From the Trenches World Report

Counter Punch – by MIKE WHITNEY

Millions of older Americans say they will never be able to retire. They simply don’t have the savings. According to CNN, “Roughly three-quarters of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck, with little to no emergency savings…50% have less than a three-month cushion and 27% had no savings at all….” (“76% of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck“, CNN Money)

“No savings at all”?   Continue reading “Don’t Plan on Retiring, Work Until You’re Dead?”

Activist Post

The number of states taking action against the indefinite detention provision contained within the National Defense Authorization Act is growing. Additionally, the strong wording of legislation, like that of New Hampshire’s bill to be introduced in early 2014, is a positive sign that the federal government is being put on notice that tyranny in America will not be tolerated. In fact, supporting such tyranny will be outright banned, and the local officers that cooperate with illegal federal dictates will be subjected to possible criminal prosecution.

Central to this opposition is the fine work conducted by The Tenth Amendment Center and P.A.N.D.A – People Against the NDAA. Their personal story for 2013 is available in the below chronicle from founder, Dan Johnson. It should serve as a template for the type of organization, strategy, hard work and determination that must exemplify activism as we move toward 2014. Many challenges await . . . and so do many victories.   Continue reading “People Against the NDAA: “The Resistance is Just Getting Started””

Breitbart – by DR. SUSAN BERRY

In March, conservative writer Michelle Malkin brought to light that at the heart of the controversy about the Common Core curriculum standards is an issue that has little to do with “college and career readiness.”

In fact, as Malkin wrote in National Review Online, the Common Core has initiated an entire stealthy student-tracking database that will allow the government access to private information from birth onward.   Continue reading “Children’s Privacy at Risk with Common Core Curriculum Standards”

Huffington Post – by Meredith Bennett-Smith

A Chinese doctor told officials on Monday that she is guilty of kidnapping seven infants and selling them to human traffickers for personal financial gain.

In front of a courtroom in Shaanxi province, former obstetrician Zhang Shuxiaadmitted to illegally obtaining and selling the babies, reports the BBC.

Zhang, who worked in Shaanxi’s Fuping Maternal and Child Healthcare Hospital, sold the children between November 2011 and July 2013, per the BBC.   Continue reading “Chinese Doctor Kidnapped, Sold Babies; Could Face Death Penalty”

NewsMax – by Sandy Fitzgerald

Former NYPD Commissioner and 9/11 hero Bernard Kerik has filed a complaint with the New York state bar accusing his high-profile attorney Joe Tacopina of working with prosecutors to send him to prison.

Kerik was sentenced to time behind bars after pleading guilty to two misdemeanor charges and admitting accepting $165,000 in apartment renovations from a company that was allegedly tied to the mob, The New York Daily News reports.   Continue reading “Ex-NYPD Chief Kerik: My Attorney Helped Send Me to Prison”

AlterNet – by April M. Short

Perry Parks, a Vietnam combat veteran and highly decorated retired military officer of 28 years, says killing is an unnatural act.

I live on the east side of the Cascade Mountain Range in Oregon, and I am so tired of being chemically sprayed by high altitude jet aircraft. We have been hit every day for at least 90% of the days of past 6 weeks. The spray lines are either being placed right over Chiloquin like today, or they come in as an afternoon drift from the heavy morning spraying over the Pacific. If you remember your physics, fallout is always heavier at the higher elevations (4100 – 4200 feet in Chiloquin) as opposed to the west side of the Cascades (1382 feet in elevation in Medford, Oregon)

This means that the chemical fallout over the east side of the Cascades is much heavier in spray particulates which I think is making me sick. I have a headache which does not go away and a metal taste in my mouth. If you are skeptical about this, my east side brothers and sisters; go out right now and taste our snow. For a fleeting moment, you will find the cold snow taste delightful. The aftertaste however is a different story. It is incredibly metallic. It is actually frightening how bad the snow tastes. My dogs won’t eat it. I swear to Buddha, it is like licking a cookie sheet.   Continue reading “The Earth is a living place of sacred teachings. It is not an equation, not a static thing but an ever-flowing holy communication of meaning.”

Huffington Post

In one of his last acts as mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg signed legislation Monday banning electronic-cigarette use in indoor public places, as well as in city parks, beaches, and pedestrian plazas.

