From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
On July 16 the Fresno City Council voted to ban the Confederate flag from ever flying over city-owned property.
According to The Fresno Bee, the council’s vote was 4-0 “vote with two abstentions and one member absent.”
The matter now goes to Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin, who is currently on vacation. Her communications director Mark Standriff responded to the vote by saying Swearengin “will not veto the council’s action.” Continue reading “Fresno Bans Confederate Flag From City Property”
The Texas National Guard and Texas Air National Guard got some new orders from Governor Greg Abbott on Saturday: You are authorized to carry loaded weapons on duty to protect yourself and the facility.
“It is with a heavy heart that I issue this order,” said Governor Abbott. “After the recent shooting in Chattanooga, it has become clear that our military personnel must have the ability to defend themselves against these types of attacks on our own soil. Arming the National Guard at these bases will not only serve as a deterrent to anyone wishing to do harm to our service men and women, but will enable them to protect those living and working on the base.” Continue reading “Governor Sounds ‘Call to Arms’ for Texas National Guard”
Yahoo News – by Carolyn Thompson
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — When Army Sgt. Patrick Hart decided a decade ago that he would not serve in the war in Iraq, he expected to follow the same path as thousands of American war resisters during the Vietnam era and take refuge across the border.
But after five years of wrangling with the Canadian immigration system, he came back to the U.S. — and ended up in a military prison. Continue reading “US soldiers opposed to war now find Canada less hospitable”
When the troops land in Texas for Operation Jade Helm next week, someone will be waiting for them.
Hundreds of people have organized a “Counter Jade Helm” surveillance operation across the Southwestern states and in an effort to keep an eye on the contentious military drill that’s sparked many suspicious of Uncle Sam’s intentions. Continue reading “Texans organize ‘Operation Counter Jade Helm’ to keep an eye on the federal troops”
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama portrayed the U.S.-led coalition Monday as gaining ground against the Islamic State amid an expanded U.S. effort and ample signs of progress, but conceded more difficulties lay ahead in fighting what he described as a nimble and opportunistic enemy.
“We’re starting to see some progress,” the president said during a rare visit to the Pentagon, ticking off a list of towns in Iraq and Syria he said had been wrested from IS control in recent weeks. Continue reading “Touting progress, Obama says Islamic State is losing ground”
Yahoo News – by Michael Isikoff
Former Attorney General Eric Holder said today that a “possibility exists” for the Justice Department to cut a deal with former NSA contractor Edward Snowden that would allow him to return to the United States from Moscow.
In an interview with Yahoo News, Holder said “we are in a different place as a result of the Snowden disclosures” and that “his actions spurred a necessary debate” that prompted President Obama and Congress to change policies on the bulk collection of phone records of American citizens. Continue reading “Eric Holder: The Justice Department could strike deal with Edward Snowden”
A 24-hour period last Wednesday and Thursday saw two cases of male illegal immigrants allegedly murdering women in two separate U.S. states: California and Texas. In both instances, the women’s murder could have been prevented by authorities had they enforced existing U.S. immigration laws and/or had the U.S.-Mexico border been functionally secured. The California murder involved an illegal immigrant who had been previously deported five times with seven felonies and the Texas murder involved an illegal immigrant who had been deported on four previous occasions. In the Texas case, local Laredo police had been called to the man’s house on at least three occasions over domestic disputes, yet they failed to contact Border Patrol about the man, according to federal agents. Continue reading “Two Previously Deported Illegal Immigrants Allegedly Murder Two Women in Two States — In 24 Hours”
A mainstream Arizona newspaper is decrying the small section of the Arizona-Mexico border that has a 14-foot-high primary fence because it is too high for illegal immigrants to safely cross. The article, “Border Fence Jumpers Breaking Bones,” includes the claim that sections of the border with a 14-foot-high fence are “as tall as a two or three-story house” and tells the stories of several women who broke bones and were treated extensively to healthcare and surgeries at the expense of U.S. taxpayers. The writer never mentions any lives directly lost as a result of there not being a border fence in most sections, such as when Mexican nationals crossed into the U.S. and murdered father and husband Robert Rosas, a U.S. Border Patrol agent. Continue reading “Arizona Paper Decries Border Fence as Too High for Mexicans to Safely Jump”
Washington Post – by Kevin Sullivan
BASTROP, Texas — The office of the Bastrop County Republican Party is in an old lumber mill on Main Street, with peeling brown paint and a sign out front that captures the party’s feelings about the Obama administration: “WISE UP AMERICA!”
Inside, county Chairman Albert Ellison pulled out a yellow legal pad on which he had written page after page of reasons why many Texans distrust President Obama, including the fact that, “in the minds of some, he was raised by communists and mentored by terrorists.” Continue reading “The Americans are coming! Some in a Texas county fear an Obama-led U.S. military invasion.”
Campaign aides for Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton on Saturday roped off reporters from the candidate as she walked and talked with potential voters during a July Fourth parade in New Hampshire, sparking frustration from the press corps and outrage from the state Republican Party.
