Free Republic

Wednesday’s St. Pius X graduation ceremony was at least one student short. Transgender student Damian Garcia elected to stay home after the school told him he had to wear a white robe, for girls, instead of the black worn by male students. Garcia was born a girl named Brandi until he legally changed his name last year. He said the school and archdiocese told him they would refer to the gender on his birth certificate, which is female, and require him to wear the white robe. The archdiocese did not return a phone call seeking comment Wednesday. Although Garcia has...

WASHINGTON - A Senate panel voted Tuesday to provide weapons to rebels battling the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the first time lawmakers have endorsed the aggressive U.S. military step of arming the opposition. ... "The greatest humanitarian crisis in the world is unfolding in and around Syria," said Sen. Robert Menendez (D., N.J.), the committee chief. ". . . The United States must play a role in tipping the scales toward opposition groups and working to build a free and democratic Syria." Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, the panel's top Republican, implicitly criticized the Obama administration as he...

The former U.S. Attorney for Arizona could be disbarred, after an investigation found he lied to the Justice Department about his role in trying to discredit the federal whistle-blower who exposed the botched gun-running scheme known as Fast and Furious. An Office of Inspector General report showed that Dennis Burke -- the former chief of staff for Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano appointed as U.S. Attorney for Arizona by President Obama in September 2009 -- lied when asked if he leaked sensitive documents to the press meant to undermine the credibility of ATF whistle-blower John Dodson. The IG report also...

Scandal: Senate Democrats, including supporters of the Disclose Act, provided the names of groups they wanted targeted in a taxpayer-funded witch hunt overseen by an IRS employee and Obama campaign donor. Using the Citizens United case as a pretext, retiring Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., on July 27, 2012, wrote IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman to investigate 12 conservative groups he accused of violating their tax-exempt status and engaging in coordinated political activity. The groups Levin asked to be targeted for special scrutiny were Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies, Priorities U.S.A., Americans Elect, American Action Network, Americans for Prosperity, American Future Fund, Americans...

Chris Crane, president of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers union, spoke to Mark Levin on The Mark Levin Show Thursday evening. Crane recently testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the immigration bill working through Congress. Crane explained how President Obama and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano have, since the administration’s start, “attempted to shut down” border enforcement and “absolutely” tied law enforcement’s hands.

The tawdriness of American identity politics reached a new low this week as former New Mexico governor, frustrated 2008 democrat presidential candidate, and serial corruption suspect Bill Richardson offered his take on the junior senator from Texas. On Sunday, Richardson was a guest on ABC’S This Week when he said that because Ted Cruz doesn’t support amnesty for illegal aliens, he shouldn’t be considered an Hispanic! “Almost every Hispanic in the country wants to see immigration reform. No, I don’t think he should be defined as a Hispanic,” Richardson said. Such a politically perverse statement reminds me of how a...

A teacher was arrested after she allegedly raped a boy in her classroom after he handed in a test. The high school teacher in New Mexico is accused of raping her male student in her classroom. Jennifer Vigil, 31, was arrested Tuesday after the student told police he was forced into having sex with his teacher at the Pojoaque Valley High School in Santa Fe. Vigil maintains that the sex was consensual, but the student disagreed he claimed that the teacher forced him to have sex after she locked the door of the classroom and he was unable to leave....

Bill Richardson recently insinuated that Senator Ted Cruz doesn't really count as a Hispanic. See the story at Breitbart.There's only one response to this idiot.

I seldom post more than once per day, but I believe this warrants the occasion. I was doing my morning rounds of reading the news and blog posts I read almost every day and came across something that troubles me greatly. It has to do with the push for more gun control, restrictions on the 2nd Amendment and how gun owners are portrayed in the media. If you have read Political Realities for any length of time, you should be aware of my stance on gun control. I do not believe it is a good thing, much less constitutional. I...

Before we get started on this story, I would like to take a moment to point out that you’d be hard pressed to find any point where I’ve been anything but a staunch defender of the Second Amendment, as I would hope most regular readers know. I’ve taken flack for it from a lot of people this year, ranging from family members to folks in the media. But even approaching it from that sort of position, I’ve got to say that this is a really bad idea. A march on Washington with loaded rifles "Libertarian activist and radio host Adam...

