From the Trenches World Report

RT News

By jailing four top officers of Iceland’s failed Kaupthing Bank, the country showed the world the right way to deal with the people largely responsible for the 2008 financial crisis, said Charlie McGrath, founder of news website, Wide Awake News.

The US and other nations must take it as a model for the next time the too-big- to-fail corporations screw things up and ask for a bailout with taxpayers’ money, he added.   Continue reading “Iceland’s jailed bankers ‘a model’ for dealing with ‘financial terrorists’”

RT News

The mother of jailed Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm Warg has lashed out at the Danish prison system for the conditions her son is being kept in, calling them “torture.” Svartholm Warg has been jailed in Denmark on hacking charges since November.

Svartholm Warg, 29, was extradited from Sweden to Denmark, where he has since been kept in solitary confinement. He has not been allowed so much as a book to read, much less the opportunity to communicate with other inmates or use a computer.    Continue reading “‘It’s torture’: Mother of Pirate Bay co-founder slams Danish prison conditions”

RT News

The NSA easily breaks the privacy technology popularized by encryption services throughout the world, meaning the intelligence agency can subvert such security tactics and sift through the billions of private texts and calls that are transmitted each day.

Observers have long known that military and law enforcement officials are capable of hacking into a suspect’s mobile phone, yet a report from the Washington Post based on documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden indicate that the NSA’s power may in fact be more expansive because of the global signals intelligence, or SIGINTs, techniques it employs.   Continue reading “NSA has ability to decode phone conversations, texts”

RT News

A rare way of life is under threat in Spain where authorities have renewed attempts to evict dozens of cave-dwelling families from their homes in an ancient settlement in Granada. Residents say “it’s a disgrace”, and are determined to resist eviction.

Throughout the week dozens of activists have been protesting the eviction they deem unlawful and unfair.     Continue reading “‘Excuse to throw us out’: Spanish cave dwellers say authorities’ actions ‘unlawful’”

Before It’s News – by Mort Amsel

A little more than a year ago, The Center for Western Journalism ran a story on Obama’s war on America’s fresh water supply. People scoffed and called the outlet doomsdayers and Obama naysayers, but now, it appears their warnings may have been accurate, as record low levels for the American Great Lakes have been reported.

The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers reported earlier this year that Lake Huron and Lake Michigan have achieved their lowest water levels since records for such information began being kept back in 1918. In spite of the record low levels, the Obama administration has still given the go-ahead to export water from the lakes to China for commercial sale, to the tune of between half a million and nearly two million dollars a day in profits. Nestle corporation, a Swiss company, is also sold water from the Great Lakes.   Continue reading “Obama’s Okay Of Great Lakes Water Sales To China Causes Record Low Water Levels”

Yahoo News – by Beth Greenfield

A Connecticut father was arrested on multiple charges Thursday following a fatal drunk driving crash that stemmed from a teenage party held on his property.

Paul Sibiga, 50, who police say allowed his teenage sons and their friends to party on his Hebron property throughout the summer of 2013, was arrested on 28 counts of both reckless endangerment and permitting minors to possess alcohol — one count for each teen that was at the party, held in August, according to the Courant.   Continue reading “Father Arrested After Son’s Party Leads to Drunk Driving Death”

Town Hall – by David Limbaugh

If you have just returned from a space mission on a spaceship without Internet access and some Kool-Aid-drinking liberal has assured you the disastrous Obamacare problems are behind us, let me do my part to help deprogram you.

The website problems were too numerous to count, and they are just the tip of the Obamacare iceberg. The substantive problems with Obamacare are enormous. Oh, and the website problems continue, as well.   Continue reading “Don’t Be Fooled: Obamacare Is Not Getting Better; It’s Not Fixable”

New York Times – by JOHN MARKOFF

SAN FRANCISCO — BigDog, Cheetah, WildCat and Atlas have joined Google’s growing robot menagerie.

Google confirmed on Friday that it had completed the acquisition of Boston Dynamics, an engineering company that has designed mobile research robots for the Pentagon. The company, based in Waltham, Mass., has gained an international reputation for machines that walk with an uncanny sense of balance and even — cheetahlike — run faster than the fastest humans.   Continue reading “Google Adds to Its Menagerie of Robots”

BBC – by Paul Rincon

China says it has successfully landed a craft carrying a robotic rover on the surface of the Moon, a major step in its programme of space exploration.

On Saturday afternoon (GMT), a landing module underwent a powered descent, using thrusters to perform the first soft landing on the Moon in 37 years.

Several hours later, the lander will deploy a robotic rover called Yutu, which translates as “Jade Rabbit”.   Continue reading “China lands Jade Rabbit robot rover on Moon”

Activist Post

Time Magazine is investigating a healthcare telemarketing firm who has been using an amazingly realistic robot caller which seems to operate on advanced and a bit creepy artificial intelligence.

The Florida firm Premier Health Plans Inc. is responsible for “employee” Samantha West heard in the exchanges below.  After cleverly filibustering, she repeatedly insists she’s a real person and not a robot.   Continue reading “LISTEN: Creepy AI Telemarketer Sounds Human, Denies Being a Robot”

JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) – The final version of the congressional defense budget triples the Obama administration’s request for funding for joint U.S.-Israel defense cooperation.

The $284 million in the budget released jointly on Dec. 10 by the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate budget committees – up from the $96 million requested by the Obama administration – includes funding for the Arrow long-range anti-missile system and the David’s Sling and Iron Dome missile defense systems.   Continue reading “Congress triples Obama’s request on defense cooperation with Israel”

Lew Rockwell – by Peter Schiff

Today, Congress tried to show that it is capable of tackling our chronic and dangerous debt problems. Despite the great fanfare I believe they have accomplished almost nothing. Supporters say that the budget truce created by Republican Representative Paul Ryan and Democratic Senator Patty Murray will provide the economy with badly needed certainty. But I think the only surety this feeble and fictitious deal offers is that Washington will never make any real moves to change the trajectory of our finances, and that future solutions will be forced on us by calamity rather than agreement.   Continue reading “The Criminals Called Congress Bravely Chickened Out”

The New American – by Joe Wolverton, II, J.D.

The House and Senate Armed Services Committees havereached an agreement on the fiscal year 2014 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

As approved by the committees, the text of the latest iteration of the bill is derived from H.R. 1960, which passed the House on June 14 by a vote of 315-108 and S. 1197, a version passed by a Senate committee by a vote of 23-3, later that same day.   Continue reading “Congress Rushing to Approve 2014 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)”

Gawker

ABC News and The New York Times have known since 2007 that Robert Levinson, the ex-FBI agent who was kidnapped in Iran, was not, as the U.S. government and his family claimed, an independent businessman: He was working for the CIA. The Times’ report today discloses this timeline; ABC News’ report does not—but a source at the network confirmed to Gawker that ABC reporters discovered the CIA connection in 2007 as well. At the request of the government and Levinson’s family, however, both outlets repeatedly stated, without any caveats, that Levinson was on a “business trip” when he was captured. A review of their coverage indicates that ABC News did so at least 7 times, and the Times at least 3 times.   Continue reading “ABC, NYT Repeatedly Lied About CIA Operative Robert Levinson”