Free Republic

London: Twelve former senior military officers insisted Britain should stay in the European Union today, saying the country was "stronger" as a member of the 28-nation bloc in a "dangerous world". Writing ahead of a membership referendum on June 23, the retired military chiefs said the EU helped protect the country against threats from ISIS terrorists and Russia. The signatories of the letter to the Daily Telegraph newspaper include four former professional heads of the overall armed forces as well as two former heads of the army and two of the navy. "Will Britain be safer inside the EU or...

Mysterious radio wave flashes from far outside the galaxy are proving tough for astronomers to explain. Is it pulsars? A spy satellite? Or an alien message? BURSTS of radio waves flashing across the sky seem to follow a mathematical pattern. If the pattern is real, either some strange celestial physics is going on, or the bursts are artificial, produced by human – or alien – technology. Telescopes have been picking up so-called fast radio bursts (FRBs) since 2001. They last just a few milliseconds and erupt with about as much energy as the sun releases in a month. Ten have...

A bummer from D.C., especially coming so soon after a federal judge in Pennsylvania held that the amnesty was unconstitutional. Don’t fret, though. A similar lawsuit, led by incoming Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and joined by 24 different states, has already been filed in Texas with a hearing scheduled early next month. The judge in that case is a Bush appointee who’s been critical of Obama’s DHS on immigration in the past. I like those odds. Worry about losing that one, not this one, as all it’ll take is a circuit split to force this issue before the Supreme...

CORPUS CHRISTI - A Guatemalan national, who had been in the custody since May 12, died Tuesday at a Corpus Christi hospital. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said the man, Federico Mendez Hernandez, 28, was diagnosed with rabies. Health experts believe he contracted the virus prior to crossing into the United States. Border Patrol agents arrested Mendez on May 9 on the Rio Grande near Hidalgo. He was transferred to ICE custody three days later. On May 18, Mendez was transported to Christus Spohn Hospital Kleberg in Kingsville after he reported symptoms compatible with rabies. The following day, he...

A member of the gang MS-13 from Springfield was found guilty of sex trafficking underage girls Thursday. A federal jury found Rances Ulices Amaya, 23, guilty of three counts of sex trafficking and one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of a child. Because of minimum sentencing guidelines, Amaya should receive at least 10 years in prison for each count. He could receive as much as life in prison when he is sentenced on June 1.

Carlos thought he’d be long gone by now. The young, college-educated New Yorker has been an illegal immigrant most his life. By last winter, a future with few options beyond washing dishes or working a factory assembly line had become too much for the gifted 24-year old to bear. Returning to his native Guatemala, he says, was not an option: “I have nothing there. I cannot go and adapt to that culture.” Staying also gave him the chance to be part of the presidential election, which he considers the most important event of his life. “If I was in Australia...

Riverside, Calif. (AP) -- Citing rampant health and safety violations, a federal judge on Monday appointed two special masters and a temporary receiver to help manage a Coachella Valley trailer park on Indian land that is home to up to 6,000 migrant workers. U.S. District Judge Stephen G. Larson appointed as special masters Pierre-Richard Prosper, a former U.S. ambassador in the Clinton administration and an expert on war crimes, and Jack Shine, president and chief executive of First Financial Group. Attorney Mark S. Adams was named temporary receiver, with the power to order emergency repairs at the park and control...

Principles are wonderful things. I think everyone should have some and have the integrity and courage to defend them. It's easier to stand uncompromisingly on a principle when it's hanging out there all by itself. In the real world, this is often complicated by situations where two or more principles are in conflict. In some cases this requires compromise between one's conflicting principles; or one principle or value might have to be subordinated to a higher one. Last week's flap over the American flag at Shaw Heights Middle School in Westminster and Skyline High School in Longmont is an instructive...

Federal officials are drafting guidelines that are supposed to clarify the roles of the two principal agencies in charge of guarding the border. The guidelines will affect Customs and Border Protection, the parent agency of the Border Patrol, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which focuses on investigations linked to criminal activity, including terrorism and human smuggling. A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, Dennis Murphy, said "there are no changes in policy," but "there has been discussion between the Border Patrol and ICE to make sure we have clear-cut responsibilities so there is no confusion." Since the 2003 creation...