And in a final act of protest against the three-term mayor, one stubborn smoker lit a real, non-electronic cigarette inside City Hall, The New York Daily News reports.   Continue reading “Woman Lights Up Cigarette Inside City Hall As Bloomberg Signs E-Cigarette Ban Into Law”

New York Daily News – by DAVID HARDING

A man with a NYPD squad car has been arrested — by British police after he drove it in an English town.

The 33-year-old driver, Mark Knight, was arrested as he parked his car — complete with the iconic police livery – in the traditional market town of Guildford, close to London, while he went to buy a McDonald’s.   Continue reading “Man busted for driving real NYPD squad car — in England!”

New York Post – by Natasha Velez

A cop was busted for shoplifting at a Century 21 in Queens — and using a toddler’s stroller to hide the designer clothes, police sources said.

Jessica Mayorga, 30, a cop at the 48th precinct in the Bronx, was at the department store on Junction Boulevard near 97th Street at 5:30 p.m. Monday, according to police.   Continue reading “NYPD officer nabbed ‘boosting’ designer duds in baby stroller”

RT News

During the last few hours of a lengthy tenure atop the New York Police Department tainted by both scandal and success, outgoing-NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly echoed soon-to-be-ex-Mayor Michael Bloomberg with big words about the city’s boys in blue.

Bloomberg provoked a fair share of criticism from Big Apple residents in late 2011 when he said, “I have my own army in the NYPD . . . the seventh biggest army in the world.”   Continue reading “NYPD a ‘quasi-military organization,’ according to outgoing top-cop Ray Kelly”

The Organic Prepper

Every year, people make a series of New Year’s Resolutions that are usually forgotten by the time you flip the page of the calendar over to February.  This list starts with some of the standard resolutions that everyone makes that are particularly pertinent to preppers, and then contains some that are unique to this community.

Make this the year that you improve your life right now and your chances of survival later. Pick one or all of these resolutions and persevere!   Continue reading “10 New Year’s Resolutions That Every Prepper Should Make in 2014”

CBS New York

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Returning Police Commissioner William Bratton will be sworn into office just after midnight New Year’s Day.

Bratton will be sworn in at a private ceremony at NYPD Headquarters in Lower Manhattan. Mayor Bill de Blasio will also take the oath of office at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.   Continue reading “Protest To Accompany Bratton’s Official Return As NYPD Commissioner”

AccuWeather – by Alex Sosnowski

Two storms will merge quickly enough to produce a major snowstorm from the upper part of the mid-Atlantic to southern New England Thursday into Friday.

The storm will affect more than 70 million people in the Midwest and the Northeast combined and could have a major negative impact on travel for people returning from holiday destinations, heading back to school or resuming business activities.   Continue reading “Snowstorm Targets 70 Million in Northeast, Midwest”

AmmoLand

Manasquan, NJ –-(Ammoland.com)- New York’s rights infringing ban on assault weapons is constitutional, but it cannot limit a gun magazine to seven bullets, a federal court judge ruled today.

The ruling by Chief U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny in Buffalo found that New York’s gun-control law, called the SAFE Act, that restricts assault weapons doesn’t infringe on Second Amendment rights. But the judge tossed a provision that limits a magazine that can hold 10 rounds to just seven bullets.   Continue reading “Federal Court Strikes Down Magazine Limit but Upholds NY Assault Weapons Ban”

AmmoLand

MISSOULA, Mont. –-(Ammoland.com)- The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation headed up a successful collaborative effort to permanently protect and open access to 13,082 acres in the Headwaters of the John Day River in northeast Oregon.

By purchasing the land and conveying it to the United States at a bargain sale price, the transaction also secures and improves access to tens of thousands of acres of publicly-owned National Forest System lands.   Continue reading “RMEF Opens 13,000 Acres of Oregon Elk Country, Secures Public Access to Public Lands”

NBC News – by Aliyah Frumin

The American Civil Liberties Union is suing the U.S. government, demanding the release of information about its program to conduct surveillance of Americans’ international communications.

The civil rights group pointed to former CIA employee Edward Snowden – who blew the lid off the National Security Agency’s secret surveillance program, insisting until the disclosures, little was known about the NSA’s authority.   Continue reading “ACLU sues for info on government surveillance”