From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
The Obamas’ summer break on Martha’s Vineyard has already been branded a PR disaster after the couple arrived four hours apart on separate government jets.
But according to new reports, this is the least of their extravagances.
White House sources today claimed that the First Lady has spent $10million of U.S. taxpayers’ money on vacations alone in the past year. Continue reading “First Lady accused of spending $10m in public money on her vacations”
Talking Points Memo – by CAITLIN MACNEAL
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, on Sunday said thatPresident Obama’s Friday speech on National Security Agency reforms left Congress with some uncertainty about U.S. surveillance programs.
Rogers said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the U.S. needed Obama to make a decision about the NSA’s data collection programs, but instead “what we got was lots of uncertainty.” Continue reading “Rogers: Obama NSA Speech Left Us With More Uncertainty”
DEMING, N.M., Jan. 17 (UPI) — Authorities in Hidalgo County, N.M., have settled a lawsuit for $1.6 million with a man who claims they illegally made him undergo colonoscopies and enemas.
David Eckert, 54, filed a lawsuit against the county and its police department in 2013, for allegedly violating his constitutional right against unreasonable searches and seizures during a 12-hour ordeal early in January 2013, CNN reported. Continue reading “Man forced by police to have enemas, colonoscopy settles lawsuit”
Voice of America -by Daniel Schearf
SEOUL — A recent geological study indicates North Korea could hold some 216 million tons of rare earths, minerals used in electronics such as smartphones and high definition televisions.
If verified, the discovery would more than double global known sources and be six times the reserves in China, the market leader.
British Islands-based private equity firm SRE Minerals Limited announced the study results in December, along with a 25-year deal to develop the deposits in Jongju, northwest of the capital, Pyongyang. Continue reading “North Korea’s Rare Earths Could be Game Changer”
As we previously explained numerous times (here originally and here most recently) Africa is a crucial region in the world…
As Western economies start to regress in earnest following decades of failed and destructive monetary inflation and debt accumulation, as we warned previously, yield-starved investors are allocating real capital to the one industrially untapped continent in the world: Africa. However, we’re not seeing industry moving to Africa to set up shop. Rather, politically-directed capital flowing into the African resources sector is fueling and financing the strongest consumer boom in the world. It’s a vendor financing model for Asia, and it portends a major boom and bust cycle for the African continental economy. Continue reading “How Erik Prince, Founder Of Blackwater, Will Help China Subjugate Africa”
More than 5,893 leaks from aging natural gas pipelines have been found under the streets of Washington, D.C. by a research team from Duke University and Boston University.
A dozen of the leaks could have posed explosion risks, the researchers said. Some manholes had methane concentrations as high as 500,000 parts per million of natural gas – about 10 times greater than the threshold at which explosions can occur. Continue reading “5,900 Natural Gas Leaks Discovered Under Washington, D.C.”
New York Times – by AZAM AHMED and MATTHEW ROSENBERG
KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban claimed responsibility Saturday for an attack Friday on a popular Kabul cafe that killed 21 people, mostly Western civilians, saying it was in retaliation for a coalition airstrike earlier in the week in which a number of Afghan civilians had died in a village north of Kabul.
In their statement, the Taliban said they picked a restaurant frequented by “high-ranking foreigners” where alcohol was served. The attack, one of the most significant on Western civilians since the start of the war in 2001, occurred in the heart of one of Kabul’s most secure districts, very close to many embassies and coalition military bases. Continue reading “Taliban Says Kabul Cafe Attack Was Payback for Earlier Strike”
Tehran (AFP) – Inspectors from the UN nuclear watchdog arrived in Tehran Saturday in readiness to oversee implementation of a landmark deal that puts temporary curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme, state media reported.
The team is led by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Iran task force, Massimo Aparo, and will hold talks with Iranian nuclear officials, the official IRNA news agency said. Continue reading “UN team in Iran to oversee landmark nuclear deal”
The Western Center for Journalism – by SUZANNE EOVALDI, November 4, 2013
A covert game of hide and steal among the United Nations Agenda 21 Project, the U.S federal government, and Indian tribes will result in irreversible consequences that will let the feds control all national water rights. According to a press release by small ranchers and property owners in Montana, “Circuit Court Judge Cameron Wogan in Klamath Falls, Oregon, refused ranchers’ requests for a temporary restraining order to allow their cattle and horses access to drinking water.” Continue reading “UN Agenda 21: The Feds and UN Coming for Your Water Rights”
Police in Philadelphia were searching for a suspect in connection with a shooting that injured a boy and a girl hanging out with a group of fellow students in a high school gym Friday.
