From the Trenches World Report

RT News

Portugal exited its international bailout program on Saturday, regaining its economic sovereignty, which it lost after the European debt crisis. However, the country’s GDP is four percent lower than in 2010, a year before it asked for financial help.

The country will become the second eurozone country to leave the bailout after Ireland. Portugal underwent three years of painful austerity, in order to receive a 78-billion euro loan (106 billion US dollars), to help a nation that was on the verge of bankruptcy.   Continue reading “Portugal leaves bailout program with 214bn euro debt, 4% lower GDP”

RT News

Nearly one quarter of the US honeybee population died over the winter, according to an annual survey. Beekeepers report the losses remain higher than they consider sustainable, and the death rate could soon affect the country’s food supply.

“More than three-fourths of the world’s flowering plants rely on pollinators, such as bees, to reproduce, meaning pollinators help produce one out of every three bites of food Americans eat,” the US Department of Agriculture said in a statement about the survey. Bees’ pollinating role adds $15 billion to the value of U.S. crops, including apples, almonds, watermelons and beans, according to government reports.   Continue reading “US honeybee population suffers ‘unsustainable’ death rate over the winter”

RT News

The US Department of Energy will no longer collect a small electricity fee from the bills of nuclear energy customers which was originally intended to fund the construction and operation of a nuclear waste dump that was never built.

The charge, which will no longer be collected past Friday, was first instituted in 1983 with the aim of constructing a facility capable of disposing of what is now almost 70,000 metric tons of highly radioactive spent fuel. The waste is spread throughout nuclear reactors across the US.   Continue reading “Govt halts fee for non-existent nuke waste site after 30 years and $43 bn collected”

Mail.com

BANGKOK (AP) — A plane carrying senior Lao government officials crashed Saturday in a forested area of the Southeast Asian country, killing the defense minister and at least four other people, officials said.

About 20 people were believed to be on board the air force plane that left Vientiane, Laos’ capital, early Saturday morning to bring the group to an official ceremony in the northeastern province of Xiangkhoung, about 470 kilometers (290 miles) away, said Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Sek Wannamethee.   Continue reading “Lao defense chief, 4 others killed in plane crash”

Mail.com

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A man was charged with setting one of nearly a dozen fires that have destroyed homes and raced through nearly 20,000 acres of northern and eastern San Diego County brush land, but most of the blazes seemed to be dying down.

Thousands of firefighters and fleets of water-dropping military and civilian helicopters planned fresh battles Saturday, including three fires at the Camp Pendleton Marine base. Investigators continued to seek the causes of the conflagrations that burned at least eight homes and an 18-unit condominium complex, emptied neighborhoods and spread fields of flame, smoke and ash that dirtied the air in neighboring Orange County and as far north as Los Angeles County.   Continue reading “Arson suspect charged, most blazes dying down”

Mail.com

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — In the wake of a botched lethal injection in Oklahoma last month, a Utah lawmaker says he believes a firing squad is a more humane form of execution. And he plans to bring back that option for criminals sentenced to death in his state.

Rep. Paul Ray, a Republican from the northern Utah city of Clearfield, plans to introduce his proposal during Utah’s next legislative session in January. Lawmakers in Wyoming and Missouri floated similar ideas this year, but both efforts stalled. Ray, however, may succeed. Utah already has a tradition of execution by firing squad, with five police officers using .30-caliber Winchester rifles to execute Ronnie Lee Gardner in 2010, the last execution by rifle to be held in the state.   Continue reading “Utah lawmaker: Bring back firing squad executions”

Mail.com

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors’ agreement to pay a $35 million federal fine for concealing defects in small-car ignition switches and to give the government greater oversight of its safety procedures closes one chapter of the automaker’s recall saga. But it’s far from over.

Besides agreeing to pay the penalty — the largest ever assessed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration — GM admitted that it broke the law by failing to quickly tell the government about the problems. The automaker agreed to report safety problems a lot faster — it only started recalling 2.6 million small cars this February, more than a decade after engineers first found a flaw in the switches.   Continue reading “Government fine hardly the end of GM recall saga”

Bundy Ranch

With debate raging over whether the Bureau of Land Management is overstepping its authority in stopping rancher Cliven Bundy’s cattle from grazing on public land, one of Bundy’s neighbors offered to settle the question.

