Year: 2018

Tech Crunch – by Zach Whittaker

U.S. authorities will soon have the authority to shoot down private drones if they are considered a threat — a move decried by civil liberties and rights groups.

The Senate passed the FAA Reauthorization Act on Wednesday, months after an earlier House vote in April. The bill renews funding for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) until 2023, and includes several provisions designed to modernize U.S aviation rule — from making commercial flights more comfortable for passengers to including new provisions to act against privately owned drones.   Continue reading “Despite objection, Congress passes bill that lets U.S. authorities shoot down private drones”

Reason – by Zuri Davis

On a Thursday night in July 2015, an Indianapolis police dog named Scooter was chasing a suspect on foot. After the suspect ran into Mara Mancini’s yard, she heard her own dogs barking and stepped onto her back porch to investigate. That’s when Scooter attacked Mancini, who was seven months pregnant at the time. He bit her repeatedly, tearing pieces of flesh out of her arms and thighs. She underwent several surgeries as a result of the attack.   Continue reading “Judge Rules Against Woman Mauled by Police Dog Because She Wasn’t the Intended Target”

Zero Hedge – by Tyler Durden

The Associated Press (AP) has revealed a troubling story of the largest ever homeless encampment site mostly made up of Native Americans has quickly erected just south of downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota.

City officials are scrambling to contain the situation as two deaths in recent weeks, concerns about disease and infection, illicit drug use and the coming winter season, have sounded the alarm of a developing public health crisis.  Continue reading ““Largest Ever Homeless Camp” Suddenly Appears In Minneapolis”

Gizmodo – by George Dvorsky

A new technology in which insects are used to genetically modify crops could be converted into a dangerous, and possibly illegal, bioweapon, alleges a Science Policy Forum report released today. Naturally, the organization leading the research says it’s doing nothing of the sort.

The report is a response to a ongoing research program funded by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Dubbed “Insect Allies,” the idea is to create more resilient crops to help farmers deal with climate change, drought, frost, floods, salinity, and disease. But instead of modifying seeds in a lab, farmers would send fleets of insects into their crops, where the genetically modified bugs would do their work, “infecting” the plants with a special virus that passes along the new resilience genes.  Continue reading “Scathing Report Accuses the Pentagon of Developing an Agricultural Bioweapon”

Breitbart – by AWR Hawkins

Police identified the man who opened fire on officers in Florence, South Carolina, Wednesday as 74-year-old Fred Hopkins, a Vietnam veteran and former attorney.

Breitbart News reported that one officer was killed and six others injured when Hopkins opened fire. ABC 7 identified the deceased officer as 52-year-old Terrence Carraway, a 30-year veteran of the Florence Police Department.   Continue reading “Man Who Opened Fire on SC Police Identified as 74-Year-Old Vietnam Veteran”

Forward

One of the largest Jewish charities in the U.S. has been secretly funding a shadowy online blacklist targeting college students who criticize Israel.

For three years, a website called Canary Mission has spread fear among undergraduate activists, posting more than a thousand political dossiers on student supporters of Palestinian rights. The dossiers are meant to harm students’ job prospects, and have been used in interrogations by Israeli security officials.   Continue reading “REVEALED: Canary Mission Blacklist Is Secretly Bankrolled By Major Jewish Federation”

Intellicast – Current Radar in Pierre, South Dakota

Right of the Right

The City of New York is giving two Israeli tech firms, SOSA and Jerusalem Venture Partners, $100 million in public/private funds to develop a massive internet “cybersecurity” industry hub whose headquarters is in Tel Aviv:  Continue reading “NYC Gives $100 Million to Jewish Tech Companies for Cybersecurity”

Anti-Media – by Carey Wedler

The internet erupted in a flurry of posts about President Trump’s message to millions of people Tuesday afternoon. The text, which was announced prior to its transmission, served as a test to a new national alert system enacted by FEMA for the purposes of alerting citizens about natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and other emergencies.   Continue reading “The Presidential Alert Text Is Everything You Need to Know About the US Government”

Wired

The fight for our right to repair the stuff we own has suffered a huge setback.

As anyone who repairs electronics knows, keeping a device in working order often means fixing both its hardware and software. But a big California farmers’ lobbying group just blithely signed away farmers’ right to access or modify the source code of any farm equipment software. Continue reading “John Deere Just Swindled Farmers Out of Their Right to Repair”

RT

The US is withdrawing from the “optional protocol” in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, John Bolton has confirmed. He said it follows a case brought by Palestine, challenging the US embassy’s move to Jerusalem.

“I am announcing that the president has decided that the United States will withdraw from the optional protocol and dispute resolution to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,” Bolton said.   Continue reading “US says Palestine ‘not a state,’ withdraws from Vienna Convention’s ‘optional protocol’”

There will be no broadcast of The Word From the Trenches Thursday and Friday because my grandchildren get to choose who babysits them when their parents go out of town.  They choose grandma and grandpa because they believe they are the babysitters and they run the show.

We will be back on Monday.  Have a great weekend and thank you for understanding.

The Organic Prepper

Yesterday, the first Presidential Alert was sent to phones all across the country. Theories and screenshots took over the internet shortly thereafter.

But one of these theories, in particular, comes from a source that is especially credible with regard to cybersecurity: John McAfee.   Continue reading “Check Out John McAfee’s (Educated) Warning About The Dark Side of That Presidential Alert Sent to Your Phone”

The New Observer

More than 754,700 immigrants became U.S. citizens during President Donald Trump’s second year in office, the highest number since 2013—and the vast majority of them come from just three countries, Mexico, India, and China.

According to a spokesman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) quoted by the SFGate news service, the latest figures “followed slumping citizenship numbers during fiscal 2017, a period that includes the president’s first nine months in office, and mounting frustration from advocates who fear that the government’s ‘extreme vetting’ will prevent people from becoming citizens in time to vote in the November midterms.”  Continue reading “US Gains 754,700 New Citizens in 2017—Majority from Mexico, India, and China”

Dallas News – by Lizzy Spangler

A former police officer in southeast Texas has been sentenced to 10 years of probation for stealing more than $2,000 of Christmas money from a man who suffered a fatal heart attack.

Linnard Ray Crouch, 42, pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of theft by a public servant, court records show. An unrelated charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon was dismissed as part of a plea agreement.   Continue reading “Ex-Texas officer gets probation for stealing Christmas money from man who had fatal heart attack”