From the Trenches World Report

Mail.com

CHICAGO (AP) — The question of when a planned protest becomes conspiracy to commit terrorism was the focus of closing arguments Thursday in the trial of three men accused of hatching a plan to throw Molotov cocktails at President Barack Obama’s campaign headquarters and other Chicago sites during the 2012 NATO summit.

Prosecutor Tom Biesty argued two weeks of testimony from undercover police officers and wire recordings proved the three out-of-state activists conspired to attack the campaign office in Obama’s hometown, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s home and police stations.   Continue reading “NATO trial asks question: Who’s a terrorist?”

Mail.com

ATLANTA (AP) — Facing the latest in a string of legal battles with her brothers, the daughter of Martin Luther King Jr. is seeking to portray herself as the true heir to her father’s legacy.

Bernice King has been outspoken this week in her opposition to what she said is a plan by her brothers, Dexter King and Martin Luther King III, to sell their father’s Nobel Peace Prize medal and personal traveling Bible. Bernice has possession of both items, and her brothers asked a judge last week to order her to turn them over.   Continue reading “Martin Luther King’s children battling over estate”

AlterNet – by Paula Bray

My masters degree did nothing to save me from being unemployed and destitute.

I write to you today because I have nowhere else to turn. I lost my full time job in September 2012. I have only been able to find part-time employment — 16 hours each week at $12 per hour — but I don’t work that every week. For the month of December, my net pay was $365. My husband and I now live in an RV at a campground because of my job loss. Our monthly rent is $455 and that doesn’t include utilities. We were given this 27-ft. 1983 RV when I lost my job.   Continue reading “Mr. President, My America Is Now Life in an RV Park With No Running Water and Not Much Heat”

Global Economic Trend Analysis – by Mike “Mish” Shedlock

The inevitable shape-of-things-to-come has finally arrived in a major California city. I am pleased to report Voters in bankrupt San Bernardino sweep old guard from power.

 Residents of bankrupt San Bernardino, California on Tuesday voted to complete a rout of the city’s pro-union old guard, electing business-friendly pragmatists who have pledged to try to reduce pension costs and take on vested interests.   Continue reading “Voters in Bankrupt San Bernardino Sweep Pro-Union Guard from Office; Hard Line on CalPERS”

Continue reading “It’s Winter! Who Knew!”

Pando Daily – by MARK AMES

“Pike will pay for this, you wait and see—we’ll destroy him for this.” —Mitchell Rogovin, CIA special counsel, 1976

Last month, former Congressman Otis Pike died, and no one seemed to notice or care. That’s scary, because Pike led the House’s most intensive and threatening hearings into US intelligence community abuses, far more radical and revealing than the better-known Church Committee’s Senate hearings that took place at the same time. That Pike could die today in total obscurity, during the peak of the Snowden NSA scandal, is, as they say, a “teachable moment” —one probably not lost on today’s already spineless political class.     Continue reading “The first congressman to battle the NSA is dead. No-one noticed, no-one cares.”

Freeman’s Perspective – by Paul Rosenberg

I see you standing here, asking for help, about once a week. You are always polite, and I respect that. I’d like to do something for you… something that would matter long-term. Giving you a few notes or coins now and then may be fine, but I’d really like to improve your situation more permanently.

In other words, I’d like to give you a job.

I used to hire people, and I especially liked hiring people who had been denied breaks. I did that whenever I could. If you and I could be transported back in time, I’d hire you. And I’d feel good about it, because I think having a job would do you a lot of good.   Continue reading “A Frank Letter to the Homeless Man Under the Bridge”

Continue reading “Photograph Captures Huge Wave That Looks Eerily Like A Face; Everyone Freaks Out”