Free Republic

MEXICO CITY, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Mexican President Felipe Calderon's military offensive against ruthless drug cartels has calmed a surge in violence and won him support from many who until now saw him as a bookish, even nerdy technocrat. In the two months since he took office, Calderon has sent thousands of troops into trafficking strongholds where police had feared to go in order to bring down escalating drug violence. He struck a major blow on Jan 19 by extraditing four major traffickers to face trial in U.S. courts. Calderon got a boost from widely published photographs of Gulf cartel...

Peruvian president Alan Garcia Thursday proposed a national referendum [press release, in Spanish] on introducing capital punishment for convicted terrorists after a legislative proposal to that effect was defeated 49-26 in the Peruvian Congress [official website] on Wednesday. Garcia described the defeat as one contrary to the will of the Peruvian people, and "[it was his] duty to fulfill what [he has] promised... in [his election] campaign." Political observers believe that Congress is unlikely to support the referendum proposal, which itself requires the approval of Congress. Congressional opposition to the proposal cite the American Convention on Human Rights [text], which...

TIJUANA, Mexico – Mexico is sending more than 3,000 soldiers and federal police officers to fight drug gangs in the violent border city of Tijuana, the latest offensive by President Felipe Calderon who has vowed to crack down on organized crime. The force, backed by 28 boats, 21 planes and nine helicopters, will hunt down suspected traffickers, patrol the coast and man checkpoints in a city that is a popular smuggling route for cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana entering the United States, Interior Secretary Francisco Ramirez Acuna said at a news conference Tuesday in Mexico City. “We will carry out all...

ROME, Sept. 14 — As Pope Benedict XVI arrived back home from Germany, Muslim leaders strongly criticized a speech he gave on his trip that used unflattering language about Islam and violence. Some of the strongest words came from Turkey, possibly putting in jeopardy Benedict’s scheduled visit there in November. “I do not think any good will come from the visit to the Muslim world of a person who has such ideas about Islam’s prophet,” Ali Bardakoglu, a cleric who is head of the Turkish government’s directorate of religious affairs, said in a television interview there. “He should first of...

Jethro Tull's soloist: Show must go on Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull's soloist and flutist, is still planning to come to Israel. 'I don’t think any of us should succumb to terror, I am afraid of coming to Israel but I am also afraid to cross the street' Sagie Ben Nun Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull's soloist and flutist since 1967, is due to appear in Israel on October 16th, 2006 for the fifth time. Anderson will be playing in concert with the Raanana Symphony Orchestra set to take place at the city's famed amphitheatre. As of now, it doesn’t appear as...

A busy time in the U.S. Senate, the "world's greatest deliberative body." Judging from the 2006 conference report, the Senate subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education -- Chairman Arlen Specter (R), ranking member Tom Harkin (D) -- has been deliberating especially hard: "Sec. 221. (a) The Headquarters and Emergency Operations Center Building (Building 21) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is hereby renamed as the Arlen Specter Headquarters and Emergency Operations Center. (b) The Global Communications Center Building (Building 19) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is hereby renamed as the Thomas R....

Chicago Tribune, 10 Nov 04 (Excerpt from article entitled "GIs punch into Fallujah center")... "A U.S. psychological operations unit broadcast a message in Arabic over a loudspeaker in an attempt to draw out insurgents. 'Brave terrorists, I am waiting here for the brave terrorists. Come and kill us. Plant small bombs on roadsides. Attention, attention, terrorists of Fallujah.'" Related Tribune article also reports of a Humvee with a loudspeaker blaring Richard Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries," the music used in the helicopter attack scene in "Apocalypse Now." FINALLY...a war-effort contibution from Hollywood!

Conservatives and members of the Senate Republican leadership say that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) is committed to using a controversial procedural tactic that would rewrite the chamber’s filibuster rule. While Frist said he was actively considering changing the Senate rules several months ago, it now appears that the majority leader is on board with an effort by leading conservative senators to execute the tactic, which would prohibit lawmakers from filibustering judicial nominees. The most logical time to change the rules would be this fall or at the beginning of the new Congress in January. Senate Democratic leadership aides...

I have been employed as a police officer, a town marshal (yes, Texas still has a few), and a deputy sheriff. All this within seven years. I do not have to worry about speaking out and getting fired anymore – I am pretty much blackballed from the profession. On [Joseph Farah's radio] show, I have heard uninformed people state that the police did nothing about this or that illegal alien problem. I cannot speak for the rest of the world, but here in Texas, you can't touch them. You cannot even ask them for a green card. You cannot even...

Here's your chance, Free Republic hero. If you are really incensed about the 60 ban on political speech (...congress shall make no long banning...) then step up with your intentions to excercise your formerly constitutional right next fall, committing a federal crime in the process. And when you get convicted - and you will - your recourse will be to appeal to the supreme court. While O'Connor and company stare down their noses at you and CNN reports. Doesn't get any better than this, does it?

Angry that they are without Capitol parking spaces, denied access to staff members during floor sessions and forced to make do with fewer office supplies, several Democratic senators Wednesday demanded an end to the sanctions imposed for their 45-day runaway to New Mexico. "I think the sanctions are a moot point," a visibly irate Sen. Mario Gallegos of Houston told Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst on the Senate floor. "We've come back to work, and our staffs are still [required to sit] in the Senate gallery. I can't write my constituency and tell them there's a redistricting hearing at 1...