From the Trenches World Report

Natural News – by Daniel Barker

California residents are gathering signatures for a petition calling for Governor Jerry Brown and the State Water Board to take action against the use of oilfield wastewater for food crop irrigation.

Concerned citizens gathered Saturday at grocery stores throughout the state, talking to fellow Californians about the issue and collecting more signatures for the petition, which has already been signed by more than 250,000 people.   Continue reading “Californians pressure governor to abandon practice of spraying crops with fracking wastewater”

Wellness and Equality

If you want to be sure your pediatrician has your child’s best interest, this is mandatory reading. Pediatricians around the country have begun refusing to accept families who opt out of some or all vaccines. Thanks to a tip sent to Wellness & Equality by a reader, now we know why.

When my friend’s child suffered a life-threatening reaction to a vaccine a week before her first birthday, my friend assumed her pediatrician would write her a medical exemption from future vaccines. Shortly after receiving a routine set of vaccines, the happy, vibrant one-year-old spiked a 106 degree fever, began having seizures, and was hospitalized. When the unexplained “illness” passed after a week in the hospital, the little girl had lost her ability to walk. Continue reading “How Much Money Do Pediatricians Really Make From Vaccines?”

Mail.com

DENVER (AP) — A Navy veteran from Colorado who does not identify as male or female is pushing the U.S. government to allow for a third gender option or get rid of gender designators altogether on passports, highlighting the argument that forms on the state and federal level have been slow to include other identities even as gender becomes less defined.

A federal judge considering a legal challenge brought by Dana Zzyym (pronounced Zimm) urged the State Department on Wednesday to settle the case in a way that allows Zzyym to get a passport without having to lie about being a man or a woman. Zzyym, who was born with ambiguous sexual characteristics, was raised as a boy and later identified as intersex.   Continue reading “Passport rule change debated as gender becomes less defined”

Mail.com

JERUSALEM (AP) — Nine months ago, Dareen Tatour posted a poem to Facebook about her frustration over spiking violence between Israelis and Palestinians. Days later, Israeli police banged on her door in the middle of the night and arrested her, accusing her of inciting violence on the social network.

Tatour, an Arab citizen of Israel, is one of several hundred people detained in recent years for allegedly spreading incitement. Hoping to further clamp down on what it sees as the driving force behind a 10-month spate of Palestinian attacks, Israel is now preparing a law that aims to rein in content on social media, including Facebook, a platform it says plays a central role in inspiring attackers.   Continue reading “Israel takes on Facebook in battle against incitement”

Mail.com

NEW YORK (AP) — A man suspected of tossing a hoax bomb through the open window of a police vehicle in Times Square was taken into custody Thursday after an overnight standoff a short drive away in Manhattan’s landmark Columbus Circle, the New York Police Department said.

The episode began when a person in a passing vehicle tossed a cylindrical object into the police van late Wednesday, said Chief of Department James O’Neill. The officers sped to a less crowded neighborhood and notified the bomb squad.   Continue reading “Man in custody after standoff with NYC police over hoax bomb”

Mail.com

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas’ strict voter ID law discriminates against minorities and the poor and must be weakened before the November elections, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday, following claims that at least a half-million registered voters could have struggled to cast a ballot.

The ruling was a striking election-year victory for President Barack Obama’s administration, which took the unusual step of bringing the U.S. Justice Department into Texas to fight the case. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the ruling affirmed that the 2011 law — which Texas enforced in three elections — abridged the right to vote based on race or color.   Continue reading “Appeals court: Texas voter ID law discriminates; orders fix”

Free Thought Project – by Claire Bernish

Southeast Oklahoma City residents Charles and Julie Henry face a blatantly unconstitutional invasion of their rights thanks to a stifling change to a city ordinance making vandalism to their property essentially a crime — by them.

