[Aypee] RAYMONDVILLE, Texas Two men from Mexico face capital murder and other charges after an off-duty Border Patrol agent was fatally shot and his father wounded during a South Texas fishing trip.
Willacy County Sheriff Larry Spence says investigators believe the suspects tried to rob Agent Javier Vega Jr. of Kingsville and his family.
Hospital officials didn't immediately return a message Tuesday on the condition of Javier Vega Sr. of La Feria.
The Vegas were shot Sunday night while fishing near Santa Monica with relatives. The suspects were captured in nearby Sebastian. Authorities have not confirmed their identities.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson in a statement Tuesday said the younger Vega was a veteran of the Marine Corps and served the Border Patrol for six years.
#1
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Tonto, having disguised himself as a pool table, was having his balls racked and the Office of Homeland Security was busy running a SWAT raid on a law-abiding couple in order to seize their Land Rover. Great work, guys.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/06/2014 11:32 Comments ||
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#2
Willacy County Sheriff Larry Spence says investigators believe the suspects tried to rob Agent Javier Vega Jr. of Kingsville and his family.
Cause a cartel hit isn't in the narrative. HHS says its a no-no.
Later this year, the U.S. Air Force will do something unprecedented. It will sign a contract to purchase more tactical airlifters from a program that first began turning out planes 60 years ago. The latest version of the plane is called the C-130J Super Hercules, and if you measure success in the military aircraft business by how many users a plane has, how many missions it performs, or how long it has been in continuous production, then Hercules is hands down the most successful military aircraft ever. This month marks the 60th anniversary of the plane's first flight on August 23, 1954.
How long ago was that? Most of the music being sold in the U.S. back then consisted of 78 R.P.M. records. A majority of residential phones were on "party lines," meaning your neighbor could listen in on your calls. There were only three television networks that mattered, and they broadcast exclusively in black-and-white. Microwave ovens cost thousands of dollars -- tens of thousands in today's dollars -- and you couldn't get a deal on one at WalMart because WalMart didn't exist. The Worldwide Web would not appear for another 40 years.
The idea that an Air Force contract awarded during the Truman Administration -- on July 2, 1951 -- could lead to a plane that not only is still in production today, but in high demand around the world, is simply incredible. But it's true: there are 2,000 C-130s of various vintages and configurations currently in use, and prime-contractor Lockheed Martin keeps finding new uses for the plane (the latest versions are for maritime patrol and commercial operations). All of the U.S. armed forces including the Coast Guard depend on Hercules, as do the vast majority of militaries in the Western Hemisphere, Southeast Asia, Western Europe and Arabia.
Two things have made Hercules unique. First, it was conceived as a rugged, versatile airlifter that could meet the transport needs of diverse users by landing almost anywhere with 20 tons of cargo. Second, the Air Force and Lockheed continuously invested in new technology to improve the plane's performance for six straight decades. So over time it became more than just a mover of people and things -- it became an aerial refueler for the Marine Corps, a covert insertion/extraction asset for Air Force special operators, a search-and-rescue plane for the Coast Guard (as featured in The Perfect Storm), a gunship for supporting soldiers on the ground, and a hurricane hunter for the Weather Service.
#3
There was also a serious proposal for a Special Forces flying boat version; other than the hull, the other major exterior difference was the engines were mounted on top of the wing. didn't progress past the model/ prelim drawing stage however.
#6
The Herky Bird is a classic. Designed and developed before Generals and Admirals could throw every conceivable crazy crap add on under the sun at the airframe...and oh by the way, this is before McNamara and his whiz kids thought of the great idea of multipurpose airframes.
Like Besoeker I've taken off many more times in the Herky Bird than landings. Doing the tailgate thing on a moonless night in a C-130 is a surreal experience.
Of course with the improvements in engine design, fuel economy, navigational aids, instrumentation and controls, not to mention improvements in manufacturing technology and quality control, these newer C-130s are going to be far superior in every way to the earlier ones.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
08/06/2014 10:45 Comments ||
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#7
Like Besoeker and Bill I've taken off many more times in the Herky Bird than landings. Doing the tailgate thing on a moonless night in a C-130 is a surreal experience. One of the few things I really miss.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/06/2014 10:52 Comments ||
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#8
Exact same number of takeoffs and landings, perhaps 30-40 in a career thatasted 29 years. Only complaint is at 220 kts cruising speed and web seats, a cross country flight at max pax is really, really uncomfortable.
