Over at Duvafiles, there is an interesting post on the ongoing situation with the so-called pay scandal involving pay increases for senior employees in county government.  I have a different take on the issue from Bill Duvall, and feel that calling this a "scandal" -- or even attaching the nefarious 'gate' suffix -- might be a little overblown. But I also recognize there is plenty of room for debate.

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With the fatal stabbing of a Gwynns Falls woman today, that makes it 192.  Way to go Baltimore!  You just gotta believe!

You have reached 191 murders for the year!

Can't you just BELIEVE!  Aren't you the City that Reads?  Isn't that so Charming?

Do you realize that you are far deadlier than even New York City at this point-- a city of 8 million people that in 2005 had just 539 murders.

The greatest shame, of course, is that city voters will vote for more of the same stupid failed policies that have marked the current mayor's administration. They always do. Baltimore City voters are lemmings.

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The Calvert Street Communist Party Newsletter reports today that Charter school ruling could cost city millions.  Basically, the Maryland Court of Appeals, in a 7-2 ruling, held that "the money follows the child" in school funding case.  While this may hurt the school system budget in the short run, it may ultimately help the school system in the long run.

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Maryland State Government is an abject failure.  Why?  Because no one in leadership wants to own up to the simple fact about our structural deficit:  raising revenue will not fix it. And when I say "no one in leadership", I include everyone on the political spectrum, not just the lefty Dems that hold court right now.

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Andy Harris now posting a weekly update over at Jihad Joe's site, AQD.

What is he thinking?  If Andy thinks this will gain him credibility, I'd have to question his wisdom.

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The house cleaning at the Baltimore City Police Department continues.  The Daily Slime in Salisbury is reporting that Police Department spokesman Matt Jablow has been fired and replaced by an aide to Mayor Sheila Pratt Dixon.

The Calvert Street Communist Party Newsletter's Commissar-in-Chief, not usually prone to common sense columns, has a particularly clear and well-thought-out one on why the zero tolerance policies of Ed Norris and Kevin Clark worked-- and why abandoning that policy got Leonard Hamm shown the door.

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According to the Calvert Street Communist Party Newsletter:

A 28-year-old Baltimore man who appeared in the infamous Stop Snitching witness-intimidation video has been charged with drug conspiracy by a federal grand jury, prosecutors announced Friday.

Sherman Kemp and his co-defendant, Isaac Gomez, 25, of Fairview, N.J., were charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine. Kemp, who appears in the video, is also charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine, possession of a firearm while committing a drug trafficking crime and illegal possession of a firearm while a convicted felon.

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Showing that the war on crime in Baltimore is failing miserable, and that he was incompetent to the task, Baltimore City Police Commissioner Leonard Hamm -- a longtime veteran of the department, unlike previous failures going back a decade, has stepped down.  This according to the Calvert Street Communist Party Newsletter.  Mayor Sheila Pratt Dixon-- herself a relative failure as City Council President and now as Mayor -- is expected to announce the resignation formally tomorrow.

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I missed this previous article at the Calvert Street Communist Party Newsletter, but apparently we are giving millions every year to something called the Oyster Recovery Partnership... one giant earmark to watermen, with little show for it.

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