From the Trenches World Report

AlterNet – by  Thomas Mc Donagh

In 2009, when the government of El Salvador refused to issue an environmental permit to a Canadian mining corporation, community activists in Las Cabañas rejoiced. For years they had been fighting a pitched battle against the efforts of the company, Pacific Rim, to mine for gold in their region – plans that included the dumping of toxic arsenic in their rivers. It was not a campaign without risk. Four Salvadoran anti-mining activists have been assassinated in the course of their courageous efforts.   Continue reading “How Corporations Are Subverting Attempts to Rein in Their Power”

Secrets of the Fed

After initial testing in two precincts, The Seattle Police Department and Mayor Mike McGinn announced last week that they will now deploy their “Predictive Policing” software to all five precincts.

The federally-funded cloud-based crime prediction software known as PREDPOL, uses mathematical algorithms similar to ones used in earthquake prediction to predict when and where a future crime is most likely to take place down to a 500-square foot area. The program combines five years’ worth of past crime data with sociological information about criminal behavior.   Continue reading “Seattle Police Deploy Crime Prediction Software City-Wide”

Story Leak -by Anthony Gucciardi

In another verbal assault on net neutrality, Obama is now warning that both recent and future acts of terrorism stem from the accessibility of information on the internet.

In his speech yesterday, Obama said that information available online fuels ‘violent agendas’ through ‘hateful propaganda’ that drives terrorism. Warning that ‘internet materials’ are fueling domestic terror threats and actually causing people to go out and commit mass acts of terrorism, Obama is once again following in the footsteps of his fellow control freak associates in assaulting the openness of the internet that is now a hot spring for alternative news amid the frozen depths of the mainstream media.   Continue reading “Internet Control: Obama Blames Internet for ‘Domestic Terrorism’”

Journal Sentinel

Baraboo — Dairy farmer Vernon Hershberger was acquitted on three of four criminal charges early Saturday morning in a trial that drew national attention from supporters of the raw, unpasteurized milk movement.

Jurors in Sauk County Circuit Court deliberated about four hours, until nearly 1 a.m. Saturday, before returning a verdict of guilty on one charge of violating a holding order placed on products on the Hershberger farm following a raid there in the summer of 2010.   Continue reading “Dairy farmer acquitted on three of four charges in raw milk trial”

Yahoo News

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Organizers say two million people marched in protest against seed giant Monsanto in hundreds of rallies across the U.S. and in over 50 other countries on Saturday.

“March Against Monsanto” protesters say they wanted to call attention to the dangers posed by genetically modified food and the food giants that produce it. Founder and organizer Tami Canal said protests were held in 436 cities in 52 countries.   Continue reading “Protesters in over 400 cities march vs Monsanto”

World Truth TV

When Katie Stagliano, from South Carolina, was just nine years old, she planted a cabbage seedling that grew to change her life. In fact, when it weighed an astounding two-and-a-half stone, she knew it was destined for greater things than her own kitchen.

So, the cabbage was harvested, hoisted onto her father’s truck and delivered to a nearby soup kitchen, where it fed 275 people. “If one cabbage can feed that many,” Katie thought, “imagine how many people a whole garden could feed.”   Continue reading “12-year-old Food Grower Donates 2 Tonnes of Vegetables to Homeless”

Hot Air – by Jazz Shaw

While we pause this weekend to recognize the Honored Dead, many of you may be considering heading out with friends to hoist a few cold ones in their memory. But if you’re heading to your favorite watering hole and plan on having some mixed drinks or a shot of hard liquor, you may want to exercise a bit more caution than usual. One story out of New Jersey shows precisely how far our mighty nation has fallen in these dark times. People are pushing bogus booze at mainstream bars and restaurants, and your scotch might actually be rubbing alcohol.   Continue reading “America in decline – Bars selling rubbing alcohol as “scotch””

Other Words – by Jim Hightower

By outlawing dumpster diving, Houston is making life impossible for the most vulnerable.

Whenever one of our cities gets a star turn as host of some super-sparkly event, such as a national political gathering or the Super Bowl, its first move is to tidy up — by having the police sweep homeless people into jail, out of town, or under some rug.   Continue reading “The New Crime of Eating While Homeless”

Huffington Post – by Jonathan Stempel, Reuters

Ista Pharmaceuticals Inc pleaded guilty on Friday to charges it used kickbacks and improper marketing to boost sales of a drug meant to treat eye pain and agreed to pay $33.5 million to settle criminal and civil liability, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

The unit of eye care company Bausch & Lomb pleaded guilty to conspiracy to offer kickbacks to induce physicians to prescribe Xibrom, a drug meant to treat pain after cataract surgery, and conspiracy to promote that drug for unapproved uses, including after Lasik and glaucoma surgeries.   Continue reading “Ista Pharmaceuticals To Pay $33.5 Million To Settle Claims Company Paid Doctors To Push Drug”

The New Boston Tea Party

From the Declaration of Independence: The Right of Revolution. Politically, the most important right is the right of self-government, which the whole Declaration elaborates upon, in theory and practice. Violation of government by consent calls forth the right, if not the duty, of “the people” (not any angry individual or mob) to “alter or to abolish” a government destructive of rights and to “institute new government” that will bring about “their safety and happiness.” Throughout the Declaration we see attention to both life’s necessities (“safety” or the right to life) and highest aspirations (“happiness”).   Continue reading “The Right to Revolution”

Back in 2012 when Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation severely infringing on the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms, at least 3 petitions on dealing with Feinstein’s treason were initiated by The People in response on the petition.whitehouse.gov site. I signed two of the petitions, and below is the belated White House response, which excuses her treason as “championing legislation.” As I recall, the 3rd petition was quite funny, to ban Dianne Feinstein herself, but I can’t find it now, having been scrubbed from the whitehouse.gov site and from the internet, even the Wayback Machine Internet Archive.

Enbe   Continue reading “White House Petition Response: Where We Agree and Where We Don’t”

Yahoo News – by Luis Andres Henao and Michael Warren

EL CORRAL, Chile (AP) — The Diaguita Indians live in the foothills of the Andes, just downstream from the world’s highest gold mine, where for as long as anyone can remember they’ve drunk straight from the glacier-fed river that irrigates their orchards and vineyards with its clear water.

Then thousands of mine workers and their huge machines moved in, building a road alongside the river that reaches all the way up to Pascua-Lama, a gold mine being built along both sides of the Chile-Argentine border at a lung-busting 16,400-feet (5,000 meters) above sea level.   Continue reading “Chile’s Indians take on world’s largest gold miner”

Investor’s Business Daily

IRS Scandal: The inexplicable raid nearly two years ago on a guitar maker for using allegedly illegal wood that its competitors also used was another targeting by this administration of its political enemies.

On Aug. 24, 2011, federal agents executed four search warrants on Gibson Guitar Corp. facilities in Nashville and Memphis, Tenn., and seized several pallets of wood, electronic files and guitars. One of the top makers of acoustic and electric guitars, including the iconic Les Paul introduced in 1952, Gibson was accused of using wood illegally obtained in violation of the century-old Lacey Act, which outlaws trafficking in flora and fauna the harvesting of which had broken foreign laws.   Continue reading “Now The Gibson Guitar Raids Make Sense”