Free Republic 1st Qtr 2024 Fundraising Target: $81,000 Receipts & Pledges to-date: $74,893
92%  
Woo hoo!! And we're now over 92%!! Thank you everyone!! God bless.

Keyword: houstoncourant

Brevity: Headers | « Text »
  • No, We Do Not Need To Change The American Flag

    07/02/2021 6:13:44 AM PDT · by The Houston Courant · 11 replies
    The Houston Courant ^ | 7/2/2021 | C. Tremoglie
    First it was the Confederate statues because they represented racist microaggressions. Then it was any statue of any slaveowner. Now, it is the flag of the United States. Anyone knowledgeable of how totalitarian aggression operates knew it would not stop at the statues. Anyone who has ever read George Orwell’s Animal Farm knew the objective was slow, incremental chips at the core of the symbolism of the United States. Yet, the left is adroit at propaganda and indoctrination, so there should be no surprise this is where we are presently. The recent rhetoric favoring a new flag for the country...
  • Hospitals Evade Trump's Price Transparency Rule

    01/08/2021 5:24:24 AM PST · by The Houston Courant · 5 replies
    The Houston Courant ^ | 1/8/2021 | B. Vasoli
    When President Trump signed an executive order for healthcare price transparency last year, hospital lobbyists fumed. “Disclosing negotiated rates between insurers and hospitals could undermine the choices available in the private market,” American Hospital Association Executive Vice President Tom Nickels groused in anticipation of the order. “While we support transparency, this approach misses the mark.” Insurance-industry mouthpieces also demurred. David Balat, himself a former hospital executive, has strongly advocated requiring healthcare providers to disclose the prices they negotiate with insurance companies. The reasons for this are straightforward: American patients shouldn’t be kept waiting until after undergoing a medical procedure to...
  • One Problem Has Been They Hate Us - We Do Not Hate Them

    11/21/2020 11:53:54 AM PST · by The Houston Courant · 87 replies
    The Houston Courant ^ | 11/31/2020 | M. Tremoglie
    Several years ago I attended a dinner at a five star restaurant given by a very famous conservative organization - to remain unnamed. One of the movers and shakers of Inside-the-Beltway. One guest entered and was immediately mobbed by the others. This guest was a very famous “Republican” pollster - also to remain unnamed. Curiosity compelled me to approach this great man and snatch whatever pearls of wisdom I could. It is worth noting that this “Republican” pollster who was holding court that evening was one of the most virulent Never Trumpers in DC in 2016. Like a timorous student...
  • “Everyone Calm Down” State Rep. Briscoe Cain Reinforces Philly - The Election Isn’t Over

    11/08/2020 12:26:57 PM PST · by The Houston Courant · 15 replies
    The Houston Courant ^ | 11/8/2020 | Houston Courant
    On election night, President Trump had a clear path to victory as he stood to take Pennsylvania with a margin of 800,000 votes. By the following afternoon, that lead reversed as an endless wave of mail-in ballots were counted toward the Biden campaign. “They are trying to steal the election,” President Trump told the country. Reports of foul play in Philadelphia circulated around social media, including video of election observers being denied entry or removed from polling and counting locations. Additionally, a mail ballot backdating scheme was alleged to have taken place in the city per a USPS whistle-blower. The...
  • An Immigrant’s Hymn to Texas: My “Little America”

    04/15/2020 8:12:59 AM PDT · by The Houston Courant · 4 replies
    The Houston Courant ^ | March 21, 2020 | C. Martinez
    One year ago, on March 5, I became an American citizen, just a few miles away from the Alamo. It is only fitting that this special milestone in my life also happened just three days after the anniversary of Texas’ Independence, because I found in Texas what I was looking for in America. To me, Texas has become similar to these little enclaves of foreign culture that you find in big U.S. cities such as Little Italy or Little Korea. It has become my “Little America.” Let me explain. Every year, millions of people around the world dream of and...
  • What Governments Exemplify Socialism?

