From the Trenches World Report

The Organic Prepper

This has been a year of worry and disaster, based on the top 10 articles of 2017.

Back-to-back hurricanes like we’ve never seen before swept the Southern coasts and the Caribbean. Worries of world wars and nuclear strikes were foremost in the minds of people who want to be prepared. Meanwhile, other people are desperately seeking security and distraction, as the battle for political correctness created minefields in every industry.   Continue reading “Reader’s Choice: The Top 10 Prepping Articles of 2017”

Yahoo News

BEIJING (Reuters) – China sentenced a prominent rights activist to eight years in jail for subversion on Tuesday, his lawyer said, the harshest sentence passed in a government crackdown on activism that began more than two years ago.

In a separate case, a rights lawyer avoided criminal punishment despite being found guilty of inciting subversion, because he admitted his crimes, the Chinese court trying him said.   Continue reading “China hands down harshest sentence yet in crackdown on activists”

Japan News

The organizing committee for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics and the Tokyo metropolitan government are planning to use a facial recognition system during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, sources said.

The system would be used when the 300,000 to 400,000 athletes, volunteers and others expected to be involved in the Games enter event venues, the sources said. This would be the first time for facial recognition to be used at an Olympics, a move intended to strengthen anti-terrorism measures.   Continue reading “Facial recognition eyed for 2020 Games”

MSN

CHICAGO — Judges in divorce cases can consider the well-being of pets in allocating sole or joint ownership, under an Illinois law that takes effect Jan. 1.

“It sort of starts treating your animal more like children” instead of property, said Illinois state Sen. Linda Holmes, an animal lover who sponsored the legislation. “If you’re going before a judge, they’re allowed to take the best interest of the animal into consideration.”  Continue reading “New Illinois law treats pets more like children in custody cases”

Yahoo News

(Reuters) – A man claiming to be the person who delivered a gift-wrapped package of horse manure at the Los Angeles home of U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Monday he did it to protest the federal tax overhaul signed into law last week by President Donald Trump.

Robert Strong, 45, a psychologist for the Los Angeles County Public Health Department, said by telephone he left the poop-filled parcel addressed to Mnuchin and Trump in the driveway outside Mnuchin’s home in the posh Bel Air community.   Continue reading “Man says he delivered manure to Mnuchin to protest new U.S. tax law”

Madness Hub

A passenger on a flight from Houston to Washington D.C. has accused United Airlines of giving her first-class seat to U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee. D-Houston, and then threatening to remove her from the plane for complaining and snapping a photo of the Houston congresswoman.

“It was just so completely humiliating,” said Jean-Marie Simon, a 63-year-old attorney and private school teacher who used 140,000 miles on Dec. 3 to purchase the first-class tickets to take her from Washington D.C. to Guatemala and back home.  Continue reading “Teacher ‘was evicted from her first class United seat so that the airline could give it to a US Congresswoman and was threatened by staff when she complained’”

A few thoughts, on this eve of love and peace, this looming hope that one day, the dignity of freedom and respect will return for all. I think of The Trenches here and The Trenchers in it, each a unique and focused individual. I think of those who dug this particular Trench, Laura and Henry, and their on-going effort to fight the good fight.

I do not know where else I can hang my hat with such certainty that this place is without a selfish or perverted agenda.   Continue reading “Merry Christmas, Everybody!!”

Daily Mail

President Donald Trump was in a jolly mood at dinner on Friday night, with CBS News reporting that the Commander-in-Chief spent part of his evening extolling the benefits of the new tax bill to friends at Mar-a-Lago.

‘You all just got a lot richer,’ President Trump told a group of diners at a nearby table according to two people at the Palm Beach club that night.   Continue reading “‘You all just got a lot richer’: What Trump bragged to wealthy friends at Mar-a-Lago just hours after signing tax bill he said would benefit the middle class”

NCPR – by Scott Simon

The U.S. foster care system is overwhelmed, in part because America’s opioid crisis is overwhelming. Thousands of children have had to be taken out of the care of parents or a parent who is addicted.

Indiana is among the states that have seen the largest one-year increase in the number of children who need foster care. Judge Marilyn Moores, who heads the juvenile court in Marion County, which includes Indianapolis, says the health crisis is straining resources in Indiana.   Continue reading “The Foster Care System Is Flooded With Children Of The Opioid Epidemic”

WND – by Bob Unruh

A court fight has erupted over Seattle’s demand that landlord’s offer a rental unit to the “first person” who submits a valid application, in essence telling property owners that the city will pick their tenants because they might be hindered by “unconscious bias.”

Under Seattle’s “first-in-time” rule, a landlord must offer a rental unit to the “first person who submits an adequate application,” explains Ethan Blevins of the Pacific Legal Foundation, which sued over the Big Brother policy.   Continue reading “Seattle to landlords: We’ll pick tenants for you”