From the Trenches World Report

The Washington Post – by Danielle Paquette

DUETTE, Fla. – Both human and machine have 10 seconds per plant. They must find the ripe strawberries in the leaves, gently twist them off the stems and tuck them into a plastic clamshell. Repeat, repeat, repeat, before the fruit spoils.

One February afternoon, they work about an acre apart on a farm the size of 454 football fields: dozens of pickers collecting produce the way people have for centuries — and a robot that engineers say could replace most of them as soon as next year. Continue reading “Farmworker vs Robot”

The Eagle – by Mike Copeland

Continue reading “11,000 Texas farmers sign up for tariff relief”

Wood TV

SOLON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — Four people, including children, were found shot to death in northern Kent County Monday afternoon.

Speaking to reporters at the scene, Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young would not say how many of the victims are children, nor would she provide any information about the victims’ genders. She said authorities were still working on confirming their identities.  Continue reading “Sheriff: 4 dead, including children, in northern Kent Co., Michigan”

WFAA

ONALASKA, Texas — Onalaska, Texas, has a secret.

Nestled along the piney shores of an East Texas lake, Onalaska lacks an airport.

A WFAA review, however, has found more than 1,000 registered aircraft claiming an Onalaska address. That’s equivalent to one plane for every three Onalaska residents, which is more per capita than anywhere else in the country.   Continue reading “Foreign ownership of thousands of U.S. aircraft cloaked in secrecy”

CBS News

Texas Rep. Will Hurd, the sole Republican representing a congressional district along the southern border, said more than 1,000 farmers in his state are at risk of having their land seized by the federal government to facilitate the construction of President Trump’s long-promised wall.

“In the great state of Texas, we care about a little thing called private property, and there’s going to be over 1,000 ranchers and farmers potentially impacted if the government comes in and takes their land,” Hurd said on “Face the Nation” Sunday.   Continue reading “Hurd says 1,000 Texas farmers could have land seized to build Trump’s border wall”

Times of Israel

The United Nations Humans Rights Council is expected to release a series of reports critical of Israel next month, including one reportedly accusing the military of war crimes over its response to violent protests by Palestinians on the Gaza border.

According to the pro-Israel watchdog group UN Watch, other reports are set to accuse Israel of alleged human rights violations in the Golan Heights, which it captured from Syria in the 1967 Six Day War war, and in territories claimed by the Palestinians for a future state, Channel 12 news reported Thursday.   Continue reading “Record number of reports criticizing Israel said to be released by UN next month”

Times of Israel

WASHINGTON — A new spending bill signed Friday by US President Donald Trump to prevent another government shutdown over border funding allocates a $200 million increase in defense assistance to Israel than compared to years prior.

The provision tucked in the 1,159-page bill includes $3.3 billion in funds designated for security assistance to Israel under the 2016 memorandum of understanding between the Obama White House and Netanyahu government.   Continue reading “New US spending bill includes $200m increase in defense aid to Israel”

These new corporate policies will be going into effect next year.

AZ Central

As of Oct. 1, 2020, Arizona residents won’t be able to travel out of several airports throughout the state and country with just a standard driver’s license as identification, the Arizona Department of Transportation said.   Continue reading “Arizona residents will be grounded without new travel ID”

The Guardian – by Ruth Quinn

The tomb of Karl Marx in Highgate cemetery in London has been vandalised for the second time in the space of a month.

The words “doctrine of hate” and “architect of genocide” were found daubed in red paint across the Grade I-listed monument in the north London graveyard on Saturday.   Continue reading “Karl Marx’s London memorial vandalised for second time”

The Great Recession

Bears, like myself, picked the meat off market bulls throughout 2018. We scoffed at the start of the year when bulls concocted a narrative that said bears would starve because 2018 was going to be the year of “global synchronize growth.” We bears bawled that this was euphoric nonsense.

Global economies fell off a cliff as soon as the bulls’ narrative took hold, and all economies continued to falter for the entire year. The US was the only major economy to get a significant boost, due to absolutely massive tax cuts, which piddled away after two quarters (fourth quarter now estimated at 1.5%).   Continue reading “The Bears Have it Right: Economy went Polar Opposite of Bullish Predictions”

WTAE 4 News

CASTLE SHANNON, Pa. — An 11-year-old boy wanted to share some warmth and earn a few bucks, but he ended up getting the cops called on him in Castle Shannon.

Andrew Donaldson, of Castle Shannon, is not new to the drink stand scene.

“A lot of times, I make over $50, and I do pretty good,” Andrew said.   Continue reading “Police called on boy selling hot chocolate in Castle Shannon”

Mint Press News – by Alexander Rubinstein and Max Blumenthal

A select group of national news “stakeholders” gathered at an undisclosed location for what was described as a “semi-secret” workshop somewhere in Canada on January 26. The meeting had been convened to determine how and to whom a “news industry bailout” of $645 million in Canadian government subsidies to private and supposedly independent media outlets would be disbursed. It was a striking event that signaled both the crisis of legitimacy faced by mainstream media and the desperate measures that are being proposed to answer it.   Continue reading “How One of America’s Premier Data Monarchs is Funding a Global Information War and Shaping the Media Landscape”