From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
Homeland Preparedness News – by Dave Kovaleski
The technology known as 3D printing could disrupt labor markets and exacerbate security threats from violent actors, a new RAND Corporation paper suggests.
To the latter point, 3D printing could benefit military adversaries, violent extremists, and even street criminals, who could produce their own weapons for use and sale. Continue reading “3D printing could lead to security threats, labor market disruption”
Two new federal court decisions highlight a harsh new reality: California has effectively repealed the Second Amendment inside its borders.
In the first case, decided yesterday, a district judge ruled against the National Rifle Association’s state affiliate in a challenge to onerous new California rules targeting popular semi-automatic rifles. That 2016 law, signed by Gov. Jerry Brown (D), is called the Assault Weapons Control Act. Continue reading “2 New Court Decisions Are Quietly Eliminating Californians’ Second Amendment Rights”
A state board’s apparent retaliation against an Oregon man who investigated why his wife got a red-light traffic ticket made a national list highlighting outrageous breaches of free speech rights.
It’s one of seven “2018 Jefferson Muzzles” – an annual focus by the Thomas Jefferson Center in Charlottesville, Virginia, that celebrates “the birth and ideals of its namesake by calling attention to those who would censor free expression.” Continue reading “Red-light camera critic’s case makes national list of free speech violations”
Computer World – by Lucas Mearian
Law enforcement interest in iPhone encryption-cracking hardware from two new companies is a strong indication that Apple no longer claims the mobile security high ground.
“What this means, if it’s true, is that people who thought all of their communications were totally secure shouldn’t feel so confident going forward,” said Jack Gold, principal analyst with J. Gold Associates. “But, then security has always been a tug of war between the ones implementing it and the ones trying to break it.” Continue reading “Two vendors now sell iPhone cracking technology – and police are buying”
YORK, Pa. — Joe Kirby was at work in Maryland when he got the phone call. He drove back to his Pennsylvania home, texting his boss that there was an emergency.
His wife, Christina, was hysterical. There was a member of the York County Sheriff’s Office going through every room of their house, taking inventory of their property to eventually put up for sale. The deputy sheriff told her he’d already done it with the cars in the driveway: a 2002 BMW 3 Series and 2007 Volkswagen GTI. Continue reading “A deputy sheriff came to inventory family’s property — over a $160 trash bill”
Campus Reform – by Toni Airaksinen
Leandra Westbrook, a junior at Kent State University, claims she was wrongfully detained by campus police after students overheard her talking about her concealed carry license.
Westbrook, a junior studying political science, told Campus Reform that she had a phone conversation with a friend on the afternoon of April 27, during which she lamented “how it is a shame that I cannot carry a gun on campus, considering I have my carry license.” Continue reading “Student reported to police for talking about concealed carry”
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Two women were detained by police when one of them allegedly threw what witnesses said were ashes at Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck during a meeting at LAPD headquarters.
The incident happened at around 10:30 a.m. during Tuesday morning’s Los Angeles Police Commission meeting.
Police say the powder-like substance — which was not officially identified — was thrown in the general direction of the police chief and “did land on Chief Beck.” Continue reading “Witnesses: Ashes Of Woman Who Died In Police Custody Thrown At LAPD Chief”
Leave it to the great American police state to turn Reality TV into real-time spying of its citizens.
Recently the Newark, New Jersey Police Department decided it needed to do more, much more to build trust between the police and the community.
Here’s a little background on police building trust in the community. Continue reading “Police CCTV cameras turn citizens into stay-at-home spies, spying on their neighbors 24-7”
Once again a creeping, years’ long shadow war is expanding from indirect proxy intervention to direct engagement, complete with US “boots on the ground” where no American ground forces were previously thought to exist.
And it’s not Syria, or Libya, or central Africa where the now familiar pattern played out before, but in the Arabian peninsula where the Pentagon has long claimed to merely coordinate intelligence, refuel jets, and provide logistical support to the Saudis which have been bombing Yemen since March of 2015. Continue reading “Green Berets Are Now On The Ground Assisting The Saudi War On Yemen In “A Marked Escalation””
Boston Globe – by Stephen Kinzer
BRAVE GUATEMALAN air force pilots rebelled against a leftist regime in 1954 and used their planes to bomb the regime’s bases. Army commanders also rebelled; Guatemalans could hear them directing troop movements over the radio. Finally these patriots won their revolution. The United States trumpeted their victory around the world.
