From the Trenches World Report

RT News

The most unproductive and least popular US Congress in history can count on another distinction: For the first time ever, most members of the Legislative Branch are millionaires.

At least 268 of the 534 current members of the 113th US Congress have an average net worth of US$1 million or more, according to personal financial disclosure data members registered last year on 2012 net worth, the Center for Responsive Politics reported Thursday.   Continue reading “Make the money, make the laws: Congress has more millionaires than ever – report”

Reuters – by NATE RAYMOND AND DAVID BRUNNSTROM

The Indian diplomat whose arrest and strip-searching in New York caused a major rift between India and the United States was indicted for visa fraud on Thursday, and the U.S. government immediately asked her to leave the country.

A U.S. government official said Washington accepted a request by India to accredit the diplomat, Devyani Khobragade, at the United Nations and then asked New Delhi to waive the diplomatic immunity that status conferred. India denied the request, leading Washington to ask for her departure, the official said.   Continue reading “India diplomat indicted, asked to leave U.S.”

Rense.com

Thanks to satellite weather photos, we’ve been able to observe a persistent, virtually permanent, huge, blocking High Pressure system off the West Coast for the last two months…most of November, December and into January.

We have watched the satellite photos reveal how storm after storm formed up, as usual, in the Kamchatka, Korea and Northern Japan (Fukushima) areas of the North West Pacific.   Continue reading “Satellite Photos Show Pacific Storms Stopped Cold, Destroyed”

Space.com – by Jeanna Bryner

The five Great Lakes, in all their glory, barely peek out from the veil of clouds and whooshing snowfall above them in a new satellite image captured Monday (Jan. 6) as the Arctic’s polar vortex barreled southward.

NOAA’s GOES-East satellite snapped this Midwest “whiteout” of sorts at 3:15 p.m. EST (2015 UTC), before sunset, providing side illumination to the clouds and lake-effect snow, which forms when cold air moves over warmer lake waters. That warm water evaporates and heats up the lowest layer of air; since warm air is less dense than cold air, it rises and begins to cool. The result? The water vapor condenses into clouds and falls as snow, sometimes as huge amounts of snow in these “lake-effect” bands.   Continue reading “‘Whiteout’ Over Great Lakes Seen from Space”

USA Today – by David Jackson

President Obama will designate troubled neighborhoods in five cities and areas as “Promise Zones,” eligible for tax breaks and other forms of assistance designed to create jobs and improve education, housing and public safety.

The first five Promise Zones will be located in San Antonio, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, southeastern Kentucky, and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, said a White House statement.   Continue reading “Obama to name 5 ‘Promise Zones’ for assistance”

My Fox Tampa Bay

HAVANA (AP) – A 5.1-magnitude earthquake struck in the Straits of Florida off Cuba on Thursday, startling office workers in medium-rise buildings set swaying in Havana. There was no word of any damage or injuries.

The temblor occurred just before 4 p.m. about 106 miles (172 kilometers) east of Havana, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The closest city to the epicenter was Corralillo, 17 miles (28 kilometers) to the southwest.

In Old Havana, the quake was felt clearly by workers in two 6-floor buildings that were temporarily evacuated. It appeared to last around 30 seconds.   Continue reading “Earthquake rattles Cuba, South Florida”

ABC News – by JOHN RABY Associated Press

West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin declared a state of emergency for five counties Thursday night because of a chemical spill into the Elk River in Charleston, advising residents not to drink, bathe, cook or wash clothes in the water and to only use it for flushing.

The chemical, used in the coal preparation process, leaked from a tank at Freedom Industries and overran a containment area on Thursday. The amount that spilled isn’t immediately known, but a West Virginia American Water has a treatment plant nearby. Freedom Industries did not immediately respond for comment.   Continue reading “W.Va. Gov Declares Emergency After Chemical Spill”

RT News

A powerful blast has struck a chemical factory in central Japan, killing at least five and leaving 17 injured, reports local press. Japanese police say the explosion was triggered by a chemical reaction inside the plant.

The incident happened at a chemical plant owned by Mitsubishi in Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture. The factory produces silicon materials for the international firm.   Continue reading “Explosion at Japanese chemical factory causes multiple causalities”

The Telegraph

Zero Hedge – by Tyler Durden

Mess with us, we’ll mess with you. That is the message one can derive from JPMorgan’s surprise announcement that it plans to “sell or wind down its business of issuing prepaid cards for corporate payrolls and government tax refunds and benefits.” Which also includes the infamous Electronic Benefits Transfer, or foodstamps, card. According to Reuters, the product, which has been offered with cash and treasury services to companies and governments, “had become a headache of risks in operations and regulations, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly.”   Continue reading “JPMorgan To Exit Foodstamp, Other Prepaid Cards Business”

Activist Post – by Heather Callaghan

If you don’t know what it is yet – that means it’s working. The secrecy, that is. But once Pandora’s Box is opened, there’s no putting anything back. It will go down in history as one of the worst, oppressive plagues to saturate the planet.

Like Spider Man trying to stop a train from going over with nothing but his strength and shooting threads; we are going to need all the Web we can get to stop the fast-tracking Trans-Pacific Partnership from running over us. Perhaps more aptly, it is a tangled web we’ll be left trapped in as prey if we do nothing.   Continue reading “No-Brainer Course In Derailing The Trans-Pacific Partnership”

I have a friend that lives in eastern Pennsylvania.  His family once owned a one-hundred and fifty acre farm there.  Over time his dad and other family members grew up, married. and built houses on the land and started their own families.  When his grandparents passed away, most of the remaining farm land was sold off but the family still remained in their houses on the properties they had subdivided.

My friend’s house is on an acre and a half of land, and he also possesses a five acre piece of land where he has a steel building, some woods, and a two and a half acre field he uses for growing his own produce.  When his parents passed away, he bought out his siblings share of the family home as his brother and sister already had homes of their own, he had been caring for his elderly dad for ten years after his mom passed away.    Continue reading “Life in a Police State”

WND – by Bob Unruh

In an end-of-week “information dump” often resorted to by political leaders to publicly release information they would like overlooked, President Obama formally has launched his much-feared expansion of the use of mental health diagnoses to crack down on gun ownership.

The Obama Department of Homeland Security already is on record casting aspersions on the mental ability of returning veterans, third-party candidate supporters and people with pro-life bumper stickers – calling them potential “right-wing extremists.” It was also caught, through the IRS, targeting conservative organizations that might be critical of Obama.   Continue reading “See a Shrink, Lose your Gun”

Yahoo News

The polar vortex that has gripped the U.S. and Canada this week has led to some spectacular icy images. The latest come from Niagara Falls, which partially froze Tuesday when the temperature hit a record low of minus 2 degrees.

Aaron Harris, a photographer for Reuters, took several shots of the 167-foot frozen falls Wednesday. The ice formed on the U.S. side of the falls, which straddle the border with Canada.   Continue reading “Stunning photos of partially frozen Niagara Falls”

My Family Survival Plan – by Stephanie Rogers

Pungent and powerful, garlic has dozens of health and household uses.

Chew up a raw clove of garlic and you might exhale noxious, eye-watering clouds of stink all day, but you’ll also repel mosquitoes (and vampires), increase your immunity, heal cold sores, expel parasites and maybe even get in the mood. Garlic is a broad-spectrum antibiotic, killing bacteria, fungus, viruses and mold, so it’s an important ally for natural health. Check out these 20 unusual and sometimes strange alternative uses for garlic.   Continue reading “20 Unusual Uses for Garlic”