Author: The Freedom Watch Staff

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U.S. Ready to Offer Mercenaries $10 Billion for a Drug-War Air Force

"Unsure how your private security firm makes money as the U.S. war in Afghanistan winds down? One option: Go into the drug trade — more specifically, the lucrative business of fighting narcotics. The State Department needs a business partner to keep its fleet of drug-hunting helicopters and planes flying worldwide. You could make up to $10 billion-with-a-B. Without much publicity, the State Department has built a bespoke air force since the mid-1980s, one that’s stacked with helicopters and heavily reliant on contractors. From its headquarters at Florida’s Patrick Air Force Base, the State Department directs 51,000 annual hours worth of air operations." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Ready to Offer Mercenaries $10 Billion for a Drug-War Air Force

Cannabis For Infant’s Brain Tumor, Doctor Calls Child “A Miracle Baby”

"Medical marijuana is gaining acceptance, but could it even help kids? Saying he was 'quite a skeptic 5 or 6 years ago', Dr. William Courtney continued that 'my youngest patient is 8 months old, and had a very massive centrally located inoperable brain tumor.' The child's father pushed for non-traditional treatment utilizing cannabis. 'They were putting cannabinoid oil on the baby's pacifier twice a day, increasing the dose... And within two months there was a dramatic reduction, enough that the pediatric oncologist allowed them to go ahead with not pursuing traditional therapy.' The tumor was remarkably reduced after eight months of treatment." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCannabis For Infant’s Brain Tumor, Doctor Calls Child “A Miracle Baby”

Not So Merry Christmas Drug Busts

"Local news reports 16 arrests for marijuana possession in nearby Jamestown. The Department of Homeland Security participated in these arrests. This is so bad, so bad. Every week this happens. Think of the huge amounts of taxes being wasted on hunting these people down, arresting them, holding them in detention centers and jails, putting them through the judicial system, and putting some in prison. It's incredible that this goes on. And for what? Now get this. In this state, New York State, a poll shows that 71 percent of voters favor medical marijuana." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNot So Merry Christmas Drug Busts

Keep Families Together: An Anarchist Christmas Message

"Mass incarceration and mass deportation are not separate policies that both happen to destroy families. Rather, they are two different facets of the prison industrial complex. The same corporations that operate prisons for profit also profit by running immigration detention centers. These companies back politicians that support authoritarian laws on both immigration and criminal justice issues. When people of color have their families violently broken apart by the state, the prison industrial complex profits. This Christmas, I urge you to organize against the prison industrial complex and the state apparatus that have broken so many families apart." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingKeep Families Together: An Anarchist Christmas Message

Deportations of illegal immigrants in 2012 reach new US record

"The United States deported more than 400,000 illegal immigrants in 2012, the most of any year in the nation’s history, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reports. In four years, the Obama administration has deported three-quarters of the number of people that President George W. Bush’s administration did in eight. And unlike Mr. Bush, Obama made no concerted effort to reform the US immigration system – a history that’s not lost on the president’s Latino supporters. Representative Gutierrez said some 90,000 undocumented parents of American-born children continue to be deported each year." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDeportations of illegal immigrants in 2012 reach new US record

Michigan immigrants sue for access to driver’s licenses

"The ACLU filed a lawsuit on Wednesday demanding the state of Michigan grant access to driver’s licenses for young undocumented immigrants enrolled in the new federal deferred-deportation program. One of the students, Resilda Karafili, told The Raw Story getting a license will be critical for her as she seeks a job upon finishing her undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan. 'It’s not reasonable to think that people can get a job without being able to drive,' said Karafili, who emigrated to the U.S. with her family when she was 10 years old. 'It looks unprofessional from the start. Employers don’t want to hire people who don’t have reliable transportation.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMichigan immigrants sue for access to driver’s licenses

Israeli PM aims to deport tens of thousands of Africans

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday he aims to repatriate tens of thousands of African illegal migrants and that the inflow into Israel from the Sinai peninsula has been brought to a halt. 'We have reached this result over the past several months, and next month we will have completed the construction of the fence on the border with the Sinai,' facing Egypt, he said. Interior Minister Eli Yishai had warned in August that Sudanese illegals who did not leave the country by October 15 would be detained, held in camps and deported." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIsraeli PM aims to deport tens of thousands of Africans

The Forever Wars of Frederick & Kimberly Kagan

"Kimberly is currently president for the oddly named Institute for the Study of War while Fred is the director of the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute. Fred’s brother Robert is at the Brookings Institution and has also been a foreign policy adviser to both John McCain and Mitt Romney. The Kagans are classic neocon entrepreneurs who rely on nepotism and cronyism to work their way through the system. Kimberly studied ancient history at Yale under Donald Kagan and then married his son. She is now billed as a 'military expert' by the neocon media in spite of her lack of any actual military experience." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Forever Wars of Frederick & Kimberly Kagan

Syrian Christians ‘pray for peace’

"In the heart of Damascus, more than 1,000 people attended Christmas mass on Monday, praying for peace to return to Syria, after almost two years of bloodshed. The church entrance was thinly decorated, a far cry from the usually ornate facade that welcomes the faithful. But a donations box at the entrance gives away the sea-change that Syria has suffered ever since the outbreak of an anti-regime revolt in March last year. Many Christians have remained neutral in a conflict estimated to have killed more than 44,000 people. Most church leaders have taken President Bashar al-Assad’s side, for fear of the rise of Islamic extremism." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSyrian Christians ‘pray for peace’

Glenn Greenwald: Newtown kids v Yemenis and Pakistanis: what explains the disparate reactions?

"It's easy to express rage over the Newtown shooting because so few of us bear any responsibility for it and there is ultimately little we can do to stop psychotic individuals from snapping. Fury is easy because it's easy to tell ourselves that the perpetrator has so little to do with us and our actions. Exactly the opposite is true for the violence that continuously kills children and other innocent people in the Muslim world. Many of us empowered and cheer for the person responsible for that. US citizens pay for it, enable it, and now under Obama, most at the very least acquiesce to it if not support it." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlenn Greenwald: Newtown kids v Yemenis and Pakistanis: what explains the disparate reactions?