From the Trenches World Report
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Tax Revolution Institute – by Guillermo Jimenez
Just how harshly does the IRS treat tax cheats within its own agency? Are IRS employees who don’t pay their taxes still being rewarded with bonuses and paid time off in 2016? Newly obtained documents reveal the answers: not very, and the IRS isn’t telling. Continue reading “500 IRS Employees Caught Not Paying Taxes in 2015, Only 5 Fired”
The Obama administration is seeking to toss out a pair of high-profile healthcare lawsuits in which insurers claim they are owed millions of dollars under the Affordable Care Act.
The two insurers, Moda Healthcare and BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina, have sued the federal government over a combined $338 million in ObamaCare payments they argue are overdue. Continue reading “Feds move to throw out ObamaCare lawsuits”
Hillary Clinton had glowing words for the General Motors plant in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, when she traveled there in 2011 as secretary of state to announce the joint venture — of GM and an Uzbekistan state-owned firm — as a finalist for a State Department award.
“It is a collaboration between Uzbek and American companies, and it will serve as a symbol of our friendship and cooperation,” Clinton said, touting the plant’s “newest, most advanced technology.” Continue reading “Clinton-backed branch of foundation donor GM now caught in major scandal”
Washington Examiner – by Paul Bedard
The newest surge in illegal immigration from Mexico did not slow in August, as expected, and now is on the verge of breaking the 2014 record, driven by deported migrants eager to return and illegals paying smugglers extra money for VIP services, according to a new report from the border.
“FY2016 has already seen the second highest number of apprehensions in the last five years, and will likely come close to or even exceed the number of apprehensions as the crisis year of 2014,” said the report from two immigration experts for the Wilson Center who recently return from a border tour to conduct interviews with immigrants.
What was surprising, said the report, is that the expected slowdown in illegal immigration in August, when the heat typically drives people away, didn’t occur.
“Central Americans continue to arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border in surprising numbers. While they have not yet surpassed the peak of fiscal year 2014, August 2016 had the highest number of [unaccompanied children] and family unit apprehensions of any August in the past five years including 2014. Normally, apprehensions begin to decline in August because of the heat and the reduced demand for seasonal labor in the U.S. – which makes the increased apprehension numbers this August surprising,” said the report.
The report said that economic opportunity in the United States continues to drive illegal immigration as did the desire by those deported to get back to their life, and families, in America.
“All spoke of families they have left in the U.S. and their determination to return to take care of their children and restart their lives,” said the report of those interviewed in the border regions.
The report, titled “Migrant Smuggling and Trafficking at the Rio Grande Valley,” provided a sometimes jarring description of the smuggling operations illegals utilize to get into the United States.
Migrants pay about $6,000-$8,000 for help to get into the United States.
But it added that some pay twice for “VIP services” that will make repeated attempts to cross the border and even help get illegal immigrants deep into the United States.
“The smugglers offer the migrants logistical support and intelligence. Their services include transportation networks, moving from place to place northward to the border based on the smugglers’ sense of the securest route,” said the report.
It added: “Depending on the kind of service provided the cost can run between $6,000 and $8,000, with some VIP services costing double with a guarantee of several attempts at crossing the border and safe passage to a major city in the U.S. But the majority of migrants seem to pay to be brought to the U.S.-Mexico border, taken to a crossing point, and sometimes helped across the river.”
Read the full Wilson Center report here.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com
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Continue reading “Vote N.O.T.A. For President In 2016”
Just three months into their marriage, a Florida couple got the surprise of their lives after discovering that the bride was the groom’s biological granddaughter.
According to the Florida Sun Post, the couple – who have requested to remain anonymous – came to the startling discovery while looking through the 68-year-old’s photo albums, which included pictures of his first wife and their children. His 24-year-old wife instantly recognized one of the children as her estranged father, who she says kicked her out of the house when she was a teenager after she’d accidentally gotten pregnant. Continue reading “Florida Man Accidentally Marries His Granddaughter”
The New York attorney general has served the Trump Foundation with a cease and desist order that requires it to stop fundraising in New York, alleging it is not properly registered in the state.
“The failure immediately to discontinue solicitation and to file information and reports … with the Charities Bureau shall be deemed to be a continuing fraud upon the people of the state of New York,” according to a letter dated Sept. 30 that the attorney general’s office posted online.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-trump-idUSKCN1231V5
Critics say a combination of federal and local policies is being blamed for rolling out the red carpet for illegal immigrants, some of whom have committed violent crimes, allowing them to pour into a Long Island, N.Y., neighborhood where four teens have been murdered in recent weeks.
