Free Republic

One of the world's biggest drug lords, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, leader of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, has been arrested by US federal agents in El Paso, Texas. Zambada, 76, founded the criminal organisation with Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who is currently jailed in the US. Arrested with Zambada on Thursday was Guzman's son, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, said the US justice department. In February, Zambada was charged by US prosecutors with a conspiracy to make and distribute fentanyl, a drug more powerful than heroin that has been blamed for the US opioid crisis. In a written statement on Thursday evening, US...

A woman has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for stealing more than $100 million from a grant program meant to support military children and families, authorities said. Janet Yamanaka Mello, 57, was convicted on five counts of mail fraud in addition to five counts of filing a false tax return for the convoluted scheme, which she carried out over the course of six years while employed by the United States Army, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas. Mello worked as a financial manager for the Army Morale, Welfare, and Recreation program...

For decades, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his wife Elaine Chao have maintained a glaring conflict of interest, conducting extensive government business despite the Chao family’s deep ties to China through a maritime shipping company. Now, former President Donald Trump is calling attention to the top Republican’s problematic China ties, while most of Washington remains silent. “Why do Republicans Senators allow a broken down hack politician, Mitch McConnell, to openly disparage hard working Republican candidates for the United States Senate[?]” Trump asked in a Truth Social post on Sunday. “This is such an affront to honor and to leadership....

Angela Chao, Sen. Mitch McConnell’s billionaire sister-in-law, spent her last minutes alive frantically calling her friends for help as her Tesla slowly sank in a pond on a remote Texas ranch, according to a report. Chao, the billionaire former CEO of dry bulk shipping giant Foremost Group, tragically died at the age of 50 on Feb. 10 after accidentally backing her car into the pond while making a three-point turn. The driving mishap was detailed in a report by The Wall Street Journal that shed light on the chaotic rescue efforts that ultimately came up short, turning what was supposed...

Angela Chao, the sister of Elaine Chao (wife of retiring Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican Senate Minority Leader), died in her car on February 11, 2024. Angela was found in a submerged car, unresponsive, first responders attempted to revive her, but were unsuccessful. The pond was on a ranch close to Johnson City in Blanco County, Texas, about 40 miles west of Austin. The ranch was reportedly owned by a business entity of Chao’s husband, Jim Breyer, a Venture Capitalist who has offices in Austin. The Sheriff of Blanco County is Don Jackson, and the matter has now been deemed...

The recent death of American shipping magnate Angela Chao, the sister-in-law of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, is now a "criminal investigation," according to the Texas sheriff's office investigating matter. Chao, the CEO of the Foremost Group was found dead shortly after midnight on Feb. 11 when pulled from a car that had gone into a pond on a private ranch about 40 miles from the Texas city of Austin, CNBC reported Thursday. “This incident was not a typical accident,” the Blanco County Sheriff’s Office told state Attorney General Ken Paxton in a letter. “Although the preliminary investigation indicated this...

<p>For more than an hour, sheriff's deputies, firefighters and other volunteers fought to pull Angela Chao out of a vehicle submerged in a pond on a Central Texas ranch, a picturesque location that complicated the rescue attempt, according to a report obtained Friday by the American-Statesman.</p>

Striking another blow to a tumultuous independent candidacy, the Texas Democratic Party on Monday accused presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of using faulty signatures to try and make the Texas ballot this fall. First reported by the Dallas Morning News and confirmed in a statement to Chron, Texas Democratic Party chair Gilberto Hinojosa said that Kennedy did not qualify for the Texas ballot after attempting to "overwhelm the system with bad signatures," estimating that 70 percent of the candidate's petition signatures "failed miserably" to meet the basic criteria of the Texas election code. Hinojosa urged the Texas Secretary of...

Policies subsidizing generators, utilities, and unreliable energy have raised the cost of electricity in Texas by $19.9 billion in 2023, constituting 42.7 percent of total electricity costs. In a study published Wednesday by the Energy Alliance, the group found that the total government-imposed cost of electricity in the Texas Interconnection operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas was $84.3 billion. Texas state and local governments are responsible for causing 85.7 percent of that $84.3 billion. “The massive increase in subsidies has done nothing to address the primary cause of unreliability in the Texas market, renewable energy,” stated Bill Peacock,...

After the demise of Roe, abortion advocates channeled Chicken Little, claiming the sky would fall on pro-life candidates because outraged voters will elect their pro-abortion opponents. Pro-Abortion Candidates are Losing The media touted a State Supreme Court race in Georgia as a bellwether of races to come. Former pro-abortion Democrat Congressman John Barrow ran against incumbent Justice Andrew Pinson because as solicitor general he successfully defended the Heartbeat law. Barrow centered his entire campaign on abortion. Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion lobby groups endorsed him. Barrow lost by ten percentage points. During West Virginia’s primary, eighty-seven percent of the candidates...

