Ripon

Chuck Roots

19 February 2018

www.chuckroots.com

The Ripon Bulletin

 

I have been deliberating with myself as to what topic I should address in this week’s article. There is the tragedy of yet another school shooting, this time in Florida, where a lone gun-toting teenager entered his former high school intent on mayhem and bloodshed. Believe me, this is a topic I could spend countless articles expounding, but my heart just isn’t in it right now.

There is the ever-pernicious Russian Collusion, raising its ugly head yet again with a report from the State Department indicting thirteen Russians and three Russian companies, charging them with attempting to influence the outcome of the 2016 Presidential election. Interestingly, the point was made that no Americans were involved in any collusion effort. This story was scrapped because it has become tiresome, with a media that is boorish in their frantic attempts to pin something, anything on this president in a strained effort to tear President Trump down.

Rather, the highlight of the week for me has been the Winter Olympics, held this year in Pyeongchang, South Korea. I am always fascinated by the dedication and toughness Olympic athletes demonstrate, whether in the Winter or Summer Games, spending countless hours training just for the opportunity to compete against others in your chosen discipline. I will say that I’m glad the two games have been rotated so that one of the games is held every two years instead of the old format where the Summer Olympics were quickly followed a few months later by the Winter Olympics. Then you had a four-year wait for this pattern to repeat itself. 

Admittedly, I enjoy the Summer games to the Winter, but both are great to watch. Having spent two years in Norway in my early teens, I learned to appreciate some different sports than what was offered back in the U.S. The games that we played in Norway were primarily of the winter sport variety, such as cross-country skiing, ice hockey, slalom skiing, downhill racing, and speed skating. Many more winter sports have been added since the early ‘60s. Snow-boarding in a variety of forms is a big one.

Four from Cleveland indicted for trafficking Oxycodone and hundreds of pounds of marijuana; five firearms and $2.1 million seized

Four Cleveland men were named in a 25-count federal indictment that charges they conspired to distribute at least 220 pounds of marijuana and 345 pills of Oxycodone, law enforcement officials said.

Indicted are Amer Jabir, 37; Ahmad Jabir, 22; Aymen Abdelrahim, 28, and Gerald Knox, 37. All four are charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute least 100 kilograms of marijuana and 345 pills of Oxycodone between 2015 and 2018.

There are additional charges for distribution of marijuana, distribution of Oxycodone, and related charges. Knox is charged with possession of a firearm related to drug trafficking and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The indictment also seeks to forfeit more than $2.1 million in cash, five firearms, a 2015 Range Rover, a $5,000 casino poker chip and miscellaneous jewelry seized from locations in Cleveland, North Olmsted and Chicago as part of the investigation.

Amer Jabir was the leader of an organization that brought hundreds of pounds of marijuana from grow operations in California to Chicago and then Cleveland. The marijuana was hidden in secret trap compartments in vehicles that were then placed in the back of car haulers, according to court documents.

Dozens of Clean FBI and DOJ officials working on indictments against the “Secret Society” and Deep State.

Joe DiGenova
Former Federal Prosecutor

By Keith Davies Political Correspondent

for Shoebat.com 

Joe Di Genova a former federal prosecutor and a man who is very well-connected in Washington, especially in the law enforcement community in an interview today explains what is happening behind the scenes.

Listen to this seven and half-minute interview on WMAL radio station which is in the Washington DC area and get the latest on the developments including the investigations of at least twenty-four leaks of classified information during the first months of Trump’s presidency. Heads will start to roll not just on the FISA scandal but on leaks by the Deep State.

Concord Township man indicted for child pornography crimes

A Concord Township man was indicted for child pornography crimes, said U.S. Attorney Justin E. Herdman.

Ronald B. Goldfarb, 62, was charged with receiving, distributing and possessing visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

The indictment charges that from on or about January 1, 2017, through on or about April 12, 2017, Goldfarb knowingly received and distributed numerous computer files which contained visual depictions of real minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The indictment also charges that on or about May 4, 2017, Goldfarb possessed a computer tower, external hard drives, and other computer storage devices that contained child pornography.

If convicted, the defendant’s sentence will be determined by the Court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, the defendant's role in the offense and the characteristics of the violation.  In all cases the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases it will be less than the maximum.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Carol M. Skutnik following an investigation by Special Agent Charles Sullivan of the FBI’s Youngstown office.