From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
SHASTA-TRINITY NATIONAL FOREST, Calif. (AP) — Truckers abandoned big-rigs and motorists screamed in fear as they came dangerously close to an explosive wildfire that shut down about 45 miles of a major California interstate near the Oregon border that authorities were desperately trying to reopen.
In a video, a passenger in a vehicle screams: “Oh my God, I want to go!” as nearby trees burst into flames. Continue reading “Big rigs abandoned as wildfire scorches California freeway”
Burt Reynolds, the mustached sex symbol of the 1970s and 1980s, who ruled the box office with good-ol’-boy movies like Smokey and the Bandit and earned the critical praise he so badly desired in Starting Over and Boogie Nights, died Thursday in Florida of cardiac arrest, his agent confirmed to Yahoo Entertainment. He was 82.
As much as Reynolds represented an era, he also stood as a timeless cautionary tale. After a five-year run as Hollywood’s No. 1 male movie star, from 1978 to 1982, Reynolds fell into a funk of flops and personal problems, including unfounded health rumors and a nasty tabloid divorce from TV star Loni Anderson, from which his career never recovered. Continue reading “Burt Reynolds, rugged leading man of ‘Smokey and the Bandit,’ ‘Boogie Nights’ fame, dead at 82”
CINCINNATI (AP) — Police say four people are dead, including the gunman, in a downtown Cincinnati bank shooting.
Police Chief Eliot Isaac said the shooter opened fire early Thursday morning at the loading dock of the Fifth Third Bank building. Isaac said the gunman then entered the bank’s lobby where he exchanged gunfire with police. It’s unclear if the gunman shot himself or was shot by officers. Continue reading “4 dead, including gunman, in Cincinnati bank shooting”
Pennsylvania prisons have begun letting up on the systemwide lockdown sparked late last month by a series of alleged drug exposure incidents officials blamed on synthetic marijuana soaked into books and letters.
More than three dozen guards at 10 of the state’s 25 prisons were sickened over the course of a month, corrections officials told Penn Live. None of the staffers needed extended hospital stays, but in response, on Wednesday the prison system cut off all visitation and non-legal mail and locked inmates in their cells indefinitely. Continue reading “Prisons Shutdown Over Possible K2 Exposure”
Ten people were taken to the hospital Wednesday after an Emirates Airline plane from Dubai — carrying more than 500 passengers and apparently rapper Vanilla Ice — landed in New York City with about 100 passengers and crew members feeling ill, officials said.
Nine others who were sickened were evaluated and refused further medical attention, Eric Phillips, spokesman for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, said.
Influenza is believed to be the culprit, as patients have demonstrated flu-like symptoms, a New York City health official said. Continue reading “CDC investigates an Emirates plane carrying 100 sick passengers”
A man intentionally crashed his truck into the side of the studios for FOX 4 in Dallas early Wednesday before jumping out of the vehicle and started “ranting,” the station said.
In a Twitter post, FOX 4 said that after crashing the vehicle in the building, the man got out and “started ranting.” Continue reading “Man intentionally crashes truck into FOX 4 studios in Dallas, starts ‘ranting,’ station says”
A Georgia police officer is “fighting for his life” after he was shot while responding to a shoplifting report at a Walmart Monday afternoon, according to local police.
When a suspect exited the Walmart in Covington — about 35 miles east of Atlanta — and started to flee, officer Matt Cooper ran after him, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) and the Covington Police Department. Continue reading “Officer ‘fighting for his life’ after he’s shot responding to shoplifting report at Georgia Walmart”
Tech Crunch – by Zack Whittaker
A pact of five nation states dedicated to a global “collect it all” surveillance mission has issued a memo calling on their governments to demand tech companies build backdoor access to their users’ encrypted data — or face measures to force companies to comply.
The international pact — the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, known as the so-called “Five Eyes” group of nations — quietly issued the memo last week demanding that providers “create customized solutions, tailored to their individual system architectures that are capable of meeting lawful access requirements.” Continue reading “‘Five Eyes’ governments call on tech giants to build encryption backdoors — or else”
With a net worth of over $7 billion, Liu ‘Richard’ Qiangdong, founder and CEO of Chinese e-commerce company JD.com, is China’s 20th richest man. Continue reading “One Of China’s Richest Men Arrested In Minneapolis For “Criminal Sexual Misconduct””
A team of scientists has singled out what it claims left U.S. diplomats in Cuba sickened by mysterious ailments and symptoms in recent months, according to a new report.
