Free Republic

NASHUA — A city woman is facing 17 charges in connection with an alleged assault against her girlfriend, including claims that she repeatedly bit her partner, rubbed her face in old food and choked her until she nearly blacked out. Nahiomy Velazquez, 23, of 75 Pine St., apt. 55, is accused of assaulting the girlfriend during an altercation on Dec. 21.

<p>DIA senior intelligence analyst Ana Belen Montes originally came under suspicion of being a spy for Cuba's communist government in 1994. However, DIA and FBI counterspies could not prove she was engaging in espionage and Montes continued passing secrets to Havana until she was discovered in late 1999.</p>

“Be assured my young friend, there is a great deal of ruin in a nation,” Adam Smith wrote to a distraught friend after the battle of Saratoga (1777). Smith’s assurance begs a large question: Just how much ruin is there in a nation? History’s stores contain food for thought. For those seeking a classic case of precipitate unraveling, it would be difficult to better the example of Spain under Philip IV (1621–1665), a truly remarkable plummet from the heights of European power to something very like decrepitude in a span of little over twenty years.

Dems vigilant on Puerto Rico bill Two of the most prominent Hispanic Democrats in Congress are continuing their all-out offensive to kill a bill that would mandate a vote on Puerto Rico’s political status. And they’re taking direct aim at their leadership. Democratic Reps. Nydia Velazquez (N.Y.) and Luis Gutierrez (Ill.) sent out an e-mail to members of Congress Thursday morning urging them to vote no on the Puerto Rican Democracy Act, which would allow the island’s residents to vote yes or no on whether they want to continue their political status. If that vote garnered a majority who didn’t...

Obama pick faces questions over bombers' clemencyBy PETE YOST Associated Press Writer Originally published Wednesday, January 14, 2009 at 2:05 PM WASHINGTON — New York police detective Anthony S. Senft's life changed forever when a bomb set by Puerto Rican separatists exploded, blowing him 15 feet in the air and blinding him in one eye. Now, he's angry that Eric Holder, who played a key role in awarding clemency to the bombers, is in line to be attorney general. Holder, as President Bill Clinton's deputy attorney general, worked closely with the Justice Department's pardon attorney to raise the possibility of...

Most notable among the petitions for clemency granted during Holder’s tenure is the request from 16 members of a Puerto Rican Marxist terrorist group, the Armed Forces of National Liberation, known by its Spanish acronym FALN, which engaged in a robbery and terror campaign in both the U.S. and Puerto Rico during the 1970s and 1980s. The clemency petition, which was supported by Reps. Luis Gutierrez (D-N.Y.), Jose Serrano (D-N.Y.) and Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.), became the subject of fiery controversy after it was revealed that none of the convicted terrorists had renounced violence and that their victims had not been...

Brown, Schweitzer, Velazquez and testosterone By ROB NATELSON It had to happen. Just when commentators – myself included – were talking about the “feminization” of our culture, here it comes: the testosterone election! First, there was Arnold Schwarzenegger. Next a firefight bursts out between George W. Bush and John Kerry over who will be tougher on terrorism. (It’s a clue that Bush will win this election that the focus has shifted toward the traditionally “Republican” issue of national defense and away from traditionally “Democratic” issues.) Now testosterone is pumping through the Montana governor’s race via the masculine issue of guns:...