Natural News – by Tracey Watson

Many of us grew up believing that wheat was the epitome of a healthy food. In recent years, however, the gluten-free sections in most grocery stores have gone from bare to bulging, as more and more people have decided to eliminate gluten – or even all grains – in a bid to improve their health. While some people are sensitive or even allergic to the gluten in wheat, others have decided to eliminate wheat in a bid to increase their energy levels and reduce the strain on their digestive systems.   Continue reading “Modern wheat, sprayed with toxic chemicals, may be one of the worst foods to eat for gut health”

Sandhills Express

(WASHINGTON) — The House and Senate adjourned Friday night as negotiations continued between White House and congressional leaders over border wall funding, guaranteeing a partial government shutdown at midnight when 25 percent of federal government funding is set to lapse.

Many House and Senate lawmakers headed home after leaders promised to provide 24-hour notice ahead of any funding vote.   Continue reading “Partial government shutdown guaranteed as lawmakers leave Capitol Hill without a deal”

Roll Call – by Paul V. Fontelo

The combined wealth of Congress is set to plummet next year after a deluge of departures and the results of the midterm elections. Some of the wealthiest lawmakers on Capitol Hill won’t be returning next year, and the body’s $2.43 billion of personal net worth will drop by $933 million.   Continue reading “Congress Cashes Out as Rich Members Depart”

Springfield News-Sun

A driver in Slovakia survived a spectacular crash when his car mounted a ramp on the road’s hard shoulder, surging upwards before flipping and falling back down onto the road.

Slovak police said the 44-year-old driver sustained only minor bruises when his BMW car crashed ahead of the Borik tunnel in northeast Slovakia on Thursday.    Continue reading “Car in Slovakia mounts ramp, flips, falls back on road — and driver survives”

CNBC

Farming worker shortages are getting worse. In a survey by the California Farm Bureau Federation last year, 55 percent of the 762 farmers surveyed said they had experienced employee shortages. That’s why researchers are now trying to tackle this problem with robots.

Researchers from Europe and Israel have built a robot that can pick ripe peppers in a greenhouse. The prototype, called Sweeper, is backed by the European Union as part of its Horizon 2020 innovation program. Continue reading “This robot picks a pepper in 24 seconds using a tiny saw, and could help combat a shortage of farm labor”

The Great Recession

This ain’t no ballgame. This bear has shown up for blood, not sport. The Nasdaq intraday hit the 20% down mark that is widely regarded as qualifying for a change from a bull market to a bear market. A close at that level would have made it as official as a declaration of a bear market gets.

As can be expected, the major index whose stocks played the largest role in forming the bull market of the last decade doesn’t die easy, so the NASDAQ bounced off the bear barrier for today, but it rests an easy day trip from officially killing the longest-living bull in history.   Continue reading “This Bear Ain’t Playin’ Games with the Bulls (The Stock Market Crash is in. Cash is in now, too!)”

AutoWise

It seems California is leading the way to continually disenfranchise the state with the proposed state bill AB-3006 which would kill lifted trucks. The state bill AB-3006 is proposed to be put to a vote at the next assembly. Spearheaded by California’s 12th congressional district representative Nancy Pelosi, the bill proposes legal ramifications to personal motorized vehicles categorized as a light-duty, medium-duty, or heavy-duty truck.   Continue reading “California Bill To Ban “Lifted” Trucks – AB-3006”

Free Thought Project – by Matt Agorist

Bossier City, LA — A police officer from the Bossier City Police Department has been arrested this week for filming an unspeakable act with an animal. Officer Terry Yetman, 38, has been charged with multiple counts of sexual abuse of animals—and he produced the evidence himself.

According to the Louisiana State police, Yetman was arrested on December 19 and charged with 20 counts of sexual abuse of animals by performing sexual acts with an animal, and 20 counts of filming sexual acts with an animal.   Continue reading “Highly Decorated Officer Arrested for Filming Himself Raping Over a Dozen Animals”

Zero Hedge – by Tyler Durden

CNN warns “officials brace for Trump announcement on Afghanistan” after Trump’s Wednesday bombshell Syria troop pullout announcement. He’s now initiated “a major drawdown” of forces in Afghanistan too, and while inside the beltway neocon heads might continue to explode, the broader public for which the seventeen year long Afghan war is deeply unpopular will no doubt cheer the move. And already NBC reports Thursday evening based on defense sources the White House has asked the Pentagon to draw up plans presenting “multiple options” including a “complete withdrawal”. Following the “options” order it now appears Trump has pulled the trigger and “ordered the start of a reduction of American forces in Afghanistan” according to a breaking WSJ report:   Continue reading “Trump Orders Major Afghan Drawdown: 7,000 Troops To Return Home In Coming Weeks”

Cleveland.com – by Eric Heisig

CLEVELAND, Ohio — The city of Garfield Heights agreed to pay $80,000 to settle a federal lawsuit filed by a resident who said police fabricated a story that he threatened officers, when he actually just laughed and insulted them.