#10
C-130? Precisely 43 more takeoffs than landings, split between ramp and door, mostly door.
Some from a C-141 (quite an experience), all door, and all mass drops. A sight to behold, all those parachutes, nothing quite like a big unit drop. (showing my age too, C-141 been gone for a while now). Most of my jumps have been ramp jumps from CH-47 (easy to do, quickest way to stay qual), although I did have the opportunity to do a few static line hollywood hop-n-pops from blackhawks - hang your feet off the side sitting down (no rail like the Huey), then just fling yourself out into space. Unlike any other jumps I've done.
Oh, I got my German jump wings from a Bundeswehr Jolly Green (CH53). Never understood why the Army never flew those - they are nice birds. FSJ good troops.
#12
I've spent a few hundred hours in C-130s, even made a few more takeoffs than landings, and agree with everything said about the grand old bird. They did leave out a few things, such as being one of the first launch vehicles for reconnaissance drones (Vietnam), the recovery vehicle for de-orbited science experiments, ski-landing capability, reconnaissance, and intel collection. Came home from Panama once aboard a C-130 from Howard to Lockborne, Ohio. Looooonnnggg flight!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/06/2014 13:22 Comments ||
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#13
I love the C-130. Fun to jump from and not a bad ride to go somewhere. Can land almost anywhere, low stall speed and very forgiving handling.
Everything a cargo plane could ask to be and excel at.
#14
My first jump at Benning, was honest to goodness, out of a C-119 Flying Boxcar...dripping oil, smoking exhaust and more patches in the sheet metal than an old quilt...I had no hesitation jumping out of that thing...I wanted to live and I thought the damned thing was going to fall apart in the sky.
I got my Jump Wings from the Bundeswehr and I thought the German jump committee was the craziest bunch of bastards I'd ever seen...they were nuttier than the Mountain Committee in Ranger School.
Jumping from a chopper is a real pucker factor the first couple of times. No air blast to blow you backwards, it is all straight down and the ground comes up at you like an elevator...I figured you fall about 650 of the 1350 feet of altitude in the four seconds till the chute opens. A beautiful cross between sex, a car wreck and a carrier landing.
My Hollywood jump at Benning was from a C-141. I got spun around going out the door and when my chute opened I was looking back at the plane watching people spill out the door and chutes opening...I wish I had a camera that day.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
08/06/2014 16:03 Comments ||
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#15
Appears to be damn few nasty legs on the Burg. I always suspected this was the case.
#17
In 1963, Navy pilot James Flatley III flew a Marine KC-130F and completed 21 complete landings and takeoffs from the USS Forrestal
http://www.theaviationzone.com/factsheets/c130_forrestal.asp
and the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM5AI3YSV3M
#20
Part of me is glad I don't have to do this anymore, part of me misses it so damnedmuch, then my brain realizes that I'd probably exit wrong, hit the pl;at form and get a concussion, then break my 4th point of contact in a full gear jump these days.
#22
Never flew in a C130 but a number of freight flights in Alaska in the commercial version L-100-30. They put a plug in and made it longer. Great freighter. Brought in D-7 dozers, Nodwells, drill rigs, anything.
Alaska International Air had a fleet of them. One flew up to ice island T-3 toward the north pole. Landed hard, and pranged the spar. AIA bought it from the insurance company, patched it up enough to ferry and flew it back to Fairbanks.
They did a major rebuild. Got to go all through it when they had its innards all opened up. It got fixed and started flying to pipeline camps and the North slope. At Galbraith Lake camp in the Brooks Range, it was delivering diesel fuel and caught fire on the ground and burned up. Very sad.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/06/2014 21:48 Comments ||
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#23
Thanks OS, that was funny. Way too many hours crammed in one of those, taught me how to sleep sitting up with by head in the reserve. Now every tome I get on a commercial prop driven plane I'm asleep before take off. The part I miss is from the 30 second call to the open canopy. The rest is just work.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/06/2014 23:02 Comments ||
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#24
Of all my C-130 memories, the best is the day I was on (contractor) terminal leave and interviewing for my next job. I got the warning for the interview on a weekday in the afternoon at scout camp with my sons in Arkansas, excused myself and walked down to the scout chapel to take the call.
