From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
Two police officers were shot and killed in a southern Mississippi town during a gunfight with a 25-year-old man before dawn on Saturday, officials said.
The officers from Brookhaven, less than 60 miles (100 km) south of Jackson, had gone to a house to respond to a report that shots had been fired, Mississippi Department of Public Safety spokesman Warren Strain said in an email. Continue reading “Two Mississippi police officers killed in gunfight with man”
The Hill – by Jacqueline Thomsen, Olivia Beavers
Security experts and privacy advocates are hopeful the rollout of the new 5G wireless network could eliminate a glaring surveillance vulnerability that allows spying on nearby phone calls.
Lawmakers have been pressing the Trump administration to crack down on technology known as “Stingrays,” after it was revealed they were found near federal buildings in Washington D.C. earlier this year. Continue reading “Experts see 5G as defense to ‘Stingray’ spying”
City Journal – by Adam Freedman
Nobody in the United States Senate knows whether Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s accusers are telling the truth. And yet, quite a few of its members—all Democrats—have already decided that they are telling the truth. Connecticut’s Richard Blumenthal and New York’s Kirsten Gillibrand, for example, have declared that they believe the allegations of Professor Christine Blasey Ford, though she has yet to testify. Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii insists that Ford “needs to be believed,” and that men need to “just shut up and step up.” Continue reading “Due Process for Judge Kavanaugh: Senators eager to destroy his nomination must be restrained by the rule of law.”
LOS ANGELES (KABC) — The suspect in a series of vicious attacks on sleeping homeless men in Los Angeles and Santa Monica had been deported six times and was freed from federal custody last year following an immigration court decision, federal officials said Tuesday.
Ramon Alberto Escobar, 47, has been linked to three murders and four attempted murders in Southern California and the disappearance of his two relatives from the Houston area. Continue reading “ICE: DTLA murder suspect had been deported 6 times”
The Trump administration on Monday repealed a mandate that would have required trains carrying crude oil to use special brakes with new technology.
The Department of Transportation’s Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) said it undertook a congressionally mandated analysis of the provision in a 2015 regulation under which oil trains would have had to use electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes. Continue reading “Trump officials roll back Obama oil train safety rule”
If your paycheck hits your bank account through direct deposit, be on the lookout for emails requesting personal information including log-in credentials — they could be a phishing scam by hackers who want to access your bank account.
The FBI warning comes as cyber criminals target the online payroll accounts of employees in a variety of industries, especially those in education, healthcare and commercial aviation. Continue reading “FBI: Hackers Targeting Your Payroll Direct Deposits”
Authorities in Massachusetts have charged an undocumented immigrant with murder after he allegedly stabbed three fellow crew members, one fatally, on a fishing boat 55 miles off the coast.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts announced the charges on Monday, one day after they say Franklin Freddy Meave Vazquez got into a fight on the ship he was working on, the Captain Billy Haver, and three people were injured. One of those members of the crew died. Continue reading “Undocumented immigrant charged with murdering shipmate on fishing boat off Massachusetts”
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – He has chaired board meetings, cabinet meetings and starred in a reality television show, but on Wednesday U.S. President Donald Trump will wield the gavel in the United Nations Security Council to denounce Iran for what his administration sees as its malign regional behavior.
Trump is able to preside over the 15-member council as the United States holds the monthly rotating presidency, which coincides with the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations in New York this week. Continue reading “From reality TV to U.N., Trump to wield Security Council gavel”
SELMA, AL (WSFA) – Investigators now believe the officer who was shot was followed by four suspects starting from Selmont all the way to Selma where it ended at the intersection of Broad Street and Furniss Avenue.
“This demonstrates the worst fear,” said Selma Police Chief Spencer Collier.
Collier feared this might happen after weeks of dealing with his officers being shot at. No one had been hit.. until now.
Continue reading “Selma police officer shot twice in ‘ambush’ while on patrol”
A Baltimore police officer was injured and a man was killed in a shootout Sunday evening in West Baltimore’s Poppleton neighborhood, interim Police Commissioner Gary Tuggle said — in the same block where two people were shot last week.
Police did not release the name of the man, who they said shot the officer. Continue reading “Baltimore police officer wounded, man killed in shootout in block that’s seen recent spate of violence”
The two Maryland police officers who were shot while executing a drug-related search warrant late Wednesday had entered the wrong apartment, officials said.
