From the Trenches World Report

The Daily Caller – by Nick Givas

Baltimore is experiencing its second deadliest year on record, with 319 homicides committed in the city so far in 2017.

The deadliest year on record occurred in 2015 with 344 homicides, reported The Baltimore Sun.

Baltimore’s Democratic Mayor Catherine E. Pugh called the violence in 2017 “out of control,” and said she would be increasing the number of police officers to 3,000, according to The Baltimore Sun.   Continue reading “319 Murdered — Baltimore Sees Second Deadliest Year On Record”

Daily Mail

A Metropolitan Opera conductor sexually abused a 15-year-old boy and continued the abuse for nearly 10 years, a lawsuit has alleged.

The victim, whose name has been withheld, nearly committed suicide due to the abuse, the New York Post reports.

The lawsuit alleges that James Levine, 74, abused the boy during his tenure as a conductor at the Ravinia Music Festival, a summer concert series held in Chicago’s North Shore suburbs.   Continue reading “Metropolitan Opera conductor, 74, is accused of molesting a 15-year-old boy from 1985 to 1993”

Todd Starnes

Belk has given Salvation Army bell-ringers and their iconic red kettles the heave-ho — just in time for the Christmas season.

The national department store chain will no longer allow Salvation Army volunteers to man kettles outside their stores — a move that is expected to result in a $1 million drop in donations.

“It’s a huge impact for us,” Salvation Army Lt. Rob Dolby told the Todd Starnes Show. “Those funds go to operate Christmas programs serving tens of thousands of kids.”   Continue reading “Department store bans Salvation Army bell ringers”

The Hill

Senate Republicans have approved the repeal of ObamaCare’s individual mandate as part of their tax-cut bill, a major step toward ending an unpopular part of the health-care law.

“Families ought to be able to make decisions about what they want to buy and what works for them — not the government,” Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said, hailing the accomplishment.   Continue reading “Senate GOP repeals ObamaCare mandate”

The Weather Channel

December’s full moon, dubbed the Full Cold Moon, will appear up to 30 percent brighter and up to 14 percent larger than normal as the celestial body makes its closest pass to the Earth, according to Space.com.   Continue reading “2017’s Only Supermoon Coming Sunday: Here’s When and How to See It”

Currently, the process of eliminating ISIS and other radical terrorist groups is coming to a logical end. Simultaneously peace and common life return to the cities and towns throughout Syria.

It has become possible due to the successful steps of the Syrian Arab army (SAA) as well as a lot of efforts done by the Official Government. Both of them create favorable conditions for the return of residents to their homes where they previously lived in peace.   Continue reading “Syrians from Tell Rifaat Return Home”

Daily Mail

San Diego on Friday opened the first of three industrial-sized tents to house the homeless as part of the city’s efforts to contain a hepatitis outbreak stemming from the deplorable conditions people were living in on the streets.

About 20 people made their way to a bunk bed Friday in the tent that will house 350 single men and women.

Two other giant tents will open later this month – one for families and one for veterans. The tents will house a total of 700 people.   Continue reading “San Diego opens giant tent to contain hepatitis outbreak”

Fox News

A dog stepped on a 12-guage shotgun and shot a hunter in the back with bird-shot pellets in Wright County, Iowa.

On Wednesday, 36-year-old William Rancourt was shot when a hunting dog stepped on the trigger of a shotgun lying on the ground nearly 22 yards away from the man, causing the gun to fire, a news release from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources reports.

The man was transported to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, the report continues.   Continue reading “Dog shoots hunter after another hunter leaves shotgun on ground”

CNN

The Senate passed its tax reform bill in the early hour of Saturday morning, following a day full of Republican leaders making changes to bring enough members on board and a long night full of heated rhetoric on both sides of the aisle.

The vote was 51-49, mostly along party lines. Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee was the only Republican to vote against the bill, citing concerns about growing the deficit.  Continue reading “Senate passes sweeping GOP tax plan in early hours of Saturday morning”

Merry Jane – by Gregory Heilers

One hears about China’s legendarily harsh anti-drug laws, but is it really so awful to try to get high in China? Paradoxically, in a country with some of the tightest drug laws in the world, hashish and marijuana can be bought and sold on the streets of a megalopolis like Shanghai and dirt-road villages alike, usually with only slight concern for legal repercussions. Cultural eccentricities aside, buying cannabis in China is a largely familiar and comfortable scene to anyone who’s had to buy illegally elsewhere.   Continue reading “How Difficult Is It to Get Cannabis in China?”

Pacific Standard – by Tom Jacobs

The gun-control debate in America bypassed rationality long ago. A committed core group of gun owners takes even modest attempts to limit the availability of firearms as a personal affront, and responds with the outrage of devout believers driven to defend their faith.

These gun-rights absolutists—a subset of the firearm-owning population—are overwhelmingly white, male, not very religious, and fearful about their financial future. Owning firearms gives them a sense of masculine strength and authority they otherwise fear is slipping away.   Continue reading “Propaganda Alert: For Some Americans, The Gun Is A Sacred Object”

KOMO News

GRAYS HARBOR COUNTY, Wash. (KOMO) – Detectives said 32,449 marijuana plants with an estimated value of more than $80 million were seized during a multi-county raid in Washington State on Tuesday that uncovered a huge illegal pot-growing operation involving Chinese Nationals.

According to the Grays Harbor County Drug Task Force, a total of 50 search warrants were carried out including 38 in Grays Harbor County, eight in King County and four in Thurston County.   Continue reading “$80 million worth of pot seized, Chinese Nationals suspected in illegal grow operations”

ProPublica – by Ryann Grochowski Jones and Abrahm Lustgarten

For the past year, ProPublica has been documenting the state of toxic pollution left behind by the military across the U.S. As part of this investigation, we acquired a dataset of all facilities that the Department of Defense considers contaminated. Today we used the data to publish an interactive news application called Bombs in Your Backyard. Here’s how you can use it to find hazardous sites near you — and what, if anything, is being done to remedy the pollution.

The data, which has never been released before, comes from the Defense Environmental Restoration Program, which the DOD administers to measure and document cleanup efforts at current and former military locations.   Continue reading “Reporting Recipe: Bombs in Your Backyard”

Hawaii Tribune Herald – by John Burnett

The Hawaii Police Department has a letter it sends to medical marijuana patients seeking a gun permit that’s similar to a letter sent by the Honolulu Police Department which has cannabis advocates up in arms, so to speak.

The Honolulu Police Department letter, reportedly sent by the chief to 30 medical marijuana patients this year, gave them 30 days to “voluntarily surrender your firearms, permit and ammunition to the Honolulu Police Department (HPD) or otherwise transfer ownership.”   Continue reading “An illegal combo: Firearm permits being denied to medical marijuana patients”

Washington Post – Anna Momigliano

MILAN — In Italy, as in most of western Europe, medical cannabis is legal. What sets the country apart is that cultivation of the plant is a de facto army monopoly.

The only place cannabis can be legally grown here is at a heavily guarded military facility in Florence where, this year, two greenhouses produced a yield of about 220 pounds.   Continue reading “In Italy, the army provides medical marijuana. And that’s a problem.”