From the Trenches World Report

AlterNet – by Phillip Smith

With the support of state law enforcement, a Massachusetts Democratic state representative has filed a drug war bill that would send violators to prison for a mandatory minimum two years (five years for a second offense) and allow police to seize their vehicles—all without the presence of any actual drugs.

Sponsored by Rep. Stephan Hay (D-Fitchburg), the measure, House Bill 1266, makes it a crime to have a hidden compartment in one’s vehicle or to try to add one—and it presumes that any hidden compartment in a vehicle is for “for the purpose of transporting or distributing controlled substances” and related contraband, such as cash or weapons. As the bill specifies in its asset forfeiture section:   Continue reading “Outrageous Massachusetts Drug Bill Would Send You to Prison and Steal Your Car—No Drugs Needed”

CBS News

WASHINGTON — Newly-released dashcam video from March appears to show Sgt. Zachary LaHood sickened by what his department says was carbon monoxide seeping into his Ford Explorer police cruiser.

“I almost hit the road twice and feel like I’m gonna get sick,” LaHood can be heard saying in the video.

“And I remember swerving to what I thought was a bus, I was going to go head-in to a bus or a, maybe it was a garbage truck, I think it was a bus,” he said in an interview.  Continue reading “Ford Explorers blamed for alleged carbon monoxide leaks that sickened cops”

AOL

Electric cars, an underground “hyperloop” and a manned mission to Mars are all A-OK for inventor and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. But there’s one technology he’s still holding out on: artificial intelligence.

That’s why he encouraged U.S. governors to get out in front of the industry and do some proactive regulating.

Musk met with state governors at the National Governors Association to talk about different kinds of emerging technology. In addition to A.I., Musk talked about solar energy, space travel and self-driving cars.   Continue reading “Elon Musk likes most technology, but he wants one sector regulated”

LA Times

Martin Landau, the Oscar-winning veteran who appeared in classic films such as Alfred Hitchcock’s “North By Northwest” and starred in the “Mission: Impossible” television series in the 1960s, has died. He was 89.

Landau died Saturday at UCLA Medical Center, where he experienced “unexpected complications” during a short hospitalization, his publicist confirmed.   Continue reading “Oscar-winner Martin Landau, who starred in ‘Ed Wood,’ ‘North By Northwest’ and ‘Entourage,’ dies at 89”

Daily Mail

An Australian woman was dressed in her pyjamas when American police gunned her down, harrowing new details surrounding her death have revealed.

Justine Damond, who also uses the name Justine Ruszczyk, was at home on Saturday night when she called 911 to report a noise and a possible assault in an alley in South Minneapolis, Minnesota.

While police did not have body cameras switched on during the shooting, sources with knowledge of the incident claim the officers arrived at the alley at 11.30pm on Saturday night.   Continue reading “Australian woman, 40, shot dead by police in the US after calling 911”

Variety – by Pat Saperstein

George A. Romero, who launched the zombie film genre with his 1968 “Night of the Living Dead,” died on Sunday, Variety has confirmed. He was 77.

The director died in his sleep following a battle with lung cancer, according to a statement from his manager Chris Roe.   Continue reading “George A. Romero, ‘Night of the Living Dead’ Director, Dies at 77”

Town Hall – by Jennifer Van Laar

This year California legislators passed the largest gas tax increase in decades, a move which will hit the middle class the hardest. When middle class taxpayers got upset, Gov. Brown hit back, calling them “freeloaders” and invoking the “everyone has to pitch in for society!” talking points.

Maybe they’d have more money if they weren’t spending it on things people don’t rely on the government to provide.    Continue reading “California Doesn’t Have Money to Fix Roads, But Drops Millions on Gun Violence Research”

The Hill – by Julia Manchester

Olympic gold medalist and transgender activist Caitlyn Jenner is the latest celebrity to reveal she has considered launching a run for Senate, telling radio host John Catsimatidis she is in the process of determining her future in activism and politics.

“I have considered it. I like the political side of it,” Jenner, who is a Republican, told Catsimatidis on AM 970 in New York.
Continue reading “Caitlyn Jenner weighs run for Senate”

Sunday Express

The dogs, which are test tube bred in a lab, have twice the muscle mass of their natural counterparts and are considerably stronger and faster.

The canine genome has been especially difficult to engineer and replicate – but its close similarity to the human genome means it has long been the prize of geneticists.

Now the Chinese success has led to fears the same technology could be used to create weaponised super-humans – typifed in Marvel Comics by Captain America and his foes.

Continue reading “China unveils gene technology to create SUPERHUMANS with hyper-muscular test-tube dogs”

AZ Central

U.S. Sen. John McCain on Friday underwent a medical procedure at Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix to remove a blood clot from above his left eye, the 80-year-old Arizona Republican’s office announced Saturday afternoon.

McCain’s recovery from the procedure will cause him to be absent from the Senate next week, forcing an unexpected delay in Senate Republicans’ efforts to pass their controversial health-care legislation.   Continue reading “Sen. John McCain undergoes surgery for blood clot, delaying key health-care vote”

New York Post – by Kathianne Boniello

The “cowboy” cops who killed a crazed stagehand in Midtown in a hail of bullets should have never used deadly force, says the innocent bystander struck by one of the slugs.

Lauran Code, 46, who was in town last year for her high-powered job as a fashion designer with photo-sharing Web site Shutterfly, had just grabbed breakfast when an officer rushed to take down Garry Conrad — an out-of-work stagehand who allegedly lunged at cops with a knife at the crowded intersection of Eighth Avenue and West 49th Street.   Continue reading “Bystander grazed in NYPD shooting says cops shouldn’t have used deadly force”

The Guardian – by Larry Elliot

The contrasting fortunes of rich and poor in the decade since the start of the financial crisis are starkly illustrated by a new report showing the young and those renting homes struggling while the top 1% have now recouped all the ground they lost during the world’s worst post-second world war slump.

New research from the Resolution Foundation showed that households with incomes of £275,000 or more quickly recovered from the impact of the deep recession and have seen their share of national income return to the level seen before the global banking system froze up in the summer of 2007.   Continue reading “Top 1% of households in UK fully recovered from financial crisis”

Vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The head of the Youngstown Federal Drug Enforcement Administration says a recent marijuana-smuggling operation with ties to Warren is the first of its kind he has seen in this area.

In fact, said Bob Balzano, who runs the local DEA office, the only time he has heard of the method being deployed was in April, when a similar discovery was made in Minnesota.  Continue reading “$1M pot found in Mexican-made Fords transported through Warren to Kent”