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Valentine's Day: From Russia With Love

Valentine’s Day: From Russia With Love

Russia dominated headlines this Valentine’s Day in America.

Most of it related to the resignation of John Flynn as National Security Adviser to the President just 24 days after Donald Trump was inaugurated. I won’t bore my readers with a rehash of all the news coverage online and in the media about this story, although I will point to this piece by John R. Schindler at The Observer as well as a…

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More Maryland Lottery Politics

More Maryland Lottery Politics

I previously wrote about the Maryland Lottery and complaints and intimidation from IGT, a spurned bidder for state contracts. After that, I decided to pay more attention to news revolving around the lottery and bidding processes.

Part of the complaints from GTECH were designed to intimidate Gordon Medenica, who had been appointed but not yet confirmed, as director of the Maryland Lottery. Last…

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Action Needed to Save Columbus Day in Baltimore

Action Needed to Save Columbus Day in Baltimore

The following email about city legislation affecting Columbus Day was sent today to local members of the Knights of Columbus by the national KofC – please share it with your friends and call Friday:

The Baltimore City Council is voting on Monday, Dec. 5, on a proposal to eliminate Columbus Day and replace it with Indigenous Peoples’ and Italian-Americans’ Day.

We urge you to call the city hall…

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George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation

George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation

Happy Thanksgiving from The Quinton Report

Issued by President George Washington, at the request of Congress, on October 3, 1789

By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation.

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and—Whereas…

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Saint Margaret, Pearl of Scotland

Saint Margaret, Pearl of Scotland

November 16 is the feast day of Saint Margaret of Scotland, who is a direct ancestor of mine. She is also the Patron Saint of Scotland.

Margaret of Wessex was born around 1045 in what is now Hungary. Her parents were Prince of Edward (the Exile) of England and Princess Agatha of Hungary. Her brother and sister were also born in Hungary.

When there was a chance her father might become successor to…

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MD Public Defender's Trump email called "inflammatory"

MD Public Defender’s Trump email called “inflammatory”

Over the weekend, MD Public Defender Paul DeWolfe sent an email to all Office of Public Defender (OPD) staff members across the state using state government email servers. DeWolfe insists the email wasn’t “anti-Trump” but one Republican state senator calls it “inflammatory rhetoric.”

In his email, DeWolfe mentioned that, “Many of us are still in shock and despair over the [election] results.”

He…

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IGT and more lottery intimidation

IGT and more lottery intimidation

I noted previously that IGT (formerly known as GTECH) has engaged in an intimidation campaign against Maryland Lottery officials in recent weeks since they lost out on a contract to another company.

Two letters of protest were filed, including one specifically targeting lottery director Gordon Medenica, who previously worked for IGT. The targeting of the director flies in the face of 2009…

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Tom Perez jokes about murdered girl at Clinton event

Tom Perez jokes about murdered girl at Clinton event

NTK News reports that U.S. Secretary of Labor Tom Perez was interrupted at a Hillary Clinton event in North Carolina by phones going off due to an Amber Alert. Perez has been mentioned as a likely candidate for attorney general in a Hillary Clinton administration.

Perez replied, “Amber Alert. “Oh yeah? Well, Amber is going to vote for Hillary!”

Luckily, the missing child the alert was issued for…

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DNC bus dumps raw sewage down storm drain

DNC bus dumps raw sewage down storm drain

WSB-TV in Atlanta reports that local authorities in Gwinnett County are investigating a report that a bus being used by the DNC (Democratic National Committee) dumped raw sewage into a storm drain (above photo from WSB-TV.)

An employee at an O’Reilly Auto Parts store reported seeing the bus pull into a turn lane on the road outside the store. According to the employee, the RV driver got out and…

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Political Intimidation and the Maryland Lottery

Political Intimidation and the Maryland Lottery

I noticed something very interesting while reading a recent article in The Washington Post about recent events at the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Agency.

IGT Global Solutions Corporation (formerly GTECH) lost out on a $263 million contract with the Maryland Lottery for its “central monitoring and control systems” according to the article. After losing the contract to Scientific Games…

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Kellyanne Conway's Weird Defense of Todd Akin

Kellyanne Conway’s Weird Defense of Todd Akin

Kellyanne Conway, the latest campaign manager for Donald Trump, has worked in Republican campaigns as a pollster and consultant for a while now.

In 2012, Conway worked for Missouri Senate Candidate Todd Akin. During that time she compared attacks on Akin to the FBI siege on David Koresh and the Branch Davidians.

Akin, a Republican congressman, infamously answered a questionabout rape exceptions…

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Flashback: Kathy Szeliga in 2013

Flashback: Kathy Szeliga in 2013

In 2013, I blogged about reports that Delegate Kathy Szeliga called for a “legislative investigation into the failures of the state health insurance exchange” to Governor Martin O’Malley, Lt. Governor Anthony Brown, Speaker Mike Busch, and Leader Mike Miller.

She also told Bryan Sears of The Daily Record that she wanted a “forensic audit” to “look at the costs, the contracts and how they were…

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Ellison Baxter Quinton, 1838-1899

Ellison Baxter Quinton, 1838-1899

I originally posted this about Baxter Quinton on Facebook on September 30, 2016.

Ellison Baxter Quinton, my great-great-grandfather was born on September 30, 1838 in Chester County, SC.

He enlisted in Company F of the 23rd SC Volunteers (Hatch’s Coast Rangers) in 1861.

Via SCIWAY:

After being stationed in South Carolina, the regiment moved to Virginia and during the war served in General Evans’,…

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Maryland's Crossland Banner

Maryland’s Crossland Banner

The Maryland state flag‘s alternating quadrants consist of imagery from the Coats of Arms of the Calvert and Crossland families. William Cooke has blogged extensively about Maryland flags and banners, including the Crossland banner.

The Maryland state flag is one of only four state flags that doesn’t contain the color blue. It’s also the only one based on English heraldry.

At left is the…

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MD students miss school for union convention

MD students miss school for union convention

Thanks to a teachers’ union convention at the beach in Ocean City, students in 19 of Maryland’s 24 school districts will get a day off from school on October 21, 2016.

The only 5 districts whose students will attend school that day are Allegany, Charles, Garrett, Howard, and Montgomery counties.

Allegany lists the Maryland State Education Association (MSEA) conventionon their online calendar but…

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Leo Dymowski runs for circuit judge

Leo Dymowski runs for circuit judge

In case you missed it, Leo Dymowski is running for Baltimore County Circuit Judge. Dymowski ran for Maryland Attorney General as a Libertarian in 2014. I endorsed him and voted for him in that race.

On October 5, Dymowski’s campaign will be hosting a campaign fundraiser at The Seasoned Mariner on Wise Avenue in Dundalk from 6-8 p.m.

His campaign websiteincludes a section on “Rules for a judge to…

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Kennedy Class on Display

Kennedy Class on Display

Readers probably heard the news that former President George H.W. Bush plans to vote for Hillary Clinton in the November election. Of course this unsubstantiated claim is just hearsay brought to us by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, who couldn’t even beat Republican Bob Ehrlich in deep-blue Maryland in 2002.

Politico first reported on Kennedy Townsend’s Facebook post that showed her shaking hands with…