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November 15, 2012
84 notes
pbsthisdayinhistory: November 15, 1777: Articles of Confederation Are Adopted On this day in 1777, after 16 months of debate, the First Continental Congress agreed to adopt the Articles of Confederation. Maryland was the last of the 13 states to ratify the agreement, consenting on March 1, 1781. The Articles of Confederation provided for only a loose federation of American states and proved to be inadequate for the task of government. Less than five years after ratification, Americans leaders decided to peacefully overthrow the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation marked a significant American advancement during the transformation of the American Revolution, from America’s rule under a sovereign king to becoming sovereign people. Explore Liberty: The American Revolution timeline, which details this historic change in government. Photo: Library of Congress

pbsthisdayinhistory:

November 15, 1777: Articles of Confederation Are Adopted

On this day in 1777, after 16 months of debate, the First Continental Congress agreed to adopt the Articles of Confederation. Maryland was the last of the 13 states to ratify the agreement, consenting on March 1, 1781.

The Articles of Confederation provided for only a loose federation of American states and proved to be inadequate for the task of government. Less than five years after ratification, Americans leaders decided to peacefully overthrow the Articles of Confederation.

The Articles of Confederation marked a significant American advancement during the transformation of the American Revolution, from America’s rule under a sovereign king to becoming sovereign people. Explore Liberty: The American Revolution timeline, which details this historic change in government.

Photo: Library of Congress

Tags: American Revolution Articles of Confederation First Continental Congress Maryland history ratify states revolutionary war

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November 07, 2012
1 note
A proposal to add an amendment banning gay marriage in Minnesota’s Constitution is currently losing by a margin of 2613 votes. Earlier tonight, Maine and Maryland became the first two states to vote in favor of recognizing gay marriage. Recognition of gay marriage is leasing by 3 percentage points in Washington state.

A proposal to add an amendment banning gay marriage in Minnesota’s Constitution is currently losing by a margin of 2613 votes.

Earlier tonight, Maine and Maryland became the first two states to vote in favor of recognizing gay marriage. Recognition of gay marriage is leasing by 3 percentage points in Washington state.

Tags: Election 2012 politics LGBTQ gay marriage Maine Maryland Washington Minnesota

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November 07, 2012
456 notes
"Tonight in Maine, Maryland and Washington, the movement for marriage equality took on its opponents, on their field, under their rules and defeated them."

—

Ta-Nehisi Coates (via theatlantic)

Get it together Minnesota!

(via theatlantic)

Tags: Politics Election 2012 News Gay rights Gay marriage Maine Maryland Washington Minnesota

Quote
September 07, 2012
6 notes
"I can assure you that gay people getting married will have zero effect on your life. They won’t come into your house and steal your children. They won’t magically turn you into a lustful cockmonster. They won’t even overthrow the government in an orgy of hedonistic debauchery because all of a sudden they have the same legal rights as the other 90 percent of our population—rights like Social Security benefits, child care tax credits, Family and Medical Leave to take care of loved ones, and COBRA healthcare for spouses and children. You know what having these rights will make gays? Full-fledged American citizens just like everyone else, with the freedom to pursue happiness and all that entails. Do the civil-rights struggles of the past 200 years mean absolutely nothing to you?"

—

Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe, in a letter to Maryland state delegate Emmett C. Burns, Jr.

Last week, Burns wrote a letter urging Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti to “inhibit such expressions from your employee,“ after Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo shared his support for gay marriage.

[Yahoo! Sports, via Deadspin]

Tags: news sports NFL Chris Kluwe Minnesota Vikings Baltimore Ravens Brendon Ayanbadejo gay marriage Emmett C. Burns Jr. Maryland

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April 12, 2012
6 notes
Desperately wanting to eat these. Summer needs to be here sooner.

Desperately wanting to eat these. Summer needs to be here sooner.

Tags: blue crabs Annapolis Maryland

Quote
May 10, 2011
51 notes
"

The anchors chat about football for a few minutes, then tell the cameraman to roll. “Hello, everyone,” Williams says, “and thanks for tuning in.”

Porter is a convicted rapist. Williams is an armed robber. Their audience, not measured by Nielsen, is 2,000 or so murderers, rapists, robbers, forgers, car thieves and muggers at a Hagerstown prison. Their goals are not unlike Diane Sawyer’s: Tell viewers things they don’t know. Given the setting, most of their news is local.

“We have some very, very interesting facts coming up,” Williams says, his voice echoing off the cinderblock walls in a storage space doubling as a newsroom.

The newscast at the Maryland Correctional Training Center, or MCTC, is one of several such programs in the state’s prisons, and experts say they know of few other efforts like it in the United States. The newscasts put a modern spin on a jailhouse journalism tradition that dates to the 19th century, when Jesse James’s gang was known, among other things, as a group of influential and incarcerated newspapermen.

"

— The news behind bars - The Washington Post (via centerforinvestigativereporting)

(via centerforinvestigativereporting)

Tags: news prison Maryland

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February 08, 2011
3 notes
"We are in the bottom quartile; we are not the worst utility that is out there."

—

Pepco Executive Vice President of Power Delivery Dave Velazquez apologizes to the Montgomery County Council after the power company left 140,000 people without electricity following a relatively light winter storm.

Pepco has faced extensive criticism, complete with Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley and Representative Chris Van Hollen sending separate letters, for its overall poor service and inability to restore power to tens of thousands of DC area residents following a storm two weeks ago. The utility company took out a full page ad in the Washington Post to apologize for its poor service. In response, Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski wants the federal government to investigate Pepco and establish reliability standards for power companies.

Tags: Barbara Mikulski DC Maryland Montgomery County Pepco Senate US Senate Washington Washington DC Washington Post electricity power utilities Martin O'Malley Chris Van Hollen

Text
September 14, 2010

DCites and Marylanders, remember: Vote early, vote often.

Tags: dc vote md vote dc primary md primary dc maryland