From the Trenches World Report

Star Tribune – by NICOLE NORFLEET 

Rayan Dhamuke, 12, doesn’t get to swim a lot, unlike her brothers. During the past summer, she had to visit the pool at 5 a.m. so that she would have the privacy she needed to enjoy the water while still adhering to her family’s cultural and religious beliefs.

To better accommodate girls like Dhamuke, the downtown St. Paul YMCA, in partnership with the St. Paul Police Department, has started a swim group for Somali-American girls. The group, which began in October, is serving as an outlet for girls ages 5 to 17 to learn the basics of swimming.   Continue reading “St. Paul YMCA and police start Somali girls swim group”

Mint Press – by Jo Erickson

Selling weapons used to be a cut-throat business. With a no-questions-asked policy, it has led in the past, to the selling of weapons to support African conflicts, leaving Angola, Somalia, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic Congo awash with AK-47 semi-automatic rifles and very little else.

Today’s high-tech weapons manufacturers are enjoying record sales. The State Department’s Military Assistance Report stated that it approved $44.28 billion in arms shipments to 173 nations in the last fiscal year. One of the more controversial is the Defense Department’s plans to sell Saudi Arabia $6.8 billion and the United Arab Emirates $4 billion in advanced weaponry, including air-launched cruise missiles and precision munitions. The trouble is – has anyone asked where these weapons will ultimately end up?   Continue reading “Pentagon Approves Record Sale Of Advanced Arms To Countries At War”

The Economic Collapse – by Michael Snyder

One of the men that won the Nobel Prize for economics this year says that “bubbles look like this” and that he is “most worried about the boom in the U.S. stock market.”  But you don’t have to be a Nobel Prize winner to see what is happening.  It should be glaringly apparent to anyone with half a brain.  The financial markets have been soaring while the overall economy has been stagnating.  Reckless injections of liquidity into the financial system by the Federal Reserve have pumped up stock prices to ridiculous extremes, and people are becoming concerned.    Continue reading “15 Signs That We Are Near The Peak Of An Absolutely Massive Stock Market Bubble”

Washington’s Blog

Congress Is Less Popular than Zombies, Witches, Dog Poop, Potholes, Toenail Fungus, Hemorrhoids, Cockroaches, Lice, Root Canals, Colonoscopies, Traffic Jams, Used Car Salesmen, Genghis Khan, Communism, North Korea, BP during the Gulf Oil Spill, Nixon During Watergate or King George During the American Revolution.

When Congress’ approval rating was in the double-digits, polls showed that it was less popular among the American public than cockroaches, lice, root canals, colonoscopies, traffic jams, used car salesmen, Genghis Khan, Communism, North Korea, BP during the Gulf Oil Spill, Nixon during Watergate or King George during the American Revolution.   Continue reading “3 Times As Many Americans Supported King George During the Revolutionary War than Support Our OWN Congress Today”

Yahoo News

Washington (AFP) – Want that Amazon order in just 30 minutes? Company CEO Jeff Bezos says he hopes to soon deploy an armada of mini-drones able to drop small packages at your doorstep.

The US online retail giant’s revolutionary project still needs extra safety testing and federal approval, but Bezos believes that Amazon “Prime Air” would be up and running within four to five years.   Continue reading “Amazon unveils futuristic drone delivery plan”

Chron – by Mizanur Rahman

Pat Dollard

Excerpted from JPOST: Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu stressed Sunday that he would not diverge from his warnings against Iran’s disputed nuclear ambitions.

In a trade of barbs with his predecessor Ehud Olmert over Israel’s approach to the Iran issue, Netanyahu said he would continue to defend Israeli interests.   Continue reading “Netanyahu: I Will Not ‘Shut Up’ When Israel’s Interests Are At Stake”

The Truth Wins – by Michael Snyder

Did you know that Russia is building submarines that are so quiet that the U.S. military cannot detect them?  These “black hole” submarines can freely approach the coastlines of the United States without fear of being detected whenever they want.  In fact, a “nuclear-powered attack submarine armed with long-range cruise missiles” sailed around in the Gulf of Mexico for several weeks without being detected back in 2012.  And now Russia is launching a new class of subs that have “advanced stealth technology”.  Continue reading “New Russian Submarines Are So Silent That The U.S. Navy Calls Them “Black Holes””

The Daily Sheeple – by Kimberly Paxton

Help Wanted: 

Are you a bully without a victim?  Do you enjoy harassing people, humiliating women, and dominating those who attempt to stand up for themselves? Do you like to beat people with a billy club, taze them for looking at you funny, and kick them repeatedly in the ribs when their handcuffed and curled up on the ground?   Continue reading “Help Wanted: Corrupt Cops with a History of Brutality”

Chron

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A chewable African plant that investigators in Texas believe may be linked to terrorism groups has quietly launched a lengthy investigation in Houston and produced multiple arrests.

The Austin American-Statesman reported Sunday (http://bit.ly/18SfJ9U ) that Muslim civil rights groups are now questioning whether the Texas Department of Public Safety has crossed a line. The agency last year included the olive-shaped leaves known as khat on a statewide threat assessment.   Continue reading “Texas arrests over plant raise terrorism questions”

Pat Dollard

Excerpted from BIG GOVERNMENT: Both Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) admitted on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday that terrorism has elevated and that the United States is in fact no safer now that it was several years ago, despite elevated surveillance.

After Candy Crowley asked Feinstein if Americans were “safer now than we were a year ago, two years ago,” Feinstein said, “I don’t think so…The numbers are way up. There are new bombs, very big bombs…There are more groups than ever. And there is huge malevolence out there.”   Continue reading “Al Qaeda Not On The Run? – Dianne Feinstein: Terror Threat Worse Than Ever Before”

Chron

The numbers are stunning. A recent Houston Chronicle investigation (“Bulletproof,” Nov. 24, A1) reveals that, between 2008 and 2012, Houston police officers shot 121 civilians. In every case, Harris County grand juries cleared the officers of criminal wrongdoing. Not one stood trial.

Is it possible that every one of those shootings was justified? More than a quarter of the people shot were unarmed. One of the men killed was a double amputee in a wheelchair. He threatened an officer with a ballpoint pen.   Continue reading “With Harris County grand juries, it’s ‘pick-a-pal’”

Voice of America

Police in northwest Pakistan say gunmen have attacked police officers who were guarding a team of polio vaccination workers, killing one of the officers and wounding another.

Officials say the police were attacked Saturday in Peshawar, the capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.   Continue reading “Police Officer Guarding Polio Team Shot Dead”

Star Tribune – by Erin Adler

After stealing a newspaper delivery truck from a gas station, an intoxicated Apple Valley man told police that he took it because he was “running from zombies,” according to criminal charges filed this week.

Garrett Howard Hurlbut, 23, was charged with stealing a motor vehicle on Sept. 29. Just after 1 a.m., according to court documents, Hurlbut stole the Star Tribune delivery truck while its driver was dropping off newspapers inside an Apple Valley Kwik Trip on W. 145th St.   Continue reading “Charges: Man stole delivery truck because he was ‘running from zombies’”

Doug Ross @ Journal

Yesterday @Democracy2014 tweeted this “screenshot of the ‘fixed’ healthcare.gov website two pages into it.”   Continue reading “The Awesome Efficiency of the Government: White House Considered Scrapping $500MM Healthcare.gov Site”