Free Republic

With the general election a happy – very happy! – memory, now comes time to elect the third-ranking constitutional office: the Texas House Speaker. Lobbyists and lawmakers are accustomed to citizens checking out as the governing begins; in truth, citizens must be more engaged than ever. STRAUS AGENDA: STOP CONSERVATIVES House Speaker Joe Straus and his leadership team have made it abundantly clear that killing conservative reforms tops their agenda. Spending limitations, tax reform, education reforms, pro-life legislation… are all viewed with disdain by the Straus leadership team. We know that because they have blocked those measures for two sessions...

Delays of the Keystone XL pipeline are providing little obstacle to Western Canadian oil producers getting their crude to the U.S. Gulf Coast, with shipments set to more than double next year. The volume of Canadian crude processed at Gulf Coast refineries could climb to more than 400,000 barrels a day in 2015 from 208,000 in August, according to Jackie Forrest, vice president of Calgary-based ARC Financial Corp. The increase comes as Enbridge Inc.’s Flanagan South and an expanded Seaway pipeline raise their capacity to ship oil by as much as 450,000 barrels a day. Canadian exports to the Gulf...

For decades, the black vote in the United States almost uniformly has gone to Democrats. How’s that working out? Black unemployment is twice the national average, poverty rates are higher than before Democrats offered “help,” and the education system fails a disproportionate number of black children. That’s what 50-plus years of blind voting loyalty to Democrats has earned. And, thanks to those same Democrats and the nation’s first black president, it’s about to get a lot worse. President Obama is set to legalize upwards of 5 million illegal aliens, with the dream of granting amnesty and citizenship to 6 million...

A Dallas-area school board fired a teacher Friday who posted racially charged tweets about the fatal shooting of a black 18-year-old by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. Duncanville Independent School District trustees unanimously voted to terminate Vinita Hegwood's contract. Hegwood, who is black, has apologized for comments made Nov. 7 on her Twitter account that were laced with expletives and derogatory references to whites and blacks. Administrators have called the remarks "reprehensible." [Snip] The school board rejected a resignation and instead fired her with cause. That doesn't affect a teacher's pension, but it makes him or her ineligible...

Four people were killed and another was hospitalized in a chemical leak at a DuPont facility near Houston Saturday morning, authorities said. The hospitalized worker is expected to recover, plant manager Randall Clements said. The accident occurred when the chemical methyl mercaptan, which in low concentrations is used to odorize natural gas, was released in an area of a facility in La Porte at around 4 a.m. Saturday, Jeff Suggs, emergency management coordinator for the city, told NBC station KPRC. "We will continue to cooperate with all the local authorities and make sure that we investigate this fully and we...

Never before has it been so easy to turn an idea into a business. With a simple Internet connection, some ingenuity and a lot of hard work, anyone today can create a new service or app or start selling products nationwide. . . . . . Yet the threats from Washington to stifle freedom, entrepreneurship and creativity online have never been greater. Washington politicians want the money, and they want more and more control over our speech.Four basic principles should guide policymakers, in a bipartisan manner, to preserve America’s leadership role in developing the future of the Internet.. ....

Iraq wants an international dispute over a tanker of crude floating for more than three months off Galveston’s coast to remain in U.S. courts because Kurdistan refuses to resolve the matter on Iraqi soil, according to recent court filings. “It appears to be Iraqi Kurdistan’s position that no court in the world may adjudicate this matter,” Baghdad’s attorneys argued in court filings Thursday. “While the issues should be decided in Iraq, they certainly may be decided here.” The Kurdistan Regional Government two months ago asked U.S. District Judge Gray Miller to dismiss Iraq’s pleases to seize more than 1 million...

"AUSTIN, November 14, 2014– A Texas legislator has introduced a new bill to derail the enforcement of virtually all federal gun control measures within the state’s borders. Landreth has suggested that this could create a domino effect. Introduced by newly re-elected State Representative Tim Kleinschmidt (R-Lexington), House Bill 176 (HB176) declares all federal restrictions on the right to keep and bear arms to be “invalid” and “not enforceable” within the state of Texas. It bill reads, in part: A federal law, including a statute, an executive, administrative, or court order, or a rule, that infringes on a law-abiding citizen’s right...

Does Sen. Ted Cruz believe AIDS is God's punishment for being gay? Does Cruz believe that government should regulate homosexuality and that public schools are using anti-bullying laws to indoctrinate children into homosexuality? Does Cruz believe that we need more hate and less tolerance in the world? If not, perhaps Cruz should explain why he's headlining a legislative conference in Dallas this weekend hosted by a group whose founder has said each and every one of those things. Cruz, along with another potential 2016 GOP presidential candidate, Gov. Bobby Jindal, is scheduled to keynote the Wallbuilders ProFamily Legislators Conference, which...

"AUSTIN, Tx., November 13, 2014 – A Texas state representative has introduced a bill to thwart enforcement of virtually all federal gun control measures within the state. Introduced by newly re-elected Representative Tim Kleinschmidt (R-Lexington), House Bill 176 (HB176) declares all federal restrictions on the right to keep and bear arms to be “invalid” and “not enforceable” within the state of Texas. It reads, in part: A federal law, including a statute, an executive, administrative, or court order, or a rule, that infringes on a law-abiding citizen’s right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment to the United...

