Year: 2016

The Advocate – by FAIMON A. ROBERTS III AND JIM MUSTIAN

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has recalled the head of its New Orleans field division amid a turbulent stretch for the agency that included the arrest of a task force member last month and a drug raid in the Lower 9th Ward that resulted in the shooting of a Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputy.

Adding to the turmoil are allegations of misconduct against a local DEA agent made in court papers this month that have been placed under seal.   Continue reading “Head of New Orleans DEA is recalled to Washington amid widening scandal”

Free Thought Project – by Justin Gardner

The legacy of death and misery from the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan continues today, and, once again, Dick Cheney plays a central role. A new book by Joseph Hickman, a former U.S. Marine and Army sergeant, titled “The Burn Pits: The Poisoning of America’s Soldiers” details how soldiers and local civilian populations were exposed to constant streams of toxic smoke from the burning of waste.

The infamous Kellog, Brown, and Root (KBR), which was a part of Dick Cheney’s corporate empire under Halliburton, operated about 250 burn pits which contributed to the $40 billion that Halliburton made during the Iraq occupation. “Every type of waste imaginable” was burned, including “tires, lithium batteries, asbestos insulation, pesticide containers, Styrofoam, metals, paints, plastic, medical waste and even human corpses.” Continue reading “Dick Cheney Poisoned Hundreds of US Troops in Iraq — They’re Dying — And the Media is Silent”

Reuters

A Mississippi policeman who worked in an anti-narcotics squad was killed on Saturday and three state troopers were wounded in a shootout with a suspect during a standoff in the northeastern corner of the state, according to local officials.

The suspect was also killed in the exchange early Saturday morning in a rural area of Tishomingo County near Iuka, about 118 miles east of Memphis, Tennessee, according to County Coroner Mack Wilemon.   Continue reading “Mississippi policeman killed, three wounded during standoff”

Oregon Live – by Les Zaitz

The dispatcher at the John Day 911 center hesitated when Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer radioed in for information about a roadblock after state police shot and killed Robert “LaVoy” Finicum.

Palmer was on his way south from John Day on Jan. 26 after hearing reports of the traffic stop and shooting, triggered when authorities moved in to arrest leaders of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge takeover.   Continue reading “Grant County sheriff viewed as ‘security leak’ as state seeks investigation”

Reuters

One of the final four militants arrested in the armed occupation of a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon was granted a pretrial release from jail on Friday on condition that she avoid contact with any of her co-defendants, including her husband.

Sandra Anderson, 47, along with her spouse, Sean Anderson, 48; Jeff Banta, 46; and the very last holdout, David Fry, 27; surrendered peacefully to the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Feb. 11, ending a 41-day standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in remote eastern Oregon.   Continue reading “Oregon occupier freed from jail, barred from contact with husband”

Esquire – by David Downs

The Supreme Court of the United States — minus the late Justice Scalia — is set to take up the hot-button issue of marijuana legalization today in a highly watched case. The SCOTUS is hearing a challenge to Colorado legalization from two neighboring states Nebraska and Oklahoma as plaintiffs. The states are arguing that because of legalization, marijuana is unlawfully crossing over their borders. The federal Controlled Substances Act should override state legalization, they argue, under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution. But SCOTUS is unlikely to take up Nebraska and Oklahoma v. Colorado, watchers say, partially because the plaintiffs’ case is so weak, and partially because one likely supporter of the case, Justice Scalia, is dead.   Continue reading “The U.S. Supreme Court Is Hearing a Huge Marijuana Legalization Case”

Yahoo News

The Apple ID passcode for the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone was changed less than 24 hours after authorities took possession of the device, a senior Apple executive said today.

And Apple could have recovered information from the phone had the Apple ID passcode not been changed, Apple said.   Continue reading “San Bernardino Shooter’s Apple ID Passcode Changed While in Government Possession, Apple Says”

New Zealand Foreign Affairs and Trade

The legally verified text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was released on 26 January 2016 and can be accessed by chapter below. (This supersedes the version of the TPP text that was initially released by TPP Parties on 5 November 2015.) The French and Spanish language versions of the Agreement were released on this website on 2 February 2016.   Continue reading “Text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership”

First set of four books from Mary: Kevin

Second set of four books from Mary: Ed from Illinois

First CB radio from Mark: EJ Grunt

Second CB radio from Mark: Swifty Lomax

Copper coins and book from Mary: Deb

Congratulations!

Thank you to all who participated, your support to From the Trenches World Report is greatly appreciated.

ABC News

The Justice Department is pushing forward with its legal fight against Apple, urging a federal judge to compel the tech giant to help the FBI crack open a cellphone left behind by one of the San Bernardino, California, shooters.

“Rather than assist the effort to fully investigate a deadly terrorist attack by obeying this court’s [previous order], Apple has responded by publicly repudiating that order,” prosecutors wrote in a new filing today.   Continue reading “DOJ Escalates Battle With Apple Over San Bernardino Shooter’s Phone”

Last Day!

Mary and Mark are sponsoring a drawing for From the Trenches World Report.

Mary has provided two sets of books for two winners.  Each set contains: Continue reading “From the Trenches Drawing for Knowledge, Communications, and Wealth”

Sure they do!

Yahoo News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A majority of Americans believe it should be up to President Barack Obama to nominate the next U.S. Supreme Court justice, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found on Thursday, with opinion divided along ideological party lines.   Continue reading “Most Americans want Obama to nominate Scalia’s replacement”

Reuters

America’s “affluenza” teen had his case transferred to the adult court system on Friday, where 18-year-old Texan Ethan Couch faces decades behind bars if he violates the probation deal that kept him out of prison after he killed four people while driving drunk.

Judge Tim Menikos in Fort Worth transferred probation supervision for Couch, who was convicted in juvenile court in 2013 on charges related to the crash earlier that year, when he was 16. Couch will remain in custody at the Tarrant County jail as procedural matters are sorted out, the judge said.   Continue reading “Texas judge sends ‘affluenza’ teen’s case to adult system”

Reuters

The U.S. military’s Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia was on lockdown on Friday after shots were fired, the base said on Twitter.

There was no active shooter or reported casualties, it said. The joint Army and Air Force base is near Hampton Roads and Norfolk, about 120 miles south of Washington.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-virginia-base-idUSKCN0VS2B6

Investment Watch

While Pope Francis is effectively advocating for a borderless America, many people are amused by the irony of the giant wall surrounding his own Vatican City.   Continue reading “VATICAN SURROUNDED BY WALLS… Has most restrictive immigration, citizenship policies of any nation in world”