Free Republic

Today we will join 20,000 fellow Jews in Washington, D.C. for the annual AIPAC policy conference. And this year, as in prior election years, the leading presidential candidates — Donald Trump among them — will take the stage to address pro-Israel advocates from across the country. So what makes this year different from all other years? This year, we’ve seen politics turn ugly. Hateful rhetoric cascades through the airwaves, inciting violence and bigotry. The unprecedented tone of the election cycle should give us pause. The Jewish people knows all too well the horrors of individuals using hate as a political...

A riot broke out at a prison in southern Alabama, authorities said on Saturday, and a local news website said inmates had set fires and overturned beds. An unidentified dispatcher with the Escambia County Sheriff's Office confirmed the disturbance at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, about 50 miles (80 km) north of Mobile, but declined to give details about the situation. It was unclear what caused the riot and whether there were any casualties. "We are not taking any calls," said a woman who answered the phone at the prison. She then hung up. News website Al.com posted photos...

Most people want to know: Have I turned into a "Jesus nut" after leaving Connecticut for Texas five years ago? Not really - but I have some keener observations about US culture, sharpened by living in Texas. Skip the rest if you don't have an open mind. Most of the comments on this forum about refugees going home out of disgust with the West are amusing, esp from my perspective of being an American with a college education, successful career & loving, stable family. All of these things are granted by God through his means and a lifetime of hard...

Real estate might not be Donald Trump's strong suit in the Texas primary: Six years ago, the state's Republican attorney general forced his Trump University to pack up and leave. Trump's embattled property seminar program made an embarrassing retreat when then-Attorney General Greg Abbott, now the state's governor, began investigating it for possible "deceptive trade practices." That's a challenge as Trump now hopes to win the Lone Star State's Super Tuesday Republican primary. State polls show Trump and Texas' junior U.S. senator, Ted Cruz, battling for an edge in the March 1 vote. Real Clear Politics' average of polls shows...

Ted Cruz has a wide lead over Donald Trump in Texas ahead of his home state's GOP presidential primary on Super Tuesday, according to a new poll. Cruz commands a 15-point edge over Trump in the Houston Public Media/University of Houston survey released Wednesday. That's in contrast to a separate survey released Wednesday, which showed Trump trailing Cruz by 1 point. Cruz topped the billionaire 29 percent to 28 percent in the Emerson College poll released earlier that morning. The Real Clear Politics average of Texas polls shows Cruz about 5 points ahead in the Lonestar State. About 35 percent...

Raytheon threw its hat in the ring for the U.S. Air Force’s T-X jet trainer replacement program by announcing a partnership with Italy’s Finmeccanica group to offer a variant of the twin-engine Alenia Aermacchi M-346 Master for the requirement. Finmeccanica had previously signed a letter of intent with General Dynamics to offer the variant, designated the T-100. At a February 22 press conference in Washington, D.C., Raytheon introduced a T-X industry team that includes Finmeccanica, engine manufacturer Honeywell and training system provider CAE. They will likely compete against three other teams. Earlier this month, Lockheed Martin confirmed that it will...

".....But even Texas loomed over his ambitions, and a dismal finish here could have hurt his son, state Land Commissioner George P. Bush. There was a very real possibility that the elder Bush could have finished a distant fifth place here, dinging a once-dominant family brand in the state. There was no indication that his home state would deliver him many delegates on March 1, if any at all, as Texas Republicans head to the polls during early voting. Most Texas operatives interviewed for this story agreed that recent internal polling among campaigns up and down the ballot showed Cruz...

Ted Cruz began his Monday with a somewhat contentious interview on Fox & Friends. Contentious because at least two of the three co-hosts are Trump supporters. Which two? Watch the body language in the right hand frame at the 7:25 mark, when Sen. Cruz points that Trump has given money to Jimmy Carter, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid: ...

... Both Carville and Matalin predict Ted Cruz will get the Republican nomination for President. But they disagree on who the Democratic nominee will be...

Veteran homicide investigators in New York and Washington, DC, on Monday questioned the way local and federal authorities in Texas handled the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. "It's not unreasonable to ask for an autopsy in this case, particularly knowing who he is," retired Brooklyn homicide Detective Patricia Tufo told The Post. "He's not at home. There are no witnesses to his death, and there was no reported explanation for why a pillow is over his head," Tufo said. "So I think under the circumstances it's not unreasonable to request an autopsy. Despite the fact that he has...

