From the Trenches World Report

Mail.com

Senior Hezbollah commander Hassan al-Laqis was assassinated early Wednesday in southern Beirut — a sharp blow to the Iranian-backed Shiite group. Hezbollah has no shortage of rivals eager to strike at its strongholds and leadership:

— ISRAEL: Hezbollah quickly blamed Israel for al-Laqis’ assassination, saying it had tried to kill him several times already. Israeli officials denied the accusations. Still, the Jewish state could view the fallout from Hezbollah’s armed intervention in Syria — and the long list of enemies it has created — as cover to move against a senior figure.   Continue reading “Possible culprits in Hezbollah commander’s killing”

Engadget – by Jon Fingas

NORAD’s Santa Claus tracking has officially entered the tablet era. The defense agency has teamed up with Microsoft on an updated web-based tracker that’s designed for touch-friendly browsers, including Internet Explorer 11. The new site lets you follow St. Nick by spinning a WebGL-powered globe with your finger, and you can even call NORAD through Skype to get the sleigh’s latest position. You won’t have to wait until Christmas Eve to have fun, either, as Microsoft promises a daily dose of games, movies and music. Continue reading “NORAD and Microsoft team on a touch-friendly Santa Claus web tracker”

National Review- by Andrew Stiles

Despite the myriad problems with Obamacare’s rollout, health-insurance companies are not tempering their support for the controversial law. The industry is even gearing up for an expensive “PR blitz” to enroll people in the exchanges, which should come as no surprise.

In the words of former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle, insurance companies are “not necessarily unbiased. They have a lot of skin in the game.” Indeed, one of the more peculiar aspects of the Obamacare debate has been the mainstream media’s apparent bemusement at the insurance industry’s support for a law that not only forces people to buy its products (which are necessarily more expensive under the law) but also offers direct taxpayer subsidies to help cover the cost, to the tune of nearly $500 billion over the next ten years.   Continue reading “Obamacare and Its Cronies”

Bloomberg

U.S. food and beverage company Mondelez International Inc. (MDLZ) is following Microsoft Corp. selling bonds in Europe as borrowing costs fall.

The maker of Oreo cookies is marketing a total of 2.4 billion euros ($3.2 billion) of fixed- and floating-rate notes, according to a person familiar with the matter. The average yield investors demand to hold corporate bonds in euros instead of government debt dropped six basis points this week to 123 basis points, the lowest since June 12, Bank of America Merrill Lynch index data show.   Continue reading “Mondelez Follows Microsoft Selling Bonds in Europe as Costs Fall”

Bloomberg

Never before have America’s banks been so wary of risking their cash deposits on U.S. government debt.

After holdings of U.S. debt surged to a record $1.89 trillion in 2012, lenders from Citigroup Inc. to Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) are culling for the first time in six years and amassing dollars. Banks’ $1.8 trillion of the bonds now equal less than 70 percent of their cash, the least since the Federal Reserve began compiling the data in 1973.   Continue reading “Citigroup to BofA Spurn Treasuries for Cash on Taper Risk”

Civil Rights Task Force of Northern Nevada

The Dick Act of 1902 also known as the Efficiency of Militia Bill H.R. 11654, of June 28, 1902 invalidates all so-called gun-control laws. It also divides the militia into three distinct and separate entities.

The three classes H.R. 11654 provides for are the organized militia, henceforth known as the National Guard of the State, Territory and District of Columbia, the unorganized militia and the regular army. The militia encompasses every able-bodied male between the ages of 18 and 45. All members of the unorganized militia have the absolute personal right and 2nd Amendment right to keep and bear arms of any type, and as many as they can afford to buy.   Continue reading “Dick Act of 1902… Can’t be Repealed (Gun Control Forbidden)”

Mami’s Shit

I often drive by this place, always notice it’s parking lot is filled to capacity. In the early hours before it opens, there is generally a line out the door about 100′. I wanted to share this with everyone because it strikes me as one of the last ways poor people can subsidize their income. Generally the patrons in line look a scruffy mess. Betting they are homeless. Continue reading “Selling your plasma is big business”

Huffington Post – by Alexis Kleinman

More than 2 million passwords for sites including Facebook, Yahoo, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google have been stolen and posted online, BCC reports.

