From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
Reuters – by TIMOTHY GARDNER AND VALERIE VOLCOVICI
The U.S. Senate Energy Committee on Thursday narrowly passed a bill to lift a 40-year-old ban on the export of crude oil, but the measure faces an uphill battle in getting passed by the full Senate.
The bill to allow the United States to export oil and boost state revenue-sharing for offshore oil and gas drilling passed along party lines by a vote of 12-10. Continue reading “Senate energy panel votes to lift oil export ban”
A federal judge has rejected a legal challenge from a Guantanamo Bay inmate who said his continued imprisonment was unlawful since President Barack Obama had declared an end to the war in Afghanistan. The detainee has been held for 13 years.
The challenge brought by lawyers for detainee Muktar Yahya Najee al-Warafi said the Obama administration’s statement that the war in Afghanistan had come to an end made their client’s detention unlawful under the Authorization for the Use of Military Force of 2001. The authorization provides legal justification for imprisoning foreign fighters captured overseas. Continue reading “‘Rubber stamp for endless detention’: Judge rejects Gitmo detainee’s legal challenge”
Washington Examiner – by Paul Bedard
The administration’s program to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program has given the green light to 664,607 since 2012, including several linked to fraud, terrorism and gangs, according to the U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services agency. Continue reading “Feds: 664,607 illegals granted amnesty, some linked to terrorism, gangs”
The Guardian – by Abigail Fielding-Smith, Crofton Black, Alice Ross and James Ball
The overstretched US military has hired hundreds of private-sector contractors to the heart of its drone operations to analyse top-secret video feeds and help track suspected terrorist leaders, an investigation has found.
Contracts unearthed by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism reveal a secretive industry worth hundreds of millions of dollars, placing a corporate workforce alongside uniformed personnel analysing intelligence from areas of interest. Continue reading “Revealed: Private firms at heart of US drone warfare”
A suspected “price tag,” or retaliation, arson attack by right-wing Jewish settlers killed an 18-month-old Palestinian child in a house in the occupied West Bank and injured several other people, according to Israeli police.
The toddler died in a house fire which broke out in a village of Kafr Duma near the West Bank city of Nablus, Reuters reports. Continue reading “Palestinian toddler burned to death in suspected Jewish ‘price tag’ attack”
Western Journalism – by Susan Stamper Brown
President Obama told the BBC he’s “stymied” because he’s not gotten his way regarding gun control –yet. So, apparently we should just relinquish our guns during a Second Amendment burning ceremony on the National Lawn.
Obama’s upset more Americans don’t agree with his definition of “common sense” gun control. If Pew Research is correct, a majority of us lean more toward Lt. Col. Allen West’s “index finger” definition whereby individuals should be trusted to call the shots. Pew says the majority of Americans still support gun rights. Continue reading “Gun Control: Eating Steak With Teaspoons”
Activist Post – by Amanda Warren
Tim Cast provides an interesting video report below about the rapid militarization of American police. I was expecting the same old information on grants and goods from the federal 1033 program, SWAT raid training by busting into the “wrong house” or no-hesitation shooting tactics.
Instead, something more disturbing was afoot, and it’s indicative of a real, visible shift in the global economic paradigm. You probably wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the biggest driver of the world economy is war and weaponry. But then why would law enforcement be active buyers at elite International Defense Expos like LAAD (Brazil)? This is where country and military heads go to get big time weapons – guns, bulk ammo, drones, armor, APCs, jets and even rockets. It’s Willy Wonka’s war store, except the Candyman’s gone. Continue reading “Why Are PDs the Largest Group Attending Int’l Defense Expos?”
More than 40 US lawmakers are scheduled to travel to Israel next month to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before they vote in Congress on the nuclear agreement with Iran.
Congress has until September 17 to review and vote either to reject or approve the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) reached between Iran, the US and the five world powers on July 14 in the Austrian capital of Vienna. Continue reading “US lawmakers to meet Netanyahu in Israel over Iran agreement”
New York Times – by J. David Goodman
Fifty-four police officers wear body cameras while on patrol in New York City. Their ranks will swell to roughly a thousand as part of a pilot program overseen by a court-appointed federal monitor.
