From the Trenches World Report

Global Research – by Partnership for Civil Justice Fund

In a major reversal of long-standing federal policy, the Trump Administration has issued a new plan to charge demonstrators for the right to use our public parks, sidewalks and streets that are on federal land in the nation’s capital for First Amendment activity.  Among other areas, this includes the National Mall, Lafayette Park, the Lincoln Memorial and the sidewalk in front of Trump Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue.    Continue reading “Trump Administration Publishes Plans to Tax Protests and Close White House Sidewalk to Protests”

Electronic Intifada – by Nora Barrows-Friedman

In a move to chill speech critical of Israel, a former Israel lobbyist who is now the Trump administration’s top civil rights enforcer has said that the Department of Education will apply standards that conflate criticism of Israel and Zionism with anti-Jewish bigotry.

The announcement was made without public or congressional notification or debate, and reportedly took current and former investigators in the education department “by surprise.”   Continue reading “Trump administration moves to curb campus criticism of Israel”

Recent intensified fighting and offensive action in Idlib proved the U.S. is losing its idea leadership. The more so, there is much talk today about the risks of a new era of American isolationism and a lack of US leadership in the world.

The war in Syria indeed draws to an end, most obviously. There will be more mess, in all likelihood — wars almost always having frayed ends — but the outcome is clear. The Islamic State, along with the sectarian Salafists the U.S. financed and armed, are headed into history, but into history of Syria.   Continue reading “Why the US Re-Deploy HTS-ISIS terrorists from Idlib to Afghanistan”

CNBC

LAKEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — A Trump administration advisory committee on Thursday recommended a change in the way energy companies calculate how much money they owe taxpayers for pumping natural gas from public lands.

But the U.S. Interior Department’s Royalty Policy Committee first had to clear up an apparent misunderstanding over how much leeway the companies would have in determining how much they owed.   Continue reading “Trump panel wants changes in royalties from public oil, gas”

One of the largest con jobs put upon the American National, keeps on keepin’ on.

The Kenyan born, bred and fed circus clown cannot seem to shut his yap, as he takes credit for the continued con of a supposed favorable economy; numbers just don’t add up, never have, never will.   Continue reading “Illegally Elected President – Still Flapping His Gums – Millions in the Bank”

Truthout – by Mike Ludwig

According to Misha Mitchell, an attorney for a conservation group in Louisiana’s ecologically sensitive Atchafalaya Basin, Energy Transfer Partners and other private oil interests broke the law when they began building a section of the Bayou Bridge Pipeline on a parcel of private land in the iconic river swamp without permission from the landowners.

Mitchell filed a lawsuit against the pipeline project on behalf of landowner Peter Aaslestad and his family after construction began on their property in late July, but work continued on the property until Monday, when Energy Transfer Partners struck a deal in a local court with the plaintiffs to temporarily halt construction.   Continue reading “States Allow For-Profit Pipeline Companies to Seize Private Property”

Tech Dirt – by Tim Cushing

No police department should ever have to explain why they tased an 87-year-old woman. It’s not that the public doesn’t deserve an explanation. It’s that there is seldom any reason to deploy force against 5’2″ 87-year-old. But that’s what Chatsworth Police Chief Josh Etheridge had to do after one of his officers tased the woman during a “confrontation” behind the local Boys and Girls Club.

The police chief of a small Georgia town is defending an officer who deployed a stun gun on a “smiling” 87-year-old woman, saying she refused to comply with numerous commands to put down a kitchen knife she was using to cut dandelions.  

Continue reading “Police Officers At A Tactical Disadvantage Bravely Tase 87-Year-Old Woman Into Submission”

The Automatic Earth – by Raúl Ilargi Meijer

In the wake of a number of the Lehman and 9/11 commemorations in America, and as a monster storm is once again threatening to cause outsize damage, we find ourselves at a pivotal point in time, which will decide how the country interacts with its own laws, its legal system, its Constitution, its freedom of speech, and indeed if it has sufficient willpower left to adhere to the Constitution as its no. 1 guiding principle.

