From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Friday ordered a reduction in the number of U.S. diplomats in Russia and said it was closing down a U.S. recreation retreat in response to fresh sanctions against Russia.
The U.S. Senate approved a new package of stiff financial sanctions Friday against Russia, Iran and North Korea and sent it to President Donald Trump to sign. Continue reading “Russia orders cut in US diplomats in reaction to sanctions”
WASHINGTON—Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s bid to pass a stripped down repeal of Obamacare on a party-line vote failed dramatically in the early hours of Friday when Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., joined two other Republican holdouts and all the Democrats to vote against the measure.
McCain stunned several of his fellow Republican senators when he walked onto the Senate floor after midnight and appeared to inform Sen. John Cornyn, the No. 2 Senate Republican, that he couldn’t vote for the “skinny repeal” bill. Just a few days earlier, McCain flew back to the Capitol from Arizona after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer to cast the deciding vote to begin debating it. Continue reading “Senate ‘skinny repeal’ of Obamacare falls apart on Senate floor after McCain defects”
Popular Mechanics – by Kyle Mizokami
A drone carrying a grenade infiltrated an ammunition dump in the Ukraine, setting off an explosion that caused an astounding billion dollars worth of damage. The incident points to the growing use of drones in wartime, particularly off the shelf civilian products harnessed to conduct sabotage and other attacks.
Ukraine’s domestic intelligence service, the SBU, believes that a drone carrying a Russian thermite hand grenade caused a series of titanic explosions at Balakliya, a military base in Eastern Ukraine. Amateur video of the incident posted on YouTube shows a raging fire spewing out of control artillery rockets, and an explosion and shockwave that sent civilians nearby reeling. Continue reading “Kaboom! Russian Drone With Thermite Grenade Blows Up a Billion Dollars of Ukranian Ammo”
LITTLETON, Colo. — Up to 27 rifles were stolen in a smash-and-grab early Wednesday morning, the Littleton Police Department said.
Police said four suspects smashed the windows on the first floor of a building that housed a motorcycle shop at 3105 W. County Line Road near South Santa Fe Drive.
The suspects then went to the second floor where Warhorse Firearms of the Rockies is located and grabbed up to 27 rifles. Continue reading “Up to 27 rifles swiped in Littleton smash-and-grab”
An Obama-era refugee deal that will resettle more than 1,200 Middle Easterners in the U.S. and tens of thousands of their foreign family members in years to come is an apparent departure from President Donald Trump’s promise of putting “America First.”
The Australian-U.S. refugee deal was first agreed to in former President Obama’s last months in office, promising to take 1,250 mostly male Middle Eastern refugees off Australia’s hands.
The refugees are being held in detention centers on Manus Island and Nauru Island. Despite Trump’s original statement calling the deal “a dumb deal,” the President has now broken two long campaign promises: Throwing out deals that don’t benefit Americans and stopping the flow of foreign refugees. Continue reading “U.S.-Australia Refugee Deal Is ‘Worst’ in Decade, Says Expert”
Las Vegas Review-Journal – by Jenny Wilson
Gregory Burleson, a member of Arizona militia groups who participated in the 2014 armed standoff in Bunkerville, was sentenced Wednesday to more than 68 years in federal prison.
During the standoff, which resulted in federal agents deserting an operation to round up rancher Cliven Bundy’s cattle, Burleson was photographed with a long gun, moving around the sandy wash where Bureau of Land Management agents were headquartered. Continue reading “Bundy supporter Burleson sentenced to 68 years in prison”
Senate Republicans have been delivered another blow after failing to secure a simple majority of 51 votes on the 2015 “clean repeal” of the Affordable Care Act with a two-year implementation delay.
Moderate Republicans had voiced opposition to the strategy and were given an early indication of its failure with Republican Senators Heller, Capito, Collins and McCain voting no. Continue reading “Obamacare repeal lacks votes to pass in Senate”
President Trump touched off a firestorm Wednesday after tweeting that he wants to ban transgender people from serving in the U.S. military in any capacity — citing advice from his “generals” and medical costs.
