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Note: The following text is a quote: Authorities in El Paso Arrest Seven in Connection with Kidnapping/Murder Investigation Federal Charges Include Conspiracy to Commit Murder, Murder for Hire, Kidnapping, Drug Distribution and Interstate Transportation in Aid of Racketeering SAN ANTONIO—U.S. Attorney John E. Murphy, DEA Special Agent in Charge Joseph M. Arabit, FBI Special Agent in Charge David Cuthbertson, U.S. Border Patrol Marfa Sector Chief Patrol Agent John Smietana and El Paso Sector Acting Chief Patrol Agent Randy Hill, El Paso County District Attorney Jaime Esparza and El Paso County Sheriff Richard Wiles announced the arrest of seven individuals charged...

War: A Spanish court has charged Venezuela with collaborating in a terrorist plot to assassinate President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia. That's an attempt on a top U.S. ally, and calls for a hard response. If it's not predator-drone time, it's time to name Venezuela as a state sponsor of terror. What came to light Monday isn't the first time Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has been caught aiding terrorists, but it may well be the most egregious. Spanish Judge Eloy Velasco named a Venezuelan government official as a key link between 12 FARC and ETA terrorists who were indicted in a 2003...

From yesterday, Thursday, February 25, 2010:Intel bill pulled over controversial added interrogation provision "A controversial bill that would have levied criminal punishments on intelligence officers for harsh interrogations was pulled Thursday evening [Feb 25, 2010] . House Republicans charged Democrats with trying to sneak a provision into the intelligence authorization bill that would establish criminal punishment for CIA agents and other intelligence officials who engage in “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” during interrogations."... Intelligence committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas) added the language, originally offered by Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), to his manager’s amendment, which makes several changes to the bill...

A controversial bill that would have levied criminal punishments on intelligence officers for harsh interrogations was pulled Thursday evening. House Republicans charged Democrats with trying to sneak a provision into the intelligence authorization bill that would establish criminal punishment for CIA agents and other intelligence officials who engage in “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” during interrogations. Democrats inserted an 11-page addition into the bill late Wednesday night as the House Rules Committee considered the legislation. The provision, previously not vetted in committee, applied to “any officer or employee of the intelligence community” who during interrogations engages in beatings, infliction of...

House Republicans are charging Democrats with trying to sneak a provision into the intelligence authorization bill that would establish criminal punishment for CIA agents and other intelligence officials who engage in “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” during interrogations. Democrats inserted an 11-page addition to the bill late Wednesday night during as the House Rules Committee considered the legislation. The provision, previously not vetted in committee, applies to “any officer or employee of the intelligence community” who during interrogations engages in beatings, infliction of pain or forced sexual acts. The bill said the acts covered by the provision would include inducing...

A father has been hit with an unusual restraining order: Keep his daughter away from any religion that is not Jewish. After the girl's parents split up, the father went to a Catholic church and had the girl baptized, CBS station WBBM-TV reports. Joseph Reyes, 35, had his daughter baptized and sent his ex-wife a picture of the ceremony. Rebecca Reyes says she only learned of her daughter's Baptism when Joseph sent her the picture, and that he sent it out of malice. Joseph Reyes denies this. "I sent it because Rebecca asked me for pictures," he said. Rebecca Reyes...

Democrats who now run Capitol Hill have come under fire from government watchdog groups and the issue involves one as old as politics itself – pay to play. A now defunct Washington, D.C., lobbying firm called The PMA Group is at the heart of what could be the Beltway’s next big money scandal. The FBI is looking into allegations that several lawmakers gave lucrative defense contracts to their campaign contributors. The three principle targets of this federal investigation are Democratic Congressman John Murtha of Pennsylvania, Peter Visclosky of Indiana and Jim Moran of Virginia. Investigators want to know for whose...

In a rare gesture, House intelligence committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes sent a letter this week to all CIA employees suggesting that Congress shared some blame for the CIA interrogation controversy and should play a more robust role in the intelligence policymaking process. The letter, which was sent Wednesday and made available to The Washington Times on Thursday, appeared to undercut remarks by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that there was little Congress could do about harsh interrogations, including waterboarding. The Times reported last month that members of Congress, including Mrs. Pelosi, California Democrat, had been briefed on numerous occasions about the...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has had a bad week. Caught between her own involvement in the CIA interrogations now condemned as torture and her party’s inquisitions, Pelosi floundered. Her fear and frustration have apparently given way to panic after word reached her of the CIA’s reaction to the damage she, President Obama and other Democrats have done to the spy agency in the last three months. Pelosi -- as I wrote earlier in the week -- was one of the few members of Congress briefed in detail on the harsh interrogation methods and who could have stopped them but didn’t....

