From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
The Hill – by RAFAEL BERNAL AND JORDAN FABIAN
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Tuesday released details on how it will prosecute undocumented immigrants and criminal immigrants.
In two memos, Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly repealed all guidance given to immigration enforcement officers by the Obama administration, save for those relating to undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children. Continue reading “DHS releases new immigration rules”
SINGAPORE/HOUSTON, Feb 20 (Reuters) – Chinese independent, or teapot, refiners are bringing in rare cargoes of North American heavy crude in a new long-distance flow that traders say has only been made possible by OPEC’s output cuts and ample supplies in Canada and the United States.
In April, at least 1 million barrels of the heavy crude Mars, pumped from the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, are expected to land in China’s Shandong province and 1 million barrels of a second unidentified heavy grade will arrive in China, trade and shipping sources said last week. This follows the arrival in January of 600,000 barrels of U.S. Gulf Blend, a heavy crude made up of a blend of various U.S. and Canadian grades loaded onto ships on the U.S. Gulf Coast, according to the sources and shipping data. Continue reading “Chinese refiners splurge on North American heavy crude”
Washington Post – by John Wagner, Missy Ryan and Greg Jaffe
President Trump on Monday named Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster as his new national security adviser, replacing the ousted Michael Flynn — a move meant to help put the White House on firmer footing after missteps on multiple fronts.
Trump called McMaster “a man of tremendous talent and tremendous experience” while briefly introducing him to reporters at the president’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida before returning to Washington. Continue reading “Trump taps Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster as his new national security adviser”
For the second time in two weeks, members of a church on the south side of Indianapolis have found their Jesus statue vandalized, giving it the appearance of being beheaded.
“It makes me sad that somebody would do something like that,” said Pastor Brad Flaskamp. “I was hoping it was just a random act to destroy it in the first place.” Continue reading “Indiana church’s Jesus statue beheaded twice in two weeks”
Washington Post – by Karla Adam
LONDON — British lawmakers on Monday kicked off a debate on whether to withdraw an invitation to President Trump for a state visit — an offer that had been extended by the British prime minister with unprecedented speed.
The debate, held in Parliament’s Westminster Hall, was triggered after a petitioncalling on the British government to cancel the state visit amassed more than 1.8 million signatures. A counter-petition urging the government to support the visit, signed by 300,000, was also being debated. Continue reading “British parliament debates Trump visit”
OROVILLE — Five Oroville Dam workers were fired for posting spillway photographs to social media.
A spokesperson for the California Department of Water Resources told KRON that a number of employees working under the Folsom contracting company Syblon Reid violated the terms of their contract by posting the pictures. Continue reading “Oroville Dam Workers Fired for Posting Spillway Photos to Social Media”
On any given weekend, you might catch President Trump’s son-in-law and top Mideast dealmaker, Jared Kushner, by the beachside soft-serve ice cream machine, or his reclusive chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, on the dining patio. If you are lucky, the president himself could stop by your table for a quick chat. But you will have to pay $200,000 for the privilege — and the few available spots are going fast.
Virtually overnight, Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s members-only Palm Beach, Fla., club, has been transformed into the part-time capital of American government, a so-called winter White House where Mr. Trump has entertained a foreign head of state, health care industry executives and other presidential guests.
Continue reading “Trump’s ‘Winter White House’: A Peek at the Exclusive Members’ List at Mar-a-Lago”
AP – by Hope Yen and Julie Pace
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Homeland Security Department has drafted sweeping new guidelines aimed at aggressively detaining and deporting immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, according to a pair of memoranda signed by DHS Secretary John Kelly.
The memos dated Friday seek to implement President Donald Trump’s broad directive to crack down on illegal immigration. Kelly outlines plans to hire thousands of additional enforcement agents, expand on the priority list for immigrants marked for immediate removal and enlist local law enforcement to help make arrests, according to a person briefed on the documents, who confirmed the details to The Associated Press. Continue reading “Draft DHS guidelines sharpen focus on those in US illegally”
President Trump’s revised travel ban targets the same seven countries listed in his original executive order and exempts travelers who already have a visa to travel to the U.S., even if they haven’t used it yet.
A senior White House official said the order will target only those same seven Muslim-majority nations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, Sudan and Libya. Trump was forced to come up with a second order after federal courts held up his original immigration and refugee ban. The official said the order could come sometime this week. Continue reading “Revised travel ban targets same seven countries, exempts green card holders”
Six central bankers and a financial regulator get dragged to court.
