From the Trenches World Report

RT News

An environmental committee at Massachusetts Statehouse has approved a bill, imposing a 10-year ban on fracking for natural gas. The move comes as a wave of earthquakes in Texas has raised new concerns over the controversial drilling technique.

The Massachusetts fracking moratorium bill is designed to protect the state’s drinking water from possible contamination and thus “ensure that the health and prosperity of our communities is maintained,” according to one of the legislation’s sponsors, Northampton Democratic state Rep. Peter Kocot, cited by AP.    Continue reading “Massachusetts seeks 10-yr ban on gas fracking after series of Texas quakes”

RT News

Mistaken for a prowler, an elderly man with Alzheimer’s was shot early Wednesday in rural Walker County, Georgia after approaching a house miles from his own. Authorities says the state’s “stand your ground” law may apply.

An investigation continues into the death of Ronald Westbrook, 72, who was shot in rural, northern Georgia’s Lookout Mountain region by Joe Hendrix, 34, around 4 am (EST) Wednesday. Westbrook was likely lost and confused when he rang Hendrix’s doorbell and pulled on the house’s doorknob in Chickamauga, said Walker County Sheriff Steve Wilson.    Continue reading “‘Stand your ground’ may apply in shooting death of Georgia man with Alzheimer’s”

Business Insider – by Rob Wile

Wait, what?

Slate.fr reports a Croatian community association in France is suing Bob Dylan and the French version of Rolling Stone magazine for racism.

Dylan, of course, was at the vanguard of the artistic wing of the Civil Rights movement, so it may seem impossible that anyone could accuse him of such a thing.   Continue reading “Bob Dylan Is Getting Sued For ‘Racism’”

Global Research – by Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal

“The perpetrators had committed acts against the Palestinians, with intent to kill, cause serious bodily or mental harms and deliberately inflict conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of the Palestinians as a whole or in part.”

“The Tribunal recommends to the War Crimes Commission to give the widest international publicity to this conviction and grant of reparations, as these are universal crimes for which there is a responsibility upon nations to institute prosecutions.   Continue reading “Israel Charged with War Crimes and Genocide”

RT News

A high school student suffered a brain injury and remains in a medically-induced coma after a Texas sheriff’s deputy tasered him without cause following a skirmish in a school hallway, the boy’s mother claims in court.

Maria Acosta has sued Bastrop County, its school district and Randy McMillan, a Bastrop County sheriff’s officer and school resource officer, according to Courthouse News.    Continue reading “Texas boy tasered by officer after breaking up school fight, remains in a coma”

RT News

The Cayman Islands has signed an agreement with the United States to combat offshore tax evasion pursuant to a controversial 2010 law that has caused some notable US expatriates to revoke their US citizenship.

The US Department of the Treasury announced Friday the US has signed an intergovernmental agreement with the Cayman Islands to enforce the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) in what it bills as an effort to promote transparency.    Continue reading “Cayman Islands agrees to report US citizens’ offshore assets under controversial law”

The Organic Prepper

Remember the Seralini study, with those gruesome images of GMO-fed rats that were engulfed by horrific tumors?  Well, great news! You can grab yourself some GMO corn and chow down now because the journal that published the study has retracted it.  Silly us, there was absolutely nothing to worry about!

The new editor over at the journal, Food and Chemical Toxicology, says so – you know, Richard E. Goodman, the editor that used to work in the hallowed halls of Monsanto.   Continue reading “GMO Rat Study Retracted..by New Journal Editor from (Surprise!) Monsanto”

Wake Up World -by Tara Gould

Sleeker, faster, bigger, brighter; “the most beautiful thing we’ve ever made” Apple declare. Due in part to Apple’s clever and aggressive campaign, the iPhone 5 sold out twenty times faster than the 4 and 4S models.

But does this blizzard of excitement mask the unsavoury realities behind the phone’s manufacture? An iPhone 5 will set you back £529, but shouldn’t we also be asking what the true cost of our insatiable lust for new technology might be?   Continue reading “Apple’s Rotten Core: The Underbelly of Cutting Edge Technology”

Continue reading “Obamacare Thanksgiving toons and stuff”

Spiegel – by Ulrike Putz

The young man, who called himself Raïd, wasn’t doing well. He climbed into the backseat of the car, in pain, careful not to touch any corners. He was exhausted and dizzy. A large bandage looped around his stomach, caked with blood. Despite that, the 19-year-old Syrian wanted to tell his story.

Seven months ago, he fled the embattled city of Aleppo, in Syria, to Lebanon with his parents and six siblings. The family quickly ran out of money in the capital, Beirut. Raïd heard from a relative that the solution could be to sell one of his kidneys, and then he spoke to a bull-necked man, now sitting in the passenger seat, smoking and drinking a beer.   Continue reading “Lebanese Black Market: Syrian Refugees Sell Organs to Survive”

IB Times – by Jamie Reno

In May, 2008, 75-year-old Jim Workman, a retired Air Force colonel, entered an emergency room at a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital in Biloxi, Miss., complaining of shortness of breath, coughing and fever.

RT News

Britain systematically destroyed documents in colonies that were about to gain independence, declassified Foreign Office files reveal. ‘Operation Legacy’ saw sensitive documents secretly burnt or dumped to cover up traces of British activities.

The latest National Archives publication made from a collection of 8,800 colonial-era files held by the Foreign Office for decades revealed deliberate document elimination by British authorities in former colonies.   Continue reading “What archives? UK ordered destruction of ‘embarrassing’ colonial papers”

The Weather Space

An arctic blast not seen since the historic 1990 event is setting sights on the entire Western USA, which means that ares from Seattle, Portland, down into California are in for a real cold air-mass, most notable over the Pacific Northwest and threatening production along California’s I-5 farming corridor.

This will be tracked on TheWeatherSpace.com Facebook so join by clicking here.   Continue reading “Historic Arctic Blast Sets Eyes On U.S. West Coast This Next Week”

Video Rebel’s Blog

The new Federal Reserve edition of the popular board game Monopoly has been revised to fit the realities of the modern banking and real estate world. The most radical change is that the money in the game will no longer be issued as a public utility much like President Lincoln’s Greenbacks were. The new Monopoly money will be green just like Federal Reserve Notes. The players will still be issued $1,500 each at the beginning of the game but under the new rules interest will be paid on the money the Banker created out of nothing. The banker will be allowed to collect 10% interest or $150 at the beginning of the game from every player. Additionally, each player will pay $20 in interest to the banker every time they are allowed the privilege of taking a turn and rolling the dice.   Continue reading “Monopoly Board Game Revised For Our Times”

Huffington Post

Large biotech companies like Syngenta, Monsanto, Pioneer, Dow and BASF have long been experimenting with GMO crops and seeds in Hawaii. They have farms on Oahu, Kauai and Molokai, but they’ve never operated on Hawaii’s Big Island — and now they never will.

On Tuesday, the Hawaii County Council passed a bill, 6-3, that forbids biotech companies from operating on the Big Island and prohibits all new genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. (The papaya industry, which has more than 200 farms on the Big Island, is exempt from the bill.)   Continue reading “Hawaii’s Big Island Bans Biotech Companies & GMO Crops”