From the Trenches World Report

Tech Dirt – by Karl Bode

Peter Maass, who I’ve been fortunate to meet and has had a pretty amazing career as an embedded war journalist, has penned a pretty fantastic read over at Glenn Greenwald’s new The Intercept venture. In it, Maass points out that among the ocean of compelling bits buried in the Snowden documents is this strange little fact: the NSA has an advice columnist who routinely provides NSA employees with office politics and interpersonal advice under the pen name “Zelda.” Her column, titled “Ask Zelda!,” routinely appears for employees with adequate security clearance via the agency’s intranet.      Continue reading “The NSA Has An Internal Office Advice Columnist And Yes, She’s An Inconsistent Hypocrite Too”

World Events and the Bible

(USA Today) – Very low levels of radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster likely will reach ocean waters along the U.S. West Coast next month, scientists are reporting.

Current models predict that the radiation will be at extremely low levels that won’t harm humans or the environment, said Ken Buesseler, a chemical oceanographer at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who presented research on the issue last week.   Continue reading “Scientists: Test West Coast for Fukushima radiation”

World Events and the Bible

(Guardian) – Europe would face the “great danger of a real shooting conflict” if Russian forces moved beyond Crimea to enter the main part of eastern Ukraine, William Hague has said as he accused Vladimir Putin of a major miscalculation.

As the foreign secretary warned of another “frozen conflict” in Europe, the energy secretary, Ed Davey, said gas prices could increase if the Ukraine crisis escalated into a military conflict.   Continue reading “Europe faces ‘shooting conflict’ if Russia enters east Ukraine, says Hague”

Gizmodo

Are drones not scary enough for you yet? How about this? A drone helicopter that spots you and identifies you as an intruder. It tells you to stop and put your hands behind your head. Instead, you keep coming. The drone then shoots you with barbed Taser darts that pump 80,000 volts into you. If you try to get up, it will continue pumping voltage into you until you submit and the authorities arrive.   Continue reading “Meet CUPID: The Drone That Will Shoot You With an 80,000 Volt Taser”

How to Vanish – by Bill Rounds

The NSA can read your emails, listen to your phone calls, see all of your purchases, and look at your library records without a warrant.  They so extensively monitor so much electronic activity that there is hardly any aspect of your life that is not databased, archived, and searchable.  The continuing release of information about what the NSA is doing and how they do it is making everyday people aware of how their peaceful and lawful activity is being monitored by default.   Continue reading “Keep The NSA Out Of Your Internet – Avoid Unwarranted NSA Surveillance”

Yahoo News – by DENISE LAVOIE

BOSTON (AP) — The ladies of Wellesley College will still be allowed to plant kisses on passing runners and crowds will still flock to the finish line at the 118th Boston Marathon.

But a year after deadly twin explosions turned the race’s festive final dash into a scene of devastation, police and organizers of the world’s oldest annual marathon find themselves balancing security with its traditionally festive atmosphere.   Continue reading “Police seek security balance for Boston Marathon”

ABC 6 Action News

LAWNDALE – March 8, 2014 (WPVI) — A Philadelphia police officer shot another man during a struggle that escalated from an argument over dog waste.

Police tell Action News that this morning just before noon, the off-duty officer was outside his home when a man stopped with his dog along the 6400 block of Oakley Street. The dog went to the bathroom on the officer’s lawn. The officer asked the man to clean it up, which prompted an argument and the man left.   Continue reading “Off-duty Philadelphia cop shoots man during fight over dog waste”

This Ain’t Hell – by John Lilyea

The first story to kick off your week comes from Houston where a man and his wife out for the evening was confronted by an enterprising youth seeking to raise his minimum wage;

When the couple got out of their car, a man approached them, pulled out a gun and demanded their belongings and cash, officers say. The husband turned the tables on the crook and pulled out his own weapon.   Continue reading “Monday morning feel good stories”

WND – by JOSEPH FARAH

Back in the day, leaders of the Mafia were known for invoking their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination before congressional hearings.

But now it’s gangsters of a different kind who are doing it – top officials of the Internal Revenue Service.

Pleading the Fifth means one thing. You can only do it for one reason – to avoid making criminal admissions that can come back to haunt you in the courts.   Continue reading “When the IRS Pleads the Fifth”

KABC 7 News – March 9, 2014

EUREKA, CALIF. (KABC) — An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.9 struck off the coast of Northern California Sunday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The temblor struck about 50 miles west of Eureka in Humboldt County at 10:18 p.m. It had a depth of 4.3 miles.   Continue reading “6.9-magnitude earthquake hits Northern California coast”

Daily Record – by Kathleen Hopkins

FREEHOLD — Little Silver police officer Steven Solari was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison with no chance for release on parole for failing to take an injured man for medical treatment, repeatedly punching him in the head while handcuffed, lying in a police report to justify his actions and trying to get a first-aid responder to back up his lie.

Solari, 40, a member of the Little Silver police force since July 1999, also was ordered to forfeit his $91,000-a-year job and any future prospect for public employment, under the sentence handed down by Superior Court Judge Francis J. Vernoia.   Continue reading “Little Silver cop Steven Solari gets five years for punching handcuffed man in the head, lying about it”

Green Med Info – by Sayer Ji

A powerful new study on the failure of mammograms to protect women against breast cancer, curiously absent from mainstream news health reporting, was published this month in The European Journal of Public Health, and is forcing the scientific and medical community, policy makers and the public at large to ask the question: can the now worldwide practice of mass breast screenings in healthy (asymptomatic) populations be justified when they increase the incidence of localized stage ‘cancers’ without reducing the incidence of advanced cancers?   Continue reading “Study of 1.8 Million: Breast Screening Increases ‘Lethal’ Breast Cancer Incidence”