3 STRIKES FOR BALTIMORE & MLB: First Time in the History of MJB … No Fans in the Stands as Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles Play in Camden Yards in Baltimore

IF A TREE FALLS IN THE WOODS MLB GAME IS PLAYED AND THERE IS NO ONE THERE TO WATCH IT, DOES IT MAKE A SOUND?

TODAY’S SCORE FROM CAMDEN YARDS: BALTIMORE 0 – RIOTERS 15.

STRIKE ONE … Thanks to the rioters, looters and those who cannot be trusted in Baltimore to protest calmly and without violence, the MLB game between the Chicago White Sox and the Baltimore Orioles will be played today, but there will be no fans in the stands. For the first time in the history of baseball, a game will be played with the public not allowed to be in the stadium to watch it. Way to go protesters you made history, you should be so incredibly proud of yourselves. The powers that be in baseball and the local authorities basically deemed that you could not be trusted to act accordingly.

NO FANS, just media

The game Wednesday will start at 2:05 p.m. ET.

“All of the decisions in Baltimore were driven first by the desire to insure the safety of fans, players, umpires and stadium workers,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred wrote in an email to The Associated Press. “Only after we were comfortable that those concerns had been addressed did we consider competitive issues and the integrity of the schedule.”

An MLB spokesman told ESPN’s Outside The Lines that the league is not aware of any other time that a major league game has been played, by design, without spectators allowed in to watch.

In addition, MLB spokesman Matt Bourne said the league office would not comment as to how, if at all, it would compensate the Orioles for the lost attendance.

Great moments happen when you have great Leadership

STRIKE TWO: Major League Baseball and Barack Hussein Obama must have leaned nothing from GWB throwing out the first ball in Yankee Stadium following the terror attacks on 9-11. The decision to play today’s game at Camden Yards with no fans in the stands is BS. By doing so, you gave the violent looters and rioters their victory. If you could not protect the safety of fans in a ball park and their property, then maybe it would have been a better idea to postpones the game and play a double header at a later date in the season. Since you were willing to play a game with no fans, then you money grubbing SOB’s could have played a real double header, like in days or yore, to provide a gift to the Baltimore fans, rather than a day-night double header so you can double your profits. Hmm? Note to MLB, the optics look terrible of a game going on inside a locked stadium and fans on the outside looking in.

If you were not going to make a statement and have GWB throw out the first pitch and say, “WE ARE BALTIMORE” … then cancel the game. Obviously, Obama was too much of a ninny to show up in Baltimore as the first black president would have been booed by folks that could have been his son as he has done nothing to help blacks during his presidency. In reality, it has been liberal Democrat policies that are responsible for inner cities like Baltimore and the lack of hope as all they have to look forward to is a welfare check and a hand out.

STRIKE THREE: The City of Baltimore and liberal Democrat politics are the biggest losers and have struck out. Make no mistake about it, Baltimore, MD is not Ferguson, MO but yet the exact same thing occurred. The demographics of Baltimore is that it is 63% black and only about 31% white. The police make up in Baltimore is very diverse. However, the problem with Baltimore is the sad state of affairs of Democrat politics and the lack of hope that it provides to inner city minorities, who are in this case the majority. Baltimore County, much like the state of Maryland is a deep blue where is a Republican is ever elected it is by luck. But the problem and lack of opportunity, jobs and hope is a Democrat problem. It is the Democrat politicians that have left these folks behind where Barack Obama made comments as if he was not part of the problem. Keeping people dependent on the government generation after generation creates hopelessness and anger. It is only now that black America wants to take their wrath out on the police. But the Mayor and the police chief of Baltimore are black, so there goes that racial thing.

The problem, as he explained it, is that Americans only worry about poor neighborhoods when there’s a crisis, failing to engage with their concerns and difficulties over time.

“People have a tendency, once the fires have been put out, and the cars aren’t being tipped over, you know there’s not some immediate crisis, then folks wanna go back and focus on, you know, whatever reality TV thing is going on,” he said.

