From the Trenches World Report

USA Today – by David Jackson

From White House spokesman Jay Carney:

“President Obama and the First Lady will go to South Africa next week to pay their respects to the memory of Nelson Mandela and to participate in memorial events. We’ll have further updates on timing and logistics as they become available.”

Officials have held off on a detailed announcement as travel plans, logistics, and security are worked out; services for Mandela will be part of a mourning period in South Africa that will last about 10 days.   Continue reading “Obama to attend Mandela services”

RT News

A tiny free app for Android devices turned them into a flashlight, but also secretly collected users’ location and device IDs to sell to mobile ad firms, the US Federal Trade Commission alleged. The app’s maker has agreed to settle compensation claims.

As many as 100 million people who installed the “Brightest Flashlight Free” app on their mobile phones and other devices were subject to the dubious practice. The FTC acted to investigate after complaints from tech-savvy users who wondered why a flashlight app would need to know a phone’s location.   Continue reading “Flashlight bug: Phone app spied on users for ad networks”

RT News

The US Navy has successfully launched an unmanned aerial system from a fully submerged submarine, marking the successful completion of a nearly six year long program designed to further the Navy’s drone capabilities.

The fuel-cell powered, completely electric unmanned aerial system (UAS) was developed by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) with funding assistance provided by the Department of Defense Rapid Reaction Technology Office and the SwampWorks innovation program.   Continue reading “US Navy submarine fires drone from underwater”

RT News – by Robert Bridge

Buried deep inside a bulging US Army dossier relating to Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning’s court martial are 13 pages of online chat between Manning and a Wikileaks contact believed to be Julian Assange.

The communications, first published on the US Army’s FOIA reading room in late November but since removed, provide some interesting insight as to what may have motivated former US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to release the biggest haul of classified documents in US history.    Continue reading “‘Going to be one hell of a decade’ – Manning to Wikileaks (2010)”

Bearing Drift – by SHAUN KENNEY

Ostensibly a holdover from Virginia’s long tradition of eugenics and forced abortions, did you know that the Commonwealth will pay for your abortion should your baby have… um… deformities?

State Senator Tom Garrett (R-Lynchburg) is carrying a bill that would fix this holdover.

…and true to their DNA of abortionpalooza, the Senate Democrats are outraged — just outraged! — that Garrett would even contemplate dismantling their post-eugenics miracle.  From their release:   Continue reading “Virginia Senate Democrats: Kill the Retards”

Fox News – by Perry Chiaramonte

The independent auditor who postponed a probe into a $34 million “white elephant” of a military facility the Pentagon built in Afghanistan over objections from top leaders is reopening his investigation.

Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John Sopko delayed his initial probe last summer, after the Pentagon vowed to investigate why millions were apparently wasted on the hulking headquarters at Camp Leatherneck in southwestern Afghanistan. But Sopko said defense officials have not addressed concerns he initially raised, leaving him no choice but to restart his inquiry.   Continue reading “Military watchdog to re-open probe of $34M facility built in Afghanistan but never used”

MassPrivateI

North Carolina: The Fourth Circuit handed down an interesting Fourth Amendment decision in United States v. Robertson, involving a consent search at a bus shelter.

Several officers converged on the bus shelter to try to figure out if any of the people at the shelter knew of a foot chase involving a gun that had just been reported in the area. Robertson was one of the men sitting at the bus shelter, and he was approached by Officer Welch. Welch asked Robinson, “Do you have anything illegal on you?”, but Robertson remained silent. Welch then waved Robertson toward him and said, “Do you mind if I search you?” Robertson stood up, walked two yards towards Officer Welch, turned around, and raised his hands above his head. Welch interpreted that as consent, and conducted a search. The search recovered a firearm, and that led to charges for illegal firearms possession.   Continue reading “Court ruling: Police searches at bus shelters are a violation of 4th. Amendment”

Wall Street Journal – by JEFFREY SPARSHOTT And SARAH PORTLOCK

WASHINGTON—U.S. employers continued to add jobs at a steady pace and the unemployment rate fell in November, a sign of stronger economic growth that may intensify debate within the Federal Reserve about reducing central bank bond purchases as early as this month.

U.S. payrolls rose by 203,000 last month, the Labor Department said Friday. The unemployment rate dropped three-tenths of a percentage point to 7.0%, the lowest level in five years. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast nonfarm payrolls would rise by 180,000 and the unemployment rate would tick down to 7.2%. September and October payroll numbers were revised up by a combined 8,000.   Continue reading “U.S. Businesses Add 203,000 Jobs; Unemployment Rate Falls to 7.0%”

MassPrivateI

iOS 7 and Google Now in Android keep track of users’ locations to help the smartphone makers provide personalized information through their location-based services, like Siri. But the details they track go further than just knowing that you went to Best Buy on Saturday to check out other phones—their maps actually log in how long you were at each location.    Continue reading “How to stop your smartphone from secretly spying on your every movement”

StoryLeak – by Mikael Thalen

Parents from Washington state’s Puyallup School District successfully ended the implementation of palm-scanners this week after attempts to push the system without parental approval backfired.

According to the district, the devices, which use infrared technology to map vein patterns in students’ palms, would cut back on fraud by linking students pre-paid lunch account information to their biometric data.   Continue reading “Parents Defeat School’s Attempt To Implement Infrared Palm Scanners”

Sad Hill News

Before proceeding, I thought it wise to share recent related propaganda spewing from Amerika’s hypocritical fascists (aka ‘the media’). You know, those calling the ‘war on Christmas’ a total farce…

TFN Insider December 2, 2013:

The Mythical ‘War On Christmas’ In Texas Schools   Continue reading “Texas School Bans Christmas Trees, Colors Red And Green”

PJ Media

Duck Dynasty features a number of things that run against the grain of popular culture. They’re a strong family that runs their own business, which is based on their patriarch’s invention. They go to church. They don’t engage in microwave marriages to pop stars. Their daughters aren’t famous for sex tapes or appearances in men’s magazines. They hunt. With guns.

They also pray, and according to two of the show’s stars, Phil and Willie Robertson, the prayers caused some problems with the producers.   Continue reading “Duck Dynasty Stars: Producers ‘Told Us to Stop Praying to Jesus’ to Avoid Offending Muslims”