From the Trenches World Report

Reuters – by Francesca Trianni

The New York City Council passed two measures to restrain police powers early on Thursday in direct defiance of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has defended procedures such as “stop and frisk” as necessary to fight crime.

One creates an independent inspector general to monitor the New York Police Department (NYPD) over a seven-year period and make recommendations on how it could be improved. The other expands the definition of racial profiling and allows people who believe they have been profiled to sue police in state court.   Continue reading “In rebuff to Bloomberg, New York City Council curbs police power”

AOL – by Dan Fastenberg

When it comes to discussing religion orpolitics in the office, of course, tact is required. But just how tight-lipped should you be? Clive Hunt, a 58-year old IT consultant in Manchester, England, confronted this question head on earlier this month, when he offered to pick up “bacon sandwiches” during a meeting with a new client. That reportedly offended a Muslim co-worker – and soon after, Hunt says he was told he lost the job. According to a report in the Manchester Evening News, Hunt says a manager told him the decision was made because of his “racist remark.”   Continue reading “IT Worker Allegedly Fired For Offering Bacon Sandwich To Muslim Co-Worker”

Who What Why – by Dave Lindorff 

Would you be shocked to learn that the FBI apparently knew that some organization, perhaps even a law enforcement agency or private security outfit, had contingency plans to assassinate peaceful protestors in a major American city — and did nothing to intervene?

Would you be surprised to learn that this intelligence comes not from a shadowy whistle-blower but from the FBI itself – specifically, from a document obtained from Houston FBI office last December, as part of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by the Washington, DC-based Partnership for Civil Justice Fund?   Continue reading “FBI Document—“[DELETED]” Plots To Kill Occupy Leaders “If Deemed Necessary””

NBC News – by Pete Williams and Andrew Rafferty

A grand jury has indicted Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on charges of using weapons of mass destruction and killing four people, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.

Tsarnaev, 19, has been accused of setting off bombs near the finish line of the city’s annual race on April 15 with the help of his brother Tamerlan. The blasts killed three people, and investigators believe the brothers killed a university police officer in the days after the attack while attempting to evade capture.   Continue reading “Dzhokhar Tsarnaev faces 30-count indictment in Boston Marathon bombing”

GOP USA – by Doug Patton

As I listened to the convoluted legal gobbledygook passing for erudite Constitutional expertise from the United States Supreme Court as they attempted to justify same sex marriage, my mind was flooded with the haunting words of some of the great men of history.

I thought of Aristotle, who said, “Political society exists for the sake of noble living,” a sentiment chiseled into the edifice of many a public building, including the south face of the state capitol building in Lincoln, Nebraska.   Continue reading “America Has Ceased to be Great or Good”

Infowars – by Steve Watson

A stark example of how dangerous and invasive drone technology can be was provided when a small hobbyist drone was recently found to have buzzed around Florida capturing images of people’s apartment windows and even a bikini clad sunbather, before dropping out of the sky and crashing into a tree.   Continue reading “Drone Spies On Sunbathing Woman, Looks Through Apartment Windows, Then Falls Out Of The Sky”

Center for Investigative Reporting – by Ali Winston

When the city of San Leandro, Calif., purchased a license-plate reader for its police department in 2008, computer security consultant Michael Katz-Lacabe asked the city for a record of every time the scanners had photographed his car.

The results shocked him.   Continue reading “License-plate readers let police collect millions of records on drivers”

Lone Star Watchdog

The establishment is circling the wagons on all fronts because they are trying to make excuses why they are violating our rights. I would watch NCIS on CBS. A suspect would be taken in. Instead of talking to Special Agent Gibbs. The accused  would say ” I want my lawyer” The Navy cop would say” I am invoking the Patriot Act putting you on a plane to Gitmo if you do not talk”   Continue reading “The Bill of Rights and the Constitution is Still the Law of the Land! Any Questions?”

Survival Prepping For Hard Times – by Sorbet Gummer

What happens when the apocalypse doesn’t end in fire and brimstone?  What if the apocalypse looks more like a hyperinflation scenario where a shave and a haircut costs decidedly more than the proverbial “two bits”?  Or maybe “your two silver bits” are too valuable to waste on a $500 3-pack of disposable razors.   Continue reading “Shaving After The Apocalypse: How To Prepare For Your $900 Shave And Haircut”

Breitbart – by Wynton Hall

General Motors Co. (GM) announced on Wednesday that it will spend $691 million to build and expand its factories in Mexico.

GM Mexico President Ernest Hernandez said the move will boost Mexican employment and development.   Continue reading “GM to Invest $691 Million in Mexico”

Before It’s News – by Mort Amsel

Reuters – by Alexandra Valencia and Brian Ellsworth

Ecuador’s leftist government thumbed its nose at Washington on Thursday by renouncing U.S. trade benefits and offering to pay for human rights training in America in response to pressure over asylum for former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

The angry response threatens a showdown between the two nations over Snowden, and may burnish President Rafael Correa’s credentials to be the continent’s principal challenger of U.S. power after the death of Venezuelan socialist leader Hugo Chavez.   Continue reading “Ecuador offers U.S. rights aid, waives trade benefits”

Natural Society – by Christina Sarich

Would you consider scorpion venom ‘safe’? The next ‘safe’ GMO food for you to consume is a genetically altered cabbage that has been gene spliced with scorpion venom because it is more ‘resistant’ to Roundup ready chemicals, and of course they are telling us it is safe.

As the GMO frankenfood business continues, the brain-children of the likes of Monsanto and Dow get progressively ludicrous. I beg a rap artist to talk about scorpion-poison genes interlaced with cabbage, just to exacerbate the inane to the masses of people who still believe these companies are out for your best interests, and really care about your health. Maybe a little ditty about the curling tail and venom of a vegetable might wake up the people who still believe GMO is good for you. It’s as if the hubris of Big Agriculture and Big Pharma companies is so enormous, that they have caricatured their own evil faces into their latest invention.   Continue reading “GMO Gene Splicing Lunacy: Cabbage Mixed with Scorpion Poison Coming Soon”

21st Century Wire

WHERE’S ED? Snowden has been marooned in Moscow’s transit lounge for 4 days now. Is he still in Russia?

Our readers can decide for themselves…

REYKJAVIK, Iceland – Yesterday evening June 26th, at approximately 3:00am Iceland time, an in-bound Russian  Sukhoi Super Jet 100-95 chartered flight landed at Keflavik International Airport, after being held in a holding pattern for approximately 45 minutes while circling the airport.   Continue reading “Tracking Snowden: Chartered Russian jet lands in Reykjavík early this morning”

The New York Times – by CHARLIE SAVAGE

WASHINGTON — Four Central Intelligence Agency officers were embedded with the New York Police Department in the decade after Sept. 11, 2001, including one official who helped conduct surveillance operations in the United States, according to a newly disclosed C.I.A. inspector general’s report.

Reuters – by John O’Donnell and Robin Emmott

(Reuters) – The European Union agreed on Thursday to force investors and wealthy savers to share the costs of future bank failures, moving closer to drawing a line under years of taxpayer-funded bailouts that have prompted public outrage.

After seven hours of late-night talks, finance ministers from the bloc’s 27 countries emerged with a blueprint to close or salvage banks in trouble. The plan stipulates that shareholders, bondholders and depositors with more than 100,000 euros ($132,000) should share the burden of saving a bank.   Continue reading “Europe strikes deal to push cost of bank failure on investors”