Tag: maryland

Maryland Medical Examiner Officially Rules Black Man Found Hanging From Tree Died by Suicide — Online Lynching Narrative Collapses

Maryland’s chief medical examiner has officially ruled that a Black man found hanging from a tree in Prince George’s County on Sunday morning died by suicide.

The ruling came Monday, just one day after the body was discovered high in a tree in front of an industrial business on the 9300 block of D’Arcy Road in unincorporated Upper Marlboro, WTOP News reported.

Police and fire crews arrived around 7:55 a.m. Sunday. The man was pronounced dead at the scene. Because of the height of the body and the need to wait for the medical examiner, many drivers passing by saw the grim sight. Photos quickly spread on social media. Almost immediately, users began calling it a lynching.

County Executive Aisha Braveboy, a Democrat, held a press conference Monday and pleaded with the public to stop.

“Don’t ask for clickbait and use this tragedy to get followers or to get likes, because this is a tragedy,” she said. “A person is dead. He’s dead, and he took his own life.”

Braveboy added that officials “will tell the truth” and she would not entertain “theory, innuendoes and folks who just want to spew, quite frankly, untruths.”

The Maryland Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined the man died of suicide by hanging with no other signs of trauma.

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Body Cam Footage Reveals Maryland Democrat State Sen. LIED to Police About Drunken Hit-and-Run — Cops Let Him Walk Without a Sobriety Test as He Says “Governor Will Take Care of It”

Newly released body-camera footage and surveillance video have raised serious questions about Maryland Democratic state Sen. C. Anthony Muse after his Land Rover struck a parked vehicle and ended up partially on a sidewalk and on top of a tree.

The footage, obtained by Gary Collins of Spotlight on Maryland and reported by Fox Baltimore, shows Muse telling officers that his “driver” had parked his Land Rover Defender on a sidewalk and against a tree, an account that surveillance video directly contradicts.

The video shows Muse himself behind the wheel, maneuvering the SUV for several minutes before getting out and walking away alone.

The incident began shortly after 8 p.m. on Aug. 3 in Annapolis’s Eastport neighborhood while the Maryland General Assembly was meeting in special session over congressional redistricting. Muse’s SUV struck the mirror of a parked vehicle, and witnesses say he didn’t stop.

One caller told dispatchers she was “pretty sure he is intoxicated.”

Surveillance video shows Muse’s SUV later maneuvering for several minutes before coming to rest partly on the sidewalk and on top of a tree in the 400 block of Fourth Street. Annapolis parking enforcement issued a $100 citation.

When parking enforcement officers approached, one radioed to police: “The senator just entered the vehicle. I’m not sure he should be driving.”

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FDA Using Taxpayer Dollars to Buy Young Baboons for Infection Experiments in Maryland

The Food and Drug Administration is buying up young baboons with taxpayer dollars so researchers can infect and kill them for research in Maryland.

White Coat Waste Project has released a new report detailing how the agency issued a $368,626 purchase order on August 31 to buy 20 baboons for pertussis experiments at its Maryland primate laboratory.

An active protocol allows the lab to use up to 48 animals.

Some of the baboons will receive experimental vaccines or antibodies. Others will get no protection at all. Then researchers will pump the bacteria that cause whooping cough into their windpipes and noses.

The primates will be subjected to violent coughing, vomiting, breathing problems, fever, weight loss, nasal discharge, and weeks of illness.

Staff will draw blood and swab noses and throats again and again.

Some of the animals will be killed and dissected so researchers can examine their lungs, windpipes, and lymph nodes.

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Maryland Gov. Cheers State Supreme Court Ruling on Redistricting Plan to Remove Sole GOP Congressional District – Rep. Andy Harris Responds

Maryland Governor Wes Moore released a video statement on Saturday, announcing that a ballot initiative to erase the state’s single Republican district was approved by the Maryland Supreme Court and vowing to use the ruling to disenfranchise state Republicans. 

Per Politico:

The Maryland Supreme Court on Thursday gave Democrats a victory in the state’s protracted redistricting battle, allowing the Legislature’s proposed amendment on redistricting that party leaders want to clear the way for a 2028 gerrymander to appear before voters in November.

