From the Trenches World Report

SI Live – by Frank Donnelly

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — With winter fast approaching, a cop from Staten Island tried to make a few extra bucks by peddling some warm North Face jackets in his spare time.

But the merchandise Marc Florida was selling wasn’t the real McCoy, prosecutors allege.

Florida, 42, was arrested Thursday in Brooklyn, during a sting operation, for selling counterfeit goods, according to court papers and a law enforcement source.   Continue reading “Prosecutors: Cop from Staten Island sold bogus North Face jackets”

NY Daily News – by ROCCO PARASCANDOLA

A heartless thief posing as a cop has been preying on elderly women for more than two years, stealing their savings after convincing them he is investigating a banking case, police said Thursday.

Cops are hunting the scammer, who has targeted 23 women and one man, all between the ages of 77 and 98, since June 2011. He has stolen a total of $428,760 from the 18 seniors who fell for his con, including $102,000 from an 84-year-old Brooklyn woman in June.   Continue reading “NYPD bogus: Fake cop scams seniors out of more than $400,000”

New York Post – by Andy Soltis and Jamie Schram

The NYPD has announced its Super Bowl security plan for Times Square, which includes a slew of anti-terror measures — and extensive street closures.

The big game will be played in East Rutherford, NJ, on Feb. 2, but the center of entertainment will be a Manhattan theme park called Super Bowl Boulevard that will shut down Broadway from 33rd to 48th streets from midnight Jan. 26 until Feb. 1.   Continue reading “Super Bowl lockdown looming around Times Square”

Rense – by Gerald Celente

In 33 years of forecasting trends, the Trends Research Institute has never seen a new year that will witness severe economic hardship and social unrest on one hand, and deep philosophic enlightenment and personal enrichment on the other. A series of dynamic socioeconomic and transformative geopolitical trend points are aligning in 2014 to ring in the worst and best of times.

Ready or not, here they come.   Continue reading “Top Ten Trends 2014 – A Year of Extremes”

Yahoo News – by ROXANA HEGEMAN

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — An avionics technician from Kansas was arrested Friday as he planned to drive a vehicle full of explosives into a terminal at Wichita’s Mid-Continent Regional Airport, authorities said.

Terry Lee Loewen, 58, was charged with one count each of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, attempting to damage property and attempting to provide support to terrorist group al-Qaida. Authorities said he was trying to support “al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.”   Continue reading “Man arrested in car bomb plot at Kan. airport”

CNN Money – by Peter Elkind

FORTUNE — When Michael Bloomberg retires as New York’s mayor in January after 12 years in office, it’s unclear what exactly he’ll do (beyond claiming a desk back at Bloomberg LP, the financial data giant he founded). Whatever he does, he’s sure to keep making news.

You can count on him to keep fighting for new gun-control laws. He could well continue to push his public-health initiatives against sugary drinks and smoking. And he’s certain to make headline-grabbing charitable gifts: He’s worth an estimated $31 billion, and gave $350 million just in 2013 to Johns Hopkins (bringing his lifetime total giving to his alma mater over $1 billion).   Continue reading “Bloomberg News reaffirms ban on writing about Mike Bloomberg”

Town Hall – by Katie Kieffer

Obama is offering high school seniors $30,000 a year for college tuition, PLUS a job, housing, transportation and a galore of other benefits. Apparently, Obama is having a hard time finding youths willing to spy on their friends, so he’s upping the ante.

NSA.Gov currently has a “job” posted for young people who are desperate for a job, thanks to Obama’s lackluster recovery. Under “Careers” and “Opportunities for You,” the NSA has this posting with a bold red alert notice at the top: “Notice: Stokes Scholarship Application Deadline extended until 30 November 2013.”   Continue reading “Obama Offers High School Seniors $30,000+ to Snoop for NSA”

CBS Denver

CENTENNIAL, Colo. (CBS4) – Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson says there’s an active shooting situation with possibly two victims at Arapahoe High School.

So far it’s not clear what the condition of anyone who might have been hurt is.

