Free Republic

A Wimberley man being held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after a traffic stop last month has been released. Kyle Police arrested Victor Alejandro Avendano-Ramirez on January 30 for not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign. He had two warrants for his arrest for charges of driving without a license and violating promise to appear in court, both Class C misdemeanors. While he was being booked, police say Avendano told them he was not a US citizen and was born in Mexico. The sheriff's office then informed ICE of his status, and their agents took custody of...

More than two dozen Senate Republicans are urging President Trump to re-engage in Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations. The 25 GOP lawmakers sent a letter to Trump on Friday saying they support his recent comments that he may consider U.S. participation if the 11-nation Asia-Pacific pact is improved.

A coalition that includes a Latino membership organization and a former Massachusetts governor filed lawsuits on Wednesday challenging how four U.S. states allocate their Electoral College votes in presidential elections. The lawsuits were filed in federal courts in Massachusetts and California, states that went for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016, and South Carolina and Texas, where a majority of votes went to Republican U.S. President Donald Trump. The lawsuits challenge the winner-take-all system used in those states to select electors who cast votes for president and vice president in the Electoral College after a presidential election. Forty-four other states...

...‘We Are Here For An Education And Not A Political Protest’ “We are here for an education and not a political protest.” That’s is the message from Needville ISD Superintendent Curtis Rhodes Tuesday in response to a call by political groups for students to walk out of class to protest gun issues in the wake of the Florida school shooting. In a post on Facebook, Rhodes said, “A school is a place to learn and grow educationally, emotionally and morally. A disruption will not be tolerated.”[snip]Addressing the planned possible protests directly Rhodes said, “There is a ‘movement’ attempting to stage...

It is time to remember what the Federal Government under the authority of Bill Clinton did to many American citizens during the Waco holocaust. Whole families living in their compound were slaughtered by federal officials. Women and children were burned alive by the Federal Government. The Waco compound was encircled and under seize for many weeks as if it was a medieval city being attacked by an army. The government treated these civilians as if they were a foreign enemy. They used loud noises day and night to psychologically break down the inhabitants which included mothers and children. Tanks crashed...

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said allegations of rampant sexual misconduct at the team's workplace were "abhorrent," as the entrepreneur and his NBA franchise come under increased scrutiny after Sports Illustrated's explosive exposé. Cuban told SI the reports were “all new to me."

Though it was the last thing she intended to do when she sent out a campaign newsletter, a Garland candidate for the Texas House now finds herself tangled up in a feud with William Shatner. Brandy K. Chambers' online newsletter that went out Thursday featured a photo of herself with the Star Trek legend that was taken at a comic-con event. The photo is under a write-up of what Chambers, a Democrat running to unseat Republican Angie Chen Button, says she stands for as a candidate, including being a proponent of LGBT rights and gun regulations. She also vows to...

An MS-13 gang member in Texas was sentenced to 99 years behind bars after he was convicted of killing a man to achieve a higher position within the violent organization, officials said. Jonathan Steven Guevara, 21, was handed the lengthy sentence by a jury on Tuesday for killing Hector Daniel Diaz, 28, in November 2015, according to a news release from the Harris County District Attorney’s office. “The jury’s verdict and sentence on the case we presented speaks volumes about society’s judgment of this vicious behavior,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said. “We will hold these gangs accountable, convict...

Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway on Monday urged the National Rifle Association to move its upcoming annual convention elsewhere in light of last week’s mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Mr. Caraway, who represents District 4 on the Dallas City Council, told reporters Monday that the NRA would be “met with opposition” if it continues with its annual meeting of members event, scheduled for May 3-6 at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center. “There will be marches and demonstrations should they come to Dallas,” Mr. Caraway said, local ABC affiliate WFAA reported.

Kirbyville Police have arrested an 18-year-old Kirbyville High School student after students reported he had made threatening statements and expressed a desire to kill people on Thursday. Michael Wilson was released on a $5,000 bond after he was arrested and charged with making terroristic threats. During a discussion about the Florida school shooting the day before among Kirbyville students during a class at the school on Friday, 15, 2018, Wilson became angry and began to defend the actions of the shooter according to a probable cause affidavit. Police were called to investigate after several students reported to the principal that...

On Monday Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway (D) cited the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy and demanded that the NRA cancel its upcoming convention. The convention is scheduled to take place in the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center. Mayor Pro Tem Caraway spoke Monday about the scheduled NRA convention. Fox 4 reported that he framed his demand that the NRA pull out by pointing to JFK’s assassination, then pivoting to the July 7, 2016, fatal ambush of five Dallas police officers, the Florida school shooting, and November 2017 murder of a 27-year-old mother of six in the...