Federal policy that allows Central American children apprehended by Border Patrol to be placed with illegal immigrant sponsors has sent thousands of teens to the region in recent years. While most don’t arrive as hardened gang members, many are placed in homes with little supervision, say critics. Continue reading “US immigration policies allow gangs to thrive in violence-plagued NY community, say critics”
Attorney General Loretta Lynch is announcing Justice Department grants Monday to help police departments across the country hire new officers.
The $119 million in funding is being announced in Dallas, site of a sniper ambush in July that left five officers dead, at the start of National Community Policing Week. Other events planned for the week include a town hall discussion on diversity in law enforcement and an awards ceremony, both in Washington. Continue reading “Attorney General Lynch Announcing Grants for New Officers”
A Montana man mauled by a grizzly bear, twice, took to Facebook before he even received medical treatment to share a warning with fellow residents and visitors to the area; carry bear spray and “be safe out there.”
Todd Orr, 50, of Bozeman, knew he was lucky to be alive. He set out for an early morning hike in familiar terrain on Saturday and dutifully shouted out every so often to give any lurking bears a chance to clear off, but it didn’t work. Continue reading ““Life sucks in bear country”; Man details grizzly attack on Facebook”
Washington Post – by Chris Mooney and Brady Dennis
The Paris climate agreement, the world’s strongest effort yet to try to curb the pace of climate change, sped even closer toward becoming active as India, the planet’s fourth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, formally joined the accord Sunday.
The agreement, which 195 countries negotiated over two weeks in December, “enters into force” when at least 55 of them representing 55 percent of global emissions, officially join the accord. For each, that process includes signing and domestically ratifying or otherwise accepting the agreement, and then depositing an “instrument of ratification” at the United Nations. It’s that last step that India completed Sunday. Continue reading “India just ratified the Paris climate deal — bringing it extremely close to taking effect”
Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) is throwing its energies into reaching a settlement before next month’s presidential election with U.S. authorities demanding a fine of up to $14 billion for mis-selling mortgage-backed securities.
The threat of such a large fine has pushed Deutsche shares to record lows, and a cut-price settlement is urgently needed to reverse the trend and help to restore confidence in Germany’s largest lender. Continue reading “Deutsche Bank races against time to reach U.S. settlement”
True Activist – by Whitney Web
What was the most dangerous nuclear disaster in world history? Most people would say the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine, but they’d be wrong. In 2011, an earthquake, believed to be an aftershock of the 2010 earthquake in Chile, created a tsunami that caused a meltdown at the TEPCO nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan. Three nuclear reactors melted down and what happened next was the largest release of radiation into the water in the history of the world. Over the next three months, radioactive chemicals, some in even greater quantities than Chernobyl, leaked into the Pacific Ocean. However, the numbers may actually be much higher as Japanese official estimates have been proven by several scientists to be flawed in recent years. Continue reading “Fukushima Radiation Has Contaminated The Entire Pacific Ocean (And It’s Going To Get Worse)”
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Continue reading “SNL Recreates Trump-Hillary Debate.”
Seattle Times – by Thomas Fuller
WEED, Calif. — The water that gurgles from a spring on the edge of Weed, a Northern California logging town, is so pristine that for more than a century it has been piped directly to the wooden homes spread across hills and gullies.
To the residents of Weed, which sits in the foothills of Mount Shasta, a snow-capped dormant volcano, the spring water is a blessing during a time of severe and prolonged drought.
To the lumber company that owns the land where the spring is, the water is a business opportunity.
Continue reading “Get your own water, Oregon timber firm tells California town”
Russia warned the United States Saturday against carrying out any attacks on Syrian government forces, saying it would have repercussions across the Middle East as government forces captured a hill on the edge of the northern city of Aleppo under the cover of airstrikes.
Meanwhile, airstrikes on Aleppo struck a hospital in the eastern rebel-held neighborhood of Sakhour on Saturday, putting it out of service, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees. They said at least one person was killed in the airstrike. Continue reading “Russia Warns Against US Attack on Syrian Forces”
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Continue reading “PARIS – SEPTEMBER – 2016 (GONE T0 HELL)”
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Breitbart – by Cartel Chronicles
CIUDAD VICTORIA, Tamaulipas — The war between two rival factions of the Los Zetas Cartel has set off an unstoppable wave of violence that continues to spread death and terror. This week, the violence spiked with seven executions and a gun battle that killed six others in a span of less than 24 hours.
The most recent violent event took place on Thursday early morning when authorities faced off with six cartel gunmen at a stash house in the Jacarandas neighborhood. The Tamaulipas government revealed that three gunmen died in the gun battle–but also found the bodies of three victims who appeared to have been previously executed. Continue reading “Cartel Civil War Kills 13 in 24 Hours Near Texas Border”