Police say a man stabbed four people at a Catholic church in Albuquerque as a Sunday mass was nearing its end. Police says a man in his 20s jumped over several pews at St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church around noon Sunday and walked up to the choir area where he began his attack. An off-duty police officer and others at the church subdued the attacker and held him down until police arrived. Some of those who were stabbed were members of the choir.

President Barack Obama delivered an impassioned speech Thursday at the memorial service for victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. But that was to be expected. We all know Obama can give a stem-winder. What wasn’t expected was that this would be by far the toughest week of the Obama presidency—the first time I can remember the president being dealt an unequivocal policy defeat. Only the “shellacking” of the 2010 midterm comes close, and even there a case can be made that achieving the decades-old progressive dream of universal health care was worth losing the House of Representatives and a filibuster-proof...

Rep. Louie Gohmert today warned the world that “radical Islamists” are being trained to “act like Hispanic[s]” to get into the United States from Mexi “We know al Qaeda has camps over with the drug cartels on the other side of the Mexican border,” the Republican from Tyler said on C-SPAN Wednesday morning. “We know that people that are now being trained to come in and act like Hispanic when they are radical Islamists. We know these things are happening. It is just insane not to protect ourselves, to make sure that people come in as most people do. They...

The immigration debate takes a technological turn with a new cell phone device that helps illegal immigrants crossing the desert into the U.S. find water. The Transborder Immigrant Tool was developed by UC San Diego prof and activist Ricardo Dominguez and UCSD lecturer Brett Stalbaum. Both believe it will save the lives of hundreds of people who die each year during their trek across "Devil's Highway." Here's how the tool works. The phone, loaded with free GPS software, displays a digital compass that locates water stations installed by John Hunter, founder of the Water Stations project. Stations that are too...

A professor at the University of California, San Diego says he has developed a cell phone tool that aims to help Illegal immigrants cross the U.S.-Mexico border. Art professor and activist Ricardo Dominguez tells the North County Times on its Web site Saturday that the application he calls the Transborder Immigrant Tool uses global-positioning technology to chart the best route for dangerous desert crossings.

Sneak Into The U.S? There’s An App For ThatSarah Buduson - Reporter, KPHO.com UPDATED: 9:26 pm MST December 2, 2009 PHOENIX -- A California professor has created a cell phone application to help guide immigrants across the border. The Transborder Immigration Tool is meant to reduce the number of border crossing deaths. The application can be downloaded onto low priced Motorola phones. It uses GPS technology to guide users through the desert and pinpoints locations where food, water and shelter is available. Security consultant Karl Delaguerra said the so-called safety tool is dangerous. **SNIP** Delaguerra has trained security forces around...

GPS-enabled mobile to aid migrants (UKPA) – 10 hours ago A group of California artists are developing a GPS-enabled mobile phone to help dehydrated illegal migrants find water as they trek through harsh deserts into the US. The Transborder Immigrant Tool created by faculty at the University of California, San Diego, is part technology endeavour, part art project. It introduces a high-tech twist to an old debate about how far activists can go to prevent migrants from dying on the border with Mexico without breaking the law. The designers want to load inexpensive phones with GPS software that takes signals...

Senate Republican staffers estimated Thursday that the annual cost to taxpayers of legalizing illegal immigrants could be in the billions, if they use their status to apply for federal benefits from Medicaid and ObamaCare. The claim, though, was challenged by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a key Republican engaged in immigration bill talks. Republicans on the Senate Budget Committee -- responding to an emerging immigration proposal that includes a path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants -- had estimated that the cost could total up to $40 billion in 2022, "just for Medicaid and ObamaCare." "The net costs would be...

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has broken its silence on the most popular file in its digital vault. The one-page memo, dated March 22, 1950, was addressed to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover from Guy Hottel, then head of the FBI's Washington, D.C., field office. It relayed some information from an informant. The subject: FLYING SAUCERS INFORMATION CONCERNING "An investigator for the Air Force stated that three so-called flying saucers had been recovered in New Mexico," Hottel writes. "They were described as being circular in shape with raised centers, approximately 50 feet in diameter. Each one was occupied by three...

