Free Republic

Two students who survived last month’s high school shooting in Parkland, Fla., said Monday that the leadership of the National Rifle Association (NRA) has “basically threatened” them since they started speaking out about gun violence. “I think it just goes to prove exactly what they are. I don’t think NRA members are bad people at all. I think they’re responsible gun owners that want to become politically active and make their voices heard in this democracy,” David Hogg told CBS News.

Sen. Ted Cruz on Friday praised the choice of Robert Mueller to lead the investigation into whether President Trump's campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential elections. "I don't think it was necessary to appoint a special counsel," Cruz said. "But the Department of Justice made the decision to do that. If they are going to appoint a special counsel, Bob Mueller is an excellent choice." Cruz said Mueller, a former FBI director with a sterling reputation, would conduct a fair investigation.

Stoneman Douglas HS student activist David Hogg has a new video out to promote the March 24 “March For Our Lives” in Washington, D.C. and he asks right up front, “What if our politicians weren’t the bitch of the NRA?” How adorable of him:

A judge entered a plea of not guilty on Nikolas Cruz's behalf as the teen was arraigned Wednesday in last month's massacre at a South Florida high school -- on the same day students across the country walked out of class to demand stricter gun laws because of the killings. A Broward County grand jury last week indicted the 19-year-old gunman on 17 counts of premeditated murder in the first degree and 17 counts of attempted murder in the first degree. Wednesday's plea in a Fort Lauderdale court came after Cruz's defense attorney told the judge that the teen was...

Giving an interview at the SXSW conference in Austin Texas over the weekend, the Democratic nominee opposing Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said American civilians should not be permitted to buy an AR-15 rifle. El Paso Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas, is proud of his campaign’s claim that he shuns political action committee (PAC) money. He criticized Senator Cruz for taking $300,000 from the National Rifle Association and boasted that his campaign has taken $0 from the NRA. He told a story about a woman at a town hall who asked him if he could stand up to the NRA. O’Rourke explained...

The disgraced Florida sheriff’s deputy who explained his failure to act during the school massacre by saying he believed the shooter was outside actually radioed that gunfire was inside, according to a report.

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) received more votes in the 2018 Republican Primary election than the entire turnout of voters in the Democratic Primary. The results shed a new perspective on the media-hyped “blue wave” stories from the weeks leading up to election day. In the Republican Primary of 2018, Senator Cruz received 1,317,450 votes in a race with four challengers. His Democrat opponent, U.S. Representative Beto O’Rourke only received 641,311 votes against two opponents. Figures from the Secretary of State’s office show that just over one million voters turned out in the Democratic Primary in general across Texas. Cruz...

Nikolas Cruz indicted on 17 counts of murder, jail records reveal odd behavior in days after Florida massacre [full title] Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz, whose jail records show was unapologetic and behaved oddly in the days following the massacre, was formally charged Wednesday with 17 counts each of premeditated murder and attempted murder. The Broward County grand jury announced on Wednesday the 34-count indictment for Cruz, who allegedly opened fire inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, killing 17 people. The attempted murder charges were for the 17 other people injured in the mass shooting on Valentine’s Day. Nikolas Cruz...

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, went on offense in the wake of Texas primary victory on Tuesday and released an ad targeting his Democratic challenger in a country jingle that warns, “If you’re going to run in Texas, you can’t be a liberal, man.” Cruz tweeted the clip, which played to the tune of Alabama’s “If You’re Gonna Play in Texas.” The tweet came shortly after Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas, easily advanced to the November matchup. O’Rourke faces an uphill climb. Cruz received more votes than every Democratic candidate in their primary combined. FIRST LISTEN: our new 60-second statewide radio ad...

The incumbent Ted Cruz has a strong challenger in Beto O'Rourke for the coveted Lone Star State Senate seat in November's General Election. Ted cruised to victory while Beto roared and showed he's ready for a showdown. Texas Republican U.S.Senate incumbent Ted Cruz will face Democrat challenger Beto O'Rourke after both won their respective party's primary ballot Tuesday night. The headliner on the Texas ballot was the race for the United States Senate seat held by incumbent Ted Cruz, the junior senator winding down his first term. Cruz had four opponents in the Republican Primary. Cruz had more than 80...

