From the Trenches World Report

The Guardian – by Adriana Brasileiro

A tiny figure in minuscule white shorts and a pink strapless top leans against a metal fence outside a school in Fortaleza, the capital of Ceará state, north-east Brazil.

She has gloss-coated lips, and her yellow headband, holding back long hair, glows in the lamplight along Juscelino Kubitschek Avenue, which connects the city to the Castelão arena, one of the venues for the 2014 World Cup. A car pulls up. The girl climbs in.   Continue reading “Brazil’s child sex trade soars as 2014 World Cup nears”

Fox News

Federal ATF agents in cities across the country reportedly used rogue tactics to go after guns on the street — allegedly exploiting the mentally ill, buying up weapons for way more than they’re worth and letting minors smoke pot and drink.

The details were included in an expose by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which reported earlier this year on an embarrassing set of blunders made by the Milwaukee arm of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.    Continue reading “ATF reportedly used rogue tactics in a half-dozen cities”

Business Insider – by David Voreacos and Sophia Pearso

Judy Doetterl was a sales representative for Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) in 2004 when federal agents placed a hidden recording device on her and sent her to tape marketing presentations at a national company sales meeting.

U.S. prosecutors wanted to prove claims by Doetterl and others that J&J boostedsales by urging doctors to prescribe its antipsychotic drug Risperdal far beyond its approved use. Doetterl, then earning $150,000 a year, said she fretted for the two days she wore a wire at the meeting in a Dallas hotel.   Continue reading “How Risperdal Whistle-Blowers Made Millions From J&J”

Bloomberg – by Kanoko Matsuyam

Kojiro Tokutake wanted to be a doctor since he was a teenager. His grandmother bought him his first stethoscope when he was in medical school. A decade later, he helped her die.

Tokutake, 33, is a gastroenterologist and, in that role, has inserted permanent feeding tubes in elderly patients, many with dementia, two to three times a week.   Continue reading “Doctor Helps Grandma Die to Avoid Japanese Feeding Tube”

Bloomberg – by Matt Townsend

Sysco Corp. (SYY) agreed to acquire closely held US Foods for $3.5 billion, adding brands from Cattleman’s meat to Devonshire desserts, in the largest food-distribution deal in eight years in North America. The shares jumped the most since at least 1980.

Sysco will pay $3 billion in common stock and $500 million in cash for US Foods to owners including KKR & Co. and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice LLC, according to a statement today. Bonds of US Foods soared to a record.   Continue reading “Sysco to Acquire US Foods for $3.5 Billion”

GOP USA – by Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX)

The Grinch — and anyone else trying to dampen the holiday spirit — should stay away from Texas this year.

A group of Texans is coming out in full force to protect Christmas, Hanukkah and other holiday celebrations and to make sure students, teachers and parents have the right to observe their holidays at school.   Continue reading “Santa trumps the Grinch under Texas’ new Merry Christmas law”

Business Insider – by JOE WEISENTHAL

We’ve been writing a lot about the record levels of smog in Shanghai lately.

Thanks to a combination of weather and other factors it’s gotten to levels that are genuinely hazardous to health.

So how do you survive it? Chinese state broadcaster CCTV put together this infographic with 10 ways to beat the smog, and it shows how miserable it all is.   Continue reading “This 10-Step Guide To Surviving The Smog In China Is So Depressing”

Business Insider – by LINETTE LOPEZ

For the past three years 40 research teams across China have been working on technology to make things invisible. Now the South China Morning Post reports that they’re  getting close.

From the SCMP:

The main approaches are developing materials that guide light away from an object, creating electromagnetic fields to bend light away from what one is trying to hide and copying nature to make hi-tech camouflage materials.   Continue reading “Chinese Scientists Are Pretty Sure They’re Close To Inventing An Invisibility Cloak”

Business Insider -by MICHAEL KELLEY

We recently came across this map, based on the 2010 census data, of the largest religious groups in each country of the U.S.

A few observations from the perspective of 2013:   Continue reading “This Map Shows The Dominant Religious Group In Every US County”

Business Insider – by JOE WEISENTHAL

Vladimir Putin just dissolved major state media organization RIA Novosti, which has been around since 1941.

In its place will be a new organization run by a TV presenter who had been embroiled in anti-gay remarks.

RIA Novosti’s own report characterizes the move as an effort to tighten the state’s grip on the media.   Continue reading “Vladimir Putin Just Dissolved A Major State-Run Media Organization That’s Been Around For Decades”

Yahoo News – by FRANK ELTMAN

NEW YORK (AP) — The High Line, a park that turned a dilapidated stretch of elevated railway on Manhattan’s West Side into one of New York’s newest tourist attractions, may have brought a different kind of visitor: a cockroach that can withstand harsh winter cold and never seen before in the U.S.

Rutgers University insect biologists Jessica Ware and Dominic Evangelista said the species Periplaneta japonica is well documented in Asia but was never confirmed in the United States until now. The scientists, whose findings were published in the Journal of Economic Entomology, say it is too soon to predict the impact but that there is probably little cause for concern.   Continue reading “Invasive cockroach found in NYC can take the cold”

Gilad Atzmon

The Jewish hate-site algemeiner.com latest target is veteran rocker Roger Waters.  His crime? He has told the truth about Jewish power and has compared Israel with Nazi Germany. Specifically, in a recent interview Waters dared to refer to the mighty Jewish Lobby and its impact silencing opposition to the Jewish State.

It goes without saying that the Israelis and their tribal operators are not happy with Waters exercising his freedom to think and to speak but I have a feeling that BDS movement, now totally dominated by liberal Zionists and funded by George Soros’ Open Society, is also slightly embarrassed by Waters’ frankness.   Continue reading “Roger Waters Tells the Truth against All Odds”

The Wire – by ADRIAN LEE

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh has dropped yet another bombshell allegation: President Obama wasn’t honest with the American people when he blamed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for a sarin-gas attack in that killed hundreds of civilians.

In early September, Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States had proof that the nerve-gas attack was made on Assad’s orders. “We know the Assad regime was responsible,” President Obama told the nation in an address days after this revelation, which he said pushed him over the “red line” in considering military intervention.   Continue reading “Seymour Hersh Alleges Obama Administration Lied on Syria Gas Attack”

Free Patriot – by Steven Ahle

Santa Clara County, the heart of the Silicon Valley has revoked the Constitution along with the Bill of Rights.  Norina Mooney, who has spent the last 20 years of her life working for Santa Clara County, made a comment to a fellow employee at the water fountain about the millions who has had their insurance cancelled by Obamacare.  Just a short while later, she found herself in her supervisor’s office, being ragged on about her derogatory statement about Obamacare.   Continue reading “California County Suspends the Constitution and Bill of Rights”

CNN – by Dana Davidsen

Kentucky Republican and potential 2016 presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul said Sunday extending unemployment benefits past what the U.S. federal government has already paid would be a “disservice” to workers.

“I do support unemployment benefits for the 26 weeks that they’re paid for. If you extend it beyond that, you do a disservice to these workers,” he said, appearing on “Fox News Sunday.”   Continue reading “Rand Paul: Extending jobless benefits a ‘disservice’ to workers”