RT

The evacuation of militants out of eastern Aleppo has been halted after they broke the terms of the truce struck with the government, RT correspondent Lizzie Phelan reports from the scene, citing a Syrian Army official.

According to a senior Syrian general in Aleppo, the militants tried to bring heavy weapons out with them instead of light weapons which were allowed, violating the terms of the agreement with the Syrian authorities.   Continue reading “E. Aleppo evacuations halted after militants break truce terms”

WTKR News 3

A US oceanographic vessel Thursday had its underwater drone stolen by a Chinese warship literally right in front of the eyes of the American crew, a US defense official told CNN Friday.

In the latest encounter in international waters in the South China Sea region, the USNS Bowditch was sailing about 100 miles off the port at Subic Bay when the incident occurred, according to the official.
Continue reading “US Defense official: Chinese warship stole US underwater drone”

USA Today – by Alison Young

Because of yet another mix-up with bioterror pathogens, a federal terrorism response training center in Alabama says it mistakenly exposed more than 9,600 firefighters, paramedics and other students to a deadly toxin over the past five years.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Center for Domestic Preparedness blames an outside laboratory for a series of shipping errors since 2011 that resulted in the first-responder training center using in its classes a potentially lethal form of ricin powder. The poison, made from castor beans, is capable of killing at small doses.   Continue reading “Emergency trainees mistakenly exposed to deadly ricin”

The Daily Caller – by Caroline May

The number of migrants apprehended illegally entering the United States via the Southwest border continued to rise in November, according to data released Thursday by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Last month, Border Patrol apprehended a daily average of nearly 1,574 border crossers — or a total of 47,214 — attempting to enter the country illegally. Since July, the number of attempted illegal border crossings has been on the rise, on top of already elevated numbers. November’s totals were the highest seen at the U.S.-Mexico border since June 2014, when 57,862 migrants were apprehended illegally crossing into the U.S.   Continue reading “Record Surge Continues At Border: Over 1,570 Apprehended Per Day Last Month”

PJ Media – by Debra Heine

Jill Stein’s recount efforts in Michigan have uncovered what looks like systemic election fraud in Detroit, where roughly 95% of the votes cast were cast for Hillary Clinton. Sixty percent of precincts in Wayne County had to be disqualified from the statewide recount because of “irregularities.” According to Fox News judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano, those irregularities look “organized” and “government involved.”

County records prepared at the request of The Detroit News after ballot irregularities were discovered revealed that 37 percent of Detroit precincts registered more votes than voters during the election.   Continue reading “Judge Napolitano: Election Fraud in Detroit Looks ‘Organized, and Government Involved’”

Reuters

China appears to have installed weapons, including anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems, on all seven of the artificial islands it has built in the South China Sea, a U.S. think tank reported, citing new satellite imagery.

The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies said its findings, made available first to Reuters on Wednesday, come despite statements by the Chinese leadership that Beijing has no intention to militarize the islands in the strategic trade route, where territory is claimed by several countries.   Continue reading “China installs weapons systems on artificial islands: U.S. think tank”

Sent to us by the author.

The Great Recession – by David Haggith

I’m afraid the Trump train is headed for a sharp economic curve that takes us further away from free-market capitalism. The US already pulled out of the free-market station a long time ago, but Trumponomics moves deeply into a “mixed economy,” an economy in which government funding and private funding are married. The bankster-baron confederation in the Trump cabinet is how business and government consumate their marriage.   Continue reading “Trumponomics: Going for a Ride on the Trump Train”

Sent to us by the author.

The Great Recession Blog – by David Haggith

Banksters and their pocket politicians, barons of industry and their lickspittle lobbyists — these are the establishment, and these are the navigators that surround the helm as Trump takes the wheel and prepares to cast off. Nothing provides better clues as to where this voyage is headed than the carefully selected expertise of the chosen crew. Having described the captain’s first mates in my last article, here is the remaining Trump manifest:   Continue reading “Team Trump (Pt 3): Trunk Loads of Establishment Baggage”

Campus Reform – by Elias Atienza

A University of Southern California professor is asking students not to use the term “illegal immigrants” on their final exams.

