From the Trenches World Report

MassPrivateI

The federal government’s (DHS/TSA) main terrorist watch list has grown to at least 700,000 people, with little scrutiny over how the determinations are made or the impact on those marked with the terrorist label.

“If you’ve done the paperwork correctly, then you can effectively enter someone onto the watch list,” said Anya Bernstein, an associate professor at the SUNY Buffalo Law School and author of “The Hidden Costs of Terrorist Watch Lists,” published by the Buffalo Law Review in May. “There’s no indication that agencies undertake any kind of regular retrospective review to assess how good they are at predicting the conduct they’re targeting.”   Continue reading “Over 850,000 people on terror watch list and it’s growing”

MassPrivateI

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is being sued over its refusal to publicly disclose a $2 million non-prosecution agreement prosecutors reached with a Houston-based tree services company that employed undocumented workers.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Texas issued a news release in May 2012 revealing the deal between prosecutors and ABC Professional Tree Services Inc. The company agreed to forfeit $2 million in revenue that flowed from the use of undocumented workers between 2006 and 2011, DOJ officials said.   Continue reading “Non-prosecution agreements a mockery of our justice system”

NBC News – by Alexander Smith

A truck carrying “extremely dangerous” radioactive material has been stolen in Mexico, authorities said Wednesday.

The vehicle was transporting the radioactive isotope cobalt-60 from a hospital where it was being used for radiotherapy, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.   Continue reading “Truck carrying ‘extremely dangerous’ radioactive material stolen in Mexico”

RT News

United States Vice President Joe Biden said during a tour of Asia on Tuesday that the US is “deeply concerned” about recent efforts by China to re-draw airspace surrounding a series of islands between Taiwan and Japan.

The airspace in that area has traditionally been controlled by Japan, but claimed by the Chinese as well. Late last month China proclaimed a portion of that area in the East China Sea as within their own air defense zone, prompting international tensions to tighten between all those involved in the Pacific Rim.   Continue reading “US pledges to side with Japan in conflict with China”

RT News

A Florida police officer who was protesting US President Obama’s newly implemented healthcare law has been arrested because he refused to take off a Guy Fawkes mask he was wearing at a demonstration.

Ericson Harrell, 39, was wearing a mask, a black cape, and holding an inverted American flag when police approached him in Plantation, Florida. Harrell told officers he was “protesting Obamacare” but the police report notes “he refused each time” when he “was asked several times to remove his mask and produce some form of identification or tell us his name” and taken into custody.   Continue reading “Florida cop arrested for refusing to remove Guy Fawkes mask in Obamacare protest”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — An American man who is marking four years in prison in Cuba has written a letter to President Barack Obama asking the president to get personally involved in securing his release.

Alan Gross was arrested four years ago Tuesday while working covertly in the Communist-run country to set up Internet access for the island’s small Jewish community, access that bypassed local restrictions. At the time, he was working as a subcontractor for the U.S. government’s U.S. Agency for International Development, which works to promote democracy on the island.   Continue reading “US man marks 4 years in Cuban prison, writes Obama”

Yahoo News – by DENISE LAVOIE

BOSTON (AP) — President Barack Obama’s Kenyan-born uncle, who ignored a deportation order more than two decades ago, on Tuesday was granted permission to stay in the United States.

Judge Leonard Shapiro made the decision after Onyango Obama, 69, testified that he had lived in the U.S. for 50 years, been a hard worker, paid income tax and been arrested only once.   Continue reading “Obama’s Kenyan-born uncle allowed to remain in US”

AccuWeather – by Michael Doll

A storm may evolve into an all-out blizzard, unleashing snow, high winds and reducing visibility across the northern tier of the U.S.

Treacherous travel conditions and dangerous cold are expected across the Rockies, northern Plains and Upper Midwest through midweek.   Continue reading “Wind-Driven Snow to Bury Central Rockies, Midwest”

Crocket Lives

“I read the news today, oh boy …”–  John Lennon

Thanks largely to Democrats — more precisely, progressive Democrats — America’s fast becoming a place decent folk would do well to avoid.

Look away.   Continue reading “America’s Got The Blues, Brother!”

CNS News – by Ali Meyer

After 12 years of occupation by U.S. military forces, Afghanistan set a record for growing opium poppies in 2013, according to newly released data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

“Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan reached a sobering record high in 2013,” said the UNODC. “According to the 2013 Afghanistan Opium Survey, cultivation amounted to some 209,000 hectares, outstripping the earlier record in 2007 of 193,000 hectares, and representing a 36 per cent increase over 2012.”   Continue reading “After 12 Yrs of U.S. Occupation, Afghanistan Sets Record for Growing Opium”