‘Satanic’ pro-abortion statue beheaded, University of Houston officials cry vandalismThe sculpture 'Witness' by artist Shahzia Sikander, a horned figure with tentacle arms meant to honor pro-abortion Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, lost its head during Hurricane Beryl in what University of Houston officials say was an act of deliberate vandalism caught on video.HOUSTON (LifeSiteNews) –– A pro-abortion statue on the University of Houston campus criticized for its Satanic-looking details has been decapitated during Hurricane Beryl, in what school officials are calling an intentional act of vandalism.As previously covered by LifeSiteNews, pro-life students have been protesting the sculpture “Witness” by artist Shahzia...

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), who served in Congress for nearly three decades, has died at the age of 74, her family announced Friday evening. “Today, with incredible grief for our loss yet deep gratitude for the life she shared with us, we announce the passing of United States Representative Sheila Jackson Lee of the 18th Congressional District of Texas,” her family wrote in a statement shared to her account on X. Her family did not specify a cause of death, but the news comes just over one month after the Congresswoman revealed that she had been diagnosed with pancreatic...

UPDATED 10:05 p.m. Central—The historic sanctuary of First Baptist Church of Dallas, the church led by Pastor Robert Jeffress, caught fire on Friday night. The cause remains unknown, though the fire comes less than one week after an attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, of whom Jeffress has long been an impassioned supporter.“Dallas Fire-Rescue is currently battling a two-alarm fire in a building located at 1717 San Jacinto Street,” Chief Robert Borse told The Daily Signal. “The initial call was received at 6:05 p.m., and crews arrived on scene at 6:09 p.m.”“The fire has been knocked down and contained,”...

BREAKING 🚨🚨 Representative Sheila Jackson Lee has died.

(KTLA) — Coronavirus levels in California’s wastewater have reached a “very high” level for the first time since last winter. According to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the trend matches what’s being reported in several other states. The Golden State was one of seven states with “very high” levels; the others were Arkansas, Florida, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon and Texas. In Los Angeles County, the nation’s most populous, coronavirus levels in wastewater have also increased.

Elon Musk said on Tuesday he is moving the headquarters of two more of his companies - social media platform X and rocket company SpaceX - to Texas from California, citing a new gender-identity law there as the "last straw." With these steps, the billionaire, who last week endorsed Republican Donald Trump for U.S. president, will have relocated Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab and most of the businesses he controls or heads to Texas. The world's richest man, he changed his own residence in 2021 from California to Texas, where there is no state income tax on individuals. A new...

Billionaire Elon Musk said Tuesday he will shift the headquarters of privately held SpaceX and social media site X to Texas from California as a result of Gov. Gavin Newsom signing a new gender identity law for students. The law, signed Monday, blocks school districts from requiring teachers to notify parents about changes in a student’s gender identity or sexual orientation without the child’s permission. It also requires the state’s Department of Education to create resources for families of LGBTQ+ students from seventh grade through high school. “This is the final straw,” Musk wrote on X. “Because of this law...

The Biden administration has been flying migrants from California, which is being overrun, to Texas — where Gov. Greg Abbott’s tough border control measures have deterred illegal crossings into the state, The Post can reveal. For the last month, pricey Border Patrol charter flights on commercial-sized planes have been hauling border crossers from San Diego to Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, sources told The Post. Sources say the flights, which have been operating every week, cost an estimated $80,000 and are known for being “extremely expensive.” Photos also show dozens of migrants shackled by the ankles boarding the planes, which are...

The unidentified father logged into The Children's Courtyard's livestream on July 27, 2023 and watched in horror as a daycare worker smothered his son in an attempt to keep him quiet during nap time, a new Texas lawsuit claims, according to KVUE. The employee then allegedly pulled the covers off and repeatedly slapped the child in the face and head when he did not sleep. The father then rushed to the facility in Austin to confront staff members about what he had seen, but the daycare never reported the abuse to state officials or law enforcement, according to the suit....

Shots rang out at a rally for former President Donald Trump on Saturday, sending the Republican presidential nominee and the crowd scrambling for cover. Trump, with blood dripping down the side of his face, was whisked away by the Secret Service. Trump’s campaign says he is “fine” after being whisked off the stage in Butler, Pennsylvania, after the apparent assassination attempt. Trump was treated at a local medical facility and has left the Butler area, according to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.