In a series of tweets, he wrote:
“After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow…Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming..victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you.” Continue reading “Trump announces ban on transgender individuals serving in military”
A California man has been arrested on a federal smuggling charge stemming from the seizure of a package that contained three live king cobras hidden inside potato chips canisters, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Special agents with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service arrested 34-year-old Monterey Park resident Rodrigo Franco on Tuesday, the DOJ said in a statement. He was charged with one count of illegally importing merchandise to the U.S. and was expected to make his first appearance in court Tuesday afternoon. Continue reading “California man arrested on federal smuggling charge after 3 cobras found in potato chip canisters”
July 26 (UPI) — Close to midnight on Sunday, Southaven, Miss., police arrived at the wrong house to serve an arrest warrant and shot a man dead in his own home, according to reports.
Ismael Lopez, 41, was shot dead late Sunday night after he checked to see who was at his front door. But the police were supposed to be across the street to serve an arrest warrant for Samuel Pearman, who was wanted on an assault charge, reported WREG. Continue reading “Mississippi police kill man while serving warrant at wrong house”
A prosecutor says he plans to charge a man accused of crashing his vehicle into a Ten Commandments monument outside the Arkansas Capitol with first-degree criminal mischief.
Larry Jegley told The Associated Press on Monday that 32-year-old Michael Tate Reed faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted on the felony charge. Continue reading “Arkansas man accused of toppling 10 Commandments monument faces charges”
WASHINGTON — Over the sound of protesters crying “kill the bill,” 50 Republican senators cast their votes to begin to debate repealing Obamacare on a razor-thin margin Tuesday afternoon. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. — who was recently diagnosed with brain cancer — cast the 49th “yes” vote after making a dramatic entrance back to the capitol, greeted by applause from his colleagues.
Vice President Mike Pence cast the tie-breaking vote to begin the debate. No Democrats backed the measure. Continue reading “Senate GOP moves forward on health care bill in dramatic procedural vote”
A Navy patrol boat fired warning shots near an Iranian naval ship that was conducting “an unsafe and unprofessional interaction” with a U.S. ship in international waters of the Persian Gulf on Tuesday, the Navy said.
The USS Thunderbolt was involved coalition exercises when the Iranian ship came within 150 yards, the Navy said in a statement. The Iranian ship did not respond to repeated attempts to establish radio communications, and warning flares and blasts of the ships whistle also were ignored, the Navy said. Continue reading “Navy fires warning shots at Iranian ship in ‘tense encounter’”
Ars Technica – by David Kravets
If you’re not a US military or police buff, you probably have never heard of the 1033 Program. It essentially provides a bureaucratic means to transfer excess military grade weapons to local law enforcement agencies. Sure, you may not like local police departments having all types of military gear, such as grenade launchers, helicopters, boats, M14s, M16s, and so on.
And you probably won’t like how the agency seemingly doles out the weapons to anybody. All you have to do is apply, create a fake website, and the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) will oblige. Law enforcement experience is not required. There doesn’t seem to be a requirement that the requesting agency actually be real, either. Continue reading “How to get free US military weapons—build fake website and DOD will oblige”
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Continue reading “A Fair for Illegals”
LONDON — A five-month legal battle to take terminally ill baby Charlie Gard to the United States for experimental treatment ended Monday after his parents told a British court they were withdrawing their legal challenge.
Charlie Gard’s parents, supported by an American neurologist and Italian medical researchers, had wanted the 11-month-old to be given the legal right to receive an untested therapy in the U.S. that they admitted was unlikely to work. The child has a rare, incurable genetic disorder. Continue reading “Charlie Gard’s parents end legal fight to take him to U.S. for treatment”
Bloomberg – by Jennifer A Dlouhy
Donald Trump’s allies in the oil industry are warning the president that his bid to boost U.S. steelmakers could backfire against their efforts to achieve his goal of “American energy dominance.”
The intense lobbying effort comes as the Commerce Department faces a Sunday deadline to give the president a plan to require oil and gas pipelines use American-made steel, an idea Trump embraced in the initial days of his presidency. While the U.S. has imposed “Buy American” rules on government purchases for decades, it would be unprecedented to force those obligations on privately funded, commercial projects. Continue reading “US oil industry pushes back against “Buy American” policy”
A 20-year-old man accused of torching a North Carolina apartment building that left 130 people homeless last week was in the U.S. illegally, the sheriff’s office told the Charlotte Observer.
Jesus Reyes Lopez, who was arrested Thursday in connection with the fire at the Woodscape Apartments, is an illegal immigrant from Mexico and is wanted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the paper reported. Continue reading “NC apartment fire suspect was in the country illegally, report says”