From the Trenches World Report

RT News

Despite the ability to monitor the Internet and cell phone activities of millions, the National Security Agency says it lacks the technology necessary to sift through its own employees’ personal email accounts, according to a new report.

The claim came in response from a Freedom of Information Act request sent by Justin Elliot, a reporter at Pro Publica seeking to identify to relationship between the NSA and the National Geographic Channel, which has aired what Pro Publica characterized as sympathetic documentaries on the secretive intelligence entity.    Continue reading “NSA claims inability to search agency’s own emails”

RT News

Bitcoin, the virtual currency that has been gaining momentum in recent years, now seems to have reached the dubious milestone of its first Ponzi scheme, following charges filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission in Texas.

On Tuesday the SEC announced it was charging Trendon Shavers of McKinney, Texas for allegedly defrauding investors he had lured into the Bitcoin market with promises of up to 7% interest per week.    Continue reading “SEC brings charges as first-ever Bitcoin Ponzi scheme unravels”

The White House

Earnest M. Morial Convention Center
New Orleans, Louisiana

11:59 A.M. CDT

MRS. OBAMA:  Buenos dias!  Oh, my goodness.  You all rest yourselves.  You’ve been busy.  I understand you are having a phenomenal conference.  And it is such a pleasure to be here with all of you today for this 2013 Annual Conference.   Continue reading “Remarks by the First Lady to the National Council of La Raza”

Oath Keepers – by Stewart Rhodes

Oath Keepers launches new campaign to place signs and billboards near Washington D.C. area defense and intelligence agencies, praising Edward Snowden for exposing the NSA spying on Americans and urging other government employees to follow Snowden’s example by becoming whistle-blowers.

To launch this new campaign, Oath Keepers has placed three back-lit signs on the subway platform in the D.C. Metro Pentagon Station.   Continue reading “Oath Keepers Places Pro-Snowden Signs in DC Area, Encouraging More Whistle-blowers”

End the Lie – by Madison Ruppert

For the first time since Edward Snowden leaked information on the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs, the owner of an ISP has publicly discussed how the NSA got him to install equipment to directly spy on one of his customers.

Pete Ashdown, the CEO of XMission, detailed his experience when he received a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant in 2010 which forced him to allow the federal government to monitor a customer of his.   Continue reading “Owner of small Utah ISP describes how the NSA got him to install surveillance equipment”

RT News

Biotech giant Monsanto has been awarded yet another victory by the federal government thanks to a recent Environmental Protection Agency decision to allow larger traces of the herbicide glyphosate in farm-grown foods.

Despite a number of studies linking exposure to the chemical with diseases including types of cancer, the EPA is increasing the amount of glyphosate allowed in oilseed and food crops.  Continue reading “Another win for Monsanto: US raises allowable levels of company’s pesticide in crops”

Last Resistance – by Michael Minkoff

Used to be that only frequent flyers could enroll in the TSA PreCheck program at the airport. You probably know what the PreCheck line is. It’s that more quickly moving line of shoe-wearing nonpareils that you used to see in the distance while your private parts were being radiated or groped in the snail-paced glacier of plebeians trickling through the “regular” security checkpoint. Continue reading “TSA Adds Extortion to a long List of Abuses”

Monday Morning – by Frank Marchant

Detroit is the largest municipal default in the history of the US.
The city owes $9.2 billion in pensions, $1.9 billion to creditors and is $18.5 billion in debt.

The city’s infrastructure is collapsing. Almost half of its streetlights are not working and aren’t being repaired.

The average time for Detroit police to respond to an emergency is just under an hour. Crime has spiked. Many in the city have resorted to carrying firearms for their personal protection.   Continue reading “8 New Cities On The Verge Of Bankruptcy”

Washington’s Blog

“I mean—hell, I been surprised how sane you guys all are. As near as I can tell you’re not any crazier than the average asshole on the street.” – R.P. McMurphy – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

“Years ago, it meant something to be crazy. Now everyone’s crazy.” – Charles Manson   Continue reading “Trying to Stay Sane in an Unsane World – Part 1”

Liberty Hollow

Just got a comment which touched on the material I am about to cover, and which prompted me to finish this up and get it out there.  In baseball, when a batter comes to the plate, he gets at least three swings at the ball, but once he’s missed three times, he’s out, he cannot bat any longer in that turn at-bat.  Now baseball does not serve as a great analogy for politics, but I submit to you, gentle reader, that we here in these presently united States have had our three strikes, and that while we are not yet out of the game we are certainly in one hell of a mess.  (BTW, those of you who have never seen George Carlin’s comparison between baseball and football are missing a truly timeless comedic routine.  Fairly clean, too!)   Continue reading “Three Strikes, or the Three Roots of American Tyranny.”

Century Link

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A central Ohio judge has ordered a woman to spend the next five Christmases in jail as part of her sentence for issuing state ID cards and driver’s licenses to immigrants who entered the country illegally.

Prosecutors say 44-year-old Betina Young — a former license agency employee — accepted payments from applicants to falsify records showing they had verified their immigration status. She has pleaded guilty.   Continue reading “Ohio woman’s sentence includes Christmases in jail”

 Asharq Al-Awsat

London, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Chairman of the US military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff warned on Monday that possible American military intervention in Syria would risk deeper involvement in the fighting without preventing the collapse of the Syrian state.

Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the most senior officer in the US Army, gave the broad outlines of American military contingency plans for Syria in a letter to members of the US Senate’s Armed Forces Committee, including Senator John McCain, a leading advocate of US intervention in Syria.   Continue reading “US military chief outlines options for Syria”

Tech Dirt – by  Mike Masnick

I’ve mentioned in the past how my eyes were opened as to how the Justice Department prosecutes various criminal cases after seeing a powerful documentary called Better This World, which detailed (in part) the prosecution against two teens for supposedly planning to plant some bombs at a political convention. While the two teens are hardly innocent, the ridiculous tactics pulled by the US Attorneys’ office and the FBI in pressuring them into a plea bargain made it clear that for the DOJ, it’s never about justice, but about winning. And that can be a bit dangerous when you’re the guys with the most guns and you get to make up many of the rules as you go along.    Continue reading “DOJ/FBI Admit They May Have Abused Hair Analysis To Convict Hundreds To Thousands Of Innocent People”

Mirror – by Gemma Aldridge

Experts have warned about a new craze in which men are secretly seeking and spreading HIV.

The reckless practice, known as bug chasing, started in the US as a bizarre means of getting a ­sexual high from risk-taking.

Now, according to one man who willingly caught the virus, hundreds of men in the UK are introducing themselves on online forums, Face­book groups and Twitter.   Continue reading “Bug chasing: Men deliberately trying to catch HIV for sexual thrill in astonishing craze”