From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
Business Insider – by Daniel Brown
Russia’s ambassador to Sudan was found floating dead in a swimming pool in his Khartoum home on Wednesday.
Mirgayas Shirinskiy, 63, “was found in his residence with evidence of an acute heart attack,” Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, told BBC on Thursday. Continue reading “Russian ambassadors keep dying in mysterious ways”
My Statesman – by Ryan Autullo, Ralph K.M. Haurwitz
A relative of Maj. George Washington Littlefield is suing University of Texas President Gregory L. Fenves for removing Confederate statues that his great-grand-uncle donated to the university in the 1920s.
In response to the deadly protest involving a Confederate statue in Charlottesville, Va., Fenves ordered that four statues — including three of Confederate figures — displayed on the South Mall of the UT campus be taken down overnight, with work starting Sunday after 10 p.m. Continue reading “UT president sued for removing Confederate statues”
A farmer in Wiltshire, England, decided to thank the the firefighters who saved her piglets from a barn fire in an almost twisted yet somehow fitting manner.
Back in February, officers from the Pewsey Fire Station responded to a blaze at a farm where 60 metric tons of hay had caught on fire.
The quick-acting officials ended up saving 18 piglets and two sows from what would have been a terrible death. Continue reading “Piglets saved from blaze served as sausages to firefighters who rescued them”
Idaho Statesman – by Bryan Clark
Idaho Falls Rep. Bryan Zollinger took to Facebook on Friday, re-posting a conspiracy theory suggesting that last weekend’s events in Charlottesville, Va., could have been an inside job orchestrated to smear President Donald Trump.
The post, written on a site called The American Thinker, is replete with wild, unevidenced claims couched in what-ifs.
“The conflagration in Charlottesville is beginning to feel like a set-up, perhaps weeks or months in the planning,” the author wrote. Continue reading “East Idaho rep. says it’s ‘plausible’ Obama staged Charlottesville riots”
James Joseph Dresnok, the only known U.S. soldier to be still living in North Korea after he defected more than five decades ago, died last year, his two sons confirmed.
Dresnok pledged his loyalty to the “great leader Kim Jong-un,” his sons Ted and James Dresnok said in a video interview posted on the state-run Uriminzokkiri website. They confirmed their father had a stroke last November. Continue reading “North Korean-born sons of last American soldier to defect confirm their father’s death and threaten a frightening end to the US”
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Ten sailors are missing after a U.S. warship collided with an oil tanker east of Singapore before dawn on Monday, tearing a hole beneath the waterline and flooding compartments that include a crew sleeping area, the U.S. Navy said.
The collision between the guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain and the tanker Alnic MC was the second involving U.S. Navy destroyers and merchant vessels in Asian waters in little more than two months.
The ships collided while the U.S. warship was heading to Singapore for a routine port call, the Navy said in a statement. Continue reading “Ten sailors missing after US warship, tanker collide near Singapore”
BOSTON — Boston officials said they were pleased with the mostly-peaceful protests which took over Boston Common and the surrounding area on Saturday.
Of the estimated 40,000 attendees, Boston Police said 33 were arrested for charges including assault and battery on police officers. Three people were found wearing ballistic vests, and one of those was armed, Police Commissioner William Evans said.
“99.9 percent of the people here were here for the right reason, and that is to fight bigotry and hate,” Evans said. Continue reading “33 arrested during day of protests; Officials praise largely peaceful result”
Vandals splattered paint onto a bronze bust of Martin Luther King Jr. and a 7-foot-tall statue of Christopher Columbus in Houston as nationwide turmoil over historical statues spilled beyond the protests over Confederate monuments.
The MLK statue in the historically black community of Sunnyside was found smeared with white paint early Thursday morning.
The towering statue of Christopher Columbus in the Montrose area was doused with red paint sometime Thursday night, Houston police officials said Friday. Continue reading “MLK, Christopher Columbus statues vandalized in Houston parks”
The Baltimore Sun – by Colin Campbell
BALTIMORE — The Confederate monuments taken down in Baltimore remained out of sight Thursday, relegated to a city-owned lot under tarps and police protection, but not out of mind for many, particularly President Donald J. Trump.
“Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments,” the president said on Twitter Thursday morning, a day after the city removed four monuments from their pedestals in an unannounced overnight operation. “You can’t change history, but you can learn from it. Robert E Lee, Stonewall Jackson — who’s next, Washington, Jefferson? So foolish!” Continue reading “Baltimore’s Confederate statues under tarps as Trump, Stonewall Jackson descendants weigh in”
National Review – by R Kyle Smith
The orgiastic glee with which protesters tore down, then beat up, a century-old monument to a generic Confederate soldier in Durham, N.C., this week was alarming. The mob seemed to have lost control of itself. Who wears out his foot kicking a lump of metal? The urge to destroy could get out of hand very quickly, especially given the mixed signals sent by authorities: Durham police stood by and did nothing. Only the following day, after an outcry, did the sheriff announce he intended to seek charges.
Where does this end? Continue reading “Destroying Symbols: Where Does It End?”
