The misconduct in question was false testimony Director Clapper provided the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on March 12, 2013, when — in response to a question provided him in advance from Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) on whether the NSA collects any type of data on Americans — Director Clapper stated unequivocally, \”No, sir … Not wittingly.\” 

Thanks to Edward J. Snowden we now know that, indeed, our country very purposefully has been collecting a massive amount of private data on many millions of Americans through the PRISM program.

There are many things wrong with a high-level government official lying to Congress, but at its most basic such lies prevent Congress from doing its constitutionally assigned job of overseeing the executive branch. To be sure, Sen. Wyden knew from classified briefings that Director Clapper was not

The author of that note wanted to remain anonymous. 

We reached out to Joseph Stecklair, Gloucester City Housing Officer, and asked for his help with this problem. Happy to report that Stecklair took immediate action and issued a written warning to the property owner. He was told to cut back all high brush and shrubs out of the walkway on the Barnard Street side of his property. His notice states, \”If this violation is not corrected within three days, a citation shall be issued in the amount of $32. Upon the issuance of the citation if this violation is not abated within five days it will be considered a major violation and court action will be taken. The city will remove the violation and a lien will be placed on the property. Violators can be fined up to $1,000 and or imprisonment up to 90 days, or both.\”

Stecklair said, \”If anyone has a property that they know of that has become vacant, or is a problem to your quality of life, please contact our office, 456-7689, so we can try to abate the problem.\”

\”This is great news for the health of our nation because babies who are breastfed have lower risks of ear and gastrointestinal infections, diabetes and obesity, and mothers who breastfeed have lower risks of breast and ovarian cancers,\” said CDC Director, Tom Frieden, M.D. M.P.H. \”Also, breastfeeding lowers health care costs. Researchers have calculated that $2.2 billion in yearly medical costs could be saved if breastfeeding recommendations were met. It is critical that we continue working to improve hospital, community and workplace support for breastfeeding mothers and babies and realize these cost savings.\”

Hospitals are an important setting for supporting breastfeeding mothers and babies. The CDC reports that the percent of hospitals implementing key maternity practices that keep mothers and babies together after birth have also increased. The percent of hospitals reporting newborn babies that ‘room in’ with their mother at least 23 hours per day increased from about 30 percent in 2007 to 37 percent in 2011. The percent of hospitals where most newborns were skin-to-skin with their mother after birth climbed from about 41 percent in 2007 to over 54 percent in 2011.

\”The period right after a baby is born is a critical time for establishing breastfeeding,\” said Janet L. Collins, Ph.D., director of CDC’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity. \”Rooming in and skin-to-skin contact help ensure that mothers and babies stay together and are able to start and continue breastfeeding. These are meaningful steps hospitals can take to support mothers and families and help improve breastfeeding rates.\”