Free Republic

A group of experts has discovered proof that people during the Bronze Age used drugs in their ceremonies. By examining hair strands from a burial location in Menorca, Spain, researchers have learned that our ancestors took in hallucinogenic drugs derived from plants. This new information presents the initial clear evidence of drug use in olden Europe. These drugs may have been an important part of their traditional events and practices, according to the researchers. The scientists identified three specific substances, scopolamine, ephedrine, and atropine, in three separate hair samples that they replicated. The researchers noted that due to the dangerous...

President Joe Biden is planning to extend his vacation this week after he wraps up his time on Kiawah Island in South Carolina. According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) data cited by the Associated Press, Biden plans to be in Wilmington, Delaware, from Tuesday until Friday after he leaves Kiawah Island.

Hundreds of Iraqi policemen fell sick from poisoning tonight at their base in the southern part of the country after the evening meal breaking their daily Ramadan fast, raising fears of a new type of terrorist attack – perhaps even involving chemical, biological or nerve agents. Some of the policemen reportedly began bleeding from the ears and nose immediately after the meal... The suddenness and severity of the mass poisoning immediately raised fears of a new kind of terrorist attack for the nation of Iraq where weapons of mass destruction have not been used since Saddam Hussein was in power....

INTERNET EXCLUSIVE Scam fear over iris scans By CORINNE ABRAMS Sun OnlineTHE use of iris scans on ID cards could be scuppered by fraudsters using an optician's chemical that makes the iris disappear, an expert has claimed.  Ross Anderson, professor of Security Engineering at the University of Cambridge, revealed that criminals in Dubai used the chemical atropine to make their irises disappear and avoid detection by authorities.Prof Anderson said the biggest deployed experiment for biometric identifiers was in Dubai."What they want to do there is catch Pakistani prostitutes who have already been deported and who are coming in again under new...

CBS Reported Suspicious Powder At Al Qaqaa In April 2003 (CBS Blows It Again) Alert CQ reader Samuel Silver sent me this article from the archives of CBS News -- the same organization that helped prepped NYTrogate with the New York Times -- which shows that the Third Infantry Division had reached Al Qaqaa and discovered thousands of vials of a mysterious powdered explosive by April 3, 2003 (coincidentally, my birthday): U.S. troops found thousands of boxes of white powder, nerve agent antidote and Arabic documents on how to engage in chemical warfare at an industrial site south of Baghdad....

The United Nation's chief weapons inspector has defended his team over suggestions they failed to do their job in Iraq. US officials have found thousands of chemical protection suits at an Iraqi military base in Nasiriya, along with a chest full of the nerve gas antidote atropine. Chief weapons inspector Dr Hans Blix says the coalition forces are at an advantage compared to weapons inspectors in Iraq: "The Americans have one advantage over UNMOVIC, in discovering things and that is as they go around the country and more areas are under their control it seems likely that people scientists engineers...