From the Trenches World Report

Washington Examiner- by Michal Conger

State Department officials spent $630,000 to get more Facebook “likes,” prompting employees to complain to a government watchdog that the bureau was “buying fans” in social media, the agency’s inspector general says.

The department’s Bureau of International Information Programs spent the money to increase its “likes” count between 2011 and March 2013.   Continue reading “State Department bureau spent $630,000 on Facebook ‘likes’”

Guardian

Police in northern Brazil say one man has been arrested after a referee who fatally stabbed a player during a match was decapitated by spectators who stormed the field.

Local reports said the incident, which took place on 30 June in the remote Brazilian town of Pio XII, escalated when the player, 30-year-old Josenir dos Santos, became involved in an argument with the referee, Octavio da Silva.   Continue reading “Brazilian referee beheaded by spectators after he fatally stabs player”

RT News

As Washington officials continue to grapple with the fallout from the NSA scandal, it has been revealed that the US Postal Service photographs the outside of every piece of mail it processes each year – around 160 billion pieces annually.

At the request of law enforcement agencies, postal workers take pictures of the  letters and packages before they are delivered, the New York Times reported.   Continue reading “US Postal Service Photographing 160 Billion Letters Annually”

Mail.com

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s new president moved to assert his authority and regain control of the streets Saturday even as his Islamist opponents declared his powers illegitimate and issued blood oaths to reinstate Mohammed Morsi, whose ouster by the military has led to dueling protests and deadly street battles between rival sides.

But underscoring the sharp divisions facing the untested leader, Adly Mansour, his office said pro-reform leader Mohamed ElBaradei had been named as interim prime minister but later backtracked on the decision saying consultations were continuing. A politician close to ElBaradei said the reversal was due to objections by an ultraconservative Islamist party with which the new administration wants to cooperate.   Continue reading “Egypt’s new president asserts authority”

Mail.com

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Popocatepetl volcano just east of Mexico City has spit out a cloud of ash and vapor 2 miles (3 kilometers) high over several days of eruptions, and Mexico City residents awoke Saturday to find a fine layer of volcanic dust on their cars.

It has been years since the center of the nation’s capital has seen a noticeable ash fall because prevailing winds usually blow the volcanic dust in other directions. Ash fell earlier this week in some neighborhoods on Mexico City’s south and east sides.   Continue reading “Mexico volcano spits 2 mile-high ash cloud”

Century Link – by FRANCES D’EMILIO – Associated Press

ROME (AP) — A fugitive Italian mobster, who allegedly arranged major shipments of South American cocaine to Europe each month and was one of the world’s most powerful drug brokers, has been captured in a Colombian shopping mall, authorities said Saturday.

Roberto Pannunzi “at the moment is the most important broker for cocaine trafficking from South America to Europe,” Gen. Andrea De Gennaro, an Italian anti-drug customs police official, was quoted as saying by the Italian news agency ANSA.   Continue reading “Top fugitive Italian cocaine boss nabbed in Bogota”

NBC News – by Michael Strong

President Barack Obama is looking for a new ride.

Not that his current limousine – dubbed “The Beast” or “Cadillac One” – isn’t faring well, but it’s a 2009 model, which he takes wherever he travels, and the Department of Homeland Security says it’s time for an upgrade.   Continue reading “Obama’s limo: Heavy armor, blood bank, night vision”

Cop Block – by Dustin McCaskill

Nearly three months later, the investigation into police murdering Chris and Stacey Stout has been completed.

Eight law enforcement agencies have turned over their reports for the D.A. to decide what should be done.   Continue reading “Oklahoma Police Kill Two, Investigation Complete”

Before It’s News – by Monica Davis

The US has been at war with Third World countries for more than 60 years.  Used as proxies for wars with larger communist realms, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Nicaragua, El Salvador and countless stood as surrogates for larger communist regimes.

Now, the ideologies have turned toward free trade, market manipulation and resource acquisition. China is making inroads on the Monroe Doctrine, setting up mining operations in South America. And the US is looking to acquire African resources via manipulating military might through AFRICOM.   Continue reading “Will US And Germany Go To War Over Free Trade Spying?”

Mail.com

BEIRUT (AP) — A former Syrian political prisoner with close links to Saudi Arabia was picked Saturday to lead Syria’s main Western-backed opposition group, filling a post long vacant due to divisions among President Bashar Assad’s opponents.

Inside Syria, government troops advanced into rebel-held areas of the central city of Homs, pushing into a heavily contested neighborhood after pummeling it with artillery that drove out opposition fighters, an activist said.   Continue reading “Ex-prisoner chosen to lead Syria opposition group”

Is anyone else sick and tired of the government parading around this shill and her husband?  She wants sympathy as if she were as immobilized as Stephen Hawking, yet she’s more than able to fire guns at a firing range?  What gives her the right to fly all over the country with number of guns but not the rest of us?  This piece of fiction from the Twilight Zone really makes my blood boil!   Continue reading “On tour, Giffords’ actions speak on gun control”

Mail.com

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — An Asiana Airlines flight from Seoul, South Korea, crashed while landing at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday, forcing passengers to jump down the emergency inflatable slides to safety. It was not immediately known whether there were any injuries.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown said Flight 214 crashed while landing on runway 28 left at the airport at 11:26 PDT. A video clip posted to YouTube shows smoke coming from a silver-colored jet on the tarmac. Passengers could be seen jumping down the inflatable emergency slides. Television footage showed debris strewn about the tarmac and pieces of the plane lying on the runway.   Continue reading “NTSB to investigate San Francisco Crash”

Continue reading “Mass Protests”

    I’m loathe to do so, but I regrettably believe it has become necessary to suggest a new holiday. It wouldn’t be something marked by fireworks and celebration, but instead it would be a day of mourning known as “Total Dependence Day.”

It would begin at the stroke of midnight on the fourth day of July, so immediately after celebrating “Independence Day”, you would have to stop the party, and reflect on the reality that our hard-won freedom has been lost due to our total dependence on government and gadgetry, and that many of us would be reduced to tears if not supplied with the endless cheap entertainment that now dominates our culture and our free time.    Continue reading “Total Dependence Day”