Free Republic

Liberal heads begin to explode in 5..4…3…2…1During an interview this past Friday with CBN’s David Brody, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) stressed that gay marriage could put our 1st Amendment protections at risk.“If you look at other nations that have gone down the road towards gay marriage, that’s the next step of where it gets enforced.“It gets enforced against Christian pastors who decline to perform gay marriages, who speak out and preach biblical truths on marriage and that has been defined elsewhere as hate speech — as inconsistent with the enlightened view of government.“I think there is no doubt that...

In an interview with CBS This Morning Thursday, Texas Governor Rick Perry discussed the situation at the Bundy Ranch in Nevada and racist comments made by the man at the center of the recent standoff there, rancher Cliven Bundy. Perry said Bundy's remarks were a "side issue" and pointed to a land dispute in Texas with the same federal agency Bundy battled in Nevada, the Bureau of Land Management. "I don’t know what he said but the fact is Cliven Bundy is a side issue here compared to what we’re looking at in the state of Texas," Perry said. "He...

TX Deputy Shoots Farmer’s Dog in the Back of the Head After Farmer Called Police About Burglary April 24 2014 by Dan Cannon Share This Post Dallas News | myFOXdfw.com It seems like these stories are happening more and more each week. Stories of officers shooting dogs that simply did not need to be shot. In this case, a third generation Texas farmer, Cole Middleton, called police about a break-in on his property. When an officer finally arrived, Rains County Deputy Jerred Dooley, the farmer’s dog ran up to the officer (as dogs do, especially herding dogs), so the officer...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry was in New York today to make his pitch to business leaders he hopes to lure to the Lone Star State, and took the opportunity to reissue his debate challenge to Gov. Andrew Cuomo–who today declined the request. “Yes, I’m here recruiting business. I’m don’t shy away from that. I’m very upfront about that. But I’m also here to help stimulate a conversation with the people of New York state, the people in New York City, the legislators, the governor,” said Mr. Perry, speaking to reporters after a lunch with business owners at Hill Country BQQ...

The family of a second-grade student at a Texas elementary school says their daughter’s teacher took her Bible away during a “read to myself” session. The Liberty Institute, a nonprofit legal group specializing in religious liberty cases, says the family reached out for assistance after a teacher at Hamilton Elementary in Cypress allegedly told the girl not to bring the Bible back to school again. The teacher reportedly said the Bible is inappropriate reading material. …

Last August, as conservatives barnstormed the country seeking to build support for a cockamamie plan to shut down the U.S. federal government unless Congress voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican senator, said something surprisingly prescient about the president’s signature health-care law. “President Obama wants to get as many Americans addicted to the subsidies because he knows that in modern times, no major entitlement has ever been implemented and then unwound,” he said. The worry, according to Cruz, was that once the ACA went into effect, we’d all be “addicted to the sugar.” Then, it...

David Corn of Mother Jones has assembled a number of clips from Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) over the years criticizing former President Ronald Reagan for the budgets he signed into law. In some cases, Paul declared Reagan worse on budgetary issue than his predecessor, former President Jimmy Carter.

Rand Paul has a piece at Breitbart which Drew at Ace views as a slam against Ted Cruz. The dispute is once again over what Reagan would have done. Reagan clearly believed in a strong national defense and in “Peace through Strength.” He stood up to the Soviet Union, and he led a world that pushed back against Communism. But Reagan also believed in diplomacy and demonstrated a reasoned approach to our nuclear negotiations with the Soviets. Reagan’s shrewd diplomacy would eventually lessen the nuclear arsenals of both countries. Perhaps Rand Paul can explain what the point of lessening the...