Texas Primary Election being held today. Even though immensely popular, Republicans, Governor, Greg Abbot and Senator, Ted Cruz are running for re-election, both are heavily favored to defeat whatever and whoever the Democrat Party chooses to run against them. There has been much Media" ado about nothing, relative Democrat voter turnout in the early voting period. Republicans feel both Abbott & Cruz will win their primary runs, whether the voter turnout is heavy or light. However....the rest of this ballot should awaken Republicans, Conservatives, Independents, etc. to turn out in large number to build on "The Down Ballot". So...if you...

[Full headline:] "If Sheriff Israel is the “amazing” leader he says he is, he will release videos of his deputies’ actions during Parkland shooting" It’s imperative that Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel release video recordings of what his deputies did, and didn’t do, outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School while Nikolas Cruz was on a killing spree inside. First, Israel himself has said that the public needs to know this information. He’s right, and he should accommodate the people on whose behalf he and his deputies work. This is an extraordinary case in which his department bears a large share...

The Broward County Sheriff’s Office is a mess. While I have no doubt there are good, capable deputies within the department, they’re marred by being in the same department with Sheriff Scott Israel. The embattled sheriff’s woes began with the Parkland shooting but only seem to grow, probably in part due to his vocal stance on gun control in the immediate aftermath now looking like a case of wagging the dog. The latest is the sheer number of investigations by the Broward State Attorney’s office into the sheriff’s department. There is a pile of them. Since 2012, there have been...

(Conservative Tribune) – Political motivations often lead to bad policy — in the case of the Broward County School District, political motivations led to deadly policy. A look at the past seven years since Scott Israel became the head of the Broward County Sheriff’s Office reveal his agenda for self-advancement by making the school district in his jurisdiction appear safer. His actions proved to do the exact opposite. During his reelection campaign in 2016, Israel proudly toted his accomplishments of “sharply reduc(ing) violent crime and burglary rates,” as well as his “innovative initiatives” to keep students in school and out...

Marjory Stoneman Douglas student Alfonso Calderon asserted Wednesday that the NRA is “basically killing children,” prompting zero pushback from CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. CNN has been notorious for letting victims of the Parkland school shooting smear the NRA, including at their town hall last week where one student insisted that NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch doesn’t care about her own children.

WASHINGTON -- An impasse remains over a nettlesome aspect of the nation's biofuels standards even after the White House on Tuesday hosted Sen. Ted Cruz and some corn state senators for a meeting at the Texan's request. Despite the lack of a breakthrough to deal with Cruz's concern that the setup is harming refineries in Texas and beyond, he lifted a months-long blockade on an Iowa official nominated to a top USDA post. The Senate then quickly confirmed Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey. Senator Ted Cruz ✔ @SenTedCruz This morning, we had a very positive & productive meeting on fixing...

The man who killed 17 people at a South Florida high school had more than half his rounds remaining when he dropped his rifle and fled, a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation told CNN. The shooter had fired about 150 times when he dropped his AR-15-style rifle and escaped from school property by blending in with fleeing students. He left 180 rounds of ammo unused, the official said. "Investigators have found indications that the shooter may have tried to break a window, which leads them to believe he wanted to use the area as a sniper's perch to...

SILVER SPRING, Md. (ABC7) — On Monday night, eight survivors of the Parkland, Florida, high school shooting walked into Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring for a closed-door meeting with select Montgomery County students who walked out inspired. “I’ve honestly never seen high school students so united before, united for one cause," student Melody Zhang said.

An Obama-era “no-arrest policy” guideline for school discipline may have hindered the ability of authorities to prevent Nikolas Cruz’s mass murder of 17 persons at a Florida high school on February 14, said the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives Richard Corcoran. Corcoran, a Republican from Florida’s Pasco County, made his comments on Monday’s edition of SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Tonight with hosts Rebecca Mansour and Joel Pollak. Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel coordinated with the Broward County Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie to implement a school disciplinary guidelines — entitled the PROMISE program: Preventing Recidivism through Opportunities, Mentoring, Interventions, Supports...

Talk about a facepalm moment. Is it the media’s stupidity or stacking sandbags because they know this National Rifle Association initiative could gain traction? You decide. The NRA wants more armed guards in schools. Teachers should be allowed to carry as well. After the tragic Sandy Hook shooting, the school board voted to approve this proposal. This is not an alien concept. A lot of schools have resource officers; Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the site of the most recent school shooting on February 14, had such officers. They failed to engage the shooter, Nikolas Cruz. Scores of teachers in...