The school is located at 2201 East Dry Creek near University. It is part of Littleton Public Schools and has more than 2,000 students.   Continue reading “Police Respond To Active Shooting Situation At Arapahoe High School”

Armstrong Economics

Thousands of firemen battled against the police today in Brussels. The demonstration erupted with Firefighters blocking roads and the tunnel between Arts -Loi and Madou . They were protesting against their working conditions and cuts to the budget. They gathered in front of the prime minister’s office where they were blocked by riot police and barbed wire fences.  In the ensuing clashes between the firemen and the police, a number firemen were wounded.   Continue reading “Fireman Battle Police In Brussels”

Mail.com

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — Six months after the Sandinista government granted a Chinese businessman a 100-year concession to build a vast canal across Nicaragua, most of the nation is in the thrall of the imagined waterway.

In the capital, Nicaraguans snap photographs of the plaster Virgin Mary perched on an altar against the backdrop of a supertanker traversing the country’s biggest lake. “Virgin Mary, bless the great trans-ocean canal!” declares the government-sponsored invocation behind her.   Continue reading “Nicaragua in thrall of Ortega’s canal dream”

RT News

Gunmen have shot dead 18 people and injured another five working on a gas pipeline from Iran to Iraq, northeast of Baghdad. The majority of those killed were said to be Iranians.

Masked gunmen launched an attack near Baladruz, a small village in the Diyala province of Iraq. It has been reported that the group of attackers were driving three vehicles.   Continue reading “Gunmen kill 18 gas pipeline workers, mainly Iranians – Iraqi police”

Canada Free Press – by Judi McLeod

Belgium, soulless Home of the European Union,  has taken its next step to becoming the first country in the world to allow euthanasia for terminally ill children—extending to toddlers a 2002 law legalizing euthanasia for adults in a 50-17 vote.

Life has no value for 50 Belgian Senate members spurred on by a 13-4 vote from a Senate Committee long pushing for euthanasia for children.   Continue reading “Belgium Senate’s Gift of Death Comes Wrapped in Children’s’ Euthanasia”

David Hague

Dear reader put away your charts and graphs. Forget about fundamental and technical analysis. Ignore financial statements and trends.  The extraordinary agreement to share information between the National Security Agency [NSA], a host of European, Russian, Canadian and Chinese spy agencies and the world’s Central Banks will ensure that the only relevant force in Global Stock markets will be the trading activity of the world’s Central Banks. Thanks to the data gathering of the NSA and its subsidiary spy agencies around the world, the Central Banks will be privy to the most confidential conversations and communications from the boardroom, the bedroom and the trading floor. Central Banks will now be able to trade with inside information that could only be dreamed about in years gone by.   Continue reading “NSA inks landmark deal to share information with Central Banks”

Free Beacon – by Bill Gertz

A Chinese naval vessel tried to force a U.S. guided missile warship to stop in international waters recently, causing a tense military standoff in the latest case of Chinese maritime harassment, according to defense officials.

The guided missile cruiser USS Cowpens, which recently took part in disaster relief operations in the Philippines, was confronted by Chinese warships in the South China Sea near Beijing’s new aircraft carrier Liaoning, according to officials familiar with the incident.   Continue reading “Chinese Naval Vessel Tries to Force U.S. Warship to Stop in International Waters”

Real Currencies

So I’ll get down upon my knees and bless the Working Man, 
Who offers me a life of ease through all my mortal span; 
Whose loins are lean to make me fat, who slaves to keep me free, 
Who dies before his prime to get me round the century. 
Whose wife and children toil in turn until their strength is spent, 
That I may live in idleness upon my ten percent. 
And if at times they curse me, why should I feel any blame,
For in my place, I know that they would do the very same. 
(John Turmel, Thoughts of a Rich Man on Usury)   Continue reading “Rationalizing Usury: the Time Value Hoax”

The Truth Seeker 

For over a century, the Jewish World Almanac has been widely regarded as the most authentic source for the world’s Jewish population numbers. Academics all over the world, including the editors of the Encyclopedia Britannica, used to rely on the accuracy of those numbers. Here is what the World Alamanacs of 1933 and 1948 had to say about the world population of Jews.   Continue reading “Before and after the “Holocaust”: Jewish population numbers in 1933 and 1948”