Free Republic

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in this guest post are solely those of the guest author. On Tuesday, May 13, 2025, Big Sandy, Texas (pop. 1,343) became the 75th city in the nation to pass an ordinance outlawing abortion. The “Ordinance Outlawing Abortion, declaring Big Sandy a Safe Haven for the Unborn” was passed by a unanimous 4-0 vote. The vote also made the Big Sandy the 58th city in Texas, and the third city in Upshur County, to pass a SCFTU ordinance. After the vote, Mayor Linda Baggett shared, “I am blessed to serve with a City Council that is brave...

Pad B is crossing a major milestone: the Orbital Launch Mount has arrived! With Ship 35 doing another static fire and the launch window fast approaching, how close is Flight 9? And how about the Starship future? SpaceX is radically redesigning major parts of Starship! Meanwhile, Rocket Lab is getting closer to pulling off a move even SpaceX hasn’t accomplished yet. Ready For Flight 9? SpaceX Starship- MASSIVE Progress In One Single Day!! | 21:12 What about it!? | 595K subscribers | 281,558 views | May 13, 2025

The Texas House on Wednesday passed with strong bipartisan support a bill to address what’s been called the “sexual abuse crisis” in Texas public schools. HB 4623, filed by state Rep. Mitch Little, R-Lewisville, seeks to provide redress in response to tens of thousands of complaints filed against Texas educators. “We have a sexual abuse crisis in our public schools in Texas. It’s indisputable and we can’t look away,” Little said when discussing his bill on the House floor Tuesday night. “In 2019, this chamber established a mandatory educator misconduct reporting portal. Between September 21, 2021, and July 2024, there...

Austin, TX psych-sludge act Lord Buffalo have been forced to cancel their upcoming European tour after drummer Yamal Said was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Monday, May 12th at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. The band explained that Said, a Mexican citizen and U.S. green card holder, was forcibly removed from the flight while attempting to travel to Europe. The exact circumstances of the detainment remain unclear, but the band confirmed that the situation has made it impossible to continue with the planned tour. The Austin Chronicle reports that Said has lived in Austin, TX since the...

A Texas mother has been arrested and charged for allegedly buying ammunition and tactical gear for her son's planned "mass targeted violence" at his middle school, officials said. Ashley Pardo, 33, was arrested on Monday and charged with aiding in commission of terrorism after she allegedly provided ammunition and tactical gear to her son, whose behavior demonstrated plans for a "mass targeted violence" aimed at Rhodes Middle School in San Antonio, according to an affidavit obtained by ABC News.

Texas Senator John Cornyn is facing stiff competition from Challenger Ken Paxton, who currently serves as the Attorney General of Texas. Many have criticized Cornyn for being a RINO, or a Republican in name only, and it seems that the public agrees, as Paxton has started to pull ahead in the polls. For context, even in deep red states like Texas, Republican lawmakers will compromise on their conservative principles to get ahead. Often derogatorily referred to as RINOs, these legislators see more in common with the DC sDCmp than their constituents at home. In any case, Punchbowl News reports that...

The Trump administration’s flurry of action on education reform creates space for states to chart their own paths. Efforts to abolish the Department of Education aim to “return education to the states.” Yet most conservative states have mostly been timid in embracing and building a better future for higher education. This is partly a fault of imagination, partly a lack of will. Florida led the way in both imagination and will. Many acts of the DeSantis administration presaged those of the Trump administration. Florida banned DEI offices, while the Trump administration is using national civil-rights laws to root them out....

Ten years after the Garland jihad attack, it’s time for our government to investigate the FBI’s role in facilitating an Islamic assassination plot, silencing the truth, and betraying the very Americans it swore to protect.” Ten years ago, Islamic terrorists opened fire at a free speech event in Garland, Texas, targeting Americans who dared to draw Muhammad. The event, officially titled the ‘American Freedom Defense Initiative and Jihad Watch Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest,’ was held on May 3, 2015, at the Curtis Culwell Center. Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer organized it as a direct counterpunch to the slaughter...

An alleged teen killer accused of stabbing a sporting rival in cold blood has been thrown another bone after being granted bail. Karmelo Anthony has now been told he can graduate from high school, Daily Mail can reveal. Frisco Independent School District's about-face, deciding Anthony, 17, can graduate from Centennial High School despite his first-degree murder charge, as confirmed by his adviser and spokesman Dominque Alexander to DailyMail.com. The reversal is likely to be controversial. The murder case has become a flashpoint about race and privilege, garnering national attention. Anthony is accused of stabbing Austin Metcalf, 17, in the chest...

CV NEWS FEED // A woman who left Texas to obtain an abortion pill reversed her decision with the help of the Fort Worth Pregnancy Center, Texas Right to Life reported May 12. Now, her son is a healthy toddler. The woman, whom Texas Right to Life called Tania to protect her privacy, had contacted an abortion fund, one of many operating inside and outside the state, according to the organization. The group paid for her to travel out of Texas, where abortion is illegal, stay in a hotel, and for her abortion pill. “She got there, and she took...

