From the Trenches World Report

RT

The UN General Assembly will hold a special session on Thursday, following a request by Arab and Muslim states. The countries have cited the US decision to veto a draft resolution on the status of Jerusalem.

According to Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour, the General Assembly will vote on a draft resolution calling for Trump’s declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel to be withdrawn. The same resolution, put to the UN Security Council, was vetoed by the United States on Monday.   Continue reading “UN General Assembly to hold rare emergency session after US vetoes Jerusalem resolution”

Mail.com

ATLANTA (AP) — The FBI is part of the probe into what caused a fire that knocked out power to the world’s busiest airport in Atlanta, but an agency spokesman said Tuesday there was no sign of anything connected to terrorism.

“There’s no indication at this point of anything nefarious,” FBI spokesman Kevin Rowson said. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has also been involved in the investigation, Georgia Power spokesman Craig Bell said.   Continue reading “FBI involved with airport blackout probe; no sign of terror”

Mail.com

BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts man convicted of leading an Islamic State group-inspired plot to behead a conservative blogger is scheduled to be sentenced. Prosecutors will ask the judge Tuesday in Boston to sentence 28-year-old David Wright to life in prison for his role in the plot to kill New York resident Pamela Geller.

The plot was never carried out. Jurors found Wright guilty in October of conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism and other crimes.   Continue reading “Man convicted of plotting to behead blogger to be sentenced”

The Organic Prepper

No matter where you live, there’s always a possibility that a disaster might occur in any of the states. Hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, wildfires…Mother Nature can get you regardless of your location. And it isn’t just Mother Nature we have to worry about – things like chemical spills, terror attacks, and explosions can also create a disaster scenario.

But, 12 states, in particular, are more disaster-prone than others and have had more than their fair share of disasters declared by presidents over the decades. These statistics are from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and only encompass crises in which an official declaration of disaster was made.  Continue reading “These Are the 12 Most Disaster-Prone States in America”

MassPrivateI

It’s official, law enforcement has turned bus drivers into an extension of the police state.

In San Jose, Califonia, an Appeals court ruling revealed that police regularly hand bus drivers “Be on the Lookout’ (BOLO) fliers.

Which effectively turns them into police informants.   Continue reading “Bus drivers have become ‘true police informants’”

Gun Watch – by Dean Weingarten

On 28 November, 2017, the Honolulu Star Advertiser wrote that the Honolulu Police Department had been sending letters to people that were both registered gun owners and registered medical marijuana users. The letters ordered the medical marijuana users to turn in their guns. From the staradvertiser.com:   Continue reading “Honolulu Police Back off Order for Medical Marijuana Users to Turn in Guns”

Wall Street Journal

U.S. fuel makers are poised to reap billions under a sweeping Republican overhaul of the tax code. But don’t expect them to expand, go on a hiring binge, or lower prices at the pump.

Refiners haven’t built any major new plants in the U.S. since the 1970s. Instead, they have been returning profits to shareholders en masse in recent years, because the country has more gasoline and diesel than it can consume.   Continue reading “Why Refiners Are Expected to Give Their Tax Savings Right Back to Shareholders”

Middle East Monitor – by Alastair Sloan

In an op-ed for a special annual edition of The Economist, Benjamin Netanyahu calls his country “Innovation Nation”. The Israeli Prime Minister writes that “people everywhere benefit from Israeli innovations in their mobile phones, car navigation systems, life-saving drugs, medical devices – even in the cherry tomatoes in their salads”.

Ever built a website using Wix, chatted with friends abroad using Viber, found your way across town using Waze? If you have asthma you might look to SmartAir, which helps patients with warnings about air quality, preventing potentially deadly asthma attacks. If you suffer from a debilitating stutter, therapy start-up Novotalk could help. Recently bashed yourself on the head? The similarly named BrainTalk can listen to a five minute recording of your voice and see if you have brain damage.   Continue reading “Everyone benefits from Israeli tech companies, except the Palestinians”

Activist Post – by Nicholas West

As we continue to chart our path down the slippery slope of biometric identification for human beings, we’ve had to speculate about how far we could slide. Well, it appears that China is providing an early example that we would all be wise to take notice of.

It is now a fact that nearly all areas of the modern world have adopted some form of surveillance camera apparatus. Meanwhile, biometric identification technology has advanced to a degree where it’s now possible to merge the two and create not only a pervasive surveillance network, but a nearly real-time identification system that police can use to act upon.   Continue reading “China Accused of Using Biometric Surveillance to Send Thousands to Political Detention Camps”

Washington Post – by Laurie McGinley

The Food and Drug Administration on Monday proposed a tougher enforcement policy toward homeopathic drugs, saying it would target products posing the greatest safety risks, including those containing potentially harmful ingredients or being marketed for cancer, heart disease and opioid and alcohol addictions.

Homeopathy is based on an 18th-century idea that substances that cause disease symptoms can, in very small doses, cure the same symptoms. Modern medicine, backed up by numerous studies, has disproved the central tenets of homeopathy and shown that the products are worthless at best and harmful at worst.   Continue reading “FDA takes more aggressive stance toward homeopathic drugs”

NPR

The National Transportation Safety Board says an Amtrak passenger train that derailed from an overpass south of Tacoma, Wash., leaving at least three people dead, was traveling at 80 mph in a 30 mph zone.

At a news conference late Monday Pacific Time, NTSB board member Bella Dinh-Zarr said that the speed of the train at the time of the accident had been determined by downloading the Event Data Recorder from the train’s rear locomotive.   Continue reading “NTSB: Amtrak Washington Train Doing 80 MPH In 30 MPH Zone”

Anti-Media

Durango, CO — A family in Durango, Colorado, is hoping for justice after police fatally shot their family dog, Dozer, at their home in October. Neil Anderson and Kerry Doyle, along with Doyle’s children, are seeking compensatory and punitive damages against three state troopers — Gablin Watkins, Randy Talbot, and Josiah Fuller, as well as the Colorado State Patrol.   Continue reading “Cops Illegally Break Into Property and Gun Down Family Dog for ‘Trotting’ in Their Direction”

Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration has publicly blamed North Korea for unleashing the so-called WannaCry cyber attack that crippled hospitals, banks and other companies across the globe earlier this year.

“The attack was widespread and cost billions, and North Korea is directly responsible,” Tom Bossert, homeland security adviser to President Donald Trump, wrote in a piece published on Monday night in the Wall Street Journal.   Continue reading “U.S. blames North Korea for ‘WannaCry’ cyber attack”

The Daily Caller – by Kerry Pickett

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed gun legislation late last week to help eradicate incidents of mass shootings, domestic violence, harassment. Cuomo interwove the issues as he teased the legislation he plans to unveil next year at New York’s State of the State.

“This year will be remembered as the year of reckoning, when both the tragedy of mass shootings and cultural and institutional harassment of women became impossible to ignore,” Governor Cuomo said. “Building on the Women’s Equality Agenda, we are continuing our mission for progressive values and women’s rights with this legislation to target the unquestionable relationship between domestic violence and gun violence.”  Continue reading “Cuomo Proposes Gun Control Legislation To Combat ‘Cultural And Institutional Harassment Of Women’”

VPR

The chairman of the House Committee on Transportation says he’ll push for more stringent seatbelt laws during the next legislative session.

Colchester Rep. Pat Brennan is a somewhat unlikely advocate for strengthening Vermont’s seatbelt law.

“Personally, I wasn’t until recently a real staunch user of seatbelts,” Brennan says.  Continue reading “Key Vermont Lawmaker Eyes Changes To Seatbelt Law In 2018”