Obama complained about “dis-invested” communities where the primary economy was the drug trade, where young people were more likely to go to prison than college.

Who gave the stand down order to police that made them sitting ducks?

Just curious, after watching the mob burn down business, loot and act in such a disgraceful manner, who in the hell would ever want to invest here? Making matters worse, to get back on track with the theme of this post, the protesters managed to create an atmosphere of uncertainty where MLB had to take action for the safety of its players and fans. Not only is today’s baseball game between the Orioles and Chi-sox without fans, it is without employing people of Baltimore selling beer, food, concessions and other memorabilia. It is without restaurants and bars in the downtown Camden Yard area making money from a day game. Do you know how much money the city of Baltimore has lost because these games now have to be moved and this one was played in front of no one? Way to go rioters, you showed them.

Making matters worse for Baltimore and its people is the fact that the upcoming Oriole home-stand with the Rays is going to be played in Tampa Bay, Florida, not Baltimore. The hardworking folks who make a living from the playing of home baseball games are out of luck. Thanks rioters. Most importantly, a special thanks to the leftist mayor who obviously gave a stand down order to the police the day of the funeral of Freddie Gray. Oh yeah, remember him?  Another blemish on Baltimore as the power structure, which is black, failed to put forth in a timely manner to diffuse the bomb before it blew. Baltimore exploded into riots and looked like Baltimore circa 1968, because of incompetence at the highest levels and an ideology to let protesters be protesters and let them get it out of their systems. What’s a couple, 2, 3, 20 businesses looted and burned. After all, in a PC society, we can’t make the rioters feel uncomfortable.

In the end it is Baltimore and its power structure that has much to explain. From how does Freddie Gray die in police custody, to the lack of preparation to prevent riots to the business owners you turned your backs on.The plight of the poor is on you and the fact that you refuse to create an atmosphere to help break the cycle. Instead you just want to throw more failed money after more failed money. How’s that war on Poverty going? Obviously it has failed miserably.

You have struck out.

19 Year Old Bailey Meola & Sydney Schumacher from Seattle, WA Still Missing in Nepal Trekking the Langtang Valley Trail

Two teens from Seattle, Washington, 19 year old Bailey Meola and Sydney Schumacher, have been missing since April 25, 2015 in Nepal. According to the family, an anthropologist reported seeing the two on April 24, just one day before a 7.8 earthquake hit Nepal and aftershocks destroyed nearby villages.  The two girls had been trekking the Langtang Valley trail; however, on Tuesday, the family received news that the girls are not in the village, Kyanjin Gumba, where it had been reported that there were no known survivors.

The death toll from the earthquake in Nepal has risen to more than 4,600 — and many more people are unaccounted for, including two teens from Seattle.

The Meola and Schumacher families are staying optimistic that they will find their 19-year-old daughters, Bailey Meola and Sydney Schumacher.

The two girls had been trekking the Langtang trail. On Tuesday, they got news that the girls are not in the village, Kyanjin Gumba, where there are known survivors.

The teens had just graduated from Garfield High School and were taking an around-the-world trip, with a stop in Nepal.

Seattle teenage trekkers among the missing in Nepal.

Both young women are described as experienced hikers, who began exploring the outdoors when they were toddlers. The teens are trained in first aid and CPR, their parents said.

“The odds of them being injured are very high if they were in Langtang, but people have survived in that area. They’ve gotten out of the avalanche,” said Rachelle Brown, Bailey’s mother. “We’re just very optimistic. We think our girls have the resources. They have the skills. They have the experience.”

Both girls are traveling around the world after graduating from Seattle’s Garfield High School in 2014. Meola started her trip in Thailand earlier this year, also visiting Singapore, Cambodia, and Laos. She wanted to take a “gap year” and explore the world before heading to college, her parents said.

The families have turned to social media for help, hoping for word of the girls’ safety through Twitter or other forums. They’ve been using a Facebook page for people missing in the Langtang Valley, along with a Google spreadsheet.