The main problem is that it all seems to slip slide straight by the people, who are -kept- busy with completely different issues. That is convenient for those who would like less focus on the Constitution, but it’s also very dangerous for everyone else. Americans should today stand up for freedom of speech, or it will be gone, likely forever.   Continue reading “The Ritual Burial of the US Constitution”

Business Insider – by Peter Kotecki

A growing number of North American architects and developers are supporting mass timber construction. Tall timber can sequester carbon, it’s more resistant to fire than concrete, and it’s often cheaper than using steel or concrete. Timber structures use large, prefabricated wood pieces.

But the process of building mass timber structures remains tough, because most cities place height restrictions on wooden structures.   Continue reading “Oregon just became the first state to legalize mass timber high-rises, and it could lead to a boom in tall wood buildings”

Daily Beast – by Amy Zimmerman

Last week at the Toronto International Film Festival, Michael Moore debuted his latest film, Fahrenheit 11/9. The Daily Beast described the political documentary as a fast-paced, wide-reaching project, jumping from Flint, Michigan to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (and stopping along the way to compare Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler). As Natalia Winkelman wrote, “Moore’s best zingers and most penetrating indictments land on the Democratic Party, whom he implicates (along with dominant liberal news media) as part of an establishment system continually churning in place to maintain the status quo and impede forward movement. He even calls out Obama on a few occasions: for letting down the people of Flint, for accepting Goldman Sachs money, for deporting immigrants, for drone strikes. But best of all, Moore acknowledges and emphasizes that he himself is not totally free from that establishment either.”   Continue reading “Michael Moore Accused of Stiffing, Smearing Vendors: ‘All I Would Like Is to Be Paid’”

Breitbart – by Bob Price

Reversing a three-month trend, the apprehension of migrants illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico Border spiked upward in August. A massive increase across the southwest border moved the number of arrests to record levels.

During August, Border Patrol agents apprehended 37,544 migrants who illegally crossed the border between ports of entry. This is up from 22,293 in August 2017 — an increase of more than 68 percent, according to the August Southwest Border Migration reported published Wednesday afternoon by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials. The number of arrests is also up 20 percent from July 2018 when agents apprehended 31,299 migrants.   Continue reading “Illegal Border Crossings in August Up 68 Percent”

Reuters

ANDOVER, Mass. (Reuters) – At least six people were injured and hundreds were ordered to evacuate their homes following a series of 70 explosions that rocked three communities near Boston on Thursday, apparently triggered by a gas pipeline rupture, local officials said.

Live TV images showed firefighters battling blazes in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover, around 25 miles (40 km)north of the U.S. city. The streets were darkened where authorities had cut off electricity and were shutting down gas service in an effort to stop further blazes.   Continue reading “Multiple injuries in dozens of gas blasts near Boston: officials”

Autoblog – by Zac Palmer

A 75-year old Cleveland man ended up trapped in his 2006 Cadillac XLR for 14 hours last month, according to a story reported by the Detroit Free Press. The owner of the car, Peter Pyros, hopped into his roadster to back out onto his driveway, but he quickly learned that the battery was dead. He was “trapped” because the doors use an electric button to activate the door latch to open the door. Since the battery was dead, the buttons did nothing. Continue reading “Man trapped in Cadillac XLR for 14 hours after battery dies”

MySA

America’s biggest truck-stop company wants to be the solution to some of the shortages bedeviling the Permian shale basin.

Pilot Flying J, better known for its more than 750 roadside travel centers, announced two deals earlier this year to almost double its crude-hauling capacity to 220,000 barrels a day. The company backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has plans for even more growth, with expansions into wastewater trucking and sand delivery that would add two more services crucial to hydraulic fracturing in the U.S.   Continue reading “Truck-stop king looks to corner hauling in chaotic Permian”