From the Trenches World Report

Reuters –  by Ben Blanchard

(Reuters) – China’s first aircraft carrier has successfully finished a series of tests during a training mission in the disputed South China Sea and has returned to port, state media reported.

Last month’s drills off the coast of Hainan Island marked not only the first time China has sent a carrier into the South China Sea but the first time it has maneuvered with the kind of strike group of escort ships U.S. carriers deploy, according to regional military officers and analysts.   Continue reading “China’s first aircraft carrier completes South China Sea drills”

ABC News – by MARK MOONEY

Federal officials will decided in the “coming weeks” whether to require new cars to include smart technology that would alert drivers of a coming crash, even in vehicles that are two or three cars away.

The vehicle-to-vehicle — or V2V — technology has undergone testing in recent years and has already been installed in some cars that are on the road.   Continue reading “Feds May Require Cars to Talk to Each Other to Avoid Crashes”

Yahoo Finance -by Hayley Peterson, Business Insider

Starbucks is known for aggressively going after small businesses that appear to infringe on its trademark rights.

So it was no surprise that a tiny brewpub in Missouri got a cease-and-desist letter from the coffee chain after it started selling a beer called “Frappicino.”   Continue reading “Missouri Bar Gets Cease-And-Desist Order From Starbucks, Responds With Hilarious Letter And $6 Check”

CNN – by Evan Pérez

Washington (CNN) — A dramatic shootout between authorities and suspected cartel gunmen at a Mexican seaside resort this month has ties to a botched U.S. gun operation.

A U.S. official said Tuesday that investigators have traced at least one firearm recovered at a December 18 gunfight in Puerto Peñasco, across from the Arizona border, to Operation Fast and Furious.

That’s the disastrous operation run by agents in the Phoenix office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.   Continue reading “Fast and Furious gun turns up after Mexican resort shootout”

Forbes – by Harry Binswinger

President Obama’s Kansas speech is a remarkable document. In calling for more government controls, more taxation, more collectivism, he has two paragraphs that give the show away. Take a look at them.

there is a certain crowd in Washington who, for the last few decades, have said, let’s respond to this economic challenge with the same old tune. “The market will take care of everything,” they tell us. If we just cut more regulations and cut more taxes–especially for the wealthy–our economy will grow stronger. Sure, they say, there will be winners and losers. But if the winners do really well, then jobs and prosperity will eventually trickle down to everybody else. And, they argue, even if prosperity doesn’t trickle down, well, that’s the price of liberty.   Continue reading “Obama To Americans: You Don’t Deserve To Be Free”

Leegly

Meet José Mujica. He may look like your average farmer or grandfather, but he is anything but. This man is globally known as the world’s “poorest President” because he lives a life of humility… all while leading the country of Uruguay. As a man who trulycares about his people, he doesn’t take an obscene amount of money to just act as a politician. He donates about 90% of his $12,000 monthly salary to charities that benefit poor people and small entrepreneurs.

Other countries, listen up.   Continue reading “The world’s “poorest” President”

Living Alongside Wildlife

Our extinction crisis continues; 2013 allowed us to safely conclude that we will never again see the animals listed below (2012 version here).

The Formosan Clouded Leopard (Neofelis nebulosa brachyura) of Taiwan is now thought to be extinct. None have been seen in over thirty years, despite a recent and intensive 13-year effort to document one. We did just about everything we could to eliminate this animal; we destroyed their habitat, killed them for their skins, and got rid of the other animals they normally ate. They didn’t have a chance.   Continue reading “10 Animals That Went Extinct in 2013”

Presscore

Since 1871 the United States president and the United States Congress has been playing politics under a different set of rules and policies.  The American people do not know that there are two Constitutions in the United States.  The first penned by the leaders of the newly independent states of the United States in 1776.  On July 4, 1776, the people claimed their independence from the Crown (temporal authority of the Roman Catholic Pope)  and Democracy was born.  And for 95 years the United States people were free and independent.  That freedom ended in 1871 when the original “Constitution for the United States for America” was changed to the “THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA”.   Continue reading “Two Constitutions in the United States. 1st was illegally suspended in favor of a Vatican “Crown” corporation in 1871”

Mail.com

HOUSTON (AP) — Former first lady Barbara Bush remains hospitalized with a respiratory-related issue, but her condition hasn’t changed, a spokesman for her husband’s office said Wednesday.

Bush, 88, was admitted to Houston Methodist Hospital on Monday, though it wasn’t announced until former President George H.W. Bush’s office released a statement Tuesday night. “She is in great spirits, has already received visits from her husband and family, and is receiving fantastic care,” the statement read, promising to provide updates as warranted.   Continue reading “Barbara Bush remains hospitalized in Houston”

Reuters – by JAN LOPATKA AND JASON HOVET

(Reuters) – The Palestinian ambassador to Prague was killed on Wednesday in an explosion that was triggered when he opened the door to a safe, Czech police said.

Jamal al-Jamal, 56, died in hospital after the incident at his home on the morning of New Year’s Day.

“According to information from the investigation so far, this was definitely not a terrorist attack,” national police president Martin Cervicek said on Czech Television.   Continue reading “Palestinian envoy killed by explosion at Prague home”

Huffington Post

An Alabama couple is shocked at the backlash they’ve experienced after naming their newborn son “Krimson Tyde.”

Summer and Steven Steele, who are from the small town of Andalusia, Ala., named their son after Alabama University’s football team, the Alabama Crimson Tide. The couple told Alabama Media Group thatthey are “big Alabama [football] fans.”   Continue reading “Alabama Couple Names Baby Krimson Tyde, Is Shocked By Backlash”

Huffington Post – by Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK, Dec 30 (Reuters) – New York City has sued FedEx Corp, accusing the package delivery company of illegally delivering millions of contraband cigarettes to people’s homes, violating a 2006 settlement.

Monday’s lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan and seeks $52 million of civil fines and unpaid taxes from FedEx, which is based in Memphis, Tennessee.   Continue reading “FedEx Sued By NYC For Illegally Shipping Cigarettes To Homes”

Infowars – by Paul Joseph Watson

The Department of Health and Human Services has ordered 14 million doses of potassium iodide, the compound that protects the body from radioactive poisoning in the aftermath of severe nuclear accidents, to be delivered before the beginning of February.

According to a solicitation posted on the Federal Business Opportunities website, the DHHS asks contractors to supply, “potassium iodide tablet, 65mg, unit dose package of 20s; 700,000 packages (of 20s),” a total of 14 million tablets. The packages must be delivered on or before February 1, 2014.   Continue reading “US Government Orders 14 Million Doses of Potassium Iodide”