The City Council chamber was packed Sunday, the thoughts of the community on display on the many signs dotting the crowd: "Stay Tom," "No to hate - Tom must resign," "Support Tom - no political agendas," "No to bigotry." Hundreds gathered for the special session the council called to address an anti-Islam social media post member council member Tom Harrison shared Tuesday night. The post, which included a photo of a student wearing a hijab, said: "Share if you think Trump should ban Islam in American schools." Harrison removed the post the following day and apologized online.

Texans go to the polls for primary elections on March 6, the same date is also the 182nd anniversary of the fall of the Alamo. Normally, they would not be connected but this year they are in one of the hottest primary races in Texas. Incumbent Land Commissioner George P. Bush is fighting off a blast from the past. His predecessor, Jerry Patterson, wants his job back in part because of a needed but controversial revamp of the historical site. Specifically, whether to move the cenotaph – the gravestone of the Alamo defenders...Bush and his campaign team didn’t grant us...

West Texas school district allows concealed carry on campus CLAUDE, TX (KFDA) - Claude Independent School District has several staff members that carry concealed weapons on school grounds. A sign in front of Claude ISD campuses shows that the district has multiple staff members who carry concealed weapons. Parents who have children at the school say they feel very safe and comfortable knowing their staff are armed and ready to protect them if they have to. "It makes me feel really, really safe that we have staff on hand if anything happened," said mother of a Claude ISD student...

SUGAR LAND — One thing Sen. Ted Cruz isn’t doing as he seeks a second term is running away from the president. Despite a checkered history, the Texan boasts about his access and influence on matters ranging from taxes to the Paris Climate Accord. “I spent a lot of time urging President Trump to pull out of that deal,” he recounted. “I spent 45 minutes on Air Force One saying, `Mr. President, this is killing jobs and it’s bad for our economy.'” The day after Trump announced his decision, Cruz continued, “he calls me on my cellphone. He says, 'Well,...

William Shelton will not let go of the past, even if it is in the way of someone else's future. He has spent more than five years rebuilding his family's ancestral home, board by board, and has no intention of leaving it or the 250-acre farm that has been in his family since 1851. Two years ago, surveyors started showing up, wanting a clear idea of his property lines for Texas Central Railway, the company behind plans for a 200-mph "bullet train" connecting Houston to Dallas. The proposed route would go through Shelton's farm. "I guarantee I will be restoring...

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) announced Thursday he is willing to sit down and discuss gun control legislation with Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and John Cornyn (R-TX). This is the second time in four months he has agreed to talk to about gun control proposals. On November 8, 2017, Breitbart News reported that he had agreed “to allow a Judiciary Committee hearing on bump stock gun control.” Ironically, two of the key proponents of those hearings were Feinstein and Cornyn. Additionally, Feinstein had put forth a bill to ban bump stocks altogether. Fast forward to February 2018 and CBS News reports...

A survey administered to students in seventh, ninth and 11th grades across Lake Travis Independent School District showed they feel more stressed and contemplate suicide and self-harm more than other students nationally. Lake Travis ISD administered the Centers for Disease Control’s Youth Risk Behaviors Survey to more than 1,400 students last year. Results were recently presented to the school board, pointing out that 773 of the students surveyed said they feel the stress of school is “too much.” School administrators also say 171 students said they considered committing suicide in the past year, and 80 of those 171 students had...

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Travis County Sheriff’s Office deputies do not have rifle-resistance vests because Sheriff Sally Hernandez will not commit to hold all arrested undocumented immigrants for deportation. In January, Governor Abbott announced the state would fund $23 million in grants to purchase 33,000 vests for more than 450 law enforcement departments. Every agency that applied for vests received them. Travis County did not apply for the grant because one condition from the governor’s office required the agency to “sign a letter confirming compliance with ICE detainer requests both now and during the grant term of at least one year,”...

Federal immigration agents are escalating efforts to crack down on businesses hiring undocumented workers. New data released Friday morning shows Immigration and Customs Enforcement visited 122 businesses over the past five days, mostly in Southern California. Mike Poindexter is CEO of his family business the Poindexter Nut Company near Fresno, California. He says most Americans don't want these labor-intensive jobs. "We hire people all the time. They show up, they work two days and they leave," Poindexter said. His company is now being audited by ICE. "We've had somewhere between 5 to 10 percent of our workforce quit voluntarily just...