Free Republic

ARLINGTON Ever since Six Flags opened in 1961, the six flags that have flown over Texas have been a staple of the park. No more. As of Friday morning, the five flags other than the United States flag — representing France, Spain, Mexico, the Republic of Texas and the Confederacy — are being left to the history books.

White supremacist Richard Spencer isn't welcome on LSU's campus following violent clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend. “We will take the necessary precautions to ensure that our campus is safe from violence, that our students and faculty are safe from people trying to stir up troubles,” LSU President F. King Alexander told The Advocate. Spencer’s people have been making calls to LSU officials trying to arrange a visit to Baton Rouge, Alexander said. “He’s not welcome,” he said.

(CNN)More than 150 years after the Civil War ended, the Confederacy is memorialized with statues, monuments and historical markers across the United States. Some say they mark history and honor heritage. Others argue they are racist symbols of America's dark legacy of slavery. A nationwide debate surrounding this issue has been underway since Dylann Roof killed nine African-Americans in a Charleston, South Carolina, church in 2015 in an effort to "start a race war." And it flared up again after white nationalists marched last weekend to protest the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville, Virginia, where a...

A group of military leaders broke with President Donald Trump and rebuked the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville over the weekend — a near-historic development for U.S. civil-military relations. Since Sunday, five U.S. service chiefs — representing the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines and National Guard — have tweeted their denunciation of the white nationalists whose rally led to the killing of a counter-protester on Saturday. Two police officers covering the rally also died when their helicopter crashed. The joint chiefs condemnation of racism and white supremacist groups is notable because it stands in stark contrast with Trump's statements...

DALLAS, TX — Untold millions are poised for the Aug. 21 eclipse of the sun on Aug. 21 (sorry, Texas, it'll only be partial from our horizon), but the date — when many kids gear up for the first day of school — is inconvient for one mom. "Most kids go back to school that day," the mom wrote the Perot Museum in Dallas that's hosting a solar eclipse party. "Can it be done on the weekend?" The answer is no. The date of the solar eclipse cannot be postponed for another day.

A black Virginia man is speaking out after he says he was viciously attacked and beaten by white supremacists inside a Charlottesville parking garage during violent protests Saturday. Deandre Harris, 20, said he traveled to Emancipation Park to protest a white nationalist rally when a fight broke out. He said he was chased by a group of white men and beaten with metal poles as he lay helpless on the ground. Video posted by journalist Chuck Modiano, shared by Mr. Harris, showed a group of white men throwing objects at a black man on the ground and hitting him with...

(CNN)Texas A&M has canceled a white nationalist protest planned in September, citing safety concerns. White nationalists, neo-Nazis and other extremist groups had planned to hold a "white lives matter" rally at Texas A&M on September 11. The school canceled the rally Monday evening "because of concerns about the safety of its students, faculty, staff, and the public." Richard Spencer, the white supremacist who helped found the so-called alt-right movement, was set to speak at the event, according to the Battalion, Texas A&M's student newspaper.

Guests flying out of the Slidell Municipal Airport Sunday morning got a bit of a surprise when a pickup truck, not a plane, was spotted driving erratically on the runway. The Slidell Police Department said witnesses saw John Robertson, 49, of Kilmichael, Mississippi, drive his 1995 GMC Sierra truck onto the runway and started doing "donuts" before eventually getting stuck in a ditch nearby just before noon. Officers spoke to Robertson about the incident, and he told them he was "just being stupid." SPD said Robertson was placed under arrest for reckless operation of a motor vehicle and taken to...

Dozens of white nationalists marched through the University of Virginia campus on Friday night carrying torches while chanting “You will not replace us.” The demonstrators, who also yelled "blood and soil", a phrase tied to Nazi ideology, made their way through the Charlottesville campus before encircling a group of counterprotesters gathered around a statue of Thomas Jefferson. A fight broke out, and some of the white nationalists swung their tiki torches at people, according to the Daily Progress. Protesters wielding torches march through campus chanted "You will not replace us". Members of both sides were reportedly hit with pepper spray,...