The instruction was issued by a teaching assistant in Prof. Alicia Chavez’s AMST 301 course, “America, the Frontier, and the New West,” a general education course that is described as “an interdisciplinary study of American political, cultural, and social life with a particular emphasis on the Western United States as a region.”   Continue reading “Prof bans the term ‘illegal immigrants’ on final exams”

ABC News

An order to keep residents indoors has been issued in Rutherford County, Tennessee, and specific neighborhoods are being evacuated, after a commercial vehicle carrying swimming pool cleaning supplies crashed into another truck, officials said.

The truck carrying pool cleaning supplies like chlorine tablets, oxidizers, and corrosives caught fire on the side of the highway near the tree line, according to a Rutherford County 911 dispatcher and the Tennessee Highway Patrol, sending the the toxic plume into the air. Continue reading “Authorities Warn of Toxic Air After Semi Crash Spills Hazardous Materials in Tennessee”

The Express Tribune

Indian investigators arrested a central bank official Tuesday for allegedly illegally exchanging old bills worth some 15 million rupees ($222,000) for new ones as the country faces a cash crisis.

The arrest comes at a time when many Indians are struggling to find the cash to buy food following the government’s shock move last month to withdraw high-denomination 500 and 1,000 rupee banknotes from circulation in a bid to tackle tax evasion.   Continue reading “India arrests central bank official over cash scam”

Washington Post

President-elect Donald Trump has picked as his secretary of state Rex Tillerson, the chief executive of ExxonMobil, setting up a possible confrontation with members of his own party in the Senate, Trump’s transition team announced Tuesday.

Since Tillerson’s name emerged as a candidate for the post, leading Republicans have expressed reservations about his years of work in Russia and the Middle East on behalf of the multinational petroleum company.   Continue reading “Trump picks ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson to be secretary of state”

Brought up by Mike in AZ.

New York Post – by Jacob Sullum

Last week, the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act of 2016, a k a S. 10, was introduced in the Senate, read three times, and approved by unanimous consent without debate or amendment — all on one day. That sort of bipartisan consensus, which suggests a bill is so obviously unobjectionable that no discussion is necessary, usually means trouble, and this case is no exception.   Continue reading “Congress’ rotten idea for fighting anti-Semitism”

Sent to us by Tax Revolutionn Institute.

Tax Revolution Institute – by Philip Schlosser

74,608 pages, 2.4 million words.

That is the present size of Title 26 of the U.S. Code, i.e. the “Internal Revenue Code.” One would think this would be nearly impossible for an enterprise wielding an army of tax experts to absorb, let alone the average taxpayer. However, it doesn’t stop there.   Continue reading “Tax Code Complexity Now Costs U.S. Economy up to $1 Trillion Annually”

WREG 3 News – by George Brown

KNIGHTSTOWN, Ind. — An Indiana town is being sued by the American Civil Liberties Union over part of its Christmas decorations.

Residents of the town of 2,000 people can’t remember a time when an illuminated cross didn’t sit atop a Christmas tree in the town square.   Continue reading “ACLU suing Indiana town over Christmas decorations”

Wikipedia

The McCollum memo, also known as the Eight Action Memo was a memorandum, dated October 7, 1940 (more than a year before the Pearl Harbor attack), sent by Lieutenant Commander Arthur H. McCollum, who “provided the president with intelligence reports on [Japan]… [and oversaw] every intercepted and decoded Japanese military and diplomatic report destined for the White House”[1][unreliable source?] in his capacity as director of the Office of Naval Intelligence‘s Far East Asia section. It was sent to Navy Captains Dudley Knox, who agreed with the actions described within the memo, and Walter Stratton Anderson.   Continue reading “McCollum memo”