From the Trenches World Report

Mail.com

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — Scientists have solved the mystery of the “jelly doughnut” rock on Mars that appeared to come out of nowhere.

NASA said Friday that a wheel of the rover Opportunity broke it off a larger rock and then kicked it into the field of view. The Internet was abuzz last month when the space agency released side-by-side images of the same patch of ground. Only one image showed the rock, which was white around the outside and dark red in the middle, and less than 2 inches wide.   Continue reading “Mystery of ‘jelly doughnut’ Martian rock solved”

Reuters

A Whiting Petroleum Corp oil well in North Dakota was leaking drilling fluids after a blowout late on Thursday, company and state officials said on Friday.

The well lost control after a blowout preventer failed and was leaking between 50 and 70 barrels per day of fracking fluid that contains chemicals, water and sand, a company spokesman said.   Continue reading “Oil well in North Dakota out of control, leaking”

Independent – by KASHMIRA GANDER

USA Today – by Girish Gupta

CARACAS — Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said Sunday he was expelling three U.S. consular officials, accusing them of conspiring with the opposition forces to foment unrest as violent protests ran into a fifth straight night.

“We are determined to defend our country,” said Maduro on state television Sunday night.   Continue reading “Venezuela expels 3 U.S. diplomats as violence flares”

The Daily Caller – by Greg Campbell

The Colorado Department of Transportation is under fire by both citizens and lawmakers for working a secret deal to privatize future toll lanes on one of Colorado’s busiest highways.

Department officials say the arrangement with Plenary Roads, an Australian-based business consortium, is secret and the details won’t be publicly disclosed until it’s finalized.   Continue reading “Coloradans fuming over secret deal to privatize highway toll lanes”

CenturyLink – by NICHOLAS RICCARDI

BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. (AP) — The view from the deck of the small, century-old cabin was a dream come true for Andy and Ceil Barrie — a sweeping panorama of 13,000 and 14,000-foot peaks towering above the forest of centuries-old bristlecone pines.

It convinced the couple to buy a 3-bedroom home in a subdivision below, where they could live year-round, and the 10-acre parcel surrounding the cabin in the midst the White River National Forest.   Continue reading “A western wrinkle on eminent domain”

Canada Free Press – by Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh

Lately I see a lot of Marxist propaganda in our country, particularly in the MSM and in education. I know all the slogans because I lived the lies of the communist propaganda for 20 years.

I will start with equal pay, social justice, and equality across the board by government fiat. The commie social justice was equality of misery, hunger, poor, cold, and cramped living conditions, scarcity of food, basic needs, electricity, water, and everything else spoiled brats in America take for granted that is produced by a free market model. The Sochi hotel accommodations are a case in point. To deal with the misery, the workers (the proletariat), which was all of us (except the ruling regime), joked that the “communists pretended to pay us, and we pretended to work.” I choose capitalist inequality any day.   Continue reading “Shameless Communist Propaganda from the Left”

Canada Free Press – by Herman Cain

It is coincidental that I was inspired to write a commentary about not giving up on Presidents Day, which remembers George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. If either of them had given up during the toughest times of their presidencies, then we would not be here today. And where we are, just to be clear, is standing as a free nation united, but losing our freedoms and becoming more divided every day.   Continue reading “A Presidents’ Day reminder of why we must fight”

WND – by STEVE PEACOCK

The federal government doesn’t just want the ability to track down your car; it wants to be able to track down your body as well.

Just as details are emerging about a controversial, nationwide vehicle-surveillance database, WND has learned the federal government is planning an even more invasive spy program using “physiological signatures” to track down individuals.   Continue reading “Feds want to track your DNA like a license plate”

Fox News

Washington Republicans on Sunday restated their argument that President Obama has violated the Constitution by using executive orders to alter the Affordable Care Act but acknowledged they likely have no recourse or ability to stop another incident.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, told “Fox News Sunday” that congressional Republicans think the president abused the government’s separation of powers by using the executive orders to sidestep Congress and delay the law’s employer mandate.   Continue reading “Republicans: Obama violating Constitution, but little can be done about it”

Mother Jones – by Dana Liebelson

On Friday, the Department of Justice sent a letter to the Missoula County Attorney’s Office in Montana, alleging that it has found “substantial evidence” that prosecutors there systematically discriminate against female sexual-assault victims. According to the DOJ, the office considers sexual-assault cases involving adult women a low priority, often treats these victims with disrespect—quoting religious passages to one woman who reported assault, in a way that made her feel judged—and declines to prosecute some cases in which it has confessions or eyewitnesses, including a case in which Missoula police obtained incriminating statements from a man who admitted to having sexual intercourse with a mentally ill woman, who had asked him to stop.   Continue reading “Montana Prosecutor Allegedly Told Mother of 5-Year-Old Sexual-Assault Victim That “Boys Will Be Boys””

The Courant – by DAVE ALTIMARI