From the Trenches World Report

AOL

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) – The Ukrainian parliament on Tuesday delayed the formation of a new government, reflecting political tensions and economic challenges after the Russia-backed president went into hiding.

Parliament speaker Oleksandr Turchinov, who was named Ukraine’s interim leader after President Viktor Yanukovych fled the capital, said that a new government should be in place by Thursday, instead of Tuesday, as he had earlier indicated.   Continue reading “Spokesman: Former Yanukovych aide shot”

The Daily Caller – by Brendan Bordelon

Democratic Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel went to bat for his former boss Monday, claiming he supports President Obama’s strategy of bypassing Congress “one thousand percent” and comparing Obama’s executive orders on healthcare to the Emancipation Proclamation.

Emanuel — the former White House chief of staff in Washington DC on Monday to receive federal money for a new “manufacturing hub” in Chicago — spoke with CNN’s Jim Acosta. The reporter asked if he thought Obama’s plan to use executive actions to ignore an unwilling Congress is the right approach.   Continue reading “‘The Emancipation Proclamation was an executive action’: Rahm Emanuel backs Obama’s executive overreach ‘one thousand percent’”

Henry Makow – by Nathan Wiedmann

As if smoking doesn’t take up enough time at work, some co-workers and I were discussing the effects of smoking and nicotine addiction.

Someone remarked that his doctor had said it could be harder to get off of nicotine than heroin. As a smoker, one could believe this.

However, after being nicotine free for three months now, I no longer agree. Nicotine withdrawal does not induce seizures or vomiting. In fact, in my experience, nicotine withdrawal is barely noticeable, and is easily neutralized.    Continue reading “The Myth of Nicotine Addiction”

RT News

Lawmakers in a number of US states are pushing legislation that aims to force officials to begin testing tens of thousands of rape kits that contain evidence against sexual predators who committed their crimes years ago, and in one case three decades.

Countless victims across the US have spent years pleading with local law enforcement and regional representatives to begin examining the backlog of rape kits, which could contain the DNA of a rape suspect still at large.   Continue reading “Potential sexual predators walk free as thousands of rape kits remain untested”

The Daily Sheeple – by Chris Carrington

The Ex-Navy Seals found dead in their cabin aboard the ship made famous in the movie Captain Phillips died of respiratory failure after suffering heart attacks.

Mark Daniel Kennedy(43), and Jeffrey Keith Reynolds (44), were found dead on February 18th as the ship was berthed in Port Victoria, the capital of the Indian Ocean island nation of Seychelles.   Continue reading “BOTH Ex-Navy Seals Found Dead on the Maersk Alabama Died of Respiratory Failure After Suffering Heart Attacks…Really?”

RT News

Secret units within the ‘Five Eyes” global spying network engage in covert online operations that aim to invade, deceive, and control online communities and individuals through the spread of false information and use of ingenious social-science tactics.

Such teams of highly trained professionals have several main objectives, such as “to inject all sorts of false material onto the internet” and “to use social sciences and other techniques to manipulate online discourse and activism to generate outcomes it considers desirable,”The Intercept’s Glenn Greenwald reported based on intelligence documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.  Continue reading “Western spy agencies build ‘cyber magicians’ to manipulate online discourse”

Mail.com

TOKYO (AP) — A major bitcoin exchange has gone bust after secretly racking up catastrophic losses, other virtual currency companies said Tuesday — a potentially fatal blow for the exotic new form of money.

The website of Tokyo-based Mt. Gox was returning a blank page Tuesday. The disappearance of the site follows the resignation Sunday of Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles from the board of the Bitcoin Foundation, a group seeking legitimacy for the currency, and a withdrawal ban imposed at the exchange earlier this month.   Continue reading “Major bitcoin exchange is insolvent”

Mail.com

For Cherie Lash Rhoades, an appeals hearing was her last chance to keep her small house on a tiny American Indian reservation in the high desert of northeastern California. During the eviction meeting at tribal headquarters, the former Cedarville Rancheria chairwoman is accused of killing four people, including three relatives.

Court documents allege she opened fire with a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol at the building in Alturas, Calif., on Thursday, killing four and wounding two. She was arrested as she stabbed one of the wounded, whom she had chased into the parking lot with a kitchen knife, the documents say. She stopped when a man tackled her and the undersheriff of Modoc County handcuffed her, authorities said.   Continue reading “Ex-tribal chair accused of killings faces hearing”

Christianity Today – by Ruth Moon

Seven Egyptian Christians have been shot execution-style on a beach outside Benghazi, security officials in Libya announced Monday.

The bodies were found with gunshots to the head in an area where kidnappings and assassinations are common and Islamist militants are active, Reuters reports.   Continue reading “Seven Egyptian Christians Executed on Benghazi Beach”

The Daily Caller – by Patrick Howley

Employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) destroyed veterans’ medical files in a systematic attempt to eliminate backlogged veteran medical exam requests, a former VA employee told The Daily Caller.

Audio of an internal VA meeting obtained by TheDC confirms that VA officials in Los Angeles intentionally canceled backlogged patient exam requests.   Continue reading “Department of Veterans Affairs employees destroyed veterans’ medical records to cancel backlogged exam requests”

Common Dreams – by Juan Cole

Researchers on online behavior have shown that internet trolls (people who use insincere techniques to disrupt conversations) really are psychopaths, marked by narcisssism, sadism, Machiavellianism. Professors Eric Buckels, Paul Trapnell, and Delroy Paulhus administered surveys to students and found that about 6 percent of them enjoyed messing with other people’s heads on the internet, or trolling. This same group scored high on the four most vicious personality traits, known as the dark tetrad. They agreed when asked questions like this:   Continue reading “4 Darknesses: Internet being Manipulated, Deceived by Western Intel Trolls”

Smell the Truth – by David Downs

Hundreds of thousands of Americans are using medical marijuana to treat symptoms of depression each day, but the search for the right strain is often a very personal one.

Cell and animal studies, as well as limited human studies and countless anecdotal reports, show the molecules in cannabis can interact with the human nervous system to cause feelings of well-being.   Continue reading “The Best Marijuana Strains for Depression”

WND – by COLIN FLAHERTY

Is Detroit now America’s safest city?

It’s a thought.

In the last week, three different Detroit residents have used their guns to fire at home invaders. The toll after seven days: Two dead, one wounded, three arrested and a whole lot of people rethinking the idea that Detroit homeowners are soft targets for hardened criminals.   Continue reading “Unload: Homeowners Open Fire On Invaders”

The Guardian – by Patrick Kingsley

Egypt is braced for its sixth government since the start of the 2011 uprising, after the prime minister announced the early resignation of the entire interim cabinet on Monday afternoon.

Hazem al-Beblawy, appointed in the days following the removal of Mohamed Morsi last July, was meant to head Egypt’s government until the election of a new president, but resigned on Monday after weeks of mounting criticism.   Continue reading “Egypt’s prime minister and cabinet resign”

Natural Society – by Christina Sarich

If pesticides and herbicides worked so well, we should be able to use less of them, not more, right? It just isn’t the case, though. On American farms and gardens, we have gone from using around 100 million pounds annually to over 404 million pounds of pesticides each year. That’s a whole lot of toxic junk on our foods and in our ecosystem.   Continue reading “Pesticide Use Soars: 100 Million to 400 Million Pounds Annually in Less than a Decade”