Teens held in rape of 89-year-old woman PORT RICHEY -- Two teens charged with beating and raping an 89-year-old woman and then trying to smother her with a pillow are being held without bail in the Pasco County Juvenile Detention Center. Carlos Fernandez, 15, of 7151 Tudor Lane in Port Richey, and Luis Reyes Jr., 14, of 11230 Areca Drive in Port Richey, face charges of burglary to a residence, grand theft auto, attempted first-degree murder and sexual battery. Pasco Sheriff Bob White has recommended they be charged as adults, though the final decision lies with prosecutors. The Sheriff's Office...

HP-1353 "Treasury Designates Additional FARC International Commission Members" SNIPPET: "Washington, DC--The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today designated three international representatives of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a narco-terrorist organization. The OFAC action was taken pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act), which applies financial sanctions against significant foreign narcotics traffickers and organizations, like the FARC. "Today's action exposes three additional members of the FARC's International Commission," said Adam J. Szubin, Director of OFAC. "The FARC is one of the world's largest suppliers of cocaine and continues to be...

After pursuit in Santa Rosa, 7 men arrested on weapons charges, 1 held for drugs Seven men carrying an illegal arsenal of assault weapons and an eighth man suspected of selling marijuana were arrested in Santa Rosa early Tuesday. Officials said the arrests were made just in time. "We believe they were going to commit a crime out of the county," said Lt. Tim Duke with the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department. "A crime was stopped." Deputies received an anonymous tip just after midnight Monday that a Chevy Tahoe SUV and a pickup with multiple passengers who had illegal assault weapons...

U.S. authorities helped facilitate a $32,000 ransom payment in Mexico for a relative of a U.S. congressman who was kidnapped last week by gunmen in Ciudad Juarez..... Erika Posselt, a Mexican national described only as "a relative of the wife" of Rep. Silvestre Reyes, Texas Democrat and powerful chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, was abducted June 19 ......in Juarez. Held for three days, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents - at Mr. Reyes' request - helped arrange her safe return. ........ the kidnappers negotiated with Mrs. Posselt's brother in Juarez and agreed to release her...

The bloodshed in Ciudad Juarez being fueled by the drug war must have triggered a major alarm in Washington, D.C., this past weekend when the sister-in-law of a prominent U.S. Congressman was kidnapped while on a shopping excursion in the Mexican border town.

TAMPA — It was Dec. 23, and a Temple Terrace police officer had just pulled Rebecca Reyes over for broken taillights, and all the Playboy model wanted to do was hide her boyfriend's Christmas present before he spotted it. One problem: She got out of her truck and ignored officers' orders to get back in. Then she mouthed off when one of them took hold of her arm. She ended up bruised and facing a misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest without violence.

Telephone Call from Chavez to "Reyes" Allowed Colombians to Locate FARC Camp Elpais.com.co-EFE A telephone call that the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, would have made to the guerrilla leader "Raul Reyes,"1 permitted location of the encampment, according to reports from Colombian intelligence, RCN Radio divulged today. The telephone call took place Wednesday the 27th of February, the day in which four Colombian Congressmen (Gloria Polanco, Luis Eladio Pérez, Orlando Beltrán, Jorge Eduardo Gechem), kidnapped for almost seven years, were liberated.2 "Chavez, emotionally moved by the liberation of the kidnapped prisoners, called Reyes (alias of Luis Edgar Devia) and told...

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - A single laptop can reveal much, and so it is with the digital treasure chest that Colombian commandos found in the jungle quarters of slain rebel leader Raul Reyes. Files in the computer seized in Saturday's raid into Ecuador that claimed the lives of Reyes and 23 of his comrades offer an intimate portrait of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's desire to undermine Colombia's U.S.-allied government. If authentic, the documents show that sympathies Chavez first aired publicly in January grew out of a relationship that dates back more than a decade. But Chavez is not one of...

Colombia's FARC guerrilla movement was trying to get hold of radioactive material to make a "dirty bomb," Colombian Vice-President Francisco Santos said on Tuesday. Santos told the United Nations Conference on Disarmament that materials found on computers of Raul Reyes, the deputy commander of Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), showed the group was in negotiations to get hold of radioactive matter for a bomb. (Reuters)

Alcee Hastings out as chair. Harman also out, accordingt to Fox. Second loss for Pelosi.

On Dec. 5, Newsweek magazine touted an interview with then-incoming House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Rep. Silvestre Reyes as an "exclusive." "In a surprise twist in the debate over Iraq," the story began, Mr. Reyes "said he wants to see an increase of 20,000 to 30,000 U.S. troops as part of a 'stepped up effort to dismantle the militias.' " "We have to consider the need for additional troops to be in Iraq, to take out the militias and stabilize Iraq," the Texas Democrat said to the surprise of many, "I would say 20,000 to 30,000." Then came...