From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
Russia will send the first S-300 air defense missile system to Iran on Thursday, Russia’s RIA state news agency reported on Wednesday quoting an unidentified source.
The missile system will be delivered under the terms of an earlier contract. Continue reading “Russia will send first S-300 missile system to Iran on Thursday: RIA”
Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump wrote an Op-Ed in support of waterboarding and other enhanced interrogation techniques. It’s not the first time he’s spoken in favor of torture. While some fellow candidates agree with him, others do not.
Waterboarding was an “enhanced interrogation technique” employed in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. But the practice was eventually banned by the George W. Bush administration ‒ after it simulated drowning for its prisoners for years ‒ because waterboarding was deemed to be torture. Continue reading “‘Nothing should be taken off the table’: Trump supports torture, where do other candidates stand?”
The Guardian – by Lois Beckett
When the supreme court ruled in 2008 that the second amendment gives Americans an individual right to own a firearm, it was Justice Antonin Scalia who wrote the historic and controversial majority opinion. The decision in that District of Columbia v Heller case, which struck down a local handgun ban, was 5-4. Continue reading “Antonin Scalia’s death calls supreme court gun rights stance into question”
The test run proved that negative interest rates can push savers into minus territory. Public outrage, while registered is not heard by the central bankers. The reasoning that commercial banks will start making loans because of the cost of sitting on deposits is pure fantasy thinking. As the article, Low Interest Rates Impoverish Savers shows,
“How long will people accept this thief? The options to parking cash in hand with a FDIC insured institution seems worth an examination. However, few alternatives for working class savers exist. Surely, this occurrence is intentional because the real objective of the “New Normal” is to bankrupt Middle America. What other conclusion makes sense?” Continue reading “U.S. Banks Ready for Negative Interest Rates?”
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Latest on federal criminal charges against Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy (all times local):
2:30 p.m.
A federal judge says Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy should stay behind bars because he’s a danger to the community and a risk for failing to show up for future court dates. Continue reading “Rancher Cliven Bundy to stay behind bars”
This could be the cleanest and most sustainable way to heat a conventional home. Some people have reported that they heat their home with nothing more than the dead branches that fall off the trees in their yard. And they burn so clean, that a lot of sneaky people are using them illegally, in cities, without detection.
When somebody first told me about rocket mass heaters, none of it made sense. The fire burns sideways? No smoke? If a conventional wood stove is 75% efficient, doesn’t that mean the most wood you could possibly save is something like 25%? How do you have a big hole right over the fire and not have the house fill with smoke? I was skeptical. Continue reading “Rocket stove mass heater”
Natural Society – by Elizabeth Renter
Heavy metals can do significant damage to the body. Historically, they’ve been used as “an instrument of murder” (in the case of arsenic) and instruments of war. But most people who are exposed to heavy metals in today’s times are through their food, water, vaccines, or the air around them. The good news is that there are natural ways to chelate heavy metals from your body. Continue reading “6 Foods For Natural Heavy Metal Chelation”
The Hill – by Cory Bennett and Julian Hattem
Republicans are refusing to use the Benghazi playbook to go after Hillary Clinton’s private email server.
Instead of launching formal investigations or propping up a new special committee to investigate the emails — as they did with the 2012 Libya terror attack — House Republicans have gone out of their way to avoid formal inquiries into allegations that classified information was mishandled on Clinton’s personal machine. Continue reading “Republicans stand down for FBI investigation of Clinton server”
We are the Mighty – by Orvelin Valle
The highest rate of fire for a machine gun in service is the M134 Minigun. The weapon was designed in the late 1960s for helicopters and armored vehicles. It fires 7.62 mm calibre rounds at a blistering rate of 6,000 rounds per minute, or 100 rounds per second — about ten times that of an ordinary machine gun, according to the Guinness World Records. Continue reading “The Metal Storm gun can fire at 1 million rounds per minute”
JTA – With the sudden passing this weekend of Justice Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court is now split four-four between liberals and conservatives, throwing into doubt how the court will rule on a raft of cases — including several watched by Jewish organizations.
Scalia, who was 79, is being mourned by Orthodox Jewish groups, who embraced his robust originalist doctrine, as well as by Jewish church-state separation advocates, who reeled at some of his decisions but admired his sharp wit and dedication to upholding the Constitution. Continue reading “What Justice Scalia’s Death Means for 6 Cases That Matter to American Jews”
Being behind on student loan payments in Texas could cost you more than your credit score. The US Marshals Service in Houston is arresting people who aren’t paying their federal student debt.
Paul Aker said that seven deputy US Marshals showed up at his Houston home in combat gear. Continue reading “US Marshals make arrests over non-payment of student loans”
The Obama administration will officially sign onto last year’s international climate change pact, despite its top policy being put on ice by the Supreme Court.
Todd Stern, the State Department’s top climate diplomat and negotiator for last year’s Paris agreement, said Tuesday that the Supreme Court’s judicial stay last week of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan doesn’t change the administration’s plans. Continue reading “Obama to sign Paris climate pact despite SCOTUS stay”
Hawaii’s governor David Ige declared a state of emergency for mosquito-borne illnesses on Sunday, including Zika and dengue fever. The latter has been an especially urgent concern, with over 250 confirmed cases of dengue reported during the current outbreak.
The Associated Press reports there have been no reported cases of local Zika transmission in Hawaii. However, the first case of infant brain damage reported in the United States came from Hawaii, where a child with microcephaly was born to a woman who lived in Brazil early in her pregnancy. Continue reading “Hawaii Declares State of Emergency over Zika, Dengue”
Heating and air-conditioning company Carrier, which has announced it will move 1,400 Americans’ jobs to Mexico, received $5.1 million from the Obama administration.
Local media reported the “Department of Energy awarded Carrier $5.1 million in clean energy tax credits in December 2013” for its Indianapolis facility. They planned to use the money to “expand production at its Indianapolis facility to meet increasing demand for its eco-friendly condensing gas furnace product line.” Continue reading “Carrier Received $5.1 Million in Obama-Stimulus Cash Before Move To Mexico”