From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
The News Tribune – by Kate Martin
Public records advocate Arthur West has filed a lawsuit against the city of Tacoma.
This time, West says he wants access to more information about the Tacoma Police Department’s use of a controversial piece of surveillance equipment called a cell site simulator, commonly known by the brand name Stingray. Continue reading “Lawsuit says city interferes with cellphone service when it uses surveillance tech”
The Second Circuit US Court of Appeals upheld the government’s confiscation of James B. Ferrari’s Ferrari in a ruling last week. Officials in Suffolk County, New York had grabbed the 2003 Ferrari Modena coupe, valued at $95,000, after Ferrari was stopped and accused of driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) on May 26, 2009. Continue reading “Federal Appeals Court Upholds Ferrari Confiscation”
Web ads are a major component of online marketing. Google is probably the biggest conduit of digital ads, and that makes it tough when a small company runs afoul of the giant’s standards.
One of those standards is the demand websites not place Google-served ads on the same page as “inappropriate” content. It’s reasonable, as advertisers often insist that their promotions don’t appear in such contexts. What isn’t reasonable, though, is how often Google will label something as inappropriate when the call seems wildly overreaching. Such popular and long-standing sites as Fark.com, BoingBoing, and Skepchick have found themselves suddenly without ad revenue — or a clear way to rectify what ultimately turned out to be a mistake on the part of Google. Continue reading “You Won’t Believe the Reason Google Pulled Ads from these Big Sites”
Originally launched as a tool of trench combat during World War I, tear gas has been used around the world over the past century to enforce colonial rule, quell popular protests and aid in ethnic cleansing of civilians. This “riot control agent” was banned as a “method of war” by the Chemical Weapons Convention, an arms control treaty that went into effect in 1997 and now binds nearly 200 countries (although numerous states are in violation). Yet in prisons and jails across the United States, far from any conventional battlefield or public scrutiny, tear gas and other chemical weapons are routinely used against people held captive in enclosed spaces, including solitary confinement. Continue reading “The Scandal of Chemical Weapons in U.S. Prisons”
Ask History – by Elizabeth Nix
Following the American Civil War, if someone called you a carpetbagger or scalawag, it wasn’t meant as a compliment. The term carpetbagger was used by opponents of Reconstruction—the period from 1865 to 1877 when the Southern states that seceded were reorganized as part of the Union—to describe Northerners who moved to the South after the war, supposedly in an effort to get rich or acquire political power. A carpetbagger was portrayed as a lower-class schemer with little education who could carry everything he owned in a cheap carpet bag. Continue reading “What’s the difference between a carpetbagger and a scalawag?”
Sent to us by Cleatus.
Iran is to receive a huge shipment of natural uranium from Russia to compensate it for exporting tons of reactor coolant, diplomats say, in a move approved by the outgoing U.S. administration and other governments seeking to keep Tehran committed to a landmark nuclear pact. Continue reading “Diplomats: Iran to Get Natural Uranium Batch”
An armed passing motorist was credited with saving the life of an Arizona state trooper by shooting and killing a gunman who ambushed the trooper in the middle of a lonely interstate highway before dawn Thursday.
“I would just say at this point, thank you, because I don’t know that my trooper would be alive today without his assistance,” Col. Frank Milstead, director of the Arizona Department of Public Safety, said after he met with the seriously injured trooper at the hospital. Continue reading “Ambushed Arizona Trooper Saved by Armed Passing Motorist Who Shot Attacker Dead”
Washington Post – by Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis
President Obama declared five new national monuments Thursday ranging from a Birmingham, Ala. church bombed by segregationists to the coniferous forests of Oregon. He has now used his executive authority more than any other president in history to protect iconic historic, cultural and ecological sites across the country. Continue reading “Obama names five new national monuments, including Southern civil rights sites”
President Obama announced Thursday an end to the 20-year-old “wet foot, dry foot” policy that allowed most Cuban migrants who reach U.S. soil to stay and become legal permanent residents after one year.
President Obama issued a statement Thursday evening saying the U.S. is working to normalize relations with its one-time foe, and ending this policy was the next logical step. Continue reading “Obama ends ‘wet foot, dry foot’ policy for Cubans”
President Barack Obama is awarding Vice President Joe Biden the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
A teary-eyed Biden accepted the medal, the highest civilian honor, at a ceremony at the White House Thursday. Continue reading “Obama Awards Biden Presidential Medal of Freedom”
How do you survive a flood, mudslides, avalanches, power outages, and gale force winds? What about sinkholes and buckling roads?
You’re going to be so disappointed when I tell you the secret.
Because it’s not dramatic. No firearms, carabiners, or specialized equipment were used. I didn’t need to consult my beloved SAS survival manual even once. If it were a movie, you’d fall asleep within 15 minutes. Continue reading “An Unsexy Survival Plan for California’s Epic Floods, Avalanches, and Mudslides”
It’s always unnerving to learn that NASA, arbiters of space safety, missed a giant hunk of space rock flying so close to the Earth you almost needed to duck.
Like the asteroid that did a fly-by at just half the distance between the Earth and the moon on Monday of this week.
Unlike the movie Armageddon, we may not have enough warning for Bruce Willis and friends to get on a rocket and go blow it up before it hits us. Continue reading “Incoming: NASA Totally Missed an Asteroid That Was Closer to Us Than the Moon”
American soldiers rolled into Poland on Thursday, fulfilling a dream some Poles have had since the fall of communism in 1989 to have U.S. troops on their soil as a deterrent against Russia.
Some people waved and held up American flags as U.S. troops in tanks and other vehicles crossed into southwestern Poland from Germany and headed toward the town of Zagan, where they will be based. Poland’s prime minister and defense minister will welcome them in an official ceremony Saturday. Continue reading “US Troops Enter Poland, 1st Deployment at Russia’s Doorstep”
Wall Street On Parade (January 9) details the boggling Goldman Sachs presence on Trump’s team. My comments will follow the list of names.
“Trump nominated Steven Mnuchin, a 17-year veteran of Goldman Sachs to be his Treasury Secretary.”
“Stephen Bannon, another former Goldman Sachs banker, was named by Trump as his Chief Strategist in the White House.” Continue reading “What deal did Donald Trump make with Goldman Sachs?”
The Justice Department Inspector General announced it has launche an investigation to examine whether the Federal Bureau of Investigation followed proper procedures in its probe of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. The inspector general’s announcement comes amid outcry from Democrats who say Clinton’s loss to President-elect Donald Trump was in part due to Comey’s bringing Clinton’s emails back into the public spotlight less than two weeks before the 2016 election. Continue reading “Justice Department Launches Probe Into The FBI’s Actions During The Presidential Campaign”