“Hillary Clinton continues to demonstrate her obvious contempt and disdain for the Granite State’s style of grassroots campaigning,” New Hampshire Republican State Committee Chairman Jennifer Horn said in a statement. “The use of a rope line at a New Hampshire parade is a sad joke and insults the traditions of our first-in-the-nation primary.” Continue reading “Clinton campaign ropes off reporters at New Hampshire parade”
Breitbart – by ILDEFONSO ORTIZ
BROWNSVILLE, Texas—The gunmen who recently hijacked a cargo truck carrying visas and documents bound for the U.S. consulates in Monterrey and Guadalajara were able to steal 11,500 border crossing cards that had just left this border city.
Breitbart Texas was able to learn exclusively that the truck had 11,500 border crossing cards and had just departed from Brownsville when it was hijacked just south of the Texas border as previously reported. Continue reading “11,500 US Visas Stolen in Mexico”
Texas Tribune – by Ross Ramsey
Texas voters think Gov. Greg Abbott was right to send the Texas State Guard to monitor U.S. military exercises here, and they consider federally ordered domestic military intervention likely under certain circumstances, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.
Abbott sent the Texas State Guard to monitor the so-called Jade Helm 15 military exercises in Central Texas earlier this year, after particularly vocal activists expressed fears that what was being billed as an exercise was actually something far more sinister. Continue reading “UT/TT Poll: Texans Wary of Domestic Use of Military”
President Barack Obama on Thursday expressed profound “sadness and anger” at the Charleston church shooting as well as deeply personal frustration that America’s political climate makes it virtually impossible for now to tighten restrictions on who can buy firearms.
“We don’t have all the facts, but we do know that once again, innocent people were killed in part because someone who wanted to inflict harm had no trouble getting their hands on a gun,” Obama said in the White House briefing room, Vice President Joe Biden standing at his side. Continue reading “Obama on Charleston: It’s too easy to get guns in America”
The House of Representatives on Friday delivered a blow, though perhaps a temporary one, to President Barack Obama’s signature goal of strengthening ties with Asia when it defeated one measure, but approved another important to finishing a Pacific Rim trade pact.
In a dramatic vote, Obama’s own Democrats, as well as Republicans, failed to produce enough support to approve a bill that would have given aid to workers who lose their jobs as a result of U.S. trade deals with other countries. The measure was soundly rejected in a 302-126 vote. Continue reading “Obama quest for fast-track trade bill defeated for now in House”
Free Beacon – by Elizabeth Harringon
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued a regulation for Christmas lights on Monday, deeming some holiday decorations a “substantial product hazard.”
“The Consumer Product Safety Commission … is issuing a final rule to specify that seasonal and decorative lighting products that do not contain any one of three readily observable characteristics (minimum wire size, sufficient strain relief, or overcurrent protection), as addressed in a voluntary standard, are deemed a substantial product hazard under the Consumer Product Safety Act (“CPSA”),” the final rule said. Continue reading “Feds Will Regulate Christmas Lights”
(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it has obtained records from the U.S. Department of the Air Force revealing that Michelle Obama’s weekend trip to Aspen, Colorado, in February cost American taxpayers $57,068.80 in travel expenses alone for the 7.4-hour round-trip flight. While President Obama flew to California to play golf, speak at a cyber-security summit, and headline a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee, the First Lady and her daughters spent Valentine’s Day weekend skiing in Aspen, returning to the White House on February 16. Continue reading “Records Obtained by Judicial Watch Reveal Michelle Obama’s Weekend Ski Trip in February Cost More than $57,000 in Transportation Expenses Alone”
A Los Alamos National Laboratory employee was in critical condition Monday after being burned in an accident that also sent eight other workers at the nuclear weapons research facility to the hospital.
Lab spokesman Kevin Roark confirmed the accident happened Sunday while the employees were doing preventative maintenance at an electrical substation that provides power to the lab’s Neutron Science Center. Continue reading “Nuclear Weapons Lab Worker Seriously Burned in Accident”
Fox News – by Jennifer Griffin
New concerns are being raised that the nation’s electrical grid and critical infrastructure are increasingly vulnerable to a catastrophic foreign attack — amid speculation over whether officials are eyeing a former Cold War bunker, inside a Colorado mountain, as a “shield” against such a strike.
North American Aerospace Defense Command is looking for ways to protect itself in the event of a massive electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, attack — a deliberate burst of energy that could disrupt the electrical grid and cripple NORAD’s ability to defend the nation. Continue reading “Military eyeing former Cold War mountain bunker as ‘shield’ against EMP attack?”
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has a message for Texas: chill.
Defense officials Monday dismissed as “wild speculation” an Internet-fueled claim that a massive summertime exercise called Jade Helm 15 for special operations commandos is a covert operation by President Barack Obama to take over Texas.
That claim was given legitimacy by Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott’s order last week for the Texas State Guard to monitor the exercises. Continue reading “Pentagon: Texas has nothing to fear from upcoming military exercise”