The OBAMA Economic Recovery … GDP Grew 0.2% For Q1 2015

WELCOME TO THE OBAMA ECONOMIC RECOVERY …

The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported today that the GDP rose a meager 0.2% for January through March 2015. What do those numbers mean, the economy barely grew in the first quarter of 2015.

The U.S. economy ground nearly to a halt in the first three months of the year, according to government data released Wednesday morning, as exports plunged and severe winter weather helped keep consumers indoors.

The gross domestic product grew between January and March at an annualized rate of 0.2 percent, the U.S. Commerce Department said, adding to the picture of an economy braking sharply after accelerating for much of last year. The pace fell well shy of the 1 percent mark anticipated by analysts and marked the weakest quarter in a year.

The economy had expanded at a rate of 2.2 percent in the final three months of 2014 and at a rate of 2.4 percent for the year.

Forbes - U.S. GDP Gained A Sluggish 0.2% In First Quarter 2015, Its like Deja vu all over again.

If you were feeling a bit of déjà vu Wednesday morning look no further than the latest reading of U.S. economic growth for the cause. Like the initial estimate of first quarter 2014 GDP, the first reading says the economy grew in Q1 2015 — but very, very, very slowly.

On Wednesday, the Bureau of Economic Analysis released its advance estimate of real gross domestic product for the first quarter of this year— covering January, February and March. The release showed output in the U.S. increasing at a rate of 0.2%. This is a huge deceleration from the fourth quarter 2014 when real GDP gained 2.2%. Economists on average were anticipating growth of 1% in Q1.

Last year the GDP reading was ultimately revised to negative 2.1% then economic growth rebounded sharply in the second (4.6%) and third (5%) quarters.

LEFTWING MEDIA HAS GONE TOO FAR THIS TIME … CNN’s Brooke Baldwin Blames Military Veterans for Baltimore Riots (Update: Apologizes on Twitter. Finally on TV)

LIBERALISM TRULY IS A MENTAL DISEASE … WELCOME TO THE DEMOCRAT-MEDIA COMPLEX.

While doing an interview with Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) in the midst of the turmoil on the streets of Baltimore, CNN’s Brooke Baldwin had the audacity to blame military veterans for the Baltimore riots. WHAT? This liberal media-insanoid literally blamed vets coming home saying, “I love our nation’s veterans, but some of them are coming back from war, they don’t know the communities, and they are ready to do battle.” Really, you love them, I would hate to see if you didn’t love them what you would say. Welcome to the LEFT-wing media of today that does not report the news, but instead tries to pain a narrative that does not exist. Sorry, ESPN suspended foul-mouthed ESPN reporter Britt McHenry went off on a tirade on a impound lot employee, CNN should fire Brooke Baldwin for these false and ugly comments. But they won’t because this is the hate and bias that consumes liberal media outlets today.

Hmm, so what is Brooke Baldwin’s message, or should i say smear … Don’t hire vets because they are too unstable to be trusted? But don’t worry, she loves them.

VIDEO – Washington Free Beacon

From Breitbart.com:

After more than a year of CNN pouring gasoline all over America with hysterical, and oftentimes phony, stories of American racism, the left-wing network’s afternoon anchor Brooke Baldwin finally took it to the next level by blaming American veterans for the Baltimore riots.

In a pathetic suck-up interview with Democrat Congressman Elijah Cummins, Baldwin never once had the moral courage to ask the failed Baltimore City congressman if the left-wing policies ushered in by a half-century of a Democrat monopoly in Baltimore might have something to do with the city’s ills. Instead, she said of young military veterans who become police officers, “I love our nation’s veterans, but some of them are coming back from war, they don’t know the communities, and they are ready to do battle.”

The context was a discussion about increased training and retraining for the Baltimore police.

There’s no question Baldwin is hoping to launch a narrative with that smear.

UPDATE I: Brooke Baldwin apologized like a coward hiding behind her Twitter account. Sorry Brooke, you don’t get to make such inflammatory, hateful and defamatory comments like you did stereotyping our brave American vets on TV and then apologize on Twitter. What a brave soul you are. Get your butt on TV and apologize. Then I want you to go to  Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, MD, she’s not that far away and apologize in person to wounded vets.

