From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
President Donald Trump has pardoned Michael Behenna, a former Army Ranger in the 101st Airborne Division convicted of murdering an Iraqi prisoner in 2009.
Behenna, 35, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for “unpremeditated murder in a combat zone” after killing suspected al-Qaeda terrorist Ali Mansur. Behenna was paroled in 2014. Continue reading “Trump pardons former Army Ranger convicted of killing Iraqi prisoner”
President Trump presented Tiger Woods with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in the White House Rose Garden Monday, calling the champion golfer “a global symbol of American excellence, devotion and drive.”
“Tiger, we are inspired by everything you’ve become and attained. The job you’ve done is incredible,” Trump said to Woods. “Your spectacular achievements on the golf course, your triumph over physical adversity and your relentless will to win, win, win; these qualities embody the American spirit of pushing boundaries, defying limits and always striving for greatness.” Continue reading “Trump presents ‘true legend’ Tiger Woods with Presidential Medal of Freedom”
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — An executive for the company proposing the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada’s oil sands into the U.S. says it has missed the 2019 construction season due to court delays.
TransCanada executive vice president Paul Miller made the statement during a Friday earnings call with analysts. The company also announced it was changing its name to TC Energy Corp. Continue reading “TransCanada changes name, pushes back Keystone XL construction plans”
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration is deploying a carrier strike group and bombers to the Middle East in response to troubling “indications and warnings” from Iran and to show the United States will retaliate with “unrelenting force” to any attack, national security adviser John Bolton said on Sunday.
With tensions already high between Washington and Tehran, a U.S. official said the deployment has been ordered “as a deterrence to what has been seen as potential preparations by Iranian forces and its proxies that may indicate possible attacks on U.S. forces in the region.”However, the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States was not expecting any imminent Iranian attack. Continue reading “U.S. deploying carrier, bombers to Middle East to deter Iran: Bolton”
Two workers were pronounced dead and two colleagues were missing Saturday after an explosion rocked a manufacturing plant outside Chicago, authorities said.
One of the deceased did not succumb to injuries from the incident, Waukegan Fire Marshal Steve Lenzi said in a press release. The cause of death will be determined by the Lake County coroner. Continue reading “2 dead, 2 missing in ‘ground-shaking’ plant explosion in Illinois”
A police officer who was shot Saturday night during a traffic stop in Mooresville, N.C., has died, according to reports.
K9 Officer Jordan Harris Sheldon, 32, a six-year veteran of the Mooresville force, was slain shortly after 10 p.m., not far from Highway 150, Charlotte’s WSOC-TV reported. Continue reading “Police officer slain in North Carolina during traffic stop; suspect also dead”
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents arrested 424 migrants attempting to cross the southern border on Tuesday in the “largest” collective arrest in the agency’s history.
CBP agents encountered and ultimately apprehended “a group of what seemed to be over 400 illegal aliens” early Tuesday morning near the border town of Sunland Park, N.M., according to an agency press release. Continue reading “Border Patrol Arrests 424 Migrants in Largest Bust on Record”
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A man armed with a pistol opened fire on students at a North Carolina university during the last day of classes Tuesday, killing two people and wounding four, police said. Officers who had gathered ahead of a campus concert raced over and disarmed the suspect.
The shooting prompted a lockdown at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte and caused widespread panic across campus as students scrambled to take shelter. Continue reading “2 dead, 4 injured in North Carolina campus shooting”
The Venezuelan foreign minister has accused the US-backed opposition of planning Tuesday’s coup attempt in Washington, and said the government would work to keep the peace.
Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza told Reuters by telephone that only around 30 soldiers had supported the coup instigated by opposition leader Juan Guaido. He described the plot as “another chapter” of an American effort to topple the government of President Nicolas Maduro. Continue reading “Venezuelan coup attempt ‘directly planned in Washington’ – FM”
A 25-year-old man is accused of killing seven people — including his parents and uncle — in slayings that unfolded at two separate crime scenes in Sumner County, Tennessee, authorities said.
