From the Trenches World Report

ABC News

Members of a specialized Portland, Oregon, police unit that deals with crowd control have resigned from the assignment en masse a day after a fellow officer was indicted on an assault charge stemming from alleged illegal use of force during a protest last year.

The Portland Police Bureau’s Rapid Response Team, which is primarily responsible for providing public safety at crowd events, consisted of approximately 50 officers, all of whom resigned Wednesday, the bureau announced. The assignment is voluntary and the officers will remain on the force and continue their regular assignments, the bureau said. Continue reading “Entire Portland Police crowd control unit resigns after officer indicted on protest assault charge”

Tech Dirt – by Tim Cushing

In March of this year, the US Attorney in Los Angeles, California secured an indictment against a secure vault company, alleging the company was engaged in money laundering, drug trafficking, and hiding taxable assets. None of the company’s employees or owners were indicted.

FBI agents spent five days turning US Private Vaults upside down. Agents apparently emptied every safety deposit box housed by the business. They did this in complete contradiction of the limits imposed on them by the FBI’s own warrant affidavit. Here’s Eric Boehm of Reason with some background: Continue reading “FBI Ignored Its Own Warrant And Search Policies To Seize Millions From People’s Safety Deposit Boxes”

MSN

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis couple who gained notoriety for pointing guns at social justice demonstrators last year pleaded guilty Thursday to misdemeanor charges and agreed to give up the weapons they used during the confrontation.

Patricia McCloskey pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment and was fined $2,000. Her husband, Mark McCloskey, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor fourth-degree assault and was fined $750. Continue reading “Mark and Patricia McCloskey plead guilty to gun-waving charges”

Real Currencies – by Anthony Migchels

Usury was forbidden in Europe, during the Medieval Era. But there was no mechanism to provide interest-free credit. As a result, there was credit scarcity. This was a very real problem, hindering economic expansion. And this was the rationale for letting the Money Lenders back in.

1500 Europe was a burgeoning Civilization, that was seeing growing urbanization and specialization in the economy. Continue reading “A Crucial Lesson Of History: Why Do We Have Usury?”

CNN

While June 19 — which commemorates the end of slavery in the United States — falls on a Saturday this year, governors across the country announced in quick succession a range of plans for their state offices Friday, the closest workday to the new holiday. Continue reading “New national holiday sets off scramble to shut down governments nationwide Friday”

MSN

Two soldiers were arrested over the weekend and charged with attempting to smuggle two illegal immigrants into Texas, while wearing their uniforms.

Emmanuel Oppongagyare and Ralph Gregory Saint-Joie approached the Hebbronville Border Patrol Checkpoint in a sedan blaring loud music on June 13 and told Border Patrol agents they were traveling to San Antonio from Zapata, Texas, according to a criminal complaint.  Continue reading “Two soldiers charged with attempting to smuggle illegal immigrants into Texas”

KOMO News

SEATTLE — A confrontation about a man who refused to wear a mask inside a Seattle hardware store spiraled into violence on Sunday, and the fight that ensued was captured on cell phone footage.

The video begins with Bobby Dixon trying to re-enter Tweedy and Popp Hardware at Lake City, only to be met at the door by an employee armed with a baseball bat. The recording then shows the two men trading vicious blows after the bat gets knocked away. Continue reading “Fist fight erupts after customer enters Seattle hardware store without a mask”

Fox 5

SAN JOSE, Calif. – San Jose officials have passed a new gun law that requires retailers to video-record all firearm purchases, becoming the largest city in California with such a rule.

The City Council unanimously approved the new law Tuesday, less than a month after a disgruntled employee fatally shot nine of his co-workers and then himself at a rail yard in San Jose, according to police. Continue reading “City of San Jose mandates videotaping of all gun purchases”

Free Thought Project – by Matt Agorist

A lawsuit brought against the NYPD by one of their own officers makes explosive claims against multiple officers who she says repeatedly and brutally raped her for years without repercussions. According to Maria Mendez, who worked in the city’s 32nd precinct for 14 years, two officers, a detective, and one FDNY firefighter repeatedly drugged, beat and raped her without consequence, despite her superiors knowing about the abuse.  Continue reading “NYPD Cop Raped by Fellow Cops So Often & Violently, She Was Left Physically Deformed”

Zero Hedge – by Tyler Durden

US food banks in Republican states are preparing for a massive demand surge in food aid this summer as 24 GOP-led states are set to end federal unemployment assistance before they’re set to expire on Sept. 6.

The benefits set to lapse include the additional $300 weekly federal supplement and other Pandemic Unemployment Assistance programs that support low-income households. The policies have also contributed to a historic labor shortage after millions of people received more money via government benefits to staying at home than actually work.  Continue reading “US Food Bank Lines May Reemerge As Millions Set To Lose Unemployment Benefits”

The Epoch Times – by Chris Talgo

From 1966 to 1976, Chinese society suffered under what we now call the Cultural Revolution.

The Cultural Revolution, previously known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a multifaceted affair undergirded by a vicious, fanatical campaign to destroy the “Four Olds.” Continue reading “Mao’s Cultural Revolution Has Arrived in America”

CBS News

Even as the nation rebounds from the coronavirus pandemic, more than 2 million homeowners are behind on their mortgages and risk being forced out of their homes in a matter of weeks, a new Harvard University housing report warns.

Most of the homeowners at risk of foreclosure are either low-income or families of color, said researchers who published the 2021 State of the Nation’s Housing report. Congress has dedicated $10 billion to help homeowners get caught up on payments, but it’s unclear if that funding will make it to families before mortgage companies begin sending out foreclosure notices, researchers say. Continue reading “With moratorium ending, more than 8 million households face foreclosure or eviction”

Leo Hohmann

The Chinese Communist Party has over the years infiltrated both of the major U.S. political parties, to the point where we must at least consider the possibility that we are already living under a form of occupation.

Call it communism light, if you will. Continue reading “Red Dragon Rising: China preparing for future invasion of America”

Daily Mail

Australia will closely monitor rates of hospitalisation and death in nations that have been largely vaccinated against Covid-19 to decide when it can gradually re-open international borders, Scott Morrison has revealed.

In an interview with Sky News on Thursday, the Prime Minister said the world will be living with the deadly virus for years to come and Australia will have to manage the risk using border controls, vaccinations and contact tracing and testing. Continue reading “Australia will have to learn to live with Covid restrictions for YEARS to come”

Zero Hedge – by Tyler Durden

We previewed last week to readers that port congestion wasn’t just observed across US West Coast ports, such as Los Angeles/Long Beach, but also severe congestion was developing in southern China. At the time, we called it a “perfect storm” ahead of the peak shipping season.

Now the world’s largest container line, Maersk, calls the port congestion at Yantian International Container Terminal, a deepwater port in Shenzhen, Guangdong, in southern China, a much more significant disruption to its operations than the shutdown of the Suez Canal in March.
Continue reading “Maersk Warns South China Port Congestion ‘More Significant Disruption’ Than Suez Canal Closure”