From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
Administration officials now live in fear of a 19th-century law that could get them fired, penalized or even imprisoned if they make the wrong choices while the government is shut down.
The law is the Antideficiency Act, passed by Congress in 1870 (and amended several times), which prohibits the government from incurring any monetary obligation for which the Congress has not appropriated funds. Continue reading “143-year-old law puts fear in officials during shutdown”
UN experts charged with starting the process of verifying and eliminating chemical weapons arrived in Syria today for the mission endorsed by the UN Security Council.
A convoy of about 20 United Nations vehicles carrying the experts, equipment and security personnel crossed the border from Lebanon shortly after 1130 GMT, a Reuters television cameraman said. Continue reading “UN experts begin weapons dismantling process in Syria”
Ask any policymaker in the White House or Congress, what’s more important than human rights? Their response: “Our government, of course.”
The Obama administration yesterday issued blanket waivers exempting three countries from a federal law banning U.S. military aid to countries that use child soldiers. Think Progress: Continue reading “Obama Waives Ban on Sending Military Aid to Countries With Child Soldiers”
A six-minute video posted online Monday morning shows a terrifying high-speed confrontation in New York as a black SUV was chased by dozens of motorcyclists before the SUV’s driver was pulled out of his vehicle and beaten in front of his wife and child.
Sunday’s confrontation appears to have started after the Range Rover made contact with a motorcycle. After the apparent collision, dozens of riders stopped and surrounded the SUV — and the driver took off, running over several bikes in the process. Continue reading “Video shows violent high-speed chase through New York City as motorcycle gang surrounds SUV, attacks driver”
Are we living in a police state?
– There has been a 4000% increase in “no knock,” militarily-armed swat team raids over the past thirty years.
– Mid 80’s: 2,000-3,000 raids per year
– Present day: 80,000 raid estimate Continue reading “The Militarization of the Police”
Huffington Post – by Charles Furguson
In late 2012, CNN Films approached me about directing a documentary. We discussed a number of potential subjects, and eventually settled on Hillary Rodham Clinton. The film would be ambitious, controversial, and highly visible. But I felt that it was important, that I was qualified to do it, and that I could be fair. CNN gave me complete control (“final cut”) over the theatrical version, and a generous budget. Continue reading “Why I Am Cancelling My Documentary on Hillary Clinton”
In their never-say-die efforts to defeat Obamacare, Tea Party Republicans brought the federal government a giant step closer to shutdown last night. What they seem not to have considered is how America’s foreign creditors will react.
Although China, Japan, and other major creditor nations have no dog in the Obamacare fight, they have a strong interest in preserving America’s basic financial, economic, and social stability. From their point of view, the Tea Party contingent is not following the script and a corrective may be necessary. Continue reading “If Republicans Want To Shut Down Washington, They’ll Have To Ask China’s Permission First”
Infowars – by Paul Joseph Watson
It turns out that the ominous “government shut down” isn’t so apocalyptic after all since it won’t actually shut down government because the vast majority of federal services and activity will continue as normal.
In addition, the same thing has happened – without dire consequences – no less than 17 times over the past three decades. Continue reading “‘Government Shut Down’ Won’t Actually Shut Down Government”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is at the White House today, meeting with President Obama to discuss security and intelligence matters in the Middle East, including Iran’s nuclear program.
The White House says the two will discuss “final status negotiations with the Palestinians, as well as developments in Iran, Syria, and elsewhere in the region.” Continue reading “Obama And Netanyahu Discuss Iran, Palestinians At White House”
Fox Nation – by Warner Todd Huston
NBC News has announced that it will air a special series that will “help Americans get the most out of the Affordable Care Act.”
A press release reports that NBC News will “help” Americans get all they can out of Obamacare. Continue reading “NBC’s Effort to Help Sell ObamaCare to America”
The Daily Caller – by Michael Bastasch
Not all scientists are panicking about global warming — one of them finds the alarmism “hilarious.”
A top climate scientist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology lambasted a new report by the UN’s climate bureaucracy that blamed mankind as the main cause of global warming and whitewashed the fact that there has been a hiatus in warming for the last 15 years. Continue reading “Top MIT scientist: Newest UN climate report is ‘hilariously’ flawed”
Blouin News – by Mark Galeotti
Every two years, Russia holds massive military exercises in its north-western territories that open a window onto its strategic thinking and combat capabilities. September’s demonstrated both a growing aggression in Russian military posture, as well as an underlying strategy to keep the West off-balance.
The latest of these Zapad (“West”) exercises were amongst the biggest yet, a six-day event running until September 26 involving ground, air and sea forces from Russia and its ally Belarus. The exercises were run in Belarus, near the Polish, Lithuanian and Latvian borders, and in Russia’s Kaliningrad territory, between Poland and Lithuania. Continue reading “Russian troops wargame invasion of Europe for political gain”
Back in August, just after the false flag chemical weapon attack in Syria, we showed that despite all the posturing by the Obama administration (and, of course, France’s belligerent, socialist leader Francois Hollande), the nation behind the entire Syrian campaign was not one of the “democratic”, Western nations but none other than close neighbor Saudi Arabia, and the brain orchestrating every move of the western puppets was one Bandar bin Sultan, the nation’s influential intelligence chief. We also explained the plethora of geopolitical and mostly energy-related issues that Saudi and Qatar had at stake, which they were eager to launch a regional war over, just to promote their particular set of selfish interests. Continue reading “Saudi Arabia “Outraged” At Obama’s Peace Overtures With Syria, Iran”
Marine Corp Times – by Hope Hodge Seck
As the war in Afghanistan winds down, the Marine Corps’ special operations community is aligning its three battalions with the U.S. military’s global combatant commands, focusing on the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East and Africa.
Officials with Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command say the shift involves all three Marine special operations battalions, or MSOBs, and entails new training and missions. First MSOB, out of Camp Pendleton, Calif., will align with Special Operations Command Pacific, while 2nd MSOB and 3rd MSOB, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., will partner respectively with Special Operations Command Central and Special Operations Command Africa. Continue reading “Marine Corps assigns elite units to Pacific, Middle East, Africa”
CNBC – by Steve Liesman 
Irish Times
Anti-War – by John Glaser 
National Post
Forbes – by Eamonn Fingleton 
NPR – by Bill Chappell