From the Trenches World Report

RT News

Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a branch of Homeland Security, logged about 700 covert drone operations on behalf of federal, state and local police agencies from 2010 to 2012, according to a civil-liberties group.

Unmanned aerial vehicles from the CBS fleet – the largest outside of the US Pentagon – are being used by outside law enforcement agencies much more often than previously believed, according to the findings of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit initiated by the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation (EEF).   Continue reading “US police employing border-patrol drones – and the videos are ‘top secret’”

Yahoo News

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Three Russian servicemen and four gunmen were killed in a shootout in southern Russia on Wednesday during a sweep for militants before the Sochi Winter Olympics.

Russia’s National Anti-terrorism Committee (NAC) said the dead gunmen included a man accused of carrying out a car bomb attack in the city of Pyatigorsk late last year which killed three people.   Continue reading “Russian security forces battle militants before Olympics”

Before It’s News – by Deborah Dupre

Throughout Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning, the entire Louisiana sinkhole area that is monitored with helicorders recorded even higher than usual seismic activity than it has been recording. Widespread seismic activity has been occurring all along the edge of the Laurentia, the North American Craton.

Following the Puerto Rico earthquake and coinciding with the California strong quake at 1:35 this morning, the Louisiana Sinkhole in Assumption Parish recorded higher than usual seismic activity all Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, according to the official USGS helicorders monitored by seismologists.   Continue reading “Entire Louisiana Sinkhole Area Shook All Night, Big Methane Gas Gathering Worries Officials”

Charleston Voice- by Misoir

My fellow Americans, what you are about to read is not taught in your history books, said on television, or even known by virtually any American. Until today it was not even known by me but after extensive research the facts are, to say the least; shocking.

If you know me, as most on ATS do, I do try not to ‘pump things up’ beyond where they belong. So when I declare something to be shocking, unless you are a devout cynic or skeptic, this will shock you too.    Continue reading “Absolutely shocking facts about the Republican Party – They Are Today What They’ve Always Been”

Yahoo News – by Rob Garver, The Fiscal Times

Between 2002 and 2012, federal agencies spent more than half a trillion dollars ($688 billion) on payments that should never have been made.

Every year, according to their own recordkeeping, the agencies that administer major federal programs are now paying out more than $100 billion dollars improperly, and even though they’re aware of the problem, they recover only a tiny fraction for taxpayers. This adds up to huge losses for the U.S. Treasury.   Continue reading “Feds Blow $100 Billion Annually on Incorrect Payments”

MassPrivateI

A federal judge who endorsed “suspicion-less” searches of laptops, cameras and cell phones at the border has set up a possible Supreme Court showdown challenging what critics call “Constitution-free zones” and the Obama administration’s dragnet approach to national security.

A decision by Judge Edward Korman upholding the federal government’s right to search travelers’ electronic devices at or near the border conflicts with a similar ruling in California. That ruling requires a “reasonable suspicion” of criminal activity before agents can confiscate and examine personal photos, laptops and files. Korman’s ruling does not.   Continue reading “Judge gives ok to ‘Constitution-free zones’ within 100 miles of border”

World Events and the Bible

WEB Notes: The dictator in chief has done enough to help. We are hearing and reading of people’s healthcare premiums double and triple in price to the point where people are having to go without. And since when did America’s businesses ever need the help of the government? Their help only breaks our bank accounts. Meanwhile, he talks about a recovery that is an illusion. Currently, there are 91,800,000 people in America not in the workforce out of 320,000,000 men, woman and children. You call that a recovery?   Continue reading “Dictator Obama On Executive Actions: ‘I’ve Got A Pen And I’ve Got A Phone’”

Front Page Mag – by Daniel Greenfield 

Obama sent 1,600 Americans to die in Afghanistan but never believed in it or cared about it. The only military issue he did care about was gays in the military. And that’s according to his own Secretary of Defense.

This is what a liberal at war looks like.

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates sharply questions President Obama’s “passion” for military matters in his forthcoming memoir, and claims that practically the only time he saw that in the president was during his push to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell.”   Continue reading “Secretary of Defense: Only Military Issue Obama Cared About was Gays”

Kadena Air Base

Pacific Air Forces Command public affairs

1/13/2014 – JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii — Approximately 12 F-22 Raptors and about 300 personnel from Langley Air Force Base, Va., are set to deploy to Kadena AB in mid-January, demonstrating continuing U.S. commitment to stability and security in the Asia-Pacific Region.   Continue reading “F-22 Raptors deploying to Kadena Air Base, Japan”

Fox News

The FBI has so far found no evidence that would warrant the Justice Department filing criminal charges in its investigation into the IRS targeting scandal, federal officials confirm to Fox News.

