Free Republic

In the early dawn's orange glow, a Texas Rangers commander briefs a heavily armed invasion force. They're preparing to seize a remote, 170-acre Mexican cartel-controlled island in the middle of the Rio Grande River overlooked by sniper nests and potentially booby-trapped. Some of the dozens of assembled men shift from one foot to another or reposition their M-4 rifles as they listen to their commanders' instructions. 'Keep a close eye on those structures up there that have height advantage on us,' he warns. 'In case we do get engaged and someone is shot' medical evacuation plans are in place and...

A verified and convicted terrorist who attacked a U.S. Consulate with a grenade and automatic rifle fire has taken over the ruthless Los Zetas cartel, a group headquartered at the Texas border in the Nuevo Laredo-Laredo metropolitan border area. Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, sits immediately across the border from Laredo, Texas, and is the only urban location along the entire U.S.-Mexico Border that does not have any fencing or constructed security barrier of any kind. The convicted terrorist, Hector Raul Luna Luna, is known as “El Tory” and was convicted in the 2008 terror attack on the U.S. Consulate in Monterrey,...

Sikhs in B.C. are cheering the Supreme Court of Canada's decision that upholds the right of Sikh children to wear a ceremonial dagger to school. The case involved a Montreal student who wasn't allowed to wear his kirpan to school. Schools in B.C. have long permitted orthodox Sikh students to wear the ceremonial dagger. In its 8-0 judgment, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that a total ban infringed on Gurbaj Singh's guarantees of religious freedom under the Charter of Rights.

OTTAWA, ON, Canada (UPI) -- A Canadian official, during a hearing about a Canadian citizen deported to Syria, said the country will cooperate with other nations that practice torture. The Globe and Mail reports Canadian Security Intelligence Service lawyer Barbara McIsaac said that the government will work on anti-terrorism cases with governments that practice torture if it will save lives. She was speaking at a commission hearing looking into Maher Arar`s allegations that he was tortured while imprisoned in Syria. The 36-year-old Syrian-born Canadian citizen was detained at New York`s Kennedy Airport and deported to Syria despite his Canadian passport....

CF-18 fighter jet crashes in northern Quebec, pilot believed to have ejected SAGUENAY, Que. (CP) - A CF-18 fighter plane crashed Tuesday but the pilot is believed to have ejected, the all-news channel LCN reported. A search was underway to find the pilot from CFB Bagotville in the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean region, about 250 kilometres north of Quebec City. The pilot was reported to be safe, LCN said. The cause of the crash isn't yet known and weather conditions were believed to be good at the time, LCN said. The pilot was flying about 120 kilometres north of the base.

My fella and I were going out of town. He was driving his "super reliable" car into which he pours nothing less than premium gas and synthetic oil and which, incidentally, is so much better and safer than my car that the two can never even be compared. To boot, his car just got a tune-up and that became the launching point for a lecture about car maintenance habits and how I do not have any. He should know. He's been working on my car all weekend. So blah, blah, I never check my oil (I forget), my tire pressure...