From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
PHOENIX (AP) – The busiest terminal at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport was on lockdown for more than three hours Thursday as police searched for a suspect in a shooting in nearby Tempe before making the arrest.
Flights out of Terminal 4 were grounded for a brief time as hundreds of law-enforcement officers, some armed with assault rifles, looked for a man believed to be hiding in the parking garage. Continue reading “Police search causes lockdown at Phoenix airport”
The NSA sent someone bearing the nametag “Neal Z.” to the University of New Mexico’s Engineering and Science Career Fair today, in the hopes of recruiting young computer geniuses to help manage the yottabytes of datait is collecting about you. But instead of eager young applicants, Mr. Z. encountered University of New Mexico alumnus Andy Beale and student Sean Potter, who took the rare opportunity of being in the room with a genuine NSA agent to ask him about his employer’s illegal collection of metadata on all Americans. Mr. Z. did not like that one bit.
Continue reading “Irate NSA Staffer Doesn’t Like Being Filmed in Public, for Some Reason”
Boston Globe – by Michael Birnbaum
KIEV, Ukraine — President Petro Poroshenko will arrive in Washington on Thursday with a simple request: more economic and military aid for a nation that is reeling from an insurgency in the east.
But amid concerns about Ukraine’s commitment to anticorruption efforts and Western caution about escalating a military conflict with Russia, it remained far from clear that Ukraine’s president would leave Washington with a substantial new pledge of support. The candy-magnate-turned-politician plans to talk with President Obama at the White House and will address a joint meeting of Congress. Continue reading “Ukraine president to make case for aid in US”
Hackers associated with the Chinese government have repeatedly infiltrated the computer systems of U.S. airlines, technology companies and other contractors involved in the movement of U.S. troops and military equipment, a U.S. Senate panel has found.
The Senate Armed Services Committee’s year-long probe, concluded in March but made public on Wednesday, found the military’s U.S. Transportation Command, or Transcom, was aware of only two out of at least 20 such cyber intrusions within a single year. Continue reading “Chinese hacked U.S. military contractors: Senate panel”
Although the overall Consumer Price Index dropped by 0.2 percent in August, the price index for food rose 0.2 percent, with the average price for a pound of ground beef rising to $4.013 per pound–the first time it has ever topped $4 per pound.
In July, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average price for a pound of ground beef had been $3.884 per pound—which was the record price up to that point. From July to August, the average price jumped 12.9 cents, an increase of 3.3 percent in one month. Continue reading “New Record: Pound of Ground Beef Tops $4 for First Time”
ABC News – by Elliot Spagat, AP
The U.S. Border Patrol purchased body cameras and will begin testing them this year at its training academy, two people briefed on the move said Wednesday, as new leadership moves to blunt criticism about agents’ use of force.
R. Gil Kerlikowske, who has led the Border Patrol’s parent agency since March, announced the plans Tuesday to a small group of activists who have pressed for cameras, according to a person who attended the briefing and spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussion was intended to be private. Testing will occur at the Border Patrol academy in Artesia, New Mexico. Continue reading “APNewsBreak: Border Patrol to Test Body Cameras”
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A lost soul seen walking along a lonely road,
Dressed poorly
Heavy steps taken
Back hunched slightly,
Just one of many noticed lately
Trudging along a nearby highway Continue reading “A Lost Soul”
SPARTANBURG COUNTY, S.C. – Several people showed up with American flags to protest Woodruff High School’s decision to make students remove flags from their vehicles.
On September 11, four students showed up at the school with U.S. flags flying from their vehicles. The flags were confiscated after officials said it was against school district policy to “draw attention” to one’s vehicle. The flags were returned at the end of the day and the students were not punished. Continue reading “Group Protests Woodruff HS’s Flag Removal”
The Telegraph – by Damien McElroy, Reyhanli
As many as 36 children were reported to have died excruciating deaths Monday night after receiving tainted measles vaccines under a UN-sponsored programme in the rebel-held north of Syria.
The programme was suspended amid rumours of sabotage of a high profile international effort to ensure the brutal civil war does not result in an outbreak of measles.
Doctors in clinics in the towns of Jirjanaz and Maaret al-Nouman in the northeastern province of Idlib said children started falling ill soon after the doses were administered.
The parents of a victim in the Aurora, Colorado shooting have filed a lawsuit accusing various websites of illegally selling bullets, armor and other equipment to alleged shooter James Holmes.
