Free Republic

EXCLUSIVE: Four New York City men were arrested Wednesday in connection with an alleged plot to blow up New York City synagogues and other city locations, WNBC's Jonathan Dienst has learned. Raids by the FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorist Task Force in the Bronx captured the suspected ringleader and three followers in what law enforcement sources are calling a homegrown terrorist plot. Investigators stress the suspects' meetings had been infiltrated early on and there was "no chance" the alleged plot could succeed. Investigators said several of the suspects are Muslims who allegedly talked about destroying two Jewish temples, including at least one...

TRENTON - A lot of people don't have what it takes to get a New Jersey driver's license under new state rules requiring stricter proof of identification. The way Assemblyman Joseph Vas sees it, that doesn't mean fewer people are driving. It just means more people are driving unlicensed. Following other state lawmakers across the country, Vas (D., Middlesex) has introduced legislation to allow those who cannot prove they live here lawfully - many of them illegal immigrants - to get a driving privilege card. The card would let the holder drive legally but could not be used as official...

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Conceding that it might take "a miracle" for him to play again, Houston Astros slugger Jeff Bagwell went on the disabled list today in a move that could signal the end of his major-league career. The franchise's all-time leader in home runs and RBIs is considering surgery to remove the bone spurs in his shoulder in a last-ditch effort to salvage his career, and the Astros will start a season without him on the roster for the first time in 16 years. "I said I wasn't going to embarrass myself," said Bagwell, 37. "I felt like this...

NEW DELHI: This one's straight out of Ripley's Believe It Or Not. Five-year-old Tanishk Boyas took his three-year-old cousin Himanshu, who was hurt in a fall, to a hospital and got him treated. There's more. Tanishk drove Himanshu there in a Maruti van. Staff at the Mayur Vihar Phase-I hospital almost fell off their chairs when they saw Tanishk bring his cousin in. Himanshu was discharged after an overnight stay at the hospital on Saturday. The sequence of events began with Himanshu falling through an air vent left open on the first floor of his house. Tanishk promptly picked him...

Just wanted to post this because I have yet to attend a concert in 2004-2005 where there has not been one instance of Bush bashing. Just took in a Def Leppard concert with Tesla opening for them. Great show. Hit after hit after hit after hit. One of my favorite songs from Def Leppard has always been God's of War from their 14 million selling "Hysteria" (which had every song but two played tonight). Def Leppard obviously has waned in popularity over the years but they have always been about one thing...rock and roll and delivering it to their fans....

A judge ordered yesterday that the state stop taking away the driver's licenses of immigrants in New York who do not have Social Security cards, saying that the Department of Motor Vehicles is not authorized to enforce immigration law or to make new rules without public notice. The department began a license crackdown last year that was expected to cost the licenses of 300,000 immigrants in New York this year and has already led to the suspension of about 7,000 licenses. The order by Justice Karen Black of State Supreme Court in Manhattan was temporary, but lawyers on both sides...

House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner has renewed his fight to stop federal agencies from accepting as legal identification the driver's licenses issued by states that give licenses to illegal aliens. In December, this and a few other provisions dealing with border security were stripped by the Senate from the law responding to the recommendations of the Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. Fulfilling a vow to return to these issues, Sensenbrenner (R.-Wis.) introduced the REAL ID act two weeks ago. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R.-Tex.) has scheduled a vote on the bill this week. HUMAN EVENTS Editor...

House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner has renewed his fight to stop federal agencies from accepting as legal identification the driver's licenses issued by states that give licenses to illegal aliens. In December, this and a few other provisions dealing with border security were stripped by the Senate from the law responding to the recommendations of the Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. Fulfilling a vow to return to these issues, Sensenbrenner (R.-Wis.) introduced the REAL ID act two weeks ago. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R.-Tex.) has scheduled a vote on the bill this week. HUMAN EVENTS Editor...

