From the Trenches World Report
Enforce our Bill of Rights
A hundred fifty years ago, at least some Americans recognized that all serious discourse depended on the use of the faculty called Reason.
Formal debate, science, and law all flowed from that source.
A common bond existed in some schools of the day. The student was expected to learn how Reason operates, and for that he was taught the only subject which could lay out, as on a long table, the visible principles: Logic. Continue reading “The State weaponizes education to create ignorance”
Truth In Media – by Brenden Weber
Lawmakers in Arizona, Colorado, and Wyoming have all recently taken legislative action that seeks to further support cryptocurrency.
On Thursday, the Arizona Senate passed a bill that would allow residents to pay income taxes using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. This implementation has practical significance, allowing the use of cryptocurrencies as a payment option in a state revenue system legitimizes them as an everyday alternative payment medium. Continue reading “Arizona, Colorado, and Wyoming Present Legislation Supporting Cryptocurrency”
Update (12 pm ET): To our complete lack of surprise, a White House aide said the administration does not support the “McCain-Coons” compromise bill – which notably doesn’t include funding for Trump’s border wall…
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Less than two days after GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell used a shell bill from the House as pretext to kickstart an open-ended floor debate on an immigration reform plan, GOP Senators are telling Fox News and Bloomberg that a compromise that would preserve the so-called DACA protections has been reached. Continue reading “Bipartisan Senate Group Says DACA Deal Reached”
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Refugee resettlement agencies are preparing to shutter more than 20 offices across the United States and cut back operations in more than 40 others after the State Department told them to pare their operations, according to plans seen by Reuters.
The slated closures, which are being reviewed by the State Department for final approval, follow President Donald Trump’s decision to dramatically reduce the number of refugees that will be allowed into the United States in 2018. Continue reading “Dozens of refugee resettlement offices to close as Trump downsizes program”
Passengers onboard a United plane traveling from California to Hawaii suffered a major scare Tuesday after noticing the plane’s engine cover had fallen off.
Photos posted to social media appeared to show one of the Honolulu-bound jet engine shells falling off the Boeing 777. The plane made an emergency landing at around 1:00 p.m., according to Hawaii News Now. Continue reading “United Airlines passengers rattled after plane’s engine shell falls off”
Syria — At least 100 Russians were killed last week when U.S.-led coalition forces clashed with pro-Assad fighters in eastern Syria, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing a U.S. official and three Russian sources.
From the article:
“More than 200 mercenaries, mostly Russians fighting on behalf of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, died in a failed attack on a base and refinery held by U.S. and U.S.-backed forces in the oil-rich Deir Ezzor region, two of the Russians said. The U.S. official put the death toll at about 100, with 200 to 300 injured.” Continue reading “The US Killed Over 100 Russians in Syria Last Week”
San Antonio Express – by Jason Buch and Joana Santillana
LAREDO — A long-running feud between a South Texas rancher and the Border Patrol has escalated into a civil lawsuit after the rancher confiscated a surveillance camera he found on his property.
The suit filed by Ricardo D. Palacios, a lawyer who lives on a ranch near Encinal, north of Laredo, against federal agents and a Texas Ranger raises questions about how much leeway law enforcement officials have to enter private property near the border. Continue reading “Texas rancher sues feds, state after finding surveillance camera on his property”
The risk of inter-state conflict is higher now than at any time since the end of the Cold War, according to US Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats.
The most immediate threats over the next year will come from North Korea and from “Saudi-Iranian use of proxies in their rivalry,” Coats said during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Tuesday.
Continue reading “Risks of interstate conflict higher than any time since end of Cold War – DNI chief”
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A festive close to Mardi Gras was marred by shootings across New Orleans that left three people dead and five others wounded. The first two shootings happened in the afternoon, when fights broke out near the traditional parade route.
Police clarified Wednesday that two teenage boys were wounded in one of the parade route shootings. Gunfire struck one boy in the “head area” and the other had a leg wound, police said in a news release. Continue reading “Mardi Gras marred as 3 killed, 5 wounded in New Orleans”
PHOENIX (AP) — Nearly 100 people strolled through the high school cafeteria throughout the evening, studying colored graphs of flight takeoffs and jotting down comments for officials. More than three years after they awoke to find window-rattling flights rerouted in an airborne highway above their homes, residents of Phoenix’s downtown historic districts said they finally felt the Federal Aviation Administration was listening.
A court victory by Phoenix and neighborhood groups over the FAA last year has prompted the agency to be more responsive to residents as it continues to beat back noise complaints around the United States over the air traffic modernization plan known as “NextGen.” Continue reading “Agency adopts more responsive tone on airplane noise”
GOVERNMENT CAMP, Ore. (AP) — One climber fell to his death and several others had to be rescued after conditions turned treacherous on Oregon’s tallest peak. More than a half-dozen people had been climbing near Mount Hood’s peak when a climber fell about 1,000 feet, (304 meters) said Sgt. Brian Jensen, a Clackamas County sheriff’s office spokesman.
“One of the guys slipped,” said climber Quinn Talley of Welches, Oregon, who had been descending after summiting Tuesday morning. “At first he was just sliding and right before he disappeared, he started cartwheeling.” Continue reading “1 climber dies, others rescued on Oregon’s tallest peak”
Collective Evolution – by Kalee Brown
Over the past week, I’ve been watching the History Channel’s America’s War on Drugsmini docu-series. To my surprise, the History Channel was shockingly honest about the CIA’s involvement in the war on drugs and the massive political propaganda campaigns that went along with it. The series criminalized the CIA and the government, and rightly so, discussing their involvement in drug trafficking, production, and testing — on both volunteers and unwilling patients — and even murder.
Part of the first episode honed in on the CIA’s top-secret program that is now declassified, MK-Ultra, which involved sexual and physical abuse, drug testing, hypnosis, mind control, and other types of torture. However, the only aspect that the History Channel discussed in their MK Ultra overview was the role that LSD played. Continue reading “MK Ultra – What They Didn’t Tell You About The Mind-Control Program That’s Probably Still Operational”
Information Liberation – by Chris Menahan
A New York real estate developer was ordered to pay millions to a group of graffiti artists for painting over their artwork on his own property after a federal judge deemed their work “protected public art.”
From The New York Times: Continue reading “Developer Ordered to Pay Graffiti Artists $6.7M for Painting Over Their Murals On His Own Property”
FORT MEAD, Md. — At least three people have been shot near the National Security Agency Headquarters in Maryland, according to WBAL.
The shooting happened around 7:15 a.m. Wednesday near the visitor’s gate at Fort Meade, Fox 5 reports.
The shooter is now reportedly in custody and a police officer is among the injured. The shooter is in custody. Continue reading “At least 3 reportedly shot outside NSA Headquarters”
A Chicago police commander who had complained about the difficulty of keeping violent criminals off the streets was fatally shot Tuesday while pursuing a suspect in the Loop in a rare outburst of daytime gun violence downtown.
Cmdr. Paul Bauer, 53, was shot to death at the Thompson Center after chasing a man fleeing from tactical officers who tried to stop him, police officials said. Bauer confronted the man, who opened fire as the two struggled, killing the 31-year department veteran, according to police officials and other sources. Bauer had been in the area after attending “active shooter” training, which prepares officers for mass shootings. He also had a meeting with aldermen scheduled for later in the day. Continue reading “Chicago police commander gunned down in Loop pursuing a suspect”