Not long into it, a squadron of C-130's flew through the valley next to the chapel at about 200 feet. Needless to say, my interview took a hiatus. And the sound of dozens of aircraft tearing through there, defying gravity, was all the inspiration I could ever have hoped to have.
God bless those planes, and their pilots, for all the good they have done for those in service, and for our country in addition to my small reverie.
[LATIMES] The rising corpse count from a magnitude 6.1 earthquake in southwestern China's Yunnan province is putting the spotlight on the poor quality of construction in the rugged, mountainous terrain.
By late Monday, 398 people were reported dead and 1,891 injured from the quake in Ludian County, 277 miles north of Kunming, the lovely provincial capital.
More than 22,550 houses collapsed and nearly 200,000 others were damaged, according to an assessment by the International Federation of Red Thingy and Red Islamic Thingy.
The rescue effort was hindered by torrential rains, mudslides, flooding and the complicated mountain topography.
The earthquake may have damaged several hydroelectric dams. A "quake lake" formed around one dam under construction in nearby Huize County, and rapidly rising waters were forcing the evacuation of more villagers.
The quake struck at 4:30 p.m. Sunday. The U.S. Geological Survey reported its magnitude at 6.1 and its depth a relatively shallow 6 miles, which made the shaking greater. The China Earthquake Networks Center put the magnitude at 6.5.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2014 00:00 ||
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Too many times too many "journalists" from different organizations and news factions would parrot the almost exact same talking points after an Obama speech time after time after time.
A small part of how they coordinated their propaganda efforts.
#3
Vast Left Wing Conspiracy.
How that Freudian projection working out?
They bitch about FOX and Rush, but own the major networks, the major newspapers and magazines. The Left can not tolerate any competition which is why they repeatedly seek to control the internet through any means possible.
#5
For some reason, the phrase "Gentlemen, we have to protect our phony-baloney jobs. Harumph!" comes to mind. Just remember, it's not a conspiracy when they do it.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
08/06/2014 20:15 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV] Thousands of Argentinian teachers have staged a 48-hour strike, demanding better working conditions and higher salaries, Press TV reports.
The strike was launched on Monday, affecting more than five million students who were to return to schools after a winter break.
"This is a nationwide protest that includes professionals from five provinces, our goal is to draw the government's attention to this education crisis," said Jorge Adaro, a front man for the Teachers and Educators' Union.
"Our salaries are not keeping up with the rampant inflation and our schools infrastructure is significantly deteriorating," Adaro added.
In the capital, Buenos Aires, hundreds of demonstrators marched from the Congress to the Presidential Palace, near which they held a rally.
The teachers also protested what they call the brutal police repression during their last strike back in June.
"The government wants to hold us accountable for the situation but it is the other way around, how can we provide core education to our students in overcrowded classrooms and earning less and less every month?," said Mariela Bica, a teacher.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2014 00:00 ||
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[Stratfor via Business Insider] With all eyes focused on Ukraine's border with Russia, it is hardly surprising that the 'other' dispute has fallen off the front pages.
However, as Stratfor notes, there has been a burst of diplomatic activity in recent months over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which Armenia and Azerbaijan have disputed for decades.
Russia, the strongest power in the Caucasus, has become more engaged in the issue as Azerbaijan's leverage in the region grows. Russia's involvement could herald a change in this longstanding conflict.
In 1994, after mediation by numerous external players including Russia, Turkey and Iran, a cease-fire was reached to end the conflict. But by that time Armenian forces had decisively defeated Azerbaijan, leading to the de facto independence of Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenian control of several provinces bordering the region.