Ron Paul blasts Texas Governor Rick Perry in a new TV ad that refers to Perry as a “Cheerleader” for Al Gore in 1988. The Paul ad then refers to him as “the one who stood with Reagan.” AUSTIN – Rep. Ron Paul’s newly released attack ad refers to the congressman as, “the one who stood with Reagan.” But his 1987 letter announcing his resignation from the Republican Party indicates Reagan drove him from the party. “Ronald Reagan was one of the most significant presidents of our generation, and a proven fiscal conservative,” Perry spokesman Mark Miner said. “Like President...

Libertarian Party's Ron Paul Sends "Dear Frank" Letter from the Libertarian Party News, March/April 1987 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Following is the text of a letter sent to Frank Fahrenkopf, chairman of the Republican National Committee, by Ron Paul, former member of Congress from Texas and now a member of the Libertarian Party. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- As a lifelong Republican, it saddens me to have to write this letter. My parents believed in the Republican Party and its free enterprise philosophy, and that's the way I was brought up. At age 21, in 1956, I cast my first vote for Ike and the entire Republican...

If it’s Friday on PBS, it’s time for “conservative” pundit David Brooks to bash the real conservatives. One of his favorite targets is Sen. Ted Cruz. On Valentine’s Day, PBS anchor Judy Woodruff announced “We watched this drama play out this week, David, in Congress, which ended up in the Senate with Senator Ted Cruz of Texas essentially hanging some of his fellow Republicans out to dry. What was he trying to accomplish, and did he -- did he do it?” Brooks shot back: “Nothing says Valentine’s Day like Senator Ted Cruz, our national aphrodisiac.” Then he said the conservatives...

In reading this message from an imprisoned Pastor Saeed Abedini, your perspective can find a true focus on the significance of this Resurrection/Easter Holiday. Pastor Abedini is suffering, imprisoned in Iran under unjust and incredible circumstances. He has been sentenced to eight years in one of the most cruel prisons in Iran. Does he pray for himself? No. Like Jesus he prays for everyone else, that we would know the true and total freedom found only in Jesus Christ. As Ted Cruz describes, “Our fellow American, Pastor Saeed Abedini, is being imprisoned in Iran for simply practicing his Christian faith....

Tensions between states’ rights supporters and the federal government remain high after the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) retreated last week at the Bundy Ranch after a tense standoff with hundreds of supporters, many of whom were armed. The Bundy Ranch situation has escalated little over the course of 20 years, but finally, the BLM stepped too far when they claimed dominion over thousands of acres of land in Nevada and began seizing Cliven Bundy’s cattle. The response by patriots throughout the country was swift and awe-inspiring as citizens flocked to the middle of nowhere to support the rancher, including...

After Breitbart Texas reported on the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) intent to seize 90,000 acres belonging to Texas landholders along the Texas/Oklahoma line, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott questioned the BLM’s authority to take such action. “I am about ready,” General Abbott told Breitbart Texas, “to go to go to the Red River and raise a ‘Come and Take It’ flag to tell the feds to stay out of Texas.” Gen. Abbott sent a strongly-worded letter to BLM Director Neil Kornze, asking for answers to a series of questions related to the potential land grab. “I am deeply...

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott slammed the federal Bureau of Land Management’s claims that private property within the state now belongs to the federal government. The BLM says the federal government owns a 90,000 acre piece of land along Texas’s Red River, despite it being maintained and cultivated by private landowners for generations and no law has been passed by Congress giving BLM ownership of the land. In the wake of cattle rancher Cliven Bundy’s standoff with federal agents over desert tortoise habitat in Nevada, Abbott — who is currently running for governor — argues that BLM’s plans to seize...

