Free Republic

The Austin Police Department is looking for the public's help in locating a man involved in several South Austin indecent exposure incidents... According to police, the suspect is either walking or jogging with a cell phone in his hand, which he uses to illuminate (himself)... The suspect is described as a Hispanic make in his late teens to early 30s, 5'8" to 5'11" and weighing 180 to 210 lbs. He has been seen wearing a baseball cap, shorts, shirt or muscle shirt, socks and dark shoes.

It’s a sad world we live in where talking about the Constitution is considered inappropriate for children. But for actress Janine Turner (Northern Exposure), these are the accusations she faced from parents of the students she teaches about the Constitution. A former board member, who is a current member of the #Resistance, pushed the school who hosted Turner to apologize for inviting her. . . . The board member, one Buddy Luce, told the Dallas News that he thought the speech was a partisan attempt to bias children. He said, “How they get their foot in the door is letting...

Original link with original headline retrieved from Google cache: "Trump hugs children, serves food in visit to victims of Harvey"The original link (currently unavailable on Internet Archive due to technical error possibly caused by redirect: "The search engine encountered the following error: Search engine returned invalid information or was unresponsive. We are working to resolve this issue. Thanks for your patience.") now redirects to new headline 12 hours later: "Trump hugs Harvey's victims in test of presidential mien"

HOUSTON, Sept 2 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump flew to Houston on Saturday to meet with victims of Hurricane Harvey and see the effects of the record-setting storm while he presses for a multi-billion-dollar aid package. Trump, facing the first natural disaster of his administration, was joined by his wife, Melania, as he passed out food and hugged, kissed and played with children at Houston's NRG Center, a 700,000-square-foot (65,000 square meter) facility that is now the city's largest emergency shelter. Trump, who is making his second trip to the stricken state this week, asked Congress late on Friday...

With the recovery process just beginning in some parts of Texas on Thursday, following the devastation of Hurricane Harvey, President Donald Trump pledged $1 million of his own money to aid relief efforts. Only two of the Big Three Networks (ABC and CBS) found it fitting to report Trump’s act of charity. NBC Nightly News was the only network news show to ignore it, instead, they simply mentioned that Trump planned to visit Houston on Saturday. In addition to Trump’s pledge, Vice President Mike Pence was in Rockport, Texas to survey the damage, console the people, and personally help with...

Houston priest uses kayak to say Mass, runs afoul of ban on Sunday wine sales A family evacuates their Meyerland home in Houston, Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017. Rescuers answered hundreds of calls for help Sunday as floodwaters from the remnants of Hurricane Harvey rose high enough to begin filling second-story homes, and authorities urged stranded families to seek refuge on their rooftops. (Credit: Mark Mulligan/Houston Chronicle via AP.)Father David Bergeron of the Catholic Charismatic Center in Houston, was returning from watching the big Mayweather v. McGregor fight and ended up stuck in the storm and sleeping in his truck. He...

RUSH: Man, I tell you, I don’t care what’s happening in Houston, the Trump hate is ongoing. The anti-Trump thinking, actions, the protests, the apparent desire to rip this country apart and eventually destroy it goes on unabated, as does the meteorological disaster taking place in southeastern Texas. We’ll start with the meteorological disaster in southeastern Texas first. We can get through that fairly — well, in a little less time than it will take to document the Trump hate today and the actions of the worldwide and American left, led by the media to continue to destroy Trump. It’s...

Joel Osteen Getty Images Televangelist Joel Osteen cancelled services at his Houston megachurch Sunday and has yet to reopen its doors — despite the fact that thousands of flooded-out residents are desperately seeking shelter.The perpetually smiling pastor told followers on Twitter on Monday to lean on their faith.“Jesus promises us peace that passes understanding,” he wrote. “That’s peace when it doesn’t make sense.”But Osteen’s comforting words didn’t sit well with critics, who want to know why the doors to his 16,800-seat arena at his Lakewood Church near downtown Houston are closed.

Shot Spotter Sensor in Omaha, Nebraska One of the technological fixes that has been attempted is the use of sensors to pinpoint gunshots inside of cities. The theory of the technology is fairly simple. Spread audio sensors throughout the city. Feed the input into a computer system, looking for gunshots. With sophisticated programs, isolate the gunshots from the other noise, and pinpoint their location and time. Ideally, this happens in near real time, to allow police response to gunshots. From ksat.com: San Antonio - A program intended to help police officers identify where a shooting happens, get there quicker...

Arizona -(Ammoland.com)- In August, 2016, two professors from the University of Austin, Texas, and an Associate Teaching Assistant Professor, sued the Attorney General of Texas, Ken Paxton, the President of the University of Texas, Austin, and the Members of the Board of Regents of the University of Texas at Austin.A number of frivolous claims were offered in an attempt to stop the Texas statute allowing exercise of the Second Amendment on Campus from going into effect. The claims included that the law is vague, the law violated the plaintiffs' First Amendment, Second Amendment, and Fourteenth Amendment rights.  The arguments were...

