Free Republic

One of the world's biggest drug lords, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, leader of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, has been arrested by US federal agents in El Paso, Texas. Zambada, 76, founded the criminal organisation with Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who is currently jailed in the US. Arrested with Zambada on Thursday was Guzman's son, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, said the US justice department. In February, Zambada was charged by US prosecutors with a conspiracy to make and distribute fentanyl, a drug more powerful than heroin that has been blamed for the US opioid crisis. In a written statement on Thursday evening, US...

For decades, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his wife Elaine Chao have maintained a glaring conflict of interest, conducting extensive government business despite the Chao family’s deep ties to China through a maritime shipping company. Now, former President Donald Trump is calling attention to the top Republican’s problematic China ties, while most of Washington remains silent. “Why do Republicans Senators allow a broken down hack politician, Mitch McConnell, to openly disparage hard working Republican candidates for the United States Senate[?]” Trump asked in a Truth Social post on Sunday. “This is such an affront to honor and to leadership....

Alison Chao recorded this video from her father's house as her mother, Annie Chao tries to have Alison institutionalized at a psychiatric hospital on Monday, July 15, 2024... the day before Alison disappears on Tuesday, July 16, 2024. But Annie Chao does not disclose this interaction and misleads the public into thinking that Alison might have been abducted when it seems that Alison most likely ran away from her mother.

Angela Chao, the billionaire sister-in-law of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, was drunk when she accidentally reversed her Tesla into a pond on a Texas ranch and died last month, according to police. The revelation was detailed in a report released Wednesday by the Blanco County Sheriff’s Office, which said Chao’s blood alcohol level was nearly three times the state’s legal limit when she backed her car into the pond while making a three-point turn. The sheriff’s office investigation determined Chao’s Feb. 10 death was “an unfortunate accident,” according to the report.

Angela Chao, Sen. Mitch McConnell’s billionaire sister-in-law, spent her last minutes alive frantically calling her friends for help as her Tesla slowly sank in a pond on a remote Texas ranch, according to a report. Chao, the billionaire former CEO of dry bulk shipping giant Foremost Group, tragically died at the age of 50 on Feb. 10 after accidentally backing her car into the pond while making a three-point turn. The driving mishap was detailed in a report by The Wall Street Journal that shed light on the chaotic rescue efforts that ultimately came up short, turning what was supposed...

Angela Chao, the sister of Elaine Chao (wife of retiring Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican Senate Minority Leader), died in her car on February 11, 2024. Angela was found in a submerged car, unresponsive, first responders attempted to revive her, but were unsuccessful. The pond was on a ranch close to Johnson City in Blanco County, Texas, about 40 miles west of Austin. The ranch was reportedly owned by a business entity of Chao’s husband, Jim Breyer, a Venture Capitalist who has offices in Austin. The Sheriff of Blanco County is Don Jackson, and the matter has now been deemed...

The recent death of American shipping magnate Angela Chao, the sister-in-law of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, is now a "criminal investigation," according to the Texas sheriff's office investigating matter. Chao, the CEO of the Foremost Group was found dead shortly after midnight on Feb. 11 when pulled from a car that had gone into a pond on a private ranch about 40 miles from the Texas city of Austin, CNBC reported Thursday. “This incident was not a typical accident,” the Blanco County Sheriff’s Office told state Attorney General Ken Paxton in a letter. “Although the preliminary investigation indicated this...

The death earlier this month of Foremost Group CEO Angela Chao, the sister-in-law of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, is currently under "criminal investigation," a Texas sheriff's office said Thursday. Chao, 50, was found dead shortly after midnight on Feb. 11 after being pulled out of a car that had gone into a pond on a private ranch in Johnson City, Texas, about 40 miles from Austin. "This incident was not a typical accident," the Blanco County Sheriff's Office wrote in a letter to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Thursday. "Although the preliminary investigation indicated this was an unfortunate...

<p>For more than an hour, sheriff's deputies, firefighters and other volunteers fought to pull Angela Chao out of a vehicle submerged in a pond on a Central Texas ranch, a picturesque location that complicated the rescue attempt, according to a report obtained Friday by the American-Statesman.</p>

Texas senator investigating lapse in U.S. sanctions enabling Tehran’s proxies to fund war on Israel. The suicide drones used by Iran’s Houthi militants to conduct a deadly and unprecedented attack on Tel Aviv last week were constructed primarily with American components, highlighting severe gaps in U.S. sanctions on Tehran, according to Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas). Yemen’s Houthi militants, who are funded and directed by Iran, significantly escalated their attacks on Israel last week when they launched a long-range drone strike on Israel’s second largest city, killing one person and wounding several others. The advanced military equipment was supplied by...