The former hedge fund of one of the Democratic Party’s most important donors was involved in a scheme to defraud foreign investors out of tens of millions of dollars, according to documents filed in a Texas court. Farallon Capital Partners L.P., a fund run by Farallon Capital Management, the multibillion-dollar hedge fund founded by Democratic donor Tom Steyer, became a limited partner in a project to build a large shopping mall near Seattle, Wash., in the mid-1990s after it guaranteed a line of credit for the project.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)OKLAHOMA - A dispute over land in Nevada between rancher Cliven Bundy and the Federal Government began decades ago. Bundy says his family’s cattle have grazed on the land without interference since 1870. The Bureau of Land Management says Bundy hadn’t paid his grazing fees since 1993, owing the government more than 1 million dollars. The B.L.M. says Bundy was allowing his cattle to graze illegally, which triggered a forced round-up of about 400 of Bundy’s cattle just last week. The cows were later released. Organizers with the Oklahoma Militia say they have members in Nevada who say Bundy’s cattle...

After the recent Bundy Ranch episode by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Texans are becoming more concerned about the BLM’s focus on 90,000 acres along a 116 mile stretch of the Texas/Oklahoma boundary. The BLM is reviewing the possible federal takeover and ownership of privately-held lands which have been deeded property for generations of Texas landowners. Sid Miller, former Texas State Representative and Republican candidate for Texas Agriculture Commissioner, has since made the matter a campaign issue to Breitbart Texas. “In Texas,” Miller says, “the BLM is attempting a repeat of an action taken over 30 years ago...

The battle of San Jacinto was the concluding military event of the Texas Revolution. On March 13, 1836, the revolutionary army at Gonzales began to retreat eastward. One of the eight inscriptions on the exterior base of the San Jacinto Monument reads: "Measured by its results, San Jacinto was one of the decisive battles of the world. The freedom of Texas from Mexico won here led to annexation and to the Mexican War, resulting in the acquisition by the United States of the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Utah, and parts of Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, and Oklahoma....

What is it with the Mentalist show two weeks in a row targeting Texas? Anyone else notice this? Last week it was the death penalty and this week it's an all male country club, also sprinkling in lesbianism. CBS

In 2013, freshmen senators Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) seemed like two peas in a pod. Both railed at the NSA, backed the government shutdown, opposed intervention in Syria and championed the tea party faithful. But 2014 has been a different story. Cruz has become a serious, vocal proponent of a tough foreign policy and harsh critic of President Obama’s approach to Iran and Russia. He gave serious speeches on the importance of standing up to Vladimir Putin and on the folly of expecting Iran to give away its nuclear weapons program without stringent sanctions and/or the threat...

A dozen wedding guests were beaten, tased, pepper sprayed, and arrested. GALVESTON, TX — More than a dozen wedding guests were brutalized by police officers during a raid on a wedding party at a hotel. Cops fired tasers, used batons, and generously applied pepper spray to the guests of a bride and groom hours after their wedding. Among them was former pro-baseball star Brandon Backe, who said the shoulder injuries that he received from police caused his pitching career to end. After causing a gaping head wound, bruises, hair pulled out, a broken nose, and pepper spray on numerous individuals,...

If Texas Tech University’s numbers are any indication, the race for Texas governor won’t be all that competitive. According to a poll released last week by Tech’s Earl Survey Research Lab, GOP gubernatorial candidate and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has about lapped Democratic candidate state Sen. Wendy Davis. Granted, there is a long way to go before the Nov. 4 election, but with 54 percent of respondents saying they would vote for Abbott — and only 25 percent backing Davis — the attorney general has reason for optimism, at least according to this poll. (And before Davis supporters contend...

The Wall Street Journal reported last night that House Speaker John Boehner told donors at a fundraiser last month in Las Vegas that he was “hellbent on getting this done this year,” in reference to an amnesty/immigration bill. His spokesman did not dispute the account. In related news, President Obama is meeting with the National Commander of the American Legion this morning. Ordinarily, that would mean little, but the meeting comes just days after the Legion came out against a plan to amnesty illegal aliens who join the military. The number of people who would benefit from such an amnesty...

A car thief was forced to pull over after a couple miles in the stolen vehicle because twin boys, age 7, who were in the car attacked him, police said. “One of the boys was punching the man in the face; the other was hitting him with a rubber snake,” Sgt. Javier Salazar of the San Antonio Police Department told ABC News. The car was swiped from in front of the home of Lucia Lozada Thursday as the mother was standing just feet from the vehicle. Her twin sons and a 1-year-old were buckled into the car as the family...

