From the Trenches World Report

NBC News- by Matthew DeLuca

A train derailment shut down the Port of Tampa in Florida on Thursday morning after several cars leaked ethanol.

Fifteen train cars derailed and three spilled ethanol, Tampa Fire Rescue officials told NBC News affiliate WFLA. Hazmat crews responded to the derailment around 1 a.m. local time, which caused no reported injuries.   Continue reading “Train derailment, ethanol spill shuts down Tampa port”

NBC News – by Christopher Nelson and Henry Austin

A Gulf of Mexico drilling rig has partially collapsed off the coast of Louisiana after catching fire because of a ruptured natural gas well, U.S. regulators said on Wednesday.

Firefighters are continuing to tackle the blaze, which broke out after a blowout on the Hercules 265 natural gas platform at around 10:45 p.m. local time Monday.    Continue reading “Gulf rig partially collapses as fire rages”

Telegraph – by Nile Gardiner

Two new polls are out today (one national, the other in California) which underscore just how unimpressed Americans are with the president’s job performance. The latest McClatchy-Marist poll has Barack Obama’s job approval at its lowest level for nearly two years – just 41 percent. It’s his worst showing since September 2011, when his approval hit 39 percent.   Continue reading “Barack Obama plummets in latest polls. Even in California the president is in freefall”

Opposing Views – by Jonathan Wolf

Ohio resident Katie Barnett is understandably furious after she came home from a two-week trip only to find her house had been accidentally repossessed.

Barnett became suspicious of something when her key would no longer open her door. She was forced to crawl through a window into her house. Once inside, she saw that everything was gone.   Continue reading “Bank Wrongfully Repossesses Ohio Woman Katie Barnett’s Home, Refuses To Pay Her Back”

Mail.com

MADRID (AP) — A passenger train derailed Wednesday night on a curvy stretch of track in northwestern Spain, killing at least 40 people caught inside toppled cars and injuring at least 140 in the country’s worst rail accident in decades, officials said.

Bodies were covered in blankets next to the tracks and rescue workers tried to get trapped people out of the train’s cars, with smoke billowing from some of the wreckage. Some passengers were pulled out of broken windows, and one man stood atop a carriage lying on its side, using a pickaxe to try to smash through a window. Images showed one car pointing up into the air with one of its ends twisted and disfigured, and another severed in two.   Continue reading “Spain passenger train derails, killing at least 40”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House narrowly rejected a challenge to the National Security Agency’s secret collection of hundreds of millions of Americans’ phone records Wednesday night after a fierce debate pitting privacy rights against the government’s efforts to thwart terrorism.

The vote was 217-205 on an issue that created unusual political coalitions in Washington, with libertarian-leaning conservatives and liberal Democrats pressing for the change against the Obama administration, the Republican establishment and Congress’ national security experts.   Continue reading “House narrowly rejects effort to halt NSA program”

ALLGOV – by -Noel Brinkerhoff

Trust is not something most Americans have in their government these days.

A new USA Today/Bipartisan Policy Center poll found only one in five of those surveyed say they trust the federal government to do what is right most of the time.   Continue reading “Only 1 in 5 Americans Trust the Government to Do What Is Right”

Peak Prosperity – by Chris Martenson

In every era, there are certain people and institutions that are held in the highest public regard as they embody the prevailing values of society. Not that long ago, Albert Einstein was a major public figure and was widely revered. Can you name a scientist that commands a similar presence today?  Continue reading “Bankers Own the World And are ultimately destroying it”

The Tap Blog – by Missy Fluegge

Families of three babies who died shortly after receiving their routine hepatitis B vaccine are mourning the loss of their children. The babies, vaccinated in Vietnam under the country’s National Expanded Program on Immunization, died on July 20 in the central province of Quang Tri, according to the report. [1]   Continue reading “Hep B vaccine kills 3 newborn babies.”

