IN civil proceedings to date, the US government has levied several billion dollars in penalties for misconduct in the 2008 sub-prime property scandals. This sum is dwarfed by the hundreds of billions of dollars lost by investors and home owners. And yet not one senior Wall Street executive has been held criminally liable by the Department of Justice for activities related to financial crimes. Don’t you love those bankers.
GERMANS born post WW2 apparently talk rarely about their country’s role in that vast and bloody conflict. It’s an off-limits topic. Curiously, it is illegal in many European countries and Canada to question or deny some aspects of the war; offenders can face lengthy prison sentences. No other event in history is treated this way. Clearly, such laws are not only ridiculous but also hopelessly outdated. History should be debated and revised, especially in view of it always being written for the benefit of the victors. Besides, what kind of example are so-called developed countries giving to others like Thailand whose privacy laws they often deride?
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