In an open letter, Bundy’s neighbor, Kena Lytle Gloeckner, explained why ranchers are supporting Bundy. Her letter, which has been posted on numerous blogs, said:   Continue reading “Fellow rancher’s viral letter explains so much about why ranchers support ‘hero’ Bundy”

The Guardian – by Trevor Timm

If you blinked this week, you might have missed the news: two Senatorsaccused the Justice Department of lying about NSA warrantless surveillance to the US supreme court last year, and those falsehoods all but ensured that mass spying on Americans would continue. But hardly anyone seems to care – least of all those who lied and who should have already come forward with the truth.

Here’s what happened: just before Edward Snowden became a household name, the ACLU argued before the supreme court that the Fisa Amendments Act – one of the two main laws used by the NSA to conduct mass surveillance – was unconstitutional.   Continue reading “Everyone should know just how much the government lied to defend the NSA”

The criminals at large, the rascals in the out of control government mafia, are feeling the heat from the dissenting public. And they’re out to silence the opposition with this highly oppressive and illegal action.

As the days continue to move towards a major uprising from the Patriots of this Republic, the criminals at large, (CAL), are arming up, and putting into place the tools needed to squelch any resistance or opposition to the finalizing of their illegal actions. For the CAL realize they only have one shot at this, and their time is running short.   Continue reading “Obama’s Internet ID Plot Being Tested in Two States”

Washington’s Blog – by Carl Herman

People around the world view the US as the greatest threat to peace; voted three times more dangerous than any other country. The data confirm this conclusion:

• Since WW2, Earth has had 248 armed conflicts. The US started 201 of them.
• These US-started armed attacks have killed ~30 million and counting; 90% of these deaths are innocent children, the elderly and ordinary working civilian women and men.

Continue reading “Earth: 248 armed conflicts after WW2; US started 201 (81%), killing 30 million so far. Arrests are when now?”

Forbes – by Nathan Lewis

Ron Paul is now retired from professional politics, leaving a need for at least one Congressperson who you feel isn’t fundamentally BS-ing you. Oddly, he found a lot of political support for his unfashionably libertarian plain-speaking. People apparently found it more appealing than the usual favors-for-votes propositions upon which most politicians base their careers. In the end, he basically had to fire himself, declining another run for office at age 77.

Much of his extraordinary term in office revolved around the topic of money, which itself is remarkable. As Paul recounts in his 2009 book End the Fed:   Continue reading “Book Review: Ron Paul’s End the Fed Condenses a Lifetime of Wisdom and Experience”

NBC News – by RICH GARDELLA AND TALESHA REYNOLDS

The director of the VA health care system in Arizona that allegedly used appointment bookkeeping tricks to meet performance benchmarks left a trail of ill will along her career path, with staff at previous facilities she managed saying they experienced a culture of deceit and intimidation that closely matches accounts emerging from whistleblowers in Phoenix.   Continue reading “Ill Will, Accusations From Prior VA Jobs Stalk Director of Phoenix Hospital”

Fox News

A New York ophthalmologist told FoxNews.com that special glasses former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was seen wearing last year are used to treat double vision, which is sometimes caused by severe head trauma.

Dr. Marc Werner explained the purpose of the Fresnel prism eyeglasses, like the ones Clinton wore, amid questions about the potential presidential candidate’s health. The subject was raised after Karl Rove commented on her time in and out of the hospital in December 2012.   Continue reading “Ophthalmologist says glasses worn by Clinton used to treat double vision”

Now the End Begins

FRANCIS ALSO SAID THAT ALIENS WILL BE BAPTIZED WHEN THEY ARRIVE

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Ephesians 2:8,9

Vatican City, Rome – Pope Francis said that people cannot be Christians without the Church, explaining that Christian identity is rooted in it and that believers cannot stand alone.   Continue reading “Pope Francis Says Christians Do Not Exist Outside The Roman Catholic Church”