From the Trenches World Report

Little Green Footballs – by Charles Johnson

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has released the following Statement on NSA Compliance, in response to the Washington Post’s leaked internal NSA audit.

“By law, the Intelligence Committee receives roughly a dozen reports every year on FISA activities, which include information about compliance issues. Some of these reports provide independent analysis by the offices of the inspectors general in the intelligence community. The committee does not receive the same number of official reports on other NSA surveillance activities directed abroad that are conducted pursuant to legal authorities outside of FISA (specifically Executive Order 12333), but I intend to add to the committee’s focus on those activities.   Continue reading “Feinstein: No Evidence of Intentional NSA Abuse of Authority”

Examiner – by David Codrea

“Check this out … is this legit?” an email received over the weekend asked. The question was wholly appropriate, revealing a correspondent on his toes and interested in due diligence.

Attached was a genuine-looking document on apparent United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs letterhead, replete with bar and QR codes (the latter being too blurry in the jpg to read), lending it an air of authenticity (see photo accompanying this article). Titled “Disarmament Commission — Civilian Weapons Confiscation Study Group, New York, 29 -31 July 2013,” the August 5-dated document says its distribution is “restricted,” and proceeds to outline a seven-stage strategy for making civilian possession of “military grade weapons” illegal, progressing down to outlawing all firearms and ammunition, and ultimately establishing “a United Nations Police Taskforce with the specific mission of assisting member nations with the collection of weapons from civilian hands.”   Continue reading “Purported U.N. disarmament document long on hysteria, short on provability”

The Epoch Times – by Jack Phillips

London’s Heathrow Airport has been placed on high alert by U.K. officials over fears that female suicide bombers might hide explosives in breast implants.

U.K. experts said there is evidence that al-Qaeda could go after flights out of London

These implants are special, officials added, because if they are injected with another liquid, it could cause an explosion capable of taking down a plane, according to a report from a British tabloid.   Continue reading “Breast Implant Bombs? Heathrow Airport on High Alert”

Fox News – by Todd Starnes

A Tennessee elementary school banned students from eating ham sandwiches, BLT’s and anything else made with pork, but eventually lifted the ban after parents complained.

Third grade teachers at Sunset Elementary School in Brentwood, Tenn. sent home an “Approved Snack List” for the school year and it specifically banned anything that comes from a pig.   Continue reading “Why Did a Tennessee Grade School Ban Pork?”

The Sleuth Journal

You may have heard about this — it’s crazy. We’ve entered an age where copying-and-pasting a link can land you in jail.

Barrett Brown, a journalist who often reported on the activities of Anonymous, has been locked up for almost a year for just that. Barrettcopy-and-pasted a link from one chatroom to another to share with his peers during his research on the activities of private intelligence firm, Stratfor. The link contained data which had been hacked but was already publicly available information at that point. Now he’s facing 105 years in prison.   Continue reading “Prison For Copy and Paste?”

AmmoLand – by Jeff Knox

Manassas, VA –(Ammoland.com)- About a month after the US Senate voted down a series of gun control amendments back in April, an article in the New Republic magazine boldly declared “This is How the NRA Ends: A Bigger, Richer, Meaner Gun Control Movement has Arrived.”

The article was a long diatribe regurgitating much of the stale tripe and distortion we’ve been hearing from the anti-rights movement for decades, and singing the praises of the movement’s new messiah, Mike Bloomberg, the three-term Mayor of New York City.   Continue reading “Nanny Bloomberg’s War on the Constitution”

Slow Facts – by Rob Morse

Besides the low-information urban voter, California hunters face three challenges new challenges.  First, lead ammunition might be outlawed in California.  The second challenge is that California has a long dry season and a no-burn wildfire policy for wild lands and mixed use terrain.  Finally, non-lead ammunition can spark fires.  Put those three things together and California hunters need to their problems before California Assembly Bill 711 becomes law.  The bill banning lead ammunition has passed the State Senate but has only had its first reading in the California State assembly.   Continue reading “California Gun Owners Stalked and Targeted by New Legislation”

Atlantic Wire – by Phillip Bump

Newly declassified documents, obtained by George Washington University’s National Security Archive, appear to for the first time acknowledge the existence of Area 51. Hundreds of pages describe the genesis of the Nevada site that was home to the government’s spy plane program for decades. The documents do not, however, mention aliens.

The project started humbly. In the pre-drone era about a decade after the end of World War II, President Eisenhower signed off on a project aimed at building a high-altitude, long-range, manned aircraft that could photograph remote targets. Working together, the Air Force and Lockheed developed a craft that could hold the high-resolution cameras required for the images, a craft that became the U-2. Why “U-2”?   Continue reading “Government Now Admits Existence Of Area 51”

Information Clearinghouse – by Thom Hartmann

What does America do when she no longer needs her slaves or surplus workers?

The 1880’s reconstruction era was the first time in our history that America had seen a large surplus of non-white labor.

In the 1870’s many former slaves were integrated into the labor force, but white backlash in the 1880’s and 1890’s led to a permanent underclass through nearly a century of “separate but equal.”   Continue reading “What Do You Do When You No Longer Need Your Slaves?”

‘MILLION MUSLIM MARCH’ TO BE HELD ON 9/11 ANNIVERSARY – AND THE GROUP BEHIND IT IS JUST AS RADICAL AS YOU’D EXPECT

The Blaze – by Jason Howerton

A radical Muslim political advocacy group has sparked controversy with its plans to hold a “Million Muslim March” on Washington, D.C., on the 12th anniversary of the 9/11. The gathering is intended to condemn the discrimination of Muslims following 9/11 and urge the U.S. government to reveal the “truth” about the attack.    Continue reading “Million Muslim March Labeled “Radical” for “Truther” Affiliation”

Arizona Daily Star – by Doug Kreutz

The widow of one of the 19 firefighters killed in a June 30 wildfire near Prescott Thursday called for a special session of the Arizona Legislature to address benefits issues for firefighters’ families.

Roxanne Warneke, widow of firefighter BillyWarneke of the Tucson area, said her husband was one of 13 seasonal employees on the stricken Granite Mountain Hotshots unit. Their families are slated to receive fewer financial benefits than the six permanent members.   Continue reading “Widow: Arizona lawmakers must address hotshot crew benefits”

US Senator David Vitter – August 7, 2013

(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) today is urging the President and Congressional leadership to change the recent decision by the Office of Personnel and Management (OPM) that requires that all Members of Congress, all Congressional staff, the President, Vice President, and all political appointees in the Administration must purchase their health insurance on the Obamacare Exchange without the help of taxpayer-funded subsidies. Vitter plans to work on a legislative fix in September if the Administration does not act first.   Continue reading “Obamacare Fix for Bureaucrats is Why American People Despise Congress”

World Events and the Bible

Reuters – by Eric Beech

The National Security Agency has broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority thousands of times each year since 2008, the Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing an internal audit and other top-secret documents.

Most of the infractions involved unauthorized surveillance of Americans or foreign intelligence targets in the United States, both of which are restricted by law and executive order, the paper said.    Continue reading “NSA broke privacy rules thousands of times per year: report”