Now, as Russia and the West confront each other over Ukraine, the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute represents a subtler yet similarly significant issue for the Caucasus. As Georgia attempts to move closer to the West and Armenia strengthens ties with Russia, Azerbaijan is maintaining a careful balance between the two sides. Azerbaijan thus serves as the pivot of the Caucasus, and the dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh is a crucial aspect in shaping Baku's role.
Russia has historically supported the Armenians but in light of Azerbaijan's rising influence, Russia has become more engaged on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue than it has been in years. Russian officials have held numerous meetings with officials from Azerbaijan and Armenia on the issue in recent months, indicating a possible shift in Moscow's position.
But in order for Moscow to truly change its stance on Nagorno-Karabakh, it would need to weaken considerably, or Azerbaijan would need to become so vital to Russian interests that Moscow would change allegiances and confront Armenia, an unlikely prospect at this point.
TREND Azerbaijan, an on-line newspaper we track at the Burg, has noted increased uppity behavior on the part of the evil Armenians. There's more reporting of cease-fire violations and Azeri casualties in the last couple months. I hadn't reported that here at the Burg thinking that it was small potatoes (smaller even than Shaboobs behaving badly in Mogadishu). But perhaps the Azeri government is, with Putin's help, preparing the battle-space for something to happen later this year. Bears watching.
[ABC.NET.AU] Ukrainian forces are continuing to clash with rebels in eastern Ukraine as they push into regional capital Donetsk.
There are reports of shells hitting one district in the city, which has been under rebel control for months, and fighting in other areas. Powerful blasts and small arms fire have been heard across the city and electricity has been cut in some areas.
Ukraine's military said government forces had clashed 26 times with separatists in the Russian-speaking east in the 24 hours up to Tuesday morning, while fighter jets had struck at rebel positions and concentrations of military equipment. But it acknowledged that separatist forces had pushed it out of Yasynuvata, a railway junction near Donetsk that it seized from separatists on Sunday.
On Monday, Russia announced new military exercises including bombers and fighter jets near the border with Ukraine, a move that Kiev said was provocative.
Defence officials said separatists had also opened fire on unarmed Ukrainian soldiers on Tuesday as they crossed back into Ukraine from Russia, where they had taken shelter from fighting.
A military front man said there had been no casualties from the attack, though he said three Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and 46 maimed in action against the separatists in the past 24 hours.
Government troops have been battling the rebels since April in a war in the Russian-speaking east in which the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... High Commissioner for Human Rights says more than 1,100 people - including government forces, rebels and civilians - have died.
Ukraine and its Western allies accuse Russia of orchestrating the revolt and arming the rebels — something denied by Moscow.
Fighting has intensified since the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 last month, killing all 298 people on board - an act the West laid at the door of the rebels. The search for human remains and belongings from the downed aircraft continued with little disruption, in contrast to the fighting that stopped operations yesterday.
The Australian contingent was based in Donetsk until a few days ago, and Malaysian Sherlocks still use the city.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2014 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] The US government has concluded that there is a new leaker providing national security documents to journalists, officials say. According to US broadcaster CNN, the government officials reached the conclusion after a news website called The Intercept, which has access to documents from surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden, published new revelations on Tuesday about the scope of the US terrorism watchlist.
The Intercept article focuses on the growth in US government databases of known or suspected terrorist names during the B.O. regime. The article cites documents prepared by the National Counterterrorism Center dated August 2013, which is after Snowden left the United States to avoid criminal charges.
The Intercept has been launched by Glenn Greenwald, who also published Snowden's leaks. Greenwald has suggested there was another leaker. In July, he wrote on Twitter that the existence of a second leaker after Snowden "seems clear at this point."
Snowden began leaking classified intelligence documents in June 2013, revealing the extent of the NSA's spying activities. He revealed that the spy agency has been collecting the phone records of millions of Americans and foreign nationals as well as politicians around the world.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/06/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
The US government has concluded that there is a new leaker providing national security documents to journalists, officials say.
h/t Jerry Pournelle
A cocktail of antibodies cooked up in tobacco plants may provide an emergency treatment for Ebola VIRUS, one of the deadliest viruses known, researchers reported Wednesday.
The treatment provides 100 percent protection to monkeys when given right after exposure. But it also helps even after symptoms develop, the RESEARCHERS report in the journal SCIENCE Translational Medicine.
