news on the march

3 guardsmen charged with human smuggling
from new york times: Three members of the Texas National Guard helping patrol the Mexican border have been charged with human smuggling after federal agents found one of them in uniform driving a van crammed with 24 illegal immigrants north of Laredo, the Justice Department said Monday. The guardsmen, including two sergeants, were assigned to Operation Jump Start assisting the Border Patrol and had run multiple smuggling trips at fees of $1,500 to $2,000 per passenger...

shin bet involved in 1976 hijacking
from information liberation/jerusalem post: The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) may have been involved in the hijacking of an Air France plane in 1976 by Palestinian terrorists, according to newly declassified British government documents released Friday. Some 100 passengers were held by hijackers at Entebbe airport in Uganda during an eight-day ordeal that concluded when General Staff Reconnaissance Unit (Sayeret Matkal) troops stormed the building where the captives were held.

military exercise to include oregon ‘hams’
from congressional quarterly: Amateur radio operators — known as hams — are keying up for the next major counterterrorism exercise to be held this fall. They have participated in previous TOPOFF exercises and have been invited to take part in the Oregon portion of the exercise in October. TOPOFF is the federal government’s largest counterterrorism exercise. This year it will be held in Arizona, Guam and Oregon and will include dirty bomb scenarios.

will cnn retract gop ron paul 'first-class seat’ story?
from free market news: CNN prides itself on the truthfulness of its stories. But a story that claimed that only Ron Paul flew "first class" returning from the latest GOP debate is false. Virginia governor Jim Gilmore also flew first class on the same plane. The story is ridiculous on first blush. But it is actually important for three reasons...

dc schools hold mock shooting rampage drills
from dcist: NBC4 reports that Alice Deal Jr. High School in Tenleytown was the first school to hold a mock shooting rampage drill yesterday. The drill, which simulated a shooter coming to the school with a gun intending to kill as many people as possible, will be repeated at other D.C. schools in the coming weeks.