From the Trenches World Report

Illustrating again how the TSA has its operations outside of airports, bus passengers in Pittsburgh will be eyeballed by TSA agents during a “security exercise” involving multiple agencies that begins today.

CBS Pittsburgh – by Heather Abraham

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – If you take the bus or T to work, you may notice increased security at your stop today.   Continue reading “Port Authority To Perform Joint Security Exercise”

Chicago Tribune – by David Heinzmann

CenturyLink

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is the latest example of a very rare event in aviation: a plane that vanishes.

With radar, radio traffic and other technology, planes that crash are usually found quickly. But sometimes searches can take days or weeks if the plane disappears over open ocean or remote and rugged land areas.

Since the dawn of the jet age in 1958, here are some other notable disappearances (not all were jets):   Continue reading “Mystery of missing jet recalls past disappearances”

Freedom Outpost – by Joshua Cook

In a bizarre turn of events at the South Carolina state capital today, U.S. Senate candidate Dave Feliciano of Spartanburg, showed up at a press conference, (in blue jeans) and called Senator Lindsey Graham “ambiguously gay.”

The purpose of the press conference was to show unity between the candidates challenging Graham by signing a pledge.   Continue reading “U.S. Senate Candidate Dave Feliciano: “We’re Tired of the Ambiguously Gay Senator from South Carolina””

Militia News

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was formed as a result of the 911, when [supposedly] 19 jihadists, Radical Muslim terrorists, most of whom came from Saudi Arabia, who were armed with box-cutter knives, took over the planes and flew them into the Pentagon and the twin Towers.

Since its awkward birth in 2003, it’s safe to say the baby never learned to walk, or stopped flinging its food or sucking its thumb. But it has grown. An umbrella agency that now incorporates 22 different agencies and components with some 240,000 employees, it has survived mostly because of natural bureaucratic intransigence, but fed also, by the lingering specter of 9/11, which gives it near-impenetrable political security. It is currently receiving appropriations of $39 billion for fiscal year 2013 (and that is after sequestration).   Continue reading “It Is Time To Defund And Abolish The Department of Homeland Security (DHS)”

Before It’s News

This is the first properly constructed investigative journalism examination I’ve found of the events that occurred concerning the ONLY witness – “Danny” – to the “confessions” of the two brothers accused of the crime.

Why did the brothers bother to carjack Danny or anyone at all, confess the bombing to him and allow him to escape to tell the only available tale when they could have just left Dodge?   Continue reading “The Entire Case Against Boston Bombers is Based on One Witness “Protected” by FBI & CIA Oversight Agencies”

The New American – by Joe Wolverton, II, J.D.

Both sides of the legislative attempt to block enforcement of key provisions of ObamaCare in South Carolina are ratcheting up their efforts.

A bill the supporter calls a “blueprint for other states” is pending in the state Senate and, although not as strong a nullification of the president’s pet project as some would prefer, it does retain the right of state agents to refuse to execute portions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).   Continue reading “South Carolina’s Fight Over ObamaCare Heats Up in State Senate”

New York Times – by CLIFFORD KRAUSS

HOUSTON — Four years after the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion, BP is being welcomed back to seek new oil leases in the Gulf of Mexico.

An agreement on Thursday with the Environmental Protection Agency lifts a 2012 ban that was imposed after the agency concluded that BP had not fully corrected problems that led to the well blowout in 2010 that killed 11 rig workers, spilled millions of gallons of oil and contaminated hundreds of miles of beaches.   Continue reading “U.S. Agrees to Allow BP Back Into Gulf Waters to Seek Oil”

About.com

Following the demise of the Soviet Union and its domination over Eastern Europe in 1991, the constituent components of Yugoslavia began to dissolve. For some time, Serbia, retaining the name of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and under control of the genocidal Slobodan Milosevic, forcefully retained possession of nearby provinces.

Over time, places such as Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro gained independence. The southern Serbian region of Kosovo, however, remained part of Serbia. The Kosovo Liberation Army fought Milosevic’s Serbian forces and a war of independence took place from about 1998 through 1999.   Continue reading “Why is it okay for Kosovo to declare independence but not Crimea?”

ARS Technica – by Cyrus Farivar

On Saturday, Defense Distributed—America’s best-known group of 3D gunsmiths—announced on Facebook that its founder, Cody Wilson, is now a federally licensed gun manufacturer and dealer. The group published a picture of the Type 7 federal firearms license (FFL) to prove it.

“The big thing it allows me to do is that it makes me [a manufacturer] under the law—everything that manufacturers are allowed to do,” he told Ars. “I can sell some of the pieces that we’ve been making. I can do firearms transactions and transport.”   Continue reading “3D-printed gun maker now has federal firearms license to manufacture, deal guns”

Natural Society – by Elizabeth Renter

While common sense tells us organic products are better for us than nonorganics, the science-based evidence is sometimes lacking. Sure, we know vegetables sprayed with pesticides carry more health risks than those that do not, but what about when it comes to things like dairy cows and the milk they produce? One new study sought to determine scientifically if organic milk was better than conventional milk. And they were successful.   Continue reading “Study Suggests Organic Milk has Better Balance of Healthful Fats, is Healthier”

The Watchers

Earthquake registered as M 6.1 (JMA) struck Kyushu, Japan on March 13, 2014 at 17:07 UTC (02:07 JST on March 14). JMA is reporting depth of 80 km. USGS is reporting M 6.3 at depth of 82.9 km (51.5 miles).

Epicenter was located 13 km (8 miles) N of Kunisaki-shi and 30 km (19 miles) ENE of Bungo-Takada-shi, Japan. This earthquake poses no tsunami risk.   Continue reading “Magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck Kyushu, Japan”

Casey Research

Former HUD Assistant Housing Secretary and investment advisor Catherine Austin Fitts reveals her thoughts on the ever-rising debt ceiling… what Obamacare is really about (and that’s not socialized healthcare)… why over $4 trillion missing from federal programs may not be incompetence, but a covert strategy… how to protect yourself from the constant devaluation of the US dollar… and what exactly the Popsicle Index measures and why it matters.   Continue reading “Complete Breakdown of Financial Controls in US Government, Says Austin Fitts”

International Policy Digest – by Fahim Masoud

The five republics of Central Asia (Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan) are endowed with an immense amount of natural resources and are located in the center of Eurasia.

The collapse of the Soviet Union made it possible for these Central Asian states to develop independent relations with the rest of the world. However, the emerging economic and geopolitical significance of these five republics to China is currently defining the international relations of these republics. Kazakhstan in particular has attracted the interest of the Chinese government. Geographically, Kazakhstan shares a border with China’s western province, Xinjiang. Politically, Kazakhstan is still a dictatorship. China, unlike the United States and European powers, registers no objections to the Kazakh government’s human rights abuses. This makes China’s political and economic transactions with the Kazakh government much easier.   Continue reading “Central Asia: A Region of Strategic Importance to China”