Sumner County District Attorney Ray Whitley called the killings one of “the most horrific cases” he has covered. Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director David Rausch on Monday described it as “gruesome” and “complex.” Continue reading “Suspect’s parents, uncle among 7 killed in ‘gruesome’ mass slayings in Tennessee”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has claimed that radio advertisements in Central America are encouraging a wave of migrants to come to the U.S. for the “American dream.”
During a ride-along tour of the southern border in El Paso, Texas, Assistant Chief Patrol Jose Martinez told Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo that “the word is definitely out” among would-be immigrants. Continue reading “Radio ads offer to ‘help out’ migrants trying to enter US, Border Patrol official says”
A standoff with the federal government is putting the future of Burning Man at risk.
The problems started when the event’s organizer, Burning Man Project, applied for a permit from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to hold the event in northern Nevada’s Black Rock Desert for another 10 years. Continue reading “Government squaring off with Burning Man organizers over barriers, lasers and trash cans”
TAPACHULA (Reuters) – More than a thousand migrants broke out of a detention center in southern Mexico on Thursday evening, authorities said, in a fresh sign of how a surge in arrivals has stretched the country’s resources to the limit.
More than half of the roughly 1,300 migrants later returned to the Siglo XXI facility in the border city of Tapachula in Chiapas state, but about 600 are still unaccounted for, the National Migration Institute said in a statement. Continue reading “Over 1,000 migrants break out of southern Mexico detention center”
Fort Bragg in North Carolina conducted a cyber-attack military exercise for 12 hours overnight Wednesday into Thursday morning that simulated how personnel would respond to an attack that crippled the base’s power supply, reported The Charlotte Observer. And according to several Facebook post from base officials, the exercise was an unannounced military exercise. Continue reading “Widespread Blackouts Strike Fort Bragg During Cyber-Attack Drill”
A state judge in Massachusetts was indicted Thursday for refusing to allow ICE to take custody of an undocumented immigrant, according to court papers.
Judge Shelley M. Richmond Joseph, 51, of Natick, was charged in the case along with a court officer, Wesley MacGregor, 56, of Watertown. Continue reading “Judge indicted in Massachusetts for refusing to allow undocumented immigrant to be detained”
(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump is seriously considering waiving the requirement that only U.S. flagged vessels can move goods from American ports to Puerto Rico or energy-starved areas of the Northeast, according to people familiar with the deliberations.
The issue was debated during an Oval Office meeting on Monday, following requests from Puerto Rico and pressure from oil industry leaders to ease the nearly 100-year-old Jones Act requirements, according to three people. Although top administration officials are divided on the issue, Trump is now leaning in favor of some kind of waiver, said two of the people, who asked for anonymity to discuss the private discussions. Continue reading “Trump mulls allowing foreign vessels to ship US gas within country”
A sheriff’s K-9 was punctured by hundreds of porcupine quills while pursuing a suspect in Oregon over the weekend.
The Coos County Sheriff’s Office deployed the dog, named Odin, in the Barview area on Saturday evening to track down a man wanted on several felony charges and who’d fled a deputy on foot. Continue reading “Quilled in the line of duty: K-9 cop punctured by porcupine in search for suspect”
The FBI has arrested Larry Mitchell Hopkins, the head of a militia group that has been detaining would-be migrants at the US-Mexico border. The FBI announced that Hopkins, 69, had been arrested on April 20 in Sunland Park, New Mexico on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. Continue reading “Larry Mitchell Hopkins: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know”
(Reuters) – Church-goers tackled a woman who held a 10-month-old baby, waved a gun and threatened to blow up the building at an Easter Sunday service in San Diego, leading to her arrest, police said.
The baby and the 31-year-old woman’s 5-year-old daughter were taken into protective custody, police said. Continue reading “San Diego church-goers tackle woman holding baby, waving gun”