The New Yorker – by Andy Borowitz [SATIRE]

NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report)—New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner stirred controversy today by continuing to send dirty texts throughout a press conference devoted to apologizing for his behavior.

Mr. Weiner was halfway through his apology when reporters noticed him remove a phone from his pocket and aim its camera lens unmistakably in the direction of his pants.   Continue reading “Weiner Continues Sexting During Apology”

The Economic Collapse – by Michael Snyder

In a virtually uninhabitable section of South Australia, a discovery has been made which could rock the world.  Some are calling it the biggest discovery of oil in 50 years.  Earlier this year, a company called Linc Energy announced that tests had revealed that there was a minimum of 3.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent sitting under more than 65,000 square kilometres of land that it owns in the Arckaringa Basin.  But that is the minimum number.    Continue reading “The Biggest Oil Discovery In 50 Years?”

Living not Surviving – by ASERAG

“Buying and owning a gun is the right of each and every American. Frankly the federal government has been stepping all over that right and it’s time to rein it in…The government has no business tracking the gun purchases of law-abiding citizens. American’s should not be placed on a watch list for simply exercising their constitutional rights. President Obama should focus his attention on criminals rather than honest citizens exercising their rights.”   Continue reading “Texas Congressman John Carter Fights ATF Rifle Registration with Amendment to Defund Federal Registry, Passes!”

The Organic Prepper

When you’re sick, little is more comforting than holding a steaming mug of fragrant tea in both hands, warming your face with the hot steam.  Somehow, no matter how rotten you felt before, you instantly feel just a tiny bit better.

Whether you are lucky enough to grow your own tea herbs, you purchase loose teas, or you use tea bags, your cabinet is not complete without the following ingredients.  These teas are delicious and beneficial, with many different healing qualities.  Considering that we most often turn to herbal teas for healing purposes, it’s especially important to purchase or grow organic herbs for this purpose.  If your leaves are bathed in pesticide and then you add them to boiling water, instead of healing goodness, you are steeping toxins.   Continue reading “The Top 10 Teas for Your Herbal Medicine Cabinet”

Max Velocity Tactical

Yesterday I posted some thoughts about weather, wet/dry kit drills and some related stuff HERE. I am following up today with a more detailed discussion on options for sleeping in the field.

There are two main areas that this relates to: Firstly, there is living light out of your patrol pack, the ‘travel light, freeze at night’ scenario, and secondly there is living out of your ruck in patrol bases in the longer term. In the first option, what sleep you do get while out on a short term patrol will likely be limited to naps while pulling 50% security at some rally point or ORP. Continue reading “Field Sleeping Options – A Discussion”

The New American – by Bob Adelman

Cheye Calvo, the mayor of Berwyn Heights, Maryland, was taking a shower in his home late Tuesday afternoon, July 29, 2008 in preparation for a meeting he had that night. He heard a loud explosion at the front door of his home followed by the screaming of his mother-in-law who was in the kitchen preparing dinner. Their two black Labs, Payton and Chase, started barking. Calvo told what happened:   Continue reading “Blurring the Line between Police and Military”

New Zeal – by Trevor Loudon

If one man could be blamed most for the destruction of Detroit, it would be Coleman Young.

Mayor from 1974 to 1993, Young set a city already in decline on the pathway to the disaster area it is today.

Coleman Young had a well-deserved reputation for corruption, but few today understand his communism.

It is important to know that it was a combination of crony capitalism and communism that destroyed Detroit, because that is exactly the formula being employed by Young’s spiritual heir, Barack Obama, from the White House today.   Continue reading “Coleman Young: the Communist Who Destroyed Detroit”

RT News

New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan on Tuesday signed a new medical marijuana bill into law, officially making her state the 19th to allow doctors to prescribe the drug.

State lawmakers in both legislative houses overwhelmingly approved the new law in June, and Gov. Hassan said she would sign the bill, thereby making New Hampshire the last state in New England to legalize medical marijuana.   Continue reading “New Hampshire legalizes medical marijuana”