The death penalty is like gun rights in Texas politics: Candidates don’t dare get in the way of either. But Republican Greg Abbott, the favorite to succeed Gov. Rick Perry, must soon make a decision as attorney general that could disrupt the nation’s busiest death chamber. It’s an election-year dilemma for Abbott. But in Texas, it’s one that Democratic rival Wendy Davis can’t easily exploit, illustrating the difficulty of navigating the issue in such a pro-death penalty state. Abbott must soon decide whether to stick with his earlier opinions that Texas must disclose the source of the execution drugs it...

Sen. Ted Cruz won his seat in 2012 in a surprise victory, and since then he has been vocally pushing a conservative agenda—a tough foreign policy, social conservatism, limits to government—inspired, he says, by his hero since boyhood, Ronald Reagan.

The FBI is probing past legal work done by Texas gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis, according to a report her Republican opponent’s campaign calls a “bombshell.” The Dallas Morning News reported Friday that documents “related to Sen. Wendy Davis’ work as a lawyer for the North Texas Tollway Authority are part of an FBI inquiry of the agency.” The news outlet said it’s unclear how much this investigation revolves around Davis, the Democratic nominee for governor.

Ted Cruz is the most popular politician in Texas, according to a Public Policy Polling Texas poll. Cruz has a 47 percent approval rating – better than both Rick Perry and John Cornyn, with only 35 percent who disapprove of him. He also continues to lead the Republican primary field for presidential candidates in Texas with 25 percent willing to support his campaign compared to Jeb Bush at 14 percent and Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul and Rick Perry each at 10 percent. Chris Christie and Paul Ryan received support for a potential presidential campaign from 5 percent of Texans polled,...

For over a week in February, led by Wolf Blitzer, CNN devoted countless hours to boost Wendy Davis, the abortion extremist Democrat running to become governor of Texas. Using a guilt-by-association tactic, Blitzer and CNN relentlessly hurled fireballs at Davis's Republican opponent Greg Abbott for sharing a stage with right-wing rocker Ted Nugent, who had called President Obama a "subhuman mongrel" months before. A just-released polls shows that CNN turning itself into a full-bodied campaign outlet for Davis definitely failed to the move the ball for Davis, but might have even backfired. Abbott is currently surging past Davis by a...

It’s finally happened. David Frum, true conservative.No no, kidding. This is, I think, something he pulled from his dream journal after waking up one night in a cold sweat, screaming. All it’ll take for a Cruz victory, he thinks, is an economic slowdown followed by an “event� on Wall Street that pushes America into recession followed by a months-long primary challenge by Elizabeth Warren to Hillary followed by an immigration brouhaha that unites conservatives behind Cruz followed by a Cruz/Christie fusion ticket eking out the narrowest of wins over Clinton in a very low-turnout election. Interestingly, the word “ObamaCare� appears...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is the most popular politician in Texas, beating out Governor Rick Perry and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). In addition, according to a new Public Policy Polling poll, Cruz leads the potential GOP 2016 field with 25% among Republican primary voters in Texas. Jeb Bush comes in second with 14%. Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul, and Rick Perry are tied for third with 10% each. Chris Christie and Paul Ryan received 5% each in the poll, and Bobby Jindal and Marco Rubio got 4% each.

President Obama on Friday signed into law a bill authored by Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz that would bar an Iranian diplomat from entering the United States, but immediately issued a statement saying he won't enforce it. Obama decided to treat the law as mere advice. "Acts of espionage and terrorism against the United States and our allies are unquestionably problems of the utmost gravity, and I share the Congress's concern that individuals who have engaged in such activity may use the cover of diplomacy to gain access to our Nation," Obama said in his signing statement. "Nevertheless, as President...

