From the Trenches World Report

Patch – by Simone Wilson

EAST VILLAGE, NY — Joseph Rago, 34, a prodigious Wall Street Journal editorial writer who won a Pulitzer Prize for his smart takedowns of Obamacare circa 2011, was found dead Thursday night in his East Village apartment at 10 St. Mark’s Place, near Third Avenue, according to the NYPD.

Rago’s editor at the newspaper asked police to check on him after he didn’t come into work Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported.   Continue reading “Joseph Rago, Wall Street Journal Editorial Writer, Found Dead In Manhattan At Age 34”

Free Thought Project – by Matt Agorist

Common sense, among those who work inside the state, is a rare commodity. Agents of the state, like those who work in law enforcement, often become so blinded to reality by ‘just doing my job’ they throw logic and reason to the wayside, choosing authority and force instead. Nothing highlights this blind order following quite like police tormenting a five-year-old girl and issuing her a citation for the crime of selling lemonade without a permit.

“She just wanted to put a smile on people’s faces. She was really proud of herself,” Andre Spicer, the father of the five-year-old girl who all of the sudden found herself on the receiving end of the police state over the weekend.   Continue reading ““I’ve Done A Bad Thing” 5yo Girl Bursts into Tears As Cops Fine Her for Lemonade Stand”

RT

China would considering sending troops into the disputed border region between Djibouti and Eritrea, the Chinese envoy to the African Union said, as tension between the two East African countries mounts.

Beijing would consider intervening if border tensions between the two countries exploded, Kuang Weilin told the Associated Press on Friday, adding that he hoped the dispute would be “solved amicably.”  Continue reading “Beijing may deploy troops to East Africa hot spot, says Chinese envoy”

Organic Life – by Stephanie Eckelkamp

Sure, lab-grown meat sounds like the stuff of sci-fi movies set far into the future—but what if we told you it could be in your local grocery store by late 2018?

Turns out, Hampton Creek—the company behind a variety of vegan packaged foods from mayo to cookie dough to salad dressings—is planning to make that happen.
Continue reading “Lab-Grown Meat Will Be In Your Supermarket Next Year—Would You Eat It?”

As it was to be expected, the reaction of the U.S. Department of Defense (the US DoD) to the publication on the location of the U.S. military bases in Syria was not slow in coming.

Pentagon spokesman Major Adrian Rankin-Galloway said the US Department of Defense is concerned about the disclosure of secret military bases in Syria, which was due to the publication of a map of American positions by the Turkish state news agency.   Continue reading “The U.S. Military Bases in Syria: the Reaction Was Not Slow in Coming”

“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace.

We ask not your counsels or your arms.

Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you.

May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”

‘Samuel Adams’

Zero Hedge – by Tyler Durden

We spend a lot of time talking about the public pension crisis because, well, it’s a massive $5 – $8 trillion dollar overhang on the economy and one which will undoubtedly result in some heartache for investors at some point in the future.  Unfortunately, there are some problems that are too large for even U.S. taxpayers to fix and, with an underfunding of $52,000 (mid-point) per household, somehow we suspect this is one of them.

Of course, our nation’s various governmental institutions aren’t the only ones to have unwittingly created massive ponzi schemes from which there is no escape.  In fact, as Bloomberg points out today, as of the end of 2016 over 90% of the top 200 corporate pensions in the S&P were unfunded to the tune of $382 billion.   Continue reading “Here Are America’s Most Underfunded Corporate Pensions”

Sent to us by People for Life and Liberty.

New York Daily News – by David Boroff

A Pennsylvania couple who “gifted” six daughters to a cult-like figure and forced them into a life of “sex slaves” were each sentenced to up to seven years in prison on Wednesday.

Authorities said Daniel and Savilla Stoltzfus gave their oldest girl to Lee Donald Kaplan because he helped them out of financial trouble when they broke with their Amish faith. Kaplan fathered two children with the girl, the first when she was 14. She is now in her late teens.   Continue reading “Pennsylvania couple who gifted daughters as ‘sex slaves’ to cult-like figure sentenced to up to 7 years in prison”

The Hill – by Timothy Cama

The Trump administration provided details for its aggressive plan to roll back environmental regulations Thursday.

In the first regulatory agenda of the Trump administration, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget detailed when and how agencies plan to repeal numerous Obama administration rules regarding air and water pollution, fossil fuel extraction and more.  Continue reading “White House details plan to roll back environmental regs”