The findings, which were first reported by The Wall Street Journal, could intensify the debate over the scandal, in which the IRS allegedly targeted Tea Party and other conservative groups applying for non-exempt tax status for special scrutiny.   Continue reading “Officials say no evidence criminal charges warranted so far in IRS targeting probe”

Breitbart – by MATTHEW BOYLE

The omnibus spending bill before Congress continues to fund U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) advertising programs for food stamps in foreign countries like Mexico, Breitbart News has learned.

The bill was hashed out between House Appropriations Committee chairman Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY) and Senate Appropriations Committee chairwoman Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD). The funding will continue despite claims in a document the House Appropriations Committee published that the bill contains a “prohibition” on such programs. Page three of this press document states regarding food stamps that the omnibus spending bill contains a “prohibition on advertisements or outreach with foreign governments.”   Continue reading “Omnibus Spending Bill Continues Funding Food Stamp Ads in Mexico”

Reuters

Efforts to renew emergency federal jobless benefits for 1.5 million Americans stalled in the Senate on Tuesday when Democrats and Republicans rejected each other’s proposals.

Both sides vowed to keep looking for a compromise, but it appeared unlikely they would find one before next week’s Senate recess.   Continue reading “Effort to extend jobless benefits stalls in Senate”

Kentucky.com – by BILL ESTEP

Two Kentucky water systems temporarily shut down their intakes early Monday as a plume of the chemical spilled last week in West Virginia passed in the Ohio River.

The cities of Ashland and Russell stopped drawing water from the Ohio after the chemical — 4-methycyclohexane methanol, or MCHM — reached Ashland at 5:30 a.m., according to the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection.   Continue reading “Two Kentucky water systems shut intakes as chemical plume passes in Ohio River”

New York Times – by EDWARD WYATT

WASHINGTON — Internet service providers are free to make deals with services like Netflix or Amazon allowing those companies to pay to stream their products to online viewers through a faster, express lane on the web, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday.

Federal regulators had tried to prevent those deals, saying they would give large, rich companies an unfair edge in reaching consumers. But since the Internet is not considered a utility under federal law, the court said, it is not subject to regulations banning the arrangements.   Continue reading “Rebuffing F.C.C. in ‘Net Neutrality’ Case, Court Allows Streaming Deals”

From Sovereign to Serf

Whether you think of it as an analogy or as an accurate portrayal of the human condition, Stefan Molyneux’s controversial essay about the rise and (hopefully) fall of the tax farmer will make you think. Early humans could only produce what they consumed. There was no excess for a slave master to steal, so there was no point owning slaves. However, when agricultural improvements allowed for excess crop production, human ownership became an advantage. History tells us that early governments were in fact a ruling class of slave hunters who believed that because humans could produce more than they consumed, they were worth capturing, breaking in and owning. Early Egyptian and Chinese empires were in reality human farms where captured humans were domesticated and owned like any other livestock. – KK   Continue reading “Human Farm: The Story of Your Enslavement”

ABC News – by LARA JAKES AP National Security Writer

The United States pledged Wednesday to send an additional $380 million in aid this year to help victims of Syria’s brutal civil war, but warned that international efforts to ease their suffering will fail if Syrian President Bashar Assad refuses to let humanitarian assistance get to people who need it.

The U.S. is the largest single international donor to the Syrian crisis. But its new funding commitment, announced by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, is only a fraction of the $6.5 billion the United Nation hopes to raise for aid to Syria in 2014.   Continue reading “US Pledges Additional $380m for Syria War Victims”

Washington’s Blog

Stunning Hypocrisy

The big banks have laundered hundreds of billions of dollars for drug cartels. See this, this, this, this, this and this (indeed, drug dealers kept the banking system afloat during the depths of the 2008 financial crisis).   Continue reading “Big Banks Launder Hundreds of Billions of Illegal Drug Cartel Money … But Refuse to Provide Services for Legal Marijuana”

The Ugly Truth

Israeli, American researchers publish work on new genetic risk factor for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder. The grounds of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

jpost.com

Israeli and American researchers investigating a healthy Ashkenazi Jewish population have identified a new genetic risk factor for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (manic-depression).   Continue reading “Researchers find new risk factor for two mental illness disorders in Ashkenazi genes”