The “ethical hackers” at security firm Trustwave’s SpiderLabs blog discovered the trove of login credentials, email credentials and passwords on Tuesday.

Security experts told BBC that a criminal gang may be behind the security breach. The stolen information can be used to extract people’s personal information from the websites, which can then be sold, according to BBC.   Continue reading “2 Million Stolen Facebook, Yahoo And Google Passwords Posted Online”

RT News

A majority of Americans believe their country is weaker on the global scene than it was a decade ago, according to a Pew poll. The 53 percent figure is the highest since the polling agency started asking the question in 1974.

It was also the first time in almost 40 years that more than half of Americans have viewed their nation’s global standing in such a pessimistic way. Back in 2004 the figure was a mere 20 percent.   Continue reading “US global power at 40-year low, Americans say”

RT News

One day after he spoke with leaders in embattled neighbor Japan, Vice President Joe Biden met with officials in China on Wednesday amid an escalating argument between Asian nations that has attracted the attention of the United States.

A meeting between Biden and China’s President Xi Jinping scheduled for only 45 minutes this week turned into a two hour ordeal and ended with the US senator-turned-second-in-command offering brief remarks but answering no questions before a press scrum in Beijing.   Continue reading “Biden gets sharp rebuke in China”

RT News

The European Commission has slapped record fines of 1.7 billion euro on eight major banks for manipulating lending rates that play a key role in the global economy. The penalties will add to already escalating costs for leading global lenders.

The EU fines marks the latest to be levied on banks and financial institutions for making profits or masking their problems by fraudulently rigging the rates that reflect the cost of lending money to each other.   Continue reading “EU fines 8 major banks record 1.7bn euro for rigging rates”

Fox News

BEIRUT –  Gunmen shot dead a senior Hezbollah commander outside his home Wednesday in southern Beirut, an attack that the Iranian-backed group quickly blamed on arch-enemy Israel. Israeli officials denied any involvement.

Hezbollah ceremoniously announced the death of Hassan al-Laqis and described him as one of the founding members of the group, suggesting he was a high-level commander close to the Shiite party’s leadership.   Continue reading “Hezbollah commander killed outside home; Israel denies involvement”

DNA Disinfo – by Murray Weiss

NEW YORK CITY — The bill taxpayers will have to pay to protect Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly when he leaves office next month just got bigger.

The NYPD’s Intelligence Division — with Kelly’s input — is recommending that Kelly take with him a 10-officer complement of taxpayer-funded bodyguards, up from the six-officer detail the commissioner had wanted last month.   Continue reading “Ray Kelly to Get 10-Officer Detail When He Leaves, Costing Taxpayers $1.5M”

Washington Times – by Stephen Dinan

House Speaker John A. Boehner announced Tuesday that he has hired a longtime advocate of legalizing illegal immigrants to be an adviser, signaling that the Republican is still intent on trying to pass an immigration bill during this congressional session.

Immigrant rights advocates cheered the move as a sign of Mr. Boehner’s dedication to action. Those who want a crackdown on illegal immigration said the top Republican in the House has moved closer to embracing amnesty by hiring Rebecca Tallent, a former staffer for Sen. John McCain and fellow Arizona Republican Jim Kolbe.   Continue reading “Hola: Boehner prepares to push amnesty bill through House”

NJ.com

TOMS RIVER — Police in all 33 towns in Ocean County early next year will begin carrying an antidote that can revive people who overdose on heroin.

Narcan can be used with any drug with opioids and gives emergency responders time to revive victims.   Continue reading “Police in Ocean County to start carrying heroin antidote”

What if they use this information to disqualify all returning vets from owning a weapon? They could DQ a vet without even seeing them. They could do a blanket DQ for all vets that took this drug, which is everyone who deployed to Iraq/Afaghanistan.

I took this drug in both Desert Storm and in Iraq 2003-2004. In my second trip to Iraq we took it every Monday. We called it Manic Monday for obvious reasons.   Continue reading “The Truth about Larium”