From the Trenches World Report

RT News

Despite the explicit protections of the First Amendment, a majority of US institutions of higher learning enforce rules that severely restrict free speech on campus, according to a new study.

According to a report by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), 59 percent of US colleges and universities received a ‘red light’, meaning that the schools endorse policies that the watchdog group says impede on First Amendment rights.    Continue reading “Majority of US college campuses becoming ‘no-free-speech’ zones – report”

Yahoo Finance – by Mandi Woodruff

At a time when we carry computers in our pockets and our cars practically do the driving for us, a certain subset of people have willingly chosen to cut the cord on modern American life — for good.

Off-the-grid living — that is, using natural resources like sun and wind power to provide amenities like heat and electricity — has become commonplace in places like Terlingua, an isolated community in Southwest Texas. What was once a bustling mining town is now a veritable ghost town, tucked into the foothills of Big Bend National Park in the north Chihuahuan desert.   Continue reading “How this family of four lives ‘off the grid’ in the middle of the desert”

RT News

A West Virginia community hoping to determine whether its drinking water is safe after a catastrophic chemical spill will likely be left with serious doubts after the state governor said he could not confidently answer that question.

“We’ve been in this thing for 11 days. It’s a very complicated issue. I’m not a scientist, you know,” said Governor Earl Ray Tomblin.   Continue reading “‘I’m not a scientist’: W. Virginia governor addresses water safety after chemical spill”

RT News

A man attending a movie on Saturday at an AMC theater in Columbus, Ohio was pulled from a theater, detained, and questioned for over two hours by US Dept. of Homeland Security special agents tasked with fighting piracy – all for wearing Google Glass.

The man, who asked to remain anonymous, said that about an hour into a 19:45 EST showing of ‘Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit,’ a man who flashed an official-looking badge “yank[ed] the Google Glass” off his face, asking him to exit the theater. The man was attending the film with his wife at the AMC theater at Easton Town Center.   Continue reading “Google Glass moviegoer detained for hours on suspicion of piracy”

RT News

A US federal judge in Washington wrote that a suspected internet pirate should not be prosecuted solely because his computer’s IP address was identified by a film studio. The landmark opinion may tip the fortunes of defendants in similar situations.

The Hollywood executives behind the movie ‘Elf Man’ filed a lawsuit against hundreds of people, alleging that they were guilty of copyright infringement because their internet protocol (IP) address was found to have illegally downloaded the film. An IP address can be likened to a computer’s online fingerprint; each is unique to the machine it originates from.   Continue reading “IP address does not prove online piracy, US judge says in landmark ruling”

RT News

Geneva 2 quickly descended into a war of words, with each successive speaker ratcheting up the rhetoric as tensions from the protracted civil war which has ravaged the country for three years quickly bled into the peace conference.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday kicked off the long-awaited international peace conference for Syria, opening the international bid to end the blodshed.   Continue reading “‘No one, Mr. Kerry, has right to withdraw president’s legitimacy’ – Syrian FM”

Mail.com

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A new, 9-meter (29.5-foot) sculpture of Nelson Mandela is billed as the biggest statue of the South African leader. It also has a tiny, barely visible quirk: a sculpted rabbit tucked inside one of the bronze ears.

South African officials want the miniature bunny removed from the statue, which was unveiled outside the government complex in Pretoria, the capital, on Dec. 16, a day after Mandela’s funeral. The department of arts and culture said it didn’t know the two sculptors, Andre Prinsloo and Ruhan Janse van Vuuren, had added a rabbit, said to be a discreet signature on their work.   Continue reading “Quirky bunny on Mandela statue causes stir”

News Au

BEHIND a small waterfall in the Shale Creek Preserve section of Chestnut Ridge Park in the suburb of Buffalo, New York, you’ll find one of the world’s weirdest wonders.

A dancing golden flame burning within a waterfall – it’s so odd it seems like an optical illusion.

Scientists are baffled at the mystery of New York’s eternal flame, unsure where the gas that keeps the flame eternally alight comes from.   Continue reading “Eternal flame in Shale Creek Preserve of Chestnut Ridge Park in Buffalo, New York”

Washington Examiner – by Paul Bedard

Don’t believe the happy talk coming out of the White House, Federal Reserve and Treasury Department when it comes to the real unemployment rate and the true “Misery Index.” Because, according to an influential Wall Street advisor, the figures are a fraud.

In a memo to clients provided to Secrets, David John Marotta calculates the actual unemployment rate of those not working at a sky-high 37.2 percent, not the 6.7 percent advertised by the Fed, and the Misery Index at over 14, not the 8 claimed by the government.   Continue reading “Wall Street adviser: Actual unemployment is 37.2%, ‘misery index’ worst in 40 years”

Apple Insider – by Shane Cole

Plaintiffs Adam Christensen, Jeffrey Scolnick, and William Farrell claim that they were forced to provide their zip code when making credit card purchases at Apple retail stores in Massachusetts, a practice that the suit contends is illegal under the Massachusetts Unfair Trade Practices Act. That statute makes it unlawful to compel customers to provide personally identifiable information beyond that which is required by credit card issuers to verify the transaction.    Continue reading “Massachusetts lawsuit accuses Apple of misusing customers’ personal info”

Tech Dirt – by Tim Cushing

David Eckert, the Deming, NM man who was subjected to hours of invasive anal “searches” by two police officers (and a very compliant hospital staff), has received a settlement from two of the entities named in his lawsuit. For those of you who don’t remember what Eckert went through in order to “produce” drugs he simply didn’t have, here’s the rundown.   Continue reading “Man Subjected To Multiple Rectal Searches And Enemas By Police Officers Receives $1.6 Million Settlement”

Tenth Amendment Center

The state-level effort to turn off water and electricity to the National Security Agency (NSA) got a major boost today as legislators in Tennessee introduced a bill to ban the state from providing material support to the federal agency.

A long-standing secretive NSA computing facility calls Oak Ridge home. According to NSA researcher James Bamford, the NSA runs most data it gathers “from code breaking to word captures,” through computers at Oak Ridge and NSA headquarters in Ft. Meade, Md.   Continue reading “Tennessee Lawmakers Introduce Bill to Take on NSA Encryption-Breaking Facility at Oak Ridge”

CNN

Police killed a suspected militant leader in a shootout in Russia’s restive republic of Dagestan, state media said Tuesday, amid increasing security concerns ahead of the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

It’s also emerged that Russian authorities are hunting two more ‘black widow’ suspects — a notorious type of terrorist that’s emerged in Russia’s clashes with Chechen separatists.   Continue reading “Russian forces hunt Dagestan militants, ‘black widows’”

The Common Sense Show – by Dave Hodges

“Everything for the state, nothing outside the state, nothing above the state”  Benito Mussolini

“We‘ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.”   Barack Obama

“America: From Freedom to Fascism”  Aaron Russo   Continue reading “None Dare Call It Genocidal Fascism”