From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
Oslo (AFP) – A Norwegian man who purchased $24 worth of bitcoins and then promptly forgot about it for four years, was able to buy an apartment in central Oslo thanks to the massive appreciation of the virtual currency.
In 2009, Kristoffer Koch was doing research on encryption and on a whim decided to invest a small sum in the recently created bitcoins — a means of payment over the Internet. Continue reading “Norwegian man buys flat with forgotten $24 bitcoin investment”
The New Yorker – by ANDY BOROWITZ [SATIRE]
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) — Responding to the firestorm of controversy over its spying on European allies, the head of the National Security Agency said today it would do everything in its power to avoid being caught doing it in the future.
“There are two important jobs for every spy agency: spying on people and avoiding detection,” said the N.S.A. chief General Keith Alexander. “Unfortunately, at the N.S.A. we have only done the first job well.” Continue reading “N.S.A. Promises to Stop Getting Caught Spying on Allies”
The White House is currently evaluating whether to end surveillance programs allegedly targeting the leaderships of allied nations such as Germany.
This follows criticism from Senator Dianne Feinstein, the Senate Intelligence Committee’s chairwoman, who said that she was “totally opposed” to the collection of intelligence on US allies, and said that such surveillance of foreign heads of state would cease immediately. Continue reading “White House considers halt to surveillance of allied leaders”
Guns Save Lives – by Dan Cannon
According to the NRA-ILA, the last primary lead smelter in the United States will close down its operation in December.
This means the US will lose its capability to produce lead ammo completely within its borders from the process of mining to production of commercial cartridges. Continue reading “Last U.S. Lead Smelter to Close in December Due to EPA – Might Affect Ammo Production”
Senator Rand Paul doesn’t want government officials to receive any sort of special treatment, and a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution courtesy of the Kentucky Republican could accomplish just that.
Sen. Paul’s office announced on Monday that the lawmaker introduced a Constitutional amendment in Washington last week “that would hold government officials to the same standard as the American people.” Continue reading “Rand Paul proposes constitutional amendment barring government officials from being above the law”
Whoever believes that Britney Spears’ music isn’t powerful, need think again. Chart toppers like “Hit Me Baby One More Time” and “Oops I Did it Again” have proven to be effective weapons when blasted at approaching Somali Pirates who reportedly retreat at the mere sound of the songstress.
Rachel Owens, 34, a merchant navy officer on huge super tankers off the east coast of Africa says music is a really effective way of deterring the pirates and their high-speed skiffs: “Her songs have been chosen by the security team accompanying our tankers because they thought the pirates would hate them most. These guys can’t stand Western culture or music, making Britney’s hits perfect.” Continue reading “Britney Spears Music Used To Scare Off Somali Pirates”
I thought we were broke.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Some four-footed military heroes will be honored at a South Texas installation where many of the animals are trained.
Dedication ceremonies are scheduled Monday at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland for the first national monument honoring war dogs that died in service to America. Continue reading “Military dogs honored with monument in San Antonio”
On February 1st, 1958, Egypt and Syria merged to become one country: The United Arab Republic. Though the brief political marriage ended in divorce on September 28th, 1961, it set a precedent for potential future Middle Eastern liaisons.
Today, a budding romance between Israel and Saudi Arabia is the talk of the Middle East. The Saudis and Israelis are working together to destabilize Syria and prop up the al-Sisi regime in Egypt. The Saudis and Israelis both strongly oppose letting the “Arab spring” bring democracy to the Middle East. The Saudis and Israelis both want corrupt Arab dictators to rule Bahrain and other countries in the region. The Saudis and Israelis work together whipping up sectarian tensions in a divide-and-conquer strategy aimed at preserving their respective regimes. And both the Saudis and the Israelis are angry at the US for refusing to bomb Syria and then attack Iran. Continue reading “Will Israel merge with Saudi Arabia?”
Extremism Online – by J B Campbell
This writer and the Obama gang want violent revolution. On that goal we are agreed. Obama wants it because he’s a Communist. I want it because I’m an anti-Communist. Only violence will determine anything because Communists and anti-Communists cannot co-exist. One must kill the other or be killed by the other. We saw that in Russia and we saw it in Germany and we saw it in China, Korea, Vietnam and Cambodia. I saw it in Rhodesia. The Communists defeated the anti-Communists everywhere because America was on the Communist side. America is Communist and has to be destroyed by American anti-Communists. Continue reading “Communist America”
Irish Independent – by JESSE HAMILTON AND JIM BRUNSDEN
The biggest US banks would be required to hold enough easily sold assets to survive a 30-day credit drought under proposed new Federal Reserve liquidity rules.
The Federal Reserve liquidity coverage ratio proposal, approved unanimously at a meeting in Washington, goes further than the Basel III measure adopted in January and calls for earlier implementation than the EU. Continue reading “US banks are told to be prepared for 30-day crisis”
Neighbors say Michael Guzzo never showed any signs of being a violent man.
But that changed quickly when he took a pump shotgun and murdered four of his neighbors and two of their dogs before killing himself.