But before that expansion, some policy changes are in order, the inspector general for the New York Police Department said in a report released on Thursday. Continue reading “New York Police Should Revise Body Camera Rules, Report Says”
Morrissey has claimed he was sexually assaulted by a member of staff at San Francisco International Airport earlier this week.
Posting on True To You, an online Morrissey fanzine, the singer detailed an incident where he was approached by an airport security officer who “crouched before me and groped my penis and testicles.” Continue reading “Morrissey claims he was sexually assaulted by a member of staff at San Francisco Airport”
The Guardian – by Ryan Felton and Oliver Laughland
Two police officers who corroborated a seemingly false account of the fatal shooting of Samuel DuBose in Cincinnati were previously implicated in the death of an unarmed, hospitalised and mentally ill black man who died after he was “rushed” by a group of seven University of Cincinnati police officers.
Kelly Brinson, a 45-year-old mental health patient at Cincinnati’s University hospital, suffered a psychotic episode on 20 January 2010 and was placed inside a seclusion room at the hospital by UC officers. He was then shocked with a Taser three times by an officer and placed in restraints. The father of one – son Kelly Jr – then suffered a respiratory cardiac arrest and died three days later. Continue reading “Officers at Sam DuBose scene involved in death of another unarmed black man”
It has been submerged in water for more than 80 years.
But now, following this summer’s record drought, Lake Mead has almost completely dried up, revealing entire towns that disappeared decades ago.
And tourists are flooding in. Continue reading “A whole new world: Astonishing drought unveils lost Wild West town that has been submerged under Nevada’s Lake Mead since 1935”
What a crock! The CIA is just pissed someone scammed them out of their money.
Three young Chechen women who reportedly conned ISIS out of plane fare by posing as prospective jihadi brides are under arrest and facing prosecution for cheating the black-clad terrorist army out of $3,300. Continue reading “Defeating evil: Chechen women con ISIS by posing as wannabe terror brides”
An “insatiable” demand for analysts of drone intelligence is driving the US military to hire private contractors, with 1 in 10 analysts now a civilian, says a new report. Civilian analysts describe their work as “gambling,” with innocent lives at stake.
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (BIJ), a UK-based nonprofit, conducted a six-month probe into the US military’s contracting of drone data analysts, using specially designed software to sift through some 8 million transaction records published by the Pentagon between 2009 to 2014. They also interviewed some of the contractors, who asked to remain anonymous. Continue reading “‘Gambling with lives’: Private contractors pick US drone targets, says report”
Yahoo News – by Josh Cornfield
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — An off-duty state trooper fired shots at a car with three young men inside as they were trying to drive away from his house after knocking on his door by mistake at night while looking for the house of a friend who lives next door, officials said.
The trooper told investigators he suspected the three men were trying to enter his Sparta home, 50 miles northwest of New York City, between 1:30 a.m. and 2 a.m. Sunday, the attorney general’s office said. Continue reading “Authorities: Off-duty trooper fired at car with 3 men inside”
At a luxury hotel in Maui, representatives from the 12 countries participating in the highly controversial and secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal are negotiating behind closed doors. Thanks to a secret letter from a 2013 meeting, released today by WikiLeaks, we now have a clearer idea of what they’re discussing.
Unsurprisingly, based on what we know about the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, so far, the letter is mostly about limiting the power of government in favour of private commercial development. Continue reading “New Leak Confirms the Secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership Is a Horrorshow”
Defense One – by Marcus Weisgerber
Just two weeks after Western nations and Tehran struck a deal to limit Iran’s nuclear program, the Pentagon says Saudi Arabia wants to buy 600 new Patriot missile interceptors.
The $5 billion-plus purchase is likely just the first of many more as America’s Middle Eastern allies arm themselves in response to the nuclear deal, which would lift Iran’s conventional-arms embargo sanctions in five years and sanctions on long-range missile projects in eight. Continue reading “Saudi Arabia Responds to Iran Deal: Give Us 600 Patriot Missiles”
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