Free Republic

George P. Bush, son of Trump's former presidential candidate rival Jeb Bush, has voiced his support for the current president yet again in a rousing speech at the Texas Republican convention earlier today. As noted by Todd Gillman of the Dallas News, George P. rallied the Texas GOP by declaring. "Are we gonna stand up for President Donald J. Trump. Are we going to reject the fake news and the liberal media? … Yes we are." Bush is a formidable politician in the Lone Star state. He currently holds the position of Texas Land Commissioner. But, he has fallen under...

BROWNSVILLE, Tex. — In the loading docks, children sat in a darkened auditorium watching the animated movie “Moana.” Where there were once racks of clothes and aisles of appliances, there were now spotless dorm-style bedrooms with neatly made beds and Pokemon posters on the walls. The back parking lots were now makeshift soccer fields and volleyball courts. The McDonald’s was now the cafeteria. All this made it difficult to visualize what the sprawling facility used to be — a former Walmart Supercenter. The converted retail store at the southern tip of Texas has become the largest licensed migrant children’s shelter...

The Austin City Council unanimously approved a pair of “Freedom City” resolutions on Thursday that target racial disparity in Austin police arrests and how officers interact with undocumented immigrants. The first resolution... police to end most discretionary arrests, which happen when an officer chooses to arrest someone for an offense that could result in either a trip to jail or a ticket... data from 2017 that he said showed Austin police arrested African-Americans at an officer’s discretion at more than double the rate of white and Latino residents, and that blacks were seven times more likely to be arrested for...

God, guns and Russia. Those were among the topics Gov Greg Abbott touched on Friday, when speaking to thousands of Republicans gathered for their every-other-year state convention, this time at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center. "If Texas was its own country," Abbott said, when he was interrupted by large cheers. "Let me rephrase that. If Texas was its own country again, we'd have the 10th largest economy in the entire world. "The Texas economy alone is larger than Russia's," he said with a grin. "And that makes me more powerful than Putin."

Ever wonder why going to university nowadays can leave parents broke, or kids with a mountain of debt? If you or your kid is planning to attend Rice University in Houston, be prepared to pony up $46,600 for tuition. If your kid needs to eat and prefers to sleep indoors, your total tab for the year will be $61,350. But you can rest assured that your life’s savings will be put to good use by Rice University, funding such important research as the forthcoming report, “Kicks Hurt Less: Discrimination Predicts Distress Beyond Trauma Among Undocumented Mexican Immigrants.” Sorry, no hyperlink...

His high heels are between three and four inches tall. They’re patriotic heels with an Americana theme. They are your basic, bedazzled-flag high heels made to fit a male veteran’s foot. Google Mayor Bruno “Ralphy” Lozano of Del Rio, Texas and a good chunk of the headlines you’ll find mention that Mayor Lozano wore heels in his city’s last Veteran’s Day parade. The headlines also tell you that Lozano is the youngest mayor elected in his town’s history, he’s a flight attendant, gay and a veteran. Lozano was one of 52 LGBTQ candidates who ran for office this year...

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) mangled a famous Texas saying while delivering a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday so badly that he unintentionally praised President Donald Trump for the outcome of the Singapore Summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. For generations, Texans have referred to a person who talks big but is unable to deliver as someone who is “all hat and no cattle.” New York’s left-wing “urban cowboy” reversed the words when he attempted to deliver what he intended to be a stinging rebuke of Trump’s historic accomplishments in Singapore on Tuesday. “This summit was much...

Consultant Drew McManus has put together the pay scale for music directors, taken from 2015/16 orchestra accounts. It’s a grim read. Jaap Van Zweden continued to make an absolute killing in Dallas – can New York Philharmonic even afford him? Riccardo Muti crossed the $3 million threshold in Chicago and Michael Tilson Thomas is doing well in SanFran with his long-service bonuses. Here’s the score that really matters: what maestros make in annual compensation in the top 10 Orchestras in the US – 1 Dallas Symphony: $3,642,804 2 Chicago Symphony: $3,046,137 3 San Francisco Symphony: $2,600,275 4 Los Angeles Philharmonic:...

The number of crimes committed by foreign nationals in this country should be near zero. Why? Our allowance of immigration is a choice, and we should only be admitting the best of the best. To the extent we make a mistake with legal immigration or to the extent that there are illegal aliens, they should be immediately deported. Thanks to our weak policies, a report from the DHS and the DOJ paints a picture of crime and mayhem by foreign nationals. They are bringing drugs into this country and needlessly clogging up our federal criminal justice and prison system. A...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is defending the Trump administration's policy of separating migrants from their children when they are apprehended at the border, saying it can't be avoided when people illegally cross the border. "There's actually a court order that prevents keeping the kids with the parents when you put the parents in jail," Cruz told the Dallas public radio station KERA on Monday, according to a report in The Dallas Morning News.