Striking another blow to a tumultuous independent candidacy, the Texas Democratic Party on Monday accused presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of using faulty signatures to try and make the Texas ballot this fall. First reported by the Dallas Morning News and confirmed in a statement to Chron, Texas Democratic Party chair Gilberto Hinojosa said that Kennedy did not qualify for the Texas ballot after attempting to "overwhelm the system with bad signatures," estimating that 70 percent of the candidate's petition signatures "failed miserably" to meet the basic criteria of the Texas election code. Hinojosa urged the Texas Secretary of...

Policies subsidizing generators, utilities, and unreliable energy have raised the cost of electricity in Texas by $19.9 billion in 2023, constituting 42.7 percent of total electricity costs. In a study published Wednesday by the Energy Alliance, the group found that the total government-imposed cost of electricity in the Texas Interconnection operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas was $84.3 billion. Texas state and local governments are responsible for causing 85.7 percent of that $84.3 billion. “The massive increase in subsidies has done nothing to address the primary cause of unreliability in the Texas market, renewable energy,” stated Bill Peacock,...

How involved were Secret Service staff with a Democratic congressman’s office to strip former President Donald Trump of his Secret Service detail, if at all? How involved were Secret Service staff with a Democratic congressman’s office to strip former President Donald Trump of his Secret Service detail, if at all? A U.S. Army veteran judge advocate and director of a nonprofit organization wants to know. James Fitzpatrick, director of the Center to Advance Security in America, filed Freedom of Information requests with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security inquiring about Department of Homeland Security Legislative Affairs’ and Secret Service’s staff...

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, had an "oops" moment on the House floor, as seen in C-Span video. The Houston representative declared the U.S. Constitution was some 400 years old. Unfortunately, that's incorrect. The Constitution was created in 1787 and ratified nearly a year later. Four hundred years ago, Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America, was founded.

U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, a long-serving Democrat from Texas, has passed away at the age of 74. * * * The Gateway Pundit reported in June that Jackson Lee had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, has died at the age of 74 after a battle with cancer, her family announced on Friday. "Today, with incredible grief for our loss yet deep gratitude for the life she shared with us, we announce the passing of United States Representative Sheila Jackson Lee of the 18th Congressional District of Texas," her family said in a statement. “A local, national, and international humanitarian, she was acknowledged worldwide for her courageous fights for racial justice, criminal justice, and human rights, with a special emphasis on women and children,” the statement said. Jackson Lee announced in...

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), who served in Congress for nearly three decades, has died at the age of 74, her family announced Friday evening. “Today, with incredible grief for our loss yet deep gratitude for the life she shared with us, we announce the passing of United States Representative Sheila Jackson Lee of the 18th Congressional District of Texas,” her family wrote in a statement shared to her account on X. Her family did not specify a cause of death, but the news comes just over one month after the Congresswoman revealed that she had been diagnosed with pancreatic...

WASHINGTON — Sheila Jackson Lee, a Houston Democrat who was one of the longest serving members of Texas’ Congressional delegation and a longtime advocate for progressive causes, died on Friday amid her battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 74. Jackson Lee began her congressional career as an underdog, defeating four-term U.S. Rep. Craig Washingtonin the 1994 Democratic primary, before establishing herself as a fixture in Congress and Houston with ties to the highest reaches of the Democratic Party. Jackson Lee was a progressive fixture on Capitol Hill for decades. She was an early opponent of the Iraq War and advocate...

Dallas Fire Rescue (DFR) responded to a three-alarm fire just after 6 p.m. at the First Baptist Dallas Church at 1707 San Jacinto St. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlCSU1HLQIY

UPDATED 10:05 p.m. Central—The historic sanctuary of First Baptist Church of Dallas, the church led by Pastor Robert Jeffress, caught fire on Friday night. The cause remains unknown, though the fire comes less than one week after an attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, of whom Jeffress has long been an impassioned supporter.“Dallas Fire-Rescue is currently battling a two-alarm fire in a building located at 1717 San Jacinto Street,” Chief Robert Borse told The Daily Signal. “The initial call was received at 6:05 p.m., and crews arrived on scene at 6:09 p.m.”“The fire has been knocked down and contained,”...