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Ted Poe says Mexican military flights over Texas are “very disturbing” - (Read Full Article)

With a Mexican navy helicopter whirring low over a rural community on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande, an American military veteran armed with marksmanship skills and a hefty rifle hankered from the ground to shoot it down.

“Don’t do it,” Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez Jr. recalled warning the man on that Sunday afternoon last year.

The flight is one of as many as 10 in the past 17 months in which South Texans – in broad daylight – have spotted Mexican helicopters hovering overhead. The aircraft was so close to the ground military personnel could be seen inside, Gonzalez said.

While an array of U.S. federal and state agencies declined to comment, a Mexican government official confirmed that Mexican military helicopters have permission to use Texas as a staging ground for missions into Mexico to fight drug traffickers.

“Yes, I can tell you they exist, they are going on,” said the official, who has knowledge of the flights. “Certainly, for the last couple of years,” he said, noting that the U.S. government also has permission to fly unmanned surveillance planes in Mexico.

Most sightings have been in the vicinity of Falcon Lake, a region where authorities in Mexico are fighting the Zetas cartel.

In some instances, American civilians snapped photos of the flights and shared them with police. In the most recent incident last month, a Mexican military helicopter landed at Laredo’s airport.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection offered minimal details, saying the pilot was lost.

‘Very disturbing’

U.S. Rep Ted Poe, whose district stretches from Spring to Beaumont, asked for an explanation for at least one flight which occurred over Starr County, not far from Falcon Lake.

“My office contacted Homeland Security and they confirmed that there was an unauthorized flight over Falcon Heights that day, but they said it was impossible to confirm whether or not it was actually a Mexican military helicopter or the drug cartels flying in a helicopter painted to look like a Mexican military helicopter,” he said, “The Mexican military denies that they had any military helicopters flying the area that day.”

Neither scenario is acceptable, he said.

“It is very disturbing that here are incursions into American air space by any aircraft originating from foreign countries and no one seems to be held accountable.”.

‘Low-Speed Chase’: TX Cops Chase Drunk, Shirtless Man on Stolen Forklift - (Watch Video Here)

There are high-speed chases of the O.J. Simpson variety. And then there are low-speech chases like the one you’re about to see. It’s not just any low-speed chase, mind you: it centers around a drunken, shirtless man on a stolen forklift.

The man apparently stole the massive piece of equipment before leading police on a wile chase around Ft. Worth, Texas. A couple guys getting gas happened to see the events unfolding and pulled out a camera. And as with many things these days, it all ended up on YouTube.

Promotions of ‘Fast and Furious’ officials draw Texan’s wrath - (Read Full Story)

A senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday described as “inconceivable” a Justice Department decision to promote key Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) personnel who oversaw the controversial “Fast and Furious” weapons investigation that allowed hundreds of guns to be walked into Mexico.

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, who last week demanded that Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. immediately brief his office regarding the “scope and details of any past or present ATF gun-walking programs” in his state, said until Mr. Holder and the department “come clean” on the gun-walking investigation, “it is inconceivable to reward those who spearheaded this disastrous operation with cushy desks in Washington.”

The ATF has promoted three key supervisors of the controversial sting operation that allowed firearms to be illegally trafficked across the U.S. border into Mexico.

Mr. Cornyn’s comments were in response to a Los Angeles Times‘ article that said three ATF supervisors heavily criticized for pushing the Fast and Furious program forward had been given new management positions at the agency’s Washington headquarters. The three are William G. McMahon, ATF’s deputy director of operations in the West, and William D. Newell and David J. Voth, both of whom oversaw the program out of the agency’s Phoenix office.

Infectious moods: How bugs control your mind

FEELING happy? Down in the dumps? Or been behaving strangely lately? Besides the obvious reasons, whether or not you are happy or sad, or prone to depression or other mental illnesses, could be a consequence of an infection - or even down to the diseases that you didn't catch during childhood.

"It used to be thought that the immune system and the nervous system were worlds apart," says John Bienenstock of McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada. Now it seems the immune system, and infections that stimulate it, can influence our moods, memory and ability to learn. Some strange behaviours, such as obsessive compulsive disorder, may be triggered by infections, and the immune system may even shape our basic personalities, such as how anxious or impulsive we are. The good news is that understanding these links between the brain and immune system could lead to new ways of treating all kinds of disorders, from depression to Tourette's syndrome.

