Free Republic

For just the third time since Chuck Noll was hired in 1969, the Pittsburgh Steelers will be hiring a new head coach. Mike Tomlin's run with the Steelers is over.

This review contains spoilers for Season 2 of “Landman.” But honestly, it must be seen to be believed. Episode 1 of the second season of “Landman” — ostensibly about Tommy Norris, a fixer for an oil company — kicks off with a minute-long rant against breakfast. In Episode 4, a sand hauler plows into a pickup truck on company land. There are multiple fatalities. We basically never hear about it again. In Episode 7, Tommy and his ex-wife-turned-fiancée Angela (Ali Larter, given acres of scenery to chew), have an unprintable shouting match about the appropriate uses of an omelet. Also,...

HOUSTON – A woman was arrested after allegedly throwing a weighted plate at another woman’s head at a 24 Hour Fitness in Houston, according to deputies with Constable Mark Herman’s Office. The incident occurred on Jan. 7 at the 24 Hour Fitness located at 1000 Lake Plaza Drive. Deputies said the suspect recognized the victim as someone her partner was involved with and assaulted her inside the gym. The suspect walked up to the woman at the gym, held a 25-pound weight plate and said, “B**** I’m going to drop this plate on you.” During the altercation, investigators said the...

The U.S. Geological Survey said a new assessment shows the Permian Basin in Texas contains an estimated 1.6 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and 28.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the Woodford and Barnett shale formations. The findings highlight major untapped energy potential deep beneath West Texas and southeastern New Mexico. According to the USGS, the two formations could also yield about 813 million barrels of natural gas liquids. At current consumption levels, the oil alone would supply the United States for roughly 10 weeks, while the natural gas could meet national demand for about 10...

🚨 TEXAS! The US just discovered 1.6 BILLION untapped barrels of oil in Texas + 28.3 TRILLION cubic feet of natural gas ready to be extracted!

Sen. John Cornyn stood in the shadow of the U.S.-Mexico border wall for a campaign event, but the Texas Republican didn’t offer the kind of diatribe about illegal immigration that stokes his party’s core and fueled Donald Trump’s rise to the White House. Instead, Cornyn, in his courtly Houston drawl, politely thanked Trump for billions in federal dollars to reimburse Texans for work on the wall, praising “the president of the United States, to whom I am very grateful.” Cornyn’s characteristic calm and measured comments betrayed the urgency of the moment for the four-term senator. He’s facing the political fight...

Here are some practical steps immigrants can take to stay safe and understand their rights.As ICE raids continue escalating throughout the country, Texas has long been a hotspot for large-scale immigration operations and arrests. Although overall immigration growth has slowed in Austin, its welcoming culture and longtime status as a so-called sanctuary city have historically attracted immigrants. In 2025 alone, the Lone Star State saw tens of thousands of immigrants without legal status arrested, according to federal data and media reports. While the Trump administration has shown no indication of slowing down these anti-immigrant procedures, here's what experts recommend for...

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s U.S. Senate campaign released its first political advertisement of the hotly contested Senate primary race targeting Sen. John Cornyn, marking an escalation in a race that’s been expected to have plenty of fireworks. The ad centers on past remarks by U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett praising Cornyn’s bipartisan cooperation, a theme Paxton’s campaign is using to frame the incumbent senator’s record as increasingly aligned with cross-party dealmaking. The release comes as Cornyn’s Republican challengers have publicly criticized him for declining to participate in debates. The advertisement strings together clips in which Crockett describes Cornyn as “helpful”...

A Texas fugitive wore an ominous sweatshirt threatening to abduct people as he was arrested in connection with the “suspicious” death of a 37-year-old woman. Kruz Dean Wanser was charged with felony tampering/fabricate physical evidence with intent to impair a human corpse, possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance and parole violation, officials announced Thursday. Wanser was wanted by the Azle Police, the Texas Rangers and the US Marshals after Margaret Pennington was found dead in her Azle home last Sunday. Officials had offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to Wanser’s arrest on...

A Texas judge is calling for the federal judiciary to overrule Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 Supreme Court case which recognized gay marriage across the U.S., claiming in a new lawsuit that the “court-invented right to homosexual marriage” is unconstitutional. The lawsuit was filed December 19 by Waco Justice of the Peace Dianne Hensley against members of the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, who sanctioned Hensley in 2019 for refusing to officiate same-sex weddings, the Texas Tribune reported. Hensley is represented by attorney and former Texas Solicitor General Jonathan Mitchell, known for his role crafting Texas’ draconic 2021 abortion ban.

A Cuban national in the country illegally, Robyn Argote Brooks, has been arrested after authorities said he rammed two ICE vehicles in San Antonio with his car. He did so as vehicular attacks against ICE officers have increased by 3,200% in one year and targeted attacks against federal agents have exponentially increased nationwide. “A criminal illegal alien rammed ICE vehicles in San Antonio, sending an agent to the hospital. Organized groups are obstructing immigration enforcement across the country, putting officers and law-abiding civilians at risk. These criminals must be arrested,” Gov. Greg Abbott said in a social media post commenting...

Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt has revealed he is working behind the scenes with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tx) and others to take down “revolting lunatics” like Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes. “I think the only way we are going to defeat the rise in antisemitism on the right is from the right,” Greenblatt said during a panel interview at a Los Angeles synagogue on Wednesday. “Nick Fuentes is disgusting, Tucker Carlson is disgusting, Candace Owens is disgusting, and so on, but there have been good people like Ted Cruz and Ben Shapiro and Mark Levin [and] Speaker [Mike] Johnson pushing...

Today, Texas A&M resumes classes for the spring semester—but a number of canonized texts will not be welcomed back to school. The public research university has lately been caught in the crossfire between state and stupid. As The Texas Tribune has reported, faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences were informed just last week that “a new system policy restricting classroom discussions of race and gender” is set to take effect today. The policy, engineered and approved by the Texas A&M University Regents last November, requires that the school’s president sign off on every syllabus with an eye to...

FORT WORTH, Texas — A teenager arrested in connection with a string of south Fort Worth car arsons has been linked to a viral social media video developed overseas by an extremist hate group, police said Tuesday. The Fort Worth Police Department (FWPD) said, on Jan. 6, it became aware of a concerning video shared across multiple social media platforms, which depicted an individual wearing a hockey mask delivering explicit threats of mass violence, stating intentions to kill indiscriminately, and expressing a lack of regard for human life. Fort Worth police, in coordination with the Fort Worth Arson Unit, determined...

Texas hospitals incurred more than $1 billion in health care costs for patients not lawfully present in the United States during fiscal year 2025, according to new data obtained from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. The figures were collected under an executive order issued by Gov. Greg Abbott in August 2024, which requires hospitals to report the cost of inpatient and emergency care provided to individuals in the country illegally. Under Abbott’s order, hospitals are also required to inform patients that responses regarding immigration status will not affect their care, as required by federal law. Statewide totals show...

Unsurprisingly Texas bears a disproportionate share of the burden from illegal immigration due to its expansive southern border. Now state leadership has released the numbers to prove the massive financial burden illegal aliens have had on one sector in particular: hospitals. New data has been released by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission showing a baffling 10-figure financial burden on Texas hospitals in fiscal year 2025, Texas Scorecard first reported. According to the new data, the total visits between November 2024 and August 2025 reached 313,742 for those "not legally present." And the total cost tipped over the billion-dollar...

A Cuban citizen faces a felony charge after federal officials say he rammed his vehicle into two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicles in San Antonio on Tuesday, injuring an ICE officer.Robyn Argote Brooks was being detained by ICE officers when he "weaponized his vehicle against federal law enforcement officials and rammed two ICE vehicles with his car," according to a Thursday news release from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.Argote Brooks was arrested on a charge of destruction of government property, according to a federal criminal complaint. The complaint alleges he caused nearly $5,000 in damage to one of...

Brief summary: The host discusses a recent Emerson College/Nexstar Media poll for the 2026 Texas US Senate Democratic primary. It shows Rep. James Talarico leading with 47% support, while Rep. Jasmine Crockett trails at 38% (15% undecided, ±4.8% margin of error). The video strongly criticizes Crockett (using terms like "ghetto Democrat"), arguing her race-focused rhetoric, comments on Texas racism, historical oppression, immigration/slavery distinctions, and insults toward certain Latino voters make her unelectable in a conservative state. It includes clips of Crockett expressing campaign confidence (citing Texas demographics, Black voter base, and low turnout) and internal Democratic concerns about her limited...

BEAUMONT — What started as a $16.21 shoplifting run ended with a robbery charge, a hospital visit, and a $75,000 bond. Beaumont police say Keri Aultz, 40, stole two bags of Hershey’s chocolate and feminine pads from the Market Basket on 11th Street near I-10 Tuesday evening. Police say when a loss-prevention officer tried to stop her, things turned ugly outside the store as Aultz headed to her black Lexus sedan. According to an arrest report, Aultz pushed the officer outside the store and grabbed him. Officers also say she lunged at the store manager during the confrontation outside. "Afterward,...

This is more advanced than you think Tesla’s Texas lithium refinery is the first in North America to convert raw spodumene ore directly into battery-grade lithium hydroxide, skipping the intermediate steps the rest of the industry relies on It went from groundbreaking to first production in just 19 months, an unheard-of timeline at this scale The process is cleaner too: no hazardous sodium sulfate waste, and a useful byproduct that can be turned into concrete This single refinery can supply lithium for over 500,000 EVs per year and directly challenges China’s ~60% grip on global lithium refining One of the...