From the Trenches World Report

Huffington Post – by Luke Johnson

WASHINGTON — Rep. Rob Andrews (D-N.J.) will resign his seat Tuesday, a source familiar with the situation told The Huffington Post. The congressman will hold a press conference at 11:30 to make the announcement.

The Philadelphia Inquirer first reported that Andrews was leaving to take a job at a Philadelphia law firm.   Continue reading “Rob Andrews Resigning From Congress”

RT News

Hundreds of US soldiers are under investigation in the US for allegedly embezzling “tens of millions” of dollars using a National Guard fund. Lawmakers have called the investigation one of the largest in US army history.

An Army audit revealed that American soldiers had been pocketing millions of dollars from a National Guard fund, which gives bonuses to troops that recruit their friends into the Army. The audit found that at least 1,200 recruiters had lined their pockets with potentially fraudulent pay outs, while another 2000 had received “questionable payments.”   Continue reading “Hundreds of US soldiers pocketed ‘tens of millions’ of dollars in fraud scandal”

Before It’s News – by Mort Amsel

Gallup publishes in February of each year a survey of the extent of self-described religiosity in each state; and they report that religiosity is rising throughout the country. Gallup headlined this year’s survey on February 3rd, “Mississippi Maintains Hold as Most Religious U.S. State; Vermont is the least religious.” Last year, it was “Mississippi Most Religious State, Vermont Least Religious.” No change there: in fact, the rank-orders of the 50 states (plus D.C.) are almost unchanged during the past 12 months.   Continue reading “More Americans Turning To God”

Police State USA

FORT WORTH, TX — An elderly man was slain in his own garage because police “inadvertently began searching” the wrong address while investigating a burglary call.  Spotting a man who appeared “standoffish” in his own garage, police opened fire, killing a 72-year-old grandfather.  After months of investigation, the officer has been cleared and is back on the streets.

In the earliest hour of May 28th, 2013, Jerry Waller was awoken after midnight to the sound of his neighbor’s home burglar alarm. Doing the neighborly thing, Mr. Waller got out of bed to check on the family next door. He took a pistol with him as his wife stayed behind.   Continue reading “Officer cleared after going to wrong address, shooting innocent grandpa in his garage”

RT News

As many as 300 candlelight vigils in cities across the US were scheduled for Monday night, as those in protest of the Keystone XL pipeline urged President Obama to ultimately reject the project that will ship tar sands oil from western Canada to Texas.

In parks, city halls, churches and other venues, thousands of peaceful demonstrators showed their opposition to the 1,179-mile pipeline that would move high-carbon tar sands oil through the heart of the United States, from western Canada to a hub in Nebraska, where it would then connect with other existing pipelines to deliver 800,000 barrels of crude oil a day to refineries in Texas.   Continue reading “Some 300 rallies held in US after State Dept green lights Keystone XL”

RT News

One day after Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in his apartment, police are looking into whether his apparent heroin overdose is linked to a lethal batch of the drug that recently arrived on the East Coast.

As noted by Raw Story, law enforcement agencies have spent the last month pursuing batches of heroin laced with fentanyl – a powerful painkiller – that have been deemed responsible for dozens of deaths in multiple states. The deadly drug cocktail has made its way east from Pennsylvania, and has been detected in states such as Maryland, New York and Rhode Island.   Continue reading “Lethal heroin batches hit East Coast same week as actor Seymour Hoffman died”

Mail.com

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — A tiny minnow that lives only in Oregon backwaters is the first fish ever taken off U.S. Endangered Species Act protection because it is no longer threatened with extinction.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was to announce Tuesday that the Oregon chub was recovered, 21 years after it went on the endangered species list. The agency will monitor the fish for nine years to make sure populations continue to grow.   Continue reading “Tiny minnow is 1st fish taken off endangered list”

Mail.com

IONIA, Mich. (AP) — A convicted killer captured after a one-day escape from a Michigan prison has been charged with kidnapping, carjacking and escape.

The Ionia County District Court says charges were filed Monday while authorities were still hunting for Michael David Elliot. He was captured Monday night in a stolen car in LaPorte County, Ind., more than 150 miles from the Ionia prison.   Continue reading “Charges filed against escaped Michigan prisoner”

WND – by Aaron Klein

With Democrats and Republicans working together to craft legislation on immigration reform, it is becoming increasingly clear the Senate’s immigration bill from last year will serve as the foundation for a future framework.

WND has reviewed the entire 1,190-page bill and found numerous largely unreported sections that are of import to the American public. Here are the top five:   Continue reading “Top 5 Shockers Inside Immigration Bill”

MassPrivateI

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, who is the vice-chairman of the National Governors Association, addressed the issue during the annual “State of the States” speech earlier this month in Washington, D.C. 

“As the nation develops resiliency to cyberattacks, the Guard should be mobilized to support federal and state efforts to protect networks and respond to incidents,” said Hickenlooper, a Democrat. “While the federal government seeks to clarify how it will work with the private sector and states to better secure cyberspace, states are already moving forward to develop and implement new cyberpolicies to protect their economies and ensure public safety.”   Continue reading “National Guard cyberspies employed at Google, Boeing, Cisco, Verizon, and Microsoft”

Canada Free Press – by Sarge

I don’t watch Obama when he speaks. I read the transcripts after the fact. I do this because there’s always the possibility a person such as Obama has the charisma to twist words in a mercurial and slick manner so it seems ingenious as opposed to disingenuous. The guy has the ability to advertise dog crap as smelling good in comparison to the reality. This is a characteristic of many great politicians: Hitler, Mussolini, Lenin, Mao, Nixon and others.   Continue reading “Camouflage is his favorite color”

Fox News

The IRS’ announcement Monday that it will pay cancelled 2013 bonuses has infuriated Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch, who wants to know why an agency with employees who “inappropriately” targeted conservative political groups would reinstate the rewards.

“The IRS is accused of targeting conservative groups, with many of its employees having conducted themselves in a manner inappropriate for government officials, and the agency decides to reinstate employee bonuses?” asked Hatch, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee. “This is outrageous.”   Continue reading “Senator rebukes IRS over decision to reinstate 2013 employee bonuses”

AlterNet – by Steven Rosenfeld

Washington Post – by VALERIE STRAUSS

The Board of Directors of the New York State United Teachers, a union with more than 600,000 members, has approved a resolution that withdraws its earlier support for the Common Core State Standards ”as implemented and interpreted” by the New York Education Department. It also declares ”no confidence” in the policies of State Education Commissioner John King and calls for a three-year moratorium on high-stakes consequences from standardized testing.

The action is a blow to supporters of the Common Core, which was approved several years ago in 45 states and the District of Columbia but which has become increasingly controversial around the country, with a number of states pulling back from the initiative or changing the standards. Some states, such as Florida, are actually changing the name so as not to be seen as being identified with the Core.   Continue reading “NY teachers union pulls its support from Common Core, urges removal of state ed chief”