From the Trenches World Report

Wall Street Journal – by ALISON SIDER and ALICIA MUNDY

A Nebraska judge ruled Wednesday the law allowing the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline to be built across the state is unconstitutional, a move that could further delay the project.

Lancaster County District Court Judge Stephanie Stacy sided with three landowners who argued Nebraska’s governor shouldn’t be able to sign off on the pipeline’s route. The governor, Republican Dave Heineman, was handed that power in a law the state Legislature hastily passed in 2012. But the court ruled that under the state’s constitution, only Nebraska’s Public Service Commission could approve such a pipeline route.   Continue reading “Nebraska Judge Blocks Governor’s Keystone XL Decision”

Fox News

Violence between Ukrainian security forces and anti-government protesters broke out again Thursday in the capital, Kiev, leaving at least 22 people dead, as a truce called by President Viktor Yanukovych and opposition leaders fell apart.

An Associated Press reporter saw 21 bodies Thursday laid out on the edge of the sprawling protest encampment in central Kiev’s Independence Square. In addition, one policeman was killed and 28 suffered gunshot wounds Thursday, Interior Ministry spokesman Serhiy Burlakov told the AP.   Continue reading “Violence between police, protesters resumes as truce falls apart in Ukraine”

Liberty Blitzkrieg – by Michael Blitzkrieg

Anyone that has spent any time whatsoever looking into the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade treaty, understands that it is a oligarch crony capitalists’ wet dream. Being negotiated entirely in secret, the treaty is designed to institutionalize corporate rule, giving companies the ability to sue governments and prevent them from exerting regulatory control over their own societies.

Bill Moyers has described the treaty as “Death for Democracy,” and now, unsurprisingly, we find out that several of the main negotiators for the TPP have received huge payments from taxpayer bailed out “Too Big to Jail” banks.   Continue reading “How Obama’s Chief Negotiators on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Treaty Received Huge Bonuses From Mega Banks”

Wall Street Journal – by JASON L. RILEY

A new FBI report says that violent crime continues to fall nationwide, which might annoy liberals because gun purchases continue to rise.

In the first six months of 2013, murders fell by nearly 7 percent, compared with the same period in 2012. Aggravated assaults fell by 6.6 percent, and robberies are down 1.8 percent. “All of the offenses in the violent crime category—murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, aggravated assault, and robbery—showed decreases when data from the first six months of 2013 were compared with data from the first six months of 2012,” according to the FBI. Overall, violent crime in the U.S. fell by 5.4 percent. Burglaries, larceny and auto thefts also decreased.   Continue reading “More Guns, Less Crime”

Washington’s Blog

The U.S. Government Condemns Authoritarian Regimes Which Use Anti-Terror Laws to Stifle Journalism

It is widely known that authoritarian regimes use “anti-terror” laws to crack down on journalism.

But this extreme tactic is becoming more and more common.  The Committee to Protect Journalists reported a year ago that terrorism laws are being misused worldwide to crush journalism:   Continue reading “Authoritarian Regimes (Like the U.S. and Britain) Treat Reporters Like Terrorists”

The Newspaper

Private companies that spy on motorists are suing the state of Utah over a law that limits commercial use of automated license plate readers (ALPR, also known as ANPR in Europe). The firms Digital Recognition Network Inc and Vigilant Solutions told the US District Court for the District of Utah that they have a First Amendment right to photograph motorists, identify the vehicle and record the time and GPS coordinates in a searchable database accessible to clients nationwide.   Continue reading “Utah: Repo Men Sue To Overturn Private License Plate Reader Ban”

MassPrivateI

According to a 2013 report from the Citizen Lab of the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, governments are using FinSpy and FinFisher, Gamma’s line of remote intrusion and surveillance software, to spy on political dissidents.

“Although touted as a ‘lawful interception’ suite for monitoring criminals, FinFisher has gained notoriety because it has been used in targeted attacks against human rights campaigners and opposition activists in countries with questionable human rights records,” the Citizen Lab report states.   Continue reading “Domestic spying using FinFisher’s surveillance software has spread worldwide”

Anti-War – by Philip Giraldi

Why is the United States so reluctant to negotiate with other countries and so prone to leap immediately to the option of using force or chicanery in lieu of a more deliberative foreign policy? It might partly be because we Americans are not very good at the subtlety and give-and-take that diplomacy requires, but it could also be because our framework for operating, which shapes what we do and how we do it, is hopelessly skewed. One might even argue that the dominant neoconservative way of thinking has thoroughly infected both parties’ perceptions of how a foreign policy is supposed to work, leading official Washington to see everything in terms of “us and them” while at the same time exonerating every American misstep by citing the largely bogus national security argument to explain places like Libya, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran.   Continue reading “Diplomacy Is a Four Letter Word – The Neocon Triumph”

US Crow

Tear Gas, also known as Capstun ‘capsaicin’ is the active oil in red peppers. If you don’t think something derived from a pepper can be as good as CN or CS tear gas, think again. Even if a person is maced, he can still function if he is motivated enough. Capstun is an irritant that will cause nasal passages to causing the person to breather through their mouth, in turn forcing them to inhale the capstun which causes an immediate reaction…choking. Capstun will effect the eyes with extreme irritation and .tearing. In addition to irritating skin, basically your skin feels like its on fire. Capstun isn’t ‘lethal’ by normal standards, and its affects are not permanent.   Continue reading “How to Make Tear Gas”

NBC News – by PETE WILLIAMS AND ROBERT WINDREM

The Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday told airlines about a potential new shoe-bomb threat and urged them to pay extra attention to flights from overseas into the United States.

Several officials familiar with the advisory told NBC News that “very recent intelligence” considered credible warns of possible attempts to attack passenger jets using explosives concealed in shoes.   Continue reading “Homeland Security Alerts Airlines to Possible Shoe-Bomb Threat”

Washington Post – by Ellen Nakashima and Josh Hicks

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson on Wednesday ordered the cancellation of a plan by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to develop a national license-plate tracking system after privacy advocates raised concern about the initiative.The order came just days after ICE solicited proposals from companies to compile a database of license-plate information from commercial and law enforcement tag readers. Officials said the database was intended to help apprehend fugitive illegal immigrants, but the plan raised concerns that the movements of ordinary citizens under no criminal suspicion could be scrutinized.   Continue reading “Department of Homeland Security cancels national license-plate tracking plan”

The Lonely Conservative

The Department of Health and Human Services wants full access to all of your social media data to monitor public health issues. Not only do they want current data, the creeps want to be able to go back five years.

The Washington Free Beacon has the details of the latest government intrusion into our lives.   Continue reading “HHS Wants Full Access To All Of Your Social Media”

Red Flag News

BBC News – by Alastair Leithead 

While historic winter storms have battered much of the US, California is suffering its worst drought on record. So why is America’s most valuable farming state using billions of gallons of water to grow hay – specifically alfalfa – which is then shipped to China?

The reservoirs of California are just a fraction of capacity amid the worst drought in the state’s history.

“This should be like Eden right now,” farmer John Dofflemyer says, looking out over a brutally dry, brown valley as his remaining cows feed on the hay he’s had to buy in to keep them healthy.   Continue reading “California drought: Why farmers are ‘exporting water’ to China”