Officers from Prince George’s County Police entered the home of “a law-abiding” resident after an investigation led officers to incorrectly conclude that the address was that of a suspected drug dealer, police Chief Hank Stawinski said during a news conference Thursday. Continue reading “Two Maryland officers injured in shooting had served warrant to wrong apartment, police say”
MELBOURNE, Fla. – A 22-year-old student pilot suspected of boarding a vacant passenger plane at a central Florida airport early Thursday has been charged with criminal attempt to steal an airplane, officials said.
The Joint Terrorism Task Force is investigating and trying to determine a motive in the case, according to Orlando-Melbourne International Airport spokeswoman Lori Booker. She told news outlets the student pilot, identified as Florida Institute of Technology student Nishal Sankat, also faces a visa violation and criminal trespassing charges. Continue reading “Florida student pilot charged with attempt to steal plane”
FORESTVILLE, Md. – Two police officers were shot in Forestville Wednesday night, Prince George’s County police say.
The shooting happened at around 10:30 p.m. at the Lorring Park Apartments on Lorring Drive as a team of officers was executing a search warrant related to a drug investigation at an apartment. Continue reading “2 officers shot in Prince George’s County, police say”
As more information about the downing overnight of a Russian reconnaissance plane by aging Syrian antiaircraft weapon becomes available, the Russian Defense Ministry has issued a shocking claim that will undoubtedly ratchet up tensions between Russia and Israel. While Russia had previously blamed Israel for the downing of the plane, which resulted in the deaths of 15 Russian servicemen, the MoD is now saying that Israel intended to use the Russian plane as “cover” during the attack. Continue reading “Moscow Accuses Israel Of Using Downed Russian Jet As “Cover” During Syrian Attack”
Russia and Turkey have agreed a “demilitarized zone” between militants and government troops in Syria’s Idlib, President Vladimir Putin said after hours-long talks with Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan focused on solving the crisis.
“We’ve focused on the situation in the province of Idlib, considering presence of large militant groups and their infrastructure there,” Putin said at a press conference after the talks. Continue reading “Putin & Erdogan agree Idlib buffer zone to avert new Syria crisis”
The Wichita Eagle – by Jaime Green
A 12-year veteran of the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office was shot and killed Sunday in western Sedgwick County.
Robert Kunze was shot while responding to a suspicious character call, Sedgwick County Sheriff Jeff Easter said during a Sunday evening news conference. A second person, the suspect, was also killed. Continue reading “Kansas deputy killed during suspicious character call, sheriff says”
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration will send a message to all U.S. cellphones on Thursday to test a previously unused alert system that aims to warn the public about national emergencies.
The messages will bear the headline “Presidential Alert”, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said in a statement this week. Phones will make a loud tone and have a special vibration, said FEMA, which will send the alert. Continue reading “Trump administration to send U.S. cellphones a test alert on Thursday”
HOUSTON (AP) — A U.S. Border Patrol agent suspected of killing four women was arrested early Saturday after a fifth woman who had been abducted managed to escape from him and notify authorities, law enforcement officials said, describing the agent as a “serial killer.”
Juan David Ortiz, an intel supervisor for the Border Patrol, fled from state troopers and was found hiding in a truck in a hotel parking lot in Laredo at around 2 a.m. Saturday, Webb County Sheriff Martin Cuellar said at a news conference in the border city about 145 miles (235 kilometers) southwest of San Antonio. Continue reading “Sheriff: Border Patrol agent suspected of killing 4 women”
LAKEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — A Trump administration advisory committee on Thursday recommended a change in the way energy companies calculate how much money they owe taxpayers for pumping natural gas from public lands.
But the U.S. Interior Department’s Royalty Policy Committee first had to clear up an apparent misunderstanding over how much leeway the companies would have in determining how much they owed. Continue reading “Trump panel wants changes in royalties from public oil, gas”
A 75-year old Cleveland man ended up trapped in his 2006 Cadillac XLR for 14 hours last month, according to a story reported by the Detroit Free Press. The owner of the car, Peter Pyros, hopped into his roadster to back out onto his driveway, but he quickly learned that the battery was dead. He was “trapped” because the doors use an electric button to activate the door latch to open the door. Since the battery was dead, the buttons did nothing. Continue reading “Man trapped in Cadillac XLR for 14 hours after battery dies”