**SNIP** They were found in an undeveloped patch of scrub near an abandoned tennis club in McAllen. They were camped under tents and huts camouflaged with mesquite branches and cacti. Some told authorities they had been there sleeping on pieces of cardboard with little food or water for at least a week. It was unclear whether any of those arrested Thursday afternoon were guides suspected of guarding the immigrants, Border Patrol spokesman Danny Tirado told The McAllen Monitor. A short time later, Border Patrol arrested 132 immigrants found in two buildings on a property in Alton, about 8 miles west...

A Whitehouse woman says she was just out on a morning walk when a police officer attacked her, put her in handcuffs and took her to the police station. The incident happened Friday morning off Maji Road in Whitehouse, but the police department says that's not the whole story. SNIP "I thought you were fixing to take me somewhere and hurt me. I thought you were a bad police officer. I was a teacher for 9 years. I'm a Christian. I go to church," the woman says. SNIP

The thought of the Lone Star State slowly transforming into a blue state is frightening to many native Texans, who fear that transplants will inject their cities with the very policies they initially fled from. But not everyone buys the theory. "Most liberals from California would rather die than come here," Chuck DeVore, Vice President of Policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation told Breitbart Texas. "They perceive Texas as a Bible belt, gun toting, cowboy hat-wearing state. They think, 'If you can't surf, why would you go there?'" DeVore should know--he used to live in California and served as...

Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz has more than doubled his fundraising efforts in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2013, according to the Houston Chronicle. Cruz, a potential 2016 presidential candidate, raised $887,344 in the year's first three months while he only took in $363,760 during the same period in 2013 when he first arrived in the U.S. Senate as a tea party favorite set on changing the ways established GOP members work in Washington. The senator, who is in the midst of paying visits to the early presidential caucus and primary states of...

April 18, 2014 CUMMINGS’ “MCCARTHYISM” CHARGE IN LERNER HEARING IS BOGUSM.Stanton Evans Five plus decades after he left the national scene, Sen. Joe McCarthy (R-Wis) remains the target of inaccurate charges by leftward elements in Congress and the press corps.The latest example in this vein is the uproar over IRS official Lois Lerner, who took the Fifth Amendment before the House Government Oversight Committee, chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), concerning hostile treatment of conservative groups seeking tax exemptions,. Having proclaimed her innocence of wrongdoing, Lerner then refused to discuss specifics, pleading possible self-incrimination. This led Issa and his GOP...

After the federal Bureau of Land Management agents backed down from their intimidating stance at the Bundy Ranch last weekend, ample evidence has surfaced indicating the standoff between the government and the Nevada ranching family is far from over. Throughout the weeklong stalemate, members of the Bundy family were physically assaulted by armed officers, numerous cows were shot dead, and protesters faced threats of gunfire for merely expressing their outrage. Immediately after what many considered a victory against a tyrannical federal agency, a number of leftist voices – most notably, Sen. Harry Reid – indicated the action against this family...

EL PASO, TX (KTSM) — Many parents are scratching their heads over a 4th grade homework assignment handed out on Tuesday but not because they can't understand it. Parents of a group of students at Pasodale Elementary School are angry with a teacher for sending their children home with what they call an "inappropriate reading assignment." One parent says it was supposed to be an assignment done in class but when some of the kids didn't finish it in time, they took it home, and that's when their parents said they noticed something wasn't right. Ursula Silverstein said her 10...

The apparent murder of a Chinese-American man, along with three family members, at his home in Houston, Texas, this January was recently said by an established overseas Chinese newspaper to have some connection to the former Chinese security official Zhou Yongkang, who is at the center of an intense corruption investigation.

Net oil imports to the United States could plummet to zero by 2037 because of booming production in South Texas’ Eagle Ford Shale and North Dakota’s Bakken Shale, a branch of the Energy Department projected in a new report.

