From the Trenches World Report

Mail.com

LAZARO CARDENAS, Mexico (AP) — Forget crystal meth. The pseudo-religious Knights Templar drug cartel in western Mexico has diversified to the point that drug trafficking doesn’t even rank among its top sources of income.

The cartel counts illegal mining, logging and extortion as its biggest moneymakers, said Alfredo Castillo, the Mexican government’s special envoy sent to restore the rule of law in Michoacan, the state controlled by the Knights Templar the last several years.   Continue reading “Mexico drug cartel makes more dealing iron ore”

Colgate has created a very ingenious advertising campaign to promote their dental floss.

But…before I explain to you the main detail of these images, I shall let you observe them quietly on your own.   Continue reading “Dental Floss Ad”

90 Miles from Tyranny

IntelNews – by Ian Allen

A well-connected Ukrainian oligarch, who is considered one of Russia’s most trusted energy sales intermediaries, has been arrested in Austria at the request of the United States. Some speculate that this may be a first direct sign of America’s response to Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine.

In an article published last week, The Washington Post suggested that the arrest of Dmytro Firtash, a citizen of Ukraine, may be “the beginning of a US effort to inflict financial pain on Russia over its role in the Ukrainian crisis”.   Continue reading “Pro-Russian oligarch arrested —first sign of US sanctions on Russia?”

Courthouse News

Officials at the Milton Hershey School strip-searched a student in the mistaken belief she had a cell phone, then told her mother that the girl “does not have constitutional rights because she is in a private school,” the girl and her mom claim in court.

The mother, Trina Howze, and her daughter sued the Milton Hershey School, its Student Home Affiliate Michael Randolph, and C.W.’s student home supervisors Kenneth Wilson and Tysha Wilson, in Federal Court.   Continue reading “Private School Says Strip Search Is OK”

MassPrivateI

Google Inc., the world’s largest Internet-search provider, is seeking to black out portions of a transcript from a public court hearing that includes information on how it mines data from personal e-mails.

Google has acknowledged scanning the contents of millions of email messages sent and received by student users of the company’s Apps for Education tool suite for schools.   Continue reading “Google doesn’t want the public to know how its spying on you”

MassPrivateI

Article first appeared at aclu.org:

The U.S. government (DHS/TSA) today maintains a massive watchlisting system that risks stigmatizing hundreds of thousands of people, including American citizens, as “known or suspected terrorists” based on secret standards and secret evidence, without a meaningful process to challenge error and clear their names. The watchlists in this system are shared widely within the federal government, with state and local law enforcement agencies, and even with foreign governments, heightening the negative consequences for listed individuals.    Continue reading “875,000 Americans On TSA’s No-Fly Terrorist Watchlist”

New York Times – by DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

CAIRO — United States Navy commandos seized a diverted oil tanker in the Mediterranean waters southeast of Cyprus on Monday morning, thwarting an attempt by a breakaway Libyan militia to sell its contents on the black market, the Pentagon said. No one was hurt in the operation, the Pentagon said in a statement.

The diverted tanker, called the Morning Glory, had sailed into the Libyan port of Sidra under a North Korean flag but North Korea disavowed the ship and denied having provided any authorization. News reports have said it was operated by a company based in Alexandria, Egypt, and that after leaving Libyan waters it appeared to have sailed the Mediterranean in search of a buyer for its oil.   Continue reading “U.S. Navy SEALs Take Control of Diverted Oil Tanker”

Public Intelligence

The following training circular was released by the U.S. Army in January 2014.

TC 7-100.3 Irregular Opposing Forces

• 210 pages
• January 17, 2014
• 6 MB   Continue reading “U.S. Army Irregular Opposing Forces Manual”

MuckRock – by Shawn Musgrave

FOI Requests:

• NYPD FOIL guide

Philly.com – by Sam Wood

WPXI -by SCOTT SONNER

RENO, Nev. — Authorities in a Nevada county are reviewing a “forfeiture program” and have settled lawsuits with two men who said a sheriff’s deputy violated their civil rights when they were stopped for speeding, searched for drugs and forced to pay tens of thousands of dollars.

CNN – by Matthew Ponsford and Nick Glass

Katie Hall was shocked the second she saw it: a light-bulb glowing in middle of a room with no wires attached.

Looking back, it was a crude experiment, she remembers: a tiny room filled with gigantic cooper refrigerator coils — the kind you’d see if you cracked open the back of your freezer.

She walked in and out between the coils and the bulb — and still the bulb glowed.   Continue reading “Wireless electricity? It’s here”

Chron – by ERIK SCHELZIG and BRUCE SCHREINER

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — If it isn’t fermented in Tennessee from mash of at least 51 percent corn, aged in new charred oak barrels, filtered through maple charcoal and bottled at a minimum of 80 proof, it isn’t Tennessee whiskey. So says a year-old law that resembles almost to the letter the process used to make Jack Daniel‘s, the world’s best-known Tennessee whiskey.

Now state lawmakers are considering dialing back some of those requirements that they say make it too difficult for craft distilleries to market their spirits as Tennessee whiskey, a distinctive and popular draw in the booming American liquor business.   Continue reading “Jack Daniel’s opposes changing Tenn. whiskey law”

Fox News

The United States and its European allies are expected to announce sanctions against Russia Monday after Crimea’s election chief announced that just under 97 percent of voters in the region supported leaving Ukraine and becoming a Russian province in a referendum held Sunday.

Mikhail Malyshev said in a televised news conference that the final tally of voters in favor of joining Russia was 96.77 percent. The announcement was merely confirmation of what had been expected once the referendum was announced by the region’s parliament earlier this month.    Continue reading “Crimea parliament declares independence, asks to join Russia after landslide vote”

Fox News – by Barnini Chakraborty

All Andy Johnson wanted to do was build a stock pond on his sprawling eight-acre Wyoming farm. He and his wife Katie spent hours constructing it, filling it with crystal-clear water, and bringing in brook and brown trout, ducks and geese. It was a place where his horses could drink and graze, and a private playground for his three children.

But instead of enjoying the fruits of his labor, the Wyoming welder says he was harangued by the federal government, stuck in what he calls a petty power play by the Environmental Protection Agency. He claims the agency is now threatening him with civil and criminal penalties – including the threat of a $75,000-a-day fine.    Continue reading “Wyoming welder faces $75,000 a day in EPA fines for building pond on his property”