CLibertyC

Dutch chemical trader ordered to pay victims of Saddam Hussein’s gas attacks

"A Dutch businessman who sold Iraq’s former regime chemicals that were used in deadly gas attacks against Kurds in Iraq and in Iran was ordered on Wednesday to pay 400,000 euros ($520,000) in compensation to some of the victims. The court ruled that Frans van Anraat must pay 25,000 euros plus interest to each of the 16 plaintiffs in the case. Van Anraat is currently serving a 17-year prison sentence on charges of complicity to war crimes in relation to the chemicals he sold to Saddam Hussein’s regime between 1985 and 1989. The substances enabled the production of mustard gas used notably to massacre 5,000 Kurds in 1988 at Halabja, northwest Iraq." Continue reading →

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UN Commission Investigator: It Was The Syrian Rebels Who Used Sarin

"It made all the sense in the world for the insurgents to release some sarin here and there, make some videos of the victims, and email the links to some very willing Israeli generals and McCainian rabid warhawks in the US and their absurd poodles in the UK and France. The question is, whence came the chemical weapons? Perhaps the Syrian government was not lying when it asserted at the end of last month that the chemical weapons used by the Syrian rebels originated in Turkey. The Syrian official's claim was reported in the Western press as an example of mendacity, laughed at by the US administration. But it seems he may well have been telling the truth." Continue reading →

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Leirion Gaylor Baird’s Tax-Raising Petition Story Tough to Swallow

Leirion Gaylor Baird City of Lincoln, Nebraska City Council Campaign logo May 2013On April 15, 2013, Nebraska Watchdog published “Lincoln council candidate mistakenly signed petition to raise taxes”, reporting that Gaylor Baird signed a document calling on the City Council to raise the property tax levy by 5-cents in 2011. The candidate responded to Watchdog’s inquiry by explaining that when she’d been […]

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Police in Springfield, Mass. adopt Iraq-style ‘counterinsurgency’ tactics

"Police in Springfield, Massachusetts have adopted Iraq-style 'counterinsurgency' tactics and are applying them to gang busting with amazing results. U.S. counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq focused on keeping militants at bay while creating stable space for a community to come together and begin resolving issues that create violence. To officer Mike Katone, freshly home from a war zone and working for the Springfield police force, that strategy made more and more sense the longer he looked at his city’s gang problems." Continue reading →

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Obama To College Grads: Reject Voices That Warn About Government Tyranny

"Unfortunately, you've grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that's at the root of all our problems. Some of these same voices also do their best to gum up the works. They'll warn that tyranny always lurking just around the corner. You should reject these voices. Because what they suggest is that our brave, and creative, and unique experiment in self-rule is somehow just a sham with which we can't be trusted." Continue reading →

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NYPD Police Sergeant Calls For Crackdown On Social Media Dissent

"Using a zero tolerance approach to track domestic terrorists online is the only reasonable way to analyze online threats these days, especially after the Boston Marathon bombing and news that the suspects had subsequently planned to target Times Square in Manhattan, Mullins says. The way law enforcement agencies approach online activity that appears sinister is this: 'If you’re not a terrorist, if you’re not a threat, prove it,' he says. 'This is the price you pay to live in free society right now. It’s just the way it is,' Mullins adds. That method can result in arrests of teenagers whose online activity may be more aptly characterized as stupid pranks." Continue reading →

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Danes Rethink a Welfare State Ample to a Fault

"While much of southern Europe has been racked by strikes and protests as its creditors force austerity measures, Denmark still has a coveted AAA bond rating. But Denmark’s long-term outlook is troubling. The population is aging, and in many regions of the country people without jobs now outnumber those with them. Some of that is a result of a depressed economy. But many experts say a more basic problem is the proportion of Danes who are not participating in the work force at all — be they dawdling university students, young pensioners or welfare recipients like Carina who lean on hefty government support." Continue reading →

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Food Stamp Nation: 20% of U.S. Households

"The economic recovery rolls on. The number of American households receiving food stamps has hit 23 million. This is 23 million out of 115 million households. That’s 20%. The government has a solution. Stop calling them food stamps. It has now issued cards that look just like credit cards. If the recovery is real, why are more Americans on food cards? Because the farm bloc wants its subsidies, and the welfare bloc does, too. It’s a matter of supply and demand. If demand stays high, farm prices stay high. There is nothing like free food to increase demand. Food cards offer free food. Rising demand proves there is rising need. Rising need proves that more food cards are necessary." Continue reading →

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The hidden dangers of legal highs

"In comparison with regular drugs, there is hardly any data on the harm these new drugs do. Manufacturers in the UK, China and eastern Europe take any of these chemicals or dozens more, blending them with inert substances into uncontrolled, unstated doses, and selling them online. These products, with names such as Barry White and Dutchy, are the most concerning: customers are very often young people, some of whom find it hard to buy drugs anywhere else, or prefer to stay on the right side of the law. Manufacturers do not list their contents, or give any dosage instructions, since to do so would render them liable for prosecution." Continue reading →

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Israeli Bombs Over Syria, Part Two

"The passive-aggressive US State Department, which is curiously -- or not -- silent every time its beloved insurgents commit an atrocity of a Boston-on-steroids scale against Christians and others who do not support al-Qaeda in Syria, has nevertheless suddenly found its voice to condemn Syrian government for a 'massacre' in Baida, where seven bodies have been found killed in possible retaliation for the killing of seven members of the Syrian Army. The US is suddenly 'appalled by horrific reports' with no evidence, while silent on the truly horrific atrocities committed by its allies, the insurgents." Continue reading →

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