From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
When, after 20 years, the U.S. government finally updated its numbers of the estimated number of people who entered the country legally and overstayed their visas, the information was sobering.
The Homeland Security Department said 527,127 people who were supposed to leave the country in the 2015 fiscal year overstayed, more than the population of Atlanta. And that was only those who entered by plane or ship, not by land. Continue reading “Overlooked fact in the immigration debate: The 500K visa overstays per year”
The Washington Post – by Christopher Ingraham
The Drug Enforcement Administration is reversing a widely criticized decision that would have banned the use of kratom, a plant that researchers say could help mitigate the effects of the opioid epidemic.
Citing the public outcry and a need to obtain more research, the DEA is withdrawing its notice of intent to ban the drug, according to a preliminary document that will be posted to the Federal Register Thursday. Continue reading “The DEA is withdrawing a proposal to ban another plant after the Internet got really mad”
Initial findings showed the small plane crash that killed a Jordanian national and injured another man in Connecticut was “an intentional act,” The National Transportation Safety Board announced in a statement Wednesday, adding that the FBI would the lead in the investigation with the NTSB assisting.
The unnamed man who survived the crash Tuesday afternoon also told investigators the wreck was not an accident, East Hartford Mayor Marcia Leclerc told The Associated Press. That man was in critical condition at Bridgeport Hospital, but was able to speak to detectives, officials said. Continue reading “Investigation shows deadly small plane crash in Connecticut was intentional, NTSB finds”
A Los Angeles Police Department detective who was investigating rape allegations against NBA star Derrick Rose died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said Wednesday.
Officers found LAPD Det. Nadine Hernandez, 44, suffering from a single gunshot wound to the chest Tuesday afternoon in a Whittier home, according to the Whittier Police Department. She was transported to a local hospital where she later died. Continue reading “Death of LAPD detective investigating Derrick Rose rape allegations called likely suicide”
Free Thought Project – by Claire Bernish
Months of disquieting and needless escalation between the United States and Russia over Syria and the Asia-Pacific theater quickened feverishly to near outright hostility over the past 48 hours, and — considering semantics from both ends suggestive of antebellum blame-casting — it’s past time to pay attention.
Indeed, though a few analysts still dismissively liken the tensions to so much blustery rhetoric, a growing number contend obstinate U.S. posturing about Russian aggression hasn’t been taken so lightly by President Vladimir Putin and his rapidly amassing allies. Continue reading “Time to Pay Attention — In the Last 48 Hours, Humanity Just Moved to the Brink of World War”
Colin Kaepernick has been abstaining from standing for the national anthem. Self-styled patriots have been losing their minds over it. That is because they are true believers in a cult. The cult is the State.
All states are cults: religions. And like all religions, states have sacraments, including holy rituals. The national anthem is one of the holy ritual sacraments of the cult of the American State. Those fully initiated and indoctrinated in that cult have been programmed to go into attack mode when divergent cult members (heretics) fail to observe such sacraments, like the national anthem or the pledge of allegiance to the holy pole cloth. Such peer pressure is how cults maintain their numbers. Continue reading “Thinking About Voting? Read This First”
Homicides in gun-controlled Chicago so far this year are approaching 600 following another weekend of firearm-related death and mayhem.
The Chicago Tribune reports that “at least 35” people were shot and wounded and another five were shot and killed between 6 pm Friday, October 7, and the morning of October 10. “Four people were shot within six blocks of each other over one hour Sunday night.” Continue reading “2016 Homicides Approaching 600 in Gun-Controlled Chicago”
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Tax Revolution Institute – by Fergus Hodgson
A small Central American nation has achieved such a clear victory for taxpayer rights, it should make the Internal Revenue Service blush.
Costa Rica not only prohibits the taking of assets in tax audits, the Constitutional Court has struck down the collection of penalties and adjustments in the absence of a trial and conviction in the Administrative Tax Court. As reported in El Financiero, the ruling came on August 31 and nullified Article 144 of the national Tax Code. Continue reading “Costa Rica Strikes Down Asset Seizures, Puts IRS to Shame”
Natural Society – by Julie Fidler
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issued new warnings recently aimed at both men and women for avoiding transmission of the Zika virus. [1]
On September 30 the CDC said, among other things, that pregnant women should consider postponing travel to 11 Southeast Asian countries where Zika is spreading, and shored up its warnings for men who are considering having children. Continue reading “CDC Issues 2 Major Zika Advisories For Men And Women”
The UK government is not prepared for the imminent arrival of robots, which will “fundamentally” change lives, take over jobs and raise serious ethical issues, MPs have warned.
Artificial intelligence (AI) such as driverless cars and supercomputers that can help doctors with medical diagnoses will soon be the norm, the Science Technology Committee says, but the government’s role in preparing for the change is“lacking.” Continue reading “Robots are coming… and will ‘fundamentally’ change human life, MPs warn”
The attack on a UN humanitarian aid convoy near the Syrian city of Aleppo last month, which Washington has blamed on Russia, was actually carried out by one of the terrorist groups present in the area, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.
“It was one of the terrorist groups. And we know that, say, the Americans know it too, but prefer to take a different position, to falsely accuse Russia. This is not helping,” Putin said at an economic forum in Moscow. Continue reading “Putin: We know who destroyed aid convoy in Aleppo, Syria”
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — An unarmed black man shot dead by a white police officer after his car broke down on a city street last month was high on the hallucinogenic drug PCP in when he died, according to toxicology tests released by a medical examiner Tuesday.
Terence Crutcher, 40, had “acute phencyclidine intoxication” when he died Sept. 16. Officer Betty Jo Shelby was charged with first-degree manslaughter after his death, with a prosecutor saying she reacted unreasonably when Crutcher disobeyed her commands. Continue reading “Autopsy: Unarmed man shot by Tulsa police was high on PCP”
EAST HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The FBI and other agencies on Wednesday were investigating a plane crash on a busy road near the headquarters of Pratt & Whitney that killed one person, authorities said. Authorities say a student pilot and an instructor were trying to land the Piper PA-34 Seneca at Brainard Airport in Hartford when it struck a utility pole in East Hartford and crashed onto the road at around 4 p.m. Tuesday, bursting into flames. Continue reading “FBI investigates fatal plane crash on busy Connecticut road”
A southern Alberta faculty association is questioning the suspension of a longtime professor alleged to be promoting conspiracy theories and denying the Holocaust.
Andrea Amelinckx, president of the University of Lethbridge Faculty Association, said the school’s suspension without pay of Anthony Hall, a tenured professor, may have been premature. Continue reading “Faculty association questions suspension of Lethbridge professor accused of anti-Semitism”
The crew of a guided-missile destroyer fired three missiles to defend themselves and another ship after being attacked on Sunday in the Red Sea by two presumed cruise missiles fired by Iran-backed Houthi-forces, USNI News has learned.
During the attack against USS Mason (DDG-87), the ship’s crew fired the missiles to defend the guided-missile destroyer and nearby USS Ponce (AFSB(I)-15) from two suspected cruise missiles fired from the Yemini shore, two defense officials told USNI News. Continue reading “USS Mason Fired 3 Missiles to Defend From Yemen Cruise Missiles Attack”