    03/14/2020 10:40:38 AM PDT · by The Houston Courant · 13 replies
    The Houston Courant ^ | March 5th, 2020 | B. Vasoli
    A CNN host once asked the great psychologist Martin Seligman to describe in one word the state of his profession. He replied, “Good.” Underwhelmed, the host allowed him two words. His answer? “Not good.” American socialists must know the feeling. Here’s their “good”: An affirmed socialist could get the Democrats’ nod for president this year. Should he fail, another might succeed before long. The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) boast a swelling class of officeholders, 43 having been elected in the 2018 midterms alone. DSA membership totals about 60,000 ignoramuses, up from a reported 25,000 two years ago. What’s “not...
  • The Teacher Retirement System’s Real Problem: Defined Benefit Pension Plans

    03/10/2020 4:27:47 AM PDT · by The Houston Courant · 37 replies
    The Houston Courant ^ | March 3, 2020 | J. Quintero
    The Teacher Retirement System of Texas has a big problem on its hands. A few weeks ago, it was discovered that TRS—the state agency responsible for overseeing teacher pensions—had signed a multi-year lease for luxurious office space in downtown Austin costing more than $326,000 per month. That handsome sum secured 100,000 sq. ft. spanning three floors at the not-yet-open Indeed Tower, a stunning high-rise featuring “extensive office amenities, including a fitness center, dedicated conference center and outdoor terraces.” Not surprisingly, news of the luxury lease didn’t sit well. Even the Texas Retired Teachers Association, a special interest not known for...
  • Contempt of Cop and Shackling Police

    03/02/2020 5:11:35 AM PST · by The Houston Courant · 12 replies
    The Houston Courant ^ | February 24th, 2020 | M. Tremoglie
    he July 2019 incidents in New York during which police officers were doused with water is not unusual. When I was a Philadelphia police officer nearly 40 years ago, one of the most dangerous assignments was to turn off a fire hydrant during the summer. The residents would throw water, buckets, bottles, etc. at police officers. (For the unfamiliar, being sprayed by water from a fire hydrant is what inner city kids do to cool off on a hot summer day). What was unusual about this incident was the reaction - or more precisely the lack of a reaction- by...
  • Lizzie Fletcher, Far-left Radical in TX-7

    02/10/2020 4:23:44 AM PST · by The Houston Courant · 1 replies
    The Houston Courant ^ | February 9th, 2020 | B. Vasoli
    Seemingly everyone watching 2018’s race in Texas’s 7th Congressional District felt the same way about Lizzie Fletcher. Her Democratic primary opponent Laura Moser called her “Republican-lite.” When Fletcher won the primary, the Huffington Post called her an “establishment-backed moderate.” The Atlantic’s Elaina Plott saw Fletcher’s campaign as “less a collection of partisan talking points and more a commentary on local issues….” Once Fletcher prevailed that November against incumbent Rep. John Culberson, The Houston Chronicle said “Lizzie Fletcher looks to legislate the way she won: in moderation.” This year, Fletcher needs a new campaign playbook; her moderate self-portrayal can’t hold up...
  • Harris County (Houston) Through the Looking-Glass

    02/09/2020 11:40:43 AM PST · by The Houston Courant · 8 replies
    The Houston Courant ^ | February 7th, 2020 | K. Good
    In Alice Through the Looking-Glass, author Lewis Carroll created a sequel to Alice in Wonderland. Alice climbs through a mirror and enters a world beyond the one she can normally see. Everything there is reversed, just like a reflection in a mirror -- even logic itself. In this bizarre reality, running helps one remain stationary, while walking away actually brings one closer. In 2019, Harris County, Texas entered its own "looking glass," where logic and reason are similarly reversed. This new world sprang into existence as a result of a settlement in the federal class action case of ODonnell v....
  • North Houston Can Vote for Change in Tomorrow’s Special Election

    01/28/2020 5:34:23 PM PST · by The Houston Courant · 16 replies
    The Houston Courant ^ | January 28th, 2020 | L. LaRotta
    “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free….” Those words that grace our Statue of Liberty refer to people like my parents. My father, an oil rig worker from Colombia, and my mother, a bank teller from Honduras, came to the U.S.A. and found a place where freedom is treasured and hard work is rewarded. Our family would soon also find that even the greatest nation on earth has hardship, and that politicians often let that hardship go unaddressed, taking urban areas like North Houston for granted. We deserve better. That’s why I’m running for...
  • A Christmas present for renewable energy

    12/23/2019 6:26:01 AM PST · by The Houston Courant · 4 replies
    The Houston Courant ^ | December 23rd, 2019 | B. Peacock
    The wind industry once again has received a holiday season extension of its multi-billion-dollar tax break, the production tax credit (PTC). The extension—one of the many times Congress has refused to let the PTC expire over the last 27 years—is included in the $1.4 trillion government spending package approved by Congress last week, despite claims by wind developers that wind is so cheap they don’t need tax breaks anymore. What this means for Texans is more summers spent questioning if we will have enough electricity—and money—to keep the lights on. Earlier this month, ERCOT—the grid manager for most of the...
  • A little freedom goes a long way