Police think the entire incident happened because Guzzo was mad about the dogs barking. Continue reading “Man kills four neighbors, two dogs, and himself over loud barking”
This is astonishing. An Israel lobby group came up with a questionnaire for American Jews and Israeli Jews living here that asks a question that supposedly only anti-Semites ever ask, about the degree of loyalty Jews would have for Israel if the two countries were at odds. An other questions about the importance of the Jewish lobby.
The Israeli government had distributed the surveys to tens of thousands of people, Haaretz says, but Netanyahu has now scotched the survey, which was undertaken by a nonprofit, the Israeli American Council (which is funded by both Sheldon Adelson (Republican giver) and Haim Saban (Democratic)). Continue reading “Pro-Israel organization sought to survey US Jews on dual loyalty”
Economic Policy Journal – by Robert Wenzel
Last night, I hit the streets of San Francisco and stopped off at a few favorite watering holes, looking for interesting women and/or interesting conversation. The female crowd was a bit weak. I suspect many had headed off to Halloween parties, something I don’t do. But I did have an interesting conversation with a salesman who sold night vision goggles to police SWAT teams.
When he told me what he sold, I did not tell him of my libertarian leanings. I considered it more of a fact finding conversation. I asked him, if he felt the police were becoming more militarized. He said,”No.” He was in San Francisco for a SWAT Team conference. He said most of the training was aimed at battling terrorism. But then he added, “You know, the greater San Francisco area has more SWAT teams than any other part of the country.” Continue reading “San Francisco Area SWAT Teams and Stone Cold Israeli Killers”
A U.S. Secret Service agent assigned to President Barack Obama’s protective detail was found dead on Saturday in an apparent suicide, a law enforcement source said on Thursday.
Special agent Rafael Prieto was under investigation for having an unreported romantic relationship with a foreign national, the source said. Continue reading “U.S. Secret Service agent found dead, apparent suicide: source”
While politicians and pundits alike inside the beltway beat up the White House over computer system glitches, health insurance companies still project robust revenue growth and profits from a boom in business from newly insured Americans under the Affordable Care Act.
Take this week’s third-quarter earnings report and financial projections of Wellpoint (WLP), one of the nation’s largest health insurers, which earlier this week raised its earnings guidance for thethird time this year. Amid a flurry of stories about the troubled launch of the federal health insurance marketplace web site known as healthcare.gov, Wellpoint said its improved outlook is due in part to gains from the Affordable Care Act. On Friday, the Obama administration named a contractor to fix the site, saying it should be fixed by the end of November. Continue reading “Despite Glitches, Obamacare Profit Windfall To Insurers Well Underway”
Atlantic Cities – by Sarah Goodyear
After nearly five years of planning, a large-scale attempt to turn a big chunk of Detroit into an urban forest is now underway. The purchase of more than 1,500 vacant city-owned lots on the city’s lower east side – a total of more than 140 acres – got final approval from Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr and Michigan Governor Rick Snyder last week.
The buyer is Hantz Farms, and it’s a venture of financier John Hantz, who lives in the nearby Indian Village neighborhood. Indian Village is an affluent enclave of manor-scale historic homes, but much of the surrounding area is blighted. Hantz Farms will pay more than $500,000 for the land, which consists of non-contiguous parcels in an area where occupied homes are increasingly surrounding by abandoned properties. Continue reading “A 140-Acre Forest Is About to Materialize in the Middle of Detroit”
MSN News – by Darlene Superville
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is stressing that information submitted while signing up for coverage under a major new health care law will not be used to enforce immigration law.
That’s always been the practice, but some immigrants fear that personal details could be used against them. That led the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to clarify. In a memo released late Friday, the agency said it does not use information provided during the health coverage enrollment process to pursue civil immigration enforcement. Continue reading “Health info won’t be used to enforce immigration law”
Fast Company – by Neal Ungerleider
Well, the Fort Lauderdale Police Department isn’t using an oracle yet, but it is getting one step closer to Minority Report-style crime predicting. The department has become the latest agency to use big data analytics and data mining to prevent crime by staying one step ahead of criminals. According to IBM, the company has entered into a partnership with the Fort Lauderdale PD to integrate new data and analytics tools into everyday crime fighting. The new projects will use pattern recognition and anomaly detection tech on existing records like 911 calls, crime records, and building permit activity. Continue reading “Some Florida Police are using Data to Predict Crime”
Ken,
I forgot about this but Laura just reminded me. She wanted you to see the flyer we are handing out to parents across the street from Kate Sessions Elementary School a few blocks from our house (the same elementary school I attended as a child). We found an enormous cell phone tower disguised as a tree located at the edge of the school property. Continue reading “San Diego Parents Upset with Unified School District for Allowing Microwave Cell Towers Close to Elementary Schools”
Yahoo News
RT News 
RT News
Breitbart – by JON DAVID KAHN
Press TV – by Kevin Barrett
KRMG – by Rick Couri
Mondoweiss – by Philip Weiss
Forbes – by Bruce Japsen
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