Free Republic

Ken Paxton’s most egregious crimes were not those given as excuses for impeachment by 61 Democrats and 60 Republicans in the Texas House. His true, and most inexcusable crime, was to challenge the autocratic rule of the Lone Star State by an unholy alliance of leftists Democrats and crony, anti-free market business Republicans. It has long been an open secret in the Texas Capitol that the establishment lobby group Texans for Lawsuit Reform never liked Ken Paxton. TLR had reportedly grown frustrated with Paxton using the powers of the Office of the Attorney General to aggressively combat the Biden administration,...

In a Facebook Live on Thursday afternoon, State Rep. Steve Toth (R–The Woodlands) quoted from the code: “It’s really clear. You can’t remove a statewide officeholder under an alleged accusation that occurred before the person was elected, and that’s exactly what they are doing right now,” said Toth. “This is an illegal act.” Texas Government Code 665.081 states, “An officer in this state may not be removed from office for an act the officer may have committed before the officer’s election to office.” On Friday night Attorney General Paxton was interviewed by Matt Gaetz on Newsmax TV. Paxton explained to...

After a memo was released by the Department of the Air Force celebrating Pride Month, U.S. Rep. Chip Roy [R-TX] wonders if rainbow uniforms are next.In the May 3 memo, the Department of the Air Force expressed that it will commemorate the contributions of LGBTQ Americans and continue its efforts to “advance a respectful and inclusive culture.”The memo also encouraged installation commanders to plan and conduct activities to celebrate Pride Month. Roy’s office obtained a flyer advertising Pride Month events at the Robins Air Force Base in Georgia, where they promoted events like “Pride Night Game Night” and are planning...

With the Biden administration preparing to end Title 42 on Thursday, and Texas bracing for the coming onslaught, several border security measures were approved in a meeting of the Texas House that lasted until nearly 2 a.m. The centerpiece bill, however, was defeated after House Speaker Dade Phelan sustained a point of order on the bill, sending it back to committee past the deadline for bills to be considered. “This kind of fiasco is emblematic of his leadership in the House. Instead of passing the most important border security bill in decades, he let it die on a spurious interpretation...

Consider some of the metrics. In 2019, the last year before the pandemic, median family income grew to nearly $73,000. It went up $4,600 in that year alone, a 6.4 percent increase over 2018—the largest annual increase going back to 1967. That amounted to 45 percent more growth in one year than the $3,200 increase that the Obama administration achieved in eight years. And contrary to what would become an election year talking point, the economic benefits were widespread. Every racial group experienced a record high median family income level: for white Americans it rose 5.7 percent; for black Americans,...

Despite knowing that state laws were broken last year during the first annual “Pride Week,” Austin Independent School District is once again setting aside this week for the indoctrination and sexualization of children. According to the district’s website, their goal in hosting the “Pride Week” celebration is to show parents, students, and teachers what the district is doing to create a “safe, supportive and inclusive environment.” The response from parents has been overwhelmingly unfavorable. Some referred to the event as “repulsive,” “ridiculous,” “sick,” and “degeneracy,” while others referred to the district’s actions as “child abuse.” Another Austin resident said AISD...

The Texas House of Representatives is continuing its pattern of passing controversial resolutions, voting unanimously to honor lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transexual chambers of commerce. . . . the resolution was approved unanimously by a record vote, after it was packaged alongside nearly 200 other resolutions. Specifically, the resolution honors the Austin, San Antonio, Houston, and North Texas Chambers of Commerce, citing their leftist legislative agenda: The “comprehensive nondiscrimination legislation” referenced by the resolution refers to proposals that would allow men in women’s restrooms or prevent employers and businesses from practicing their Religious beliefs. When he was chair of the...

As minors are increasingly struggling with exposure to pornography, legislation has been filed a bill to make it harder for children to access. House Bill 3570 by State Rep. Nate Schatzline (R–Ft Worth) introduces requirements that force websites with pornographic content to implement age verification using state-issued identification and gives parents the ability to sue websites if their child is exposed to online pornography. If passed, the legislation would take effect September 1. As described in the bill, the requirement for age verification could affect social media websites and other websites where one-third of the content is sexually explicit. An...

Following her decision to use ivermectin to combat COVID-19 and issuing a declaration that she would only treat the unvaccinated, Dr. Mary Talley Bowden’s medical license is being threatened by the Texas Medical Board on behalf of complaints from two separate hospitals. Having treated more than 5,000 patients with COVID-19, neither of the complaints accuse Bowden of harming a single patient. “People close to me have encouraged me to give up for my own well-being, but I’ve witnessed too much and could not live with myself if I didn’t keep going,” said Bowden. “I did nothing wrong and will fight...

With the legislative session now underway, the Republican Party of Texas is taking their fight to prevent Democrat lawmakers from being placed in powerful leadership positions to a new level, airing a radio ad in House Speaker Dade Phelan’s district that encourages his constituents to urge him to only appoint Republicans as committee chairs. “Democrats tried to turn Texas blue. But Texas voters told them no. We voted Republican all the way down the ticket,” begins the 60-second spot released on Wednesday. “But House Speaker Dade Phelan thinks Democrats should still run the show. That’s why he’s planning to put...