MCALLEN, Texas— Norma Leticia Ulloa Montoya was arrested after rafting across the Rio Grande with her sons and illegally entering the U.S. A day later, she was sent to federal court here, separated from her children, 9 and 6 years old. It was unclear when she would see them again. Ms. Ulloa joined more than 70 other migrants in a crowded courtroom in this South Texas city, including about a dozen other Central American parents. They faced misdemeanor charges for illegally entering the U.S., an offense that carries a maximum 6-month jail sentence. “If one pleads guilty, does one have...

United Airlines became the first North American carrier to operate the Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft on Thursday morning, with its inaugural flight departing Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport for Orlando, Fla. The new planes are more fuel efficient, with the ability to fly farther on less fuel, and provide a quieter ride. Having a longer range than previous 737 models allows United to operate the 737 Max 9 between Houston and Anchorage, Alaska, which previously needed a larger aircraft. The Max 9 is scheduled to fly between Houston and Anchorage on Thursday. It's also scheduled to fly to Austin. United...

One Trump Administration achievement has been liberating U.S. energy producers of all kinds from federal shackles. Companies have responded with jobs and investment, but all of a sudden the Administration wants to do a Barack Obama imitation and play energy favorites. The National Security Council on Friday reviewed a 41-page internal memo, leaked to Bloomberg News, suggesting that President Trump invoke emergency authority to require grid operators to buy nuclear and coal power. But there’s no emergency, and the political intervention will do more harm than good. *** The supposed problem is that the U.S. is producing an abundance of...

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Houston police say there is no evidence to support the claims made by a teenager that white supremacists abducted him, injured him and threatened him. We first brought you this story last month when 13-year-old Zavion Parker claimed he was grabbed by an adult and four young men after stepping off his school bus. Zavion alleges he was robbed and beaten, all because of his race. He also said he was held at a property at gunpoint until he was able to escape. Michelle Lee, the teen's mother, told Eyewitness News her son managed to escape...

A Democratic senator who recorded his dramatic, unsuccessful effort to enter a federal immigration facility in Texas on video over the weekend was "irresponsibly spreading blatant lies about routine immigration enforcement," the White House said Monday. And in a separate statement, the Department of Homeland Security seemingly contradicted Sen. Jeff Merkley's suggestion that he was being systematically barred from immigrant detention centers, saying federal officials took extra steps to grant him access to one on Sunday. In footage uploaded to Facebook late Sunday and seen by more than a million viewers, Merkley, D-Ore., approached the Office of Refugee Resettlement facility...

A Texas prison major resigned under investigation last week amid accusations he orchestrated planting two screwdrivers in an inmate's cell, possibly as part of a disciplinary quota scheme revealed last month through a leaked email. Four other Ramsey Unit officers were fired in connection with the investigation at the Brazoria County lockup, according to Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jeremy Desel. "Effective March 10, 2018, each Sergeant will be required to turn in at least two (2) cases written by officers for a Level 2 Code 35 'Unauthorized Storage of Property,'" he wrote. "Two each day is my requirement....

The big blue wave may have already crested, according to numbers coming out of Texas today in a US Senate race that has attracted a lot of media attention. Democrat Beto O’Rourke has been boosted as the kind of Democrat who can compete in deep-red states like Texas in his challenge to incumbent Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. And for a while, that looked like it might be true; an early April poll from Quinnipiac had the race within the margin of error. So what happened? Quinnipiac cites a “nationwide Republican mini-move” over the last few weeks, thanks in part to...

MSNBC continues to maintain its red wall of silence on Joy Reid. But the ugliness just keeps rising. The old blog posts by the progressive personality reek of every bigotry that the left claims to condemn. And, as Bre Payton at the Federalist notes, there's even a call to ethnically cleanse Jews from Israel. Iran's pres strikes again Says "move Israel to Europe" "You believe the Jews were oppressed, why should the Palestinian Muslims have to pay the price? You oppressed them, so give a part of Europe to the Zionist regime so they can establish any government they want....

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is hailing Rep. Will Hurd's (R-Texas) support for young undocumented immigration in its first-immigration focused campaign ad of the 2018 election cycle."Will Hurd is fighting to protect the Dreamers," the ad, released on Thursday, says. "He's also leading the charge for new border security measures that will keep our communities safer. Will Hurd is working for all of us." The term "Dreamers" refers to beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which temporarily shielded young undocumented immigrants from deportation and gave them permission to work in the U.S. President Trump rescinded that...

Johnny Manziel completed 9-of-12 passes in his first appearance with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats but it was the Toronto Argonauts who cruised to the easy 36-18 victory at Tim Hortons Field in the exhibition opener for both teams. Manziel, 25, certainly didn’t look out of place but faced a Toronto defence minus most of its starters and Hamilton was very conservative in its play-calling. The six-foot, 210-pound Texan, who signed with the Ticats two weeks ago, directed five drives (22 plays) and was especially effective throwing on the run.