From the Trenches World Report

New York Times – by NICHOLAS CONFESSORE and JEREMY W. PETERS

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, in a sharp escalation in the battle over gun control, is seeking to punish Democratic senators by taking away the one thing they most need from New Yorkers: money.

Fox News

MADISON, Wis. –  Wisconsin police would be forbidden from enforcing any new federal gun and ammunition restrictions, bans or registration requirements under a bill a Republican lawmaker is circulating.

Rep. Michael Schraa of Oshkosh, a first-term legislator and a member of the National Rifle Association, sent out an email Tuesday to his fellow lawmakers seeking co-sponsors for the proposal. He also issued a statement to the media saying the bill is meant to send a message that Wisconsin won’t help the federal government restrict the public’s constitutional right to bear arms.   Continue reading “Wisconsin bill would bar police from enforcing any new federal gun restrictions”

Washington Times – by Stephen Dinan

The Senate is moving to make metal theft a federal crime, with the Judiciary Committee poised to take action later this week on a bill that would impose a 10-year prison sentence on anyone caught stealing metal from telephone or cell towers, highway equipment or other critical infrastructure. Copper theft is a particular problem, with the average annual price on global markets quadrupling over the past decade.   Continue reading “Senate moving to make copper theft a federal crime”

Information Clearinghouse – by Christopher Ketcham, Radar Magazine,  28/04/08

In the spring of 2007, a retired senior official in the U.S. Justice Department sat before Congress and told a story so odd and ominous, it could have sprung from the pages of a pulp political thriller. It was about a principled bureaucrat struggling to protect his country from a highly classified program with sinister implications. Rife with high drama, it included a car chase through the streets of Washington, D.C., and a tense meeting at the White House, where the president’s henchmen made the bureaucrat so nervous that he demanded a neutral witness be present.   Continue reading “The Last Roundup”

American Everyman – by Scott Creighton

UPDATE: Booz Allen releases his records, he made $122,000 a year, not $200,000. Girl friend is a flake performance artist “pole dancing super hero” with a “fringe theater” company. She did one dance in March to the 007 theme song “Diamonds are Forever”. Cute huh? Experts pointing out one person can’t “shut down the NSA tomorrow”.  he’s now in hiding with Robert Baer saying he’s probably a Chinese double agent. Great right? Go ahead… Stand with Edward Snowden. Have fun. Good luck with the new job search Glenn.   Continue reading “Manufactured Hero Edward Snowden: Why? and Why Now?”

SHTF Plan – by Mac Slavo

The catalyst for the next great war will likely occur somewhere in the middle east. The Americans know this. As do the Russians and the Chinese. And as with the last two ‘great wars,’ the groundwork is being laid well ahead of time.

A large American military force disembarked Tuesday, June 4, at the southern Jordanian port of Aqaba – ready for deployment on the kingdom’s Syrian border, DEBKAfile’s exclusive military sources report. The force made its way north along the Aqaba-Jerash-Ajilon mountain road bisecting Jordan from south to north, under heavy Jordanian military escort.   Continue reading “Pentagon Blackout: “Large American Military Force” Deployed to Syrian Border”

Paratus Familia Blog – by Enola Gay

Our government is trying to pull a fast one.  They are trying to convince us that their most pressing mandate is to provide the American citizens with the greatest measure of safety possible.  Forget the freedoms mandated by our founding fathers and entrusted to us in the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights – SAFETY is the guiding principle of our new Keepers.  Our Keepers are not alone in their carefully conceived deception – they have entreated willing accomplices in the media and the marbled halls of  academia to perpetuate the lie that safety can be bought for the piddling sum of freedom.    Continue reading “I Don’t Want Safety – I Want Freedom”

Washington’s Blog

By leading anti-war activist David Swanson, author of Day Break and War Is A Lie, who runs the websites DavidSwanson.org and WarIsACrime.org (formerly AfterDowningStreet.org)

Experts Say U.S. Executive Secret War Harming U.S. National Security
collected by Fred Branfman   Continue reading “Even the Warriors Say the Wars Make Us Less Safe”

