Texas is on its guard. Texas is ready for any eventuality. If a group of five young men—Middle Easterners, at that—were to get drunk, break into San Antonio's courthouse, and run around laughing, well, Texas is prepared to respond to that situation at a moment's notice.

Some of the men were captured on surveillance cameras, running through a hallway in Mexican sombreros that they took from a law library and also playing with a courtroom gavel.

The apparent stunt prompted a swift response from local and federal agencies, including the F.B.I. and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but the authorities said there was no evidence that the episode was part of a terror plot.

"They put on the Mexican hat, grabbed the gavel. So that gives us an indication that they weren't up to anything other than a prank," said the local Sheriff. Right, sure, note to Al-Qaeda: disguise yourself in sombreros, they won't suspect a thing.

Has liberalism in Texas gone too far?

[NYT. Photo of other possible terror suspects: A Kindom for a Donkey/ Flickr]