Despite intense grassroots pressure, the Texas House refused to allow a vote on whether Democrats will be allowed to chair important committees in the Republican-controlled chamber. A Republican priority for 2023, banning Democrats from holding key committee chairmanships—which allows them to block conservative legislation—is supported by more than 81 percent of Republican voters. In the 87th Legislative Session, 40 percent of committee chairs were Democrats, per Phelan’s decision. Notably, [House Speaker] Phelan immediately moved Tuesday to hold the rules debate the following day, a full day before busloads of Republicans were scheduled to descend on the Capitol to voice their...

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn will not be up for re-election until 2026. We asked where would readers stand on his re-election if that GOP primary were to be held today. More than 97 percent of readers selected “Cornyn has to go,” while just 2.8 percent want to “re-elect Cornyn.” Here’s a sampling from the avalanche of replies… “John Cornyn is a great argument for repealing the 17th Amendment. Or putting in place term limits.” – Tom Bartel “Nearly 6,000 GOP delegates booed Cornyn at the last state convention. Cornyn’s reply in the newspaper to this was, ‘I don’t bow to...

If you want to see the problem with American education, look at a chart illustrating the comparative growth in the number of students, teachers, and district administrators in our public schools in the period between 2000 and 2019. (See the chart below.) The number of district administrators grew by a whopping 87.6 percent during these years, far outstripping the growth in the number of students (7.6 percent) and teachers (8.7 percent).In illustrating the difference in these rates of growth, the chart also illustrates a fundamental change that has come over our nation as a whole during this period—a change in...

Last week, the Republican-controlled Texas State Board of Education met for their final meetings of the year and voted to formally oppose school choice in the upcoming 2023 legislative session. “The Texas State Board of Education calls on the Texas Legislature to reject all attempts to divert public dollars away from public schools in the form of vouchers, an education savings account, taxpayer savings grants, tuition-tax credits, a business franchise tax credit or an insurance premium tax credit, or any other mechanisms that have the effect of reducing funding to public schools.” There are nine Republicans on the board and...

The Senate has voted to ratify a global climate treaty that will phase down the use and production of hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, the climate-warming chemicals widely used in air conditioning and refrigeration. The Senate voted 69-27 on Wednesday to move forward the 2016 Kigali Amendment, an amendment to the 1987 Montreal Protocol climate treaty that dramatically curbs the use of HFCs, which are thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide at heating up the Earth. Forty-eight Democrats and 21 Republicans voted in favor; four members of the Senate did not vote. “This is a win-win in our fight against...

After receiving responses to open records requests, State Rep. Bryan Slaton (R–Royse City) released findings from an investigation led by his office revealing that public Texas medical schools have been teaching child gender modification. “Repeatedly, the people of Texas have been told, ‘This kind of thing isn’t going on in Texas.’ And yet, the exact opposite is true,” Slaton said. “Not only are young children being subjected to barbaric gender-modification practices like surgeries and puberty-blocking drugs on a daily basis, but these practices are being taught to the next generation of doctors in some of our public medical schools.” The...

Charles Butt has repeatedly worked against parental rights activists.Charles Butt, the billionaire heir and CEO of the Texas grocery empire H-E-B, sponsored a recent “family friendly” drag show and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on anti-school choice campaigns.In June, H-E-B sponsored an LGBT “pride” event in downtown Austin. The event, called Rainbow on the Creek, included a drag queen story hour, a “family-friendly all ages” drag show performed by a group called the Hydrated Queer Kitties, and a pride parade. A Libs of TikTok tweet showed the scantily clad performers dancing sensually in front of parents and their children.The...

There was a time when a family faced medical emergencies that they met their personal physician at the hospital emergency room and, together, the doctor and family made critical medical decisions based on the medical opinion of the doctor and the informed decisions of the patient. While radical changes have occurred in the medical field in the past 25 years, the true transformation of health care from a benevolent service to a profit making business truly came into focus in the midst of the COVID pandemic.Government public health mandates and financial incentives paved the way for hospitals to make a...

Yesterday, we asked about the “compromise” that U.S. Sen. John Cornyn led in negotiating in regards to Americans’ Second Amendment rights. By an overwhelming margin (96.3 percent), readers said they disagreed with Cornyn’s compromise with the Democrats – and just 3.7 percent said they support him. The inbox was flooded with emailed responses; here’s just a sample… “John Cornyn is the new John McCain.” - Bo French “What part of SHALL NOT INFRINGE does Cornyn not understand?! Red flag laws are a dangerous path to travel down. A slippery slope best left untraveled!” – Dawn Martin “Maybe now we can...

Texas Scorecard previously revealed Austin Independent School District’s “Pride Week,” held March 21-26, promoted LGBT sexual conduct to school children and taught them “trans” ideology—the idea that you can turn into whatever biological sex or creature you feel like. Lesson plans included “Coming Out and Pronouns Days” for middle-schoolers, and teaching children as young as 5 that they can be “trans” and “non-binary.” “Some people aren’t boys or girls, they’re just people,” one plan read. Activities included “pride parades” in elementary school, “Queer Eye” TV show watch parties, and “community circles”— teacher-led conversations with kids about LGBT behaviors, where children...