If approved by voters on Election Day, the measure known as Question 3 will prevent future Democratic redraws from being subjected to strict compactness and geographic standards that undid their last attempt at an 8-0 map in 2022.

Following the ruling, Democratic Maryland Governor Wes Moore applauded the ruling, claiming it means “that the power of our democracy belongs in the hands of the people.”

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Judge Halts Another Democrat Scheme To Rig State Congressional Maps

Democrats have done a lot of weaselly things in the pursuit of power, but their ploy to grab a congressional seat by a quick and crooked change to Maryland’s constitution is a real doozy. 

A Maryland judge this week saw through the legally tortured redistricting scheme and put the kibosh on the hastily made ballot question. 

Anne Arundel County Circuit Court Judge Robert J. Thompson on Wednesday enjoined the Maryland State Board of Elections from putting an amendment question on the Nov. 3 ballot that the legislature unlawfully conceived. 

“Because the legislature did not follow the very laws it enacted, the court finds the enactment of HB2100 to be legally deficient,” Thompson wrote in his pointed opinion. The Board of Elections immediately appealed the decision to the Maryland Supreme Court. 

Shrugging Off the Law 

The rushed plan effectively seeks to wipe out the Old Line State’s sole Republican-held congressional district, just as Democrats tried and failed to do in Virginia earlier this year. 

As court records spell out, the General Assembly just last session passed a bill that established new content requirements for statewide ballot questions and set a July 1 deadline for amendment questions to be submitted to the Board of Elections. Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat with presidential aspirations, backed the Senate bill. The law went into effect on June 1. 

A month and a half later, Moore issued a proclamation calling the General Assembly into “Extraordinary Session” to begin on Aug. 3. The purpose? To “pass legislation to amend the State constitution to clarify and reaffirm that the provisions which govern the requirements of our State legislative districts to not apply to Maryland’s congressional districts.” 

But the special session convened more than a month after the July 1 ballot certification deadline. The General Assembly disregarded a law that it recently had passed. It was fresh of mind. They couldn’t have forgotten about it. 

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Hakeem Jeffries Humiliated as Maryland Gerrymander Scheme Crashes in Court

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has suffered another embarrassing setback in his campaign to capture congressional seats through aggressive Democratic redistricting.

This time, a Maryland judge blocked a proposed constitutional amendment that could have threatened the state’s lone Republican congressional district, as reported by Red State.

Jeffries, who represents New York’s Eighth District, personally traveled to Maryland to encourage Democrat lawmakers to pursue the plan.

His lobbying effort now looks like another wasted trip in a growing series of legal defeats for his party.

Anne Arundel County Circuit Court Judge Robert J. Thompson ruled Wednesday that the amendment cannot appear on the November ballot.

He found that lawmakers missed a statutory deadline, presented voters with misleading ballot language, and violated Maryland’s single subject rule.

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Maryland Court Strikes Down Nation’s First State Tax On Digital Advertising

A state tax court in Maryland invalidated the nation’s first state tax on digital advertising and directed state officials to refund tax payments already collected from major tech companies.

The legal dispute had been closely watched by other states that are considering taxing online advertisements.

The Annapolis-based Maryland Tax Court ruled on Aug. 14 that the digital advertising gross revenues tax was unconstitutional after it was challenged in three separate lawsuits by Google, Apple, and Peacock TV. Refunds are expected to run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The state imposes the levies based on the businesses’ global revenue. Lawmakers previously said the tax could raise $250 million per year. The money raised from the tax was earmarked for a state education program.

The 2021 tax statute specifically targets the revenue large companies earn from digital advertisements shown in Maryland. Companies that take in more than $100 million in annual global gross revenue were taxed at 2.5 percent.

A sliding scale applies to companies with larger revenues, maxing out at 10 percent for those earning more than $15 billion in global gross annual revenues.

The law’s backers argued that Maryland needed to overhaul its tax system to deal with major changes in how businesses advertise. Lawyers representing the affected companies said their clients were targeted unfairly.

The state court said the tax runs afoul of the federal Internet Tax Freedom Act, the First Amendment, and the due process and commerce clauses of the U.S. Constitution.

