From the Trenches World Report

Washington Examiner – by Kelly Cohen

A lack of oversight allowed Internal Revenue Service employees to purchase wine and pornography, among other things, with government-issued credit cards, the agency’s inspector general said.

The IRS made more than 273,000 purchases totaling more than $103 million by using credit cards and another $4.4 million using convenience checks, the inspector general said in a June 20 report. The purchases took place in 2010 and 2011.   Continue reading “Porn, wine, Nerf footballs bought with IRS credit cards, IG says”

Daily Mail – by NINA GOLGOWSKI

Two more infants have been infected with a deadly herpes virus in the last three months after undergoing a controversial religious oral circumcision in New York City.

The latest cases bring the count to 13 infants since 2000, two of which suffered brain damage and two died from the virus which can rapidly spread throughout its body.   Continue reading “Two more babies stricken with herpes after ritual ultra-orthodox Jewish oral blood sucking circumcision in New York City”

NewsMax – by Matthew Auerbach

Five-time NBA champion Dennis Rodman wants to add another trophy to his collection: the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Washington Times reports Rodman, in an interview appearing in the current issue of Sports Illustrated, lays out the reasons behind his controversial trip to North Korea and his belief that he should be in the running for this most prestigious honor.   Continue reading “Dennis Rodman Says He Should be Considered for Nobel Prize”

Washington’s Blog

Listen to What Insiders Say About Mass Surveillance

Jimmy Carter’s National Security Adviser – a key American foreign policy architect (Zbigniew Brzezinski) – wrote in 1970:   Continue reading “High-Level US Government Officials Have Warned for 40 Years that Mass Surveillance Would Lead to Tyranny in America”

Young Americans for Liberty – by Christopher Padilla

On December 14, 2012, Adam Peter Lanza using a semi-automatic rifle opened fire on student and staff at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. It was a tragedy by any measure and it took most of the nation by surprise. The result of this shock has been a rash of gun and ammunition laws that have all but made owning a firearm useless.   Continue reading “Orwellian Freedom in California: Guns”

PANDA

On December 15, 1791, ¾ of the states in a young America ratified the Bill of Rights. These 10 Amendments to the Constitution would serve as our guiding principles for nearly 200 years.

Too many of them, including the 4th Amendment, now lay in tatters.   Continue reading “This July 4th, let’s Restore the Fourth”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — Current and former federal officials who played key roles in the investigation of one of the nation’s worst aviation disasters said Tuesday they stand by their conclusion that the explosion of TWA flight 800 was caused by overheated fuel tank vapors, and not a bomb or missile.

The officials spoke to reporters at a briefing on the National Transportation Safety Board’s four-year investigation following the explosion and crash of the Boeing 747 off Long Island, N.Y., on July 17, 1996, killing all 230 people on board. The board took the usual step of organizing the briefing on an investigation that has been closed for years. That’s in response to a new documentary film set to air this month on the 17th anniversary of the tragedy. The film says new evidence points to the often-discounted theory that a missile strike may have downed the jumbo jet.   Continue reading “Investigators reaffirm TWA 800 crash an accident”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a major concession to business groups, the Obama administration Tuesday unexpectedly announced a one-year delay, until after the 2014 elections, in a central requirement of the new health care law that many companies provide coverage for their workers or face fines.

The move sacrificed timely implementation of President Barack Obama’s signature legislation but may help the administration politically by blunting an election-year line of attack Republicans were planning to use. The employer requirements are among the most complex parts of the health care law, which is designed to expand coverage for uninsured Americans.   Continue reading “Obama admin delays major requirement of health law”

Before It’s News – by Mort Amsel

After departing from Russia the plane of Bolivian President Evo Morales was forced to landing in Austria Wednesday morning over suspicions that NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden was on board, a claim Bolivian authorities denied.

Snowden had requested asylum from Bolivia, which has yet to answer; he also petitioned Austria but was rejected. Reports indicated the plane was hindered in navigating Western Europe as France and Portugal would not allow the La Paz-bound plane to enter their airspace.    Continue reading “Bolivian Presidential Plane Forced To Land In Austria Over Suspicions Snowden On Board”

RT News

Egypt’s army would suspend the constitution and dissolve the parliament under a draft political road-map to be pursued if President Mohamed Morsi and the liberal opposition fail to agree by Wednesday, military sources told Reuters.

Sources in the military told Reuters on Tuesday that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) was still discussing the details of the draft plan and said that it could be changed based on ongoing political developments and consultations.    Continue reading “Egypt’s army to suspend constitution, parliament if no deal reached – sources”

EcoWatch – by Michael Bishop

[Editor’s note: Thanks to Michael Bishop for providing EcoWatch this firsthand account of what happens when a company like TransCanada claims eminent domain on one’s property and begins building a tar sands pipeline—the southern leg of the Keystone XL. Unfortunately, this is one of many examples of corporations putting profits before human health and the environment in pursuit of extreme fossil fuel extraction. The good news is that people like Michael Bishop are fighting back. This is the fourth of a four-part series. Read Part I, Part II and Part III.]   Continue reading “America Becomes Sacrifice Zone for Export Pipeline”

Mail.com

AlterNet – by Lynn Stuart Parramore

When I moved to a Czech village in 1994 to teach English, I was fascinated by the cultural difference between Americans like me and my new community. At that time, the oppressive memory of the dreaded Communist secret police, the StB, was still fresh. (Check out a haunting series of street photos snapped by agents in their heyday.) As a brash young ex-pat, born after the era of McCarthy and J. Edgar Hoover, I understood little of what it felt like to live under constant surveillance.   Continue reading “6 Insidious Ways Surveillance Changes the Way We Think and Act”