A coffee shop that caters to Second Amendment Supporters and armed customers is hoping to open in 2018. So far it is only a web site with an online store that sells ground coffee and T-shirts.  They are seeking investors, if you are  interested. Here is a description of the proposed enterprise, from their web site. From operatorcoffee.com: To us, Operator Coffee is more than a coffee shop, it's a cause. We are a group of airborne veterans, special operations veterans, and active members of the shooting community. The idea for Operator Coffee was born out of a love...

Barney Smith has spent nearly half his life creating friendships through his trove of toilet seat art. But now he's ready to auction it off. Turning trash to treasure has been Smith's hobby for more than 50 years, he told mySA.com. He is the owner of Barney Smith's Toilet Seat Art Museum and 1,200 ornately decorated lid covers that he has created works of art on. Generations of oddity oglers from around the world have stopped by 239 Abiso Ave., in Alamo Heights, to check out Smith's collection and chat with him.

Governor Abbot has signed HB 1819 into law on May 26th, 2017. The law goes into effect on 1 September. The law makes Texas safe for silencer ownership if/when the Hearing Protection Act (HPA) is passed by Congress and signed into law by President Trump.  This is important because the Texas legislature only meets every two years. The law removes silencers from the list of devices that are required to be on the BATF registry for NFA items, only requiring that people who own, manufacturer, transport, repair, or sell silencers in Texas be in compliance with federal law. From...

Two of at least four levels of Sanctuary City Proponents Disrupting Texas Legislature A Texas legislature called Immigration and Customs Enforcement on disruptors at the Texas Legislature who claimed to be illegal immigrants. When he told other legislators of his action, a scuffle broke out on the floor.  This video shows the level of disruption that occurred before the scuffle. The "protest" was against a bill that had been signed into law days before. Link to video There are conflicting versions of events. Rinaldi, the Republican who Called ICE, said he was assaulted and threatened by Romero and other...

Gov. Greg Abbott’s visit to a shooting range to sign a bill into law got big attention when he took some target practice and made a crack about journalists. “I’m going to carry this around in case I see any reporters,” Abbott said with a grin as he joked with journalists covering the event, after he was given his target sheet. There was little attention paid to the remark at The Range in South Austin, where Abbott posed for a photograph.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry said Monday that he will fight to keep jobs and boost funding for research facilities like Oak Ridge National Laboratory. {snip} Perry, who once called for the abolition of the Energy Department, has since become an outspoken proponent of the department's importance, particularly of the cutting-edge research conducted at the national labs. Perry acknowledged he has "not been in the job long enough to go through the budget line item by line item" but said he is "doing my homework every day." Perry was joined on the tour by U.S. Sen....

SB 16 Reforms the fee structure of the license to carry in Texas. Texas has one of the highest shall issue license to carry fees in the United States. The current cost is $140 for the original license and renewal is $70.  The reform law reduces the original license to $40, and the renewal to the same $40.  People who are indigent have the initial fee reduced by half, to $20.  The renewal fee for the indigent will be $5. For people 60 years or older, the same $20 for an original and $5 for renewal, applies. SB 16...

Mohamed was arrested and charged with bringing a hoax bomb to school.  Those charges were later dropped, but the resulting furor from the incident became a litmus test for "Islamophobia" in America.  Those who supported the "innocent" teen were tolerant, broad-minded, and welcoming of diversity.  Those who think the student wrong were haters.  Ahmed ended up being invited to NASA headquarters and an event that featured President Obama as the left rallied to his cause. Meanwhile, his father moved the family to Qatar but stayed only nine months. When the family moved back to Irving, they demanded $15 million not to...

I drove to the NRA Meeting in Atlanta yesterday, the 26th of April, 2017.  I had been visiting family in Dallas, Texas, so it was only 800 miles. On the way, I reflected on the last time I was in Atlanta for more than a flight change. It was over 40 years ago, when I was in the Army. What happened then was not important. But what has happened in the last 40 years has been phenomenal for Second Amendment Supporters. In 1974, the Gun Control Act of 1968 was only six years old. It had not been improved...

Texas has very specific requirements for “gun free” zones.  When the legislature passed the shall issue concealed carry permit law, they included specifications for signage if establishments were to ban people form carrying guns on their property.The signs are called 30.06 signs, from the section of the law, and are large, obvious, and in both English and Spanish.When the legislature reformed the law to restore some open carry rights, they expanded the signage requirement to include a separate sign for premises to legally prevent people form openly carrying handguns on their premises. Those signs are 30.07 signs.They are also...