Chron – by Fernando Alfonso III
Six Flags Over Texas has flown the Confederate States of America flag since the park opened in 1961, and that is not going to change despite growing pressure around the country following the violence in Charlottesville.
The “Stars and bars” was the first official flag of the confederacy. It flies alongside the American flag near the entrance to the park. Continue reading “Six Flags Over Texas will not remove Confederate flag”
A FIT and healthy Mandurah mother’s use of protein supplements has been blamed for contributing to her sudden death at the age of just 25.
Meegan Hefford was taking protein shakes and eating protein-rich foods, such as lean meat and egg whites, to get in shape for a bodybuilding competition.
Unknown to the mother-of-two, she had a rare genetic disorder that stopped her body from properly breaking down the protein. Continue reading “How a protein diet killed a young mum”
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – Texas measures criticized as being discriminatory for limiting transgender people’s access to bathrooms in schools and public buildings died on Tuesday, as the House adjourned and ended its special legislative session.
Business leaders and civil rights groups had battled to defeat the bills, saying they advanced bigotry, would tarnish the state’s image and damage its economy. The measures were blocked by moderate House Republicans. Continue reading “Texas ‘bathroom bill’ dies in special legislative session”
UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — One of the leaders of the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend was Mike Peinovich, aka “Mike Enoch,” a popular neo-Nazi blogger and podcaster who was outedback in January as an Upper East Side software developer with a Jewish wife.
After his identity was exposed last winter, Peinovich separated from his wife, according to a co-host on his unabashedly racist and anti-Semitic podcast, sarcastically named “The Daily Shoah.” Continue reading “Mike ‘Enoch’ Peinovich, Upper East Side Neo-Nazi, Was Behind Charlottesville Rally”
SEATTLE – Police and a small group of counter-protesters clashed in downtown Seattle on Sunday.
The counter-protesters carrying signs opposing hate and the KKK marched on Westlake Park on Sunday to meet a smaller group at a pro-Trump “Freedom Rally.” Most were peaceful, police said.
A small number of the counter-protesters were dressed black, and some were carrying pieces of wood and other potential weapons. Police responded with lines of bicycle officers, pepper spray and blast balls. Police made three arrests. Continue reading “Blast balls, pepper spray: Protesters, police clash in downtown Seattle”
EDINBURG, Texas — Police found 17 undocumented immigrants inside of a locked tractor-trailer in Texas on Sunday morning, according to Edinburg Police Department police Chief David White.
Police say the undocumented immigrants may have been locked inside of the tractor-trailer for eight to nine hours, according to Edinburg police Assistant Chief Oscar Treviño. They did not require medical attention. Continue reading “Texas police find 17 undocumented immigrants inside locked tractor-trailer”
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Fights erupted and multiple people were injured when a car plowed through a crowd Saturday as white nationalists and counter-protesters violently clashed here — prompting Charlottesville police and Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe to declare a state of emergency.
Supporters gathered in Emancipation Park Saturday morning in anticipation of a noon rally held by “Unite the Right.” The aim of the rally was to protest the removal of a statue honoring Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. The park was formerly known as Lee Park. Continue reading “Virginia Gov. Declares State of Emergency as White Nationalist Rally Turns Violent”
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for ordering the United States to slash its diplomatic staff in Russia, remarks likely to rekindle criticism of Trump’s kid-gloves handling of Putin.
Breaking nearly two weeks of silence on Putin’s July 30 order cutting U.S. embassy and consulate staff by nearly two thirds, Trump said: “I’m very thankful that he let go of a large number of people because now we have a smaller payroll.”
Trump said “there’s no real reason for them to go back” and “we’re going to save a lot of money,” in response to Putin’s Cold War-style move, differing from the reactions of other presidents in similar circumstances in the past. Continue reading “Trump thanks Putin for slashing U.S. diplomatic staff”
After months of stores dropping her line, a mass viral movement called #GrabYourWallet that encouraged people to boycott her line and a rather horrific report on the conditions at a Chinese factory where her line is manufactured, Ivanka Trump’s eponymous label has chosen to open up a stand-alone store in the most predictable place possible.
No, it’s not at the visitor’s entrance of the White House. It’s in Trump Tower.
On Wednesday, Politico reporter Annie Karni tweeted out a picture of a currently-under-construction Ivanka Trump stand-alone shop in Trump Tower, with an announcement that it would be opening this fall. Continue reading “Ivanka Trump is opening a stand-alone store in NYC this fall”
The total solar eclipse passing over the United States on August 21 is going to be disruptive. Authorities are predicting huge traffic jams, strained cellphone networks, and insufficient bathrooms for the masses driving to the center of the show.
But there’s another disruption that will be brought on by the eclipse: power.
Since the last total solar eclipse passed over part of the US in 1979, we’ve grown a lot more dependent on solar to electrify our homes and businesses. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, solar energy has grown by an average of 68 percent per year in the past decade. The country now has about 45 gigawatts of solar capacity installed, with 260,000 Americans employed in the industry. Continue reading “Solar eclipse 2017: how the solar power industry is prepping for a huge sunlight blip”