From the Trenches World Report

Daily Mail – by Sean Poulter

Fast food giant Subway has removed ham and bacon from almost 200 outlets, and switched to halal meat alternatives in an attempt to please its Muslim customers.

It has confirmed turkey ham and turkey rashers will be used instead in 185 of its stores, where all the meat will now be prepared according to halal rules.

The chain, which has around 1,500 outlets across the UK, explained its decision by saying it had to balance animal welfare concerns with ‘the views of religious communities’.   Continue reading “UK: Subway removes ham and bacon from nearly 200 stores and offers halal meat only after ‘strong demand’ from Muslims”

BBC News- by Aidan Lewis

Like fellow movements around the world, the US Communist Party suffered a crippling blow with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. But a small group of die-hard members persevered.

Not far from Wall Street, on the seventh floor of an elegant eight-storey building on West 23rd Street, is the headquarters of an improbable political survivor – the Communist Party USA.    Continue reading “The curious survival of the US Communist Party”

Militant Hippies

What the hell are you folks doing? Why did you go to the Bundy Ranch? Was it to stop tyranny or was it to make a name for your selves? This thing is turning into a cluster F%$^! This is exactly what the government wants. They are sitting back in their offices laughing at both sides. Listen to what I just said, BOTH SIDES! In the beginning there were two sides as well. The tyrannical BLM and the Patriots. Now there are three sides. The Militia vs. the Oath Keepers and the BLM who is waiting both of you out. If this keeps up, they win and freedom loses.   Continue reading “Open letter to the Militia and the Oath Keepers”

RT News

Both the director and deputy director of the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon announced on Wednesday that they are to leave their jobs by early fall. The move is thought be the result of mounting pressure by top Washington officials.

United States DIA Director Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn announced to Pentagon staff that he is walking away from that role a year earlier than anticipated.   Continue reading “US Defense Intelligence Agency director reportedly being forced out”

RT News

Florida conservatives, evidently alarmed by changing social and income demographics, are pushing legislation to combat what they say is the attempted indoctrination of American students with Islamic ideology.

Lawmakers are currently considering a so-called “anti-Sharia bill” which passed through the state Senate with a 24-14 vote on Monday. Sharia, which varies between cultures, is the basic path which devout Muslims try to follow. The rules, while strict by Western standards, often stretch past the confines of a mosque and regulate aspects of secular law, including crime, public policy, sex, diet, and economics.   Continue reading “‘One nation under Allah’: FL conservatives push for anti-Sharia legislation”

Mail.com

DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit-area factory where Rosie the Riveter showed that a woman could do a “man’s work” by building World War II-era bombers has been saved from the wrecking ball, organizers of a campaign to build a museum on the site announced Thursday.

The site’s manager had given the Save the Willow Run Bomber Plant campaign a deadline of Thursday to raise the $8 million needed to buy a 150,000-square-foot portion of the larger property. As recently as Tuesday morning, the group was about $1 million short of its goal, but later in the day “closed on a big one,” fundraising consultant Michael Montgomery said.   Continue reading “Rosie’s Michigan plant saved from wrecking ball”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — Reports of sexual assaults by members of the military rose 50 percent after the Pentagon began a vigorous campaign to get more victims to come forward, prompting defense officials to order a greater focus on prevention programs, including plans to review alcohol sales and policies.

But officials are still unhappy with the low number of male victims who reported sexual assault, and they say there will be a greater emphasis in the months ahead on getting men to come forward and seek help. Final data obtained by The Associated Press show that about 14 percent of the reports filed last year involved male victims.   Continue reading “Military sex assault claims up 50 pct”

Mail.com

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A Montana man is accused of setting a trap and blindly blasting a shotgun into his garage, killing a 17-year-old German exchange student. A Minnesota man is convicted of lying in wait in his basement for two teenagers and killing them during a break-in.

The two recent cases take the “stand your ground” debate to a new level: Do laws that allow private citizens to protect their property also let them set a trap and wait for someone to kill? “We don’t want it to be easy to be able to prosecute people. But we want to be able to hold individuals accountable when they have stepped outside the bounds of society,” David LaBahn, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, said Wednesday.

