From the Trenches World Report

RT News

In defending the NSA’s surveillance policies, many have cited the agency’s claim that it merely collects phone numbers dialed, lengths of calls, and other metadata. Yet researchers now say the NSA can identify individuals in that vast collection of data.

Scholars at Stanford University in California set out to determine how, if at all, the NSA’s metadata collection impacts the individual Americans whose information is swept up. The indiscriminate collection of phone records is one of the NSA’s primary surveillance programs, and one of the first revealed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. US President Obama sat down with Charlie Rose of PBS in June to defend the government’s position.   Continue reading “NSA can easily find individuals hidden in metadata – study”

Mail.com

TOKYO (AP) — Threatening lawsuits and protests, opponents are gearing up to fight a decision by Okinawa’s governor that could pave the way for a new U.S. military base on the southern Japanese island.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel welcomed Friday’s decision, calling it “the most significant milestone” so far in a long-running battle to realign U.S. forces in Okinawa. The new base is designed to reduce the impact of the heavy U.S. military presence in Okinawa by replacing another base in a more congested area, but opponents want the operations moved off Okinawa completely.   Continue reading “Opponents to fight new US military base on Okinawa”

RT News

A United States federal judge said Friday that the National Security Agency’s controversial bulk phone data collection program doesn’t violate the law.

That ruling came courtesy of US District Judge William Pauley, who decided in favor of the NSA early Friday in a case filed this past June by the American Civil Liberties Union against Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.   Continue reading “US judge rules NSA phone surveillance program is legal”

Press TV

The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) said some 27 million appointments with family doctors will take place across England in 2014 at least seven days after they are booked.   Continue reading “Millions of UK patients to wait week to see doctor”

Washington Post – by Steve Vogel, October 4, 2011

Some of the nation’s biggest banks and mortgage companies have defrauded veterans and taxpayers out of hundreds of millions of dollars by disguising illegal fees in veterans’ home refinancing loans, according to a whistleblower suit unsealed in federal court in Atlanta.

The suit accuses the companies, including Wells Fargo, Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase and GMAC Mortgage, of engaging in “a brazen scheme to defraud both our nation’s veterans and the United States treasury” of millions of dollars in connection with home loans guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs.   Continue reading “Flashback: Suit alleges banks and mortgage companies cheated veterans and U.S. taxpayers”

WJLA News

(CNN) – More than a million Americans who rely on federal unemployment will see their benefits dry up on Saturday.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers has proposed a short-term extension to a 2008 law that extended unemployment benefits to millions of jobless people, but in the absence of that, about 1.3 million people will lose benefits over the weekend.   Continue reading “Unemployment benefits to end Saturday for 1.3 million jobless Americans”

Fox News – by Kelley Beaucar Vlahos

As if out of a Charles Dickens novel, people struggling to pay overdue fines and fees associated with court costs for even the simplest traffic infractions are being thrown in jail across the United States.

Critics are calling the practice the new “debtors’ prison” — referring to the jails that flourished in the U.S. and Western Europe over 150 years ago. Before the time of bankruptcy laws and social safety nets, poor folks and ruined business owners were locked up until their debts were paid off.    Continue reading “Local courts reviving ‘debtors’ prison’ for overdue fines, fees”

SHTF Plan- by Mac Slavo

Every day hundreds of thousands of travelers are subjected to long lines and intrusive screenings by the Transportation Security Administration. Under the pretext of protecting Americans from terrorists the TSA, an agency which has never actually captured a terrorist in its ten year history, has spent billions of dollars on what they claim is a necessity in today’s dangerous world.

But with all the money being spent and a government control grid being implemented across the entire country, a cross-dressing fence jumper somehow managed to thwart a multi-million dollar  impenetrable external perimeter defense system at Newark airport.   Continue reading “Breach: Man Defeats $300 Million Airport Perimeter Fence: “Substandard Security System””

Reuters – by ROS KRASNY

President Barack Obama on Thursday signed a compromise budget that reduces the risk of another government shutdown and a defense bill that cracks down on sexual assault in the military and smooths the path for transferring detainees from the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The two-year U.S. budget agreement, negotiated by Congress earlier this month, and the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2104 were among seven pieces of legislation signed by Obama, who is vacationing with his family in Hawaii.   Continue reading “Obama Signs National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014”

The Economic Collapse – by Michael Snyder

It is time to crank up the Looney Tunes theme song because Wall Street has officially entered crazytown territory.  Stocks just keep going higher and higher, and at this point what is happening in the stock market does not bear any resemblance to what is going on in the overall economy whatsoever.  So how long can this irrational state of affairs possibly continue?  Stocks seem to go up no matter what happens.  If there is good news, stocks go up.  If there is bad news, stocks go up.  If there is no news, stocks go up.  On Thursday, the day after Christmas, the Dow was up another 122 points to another new all-time record high.  In fact, the Dow has had an astonishing 50 record high closes this year.    Continue reading “The Stock Market Has Officially Entered Crazytown Territory”

Washington’s Blog

The Founding Fathers Are Treated As “Terrorists”

The Founding Fathers started the Revolutionary War because England was spying on the colonists in the exact same way that the NSA is spying on modern Americans.  Indeed, Americans are the most spied on people in world history.

Ironically, Founding Fathers Benjamin Franklin and Samuel Adams did exactly what Edward Snowden did … and were likewise labeled as traitors by the British government.   Continue reading “Given that the Authorities Oppose Everything the Founding Fathers Fought For, Is This Still America?”

Buzz Flash – by MARK KARLIN

Providing additional evidence that the Obama Administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) is protecting “banks too big to fail,” Pulitzer Prize winning financial reporter David Cay Johnston has revealed that the DOJ has refused to force JPMorgan Chase to comply with an ongoing investigation into the bank’s possible knowledge of Bernard Madoff’s fraud scheme of a few years ago.

The information obtained might reveal that the bank chose to financially benefit from criminal activity:   Continue reading “New Revelation that AG Eric Holder Is Protecting JPMorgan Chase NYC From Criminal Investigation”

Natural News – by Mike Adams

Over a week ago, I warned readers of the Natural News email newsletter not to use UPS for shipments this Christmas. That warning turned out to be entirely too optimistic: UPS is now in a crisis situation with countless thousands of packages not delivered on time. The company is playing the public relations spin game to try to assuage shippers and customers, but something is very, very wrong at UPS that you’re not being told.   Continue reading “Something is REALLY wrong with UPS, and it’s far worse than the media is reporting”

Lew Rockwell – by Laurence M. Vance

There are a number of distinctly American symbols that evoke feelings of pride, nationalism, and patriotism. There is the Constitution. There are monuments like Mount Rushmore, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and the Jefferson Memorial. There are structures like the Statue of Liberty and the Liberty Bell. There are buildings like the White House and the Capitol. There are also things that there are many of: American flags, bald eagles, dollar bills, and images of Uncle Sam and the Great Seal of the United States.   Continue reading “The Cult of the Uniform”

Reuters

Connecticut state police plan to release a trove of documents on Friday tied to their investigation of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School last year that killed 20 children and six adults, the agency said on its website.

The release comes about a month after the state Division of Criminal Justice released a report on the Newtown, Connecticut, massacre concluding that the gunman, Adam Lanza, 20, had acted alone, and that his motive may never be known.     Continue reading “Connecticut police to release Newtown massacre documents Friday”