1. Atlanta: Twenty-Six MS-13 Gang Members Indicted on Racketeering Charges
A federal indictment was unsealed charging 26 MS-13 gang members with federal racketeering and related crimes in metropolitan Atlanta. The 29-count indictment alleges that the defendants conspired to participate in the affairs of MS-13, an international violent criminal organization, through a pattern of racketeering activity including multiple crimes of murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, and robbery. Full Story

The U.S. military has always discriminated. There are a host of malignant behaviors such as illicit drug use or habitual criminality that can render a person ineligible to serve. As my father-in-law learned, there are also benign maladies such as vision impairment or flat feet that can bar an otherwise eligible applicant. Any number of behaviors or conditions with varying degrees of severity can dash one's hope of donning the uniform.

In a move that could easily be construed as selling judgeships for much-needed healthcare votes, the president has nominated the brother of a Democratic congressman who opposes Obamacare to a federal court of appeals.

While it's possible that this week's nomination of Utah law professor Scott Matheson to the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals is unrelated to the pending legislation, the timing certainly raises some questions. After all, the president lacks the votes to fulfill his contentious health reform legacy and could be resorting to desperate measures. 

On February 9, 2010, the Pompano Beach, Florida city commission granted the imam of the Islamic Center of South Florida (ICOSB), Hasan Sabri, the honor of giving the invocation at one of its bi-weekly commission meetings. Given the extremist history of the imam and his mosque, one can only look upon this as a tremendous embarrassment for the city and an ominous sign for the future of its citizens.