Untouchable. Inviolable. Immunity. Impunity. These are the sort of words and expressions that are often associated with senior central bankers, who are, by law, able to operate more or less above the law of the jurisdictions in which they operate. Continue reading “The Unthinkable Just Happened in Spain”
DENVER — One of the suspects accused of trying to rob and then killing a man at a Denver light rail station, was in custody in Denver and wanted for possible deportation by federal authorities when he was released from jail weeks before the murder.
Ever Valles is currently in jail in Denver along with another man for the killing of Tim Cruz, 32, at the 12th and Sheridan light rail train station on February 7. He and Nathan Valdez were formally charged Friday for murder. Continue reading “Suspect in light rail station murder was wanted for possible deportation”
JAKARTA, Indonesia — The United States deployed aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson to patrol the increasingly contentious South China Sea, despite Beijing’s warnings not to challenge its sovereignty in the resource-rich sea.
The Navy described Saturday’s launch as the beginning of “routine operations” in the South China Sea. China claims most of the sea as its own, despite overlapping territorial and jurisdictional claims from the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei. Continue reading “U.S. deploys carrier to contentious South China Sea”
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration plans to direct immigration agents to greatly expand the categories of immigrants they target for deportation, according to drafts of two memos seen by Reuters and first reported by McClatchy news organization on Saturday.
Two sources familiar with the plans told Reuters the documents have been approved by Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly, but are under final review by the White House. They are expected to be released to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) early next week. Continue reading “Trump administration to expand groups of immigrants to be deported: documents”
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Free Thought Project – by Claire Bernish
Juan Pablo Escobar Henao, son of notorious Medellín cartel drug kingpin, Pablo Escobar, now says his father “worked for the CIA.”
In a new book, “Pablo Escobar In Fraganti,” Escobar, who lives under the pseudonym, Juan Sebastián Marroquín, explains his “father worked for the CIA selling cocaine to finance the fight against Communism in Central America.” Continue reading “Pablo Escobar’s Son Reveals His Dad “Worked for the CIA Selling Cocaine” — Media Silent”
TransCanada Corp filed an application with Nebraska authorities on Thursday to route its Keystone XL pipeline through the state, saying it expected a decision this year for this crucial leg of the $8 billion project that had been stymied by environmental groups and other opponents.
U.S. President Donald Trump cleared the way for the project at the federal level last month, reversing an earlier decision by former President Barack Obama, who had blocked it over environmental concerns. Continue reading “TransCanada files Keystone XL route application in Nebraska”
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Continue reading “Council on Foreign Relations – The Power Behind Big News”
Ammon Bundy’s former lawyer Marcus Mumford was in court in Portland Wednesday, where he faces misdemeanor charges for failing to comply with and impeding federal police last fall.
U.S. marshals tackled and used a stun gun on Mumford at the conclusion of the first Malheur occupation trial. Continue reading “Bundy Lawyer Mumford Seeks Charge Dismissal, Jury Trial”
Research from Harvard University is exciting some scientists about the prospects of being able to recreate the long extinct woolly mammoth. The ice age mammal’s DNA could potentially be spliced with an Asian elephant to create a hybrid.
Harvard Geneticist Professor, George Church, briefed the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) about the progress his team has made in the past two years of trying to “de-extinct” the mammoth. Continue reading “Scientists want to ‘de-extinct’ the woolly mammoth”
President Trump on Thursday signed legislation ending a key Obama administration coal mining rule.
The bill quashes the Office of Surface Mining’s Stream Protection Rule, a regulation to protect waterways from coal mining waste that officials finalized in December.
The legislation is the second Trump has signed into law ending an Obama-era environmental regulation. On Tuesday, he signed a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution undoing a financial disclosure requirement for energy companies. Continue reading “Trump signs bill undoing Obama coal mining rule”
In a move that is sure to unleash a fresh firestorm of accusations that Russia is interfering in the upcoming French elections, Wikileaks has has released three classified CIA “tasking orders” revealing details of a seven-month long spying campaign and involvement by the agency ahead of the 2012 French presidential election. Continue reading “Wikileaks Exposes CIA Involvement In French 2012 Presidential Election”