Free Republic

Chad's President Idriss Debby has died while visiting troops on the front lines of a fight against northern rebels, an army spokesman said on Tuesday. Deby's death comes just one day after he was declared the winner of a sixth term in office, marking over 30 years in power.

Chicago may soon become the largest municipality in the U.S. to test a universal basic income program. Chicago alderman Ameya Pawar recently proposed legislation that would provide 1,000 families with a $500 monthly stipend -- no questions asked. The bill already has the backing of the majority of city lawmakers, and Pawar hopes to soon work with Mayor Rahm Emanuel to implement the pilot program, The Intercept reported. “Nearly 70 percent of Americans don’t have $1,000 in the bank for an emergency,” Pawar told the outlet. “UBI could be an incredible benefit for people who are working and are having...

Islamic SocialismFrom the CIA factbook: Following a 1969 military coup, Col. Muammar Abu Minyar al-QADHAFI began to espouse his own political system, the Third Universal Theory. The system was a combination of socialism and Islam derived in part from tribal practices and was supposed to be implemented by the Libyan people themselves in a unique form of "direct democracy.[1] The "Green Book" - Arabism, Islam & socialism, with Islam the main line Author John L. Esposito: Under Qaddafi three interrelated ideas were woven into Libya's ideological identity: Pan-Arabism, socialism, and Islam. Qaddafi's appeals to Islam were influenced by his...

Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi is well known now for the abuses he has inflicted on his own people during more than four decades of brutal rule in Libya, but few remember the vast campaign of carnage and terrorism he orchestrated across West Africa and Europe when he was at the height of his powers. Nor are his more recent alliance with Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and his long-standing relationship with Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua -- both of whom are busy trampling their constitutions and moving toward dictatorship -- well understood. And the fact that all three governments support the Revolutionary Armed...

Americans could be in for a rude awakening in coming months when they discover the true scope of the massive national debt racked up by the U.S. government. In fact, the $1.6 trillion deficit expected for 2010, which is above 10% of gross domestic product (GDP), is only the beginning. Since the current economic crisis began in late 2007, the U.S. Federal Reserve has tripled the size of its balance sheet, creating enormous amounts of new money by lending to hundreds of ailing banks and buying up more than $1 trillion of questionable asset-backed securities. But that's only a small...

via translation - ALERT - Chad: Rebels entered N'Djamena N'DJAMENA - Rebels entered Saturday in N'Djamena in the east and south of the city, according to witnesses, while automatic weapons fire were heard from the city center, has been a journalist ' AFP.

N'DJAMENA, April 13 (Reuters) - Residents of Chad's capital N'Djamena were woken by the sound of artillery fire early on Thursday as government forces battled to keep rebels bent on overthrowing President Idriss Deby out of the city. A Reuters reporter living in a southern neighbourhood said the noise of heavy weapons could be heard coming from a few kilometres (miles) outside the city. "Everyone is up, wondering what is going to happen," he said. One resident reported seeing a column of smoke.