From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
With the looming Trans-Pacific Partnership dominating the headlines, now is a good time to revisit an old scam called “free trade.”
In 2003, Kevin Flanagan was an information technology employee at Bank of America. They told him he was being replaced with foreign labor, and he was ordered to train his replacement. After he completed his assignment, he was laid off. Then he went to the parking lot and shot himself. Continue reading “Free Trade is Plutocratic Propaganda”
Who can argue with the notion that Mom is the original Queen of Hearts?
The idea of Mother’s Day has interesting roots:
The origins of Mother’s Day are attributed to different people. Many believe that two women, Julia Ward Howe and Anna Jarvis were important in establishing the tradition of Mother’s Day in the United States. Continue reading “Happy Mother’s Day 2015”
When disaster seems imminent, there’s one vital decision that preppers have to make: bug in or bug out? The lyrics from the chorus of a song by The Clash sums it up – you’ve got trouble either way, but one way will be worse than the other.
Because this song is now stuck in my head, I thought it should be stuck in your head, too. Continue reading “Should I Stay or Should I Go?”
By the time Lt. Frank Powell hurled a satchel bomb onto the roof of a three-story row house on Philadelphia’s Osage Avenue, the siege had gone on for nearly twelve hours. Powell was a member of the Philadelphia PD’s bomb squad, and like the “firemen” in Ray Bradbury’s dystopian novelette, he was performing a function assumed to be the opposite of his expected role: Rather than disposing of a military-grade bomb, he was using it as a weapon of mass destruction.
The building targeted by Powell was occupied by members of a militant group called The MOVE. Aerial photographs taken shortly before the May 13, 1985 assault displayed a weapons bunker and large containers of oil on the roof of the row house. So it wasn’t at all surprising that a few seconds after Powell heaved his bomb from the open door of a State Police helicopter, a huge orange fireball erupted from the top of the building. The uncontained fire consumed that house and sixty others, leaving the entire neighborhood a smoldering ruin. Continue reading ““This is America”: The Day Police Firebombed West Philadelphia”
With the euphoria over Tesla’s electric car fading fast, especially now that competitors are releasing both more exciting (and more expensive for the vain set) cars such as BMW’s i8, Elon Musk has found himself in a pickle: how to distract attention from his epic cash burn… Continue reading “The Economics Of Tesla’s PowerWall Don’t Make Sense For Most Customers In North America”
A transformer exploded at the Indian Point nuclear plant, 38 miles (61 km) north of New York, causing visible fire and black smoke. The plant’s operator had to shut down one of the reactors but assured the emergency caused no threat to public safety.
Unit 3 of the nuclear plant, which is located on the east bank of the Hudson River, was automatically shut down following Saturday’s accident, the plant’s operator Entergy Corp has said. Continue reading “Explosion, smoke at Indian Point nuclear plant north of NYC”
ATLANTA (AP) — With the nation’s economy at its healthiest since the Great Recession, a surprising trend is emerging among the states — large budget gaps.
An Associated Press analysis of statehouse finances around the country shows that at least 22 states project shortfalls for the coming fiscal year. The deficits recall recession-era anxiety about plunging tax revenue and deep cuts to education, social services and other government-funded programs. Continue reading “Nearly half of states expect to confront big budget gaps”
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) — Two Mississippi police officers were shot to death during an evening traffic stop turned violent, a state law enforcement spokesman said Sunday. Three suspects were in custody, including two who are charged with capital murder.
The deaths of the officers — the first to hit Hattiesburg in three decades — were felt far and wide in this small southern Mississippi city. Gov. Phil Bryant released a statement saying he was “mourning” the loss of the officers. Continue reading “2 Mississippi officers fatally shot; 3 suspects arrested”
Congress is being urged to approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade plan even though most have not read it, and a leading gun-rights activist says the plan could give President Obama the power to limit the importation of ammunition and implement his political agenda in many different ways.