Robert Spencer’s settlement also requires the city to train its officers on the First Amendment and how it applies to their job, as well as on limitations on forced labor by inmates, according to a news release from Spencer’s lawyers at The Chandra Law Firm in Cleveland. The settlement agreement says the training must take place within six months.  Continue reading “Garfield Heights settles First Amendment lawsuit over arrest where suspect made fun of officers”

Daily Mail

Outgoing Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis handed Donald Trump his resignation letter at the White House on Thursday during an argument after he realized he couldn’t convince the president to reverse course and leave American troops in Syria.

His first order of business when he got back to his office was to tell aides to print 50 copies of the letter, ordering them to distribute them as soon as Trump announced his departure.  Continue reading “Mattis quit after trying one last time to convince Trump to leave troops in Syria”

ABC News

House Republicans voted to approve a bill to fund President Donald Trump’s $5 billion demand for a border wall, setting up a final showdown in the Senate ahead of Friday’s deadline to avert a government shutdown.

The vote received no Democratic support, and the bill’s prospects in the Senate are dim as Democrats have pledged to defeat the divisive measure.   Continue reading “House Republicans approve bill to fund border wall, setting up a final showdown in the Senate”

NPR – by Howard Berkes

Greg Kelly’s grandson, Caden, scampers to the tree-shaded creek behind his grandfather’s house to catch crawdads, as Kelly shuffles along, trying to keep up. Kelly’s small day pack holds an oxygen tank with a clear tube clipped to his nose. He has chairs spaced out on the short route so he can stop every few minutes, sit down and catch his breath, until he has enough wind and strength to start out again for the creek.

“I just pray that the Lord give me as much time as I can with him,” Kelly said, his eyes welling with tears. “He just lightens my life. I want to be as fun with him as I can. And do as much as I can with him.”   Continue reading “An Epidemic Is Killing Thousands Of Coal Miners. Regulators Could Have Stopped It”

Recently we have heard about more shootings in affluent neighborhoods, basically robberies, Washington DC being especially hit hard. What is happening is that major drug dealers who handle the big shipments of many kilos of coke are getting less and less supply, and this trickles down to the street hustler in a big way. The street hustler used to be able to rob his fellow gangster; they call it getting in a “lick” whereas they rob another gangster who they know has kilos of cocaine and big cash from nothing more than a simple word from the “Street”.   Continue reading “Gangsters Feeling the Pinch – Border Crackdown Means Less Drugs”

Michael Hoffman

In the screenshot [below], Yair Rosenberg, writing in the Judaic Tablet magazine of Dec. 17 quotes an excerpt from Black poet Alice Walker’s “It is Our Frightful Duty to Study the Talmud,” and then announces that the poem is a “slander,” as well as a “malevolent attack of anti-Semitic origin.”

The egoism in his assault on her poetry shines forth like a blinding truck light. We are the deer frozen in the headlights of his ipse dixit.   Continue reading “Alice asks questions and the parrot replies, “Slanders of the Talmud are as old as the Talmud””

Newser – by John Johnson

Mexico has agreed to a fundamental change on how it deals with migrants seeking asylum in the US. Instead of being allowed to cross into America, they will now be returned to Mexico to wait out the legal process, reports the AP.

The Homeland Security Department calls Mexico’s agreement to accept the migrants “historic,” while the Mexican government made clear that it viewed the move as a temporary one, reports the Washington Post.    Continue reading “Mexico Just Made a Big Change on Migrants”

FEE – by Brittany Hunter

For more than two decades, John Monem’s furniture store has been a staple of downtown Brockton, Massachusetts. But a week ago, city officials gave Monem an early Christmas present: a notice to vacate his property.

Brockton Furniture is currently located on the first floor of the tallest building in the city, 93 Centre Street. But in four months, Monem will be forced to relocate his business because the local government doesn’t think he has made enough of an effort to revitalize his own property.   Continue reading “Local Government Says Merry Christmas by Using Eminent Domain to Take Small Business Owner’s Building”

Tenth Amendment Center – by TJ Martinell

Just as some gun rights groups flip-flop on protecting the right to keep and bear arms from federal encroachment, so has Republican President Donald Trump. Not only has he ramped up federal gun control enforcement, but he has unilaterally implemented new federal gun control in the form of a bump stock ban.

As we’ve pointed before, the effectiveness of this policy is moot: the feds have no constitutional authority to restrict firearms.   Continue reading “Trump and Obama? A Tale Of Two Gun Control Proposals”