01-26-05 By Taft Wireback, Staff Writer News & Record North Carolina examiners should not aggressively investigate illegal immigrants who might be seeking fraudulent driver's licenses, a top state executive suggested in a memo nearly two years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. In fact, Wayne Hurder, who supervises the state's driver-license section for the state Division of Motor Vehicles in Raleigh, sent an e-mail message in August 2003 criticizing some of his DMV officials for being too aggressive with immigrants who presented identification and other documents that examiners thought suspicious. "As I stated for the last nine years, the fact...

DES MOINES (AP) - A southeast Iowa lawyer has appealed a judge's decision to dismiss a lawsuit that asked the state to give driver's licenses to a Mexican couple who are in the country illegally.The Mexican couple in their 30s with three chidren work in Des Moines, where they have lived for the past five years.Attorney Curt Daniels said the couple received $1,000 in traffic tickets in one weekend. He claimed they were singled out because they are undocumented immigrants.Daniels wants the state to allow them to apply for licenses."Their situation is just outrageous," he said. "There are thousands and...

DPS seeks tougher drivers' licenses processAssociated Press Laredo Morning Times - April 11, 2002HOUSTON (AP) - What a difference a year makes.Last spring, the Texas Legislature passed a bill that would have made it easier for illegal immigrants to get driver's licenses. Gov. Rick Perry vetoed it.Now, the Texas Department of Public Safety is trying to make it more difficult to get a driver's license."After Sept. 11, there has been a re-examination," DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange said.A hearing on the DPS' proposed administrative rule change drew a standing-room-only crowd of about 70 people Tuesday at the state Capitol. Opponents of...

A bipartisan group of senators, representatives, and members of the 9/11 Commission flanked President Bush Friday at his signing of sweeping intelligence reform legislation. But an equally diverse collection of citizens' groups criticized what they saw as the potential for government oppression and invasions of privacy codified in the new law. President Bush called the new law, "the most dramatic reform of our nation's intelligence capabilities since President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947. "Under this new law, our vast intelligence enterprise will become more unified, coordinated and effective," Bush said. "It will enable us to...

Many 9/11 Families Opposed to Collins' Bill By Peter Gadiel Dec 13, 2004, 08:57 Editor, Sen. Collins persists in claiming that her intelligence reform bill passed because of "the overwhelming support of family members of 9-11 victims." Our organization, 9/11 Families for a Secure America wants to tell the people of Maine that her claim is false. The members of 9/11 FSA, all of whom are relatives of 9/11 victims, represent the families of 300 of those victims. We vociferously opposed the Collins bill in numerous Capitol Hill press conferences, a fact which cannot have escaped Sen. Collins notice. To...

House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R.-Ill.) has promised disgruntled conservatives that the House's top priority in the 109th Congress is passing legislation that bars illegal aliens from obtaining driver's licenses, language the Senate stripped from the just-passed intelligence bill. House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R.-Wis.), a strong proponent of the driver's license provision, secured Hastert's assurance once House leaders agreed to vote on the intelligence bill last week. Sensenbrenner helped thwart a November 20 vote on the legislation because the provision was removed. Hastert's spokesman, John Feehery, said the speaker wouldn't hesitate about attaching the language to an Iraq supplemental bill,...

WASHINGTON — Congress on Tuesday was wrapping up work on an intelligence reform bill that skirted the issue of whether states should issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants (search), but outside the Capital Beltway, neither side is backing down. Opponents of allowing illegals to obtain licenses say the issue is clearly one of security — a driver's license is a ticket to move freely around the country, and by offering the illusion of legal citizenship, it would allow terrorists to lay low and build networks until it's time to attack. "It is common sense we need to control that," said...

State lawmakers moved on two fronts Monday to require identification - and only certain kinds - for certain government services and privileges. On a 16-14 vote, the Senate approved SB 1232, which says Arizona cannot issue a driver's license to a new resident from another state unless that state demands proof of citizenship or legal residence. Arizona already requires such proof to get a first-time license here. Separately, the House of Representatives voted 33-25 for HB 2443, a more far-reaching measure that limits the kind of documents that can be accepted by state and local agencies to deliver services. That...