Preliminary results from Mancos shale wells in northwestern New Mexico are boosting industry excitement about a new oil and gas boom in the region.

"Mexico cannot limit the freedom of its citizens to go anywhere they like. If we would do so, we would be like Cuba....that's not our job. Our job is to create the opportunities for them in Mexico."

The word arid has two meanings: insufficient rainfall to grow trees or dull and boring. The second meaning seems to characterize the level of intelligence that’s on display in the recent media water war that has broken out between the major newspapers in Los Angeles and Phoenix. This e-water war was provoked by William deBuys’ op-ed article in the March 14 Los Angeles Times, “Phoenix’s Too Hot Future.” The Phoenix-based Arizona Republic newspaper retorted on March 15 with an editorial, “Los Angeles More of a Water Vacuum than Phoenix.” DeBuys is the author of the book: “A Great Aridness: Climate...

So much of what is taught on today’s college campuses is useless “feel good” drivel. It is very often nothing more than pap designed to “build self-esteem.” Nevertheless, occasionally a genuine lesson will bubble up through the worthless sludge. This is what happened recently at the University of New Mexico (UNM). While the lesson was unintended, it was clear and for a change valuable. Students learned that they do not have to automatically yield to minority opinion and if they tell demanding Gay activists to get lost the world will not come to an end. Here’s how it unfolded. A...

... It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of...

CPAC has received considerable attention for its exclusion of the gay conservative group GOProud and its refusal to invite New Jersey governor Chris Christie. I agree with not inviting Christie (for me, embracing a leftist president days before the election is a bridge too far), but would have liked to see GOProud included. However, both decisions can be argued either way, and I can’t get worked up over either. CPAC’s panel on immigration reform, which has received virtually no attention, is another matter. The panel is called “Respecting Families and the Rule of Law: A Lasting Immigration Policy.” The five...

Now we are finally getting somewhere. Just like Obama is ineligible technically because his fathers British Nationality 'governed' his birth status in 1961, Ted Cruz is ineligible too. Fox News has confirmed it and rightly so. Sean Hannity made a huge blunder the other day and declared Ted Cruz a natural born citizen because he was born to a American mother in Canada. He was so wrong. Cruz is a 14th Amendment U.S. 'statutory' (not natural born) citizen which is something completely different than a Article 2 Section 1 Constitutional natural born Citizen which is explicitly designed only for the...

Wow. Just saw a real life UFO. Southern Colorado. It happened around 8:25 P.M. On the way home and I saw a bright orange light off to the east. It looked like the top third of a really orange moon rising very fast from behind a cloud except there are no clouds tonight and there is no moon. It pulsed slowly on and then off. I pulled over and got out. No sound. Looked to be, and this is my best guess, about 10 to 15 thousand feet up and elongated. Seemed to be between me and the Sangre De...

On the same day the Independent Democrat Caucus in New York announced another piece of proposed legislation to delay development of the Marcellus Shale in New York, two representatives from a premiere energy conference in New Mexico heralded success on the radio and praise for energy operators.

In the wake of investigations involving horsemeat-tainted beef abroad, federal regulators may clear the way for a horse-slaughtering house in New Mexico. It would make equine meat available in the United States for the first time since 2007, according to the New York Times. Congress passed a rider to an appropriations bill that barred the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) from financing the inspection of horse products for human consumption. That addition was continually inserted into spending bills up until 2011 — when it disappeared from the language. Though the change stems from a lawsuit by Valley Meat Company, which...

The release of hundreds of illegal immigrants into a federal monitoring system this week may be an ongoing headache for the Obama administration, as Republicans focus their scrutiny on uncovering potential missteps. Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, “will be aggressively examining the ramification of this decision,” according to a committee aide. And Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.), the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on homeland security, pressed Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to take more responsibility for the releases, which she says she did not know about beforehand. “I am concerned that you...