The court held that regulating interstate commerce was the business of Congress – not the Maryland General Assembly – and that it was inappropriate that the tax law was premised on global revenue rather than revenue that comes from in-state advertising.

The Internet Tax Freedom Act forbids taxation of electronic commerce if similar services are not taxed. The court held that there is no meaningful distinction between digital advertising and print or billboard ads, meaning the federal bar applies.

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University of Maryland “Greatly Troubled” After Professor Arrested by ICE at Dallas Airport for Overstaying Visa – DHS Says He’s an “Illegal Alien from Ethiopia”

A University of Maryland (UMD) professor was arrested by ICE last month at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport two weeks ago, sparking more outrage from the left-wing media. 

Despite being here illegally, he’s received the title of the “teacher of the year” who was detained by ICE.

Berhanu Kibret, an Ethiopian professor at the UMD School of Pharmacy, was in the US illegally on an overstayed visa, which expired in May 2024, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

According to the University, he was “returning from a meeting of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, where he received a Teacher of the Year award” at the time of his arrest.

The university said they were “greatly troubled” and that “Kibret has a valid Work Authorization, so it is our hope that any issues surrounding his status will be quickly resolved,” according to CBS.

However, the Department of Homeland Security described Kibret as an “illegal alien from Ethiopia” in a statement.

“Geresu Kibret entered the country on June 21, 2021, on a visa set to expire on May 31, 2024. Against our nation’s laws, he overstayed his visa and failed to depart. He will remain in ICE custody pending his immigration proceedings,” DHS said, noting that “being in detention is a choice.”

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‘Not appropriate’: Blue-state attorney general paid $570 an hour to law firm that contributed to his campaign

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown’s office agreed to pay $570 an hour to attorneys at an outside law firm that contributed to Brown’s campaign, records obtained by The Center Square show.

Four additional law firms that received contracts with the AG’s office donated to the campaign of Brown, a Democrat, records show. Together, the five firms and their affiliated political action committees contributed $30,250 to Brown’s campaign committee.

Brown’s office signed the contract with Ballard Spahr LLP of Philadelphia in November 2022. Two years earlier, the firm donated $2,500 to Friends of Anthony Brown, Brown’s campaign committee, according to state campaign finance records. Two months after the contract was signed, the law firm donated another $2,500. The contract also pays paralegals $295 an hour. If renewed, attorney rates increased to $595 an hour and paralegal rates to $315 an hour.

Brown’s office initially refused to release the hourly rates but reversed course Wednesday after The Center Square appealed to the Public Access Ombudsman, a voluntary, confidential mediator.

The Center Square requested the records for contracts with outside counsel since 2023, the year Brown, 61, took office. Brown’s office released two outside-counsel contracts and the names of 81 law firms, lawyers and legal nonprofits with which it entered into agreements.

The redaction was at odds with two recent rulings by the state’s Public Information Act Compliance Board, which held that another government agency should make similar payment information public.

Under the contract, Ballard Spahr may represent multiple state agencies, including the Maryland Department of Transportation and the Department of General Services. A Ballard Spahr spokesman did not respond to two requests for interview.

The office also declined to provide bidding documents or requests for proposals to show how the contracts were issued and the total amounts paid the firms.

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Democrats Rigging Maryland’s Future Elections: Heading For One Party Rule

Maryland Democrats are calling a special session August 3–5 for one reason and that is to change the rules before they break them.

For centuries, redistricting has followed clear standards.
1. Equal population
2. Contiguous districts
3. Compact maps
4. Respect for communities of interest

Maryland Democrats know the maps they want to draw violate those principles, so instead of following the law, they’re trying to rewrite it.

Their plan? Stitch together places like Columbia with the Eastern Shore while carving rural Cecil County out of District 1. Their plan is to dilute rural voices and dismantle real communities to serve a partisan agenda.

Let’s be crystal clear. This isn’t reform! It’s an attempt to rig the system and avoid getting sued for it.

At the same time, the Governor has sadly but not surprisingly injected race into the debate. He is dividing Marylanders instead of defending a fair and constitutional process.

The Democrats in leadership are no better than those they are criticizing in other states.

This is about power and not the best interests of Marylanders. Marylanders should be outraged.

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