#2
Article headline is wrong, wrong and wrong again. They are using tobacco plants to produce mono-clonal antibodies from genes inserted into the tobacco cells, not tobacco itself. It is neither stumbling, nor obvious. Effing journalists.
#4
One capital letter and one symbol @#$%& somewhere in the middle will make most passwords almost unhackable...throw in a couple of random numbers and use 3s instead of e or e instead of three and 5 and s and you can just relax.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
08/06/2014 16:06 Comments ||
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#5
We have registered your new password successfully... From Russia with Love. from Your Hacker Boris....
RAYMONDVILLE, Texas -- Two illegal immigrants from Mexico who were charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of an off-duty U.S. Border Patrol agent in front of his family in Texas have been arrested and deported numerous times, police sources told FoxNews.com.
One suspect has been arrested no fewer than four times for entering the U.S. illegally, according to federal court records. The other has been deported twice after entering the U.S. illegally, sources said.
Gustavo Tijerina, 30, and Ismael Hernandez, 40, were arraigned Tuesday afternoon inside the Willacy County jail library. They were ordered held without bail after being charged with capital murder of a peace officer, attempted murder, and a variety of lesser charges.
The pair, who have been living in Texas illegally, confessed after being interviewed multiple times Monday to killing Border Patrol agent Javier Vega Jr. in front of his wife and two kids and his parents Sunday night while they were fishing in Santa Monica, Sheriff Larry Spence told FoxNews.com.
They finally confessed to the robbery and indicated they knew they had killed someone, but did not know it was an off-duty Border Patrol agent, Spence said in an interview in his office Tuesday morning.
"They do now," he said.
When asked how the suspects reacted when they learned the victim was a Border Patrol agent, Spence said, "shock and concern."
The sheriff said the two suspects were likely connected to cartels or other criminal gangs.
"They claim to have been involved in other incidents, this means you've got stolen vehicles going into Mexico," he said.
"Everything is going to be cartel-related, there's a connection somehow.
"This is not the first episode of border violence in Willacy County but it's the first time someone's been killed," he said.
Tijerina, who according to records was arrested at least four times between 2007 and 2010 for entering the U.S. illegally, and Hernandez allegedly approached Vega and his family and tried to rob them on Sunday night. When Vega pulled out his weapon, the suspects allegedly shot him in the chest, killing him.Vega's father was shot in the hip and is recovering at a nearby hospital.
Both Tijerina and Hernandez were arraigned on seven charges: capital murder of a peace officer, attempted murder, four counts each of aggravated robbery and one count of tampering with evidence. When asked by the judge if they wanted to notify the Mexican Consulate and if they wanted attorneys, both said yes. Each also wanted to be allowed to call family members.
At 12:45pm, the first suspect, Tijerina, appeared before Judge George Solis. He wore an orange short-sleeve shirt and pants and black flip flops with silver chains around his ankles. His blood-shot eyes bulged in apparent surprise when the judge told him he faced seven different counts.
Tijerina at several points during his arraignment looked around the room and stared at each person, including this reporter and two others, and the county sheriff.
When the charges were being read, Tejerina interrupted to say there was no robbery. Sources told FoxNews.com Tejerina is the one believed to allegedly have fired the shots that killed Vega.
As he was being walked out, he asked if he could have a Bible from the library shelf. He was told he would be brought one later in his cell.
After Tijerina had been escorted out of the small room, Hernandez, thin and lanky and wearing dark green prison garb, was brought in about 1:10pm. He was more vocal than the first suspect. When told of the seven charges he was facing, Hernandez exclaimed "seven charges?" in Spanish.
"I don't understand why I'm being accused of so many things," he told the judge.
#2
I don't see why they're being held without bail. It's not like they're a flight risk or anything.
/sarcasm
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
08/06/2014 12:23 Comments ||
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#3
"I don't understand why I'm being accused of so many things," he told the judge.
Well, Gusto, it's what's called death of a thousand cuts; If you don't bleed from one, you'll bleed from another. But you will bleed.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
08/06/2014 20:20 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