The award winning Texas BBQ place in Houston, Brooks Place, LLC, offered a 25% discount for open carriers on the first effective day of open carry reform.Brooks says that it is "not a political thing".  I suspect he is right.  It is a business thing.  After the initial surge, the discount was reduced to 10%.  From yourhoustonnews.com: There is a place where Houstonians can get BBQ at a discount simply for exercising their right to openly carry their gun. The BBQ trailer located in the parking lot with ACE Hardware and Kroger on FM 529 is owned and operated...

While I was in Texas this past December, I attended a mounted shooting competition about 50 miles from Fort Worth.  The competition was organized by Texas Smoking Guns. I had not attended one before.  The event was held at Salt Creek Arena and Stables, on FM 51, just south of Boyd, Texas.Several things are different about Mounted Shooting compared to more conventional shooting competitions.  The most obvious is that they do not use conventional ammunition.  They use blanks.  Special blanks, that are not provided by the shooters, but are issued to them by the organization holding the meet. This...

Picture from click2houston.com In the video, you see the armed suspect bring the pistol very close to the victim.  It is just the opportunity for the victim to successfully attempt a disarm.  The victim uses both hands to grab the pistol to lever it away from the suspect.  Eventually, the suspect flees the scene, chased by the now armed victim. From click2houston.com: The man then pulled out a gun and demanded money. The owner, who asked to be called Enrique, and the man began to struggle, and the man punched Enrique multiple times in the face. The two men...

In January of 2016, on the first day of the restoration of some open carry rights in Texas, I stood in front of the Benbrook Police Station, looking at the recently placed 30.06 and 30.07 signs. I noticed that the signs were not of the required dimensions, so they are likely not enforceable in a court of law.  But police, like fire in the quote attributed to President Washington,  (employed in various forms since the 1500's) are "dangerous servants and a fearful master".  I tread lightly around police, just as I do around high explosives or high powered machinery. ...

Almost every top official in a remote South Texas city was arrested on Thursday under a detailed federal indictment that accuses them of taking bribes from contractors and sending city workers to help an illegal gambling operator nicknamed Mr T. Crystal City's mayor, city manager, mayor pro tempore, one of three current councilmen and a former councilman were all arrested under an indictment obtained by the U.S. attorney's office in San Antonio, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney said. A second councilman is already charged in a separate case with smuggling Mexican immigrants. That leaves just one councilman not facing...

Picture from Brave New Books Brave New Books, a book store in Austin, Texas has welcomed open carriers and held a symposium on open carry on January 30th, 2016.  The store is said to be the only book store in Austin that has not banned open carry from their store. From kvue.com: AUSTIN -- Brave New Books is offering a 10 percent discount to all customers open-carrying in their store. The store is also hosting an open-carry symposium on Jan. 30 to help Texas residents learn more about open-carry legislation. Brave New Books is doing more than simply not...

Rick Perry just endorsed Ted Cruz and I posted that news in a thread this morning. It's gotten over 100 comments. On it I posted Rick Perry's comment in defense of Ted Cruz about the "New York Values" dust-up [Comment #84 at the link above]. [Rick Perry: "...."Mr. Trump took umbrage by Ted Cruz talking about New York values, and, you know, became very serious about - as we all were - what happened on September the 11th of 2001," he said. "We were all New Yorkers that day - don't get confused with that, but you know, I would...

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry is endorsing Ted Cruz in the Republican presidential primary, Perry told POLITICO in an interview Sunday night. Perry, who also sought the GOP nomination before dropping out in September, said he now sees the race as one that is between Cruz, a fellow Texan, and Donald Trump. Through phone calls and during a December day spent driving around his Round Top, Texas, home in his truck with Cruz, Perry said he found the senator to be a good listener who respects the Tenth Amendment, "knows what he does not know" and is more conservative than...

There was an unusual shooting in Garland, Texas on 15 January, 2016 .  It involved an old girl friend, a home security system, and a warning phone call.  It seems the homeowner and the person he shot knew each other.  The person had been told to leave the property an hour earlier.  Then the homeowner received a phone call from the person's ex girlfriend, that he was returning, and was a threat. From cbslocal.com: Tampered home surveillance equipment is the first sign that this was not an ordinary crime. Police say that and a warning phone call is what...

Some of House Speaker Paul Ryan's guests for the State of the Union address were sisters from the Little Sisters of the Poor, a Catholic religious order dedicated to caring for the elderly poor. The order is suing the federal government over the HHS Mandate, because the sisters do not want to provide contraception to their employees via their insurance plans. (The group does not qualify as a "religious employer" because they employ and serve people of all faiths.) Naturally, Planned Parenthood took offense to this. Never missing an opportunity, @SteveKingIA & @SpeakerRyan used tonight's #SOTU address to send an...