From the Trenches World Report

Mail.com

BERLIN (AP) — Michael Guhle met the love of his life on the beach of a little fishing village in Vietnam. Thi An Nguyen was selling freshly cooked mussels and fruit to the German tourist and they immediately clicked. Soon the Berlin nursing home worker was saving up all of his money and vacation days to visit Nguyen.

Marriage was supposed to bring them together. Instead, it was the beginning of a long ordeal apart. Germany blocked Nguyen from entering the country after she flunked the language test that Germany requires aspiring immigrants to pass — even those married to Germans.   Continue reading “Married couples separated by German language test”

Mail.com

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — Strange, sad and macabre, the discovery of the skeletal remains of twin brothers Andrew and Anthony Johnson has mystified neighbors and others in Chattanooga and beyond. Each man was found seated in an easy chair inside the modest home they shared for decades, and where they apparently died together about three years ago, with no obvious signs of foul play.

Even while they were alive, though, the 63-year-old twins were something of a mystery to their neighbors, who occasionally saw them wearing surgical masks while gardening but never saw them with visitors.   Continue reading “Mystery surrounds death of Tenn. twins in home”

Mail.com

SAN DIEGO (AP) — With their 1-year-old daughter improving after a U.S. Navy ocean rescue, her parents defended their decision to sail with two young children on a trip around the world aboard a 36-foot sailboat.

The child who fell ill during the voyage and her family were heading to San Diego aboard the warship where she can receive further medical treatment after their rescue Sunday from their stalled sailboat hundreds of miles off the Mexican coast.   Continue reading “Baby improving after ocean rescue by US Navy”

RT News

In the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, a group of activists have declared their region independent from Kiev. This comes after protesters stormed a local government building last night.

Mass demonstrations against the country’s new leadership started peacefully on Sunday, but the situation quickly escalated.   Continue reading “Donetsk activists proclaim region’s independence from Ukraine”

RT News

A NASA spacecraft that has been orbiting the moon for months is set to conclude its mission, with a bang when it smashes into the far side of the celestial body later this month.

On April 11, ground controllers at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California will command the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) to carry out its final orbital maintenance maneuver prior to a total lunar eclipse on April 14-15.   Continue reading “NASA spacecraft to rock dark side of the moon”

RT News

Edward Snowden is to be awarded the Ridenhour Prize for truth-telling along with filmmaker and journalist Laura Poitras, who aided the whistleblower in disclosing numerous documents about government surveillance.

The annual accolade honors acts of truth-telling that protect the public interest, promote social justice or illuminate a more just vision of society. This is the 10th year the prize has been presented. It was established by the Nation Institute and the Fertel Foundation in honor of the investigative journalist Ronald L. Ridenhour, who helped expose the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War.   Continue reading “Snowden, Poitras honored with Ridenhour truth-telling award”

RT News

As Ukraine is caught in a socio-political whirlwind, Russia is locked in a standoff with the US, and Europe is counting losses from the transcontinental crisis, we talk to a very special guest on SophieCo. A former US Congressman, presidential candidate, and a man with nationwide support for his views on what government should be. A legend of American politics, Ron Paul is on our show today.   Continue reading “Economic sanctions are an act of war – Ron Paul”

My News 3

LAS VEGAS (KSNV MyNews3.com) — A son of Mesquite rancher Cliven Bundy has been arrested by Bureau of Land Management rangers.

Dave Bundy was arrested about 4:30 p.m. Sunday as he was in a car parked along State Route 170 near Mesquite.

“He was there to do some filming when about 11 federal agents pulled up and arrested him,” Bundy told News 3. “They said he was outside of the First Amendment area and they took him down. We don’t know where he is now.”   Continue reading “Son of rancher in public land dispute arrested by BLM”

Hang the Bankers – by Clark Kent

American and British intelligence hope to take advantage of social media platforms, like Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, in an effort to spread disinformation and propaganda, as well as potentially foment public protests, recent Snowden leaks claim.

According to Glenn Greenwald, the journalist who first broke the news on the Snowden NSA leaks, an Orwellian-style dystopia is lurking on the horizon as western spy agencies see an opportunity for manipulating public opinion and disseminating state propaganda by exploiting global internet giants, such as Flickr, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.   Continue reading “US and UK intelligence planning to infiltrate social media to spread propaganda and disinformation”

Pittsburgh Post Gazzette – by Jonathan Weisman, The New York Teams

WASHINGTON — The Senate is expected to easily approve legislation today restoring unemployment benefits to nearly 3 million people, throwing the bill to a divided House, where Republicans favor starkly different approaches to the issue.

Six Senate Republicans joined all 55 Democrats last week to end debate on legislation that retroactively restores benefits cut off Dec. 28 and extends them through June 1, clearing the way for passage today.   Continue reading “Senate set to pass jobless benefit extension”

World Events and the Bible

(Source: Natural News) – A newly released study funded in part by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center predicts a Roman-style collapse of Western civilization unless resources and wealth are distributed more “equitably.”

The study warns of a coming “collapse” within a few decades and attempts to avoid being viewed as fringe or controversial by attempting to make sense of historical data indicating that “the process of rise-and-collapse is actually a recurrent cycle found throughout history.”   Continue reading “NASA warns how ‘powerful, complex societies’ are subject to immediate collapse”

NBC Los Angeles – by Andrew Lopez and Jane Yamamoto

More than 100 people were arrested and several deputies were injured during a spring break street party near Santa Barbara, Calif., that quickly dissolved into violence overnight.

Authorities from various law enforcement agencies were dispatched to control unruly crowds during Deltopia, an annual party in Isla Vista that drew about 15,000 people, according to a news release from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office.   Continue reading “100 People Arrested After Spring Break Party Turns Violent”

MassPrivateI

The World Privacy Forum report: ‘How Secret Consumer Scores Threaten Your Privacy and Your Future’ highlights the unexpected problems that arise from new types of predictive consumer scoring, which this report terms consumer scoring. Largely unregulated either by the Fair Credit Reporting Act or the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, new consumer scores use thousands of pieces of information about consumers’ pasts to predict how they will behave in the future. Issues of secrecy, fairness of underlying factors, use of consumer information such as race and ethnicity in predictive scores, accuracy, and the uptake in both use and ubiquity of these scores are key areas of focus.   Continue reading “How secret consumer scores threaten our privacy”

Tech Dirt – by Mike Masnick

While the Senate Intelligence Committee voted to declassify its $40 million, 6,300 page report detailing the CIA’s torture regime — including the facts that it went beyond what was authorized, produced no useful intelligence and then the CIA lied about it all — three members of the Committee voted against it. Senators James Risch, Dan Coats (though, who knows if he had any idea what he was voting on) and Marco Rubio all voted against declassifying, with Risch and Rubio putting out a statement claiming that the State Department didn’t want the report declassified.   Continue reading “State Department Official Freaks Out That Declassifying CIA Torture Report Might Make The World Angry”

Fox News Radio – by Todd Starnes

Muslim moms and dads in Dearborn, Mich. are upset after students received flyers promoting an Easter Egg hunt at a local Presbyterian church. The parents say the egg hunt violates the U.S. Constitution.

The Muslims told the Detroit Free-Press that they were concerned about the religious implications of Cherry Hill Presbyterian Church’s “Eggstravaganza!” They were also troubled by images of a bunny rabbit.   Continue reading “Muslims Object to Easter Egg Hunt”