From the Trenches World Report

The Guardian – by Sadhbh Walshe

Are Americans dumb? This is a question that has been debated by philosophers, begrudging foreigners and late night TV talk show hosts for decades. Anyone who has ever watched the Tonight Show’s “Jaywalking” segment in which host Jay Leno stops random passersby and asks them rudimentary questions like “What is Julius Caesar famous for?” (Answer: “Um, is it the salad?”) might already have made their minds up on this issue. But for those of you who prefer to reserve judgement until definitive proof is on hand, then I’m afraid I have some depressing news. America does indeed have a problem in the smarts department and it appears to be getting worse, not better.   Continue reading “Are Americans Dumb? No, It’s The Inequality, Stupid”

Wired – by DAVID KRAVETS

The President Barack Obama administration has “chilled the flow of information on issues of great public interest,” according to a Thursday report that amounts to an indictment of the president’s campaign pledge of a more open government.

The report from the Committee to Protect Journalists, a non-profit dedicated to global press freedoms, said Obama has “fallen short” on his promises of a transparent government while at the same time forging ahead with an unprecedented effort — the “most aggressive” since the President Richard M. Nixon administration —  to silence government officials and the media at large.   Continue reading “Obama’s Efforts to Control Media Are ‘Most Aggressive’ Since Nixon, Report Says”

RT News

Nearly two dozen of the commentators who appeared on major media outlets to discuss a possible US military strike on Syria had relationships with contractors and other organizations with a vested interest in the conflict, according to a new report.

The Public Accountability Initiative, a non-profit research group dedicated to “investigating power and corruption at the heights of business and government,” determined that 22 of  the pundits who spoke to the media during the public debate over whether the US should bomb Syria appeared to have conflicts of interest. Seven think tanks with murky affiliations were also involved in the debate.   Continue reading “US media failed to cite pundits’ ties to defense industry in Syria strike debate”

MSNBC – by Morgan Whitaker

Congress has suffered from increasingly lower approval ratings during the now eight-day long government shutdown, and on Tuesday we got some new comparisons to help put that into perspective. As new  poll finds that Congress is less popular than hemorrhoids, potholes, and even dog poop.

Those are the findings of the latest survey from Public Policy Polling, which also found that Congress’s approval rating is a dismal 8%, with a whopping 86% of Americans disapproving of their work.   Continue reading “Congress less popular than dog poop, more so than Miley Cyrus, twerking”

Reuters – by Teresa Carson

(Reuters) – A Canadian environmentalist pleaded guilty on Thursday to setting a string of fires across the U.S. West that torched a ski resort and other buildings in what the Justice Department has called the “largest eco-terrorism case” in U.S. history.

Rebecca Rubin, who surrendered to authorities a year ago after a decade on the run, was accused of helping the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front carry out 20 acts of arson across several U.S. states between 1996 and 2001.   Continue reading “Canadian environmental activist pleads guilty to arson attacks in U.S. West”

Fox News

WASHINGTON –  President Obama signed a bill late Thursday to pay death benefits to families of fallen soldiers during the partial government shutdown.

The move came after the White House drew heavy criticism from Republicans over White House press secretary Jay Carney’s comment earlier in the day that  it was “not necessary” to sign the bill since a charity already had stepped in to foot the expenses.   Continue reading “Obama signs bill to pay death benefits to families of fallen soldiers”

NBC News – by Domenico Montanaro

Throw the bums out.

That’s the message 60 percent of Americans are sending to Washington in a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, saying if they had the chance to vote to defeat and replace every single member of Congress, including their own representative, they would. Just 35 percent say they would not.   Continue reading “NBC/WSJ poll: 60 percent say fire every member of Congress”

Gothamist

After an off-duty undercover police officer was arrested Tuesday for his involvement in the highly publicized motorcycle gang assault on an SUV driver, sources told NBC he had also spied on Occupy Wall Street as a member of the NYPD Intelligence Division. Now members of the movement remember “Albert,” or more accurately, Detective Wojciech Braszczok, as a quiet, omnipresent demonstrator who would show up at your birthday party, sleep on the street, and get arrested at a demonstration.   Continue reading “Occupy’s Undercover Cop: “Shady,” Ubiquitous, & Willing To Get Arrested”

Huffington Post

The undercover NYPD detective arrested in connection to the brutal assault of an SUV driver routinely spied on Occupy Wall Street members using the name “Albert.”

DNAinfo reports at the height of the movement in 2011, Wojciech Braszczok infiltrated Zucotti Park and feigned sympathy for the protesters’ cause to glean information that’d he’d then report to the NYPD’s Organized Crime Intelligence Division.   Continue reading “Wojciech Braszczok, NYPD Officer Arrested In Biker-SUV Attack, Spied On Occupy Wall Street”

Continue reading “Chemtrails over the Midwest”

United Liberty – by Jason Pye

Hoping to capitalize on the government shutdown by making the American public feel the effects of the government shutdown, the Obama Administration — through the National Park Service — has closed the most popular parks, memorials and monuments around the country. The World War II Memorial has became ground zero for this particular part of the narrative last week when veterans visiting Washington were temporarily barred from visiting the memorial built in their honor.   Continue reading “Wisconsin governor refuses Park Service order to shutdown state parks”

Electronic Frontier Foundation – by DAN AUERBACH

We’ve long suspected that the NSA, the world’s premiere spy agency, was pretty good at breaking into computers. But now, thanks to an article by security expert Bruce Schneier—who is working with the Guardian to go through the Snowden documents—we have a much more detailed view of how the NSA uses exploits in order to infect the computers of targeted users. The template for attacking people with malware used by the NSA is in widespread use by criminals and fraudsters, as well as foreign intelligence agencies, so it’s important to understand and defend against this threat to avoid being a victim to the plethora of attackers out there.   Continue reading “How The NSA Deploys Malware: An In-Depth Look at the New Revelations”