Consumerist – by Mary Beth Quirk

Sorry about that headline, I’ve just been really tired and not sleeping well and anyway —  where was my bank account when a snoozing clerk accidentally transferred about $300 million accidentally? Oh, right. It wasn’t in Germany, which is where our dozing dude made his rather large mistake. It only took a second for him to fall asleep and leave his finger on the keyboard, turning a 2 into well, 222222222…   Continue reading “Bank Clerk Transfers $300M After Falling Asleep With His Finger On The Keyboardddddd…”

ACLU Press Release

The ACLU, a Verizon Customer, Says Government Data Collection Violates Its First and Fourth Amendment Rights

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: 212-549-2666, media@aclu.org

NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union today filed a constitutional challenge to a surveillance program under which the National Security Agency vacuums up information about every phone call placed within, from, or to the United States. The lawsuit argues that the program violates the First Amendment rights of free speech and association as well as the right of privacy protected by the Fourth Amendment. The complaint also charges that the dragnet program exceeds the authority that Congress provided through the Patriot Act.  Continue reading “ACLU Files Lawsuit Challenging Constitutionality of NSA Phone Spying Program”

Infowars – by Paul Joseph Watson

Former CIA Director David Petraeus is in attendance at the 2013 Bilderberg Group conference to help construct the “big data” spy grid, which is set to become the new frontier of clandestine statecraft as Internet connectivity becomes ubiquitous.

Bilderberg’s official agenda for 2013 lists one of the areas of discussion as, “How big data is changing almost everything,” a reference to how the “Internet of things” along with the ubiquitous growth of social media is transforming the world of surveillance and the ability to foresee and manipulate future events.   Continue reading “Former CIA director David Petraeus at Bilderberg to create global spy grid”

Common Dreams – by Sarah Lazare

The Obama Administration is quietly firing Commodity Futures Trading Commission head Gary Gensler, who ran afoul of big banks by pushing for greater government oversight.

The ouster comes in the midst of controversy over a proposed CFTF rule, strongly supported by Gensler, that would extend U.S. regulation to swaps–a kind of derivative exhange–involving firms founded or doing business in the United States. This means that foreign banks and hedge funds would face the same regulations as U.S. ones when trading in swaps with U.S. parties.   Continue reading “Obama Cans Regulator Who Crossed Wall Street – Ouster is a gain for big bankers advocating lax oversight”

Information Clearinghouse – by Tom Hussain

ISLAMABAD — In office for less than a week, Pakistan’s new prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, vented his anger Monday at two recent U.S. drone strikes, all but accusing his country’s overbearing military of lying to Pakistanis about its cooperation with the CIA to eliminate terrorism suspects in northwest tribal regions bordering Afghanistan.

“The policy of protesting against drone strikes for public consumption, while working behind the scenes to make them happen, is not on,” Sharif said, according to an official statement issued after the first meeting of his Cabinet.   Continue reading “Pakistan’s Prime Minister Declares End to Secret Approval of U.S. Drone Strikes”

Breitbart – by JOHN NOLTE

TVNewser obtained an internal PBS memo Tuesdayand reports that, starting July 1, the beginning of their new fiscal year, “PBS NewsHour” is completely closing down its Denver and San Francisco offices, eliminating “several production positions in its Washington DC office, while leaving two open senior-level roles unfilled,” and preparing to turn to more outside freelancers:   Continue reading “PBS NewsHour Closes Offices, Lays Off Staff, Turns to Freelancers”

Anti-War – by Kelley Beaucar Vlahos, June 07, 2013

Just because the whole world seems to be talking about closing Guantanamo Bay prison — not to mention the President of the United States — doesn’t mean it’s going to happen any time soon. Not if congressional Republicans have anything to do with it.   Continue reading “While No One Was Looking: House GOP Voted Against GITMO Closure”

The New American – by Raven Clabough

A number of states are exploring new fees for hybrid and electric car owners in order to compensate for the loss of revenue in gas taxes on fuel-efficient vehicles. The proposal is opposed by those who view the new fees as antithetical to one of the touted benefits of owning a hybrid: savings.

Boosting taxes “for people who want to use less gas is at odds with policies that are trying to make it easier for people who want to adopt clean and efficient technologies,” asserted Genevieve Cullen, vice president of the Electric Drive Transportation Association, a Washington-based industry group.    Continue reading “States Propose Fees on Hybrids to Cover Gas Tax Losses”