Rick Perry ascended from Lieutenant Governor to Governor of Texas in December 2000 when then-governor George Bush resigned after being elected the 43rd President of the United States. Perry will retire in January with the tenth longest gubernatorial tenure in U.S. history. Perry made job creation one of his principle mantras, and he has overseen remarkable employment gains under his watch with 2.1 million jobs added during his tenure. The total represents 30% of the jobs added in the U.S. since 2000 and more than twice as many as any other state. The so-called “Texas miracle” does not show any...

Texas Governor-Elect Greg Abbott is in the process of preparing to start his new job next year. And it appears as if he will have a lot on his plate. Abbott joined Houston’s Morning News with KTRH’s Matt Patrick this morning to talk about a wide variety of issues. Abbott soundly beat Democrat Wendy Davis in last week’s election, using border security as one of his main issues. President Obama is reportedly going to announce Executive Action on immigration next week, and Abbott told KTRH he is ready for whatever that action is. “One thing we can do is legislation....

The U.S. government now patrols nearly half the Mexican border by drones alone in a largely unheralded shift to control desolate stretches where there are no agents, camera towers, ground sensors or fences, and it plans to expand the strategy to the Canadian border. It represents a significant departure from a decades-old approach that emphasizes boots on the ground and fences. Since 2000, the number of Border Patrol agents on the 1,954-mile border more than doubled to surpass 18,000 and fencing multiplied nine times to 700 miles. […] The government has operated about 10,000 drone flights under the strategy, known...

Greg Abbott made a very public play for Hispanic voters in his successful quest for the governor’s mansion. He frequently reminded people that his wife would be the first Latina First Lady of Texas, made economic opportunity and education reform important parts of his campaign message, and invested significant financial and volunteer resources in the heavily-Hispanic Rio Grande Valley. How did these efforts pay off?Statewide, the campaign did quite well. Abbott captured 44% of Hispanics who cast ballots, and actually outright won Hispanic men, 49%-48%. By almost any measure, this is a significant victory for a Republican candidate. What about...

The hospital that treated the only Ebola patient to die in the United States will pay his relatives an undisclosed sum and create a charitable foundation in his name, the family's attorney said Wednesday. The agreement heads off a lawsuit from relatives of Thomas Eric Duncan, who died Oct. 8 at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. Attorney Les Weisbrod declined to say at a news conference how much money the family would receive but said the settlement was a "very good deal" that would provide for Duncan's parents and his four children. Weisbrod also said Presbyterian hospital was not charging...

<p>The family of Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian national who died of Ebola at a Texas hospital, has reached a confidential settlement with Texas Health Resources, according to the Duncan family attorney Les Weisbrod.</p> <p>In September, Duncan traveled to Texas from Liberia and began experiencing Ebola symptoms which prompted him to go to the emergency room at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. He was misdiagnosed and sent home, both the Duncan family and Texas health authorities have said. Duncan was hospitalized days later, tested for Ebola and then began receiving care.</p>

Bundick says the rainbow is what the area’s all about. “It’s the most recognizable way that people can identify and say, ‘This is a safe community. This is an accepting community,'” he said. The Austin City Council gave the project initial approval. Now the details are getting worked out with the city’s Art Commission. Funding for the project will come partially from city money for public artwork. The Austin PRIDE Foundation is also donating money.

DALLAS, Texas -- A Texas State Representative, Giovanni Capriglione (R-Southlake), shocked Tea Party activists in Fort Worth Monday night, November 10, when he declared he would be supporting the current Speaker of the Texas House, Joe Straus, instead of the Tea Party favorite son, State Representative Scott Turner (R-Rockwall). The announcement came during the NE Tarrant Tea Party final meeting of 2014 as a pre-84th Texas legislative session panel discussion on the upcoming race for the Speakership in the Texas House. Many conservatives and Tea Party leaders across Texas are rallying around Turner. However, in front of over 200 Tarrant...

This is liberalism at its finest. Get really angry with someone who holds views different from your own, and then berate that person with hyper-emotional drivel. In this case, the victim was Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who received sexually explicit questions from Dartmouth's student body regarding anal sex during a visit to the college. Perry is a social conservative. According to the Dartmouth, the student newspaper, Perry was there to discuss the midterms, border security, energy initiatives and foreign policy. There was a Q&A session–and that’s when things devolved. Both presidents of the College Democrats and Republicans condemned the actions of...

Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) said in a video posted Monday that impeaching President Obama "would be a consideration" if he moves forward with executive action on immigration. "Impeachment is indicting in the House and that’s a possibility," Barton said on Newsmax TV. "But you still have to convict in the Senate and that takes a two-thirds vote. But impeachment would be a consideration, yes sir.” Republicans and Obama are clashing over the president's planned executive actions on immigration. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has in the past dismissed talk of impeachment as a Democratic "scam" fueled by Democrats to boost fundraising....