From the Trenches World Report

Yahoo News – by JAKE PEARSON and TOM HAYS

NEW YORK (AP) — Four people were taken into custody on drug charges after police investigating Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death executed search warrants, two people with knowledge of the investigation said Wednesday, and the medical examiner’s office said more tests are needed to determine what killed him.

There was no timetable for Hoffman’s autopsy to be finished, said medical examiner’s office spokeswoman Julie Bolcer, who declined to discuss the pending tests. Toxicology and tissue tests are typically done in such cases.   Continue reading “Hoffman autopsy inconclusive, further tests needed”

Mail.com

More than a million homes and businesses were left in darkness and cold Wednesday after snow, sleet and freezing rain moved into the Northeast. The region’s second winter storm of the week canceled classes, closed government and business offices and sent cars and trucks sliding on slippery roads and highways. Around a foot of snow fell in some states. Moving in overnight from the Midwest, where it wreaked similar havoc, the storm tested the region already battered by a series of heavy snows and below-freezing temperatures this winter.   Continue reading “Lights out for 1M as winter storm slams Northeast”

Mail.com

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A woman convicted of torturing and killing a mentally impaired man she lured to Texas with the promise of marriage was put to death Wednesday evening in a rare execution of a female prisoner.

The lethal injection of Suzanne Basso, 59, made the New York native only the 14th woman executed in the U.S. since the Supreme Court in 1976 allowed capital punishment to resume. Almost 1,400 men have been put to death during that time.   Continue reading “Woman executed in Texas for 1998 torture killing”

The Daily Caller – by Eric Owens

Administrators at a school in the South Suburbs of Chicago are up in arms over a state law (House Bill 0183) that requires schools to post small signs announcing that guns cannot be carried in schools.

The new law relates to a new concealed-carry license law, reports the SouthtownStar, a suburban newspaper. Schools in Illinois did not allow guns previously. Now, though, schools — and churches, government agencies, liquor stores and certain other organizations — must post 4-by-6-inch stickers as visible reminders that guns are forbidden on premises.   Continue reading “School officials deeply troubled over guns appearing ON SIGNS BANNING GUNS”

The Daily Caller – by Caroline May

The Obama administration has issued new exemptions to a law that bars certain asylum-seekers and refugees who provided “limited material support” to terrorists who are believed to pose no threat from the U.S.

The Department of Homeland Security and the State Department published the new exemptions Wednesday in the Federal Register to narrow a ban in the Immigration and Nationality Act excluding refugees and asylum seekers who had provided limited material support, no matter how minor, to terrorists.   Continue reading “Obama admin unilaterally changes law to allow immigrants with ‘limited’ terror contact into US”

Last Resistance – by Michael Minkoff

Last night, Bill Nye the Science Guy and Ken Ham the Creation Man debated the question, “Is creationism a viable model of origins in today’s modern scientific era?” I was happy the “great creationism debate” happened, but I have mixed feelings about how it turned out.1

First, it wasn’t really much of a debate. Both sides had important points to emphasize and ideas to present, but there was little dialogue between the two worldviews. Questions asked by one side to the other were left unanswered, and all in all the debate afforded ample fodder for confirmation bias—and little else.   Continue reading “Thoughts on the Bill Nye vs. Ken Ham Creationism Debate”

Last Resistance – by Dave Jolly

Dr. Kristin Held of San Antonio, Texas discovered that at least one insurance company she had contracted with was following President Obama’s example and changing the terms of her contract without notifying her or obtaining her consent.

Held is an ophthalmologist who has taught at the University of Texas Health Science Center and served as the director of the Ophthalmology Clinic at the Brady Green Community Health Center.  Currently she works in private practice at the Stone Oak Ophthalmology Center in San Antonio.   Continue reading “Texas Doctor Rebels against Obamacare – Calls it Socialism”

Personal Liberty Digest – by Sam Rolley

During a press conference on Wednesday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the unilateral creation of new “climate action hubs” that will be placed in seven locations around the country.

“On the heels of passage of the farm bill, the administration will take executive action to help farmers, ranchers and rural communities combat climate change and adapt to extreme weather and other damage it causes,” a White House official said in an email ahead of Wednesday’s announcement.   Continue reading “Agriculture Secretary: Government Will Not Wait For Congress, Laws In Implementing Obama Climate Plan”

ABC News

Crews declared a blaze at an underground nuclear repository in southeastern New Mexico snuffed out and determined that there was minimal damage after a truck hauling salt caught fire and prompted an evacuation.

Two mine rescue teams went into the earth at the Carlsbad-area Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, where the federal government seals away its low-grade nuclear waste, including plutonium-contaminated clothing and tools. The teams determined the fire was no longer burning and reported the air was clear and safe to breathe, a news release and Susan Scott, a spokeswoman who answered an emergency line, said late Wednesday.   Continue reading “Minimal Damage From NM Nuclear Repository Fire”

Daily Kos – by akadjian

ABC News – by SUSAN DONALDSON JAMES

Subway said today it is removing a chemical used in yoga mats and shoe soles from the bread of it its popular sandwiches after a food blogger got more than 50,000 signatures in a petition drive.

“The complete conversion to have this product out of the bread will be done soon,” Subway said in a statement. The company said the move had nothing to do with the protest and that it was “already in the process of removing azodicarbonamide as part of our bread improvement efforts.”   Continue reading “Subway Takes Chemical Out of Sandwich Bread After Protest”

Anti-War – by Justin Raimondo

Why is the talented journalist Barrett Brown in jail – awaiting trial on charges that could keep him there for one hundred years?

A writer for Vanity Fair, the Guardian, and at one time an unofficial spokesman for the internet pirates known as “Anonymous,” Brown apparently stumbled on the murky world of “private” cyber-security firms and their covert relationship with the US government – and is now paying the consequences.   Continue reading “Free Barrett Brown”

WTFRLY 

A little-noticed, almost nonchalant, article in the Columbus Dispatch last week portends substantial environmental and economic mischief.

The article notes that Scotts Company is going forward with plans to commercialize GMO Kentucky bluegrass. Mentioned in passing was that this grass, engineered for resistance to the herbicide glyphosate (AKA Roundup), is not regulated by USDA, and that company employees will begin planting the grass at their homes.   Continue reading “GMO Grass Set for Lawns Across US – No Regulation Needed”

Canada Free Press – by Judi McLeod

If the entire Congress is willing to give President Barack Obama a pass on being a Marxist/Socialist,  why shouldn’t the allegedly right-of-centre Fox News Corp. comfortably do the same thing?

Whitewashing the fact that top Fox guy Bill O’Reilly said of Marxist Obama:  “He is not a bad guy.  I think people misread him”, Fox News followed O’Reilly February 2nd interview by heaping praise on him for “asking the right questions”.

If there was any chance of Obama answering the “right questions”, he would never have shown up for the Fox interview.    Continue reading “Can a Marxist who wants to take down the Free West really be “not a bad guy”?”