The shooting happened at the Delaware Valley Charter High School in north Philadelphia around 3 p.m., authorities said. Continue reading “1 suspect arrested, another sought after shooting at Philadelphia school”
Freedom Industries, the company behind the chemical leak last week in West Virginia’s Elk River, filed for bankruptcy on Friday, the Charleston Gazette reports.
Roughly 7,500 gallons of the coal-cleaning chemical 4-methylcyclohexane methanol (or MCHM), leaked from a hole in a storage tank into the river, polluting the water supply of 300,000 West Virginians, exposing the lack of a response plan in case of a spill, lack of regulations, fallibility of safety claims and potentially significant health risks. Continue reading “Week After West Virginia Chemical Spill, Company Files for Bankruptcy”
Twin blasts hit Makhachkala, the capital of the southern Russian republic of Dagestan, according to local police. Sixteen people were injured, among them four police officers.
Those injured have been taken to hospital, but none are thought to be in a life threatening condition. Continue reading “Two explosions hit capital of Russia’s southern republic of Dagestan”
The trove of documents leaked by Edward Snowden has revealed the elaborate tricks the NSA can use to monitor communications and data around the world. Here, a running list of things we now know the NSA can do, based on media reports and other publicly available documents — so far. Continue reading “A Running List of What We Know the NSA Can Do. So Far.”
The Daily Sheeple – by Lily Dane
A man was handcuffed and detained for over an hour after giving a homeless man 75 cents.
Greg Snider was driving in downtown Houston when he pulled into a parking lot to take a business call. A homeless man approached his car and asked him for money:
“That’s when the homeless man came up to me. He said, ‘Hey my name is Dave. I’m from Dallas. I’m down on my luck. Do you have any change?’” Continue reading “No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Man Gives 75 Cents to Homeless Person, Ends Up in Handcuffs”
The New American – by Alex Newman
In apparent defiance of federal law and U.S. court rulings, unelected bureaucrats at the increasingly out-of-control Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other Obama administration departments unilaterally purported to grant control over the city of Riverton, Wyoming, to tribal authorities for the Wind River Indian tribes. At least two smaller towns are also affected.
The scheme appears to illustrate a growing United Nations-linked trend being witnessed across the United States and the world. In essence, vast amounts of private land and even entire towns are being taken over by authorities under various pretexts — UN agreements, Agenda 21 “sustainability,” and supposed concerns about indigenous peoples — to advance a radical agenda targeting private property rights. Continue reading “Obama EPA Hands Control Over Wyoming City to Indian Tribes”
The New American – by William F. Jasper
On September 25, 2013, Secretary of State John Kerry journeyed to the United Nations headquarters in New York City to sign the UN Arms Trade Treaty. He said he was doing so “on behalf of President Obama and the United States of America.”
Secretary Kerry stated that he wanted to be clear both about what this treaty is, but also about what it isn’t. “This is about keeping weapons out of the hands of terrorists and rogue actors,” he insisted. “This is about reducing the risk of international transfers of conventional arms that will be used to carry out the world’s worst crimes. This is about keeping Americans safe and keeping America strong. And this is about promoting international peace and global security.” Continue reading “UN Arms Trade Treaty Targets Our Freedom”
USA Today – by John Myers, KXTV-TV
SACRAMENTO — In what could become one of California’s biggest crises in years, Gov. Jerry Brown declared a statewide drought emergency Friday, an action that sets the stage for new state and federal efforts.
The governor also wants to focus Californians on the possibility of water shortages.
“All I can report to you is it’s not raining today and it’s not likely to rain for several weeks,” Brown said in a news conference in San Francisco. On Thursday, the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center forecast below normal precipitation for two-thirds of California through April. Continue reading “California governor declares drought emergency”
It’s Senate Bill A8186-2013.
It’s been referred to the education committee twice, most recently a week ago. NY State Senator Margaret Markey introduced it in 2013.
Previously, Markey won a few minutes of fame for introducing a bill that would stop all restaurants from using salt in their meals. Continue reading “NY State Senator says: psych eval for all little children”
LONDON (Reuters) – In recent weeks Russia has stepped up supplies of military gear to Syria, including armored vehicles, drones and guided bombs, boosting President Bashar al-Assad just as rebel infighting has weakened the insurgency against him, sources with knowledge of the deliveries say.
Moscow, which is trying to raise its diplomatic and economic influence in the Middle East, has been a major provider of conventional weapons to Syria, giving Assad crucial support during the three-year civil war and blocking wider Western attempts to punish him with sanctions for the use of force against civilians. Continue reading “Russia steps up military lifeline to Syria’s Assad – sources”
Daily Mail
Zero Hedge – by Tyler Durden.jpg?resize=200%2C169)
Activist Post
Yahoo News
Fox News
RINF – by Andrea Germanos
RT News
WNYC – by Jody Avirgan
Jon Rappoport 
Yahoo News – by Jonathan Saul