Though the Henrys complied with the code, albeit a bit late due to a prohibitive financial situation, an opportunistic code enforcer triggered a chain of events no law-abiding property owner should ever be subjected to — including the possibility their property may be raided by Oklahoma County Sheriffs under a blanket warrant in direct violation of the Fourth Amendment.   Continue reading “Urban Farmers Targeted By City, Issued Multiple Threats After Their Property Was Vandalized”

Tenth Amendment Center – by Mike Maharrey

LINCOLN, Neb. (July 20, 2016) – Today, civil asset forfeiture officially ends in Nebraska as reforms to asset forfeiture laws passed in the spring go into effect. Under the new law, the state can no longer take property without a criminal conviction. The legislation also takes on federal forfeiture programs by banning prosecutors from circumventing state laws by passing cases off to the feds in most situations.

Sen. Tommy Garrett (R-Bellevue) introduced Legislature Bill 1106 (LB1106) in January. The new law reforms Nebraska law by requiring a criminal conviction before prosecutors can proceed with asset forfeiture. Under the old statute, the state could seize assets even if a person was never found guilty of a crime, or even arrested.   Continue reading “New Nebraska Law Taking on “Policing for Profit” Via Asset Forfeiture Now in Effect”

Institute for Justice – by Chris Dobrogosz

Police departments in Utah claimed nearly $1.9 million from citizens in 2015 through the process of civil forfeiture, which allows law enforcement to seize property even if the person involved has not been charged or convicted of a crime. The Associated Press reports:

“Nearly all of the seizures came during investigations of alleged drug crimes and most involved amounts of cash ranging from $500 to $2,500, a report that was released this month showed. The largest cash seizure was $157,000.”

Continue reading “Utah Police Seized Nearly $1.9 Million from Citizens in Last Year”

The Economic Collapse – by Michael Snyder

In 2006, U.S. Senator Barack Obama’s voice thundered across the Senate floor as he boldly declared that “increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren.”  That was one of the truest things that he ever said, but just a couple of years later he won the 2008 election and he turned his back on those principles.  As I write this article, the U.S. national debt is sitting at a grand total of $19,402,361,890,929.46.  But when Barack Obama first entered the White House, our federal government was only 10.6 trillion dollars in debt.  That means that we have added an average of 1.1 trillion dollars a year to the national debt under Obama, and we still have about six more months to go.   Continue reading “19.4 Trillion Dollars In Debt – We Have Added 1.1 Trillion Dollars A Year To The National Debt Under Obama”

PC World – by Michael Kan

Pay up or face your patients’ wrath.

That’s how one hacker is trying to shake down U.S. healthcare providers after stealing sensitive data about their patients.

TheDarkOverlord claims to have stolen 10 million patient records and is selling them on the black market. In the meantime, the hacker is trying to extort the providers by telling them their patient data won’t be sold if they pay a ransom.   Continue reading “How a healthcare hacker is pressuring victims to pay up”

Reuters

Turkey tried to assure its citizens and the outside world on Thursday that there will be no return to the deep repression of the past, even though President Tayyip Erdogan has imposed the first nationwide state of emergency since the 1980s.

With Erdogan cracking down on thousands of people in the judiciary, education, military and civil service after last weekend’s failed coup, a lawmaker from the main opposition party warned that the state of emergency created “a way of ruling that paves the way for abuse”.   Continue reading “Turkey says no return to past repression despite state of emergency”

Breitbart – by Dr. Susan Berry

California is the first state to adopt the LGBT rights agenda formally into its public schools, as part of a new history and social studies curriculum that will reach children as young as the second grade.

“This is a big win for our students,” said California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson in a statement. “This document will improve the teaching and learning of history and social science. It will give our students access to the latest historical research and help them learn about the diversity of our state and the contributions of people and groups who may not have received the appropriate recognition in the past.”   Continue reading “California: 1st State To Teach LGBT Curriculum — to Second Graders”

Reuters

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said on Wednesday that American police officers were feeling under siege following the recent attacks in Dallas and Baton Rouge and that the Justice Department was offering training as one way to help.

Asked what she thought was the cause of the attacks on police officers, Lynch said “we see a number of different causes.” She noted that a police captain in Kansas City, Kansas, had been killed on Tuesday while responding to a call, the kind of work police everywhere do daily.   Continue reading “Police feeling under siege after attacks: Attorney General”