Islamists raise fears of violent 'clash of cultures' in Europe

It is a Sunday night in London's East End and the self-styled "most hated man in Britain" is holding court, reveling in his vision of a Taliban victory over America and a world under Islamic Shariah law.

The crowd of about 250 listens intently as Anjem Choudary issues a call to arms in the pristine surroundings of the newly refurbished art deco conference center, built to host weddings and business meetings.

Gitmo transfers return to terrorism

Nearly one in four terrorists released from the detention facility at U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, resumed terrorist activities against the United States and the number is expected to rise, according to a report to Congress by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI).

The report, made public Tuesday, stated that out of a total of 598 detainees released as of October, 150 were confirmed or suspected of "reengaging in terrorist or insurgent activities after transfer," the two-page unclassified summary said.

America's Third War: Texas Strikes Back

"I never thought that we'd be in this paramilitary type of engagement. It's a war on the border," said Captain Stacy Holland with the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Holland leads a fleet of 16 state-of-the-art helicopters that make up the aviation assets used by the Texas DPS to fight Mexican drug cartels.

In recent years, the cartels have become bolder and more ruthless.

They cross the border with AK-47s on their backs, wearing military camouflage. They recruit in prisons and schools on the American side. Spotters sit in duck blinds along the Rio Grande and call out the positions of the U.S. Border Patrol.

Across Texas, 60,000 babies of noncitizens get U.S. birthright

As Republican members of Congress press for changes to the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, preventing automatic citizenship for babies born to illegal immigrants, opponents insist the debate is not really about babies.

Instead, they say it is about politics and votes – not fixing the immigration system.

Still, the debate could resonate in Texas, where not only 1.5 million illegal immigrants are estimated to reside but at least 60,000 babies are added to their households annually.

Oh-No: Tests Confirm Oil Seep Distance Away From Deepwater Well

As the National Incident Commander, I must remain abreast of the status of your source control efforts. Now that source control has evolved into a period beyond the expected 48 hour interval of the Well Integrity Test, I am requiring that you provide me a written update within 24 hours of your intentions going forward. I remain concerned that all potential options to eliminate the discharge of oil be pursued with utmost speed until I can be assured that no additional oil will spill from the Macondo Well.

You may use your letter of 9 July as a basis for your update. Specifically, you must provide me your latest containment plan and schedule in the event that the Well Integrity Test is suspended, the status and completion timelines for all containment options currently under development, and details of any other viable source control options including hydraulic control that you are considering. You should highlight any points at which progress along one option will be impacted by resource trade-offs to achieve progress along another option. Include options for and impacts of continued twice-a day seismic testing versus once a day testing...

Arlington woman pleads guilty to federal charges after 3 pipe bombs found in truck

A 45-year-old Arlington woman who has had past run-ins with counterterrorism agents has pleaded guilty to federal charges after police found three pipe bombs in a pickup she was driving.

Kimberly Al-Homsi and Yasinul Ansari, her 18-year-old accomplice, both entered pleas before U.S. District Judge John McBryde in Fort Worth. They admitted to one count each of possession of an unregistered firearm. In this case, that was the homemade pipe bombs found in the truck in February.

Texas law enforcement officials are bracing for a bloody weekend along the border, advising farmers to arm themselves as signs across northern Mexico point to a new escalation of violence after coordinated drug cartel attacks against the military this week...

While the U.S. government and federal authorities busy themselves targeting American citizens as domestic terrorists, it seems they couldn’t care less about the fact that the military of a foreign power is flying around American airspace with wanton abandon...

Travis County officials identify the suspect as 24-year-old Fausto Cardenas of Houston. He appeared to have blood on his face as law enforcement drove him to jail. Cardenas has been charged with deadly conduct. A motive for the shooting was not immediately known...

A man with a handgun fired several shots Thursday on the Texas Capitol's south steps, but state troopers quickly tackled him and there were no reports of injuries, the Texas Department of Public Safety said...

The BATF engaged in mafia tactics in running a criminal conspiracy to shut down a gun show in Austin Texas, the Alex Jones Show heard Monday, direct from the man embroiled at the center of the Obama administration’s latest savage attack on the second amendment...