Click this link to take you to a page which allows you to tell the entire membership of both the New Mexico Senate Public Affairs Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee (16 senators) to oppose House Bill 77 with one mouse click.House Bill 77 has been revised since it was first introduced, and initially failed to move forward, but it has now passed in the New Mexico House and been referred to the Senate Public Affairs And Senate Judiciary Committees.According to the NRA, HB 77 "is the first step toward the criminalization of all private firearm transfers..." and "mandates that...

FReeper Rogle, former New Mexico State Representative Rory Ogle, will be removed from life support this morning. He is not expected to live.

FReeper Rogle (New Mexico) needs prayers

I've made it easy for you to contact your New Mexico legislative representatives and TELL THEM TO OPPOSE a 'Sweeping Gun Control Measure In Santa Fe.' Use the following links/resources to: 1) find your New Mexico state senator and house rep and contact them via email, phone, and/or snail-mail; 2) use sample letter text; and, 3) contact every member of the New Mexico House Judiciary Committee because they're holding a public hearing Monday on the "Sweeping Gun Control Measure": 1) Find your reps' contact info Find your state house representative; and,Find your state senator 2) Use sample letter text I...

Actor Steven Seagal took a break from filming “Force of Execution” in Albuquerque and headed south to Las Cruces on Tuesday. The special — and unexpected — trip was to be sworn in as a Doña Ana County Sheriff’s deputy. Undersheriff Eddie Lerma arranged to have Seagal sworn-in as a deputy in Doña Ana County as part of future training on border issues, and to execute police work if necessary. According to a sheriff’s spokeswoman Seagal is a considered a reserve officer and, according New Mexico law, can only carry out police work while with a commissioned peace officer. Seagal...

"In less than a month, they have done something that the army and state and federal police haven't been able to do in years," said local resident Lorena Morales Castro, who waited in a line of cars at a checkpoint Friday. "They are our anonymous heroes." Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/01/21/vigilante-squads-spring-up-in-mexico-in-fight-against-cartels/#ixzz2IlDpMg3b

The 15-year-old was charged with two counts of murder and three counts of child abuse for the Saturday slayings, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department said. In a social media profile, Nehemiah called himself a ‘fun loving guy.’ The New Mexico 15-year-old accused of fatally shooting his parents and three innocent siblings constantly wore camouflage gear, neighbors said after the murders rocked the tiny town in the outskirts of Albuquerque. Nehemiah Griego was "fairly quiet, not real rowdy that we could tell,” neighbor Jerry Crites told CBS affiliate KRQE in Albuquerque. “He seemed to be just a normal kid walking up...

A male juvenile is in custody this morning following a shooting in the South Valley that left five people dead. In an email from Bernalillo County officials, a shooting took place on Long Lane SW Saturday evening. Deputies were dispatched and found an adult male, an adult female and three children dead. All victims appeared to have suffered multiple gunshot wounds. Multiple weapons appeared to have been used including an assault-type rifle

For Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and his top lieutenants, the challenges of balancing the 2014 Senate map and President Barack Obama’s second-term agenda could cause as many headaches as anything Republicans throw at them. Overall, 20 Democratic-held Senate seats are up for grabs next year, versus 13 for Republicans. Democratic incumbents face reelection in solidly red states like Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana, Montana and South Dakota, all of which Obama lost by double-digit margins in November. A little more than a year after Obama is sworn in to another term, there will be high-profile Senate races in swing states...

SANTA FE -- State Rep. Cathrynn Brown, reversing herself based on her constituents' wishes, said Wednesday she will introduce a bill requiring identification to vote. Brown, R-Carlsbad, had said only two weeks ago that she would not offer a voter ID bill this session because it had no chance to pass. "I changed my mind after hearing from my constituents," she said in an interview. "The prevailing view is that election integrity is too important not to do anything."

After more than five years of resisting a lawsuit requesting inspection of public records, KNME-TV has been ordered into mediation where it will face claims for civil fines and attorney fees that could reach $200,000 and higher. KNME-TV is the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) affiliate at the University of New Mexico. The suit arose from KNME-TV’s production for hire of a misleadingly labeled “news documentary” on the controversial Navajo water settlement. The program was called “The Water Haulers” and was commissioned and paid for by the Navajo Nation and the State Engineer of New Mexico. They wanted the program to...