Public defenders in Baltimore say hundreds of criminal cases could be tossed out after two incidents discovered on police body cameras this summer show officers allegedly planting drug evidence. So far some 40 criminal cases have been dropped, mostly involving drug and weapons-related felonies. But lawyers there say that's just the beginning. "I would say there are hundreds and hundreds of cases directly affected between the two cases," Debbie Katz Levi, director of special litigation for Baltimore's Office of the Public Defender tells NPR. "I think it's safe to say if you included all of the officers, you're probably at...

Beth Genslinger doesn’t fit the stereotype of a victim of a drug epidemic. She thoughtfully sets out glasses of water for her guests before they arrive and wears a teacher’s warm, open smile: She retired from Valley View Junior High right before her granddaughter was born, after 33 years of teaching. Her husband was an insurance agent and, to his children’s friends, a formidable breakfast chef. Their son, Andy, died of a heroin overdose in October 2015. The same thing happened to his cousin Daniel Weidle less than three months later, the day after Christmas. A third cousin had died...

A star of the 1980s hit TV show “The Dukes of Hazzard” was barred from performing in a local production of “42nd Street” yesterday after he was charged with sexually assaulting a fellow actor in the musical — and authorities say she is not the only woman in the cast who has complained. Tom Wopat, 65, of New York and Nashville, pleaded not guilty to indecent assault and battery and drug possession yesterday, a day after he was arrested on a warrant moments after leaving the theater at Waltham High School.

It’s a picture of a cartoon mother drowning her young daughter in the bathtub. Underneath the picture, it reads “When your daughters (sic) first crush is a little Negro boy.” An assistant police chief in Estherwood, Louisiana posted that to his Facebook page on Sunday, according to multiple reports and screenshots taken by social media users.

At 3:30 a.m. on Sunday, Israeli police say, authorities arrested five Palestinian antiquities dealers in Jerusalem and confiscated items dating back thousands of years from their homes and shops: papyrus fragments from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the bust of an Etruscan woman, a fresco from Pompeii depicting swimming fish. They also seized more modern objects — two black luxury Audi vehicles — and more than $200,000 in cash.

More than 50 Houston business leaders — including officials of some of the nation’s largest oil companies — released a letter Monday asking Gov. Greg Abbott to abandon efforts to overturn transgender-friendly bathroom policies.

Who doesn’t love going to Outback Steakhouse? Good food, fun times, satanic rituals... wait, what? A recent deep dive by Twitter user @eatmyaesthetics into the restaurant chain’s locations had the internet raising some eyebrows. The user’s tweet has been retweeted more than 100,000 times and has started an intense investigation into the real intentions of the popular steakhouse.

HIALEAH, Fla. (CBS12) — Authorities are searching for a man they say set his pregnant girlfriend on fire, all while her two children stood and watched. According to WSVN, Hialeah police say 32-year-old Noel Grullon doused his girlfriend with gasoline and lit her on fire, causing second degree burns to her body. Police say it happened shortly after Grullon and the victim got into an argument on Thursday.

A North Dakota accounting firm that fired a woman shown in an online video threatening Muslim women in a parking lot isn't commenting on whether she might get her job back. One of the Muslim women told The Forum newspaper in Fargo that she will lobby the Horab & Wentz firm to rehire Amber Hensley, after Hensley reconciled with two of the Muslim women during a Thursday meeting facilitated by police. Accounting firm partner Scott Wentz on Friday declined to comment to The Associated Press on whether the firm would consider Sarah Hassan's request. The video posted on Facebook showed...

The number of wind farm projects under construction in the U.S. has grown by 40 percent since this time last year, according to a second quarter analysis released Thursday by the American Wind Energy Association, a national trade group. Most of that construction is in Texas, the Midwest and the West. Texas remains a leader when it comes to installed wind power capacity -- with more than 20,000 megawatts -- but wind power still accounts for only 13 percent of the state's power mix.

July 26 (UPI) -- Close to midnight on Sunday, Southaven, Miss., police arrived at the wrong house to serve an arrest warrant and shot a man dead in his own home, according to reports. Ismael Lopez, 41, was shot dead late Sunday night after he checked to see who was at his front door. But the police were supposed to be across the street to serve an arrest warrant for Samuel Pearman, who was wanted on an assault charge, reported WREG. "Someone didn't take the time to analyze the address," said Murray Wells, the attorney representing Lopez's family. "This is...