From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
GOMA, Congo – A top Congolese official says 12 senior army officers have been arrested on charges of responsibility for mass rapes committed by several army units in eastern Congo in November 2012.
Justice Minister Wivine Mumba confirmed the arrests to The Associated Press Saturday. The arrests come more than two weeks after the United Nations pressed the Congolese government to take action in the case. Continue reading “Congo: 12 senior army officers to be charged with mass rapes”
Yahoo News – by Lisa Maria Garza | Reuters
KAUFMAN, Texas (Reuters) – A former justice of the peace inKaufman County, Texas, whose home was searched as part of the probe into the killings of the local district attorney, his wife and a prosecutor, has been arrested on suspicion of threatening violence, officials said on Saturday.
Eric L. Williams, 46, was arrested on Friday on charges of making a “terroristic” threat, which generally involves a threat to commit violence, according to the Kaufman County jail website. Kaufman County is just east of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Continue reading “Former Texas official arrested in probe of prosecutors’ slayings”
Reuters – by Arshad Mohammed and Ben Blanchard
(Reuters) – The United States and China agreed on Saturday to make a joint effort to push for the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, following weeks of bellicose rhetoric from North Korea and rising tensions in northeast Asia.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met China’s top leaders in a bid to persuade them to exert pressure on North Korea, whose main diplomatic supporter is Beijing, to scale back its belligerence and, eventually, return to nuclear talks. Continue reading “U.S., China agree on North Korea denuclearization push”
The Tampa Tribune – by Howard Altman
Stuck in a two-hour traffic jam on the Selmon Crosstown Expressway Tuesday morning, Mike Willingham became more convinced than ever that his idea to create a drone- based research and development operation at Sebring Airport is on the money.
A small, drone-flown camera could have provided a feed that drivers could link to, allowing them to avoid massive tie-ups. Continue reading “Sebring airport might become home for drones”
A career criminal who stole a truck containing President Obama’s audio equipment was sentenced Thursday to seven years in federal prison.
Sentencing guidelines called for a term of about three years, but Eric Brown of Richmond, Va., agreed to the longer sentence to avoid prosecution for 14 similar truck thefts in three localities. However, he could still face charges in Stafford County, which did not join Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico counties in the agreement. Continue reading “Man Gets 7 Years for Stealing Obama’s Teleprompter”
Yahoo News – by Laura Zuckerman, Reuters
SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) – Idaho’s Republican governor signed a law on Thursday that restricts use of drone aircraft by police and other public agencies as the use of pilotless aircraft inside U.S. borders is increasing. The measure aims to protect privacy rights.
In approving the law, which requires law enforcement to obtain warrants to collect evidence usingdrones in most cases, Idaho becomes the second U.S. state after Virginia to restrict uses of pilotless aircraft over privacy concerns. Continue reading “Idaho restricts drone use by police agencies amid privacy concerns”
RALEIGH, N.C – The North Carolina House has approved a bill mandating background checks for welfare recipients.
The bill that passed 106-6 Thursday requires all social services employees to perform background checks to bar applicants and recipients with outstanding warrants or other active violations from welfare and food stamp programs. Employees would have to report them to law enforcement. Continue reading “NC House approves bill on background checks for welfare recepients”
Why? It’s simple. The scientists don’t know what they’re doing. They have no clear objectives, and the notion of building an accurate picture of a few trillion neurons in action is as far from reality as a flea painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
The utopian technocrats, who’ve been predicting that, by the middle of this century, they will create an artificial brain that outstrips the one inside the skull, are suddenly on vacation. They’re mumbling and backing away. Continue reading “Obama’s new brain-mapping project is already a Lilliputian disaster”
Oregon Live – by Maxine Bernstein
Portland Police Officer Dane Reister should lose his job for suddenly firing a beanbag shotgun that he mistakenly loaded with lethal rounds at a man obviously suffering from a mental illness, a federal lawsuit filed Thursday says.
