From the Trenches World Report

Bloomberg – by David Brin

As if you didn’t already have enough to be nervous about, here’s something creepy to ponder as the new year opens.

This what-if isn’t technological, social, political or even science-fictional. Rather, it’s a bit of wholly unscientific, superstitious pattern-recognition. The last two centuries (and possibly more) didn’t “start” at their official point, the turning of a calendar from 00 to 01. That wasn’t when they began in essence, nor when they first bent the arc of history.   Continue reading “What If the 21st Century Begins in 2014?”

Christian Science Monitor – by Lisa Suhay

As winter storm Hercules takes hold of the East coast, parents have the opportunity to give older kids the mixed blessing of volunteering to help shelter and feed homeless adults, teens, and families before having to turn them back out into the storm.

This morning I woke at 4:30 a.m. after driving home to Norfolk, Va. from our first epic family trip to New York, New Jersey and D.C. with winter storm Hercules nipping at our heels.    Continue reading “Winter storm Hercules: Herculean effort to help homeless”

The World’s Healthiest Foods

What can high-iodine foods do for you?

• Help ensure proper thyroid gland functioning

What events can indicate a need for more high-iodine foods?  

• Goiter (enlargement of the thyroid gland)
• Fatigue
• Weakness
• Depression
• Weight gain   Continue reading “iodine”

New York Daily News – by DANIEL BEEKMAN

Queens-bred journalist Chris Faraone says NYPD cops illegally beat and arrested him while he was covering the one-year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, according to a new lawsuit.

Faraone, who was writing for the Boston Phoenix, an alternative weekly, claims he was lawfully “photographing, observing and investigating” a demonstration at One Chase Manhattan Plaza on Sept. 17, 2012 when one police officer ordered additional cops to “stop, tackle, batter, search, arrest, detain and imprison” him, without probable cause.   Continue reading “Journalist says NYPD beat and illegally arrested him during OWS march: suit”

Au Yahoo News

Washington (AFP) – The US government said Friday it has lodged an appeal against a judge’s ruling that the National Security Agency’s “almost Orwellian”bulk collection of telephone records is illegal.

Separately, spy chief James Clapper revealed that a secret court had renewed the NSA’s authority to gather call “metadata,” despite the controversy triggered when the program came to light.   Continue reading “US challenges ruling on ‘Orwellian’ NSA snooping”

AmmoLand

Arizona – -(Ammoland.com)-  I have often made the case that openly carrying guns is political speech of the first order.

Criminals almost never openly carry, because they do not want to draw attention to themselves.   Police virtually always know that open carriers are engaged in political activism.  An open carrier who had a loaded gun pointed at him by Grand Rapids, Michigan Police, when the police knew that he was not breaking any law, has filed a lawsuit charging violation of his rights on  first, second,  and fourth amendment grounds.   Continue reading “MI:Lawsuit says Open Carry is Political Speech, Police Knew Carry was Legal”

Voice of America

The Obama administration has announced two new executive actions aimed at strengthening federal background checks for gun purchasers.

One of the proposed rule changes aims to clarify who is prohibited from purchasing a gun for mental health reasons, while the other would make it easier to add mental health information to the background check system.   Continue reading “Obama Admin Proposes Gun Background Check Changes”

Yahoo News

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — A judge says the mother of a 13-year-old girl who was declared brain dead after having tonsil surgery can remove the child from a Northern California hospital as long as she assumes full responsibility for the move.

Jahi McMath has been on a ventilator for nearly a month, and her family has been fighting with medical officials to have her transferred out of Children’s Hospital Oakland.   Continue reading “Jahi McMath’s mom clear to take her from hospital”

The Detroit News – by George Hunter

Huffington Post – by M.L. JOHNSON

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture opened the door Friday to commercial sales of corn and soybean seeds genetically engineered to resist the weed killer 2,4-D, which is best known as an ingredient in the Vietnam War-era herbicide Agent Orange.

The U.S. military stopped using Agent Orange in 1971, and it has not been produced since the 1970s. Scientists don’t believe 2,4-D, which is legal and commonly used by gardeners and some farmers, was responsible for the health problems linked to Agent Orange.   Continue reading “New GMO Seeds Approved By USDA Able To Withstand 2,4-D, Weed Killer Used In Agent Orange”

NPR – by Tom Bowman

Starting Jan. 1, every woman in the Marines Corps was supposed to meet a new physical standard by performing three pullups. But that has been put off.

The Marine Corps announced it quietly. There was no news conference — just a notice on its social media sites and an item on its own TV show, The Corps Report.

Lance Cpl. Ally Beiswanger explained that the pullup test had been put off until sometime next year, to gather more data and “ensure all female Marines are given the best opportunity to succeed.”   Continue reading “Marines: Most Female Recruits Don’t Meet New Pullup Standard”

On New Year’s Day, I was sitting at a restaurant eating dinner with my wife and like most restaurants these days, they have this uncanny ability to be able to know how to ruin a customer’s appetite by simply putting up televisions at different areas of the restaurant and forcing you to watch one of three stations and those are CNN, FOX News or ESPN.

Why do they do this? Well, because they feel that by turning a television on, it will give them a homier, dining experience. What they fail to understand is that the reason why most people go out to eat is to have something other than a “homier, dining experience”. They want to get away from it all and enjoy a night out with their friends, family or loved one. But on the contrary, We the People are forced to watch what’s on TV and instead of enjoying our $20 meal at a fancy restaurant, we are either ready to throw it up or toss it at the TV. Great experience! And don’t forget the tip!   Continue reading “CNN Rings in the New Year with Terror Propaganda”

Politico – by JOSH GERSTEIN

Federal officials are ticked about a New York Times editorial published Thursday, not so much over its call for clemency or a plea deal for leaker Edward Snowden, but for accusing intelligence agencies of intentionally violating the law.

Drawing the particular ire of Obama administration officials is the Times’s suggestion that Snowden should be off the hook because he revealed that the government set out to act illegally on a broad scale.  Continue reading “Feds steamed at New York Times Snowden editorial”