From the Trenches World Report

Information Liberation – by Humphrey

A profoundly troubling study published by the University of Texas School of Law concludes that the American criminal justice system is dead in everything but name. The paper, entitled “Waiving the Criminal Justice System,” describes how the adversarial process through which the state must prove the guilt of a defendant has been supplanted with a system of administrative law in which prosecutors extract plea bargains in exchange for relatively lenient sentences. This is why federal prosecutors win more than ninety percent of their cases through plea bargains, rather than jury trials.
Continue reading “The American Criminal Justice System is Dead”

Oregon Live- by Maxine Bernstein

Two uniformed Portland police officers showed up at the home of a 9-year-old girl last May, questioned her on the front porch about a fight at a youth club six days earlier, then handcuffed her as she stood in a blue-and-white bathing suit.

They drove her to police headquarters in downtown Portland, where she had her fingerprints and mugshot taken.

Latoya Harris couldn’t believe what was happening as she watched the officers head off with her daughter in the back seat. The girl was still wet after running through a neighborhood sprinkler, wearing flip flops and a pink Velco wrap-around towel over her swimsuit.   Continue reading “9-year-old led away in handcuffs by Portland police prompts outrage, push for policy changes”

RT News

Suspected Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev requested a lawyer multiple times from his hospital bed after being arrested, yet investigators continued pressuring him to answer questions alone, Tsarnaev’s lawyers claimed in court Thursday.

Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation spent hours interrogating Tsarnaev after he first asked for an attorney while recovering from gunshot wounds to the face, throat, head, and jaw in the time following his arrest in Watertown, Massachusetts, the documents said. When defense attorneys did arrive at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, at least one FBI agent allegedly told them Tsarnaev was not even in custody.   Continue reading “FBI interrogation violated Boston bomber’s constitutional rights – lawyers”

The Center for Public Integrity – by Susan Ferris

Usually, it’s the judge who decides how to handle a kid in court who’s accused of an offense.

But in eastern Tennessee, a lawsuit filed on April 24 alleges that it was a court bailiff — a sheriff’s deputy — who meted out an instant physical penalty last year in the middle of a juvenile court proceeding. The alleged incident took place in Cocke County, a region near Knoxville that has struggled in recent years with FBI investigations and multiple allegations of law enforcement corruption  and abuse and judicial impropriety.    Continue reading “Abuse in court? Deputy strikes boy in court, boy charged with assault”

Natural News – by Ethan A. Huff

Spring is in the air, which means the sweet essences of flowering citrus, leafy greens and other fresh fare are soon to follow. But for some people, joining in on this bountiful chorus with their own vegetable or herb gardens might sound too intimidating, or they’re not exactly sure where to start. If this is you, the following tips will help simplify the learning curve and get you on track to reaping your own delightful harvest right from your own backyard.

Herbs are among the easiest garden plants to grow during the summertime because they typically perform their best with lots of sun exposure. They can also be grown densely in small spaces, which makes them a preferable option for people who live in condominiums or apartments, or who live on small lots. With just a few square feet, the average backyard grower can maintain a full array of herbs with a lot less effort than you might think.  

Continue reading “Helpful tips for building your own herb garden”

Natural News – by Michael Ravensthorpe

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 67 million Americans — approximately one in three adults — suffer from hypertension, or high blood pressure. In 2009 alone, high blood pressure was the primary or contributing cause of almost 350,000 deaths in the United States, which averages at 1,000 deaths per day. The disorder is, in essence, an epidemic in the Western world.   Continue reading “Four foods that lower blood pressure”

Intifada – by Dr A.Clare Brandabur

On June 23, 2013, a handsome young wedding-singer from the Khan Younis refugee Camp in Gaza won the Arab Idol Song Contest in Beirut after a hair-raising journey across borders and checkpoints that make the short distance from Gaza to Beirut an obstacle course. With the aplomb and perfect phrasing of a La Scala veteran, Mohammed Assaf delivered his winning assertion of patriotism and peaceful resistance to a cheering worldwide audience. Even local Hamas officials, who had frowned on and impeded his journey, had no choice but to bask in his reflected glory, joining him in a motorcade on his triumphant return.   Continue reading “Palestine’s Post-Zionist Spring”

The Huffington Post – by Emily Cohn

The founder of Mother’s Day wouldn’t have wanted you to buy those flowers for mom. Or that card. Or those chocolates. In all likelihood, she wouldn’t have wanted you to celebrate the holiday at all.

The fact that we will collectively spend nearly $20 billion on moms this year probably would have caused Anna Jarvis, the founder of Mother’s Day, to throw her lunch on the floor like she reportedly didin the early 1900s, when she found out that a department store in Philadelphia was offering a Mother’s Day special, according to Mental Floss.

Jarvis — a West Virginia woman who didn’t even have children of her own, according to History.com— came up with the idea for a Mother’s Day holiday, organizing the first celebration at a Methodist church in 1908. Annoyed that most American holidays were dedicated to honoring male achievements, Jarvis started a letter-writing campaign to make it a national holiday, involving wearing a white carnation, visiting your mother and maybe going to church.    Continue reading “The Founder Of Mother’s Day Hated What The Holiday Became”

8 News Now – by George Knapp

LAS VEGAS — A dramatic development in the saga surrounding rancher Cliven Bundy, the FBI has entered the case.

The 8 News NOW I-Team has learned that FBI agents have started an investigation into the events surrounding a potentially deadly showdown one month ago.

It is one thing for Cliven Bundy and his supporters to square off against an assortment of Bureau of Land Management employees. It is quite another when the FBI enters the picture, and that is exactly what has happened.   Continue reading “FBI investigating Bundy supporters in BLM dispute”

Continue reading “Do, Do, Do, Looking Out My Windshield”