    12/05/2019 6:06:10 AM PST · by The Houston Courant · 2 replies
    The Houston Courant ^ | December 5th, 2019 | C. Martinez
    We should always celebrate more freedom in our lives. December 5 is no different. Eighty-six years ago, Prohibition was repealed. This year, Texas can celebrate its own version of Repeal Day. This December marks three months since another kind of prohibition was abolished—on beer to go. On September 1, Texans were finally allowed to buy their favorite craft beer at a local brewery to bring and drink at home. Until that date, Texans could buy wine to bring home from a local winery and distilled spirits from a distillery, but in most cases, not beer from breweries. The places that...
  • American Business Wants Out of Healthcare

    11/07/2019 4:40:53 AM PST · by The Houston Courant · 48 replies
    The Houston Courant ^ | November 7th, 2019 | D. Balat
    Henry Ford once said “a customer can have a car painted any color—so long as it’s black.” The automobile was new to the market, and Ford wanted his factories to run so efficiently that the cost could be low enough “that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one.” Once competitors entered the market, that approach obviously changed. New automakers offered different colors and more choice on a variety of options. And because of competition—and relatively little government intervention—one thing has remained remarkably consistent: the cost of an automobile (adjusted for inflation). Unlike the free-market environment...
  • Von Ormy, Texas: A Liberty Success Story

    10/28/2019 4:18:31 AM PDT · by The Houston Courant · 9 replies
    The Houston Courant ^ | October 28th, 2019 | G. Watson
    Many cities across Texas are racing to max out property tax rates before strong new taxpayer protections take effect early next year. But this isn’t the case in Von Ormy, Texas. That’s because this small town doesn’t collect property taxes. Located south of San Antonio, Von Ormy is flourishing, thanks in large part to its liberty-centric view of government—an approach that’s been favored for more than a decade. It hasn’t always been that way. In the past, Von Ormy did collect property taxes, but local leaders implemented a plan to reduce them by roughly 10% a year—and eventually phase them...
  • France With Guns

    09/16/2019 3:34:29 AM PDT · by The Houston Courant · 16 replies
    The Houston Courant ^ | December 7, 2018 | M. da Silva
    French unrest continues despite President Macron’s intention to delay the gas tax, the subject of the protests. To compliment the scenes of first responders joining the protesters, are videos of hidden snipers and one yellow vest possibly being shot in the street. Looking at the turmoil, I can not help but think how something very similar could have happened here, had Hillary the Traitor won. Even now with President Trump in office, such a turn of events is not unthinkable. Daily we Americans still bear the humiliating taunts of a two-tiered justice system. We are reminded a different set of...
  • Trump Sleepers… Waiting For the Right Moment.

    09/14/2019 2:23:07 PM PDT · by The Houston Courant · 18 replies
    The Houston Courant ^ | September 14, 2019 | Karen Schleicher
    The voter polls are starting to stack up like Lincoln logs intended to build a house of uncertainty and confusion around voters. The shock thirsty media can’t help themselves and insist on using polls as reliable predictors of the election. It’s laughable considering the polls in 2016 had Hillary winning by a landslide. Why is America so consumed with the numbers produced by skewed samples and bias questions? Projections and polls are entertaining and easily manipulated but they cannot account for one thing, the immeasurable will of the voters. We are inwardly armed with the solid knowledge of economic growth...
  • New State Laws Lasso Liberal Local Governments

    09/12/2019 4:30:13 AM PDT · by The Houston Courant · 9 replies
    The Houston Courant ^ | September 12, 2019 | G. Watson
    State lawmakers took aim at liberal local government overreach this past session, and they passed a slew of legislation hoping to rein in some of the worst of it. Among the new laws is one ending forced annexation. For decades, city governments forcibly annexed property on their outskirts in a bid to grow their tax base—whether the property owners agreed or not. This anti-democratic practice was curtailed somewhat in 2017, but it wasn’t until this past legislative session that lawmakers fully ended it. Under the new rules, all home-rule cities must now hold an election—and win it—before grabbing any new...
  • Just Whose Side Is Carter Page On?

    08/28/2019 4:00:46 PM PDT · by The Houston Courant · 20 replies
    The Houston Courant ^ | November 18, 2018 | M. da Silva
    The fallout from the House Intelligence Committee memo release continues. Former Trump campaign advisor, Carter Page was revealed as the person of interest the FBI used to obtain the FISA warrant that allowed the unlimited monitoring and recording of candidate and President Trump. It became widely known the same Carter Page was for the better part of the beginning of the year 2016, an undercover agent with the FBI in operation against Russians in the United States. He was interviewed on Fox News by Laura Ingraham in a pair of videos worth watching. Though engaging, Laura neglects to ask the...