Hover over Google's state map at link.

In the United States, Nevada has produced the same outcome as the national results in every presidential election beginning in 1912, except in 1976, thus voting for the winner 96.0% of the time. Ohio is the second closest with a match rate of 93.1%. Missouri, often referred to as the Missouri bellwether, was for many years the best match of the national results, but since 2008 is now third closest with a 92.6% match rate. The American bellwether states (with respect to presidential elections) currently are: Nevada - 1 miss (1976) from 1912 on (96.0%, slightly "too Republican"). VERY SLIGHT...

SANTA FE, N.M. (CN) - A New Mexico policeman Tasered a 10-year-old child on a playground because the boy refused to clean his patrol car, the boy claims in court. Guardian ad litem Rachel Higgins sued the New Mexico Department of Public Safety and Motor Transportation Police Officer Chris Webb on behalf of the child, in Santa Fe County Court. Higgins claims Webb used his Taser on the boy, R.D., during a May 4 "career day" visit to Tularosa New Mexico Intermediate School. "Defendant Webb asked the boy, R.D., in a group of boys, who would like to clean his...

Albuquerque gun business holding coyote contest An Albuquerque gun business is having a contest to see which two men can kill the most coyotes. The grand prize for winning the contest is a pair of AR-15 rifles. The contest has people sounding off about the upcoming contest. The people who live around the Village of Corrales may have never met Susan Weiss, but they've seen her. "The coyote lady. That's what i'm referred to as, the coyote lady," Weiss said. She likes the title. She has been an advocate for the "Coexist with Coyotes" group for more than a decade...

MAYHILL, MELROSE AND POINTS IN BETWEEN — I headed east from Alamogordo with the loose plan of stopping in very small towns — even rural spots between towns — and asking southeastern New Mexico voters a simple question: “What’s on your mind?” My hunch was that people outside the Albuquerque area or some of our smaller cities would have different concerns than urbanites. And I knew southeastern New Mexico was one of the state’s more conservative corners. ... Tom Benedict , a retired rancher in Dexter, had socialism on his mind when I approached him to chat. He is worried...

Mysteries come in many forms: ancient, modern, unsolved, and unexplained. But the world's most mysterious buildings are a physical force to be reckoned with. They've become popularized on websites full of user-generated and editor-curated like Abandoned-places.com, weburbanist.com, and AtlasObscura.com, an exhaustive database of the unusual. "In an age where it sometimes seems like there's nothing left to discover, our site is for people who still believe in exploration," says AtlasObscura.com cofounder Joshua Foer. Our definition of mysterious is broad and varied. Some buildings on our list are being eaten alive by the earth, such as a lava-buried church in the...

Two live web cams went on line this weekend in Chama, NM showing the train yard of the steam-powered narrow gauge RR. As of the time of this posting, the daily eastbound passenger train from Antonito, CO has just arrived and stopped at the depot. After the passengers depart, the two other live steam engines will separate the cars for servicing and arranging for Sunday's departures. All of this under blue skies and autumn fall colors. Enjoy! http://www.coloradonewmexicosteamtrain.org/yard-cams.htm

An Austrian daredevil plans to leap from nearly 23 miles above the Earth on Oct. 8 in a supersonic plunge that, if successful, will be the world's highest-ever skydive. If all goes according to plan, a helium-filled balloon will lift off from Roswell, N.M., on Oct. 8 and carry Felix Baumgartner's custom-built capsule to an altitude of 120,000 feet (36,576 meters). The daredevil will then step out of the capsule into the void, breaking a skydiving record that has stood for 52 years.

VAUGHN, N.M. (AP) — A drug-sniffing dog now is the only certified member of the police force in the small eastern New Mexico town of Vaughn. Police Chief Ernest "Chris" Armijo decided to step down Wednesday after news stories reported that he wasn't allowed to carry a gun because of his criminal background. "He decided the attention was distracting," said Dave Romero, an attorney for the town. State officials said Armijo couldn't carry a gun since acknowledging that he owed tens of thousands of dollars in delinquent child support payments in Texas. Armijo also faces new felony charges after being...