Continue reading “‘Stand your ground’ law tested in recent shootings”

Starving the Monkeys

I have kept quiet about the evolving Bundy situation because, simply, everything that has been needed to be said about this evolution has already been well said by others. I choose to not comment about who should do or should have done what and when. 

Instead, I want to discuss the paradox faced by the federal government in this, the latest SWAT-style kabuki of their own creation, and what their alternatives are, now that it has grown out of control of the original simple-minded script: “Hey, fellas, let’s gear up and put that hayseed rancher in his place.” Oops.
Continue reading “The Bundy Paradox”

Fuel Fix – by Jennifer A. Dlouhy

WASHINGTON — Legislation to fast track U.S. natural gas exports moved one step closer to House passage on Wednesday, after modifications brokered by a Houston Democrat.

On a mostly party line vote of 33-18, the Energy and Commerce Committee approved the bill that would force the Energy Department to make a decision on applications to sell natural gas overseas within 90 days. That would, for the first time, impose a deadline on the Energy Department’s currently open-ended process of determining whether proposed exports to most nations are in the public interest.   Continue reading “Houston Democrat brokers deal to advance US gas export bill”

Oil and Gas Journal

The US oil and gas industry recorded its highest volume of first quarter mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in more than a decade, PwC US Energy Practice said in an Apr. 30 report on transactions with value greater than $50 million. The movement was a result of rising upstream activities and increased interest from foreign entities.

Forty-three oil and gas deals with values greater than $50 million occurred through Mar. 31, accounting for $19.8 billion, compared with 41 deals in last year’s first quarter (OGJ Online, May 6, 2013). The first-quarter 2014 total included five megadeals, representing $10.1 billion, compared with eight megadeals worth $19.7 billion in first-quarter 2013.   Continue reading “US Mergers & Acquisitions activity reaches highest 1Q volume in more than a decade”

Tech Dirt – by Tim Cushing

It looks like the American public won’t be getting any answers on the government’s extrajudicial killings any time soon. An intelligence bill that passed the Senate late last year contained a stipulation requiring the administration to provide statistics on drone strikes, including number of combatants and noncombatants killed or injured in these strikes. That requirement has now been excised, thanks to the efforts of Sens. Feinstein and Chambliss and their buddy at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, as Spencer Ackerman reports.   Continue reading “Feinstein And Chambliss Let James Clapper Talk Them Out Of Requiring Transparency On The Administration’s Drone Strikes”

Huffington Post – by Laura Bassett

Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam (R) signed a bill into law on Tuesday that is the first law in the country to authorize the arrest and incarceration of women who use drugs while pregnant. Reproductive and civil rights advocates had strongly urged Haslam to veto the legislation.

“I understand the concerns about this bill, and I will be monitoring the impact of the law through regular updates with the court system and health professionals,” Haslam said in a statement.   Continue reading “Tennessee Enacts Law To Incarcerate Pregnant Women Who Use Drugs”

The National Patriot – by Craig Andresen

Things are happening. Many things, stupid things, nonsense things and they’re happening at a rapid pace. Note of these things needs to be taken.

The BLM standoff at Bunkerville from which the BLM and this absurd federal administration had to retreat with their collective tails between their legs.

Harry Reid calling those who stood to defend a rancher…”Domestic terrorists.”   Continue reading “Is Obama’s Criminal Regime Facing Collapse?”

ABC News – by KAMI DIMITROVA

At least two people have died with more than 150 others injured after a gas explosion at a Florida jail, authorities said, tying the blast to recent flooding in the region.

The explosion happened around midnight at the Escambia County Central Booking and Detention Facility in Pensacola, county spokeswoman Kathleen Dough-Castro said.   Continue reading “2 Dead, More Than 150 Injured In Florida Jail Explosion”

Reuters – by Jennifer Dobner

(Reuters) – A congressman is calling for a probe into the activities of armed militiamen who are supporting a Nevada cattleman in a high profile showdown with federal authorities over grazing rights, citing allegations they set up armed checkpoints on local roads.

Rancher Cliven Bundy of Bunkerville became a symbol for conservative Republicans in April, particularly among the Tea Party movement, for his longstanding defiance of court orders to remove his cattle from federal land.   Continue reading “Nevada Congressman seeks probe of armed militia operations at Bundy ranch”