The attorney for William Kyle Monroe, wounded by Reister on June 30, 2011, accuses the officer, Police Chief Mike Reese and the city of Portland of violating Monroe’s civil rights through false arrest, assault and negligence. Continue reading “Federal lawsuit demands Portland Officer Dane Reister be terminated for a 2011 shooting”
Two Atlanta police cars were pelted with bricks, rocks and hammers Tuesday night after they cruised into a neighborhood where residents were already angered over cell phone footage that captured a man being beaten by several officers.
According to WSBTV, that man and another woman were questioning why a separate arrest was taking place. Instead of answering their questions, witnesses say police responded with “direct violence.” Continue reading “Two Atlanta Police Cruisers Hit by Bricks, Rocks After Police Beat Man and Pepper Spray Kids”
NBC News -by Miranda Leitsinger
A former Marine has been arrested in the beating of two men outside a popular gay bar in Southern California last year and will face hate-crime charges for using anti-gay slurs during the attack, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Thursday.
John Kelly O’Leary, 21, was arrested Monday by police in Evergreen Park, Ill., Deputy District Attorney Gretchen Ford of the hate crimes unit said in a statement. O’Leary was discharged from the Marines on Oct. 19, about six weeks after the attack, Marine Corps’ spokesman Master Gunnery Sgt. Mark Oliva told NBC News. He will be extradited from Illinois to California to face the charges. Continue reading “Ex-Marine arrested in alleged hate crime in attack outside California gay bar”
Think Progress – by Igor Volsky
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) embarrassed government regulators during a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Thursday morning as she demanded to know why they won’t reveal how frequently big banks illegally foreclosed on homeowners. In January, regulators abandoned a case-by-case review of foreclosure fraud conducted by some of the nation’s largest banks in favor of a $9.3 billion settlement. Under the deal, most of the 4.4 million homeowners who were foreclosed on in 2009 or 2010 received less than $1,000 each. Continue reading “Elizabeth Warren Tears Into Federal Regulators For Shielding Big Banks”
A fisherman has been bitten to death by a beaver after trying to take its photograph.
The man was on a fishing trip at Lake Shestakov in Belarus with two friends when they spotted the animal on the side of the road. Continue reading “Beaver Bites Man To Death In Belarus Attack”
Sixteen Republicans split with their party leaders and voted Thursday to end the GOP filibuster of gun control legislation and begin what will be a contentious Senate debate on the issue.
The final vote was 68-31.
The 16 GOP senators that voted to stop the gun control filibuster were: Continue reading “16 GOP Senators agreed to participate in Sedition”
Town Hall – by Heather Ginsberg
The legislation to curb gun violence is now heading to the floor of the Senate for debate after there was a lot of talk of a potential filibuster from GOP senators. The Senate voted 68 to 31 to proceed with debate on the new legislation. This will be the beginning of what many believe will be a several week argument of what kind of action to take on gun control.
Sixteen Republicans joined with 52 Democrats to approve the motion to proceed to debate. And only two Democrats joined 29 Republicans opposing the motion. Continue reading “Gun Debate Moving Forward: Filibuster Fails”
The Blaze – by Billy Hallowell
There’s an investigation unfolding in Missouri after it was revealed that the Missouri State Highway Patrol handed over concealed carry data to federal authorities. On at least two occasions – the latest of which was January — weapons data was delivered to the feds, according to an article published in the Columbia Daily Tribune.
In looking into the matter, officials noted that in Nov. 2011 and this past January, the patrol asked for the entire list of 185,000 concealed carry residents from the state’s Division of Motor Vehicle and Driver Licensing. Then, this information was apparently shared beyond the state’s boundaries. Continue reading “Investigation Reveals: MO Highway Patrol Gave Feds Confidential List of Concealed Carry Gun Permit Holders”
NBC Chicago – by Larry O’Dell
Infowars – by Adan Salazar
Sky News