This was a “false flag” operation — staged by one force but made to look as if someone else did it. Planes that bombed targets in Guatemala were painted with Guatemalan air force insignia, but the pilots were CIA contractors. Radio messages about troop movements had been pre-recorded at a CIA base in Florida. A revolution that seemed to be emerging from one country, Guatemala, was actually the project of another, the United States. Continue reading “Hoisting the false flag”
Forbes – by Brendan Coffey, October, 2011
There may be 147 companies in the world that own everything, as colleague Bruce Upbin points out and they are dominated by investment companies as Eric Savitz rightly points out. But it’s not you and I who really control those companies, even though much of our money is in them. Given the nature of how money is invested, there are four companies in the shadows that really control those companies that own everything.
Before I reveal them, some light math: Continue reading “The Four Companies That Control the 147 Companies That Own Everything”
An off-duty Buena Park, California Police officer decided that a $1 pack of candy was worth risking human life. Mistakenly believing Jose Arreola was shoplifting a package of Mentos he had just purchased, the cop went into thug mode. After repeatedly being told Arreola had paid for the candies, by both the victim and the store’s cashier, the officer offers an apology. Continue reading “Off-duty officer holds man at gunpoint over $1 package of mints”
The school shooting in Parkland, Fla., convinced school Superintendent Daniel Brigman that his plan to arm teachers and other Laurens County, Ga., school personnel needed to go beyond the idea phase.
“I’ve had this discussion repeatedly with different boards of education for the last 14 years,” Brigman said. His school district is southeast of Macon and the first in Georgia to make the move. “What happened in Florida heightened the level of awareness and concern that we needed a procedure in place to protect the safety of our schools.” Continue reading “Armed teachers become a reality in Georgia”
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. National Security Agency collected 534 million records of phone calls and text messages of Americans last year, more than triple gathered in 2016, a U.S. intelligence agency report released on Friday said.
The sharp increase from 151 million occurred during the second full year of a new surveillance system established at the spy agency after U.S. lawmakers passed a law in 2015 that sought to limit its ability to collect such records in bulk. Continue reading “Spy agency NSA triples collection of U.S. phone records: official report”
Reason – by Christian Britschgi
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel, which has broken major stories about the incompetence and corruption of the Broward County Sheriff’s Department, carried two mass shooting–related stories on its front page Wednesday. One was a piece remembering Parkland shooting victim Alyssa Alhadeff, who’s fifteenth birthday would have been this week. The other was an article about Esteban Santiago pleading guilty to killing five people in the Fort Lauderdale airport in 2017.
At the bottom of the page was an advertisement for the Fort Lauderdale gun show. Instantly, outrage erupted. Continue reading “Gun Control Activists Target Newspaper for Advertising a Gun Show”
An Illinois bill permitting police surveillance drones at protests is igniting a fiery debate in Chicago.
Introduced by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the bill amends the Freedom from Drone Surveillance Act to permit police to fly surveillance drones over “large scale events” in Chicago. Though the bill itself references festivals and concerts, ACLU Illinois says the amendment would empower police to fly drones over political protests and rallies as well. The ACLU asked lawmakers to include language barring drones from protests, but they declined, despite telling the Chicago Sun that the city had “incorporated [the ACLU’s] input” into the new bill. Continue reading “Chicago Advances Bill Allowing Police Drones to Surveil Protestors”
Waking Times – by Paul A. Philips
Not just the U.S., but the rest of the Western World, alarmingly, over the last 15 years the consistently sharp increases in child mental disorders have now reached epidemic levels. 1 in 5 children have been diagnosed with a mental health problem. In turn, more children than ever before are on psychiatric drugs. Continue reading “Over 8 Million U.S. Children Are On Psychiatric Drugs”
Washington Post – by Peter Hermann
Two decades ago, amid a growing controversy over police shootings in the nation’s capital, officers in the District were largely barred from firing at moving cars.
The rules didn’t apply if someone in the car was firing at police, but officials concluded that in most cases, the practice was dangerous and ineffective. Bystanders could be hit, and shooting at a car usually didn’t stop it anyway. Other departments nationwide adopted similar policies. Continue reading “Police in D.C., New York revise shooting policies in response to vehicle ramming attacks”
Not content with surveillance cameras on buses, the police state has now begun adding them to bus stops.
Last month an article in WTVR 6 revealed that the Greater Richmond Transit Center (GRTC) is installing more than one hundred surveillance cameras at bus stops.
What should really concern everyone is the amount of cameras being installed at each bus stop. Continue reading “DHS expands police spying by adding surveillance cameras to bus stops”