Twitter – BrookBaldwin@BrookeBCNN

UPDATE II: Brooke Baldwin’s lame Twitter apology did not cut it so she was forced to apologize on TV.

CNN’s Brooke Baldwin this morning may have done the impossible: Deliver a mea culpa that the nation’s apology police cannot possibly puncture, dismantle, nitpick or otherwise trash.

Sweeping, tendentious nonsense. Baldwin offered no evidence to support her case that somehow battle-scarred veterans from recent wars were responsible for any of the policing problems in the country’s big cities, let alone in Baltimore. People on the Internet let her know of their disapproval. Baldwin’s first response was a bit weak:

That defense doesn’t work at CNN, which sells itself as a purveyor of straight-up journalism around the clock. So what if some hack “vocalized” a concern to Baldwin? Isn’t it her job to filter that concern, fact-check it and pat it down before “re-vocalizing” it?

Given some more time to think about it all, Baldwin this morning came around. Early this morning, she tweeted.

On CNN’s “New Day” program Baldwin said the following:

I made a mistake yesterday. We were in the middle of live TV, I was talking to a member of Congress, and I was recounting a story, a conversation I had had recently just referring to police. And I absolutely misspoke, I inartfully chose my words 100 percent and I just wish speaking to all of you this morning: I wholeheartedly retract what I said. And I’ve thought tremendously about this, and to our nation’s veterans, to you — this is just who I want to speak with this morning — I have the utmost respect for our men and women in uniform. And I wanted you to know that this morning, so to all of you, I owe a tremendous apology. I am truly sorry.

Sorry Brooke if I don’t believe a word of your apology. You meant every word you said, and that’s okay, just own it. You are a bed-wetting liberal who doesn’t know any better and repeats hateful BS. That’s okay, just say it.

EXIT QUESTION: Replace “VET” with “BLACKS” and does Brooke Baldwin have a job this morning?

Former Baltimore Ravens Linebacker Great Message for the ‘Rioters’ in His City … “Young Kids, You’ve Got to Understand Something: Get off the Streets. Violence is not the Answer. Violence is never the Answer.” (VIDEO)

Former Baltimore Raven linebacker great Ray Lewis let loose with a passionate video rant posted on his Facebook page asking for the young kids of Baltimore not to riot in the streets. Lewis begged the kids to go home and stay home as he said, “No way. No way. No way this can happen in our city. No! Young kids, you’ve got to understand something: get off the streets. Violence is not the answer. Violence is never the answer.” Lewis chastised the looters and rioters that destroyed downtown Baltimore saying, “You don’t have no right to do what you’re doing to this city! Too many hardworking people built this city! We put this city together, we put this city on our back!”

Legendary Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis issued a passionate “message for the rioters in Baltimore” on Tuesday, imploring young kids to “get off the streets.” The video had been viewed over 4 million times on Facebook within a couple of hours.

“No way. No way. No way this can happen in our city,” Lewis said. “No! Young kids, you’ve got to understand something: get off the streets. Violence is not the answer. Violence is never the answer.”

Referring to Freddie Gray, who died of a serious spine injury while in Baltimore police custody, Lewis proclaimed, “We don’t do nothing for him doing this.”

“We know there’s a deeper issue, we know what the jungle looks like,” he continued. “There’s enough of us in the streets trying to change what’s going on. Baltimore, get off the streets! Kids, go home, stay home! You don’t have no right to do what you’re doing to this city! Too many hardworking people built this city! We put this city together, we put this city on our back!”

Lewis argued there are problems that need to be addressed and unanswered questions, but “rioting in our streets is wrong, it’s dead wrong.”

I do have to question one thing that Ray Lewis said in his passionate and inspiring rant though. At about the 1:14 mark of the video above, Lewis says, “it takes a village, it takes a whole village to raise one child”. Okay there Hillary Clinton Ray Lewis, no it doesn’t … IT TAKES A MOTHER AND A FATHER TO RAISE A CHILD.