Saving the Republic: More News and Videos

Woman in Texas Struck by Bullet From Mexico

Posted on February 22, 2012 by BMartin1776

Associated Press
By Juan Carlos Llorca
EL PASO, Texas — A woman shopping on a busy downtown El Paso street became the first victim of bullets flying across the border from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on Tuesday when she was hit in the calf and wounded, authorities said.
The 48-year-old woman, whose name has not been released, was pushing a stroller when she was struck. Gregg Allen, El Paso’s chief of police, said the wound was caused by a “full metal jacket hard-nosed bullet” like those used in assault rifles.

Because of that, he said, the projectile caused a clean exit wound. The victim was taken to a nearby hospital, where she was treated and released.

El Paso Mayor John Cook asked residents to remain calm, saying there is “no way to prevent incidents like this from happening” and the odds of getting hit by a stray bullet are minimal.

Many people who were in the area at first didn’t realize what had happened.

“We didn’t hear anything. The first thing we heard was the firemen coming, but we didn’t know what was happening,” said Luis Gomez, a pedestrian who was shopping in the same area where the woman was hit.

She was struck at the same time Juarez police were battling alleged carjackers a few hundred feet from the U.S. border. Allen said reports indicate up to 50 shots were fired in that gunfight.

Police notified the public school district about the shooting and three El Paso schools were put on lockdown.

The bullet was sent to the Texas Department of Public Safety for ballistic analysis, but Allen said it is unlikely the owner of the gun will be found.

Since drug-related violence in Juarez spiked in 2008, bullets have struck El Paso buildings, including a local high school, City Hall and the University of Texas at El Paso. However, this is the first time a person has been hit.

Juarez and El Paso share a large metropolitan area. Their downtown areas are separated by the Rio Grande and the border fence. While El Paso has been dubbed one of the safest cities in the U.S., Juarez’s homicide rate put it among the most dangerous cities in the hemisphere.

Posted in Border, Homeland Security | Tagged assault rifle, Bullet From Mexico Hits Mom in Texas, Ciudad Juarez, el paso texas, full metal jacket, mexican drug war, US Mexican border, Woman in Texas Struck by Bullet From Mexico | Leave a comment

Nearly Half of All Americans Don’t Pay Income Taxes

Posted on February 22, 2012 by BMartin1776

The Foundry
by Rob Bluey

This year’s Index of Dependence on Governmentpresented startling findings about the sharp increase of Americans who rely on the federal government for housing, food, income, student aid or other assistance. (See last week’s chart.)

Another eye-popping number was the percentage of Americans who don’t pay income taxes, which now accounts for nearly half of the U.S. population. Meanwhile, most of that population receives generous federal benefits.

“One of the most worrying trends in the Index is the coinciding growth in the non-taxpaying public,” wrote Heritage authors Bill Beach and Patrick Tyrrell. “The percentage of people who do not pay federal income taxes, and who are not claimed as dependents by someone who does pay them, jumped from 14.8 percent in 1984 to 49.5 percent in 2009.”

That means 151.7 million Americans paid nothing in 2009. By comparison, 34.8 million tax filers paid no taxes in 1984.

The rapid growth of Americans who don’t pay income taxes is particularly alarming for the fate of the American form of government, Beach and Tyrrell warned. Coupled with higher spending on government programs, it is already proving to be a major fiscal challenge.

“This trend should concern everyone who supports America’s republican form of government,” Beach and Tyrrell wrote. “If the citizens’ representatives are elected by an increasing percentage of voters who pay no income tax, how long will it be before these representatives respond more to demands for yet more entitlements and subsidies from non-payers than to the pleas of taxpayers to exercise greater spending prudence?”