AUSTIN, TX, April 16, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A new survey by a liberal polling firm is bad news for Wendy Davis, the Democratic would-be governor of Texas who rose to national prominence after filibustering a bill to restrict abortions in the state. Although Davis promotes herself proudly as a candidate who cares about “women’s issues” – a euphemism for legalized abortion-on-demand, or as the Davis team describes it, “expanding access to women’s health care” – it seems women in Texas aren’t interested in what she’s selling. According to Public Policy Polling, 46 percent of Texas women view Davis “unfavorably,” and...

Dan Patrick and Julian Castro Immigration Debate http://kut.org/post/rewatch-dan-patrick-and-julian-castro-immigration-debate BY MATT LARGEY 4/15/2014 KUT.ORG State Senator and GOP Lt. Governor candidate Dan Patrick faced off against San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro in a televised debate over immigration tonight at 6pm. The debate was moderated by the Texas Tribune's Evan Smith.

FORT WORTH, TEXAS—Last week conservative candidate Konni Burton kicked off her run-off campaign to clinch the Republican nomination for Senate District 10. It was standing-room-only at Stockyard Station's Stampede Room, with friends, family, the grassroots, and Senator Ted Cruz by her side. Breitbart Texas previously reported that Burton is the favored conservative in the Senate District that includes Fort Worth, Arlington, Mansfield, Colleyville and other areas of south and northeast Tarrant County. Tarrant County is one of the few urban conservative strongholds in the nation and it is the district currently represented by liberal state senator Wendy Davis (D-Fort Worth).In the five-person Republican...

The Harris County Sheriff’s Office in Texas released a chilling video in the hopes that it will help lead to the identity of a suspect who crept through a couple’s home and loomed over their baby as he slept. The incident, which occurred on April 5, was captured by the homeowner’s security cameras situated throughout the home, including in the baby’s nursery.

Despite the controversy and complaints, Texas A&M is holding separate and special graduation ceremonies for LGBT students Wednesday evening. The "Lavender Graduation," as it's being called, will feature as its commencement speaker Phyllis Frye – the first transgender judge in the state and a Texas A&M alumna. Supporters haven't specifically stated the reason for the special ceremony, except that "new leadership" in the pro-LGBT resource center on campus [link caution] is making it possible this year – and that it is to "celebrate the accomplishments of graduating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and ally [LGBTQQIAA] students." Regardless of the...

PPP's newest Texas poll finds Republicans leading by double digits in all of the state's major races for 2014. In the Governor's race Greg Abbott's at 51% to 37% for Wendy Davis. ------snip----- There's been some thought that Democratic prospects might be better in the race for Lieutenant Governor but Leticia Van de Putte actually trails by slightly more than Davis, regardless of who her Republican opponent ends up being. Dan Patrick leads her by 16 points at 51/35. ------snip----- Although it hasn't really been on anyone's radar screen the likely US Senate match up between John Cornyn and David...

Via the Caller, pollster Kellyanne Conway surveys the state of the “war on women� in Texas: “Women get exhausted with women candidates who say they are pro-woman and then run on issues that real women don’t say are most important to them.�No worries. Wendy’s rolling out a plan for universal pre-K at a cool $750 million per year in taxpayer expense. That’ll show ‘em.The favorability numbers are even starker. Among women, Abbott scores 35/27 while Davis clocks in at … 32/46. That’s basically identical to her 33/48 favorability among men. She ran on her biography, and this is where it...

Latinos and immigration activists are warning of political peril for President Barack Obama and Democrats in the fall election unless the president acts boldly and soon to curb deportations and allow more immigrants to remain legally in the U.S. Many activists say Obama has been slow to grasp the emotions building within the Latino community as deportations near the 2 million mark for his administration and hopes for immigration legislation fade. With House Republicans unlikely to act on an overhaul, executive action by Obama is increasingly the activists’ only hope.“There is tremendous anger among core constituencies of the president and...