Month: July 2019

The Hill – by Tal Axelrod

Israel is preparing to potentially intervene in any possible military clash in the Gulf region as tensions between the U.S. and Iran continue to escalate, a top Israeli official said Tuesday.

“It should be taken into account that mistaken calculations by the (Iranian) regime … are liable to bring about a shift from the ‘gray zone’ to the ‘red zone’ – that is, a military conflagration,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said during a speech at a conference, according to Reuters.  Continue reading “Israel preparing for possible ‘military conflagration’ with Iran, official says”

Market Watch – by Robert Schroeder

The Washington Post reports the National Park Service is diverting nearly $2.5 million in entrance and recreation fees primarily intended to improve parks across the country to cover costs associated with President Donald Trump’s Independence Day celebration on the Mall.

Administration officials, writes the Post, have consistently refused to say how much taxpayers will have to pay for the expanded celebration on the Mall this year, which the president has dubbed the “Salute to America.”  Continue reading “Park Service diverts $2.5 million in fees to pay for Trump’s July 4th celebration”

ABC News 7

CHICAGO (WLS) — Chicago police have arrested 77 people in a gun and drug takedown ahead of the 4th of July holiday, a police spokesman said.

Nearly a dozen weapons were recovered as part of Operation Independence conducted by CPD’s Organized Crime Bureau, the spokesman said Wednesday morning.  Continue reading “77 arrested by Chicago police in pre-4th of July holiday gun, drug take down, Mayor Lori Lightfoot to unveil safety plan”

RT

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law suspending the Cold War-era INF Treaty. Putin announced in February that he would halt participation in the treaty after Washington’s abrupt decision to pull out of the agreement.

The Trump administration announced last October that the US would pull out of the treaty which has been a cornerstone of European security since its signing in 1987. Moscow later promised a “mirror response” to the decision and said it would suspend its own participation.  Continue reading “Putin signs law suspending INF treaty with US”

Daily Mail

A Las Vegas police officer who ‘froze with fear’ on his way to Stephen Paddock’s door as he rained down bullets on concert-goers from the Mandalay Hotel has been fired.

The police department confirmed yesterday veteran officer Cordell Hendrex was fired in March, with a union chief saying it was because of his actions during the October 1, 2017 shooting.  Continue reading “Vegas police officer is fired after he ‘froze with fear’ on his way to Stephen Paddock’s hotel room”

The Great Recession

If you’re a Trump supporter, you’re going to hate this article andlove it; likewise, if you are a Trump hater. I am going to lay out evidence that Trump is either the biggest moron of a president the US has ever had but also my own 4-D chess explanation that would make him cunning if true. Which is true, I have no idea; but I will lay out equally strong arguments for either view, and you can decide for yourself.  Continue reading “Iranium ConFUSION Part 2: What we Know, What we Know we Don’t Know, and What we Wish we Knew”

Center for Immigration Studies – by Todd Bensman

Like the proverbial “bulge in the belly of the snake,” unusually high numbers of non-Latino migrants, obviously not from Central America, are now reportedly passing from Colombia through Panama on their way to the U.S. southern border. Their numbers range to the tens of thousands, whose vanguards we have already seen at the U.S. Southwest Border in recent months: Cameroonians, Ghanaians, Congolese, Haitians, Cubans, and some from the Middle East.  Continue reading “The Next Influx: The Entire World’s Poor and Dispossessed”

Yahoo News

A man who gained media attention after claiming he saved students from a mass shooting while working as a substitute teacher never worked at the school, officials say.

David Briscoe had spoken to numerous news organisations in the wake of the May 2018 Santa Fe High School shooting in Texas, which left 10 people dead and thirteen others wounded.  Continue reading “Man who claimed to have protected students during school shooting revealed to be a hoax”

New York Times

Lee A. Iacocca, the visionary automaker who ran the Ford Motor Company and then the Chrysler Corporation and came to personify Detroit as the dream factory of America’s postwar love affair with the automobile, died on Tuesday at his home in Bel Air, Calif. He was 94.

He had complications from Parkinson’s disease, a family spokeswoman said. Continue reading “Lee Iacocca, Visionary Automaker Who Led Both Ford and Chrysler, Is Dead at 94”

The Guardian

Chinese border police are secretly installing surveillance apps on the phones of visitors and downloading personal information as part of the government’s intensive scrutiny of the remote Xinjiang region, the Guardian can reveal.

The Chinese government has curbed freedoms in the province for the local Muslim population, installing facial recognition cameras on streets and in mosques and reportedly forcing residents to download software that searches their phones.  Continue reading “Chinese border guards put secret surveillance app on tourists’ phones”

KBTX 3

BRYAN, Tex. (KBTX) – More Americans than ever recorded by AAA, nearly 49 million, will hit the road this weekend for holiday travel, making for higher traffic volume and a greater risk for crashes.

Some of those drivers are operating big rigs, and critics say a new federal regulation could increase the number of accidents involving those truck drivers.  Continue reading “Rules limiting truck drivers’ drive time could be relaxed”

Press TV

Iran is commemorating the 31st anniversary of the downing of its passenger plane by a US Navy guided-missile cruiser in the Persian Gulf waters.

A memorial ceremony was held at Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport on Tuesday, with Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, Minister of Road and Urban Development Mohammad Eslami and Touraj Dehghani-Zangeneh, the CEO of Iran’s flag carrier, Iran Air, in attendance.  Continue reading “Iran marks 31st anniversary of US downing of passenger plane”

WCTV

MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. (AP/WCTV) – The Air Force says it’s investigating after a fighter jet from Moody AFB struck a bird and dropped three dummy bombs used for training over North Florida.

Moody Air Force Base north of Valdosta said in a news release there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage after the 25-pound nonexplosive training munitions were dropped Monday afternoon by an A-10C Thunderbolt II jet.  Continue reading “Moody jet hits bird, drops 3 dummy bombs over N. Florida”

Daily Mail

A non-profit organization has scraped more than 40 tons of fishing nets and consumer plastics from a region of the Pacific Ocean that’s home to a massive debris field known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

The haul includes everything from beer bottles and children’s toys to enormous ‘ghost nets’ – the abandoned fishing gear that can drift at sea for decades, trapping more garbage and marine wildlife in its path.  Continue reading “Ocean cleanup effort drags 5-TON ‘ghost net’ of abandoned fishing gear from the Pacific ‘garbage patch’ as part of huge plastic haul”

Overdrive

A box truck driver will receive nearly $200,000 from a Kentucky-based trucking company who fired the driver after he refused to drive in bad weather.

According to a press release, the DOL’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), ordered Freight Rite, based in Florence, Kentucky, to reinstate an unnamed box truck driver who was fired after he refused to operate in hazardous road conditions caused by inclement winter weather.  Continue reading “Trucker ordered to receive nearly $200,000 after being fired for refusing to drive in bad weather”