From the Trenches World Report

Mail.com

NEW YORK (AP) — The National Transportation Safety Board is scheduled to meet and detail a probe into a 2015 crash between a commuter train and an SUV that killed six people in the New York suburbs, a day after a U.S. official told The Associated Press that investigators determined the crash was extra deadly because of an unusual rail design.

The NTSB is scheduled to meet Tuesday in Washington, where a final report of the February 2015 crash is expected to be presented. The Metro-North Railroad train crashed into an SUV on the tracks at a crossing in Valhalla, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of New York City. The impact sparked an explosion, and flames blasted into the passenger area, burning out the first car of the train. The driver of the SUV and five people aboard the train were killed. More than a dozen others were injured.   Continue reading “US safety board to detail findings of deadly NY train crash”

Mail.com

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — The tractor-trailer was pitch-black inside, crammed with maybe 90 immigrants or more, and already hot when it left the Texas border town of Laredo for the 150-mile trip north to San Antonio.

It wasn’t long before the passengers, sweating profusely in the rising oven-like heat, started crying and pleading for water. Children whimpered. People took turns breathing through a single hole in the wall. They pounded on the sides of the truck and yelled to try to get the driver’s attention. Then they began passing out.   Continue reading “Mexican officials: At least 25 people in truck were Mexican”

Fox 10 News

WASHINGTON (AP) — John McCain will make a dramatic return to the Senate for a make-or-break vote on Republican health care legislation Tuesday just days after getting diagnosed with brain cancer, giving an emotional and arithmetical boost to his party’s reeling effort to repeal Obamacare.

The decision by the 80-year-old senator to travel to Washington from his Arizona home was announced by his office in a brief press release late Monday night. It comes with the GOP bill to erase and replace President Barack Obama’s law on the brink as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pushes toward a pivotal vote Tuesday, prodded by an impatient and frustrated President Donald Trump.   Continue reading “John McCain making dramatic Senate return for crucial health vote”

Institute for Justice – by J. Justin Wilson

St. Paul, Minn.—In a blow to the constitutional rights of Minnesotan renters, the state Supreme Court ruled today that cities do not need to provide evidence of a suspected housing code violation in order to obtain an administrative search warrant to inspect renters’ homes without their permission. Today’s decision denies Minnesota’s renters—and the landlords who want to support them— protection from unconstitutional searches of their homes.

The court also ruled that cities now need to give notice to tenants before trying to get warrants—something that cities were not required to do before—and that tenants have the right to come to court to challenge the scope of the warrant to protect the privacy of their homes.   Continue reading “Minnesota Supreme Court Upholds Unconstitutional Searches of Renters’ Homes”

NPR – by Merrit Kennedy

Israel has removed controversial metal detectors at the entrance to a holy site in Jerusalem, aiming to ease tension after days of protests.

But it remains to be seen whether Muslim worshippers will accept the security measures that Israel plans to implement in their place. The metal detectors were installed at the Muslim-administered site after several Israeli Arabs shot dead two Israeli police officers there.   Continue reading “Israel Dismantles Controversial Metal Detectors At Jerusalem Holy Site”

MassPrivateI

According to an article in Phys.org, Disney Research used facial biometrics to spy on 150 movie audiences during Star Wars and other movies.

Fastcodesign warns, “we could be moving toward an age where cameras lurk in movie theaters”.

Disney used infrared cameras to spy on moviegoers   Continue reading “Star Wars movies to use facial recognition to spy on audiences?”

Ars Technica – by David Kravets

If you’re not a US military or police buff, you probably have never heard of the 1033 Program. It essentially provides a bureaucratic means to transfer excess military grade weapons to local law enforcement agencies. Sure, you may not like local police departments having all types of military gear, such as grenade launchers, helicopters, boats, M14s, M16s, and so on.

And you probably won’t like how the agency seemingly doles out the weapons to anybody. All you have to do is apply, create a fake website, and the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) will oblige. Law enforcement experience is not required. There doesn’t seem to be a requirement that the requesting agency actually be real, either.  Continue reading “How to get free US military weapons—build fake website and DOD will oblige”

Tech Dirt – by Mike Masnick

I thought writing about San Diego Comic Con being censorial assholes would be the strangest story we’d write about Comic Con this year, but leave it to airline security to come up with an even more bizarre story. Apparently United Airlines (because of course it would be United) put up a sign at the airport in San Diego telling people that all books needed to be removed from checked bags. A Twitter user named Adi Chappo tweeted a picture of the sign at the airport:   Continue reading “United Says TSA Wants All Comic Con Comic Books Searched; TSA Says ‘Not Us’”

Yahoo News

For the 2018 model year, Dodge has rolled out some minor but useful updates to the Charger Pursuit police car. It now features a larger infotainment screen standard. It moves from 5 inches to 7 inches. But if police departments wish, they can opt for a massive 12-inch touchscreen that can replace a cumbersome laptop computer.   Continue reading “2018 Dodge Charger Pursuit ambush prevention system enhanced to protect cops”

VOA News

A Kansas man convicted of attempting to detonate a vehicle bomb at Fort Riley U.S. Army base has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.

John Booker Jr., 22, was arrested in April 2015 outside Fort Riley, 100 kilometers west of Topeka, as he tried to arm what he thought was a bomb. When he pleaded guilty in February, he acknowledged that he wanted to kill Americans and participate in what he called a holy war to support Islamic State militants.   Continue reading “Kansas Man Sentenced to 30 Years for Trying to Bomb US Army Base”

This program is a total fraud against the veterans who try to use the card. It was not honored at all by the VA, in fact when I fractured my ankle I wanted to go to a outside doctor and the VA turned me down. It seems there were too many catch-all’s in this program and vets were  turned away.

New Hampshire Union Leader – by Gretchen M. Grosky

John O’Leary of Manchester is a Vietnam veteran who wants the Veterans Administration to pay for his health care — he just doesn’t want the agency to provide it.

“You keep hearing these stories about the VA and it’s scary. There are a lot of good regular docs in Manchester, so that’s who I try and see,” he said.   Continue reading “Program to help vets get health care outside VA nearly bankrupt”

Tech Crunch – by Devin Coldewey

How many times have you heard some urban legend, chain letter or misleading bit of news repeated and immediately found a thorough, fact-based debunking on Snopes? Like every damn day for the last 20 years or so, right? Snopes was there for you when you were looking up fake news and cryptids — but it’s in trouble, and asking you to return the favor.

The venerable fact-checking site is in the middle of an ownership dispute, and it’s looking for donations to keep the lights on in the meantime. The site’s blog describes the situation thus:   Continue reading “Snopes seeks crowdfunding in ownership battle”