Douglas H. Smith, director of the Center for Brain Injury and Repair at the University of Pennsylvania, told The New York Times that microwaves, which can trick the brain into perceiving what seem to be ordinary sounds — known as the Frey effect, named after American scientist Allan H. Frey — most likely caused the trauma. Continue reading “‘Microwave weapons’ eyed as likely source of mystery ailments for US diplomats in Cuba, scientists say”
At least 10 people have been shot in an apartment complex in San Bernardino, Calif., with at least three of the victims in “extremely critical” condition, according to reports.
Police have set up a large perimeter around the crime scene, according to KTVN-TV in Los Angeles. Continue reading “At least 10 shot at San Bernardino, Calif., apartment complex; 3 victims reported ‘critical’”
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — More than two dozen MS-13 gang members and affiliates were arrested and charged following a monthslong murder and drug trafficking investigation centered on a rural California farm city that the gang turned into a base for its operations, U.S. and state prosecutors said Friday.
MS-13 took advantage of limited resources in the city of Mendota and used it and other areas of Fresno County to “conduct their crimes, to hide out from crimes that they committed in other jurisdictions and to prepare to commit crimes in states as far away as New York,” Fresno County District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp said at a news conference in Fresno with state and federal officials. Continue reading “MS-13 gang used California farm town as a base for crime”
TAOS, N.M. (Reuters) – Five residents of a New Mexico compound were arrested on Friday by the FBI for violating firearms and conspiracy laws in what one of their lawyers described as a “bad development” for the group, who are accused of planning anti-government attacks.
Jany Leveille, 35; Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, 40; Hujrah Wahhaj, 37; Subhanah Wahhaj, 35; and Lucas Morton, 40, were charged in criminal complaints filed in U.S. District Court in New Mexico, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a statement. Continue reading “FBI arrests New Mexico compound members on new charges”
MOUNT HOLLY, N.J. (AP) — A couple who raised more than $400,000 for a homeless man after he used his last $20 to fill up the gas tank of a stranded motorist in Philadelphia must now turn over what’s left of the cash.
A New Jersey judge issued the order Thursday during a hearing on the lawsuit brought by Johnny Bobbitt , who worries Mark D’Amico and Katie McClure have mismanaged a large part of the donations raised for him on GoFundMe. Continue reading “Couple ordered to turn over funds raised for homeless man”
Strategic Culture – by Arkady Savitsky
Around 200,000 US troops are stationed in 177 countries throughout the world. Those forces utilize several hundred military installations. Africa is no exemption. On August 2, Maj. Gen. Roger L. Cloutier took command of US Army Africa, promising to “hit the ground running.”
The US is not waging any wars in Africa but it has a significant presence on the continent. Navy SEALs, Green Berets, and other special ops are currently conducting nearly 100 missions across 20 African countries at any given time, waging secret, limited-scale operations. According to the magazine Vice, US troops are now conducting 3,500 exercises and military engagements throughout Africa per year, an average of 10 per day — an astounding 1,900% increase since the command rolled out 10 years ago. Many activities described as “advise and assist” are actually indistinguishable from combat by any basic definition. Continue reading “US Military Presence in Africa: All Over Continent and Still Expanding”
President Trump on Thursday announced that he would cancel a scheduled 2.1 percent across-the-board pay increase for federal workers, as well as locality pay increases.
“In light of our Nation’s fiscal situation, Federal employee pay must be performance-based, and aligned strategically toward recruiting, retaining, and rewarding high-performing Federal employees and those with critical skill sets,” Trump wrote in a letter to the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate. Continue reading “Trump nixes federal pay raise”
Seventeen people have been sickened in four states — with one fatal case in New York — from a salmonella outbreak tied to raw chicken, according to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
In a news release posted Wednesday, CDC officials said that eight people had been hospitalized. The states identified in addition to New York were Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Continue reading “17 people sickened in 4 states because of a salmonella outbreak tied to raw chicken: CDC”
In what may be the most innocent violation to emerge out of Wells Fargo in years, the WSJ reports that Wells has fired or suspended more than a dozen employees in its investment bank and is investigating dozens of others over violations of the company’s expense policy regarding after-hours meals.
According to the report, Wells Fargo employees ranging from analysts to managing directors in New York, San Francisco and Charlotte, doctored receipts on dinners that they charged to the bank. Continue reading “Wells Fargo Fires Over A Dozen Bankers For Doctoring Expense Receipts”
The boyfriend of a woman captured on night-vision video ringing a doorbell in the middle of the night while partially-clothed and wearing broken wrist restrains has been found dead, according to police.
The woman herself, 32, has been found safe, according to Texas authorities, after footage surfaced of the “suspicious” incident in Sunrise Ranch, Montgomery. Continue reading “Boyfriend of woman seen ringing Texas doorbell while wearing wrist restraints found dead”