Texan gunboats patrol Rio Grande

The failure of the federal government to uphold its responsibility to protect American citizens from the violence in Mexico, spreading over the boarder has prompted states to fill the void.

Till now, most notably, the Great State of Arizona. Well it should not come as any surprise that the Lone State State, Texas is not to be out done.


Texas rolls out gunboats to combat violence spilling over river border with Mexico

Law enforcement officers working along the U.S.-Mexico border are stepping up efforts to respond to what is in effect a war going on south of the border, where drug cartel violence has spun out of control.


In Texas, where the two countries are separated only by the Rio Grande River, stopping the violence from spilling into the United States means taking to the water -- with 34-foot-long gunboats that pack some serious firepower.

The stakes are high. Since 2007, roughly 56,000 people in Mexico have been killed in the escalating drug cartel violence. The U.S. government and local police agencies are working around the clock, 365 days a year to try and stop the flow of drugs, weapons and illegal immigrants into America from our southern neighbor.

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the Texas Department of Public Safety has rolled out the big guns: Four new “shallow water interceptors” are now patrolling the river, and two others will be commissioned soon.

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These gunboats are outfitted with bullet-proof panels, fully automatic machine guns and 900-horsepower engines. Their ability to cruise through the water at fast speeds is designed to not only serve as an intimidating force on the water, but also to fight back.

FOX News

Arab Destruction of the Temple Mount

Talk about stupid. Handing over control of the Temple Mount over to Arab Muslims certainly qualifies.

Mind boggling to say the least.

Is Israel losing Temple Mount war?


Ynetnews special: Why is Israeli government covering up Muslim effort to erase any trace of Jewish history on Temple Mount? Archeology expert: Excavations barbaric, a crime

Amir Shoan

Ira Pasternack couldn't believe his eyes. The tractor's huge blade was lifted high up and then brought down with great force, shattering the ancient floors on Temple Mount. The large clods of earth exposed by the work were cast aside by the mustachioed driver. Yet even an amateur archeologist could spot the priceless remnants of Jewish, Christian and Muslim history being cast away.



A few hours earlier, on a steaming July day in 2007, Pasternack was sent to Temple Mount in his role as an Israel Antiquities Authority inspector, in order to supervise excavation works at the holy site, which in the past boasted two Jewish Temples. This marked the first such project at the site since the 1967 Six-Day War, as the area's sensitivity could prompt a political and diplomatic flare-up, thereby discouraging any such work.

According to specific Antiquities Authority instructions, any digging at the site was not allowed to exceed 60 centimeters (roughly two feet) and was not to be undertaken using mechanical equipment. However, reports drafted by Pasternnack and other sources, exposed for the first time by Yedioth Ahronoth Friday, indicate that workers largely ignored the instructions.



Much of the work was done using a tractor, continued during the night with the help of a flashlight, reached deeper than the permit allowed for. Moreover, the clods of earth removed from the site, which apparently comprised valuable remnants from the two Jewish Temples, were thrown away to an improvised garbage dump by members of the Waqf (the administrative Muslim body in charge of Temple Mount.)

Archeology expert Dr. Gabai Barkai, a world-renowned expert on Temple era excavations, was shocked by the reported work: "How could one dig up such sensitive area at night? How could one dig using mechanical equipment? Every such move is a crime. This is first-rate barbarity."



Why is report secret?

Muslims pray on Mount (Photo: Ohad Zoigenberg)

An investigative report by Yedioth Ahronoth revealed the ongoing failure of various Israeli authorities in safeguarding the rare archeological treasures found on Temple Mount. Information elicited by the newspaper showed that the Waqf is consistently erasing any trace of Jewish history at the site.

COMPLETE STORY

The complete story is worth the read.

Syrian Torture Centers

I wonder why this comes as a surprise to me. Considering how Bashar Assad has been responsible for killing nearly 10,000 civilians so far, a systematic system of torture should have been expected.

Report: Syria running 27 torture centers

Human Rights Watch says Damascus' intelligence agencies inflicting gruesome torture on hundreds of detainees

The Syrian intelligence agencies are running torture centers across the country where detainees are beaten with batons and cables, burned with acid, sexually assaulted, and their fingernails torn out, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Tuesday.



The New York-based rights group identified 27 detention centers that it says intelligence agencies have been using since President Bashar Assad's government began a crackdown in March 2011 on pro-democracy protesters trying to oust him.

Human Rights Watch conducted more than 200 interviews with people who said they were tortured, and the report says that tens of thousands of people had been detained by the Department of Military Intelligence, the Political Security Directorate, the General Intelligence Directorate, and the Air Force Intelligence Directorate.

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