Filed today, the lawsuit alleges that the websites were negligent when they sold high capacity magazines, canisters of tear gas, body armor and other equipment to Holmes, who is accused of killing 12 people and injuring 58 in a Colorado movie theater in 2012. Continue reading “Victim’s Parents Sue Companies that Sold James Holmes Thousands of Ammo Rounds”
The U.S. Export-Import Bank is likely to have its charter renewed through mid-2015 this week, even though lawmakers in both parties said on Tuesday they see the extension as a second-best solution.
Most Republicans said they would support an extension through June 2015 after influential conservative Representative Jeb Hensarling of Texas, who had pushed to shut the export credit agency down when its charter expires on Sept. 30, said he would back the move.
Democrats are also on board with the extension, which the House of Representatives is expected to consider on Wednesday as part of a bill to fund the government past Sept. 30, even though they would prefer a multi-year extension. Continue reading “U.S. Ex-Im Bank extension seen likely though mid-2015 -lawmakers”
Mail Tribune – by Mark Freeman
A Monday afternoon wildfire roared through part of the Northern California city of Weed, burning more than 100 structures and leading to the evacuation of more than 1,500 people and a three-hour closure of Interstate 5 before firefighters quelled the flames.
The Boles fire was more than 400 acres and 0 percent contained late Monday night. The destroyed or damaged structures in and around Weed included Roseburg Forest Products mill buildings and at least one church, according to the California Department of Forestry. Continue reading “Fast-growing wildfire burns 100 homes in Weed, Calif.”
New York Times – by JONATHAN WEISMAN
WASHINGTON — The House will likely vote Wednesday to grant President Obama the authority to train and equip Syrian rebels to battle the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, but Republicans will insist on a detailed accounting of how the program fits into a broader strategy to defeat the militants, Republican aides said Monday.
House Republican leaders plan to offer the ISIS legislation as an amendment to a broader bill to keep the government funded into December and the Export-Import Bank open through June. The Senate would try to pass the bill by the end of the week. Continue reading “House Expected to Vote on Training Syrian Rebels to Fight ISIS”
The United States would retaliate against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s air defenses if he were to go after American planes launching airstrikes in his country, senior Obama administration officials said Monday.
Officials said the U.S. has a good sense of where the Syrian air defenses, along with their command and control centers, are located. If Assad were to use those capabilities to threaten U.S. forces, it would put his air defenses at risk, according to the officials, who insisted on anonymity in order to discuss the administration’s thinking on the matter. Continue reading “AP Sources: US would retaliate against Assad”
Huffington Post – by Joseph Erbentraut
A professor who left his position at another school to join the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign — only to see his job offer abruptly retracted as a result of social media posts criticizing Israel’s role in the Gaza conflict — has publicly addressed the controversy for the first time.
At a Tuesday press conference on the UIUC campus, Steven Salaita detailed the personal hardships his job offer’s termination — just two weeks before his proposed start date — caused for him and his family. He also chided the the school’s chancellor and board of trustees for setting what he calls a “perilous standard.” Continue reading “Professor Who Lost Job Over Anti-Israel Tweets: University Setting A ‘Perilous Standard’”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), an early and vocal advocate of arming the Syrian rebels, told “Fox News Sunday” that “there is no way in hell” to destroy the ISIS/ISIL “without a substantial American component.”
“This is a turning point in the war on terror,” Graham said. “This president needs to rise to the occasion before we all get killed back here at home.” Continue reading “Lindsey Drama: Obama Must ‘Rise to the Occasion Before We All Get Killed’”
Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday announced an effort to counter “violent extremism” by spurring “local engagement” in cities across the country.
He did not offer specifics, but it sounds like he wants law enforcement and community leaders to meet regularly, to share information on people who may have traveled overseas to join ISIS, or on people who may be plotting attacks right here in the U.S. Continue reading “Holder Announces Pilot Programs to Counter ‘Violent Extremism’”
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The Daily Bell – With Anthony Wile
Introduction: Ron Holland is a contributing editor to several newsletters dealing with political and investing topics and author of several books, including Escape the Pension Trap. Originally from North Carolina, Ron lived in Geneva from 2003 to 2004 and divided his time between the US and Europe until 2012 when he moved to Toronto. Ron has developed and introduced several innovative investment products to investors in the US, including the first Swiss-franc denominated variable annuity portfolio licensed in the US. Continue reading “For Freedoms Sake, No More Mr. Nice Guy”
KVOA 4 News
The Intercept – by John Cook
CNS News – Ali Meyer
WSPA 7 News
The Wire – by David Ludwig
Reuters
Yahoo News – by Julie Pace
CNS News – by Susan Jones
CNS News – by Susan Jones