From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
A federal judge has dismissed criminal charges against the lawyer for the leader of the armed occupation at an Oregon wildlife refuge.
U.S. marshals tackled Marcus Mumford and zapped him with a stun gun as he argued with a judge last fall over releasing his client, Ammon Bundy, shortly after his acquittal in the standoff. Continue reading “Lawyer for Oregon standoff leader sees charges dismissed”
Defense officials familiar with the situation say that the US will soon deploy another 1,000 ground troops into Syria, with the deployments expected to be part of the buildup ahead of the invasion of the ISIS capital city of Raqqa.
This 1,000 troops is in addition to other recent deployments to Syria announced by the Pentagon, and when completed is expected bring the number of US troops in Syria overall to close to 2,000. The official US limit of the number of troops that can be in Syria is 503, a number long since surpassed. Continue reading “Defense Officials: US to Send 1,000 More Ground Troops to Syria”
Washington Post – by Caitlin Dewey
Luisa Fortin sometimes sits up at night, wondering what her clients are eating. She is the SNAP Outreach Coordinator for the Chattanooga Food Bank — but lately she has done less outreaching.
Her families, working immigrants in northwest Georgia, are spooked by the political climate, Fortin said. Increasingly, she’s being asked to explain how food stamps may impact immigration status, if not to outright cancel family food benefits. Continue reading “Immigrants are now canceling their food stamps for fear that Trump will deport them”
Business Insider – by Barbara Tasch and Reuters
A letter exploded when it was opened at the offices of the International Monetary Fund in Paris on Thursday and slightly injured an executive assistant’s face and hands, a police source said.
According to the first elements of the investigation, a firecracker could be at the origin of the explosion, which occurred late Thursday morning, according to the French newspaper Le Figaro. Continue reading “A letter bomb exploded at the International Monetary Fund offices in Paris and injured 1 person”
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca was convicted Wednesday of obstructing an FBI investigation into corrupt guards who took bribes to smuggle contraband into the jails he ran and savagely beat inmates.
The verdict was the 21st and final conviction in a wide-ranging corruption investigation that overshadowed a distinguished 50-year law enforcement career abruptly halted by Baca’s 2014 resignation from the nation’s largest sheriff’s department as the probe spread from rank-and-file deputies to his inner circle. Continue reading “Ex-LA County sheriff convicted of impeding FBI’s jail probe”
Sent in by Stefan Verstappen.
Continue reading “We Are At War”
The Charlotte Observer – by Mark Price
Undocumented immigrants waiting for Charlotte taxpayers to cover their legal fees – as immigrant groups have demanded – are out of luck.
After giving the matter some study, City Attorney Bob Hagemann has issued a concise statement putting the idea to rest.
It won’t happen. Ever. Continue reading “Taxpayer dollars to fight deportation cases? Charlotte city attorney issues ruling”
The Denver Post – by Kieran Nicholson
More than 100 barrels of crude oil was released from a Chevron pipeline in Rio Blanco County into a dry drainage ditch, killing some wildlife and prompting recovery and cleanup operations.
The spill from a Chevron Pipe Line Company line in Rangely was contained in a siphon dam about a mile and a half from Stinking Water Creek, according to a news release from Chevron and the Rio Blanco County Sheriff’s Office. Continue reading “More than 100 barrels of Chevron crude oil foul drainage ditch in Rangely”
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration in its final year in office spent a record $36.2 million on legal costs defending its refusal to turn over federal records under the Freedom of Information Act, according to an Associated Press analysis of new U.S. data that also showed poor performance in other categories measuring transparency in government.
For a second consecutive year, the Obama administration set a record for times federal employees told citizens, journalists and others that despite searching they couldn’t find a single page of files that were requested. Continue reading “Obama’s final year: US spent $36 million in records lawsuits”
Sent to us by Tax Revolution Institute.
On February 24, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), addressed the attendees of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) to provide his vision for Republican “tax reform.” Continue reading “The 5 Things Republicans Don’t Want You to Know About Their Tax Reform”
While the Northeast braces for an expected blizzard, parts of western New York are already coping with the effects of extreme weather.
In Webster, New York, on the edge of Lake Ontario, a summer home turned into an icicle haven after high winds over the weekend sprayed the house with waves from the lake. The winds reached 80 mph, according to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Continue reading “High winds off lake turn western New York home into an ice house”
The star of the reality TV show “American Guns” faces up to 15 years in prison after his conviction last week on firearms and tax evasion charges.
Richard Wyatt, 53, ran a Denver-area gun shop called Gunsmoke that was the setting for the Discovery Channel show for two seasons in 2011 and 2012.
He was found guilty Friday of selling guns without a license and failing to disclose $1.1 million in income to the IRS after a trial in Denver Federal Court, The Denver Post reports. Continue reading “‘American Guns’ reality star convicted of selling firearms illegally, evading taxes”
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A jury on Friday convicted two men of conspiracy to impede federal officers during last year’s high-profile armed occupation of a wildlife refuge in Oregon in a protest over control of Western lands. They face possible sentences of years in federal prison.
The verdict handed prosecutors some measure of redemption after they failed to convict occupation leaders Ammon and Ryan Bundy and five other occupiers in a trial last fall involving the takeover of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, a federally owned remote bird sanctuary about 290 miles southeast of Portland. Continue reading “Jury convicts 2 of conspiracy in Oregon ranching standoff”
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has asked the remaining 46 U.S. attorneys who served under the Obama administration to resign, the Justice Department announced Friday, describing the move as part of an effort to ensure a “uniform transition.”
The department said some U.S. attorneys, as in prior transitions, already had left the department. Now, “the Attorney General has now asked the remaining 46 presidentially appointed U.S. Attorneys to tender their resignations,” a spokeswoman said. Continue reading “AG Sessions asks remaining 46 US attorneys to resign”
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The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office on Friday said it would defer potential charges against a 42-year-old man who had an alleged prearranged sexual encounter with a Champlin Park High School student on school premises Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Brooklyn Park police said Friday the student involved is 19 years old and has special needs. Continue reading “Hennepin County Attorney: Charges Deferred against Illegal Alien in Alleged Champlin Park Sexual Encounter”
South Korea has been plunged into a period of political uncertainty after the President, Park Geun-hye, was forced out of office by a corruption scandal.
The country’s Constitutional Court upheld a parliamentary vote to impeach Park over allegations of corruption and cronyism. She becomes the country’s first democratically elected leader to be forcibly removed. Continue reading “Two die in protests after South Korean president removed from office”
NEW YORK (AP) — Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, who collapsed in his office last month, died from a heart attack, and no foul play was suspected, according to a senior city official briefed by the medical examiner’s office.
The official was not authorized to reveal the cause of death for Ambassador Vitaly Churkin and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Friday after the medical examiner’s office, citing diplomatic protocol, said it was instructed not to publicly release the cause of death. Continue reading “Russian UN ambassador’s died from heart attack, source says”
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who previously served as the CEO of oil and gas giant ExxonMobil, has recused himself from any decisions regarding the Keystone XL oil pipeline.
In a letter sent to the environmental group Greenpeace Thursday, a State Department deputy legal adviser writes that Tillerson decided to recuse himself in “early February… from working on issues related to TransCanada’s application for a presidential permit for the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.” Continue reading “Tillerson steps away from possible pipeline decisions”
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WASHINGTON (ABC7) — The FBI raided the home of a Maryland man last month after he allegedly impersonated an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent while also attempting to enforce criminal laws, Montgomery County District Court documents state. Continue reading “Sources: Wash. Post employee allegedly impersonated ICE agent; guns found at his Md. home”