From the Trenches World Report

NBC News

An Amtrak train carrying Republican members of Congress and their spouses to a party retreat in West Virginia was involved in a collision, Wednesday, according to members who were on the train.

Most people are unhurt, according to House members and senators who are communicating from the train. NBC News reported that a person who was standing at the time of the incident, which took place near Charlottesville, Virginia, was taken off the train to be treated.   Continue reading “Train carrying congressional Republicans to GOP retreat hits garbage truck in Virginia”

Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw federal protections from millions of acres of Utah wilderness will reopen much of the iconic terrain to gold, silver, copper, and uranium land claims under a Wild West-era mining law, according to federal officials.

Starting at 6 a.m. on Feb. 2 – the moment Trump’s proclamation reducing the size of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments takes effect – private citizens and companies will be allowed to stake claims for hard rock mining in a process governed by the General Mining Law of 1872, according to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.   Continue reading “A modern land run? Trump move opens Utah to mining claims under 1872 law”

RT

Killer whales have for the first time been recorded apparently imitating human speech. Audio released in a new study captured an orca mimicking words such as “hello” and “bye bye.”

A new study, published Wednesday in the journal ‘Proceedings of the Royal Society B’ and led by the Complutense University of Madrid, found orcas have the ability to learn and mimic human language.   Continue reading “Killer whale ‘repeats human speech’ – study”

RT

The US government has reportedly opened up an investigation into tech giant Apple amid a torrent of lawsuits alleging the company used an iPhone update to intentionally slow down older models.

According to Bloomberg News, citing sources with knowledge of the matter, the US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission have requested information from Apple as part of a probe into whether or not the company’s not-so-helpful update violated securities laws. The inquiry is still in its early stages, according to the sources.   Continue reading “Apple faces US govt probe over performance-destroying iPhone update – reports”

RT

As some mainstream media rushed to genuinely fact-check US President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address, others jumped straight to the fault-finding.

In an article hot on the heels of the address, Huffington Post’s Akbar Shahid Ahmed accused Trump of letting Russia off too easy. The president only mentioned Russia once in his speech (as he did with China), merely referring to it as a rival, not a sworn enemy hell-bent on America’s downfall.   Continue reading “Too much traditional values, too little Russia-bashing – MSM’s grievances with Trump’s SOTU”

Mail.com

NEW YORK (AP) — Three guys walk into a bar. They’re Warren Buffett, Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos and JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon. They decide to transform the American health care system. That’s probably not how these three men decided to form a new company to address health care costs for their U.S. employees, and possibly for many more Americans. The three companies, with a combined market cap of $1.62 trillion, did not provide details of how the collaboration between their CEOs came about. And while their announcement Tuesday didn’t include many specifics, based on their very different business backgrounds it’s possible to see what each might bring to the table.   Continue reading “Health care’s Three Amigos? The big names behind a new push”

ProPublica – by Kiah Collier, T. Christian Miller

The kickback scheme was allegedly hashed out over weeknight drinks at a steakhouse in a border county in south Texas. Amid surf and turf and expensive scotch, a Hidalgo County official said he would meet with contractors in the clubby confines of the restaurant in a strip mall in McAllen.

There, Godfrey Garza Jr., director of the county’s drainage district, cajoled company executives to hire a firm owned by his family in exchange for a cut of lucrative construction contracts, according to new documents filed in state district court in Hidalgo County. The target of the plan: a $232 million project funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the county to build a border fence and rehabilitate aging dirt levees along the Rio Grande.   Continue reading “New Details Alleged in Scheme to Make Millions Off First Border Wall in Texas”

WND – by Joe Kovacs

Jim Caviezel, who stunned the world with his portrayal of Jesus in the 2004 blockbuster “The Passion of the Christ,” is now confirming he’s on board with director Mel Gibson for a sequel, and predicts it will be “the biggest film in history.”

“There are things that I cannot say that will shock the audience,” the 49-year-old actor told USA Today. “It’s great. Stay tuned.”   Continue reading “Jim Caviezel: New ‘Passion of the Christ’ to be ‘biggest film in history’”

Free Thought Project – by Rachel Blevins

As President Trump gives his first State of the Union address, there is no doubt that it will receive an overwhelming amount of media coverage—but as is typical with the mainstream media, the most important issues are the ones that won’t be covered.

Here are five major topics both Trump and the mainstream media will blatantly ignore during the 2018 the State of the Union address:   Continue reading “5 Major Issues The Media Will Completely Ignore During Trump’s State of The Union”

The Root – by Michael Harriot

In April 2016, a 13-year-old boy was shot by officers of the Baltimore Police Department. The boy ran when faced with the police, so they gave chase. During the chase, the police spotted the boy holding a gun, and when he turned, they shot the teenager. The youngster wasn’t critically injured, and it seemed like an open-and-shut case of a justifiable use of force.

Now people are wondering.   Continue reading “Baltimore Cops Kept Toy Guns to Plant Just in Case They Shot an Unarmed Person”

Scoopy Web

FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is stepping down from his job and is expected to be replaced by David Bowdich, a senior official who headed the FBI’s response to the terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif., according to people familiar with the plans.

McCabe will formally retire in March but plans to leave the deputy director position now, a person close to the matter confirmed to The Washington Post’s Devlin Barrett and Matt Zapotosky on Monday. McCabe has often been a target of President Trump — who asked the deputy director in aprivate discussionwhom he had voted for in the presidential election — and congressional Republicans, who have criticized the FBI for its Russia probe. He will use leave time to fill out his remaining time at the agency.  Continue reading “The rise of David Bowdich, the former sniper in line to become the FBI’s new deputy director”

CBC News

Questions about edible pot were begging for answers on Monday after CBC Toronto learned that two Toronto officers were suspended after allegedly ingesting marijuana edibles, hallucinating and calling for help while on duty.

The two officers, who both work at 13 Division, were on duty not far from the station at Eglinton Avenue West and Allen Road when they allegedly ingested pot edibles late Sunday.    Continue reading “Can pot cause hallucinations? Report of officers who allegedly ate edibles fuels debate”

Top Buzz

Hip Hop star Jay-Z has blasted traditional Christian values in an epic rant where he claims to be part of an exclusive club of “smart people” who worships “our true lord; Satan.”The billionaire rapper has also claimed that “God created Lucifer to be the bearer of truth and light,” and that “Jesus never existed” but was merely a “tool created by smart people to control dumb people.”

During a backstage tirade at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Friday, Jay-Z pointed around the room saying, “ya’ll being played.” “There ain’t no Jesus.”Ya’ll slaves to a fake religion.”Do you think I got where I am praying to a guy that don’t exist?”No. I found the guys who invented that guy and I joined the club.”   Continue reading “Jay-Z: ‘Satan is Our True Lord, Only Idiots Believe in Jesus’”

Almost sounds like “a new pearl harbor”, no?

PBS – by Yamiche Alcindor

Hours before his first State of the Union, President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he wants to unite the country amid “tremendous divisiveness” and hopes he can do so without a traumatic event affecting Americans.   Continue reading “Trump says it will be hard to unify country without a ‘major event’”