“Fast track authority in the context of this treaty means a blank check,” said Gun Owners of America Executive Director Larry Pratt. Continue reading “Congress giving Obama ‘blank check’ for gun control”
If you are watching the news, or were listening to Mark Levin’s rant last evening, the subject du jour is the Senate passage 96-1 of the Corker-Cardin bill. Yes, that is Tennessee’s own Republican Senator Corker, who obviously has his political eye set on a future in the White House.
The bill is advertised by Republican leadership as a great victory, giving Congress 30 days to review the President’s secret nuclear treaty negotiations with Iran before enactment. Under present law, the President cannot execute a treaty with a foreign nation unless it has the approval of 2/3 of the Senate. All senate Democrats present, and all but one Republican, voted to approve Corker-Cardin, plus the President has promised to sign the measure into law. That in itself should have raised some Republican red flags. But the only opposition to passage was that of an upstart Republican freshmen senator from Arkansas, Tom Cotton. Oh well, he probably didn’t want an office desk anyway. Continue reading “Treaties: Damned by What Congress has Done – Damned by What Congress is About to Do”
The motel and hotel industry is not only spying you, it is partnering with police.
This isn’t just routine cooperation when police request information for criminal investigations. Instead, it is apparently everyday data sharing on every guest.
It is a troubling private-public overlap where motel and hotel clerks are systematically sharing “do not rent” lists and helping police to run checks on guests daily for outstanding warrants. Staying at Motel 6, and other chains pursuing similar policies, now includes a hidden guilty-until-proven innocent background check that puts ordinary travelers one step away from a call to police. From the Providence Journal: Continue reading “Motels Sharing “Daily Guest List with Police” and Aiding Warrant Checks on Every Guest”
In “Bursting Bund Bubble: 2 Charts And Some Lessons From History,” we recapped the sell-off in German government bonds, touching on the severity of the yield spike (with emphasis on Thursday’s intraday move above 77bps), the breakdown in the historical relationship between Bunds and Treasurys/Gilts, and parallels between the rout and the 2003 sell-off in JGBs. On the latter issue, we presented the following chart from Barclays which shows the degree to which this most recent incarnation of government bond carnage mirrors the 2003 manifestation. Continue reading “Two Years Later, The VaR Shock Is Back”
Obamacare already has been blamed for the cancellation of millions of health policies that didn’t meet the government’s requirements and for raising the cost of medical care.
Now it appears to be sending more people to hospital emergency rooms. A poll shows three of four ER physicians is seeing an increase in traffic, some by significant numbers.
Supporters had claimed that more people would be covered with insurance, so they would be seeing their own doctors and not showing up as often at the ER. Continue reading “Obamacare goof could bring medical system down”
President Obama’s lawyers admitted Thursday that DHS approved thousands of work permits under amnesty, despite a court order halting the program. The admission came just before the midnight deadline ordered by the Texas judge. This is just the latest in a series of “missteps” this administration that has them facing possible sanctions for violating the court order.
President Obama’s Justice Department stated just before the deadline that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) let their immigration department approve around 2200 work permits since they got in trouble for it in February. Judge Hanen’s injunction went into effect on February 16, halting the entire program. DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, and other Obama officials, had repeatedly told Congress that they had fully halted the program and were complying with the federal court orders. Continue reading “DHS Admits Approved Amnesty Applications Despite Court Order”
This is urgent news regarding a leaked document obtained by the NRA which states in a memo that the DOJ is calling for an all out gun confiscation and outlawing of firearms. This comes just months before Jade Helm 15, the drill that is sweeping the nation, also which happens to be the “drill” where there will be agenturs among civilians. In the coming days with Jade Helm 15 Freedom Fighter Reports received a tip from our military source about the true meaning of the Jade Helm Drill: Continue reading “Leaked DOJ Memo Outlaw and Confiscate All Guns Tied To JADE HELM”