SANDY — A Utah couple is being accused of money laundering and smuggling oil into the U.S. alongside Mexican cartels, after they were arrested during a multi-state raid by U.S. Marshals, according to court documents. James Lael Jensen and his wife, Kelly Anne Jensen, were booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Wednesday. The couple and two of his sons are being federally indicted for allegedly conspiring to smuggle 2,881 shipments of oil from Mexico that they knew were illegal. The family is accused of moving at least $300 million from Mexico to the U.S. The couple was arrested...

“The state of Texas has launched about a half dozen investigations into this project” while the DOJ investigates possible civil rights violations. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced he stopped all construction of the Muslim EPIC City in North Texas due to state and DOJ investigations. Abbott wrote on X: Texas has halted any construction of EPIC City. There is no construction taking place. The state of Texas has launched about a half dozen investigations into this project. That includes criminal investigations. And, the US Department of justice is also investigating. This matter, and similar matters, are taken very seriously,...

Federal agents have arrested Utah oil magnate James Lael Jensen, his wife Kelly Anne Jensen, and two of their sons, Maxwell Sterling Jensen (aka “Max”) and Zachary Golden Jensen, in connection with a sprawling $300 MILLION smuggling and money laundering conspiracy tied to Mexican criminal organizations. Court records reveal that all four members of the Jensen family were arrested on Wednesday, April 23 — with sons Max and Zachary taken into custody in the Rio Grande Valley, while James and Kelly Jensen were apprehended at their 26,893-square-foot mansion in Sandy, Utah, reportedly worth over $9.1 million. The arrest was carried...

On average, U.S. counties grew by 1,000 people from 2023 to 2024. But the level of population growth varied widely from place to place. This chart, in partnership with BGO, shows the fastest-growing counties. Ranking the Largest Population Increases in U.S. Counties Using the latest data available from the U.S. Census Bureau, here are the counties that had the largest population growth measured in number of people. Harris County, which includes Houston and neighboring communities, had by far the biggest population growth. The primary driver of the county’s growth was international migration. On a domestic basis, more U.S. residents moved...

Basketball fans clapped back at the NBA for allegedly “rigging” the Draft Lottery after the Dallas Mavericks won the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes. After shockingly losing to Houston in the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament, Flagg announced that he’d be entering his name in the 2025 NBA Draft. The Naismith Player of the Year is considered the consensus first overall pick, with Jayson Tatum, Colin Cowherd and Charles Barkley all expressing confidence that he will excel at the next level. The Mavericks, meanwhile, endured a brutal 2024-25 campaign highlighted by the three-team blockbuster trade that sent Luka Doncic to the...

A bill seeking to allow Texas public and charter schools to hold voluntary prayer and readings of religious texts has stalled after lawmakers failed to take action on the legislation. The House Committee on State Affairs grappled with Senate Bill 11, which would allow school boards to decide whether to carve out time for private prayer or readings from religious texts, such as the Bible. The bill, which passed the Senate 24-6 in March, sparked intense debate last Wednesday before being left pending at the session’s close, signaling further deliberation ahead. Authored by Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, and introduced in...

Good Monday morning, everyone! The title of this missive is not some signal of defeat, hardly so. However, it is a realization of a ground truth that Texans must accept, or run the risk of being a Colorado or other former red states. It was not too long ago, in November 2024, that we celebrated a resounding political victory here in Texas. Donald Trump increased his margin of victory from 2020 from 6 percent to 15 percent. We also saw 12 of 14 border counties in Texas go for Trump. In the so-called “hotly contested” Texas Senate race, Ted Cruz...

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- For more than half a century, chilling questions have lingered: Were there more victims of Houston's notorious "Candyman," Dean Corll, the serial killer whose crimes predated even the term "serial killer" and if so, who are they? On a recent Tuesday night, family members, friends, and true crime enthusiasts crowded into Murder By The Book bookstore to get answers. "There's still a reason to tell this story because there are still people like this out there, and teenagers need to know," said investigative journalist Lise Olsen in an interview prior to the launch of her new...

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is leading Republican Sen. John Cornyn by double digits in the 2026 Texas Senate race, according to a recent Republican primary poll. Paxton is ahead of Cornyn by 16 percentage points — 56% to 40% — in a two-way poll commissioned by the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), Punchbowl News first reported on Monday. Meanwhile, in a hypothetical three-way matchup with Republican Texas Rep. Wesley Hunt, who is reportedly considering entering the primary contest, Paxton notched 44% of the vote to Cornyn’s 34% and Hunt’s 19%. SLF, a super PAC that supports Republicans, is backing Cornyn’s...

Texas has halted any construction of EPIC City. There is no construction taking place. The state of Texas has launched about a half dozen investigations into this project. That includes criminal investigations. And, the US Department of justice is also investigating. This matter, and similar matters, are taken very seriously, and actions are being taken to address all concerns.