From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
Take Part – by Andri Antoniades
If any state in the union best represents the dangers of invasive species, it’s Florida. The Sunshine State is home to what’s been a raging Burmese python invasion for some decades. And its Cuban tree frog problem isn’t doing the ecosystem any favors either.
But the state has a new issue: invasive Rhesus monkeys—with herpes. Continue reading “Herpes-Infected Monkeys Invade Florida”
Waking Times – by Natasha Longo
“USDA Organic” is simply a marketing term those who take government ethics at face value. The goal has always been to increase agricultural sales, not promote organic farming. The public seems to confide in this label through sheer ignorance. The National Organic Program (NOP) which governs the “USDA Organic” label has no interest in organic farming, improving soil, quality of the produce, or factors that pollute the environment. In another blow to their organics program that will further downgrade consumer confidence, the USDA announced this week that the agency has changed the process for exempting otherwise prohibited substances (such as synthetics) in food that carries the “organic or “made with organic” label. This decision makes it easier to continue use of artificial ingredients and substances, undermining integrity of the organic label. Continue reading “Why You Can No Longer Trust The USDA Organic Label”
Sadly, it appears the Syria debacle is escalating once again. As The Telegraph reports, the current plan says that President Bashar al-Assad’s regime will hand over a list of its chemical weapons and facilities by Saturday, and that all will be destroyed by mid-2014. However, a defiant President Assad said in an interview on Wednesday that the task would take at least a year and cost a billion dollars. Continue reading “Syria Sends “Inadequate” Chemical Weapons Report; US-Russia Plan Indefinitely Postponed”
The family of a Florida man run over by police has released the video of his death in an attempt to start an independent investigation.
Marlon Brown, 38, of DeLand, was killed when a patrol car ran him over on May 8. He was reportedly running from police after he was pulled over for not wearing a seatbelt, ABC News reports. In the video released this week, officer James Harris gets out of the patrol car and tells another responding officer, “I think he’s underneath the f–king car.” Continue reading “Marlon Brown’s Family Releases GRAPHIC VIDEO Of Florida Officer Running Him Over”
My fiancé and I are getting married tomorrow (she is in the US Air Force). We were out getting some last minute items for the wedding. When we pulled up to our house, my fiancés boss and Staff Sgt were at our door to notify her that their unit is going on STANDBY on Monday Sept 23rd. When she asked her Sgt why, he said “because shit’s going down in Syria.” Continue reading “Multiple Call-Ups for Syria”
LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD), owner of the world’s most popular professional-networking website, was sued by customers who claim the company appropriated their identities for marketing purposes by hacking into their external e-mail accounts and downloading contacts’ addresses.
The customers, who aim to lead a group suit against LinkedIn, asked a federal judge in San Jose, California, to bar the company from repeating the alleged violations and to force it to return any revenue stemming from its use of their identities to promote the site to non-members, according to a court filing. Continue reading “LinkedIn Customers Allege Company Hacked E-Mail Addresses”
Now that Starbucks has urged its customers to leave their guns at home, the founder of the organization Defend Louisiana, State Rep. Jeff Thompson is suggesting that conservatives take their business to coffee shops that are “friendly to gun owners and respect the Second Amendment.”
“The home of the most expensive cup of coffee is apparently now the home of the most dangerous as well,” Thompson wrote in a posting on the Defend Louisiana website. Continue reading “Founder of Defend Louisiana Will Boycott Starbucks”
Just a few days after a video first posted on “The Dissenter” went viral – depicting a demobilized student sitting face-down on the ground being punched in the kidney by a plain-clothed New York Police Department (NYPD) officer — City University of New York (CUNY)’s faculty and staff union voted “yes” unanimously on a resolution condemning both the six arrests and accompanying police repression. Continue reading “CUNY Union Condemns Police Repression at Petraeus Protests, CUNY Responds”
National Report – by Nigel J. Covington III, Sept 20, 2013 [SATIRE]
Late this afternoon White House insiders leaked information stating the president has suffered a mental breakdown and is presently resting and under a doctors care. This afternoon the National Report received three calls on our nationwide hot tip line (206) 222-1975. Two of the three callers are insiders known to the National Report to be reliable confidential informants. Continue reading “Meltdown in Washington: President Obama Reported Sedated Following Emotional Breakdown”
The Wall Street Journal – by Isabella Steger
HONG KONG—Super Typhoon Usagi continued to make its way toward Hong Kong and China’s southern Guangdong province on Saturday, as it swept toward the South China Sea with strong winds and heavy rain battering parts of Taiwan and the Philippines.
Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. 0293.HK -0.13% and its Dragonair unit will halt operations in the city starting Sunday evening, the airline said, with plans “to gradually resume services on Monday when weather conditions permit.” Hong Kong Airlines and its Hong Kong Express Airways unit likewise canceled Sunday flights scheduled to take off after 6 p.m. Chu Kong Passenger Transport Co., which operates ferries between Hong Kong and mainland China, also announced service suspensions. Continue reading “Hong Kong Braces for Super Typhoon Usagi”
Going to the hospital is increasingly a risky proposition, considering that more Americans die from mistakes in the hospital than those killed by strokes and accidents combined.
A new study published in the Journal of Patient Safety estimates that between 210,000 and 440,000 patients annually don’t make it out of hospitals because of some kind of preventable harm. Continue reading “More Americans Estimated to Die from Hospital Mistakes than from Strokes and Accidents Combined”
Obama Says America Is Not a Banana Republic and We Have to Pay Our Bills … What Do Experts Say?
America’s top liberal communications expert is George Lakoff. Professor Lakoff (who we’ve previously interviewed) points out that when a politician says “Not X”, people usually think of X: Continue reading “Obama’s “I Am Not a Crook” Moment”
A look at the absurdly strong contructions of the atomic age.
“The only use for an atomic bomb is to keep someone else from using one.” George Wald
The Basics
Both Atom and Hydrogen Bombs are Nuclear weapons. Continue reading “The Grim Facts About Global Nuclear Stockpiles”
The Venezuelan government has taken over a toilet paper factory to avoid any scarcity of the product.
The National Guard has taken control of the plant, and officers will monitor production and distribution.
Earlier this year officials ordered millions of toilet rolls to be imported to counter a chronic shortage. Continue reading “Venezuela seizes toilet paper factory to avoid shortage”
Australia’s new Defence Minister, David Johnston, says he wants to keep the military battle-ready for further possible conflicts in the unstable Middle East and south Asia.
Senator Johnston said that after 14 years of involvement in overseas conflicts from East Timor to Afghanistan, the Australian Defence Force had a strong fighting momentum that should not be lost as troops return from Afghanistan. Continue reading “Australia’s defence forces to be maintained at battle-ready status”
The Dissenter – by Kevin Gosztola
The National Security Agency sent out a letter to all of its employees and affiliates, including contractors, that could be printed and shared with family, friends and colleagues. It was intended to reassure them that the NSA is not really the abusive and unchecked spying agency engaged in illegal activity that someone reading former NSA contractor Edward Snowden’s disclosures might think it happens to be.
The letter, sent on September 13, is signed by NSA Director Gen. Keith Alexander and NSA Deputy Director John Inglis, begins, “We are writing to you, our extended NSA/CSS family, in light of the unauthorized disclosure of classified information by a former contractor employee.” Continue reading “NSA Sends Letter to Its ‘Extended’ Family to Reassure Them That They Will ‘Weather’ This ‘Storm’”
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan freed the Afghan Taliban’s former deputy leader on Saturday after years of detention in a move that many officials in Islamabad and Kabul hope will aid Afghanistan’s struggling peace process.
But others doubt Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar will do much good, and the United States, which opposed his release, is worried he could return to the battlefield. That could give the Taliban in Afghanistan a boost at a time when the U.S. is drawing down its troops and increasingly relying on Afghan forces to fight insurgents. Continue reading “Pakistan releases top Afghan Taliban prisoner”
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A human-trafficking charge against a Saudi princess was abruptly dismissed Friday after prosecutors were unable to support claims by a Kenyan maid who said she had to escape from her employer’s condominium after having her passport taken and being forced to work long hours for meager pay.
The announcement came during what had been expected to be the arraignment of Meshael Alayban, 42, on the felony charge punishable by up to 12 years in prison. Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas told the judge that investigators tried to corroborate the allegations but found the evidence did not support the claim. Continue reading “Trafficking case against Saudi princess dismissed”
