Free Republic

A Democratic judge in Texas apologized for saying Republican Gov. Greg Abbott “hates trees because one fell on him.” Abbott, 61, was paralyzed when he was 26 years old after an oak tree fell on him while he was jogging in Houston in July 1984. The incident paralyzed him from the waist down, and he has since used a wheelchair. The crowd reportedly laughed at Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt’s comment made Friday at the Texas Tribune Festival. The remark was made in the context of the Texas Legislature overriding local ordinances like Austin’s tree ordinance. In her apology later...

A Texas sheriff refused to sign a letter agreeing to hold arrested illegal immigrants for ICE. ​Austin, TX – Travis County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO) deputies lost the opportunity to receive lifesaving ballistic vests, after the department’s sheriff decided it was more important to shield illegal immigrants from federal agents. The vests were made available through a unanimously approved state Senate bill in 2017, which allocated $25 million to help Texas law enforcement agencies to purchase the gear for their officers in the wake of the July 7, 2016 police ambush in Dallas that left five officers dead, KXAN reported. In...

A 49-year-old man from Pflugerville is the first person in Travis County to die of swine flu and the 14th known death in Texas, health authorities said Monday.

Full title: Judicial Watch Obtains Copies of 204 ICE Illegal Alien ‘Detainer Requests’ Denied by Travis County, Texas Sheriff Illegal Aliens Protected by Sheriff’s Department Included Inmates Convicted of 34 Acts of Violence, 14 Thefts/Burglaries (Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch today announced that it obtained 204 illegal alien Detainer Requests denied to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by the Travis County, Texas, Sheriff’s Office. The illegal aliens protected by the Sheriff’s Office were charged or convicted of 31 acts of violence, 14 thefts or burglaries, and three acts or threats of terrorism. Forty-four of the denied requests were for...

Senior Minister Meg Barnhouse knows she’ll need beds, a dresser, chairs and a mirror to make the classroom at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin feel more like a home for a mother and her young daughter who are still deciding whether they will become the latest immigrants seeking sanctuary from deportation by moving into a church. It would be the second time Barnhouse’s congregation had offered sanctuary. She was hesitant in 2015 because of the unknown legal and insurance risks, but this time she agreed immediately. There is growing fear in the city’s immigrant community as President Donald...

After Gov. Greg Abbott yanked $1.5 million in state grant funding to Travis County over its new sanctuary policy, state Rep. Eddie Rodriguez on Friday announced a new initiative to raise money from the private sector to make up for the loss. The initiative, called Travis County #StrongerTogether, will allow people to donate tax-deductible funds to the county in an effort to keep afloat the formerly grant-funded programs, such as a special veteran’s court and drug diversion program, through the Austin Community Foundation.

Abbott previously said he is preparing to deny Travis County $1.8 million in grants administered through his office, in response to new Sheriff Sally Hernandez’s policy of honoring only some requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain undocumented immigrants booked into the jail. But in a memo from state Budget Director Steven Albright, Abbott’s office asked all state agencies to account for all funds — including federal funds — administered to Travis County. Last year, Travis County received $10 million in federal grants, many of them passed through state agencies, plus $4.8 million from the state.

The brief, zany tenure of Travis County GOP Chairman Robert Morrow came to an end Friday, as party officials made clear the conspiracy theorist abandoned his post by running for president and he accepted their conclusion without question. Inside a nondescript office park in Austin, party officials convened reporters to lay out their case, saying Morrow's application to be a write-in candidate for the White House, filed last week, "resulted in an immediate vacancy" at the top of the county party. Waiting in the lobby afterward was Morrow, wearing his trademark jester's hat and carrying the "Trump is a Child...

Texas held the largest naturalization ceremony this week that the Lone Star State’s capital has ever seen. The ceremony was used to assault Donald Trump, the Second Amendment, and the death penalty before 1,210 new U.S. citizens and their families and friends. The Guest of Honor, Democrat Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt told the participants flanked by voter registration tables, “I encourage everyone to register to vote and hopefully, not for that guy who is against immigrants.” The husband of one of the participants, Kyle Hood, told Breitbart Texas that he was offended that the ceremony was used by the...

Texas prosecutor Mike McCrum says the grand jury that indicted former Texas Governor Rick Perry has made two mutually exclusive factual findings. The grand jury, McCrum says, has alternately declared that Perry's public statement threatening to veto a spending bill was 1) An official act; and 2) Not an official act. The significance of this will be described below. First, though, recall that there are two Counts in the indictment against Perry: COUNT ONE: Abuse of Official Capicity. This count alleges that Perry abused the office of Governor by "misusing" government "property" (the veto is the item Perry allegedly misused)...

AUSTIN – A state judge on Tuesday refused to throw out an indictment accusing former Gov. Rick Perry of abusing his veto authority to try to force out a local prosecutor. Perry, who is actively eyeing another presidential bid, was indicted last summer. The charges stem from his 2013 threat to veto funding for a public corruption unit overseen by Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg unless she resigned after a drunken-driving arrest. Lehmberg stayed in office after serving jail time, and Perry axed the funding. The Republican said that Lehmberg, a Democrat, had lost the public’s confidence. A grand...

The biggest mystery that never unraveled in Florida Election 2014 has to be super-uber trial attorney Steve Mostyn. Why would a Houston multimillionaire with no current business in the Sunshine State out-donate billionaire George Soros, giving it to Democrat Charlie Crist's Florida gubernatorial campaign and the Florida Democratic Party? We never did get to the bottom of it. Crist and Mostyn didn't really know each other before the campaign. What did Mostyn want? Soros, founder of the far-left Open Society Institute, who advocates bringing European social democracy to the United States, only gave Crist a smidgen over $1 million. But...

HOUSTON (AP) — The highest criminal court in Texas refused Wednesday to reinstate two money-laundering convictions against former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, ending a nearly decade-long criminal case against the one-time GOP heavyweight. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals upheld a ruling last year from the 3rd Court of Appeals that tossed the Republican's 2010 convictions for money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Travis County prosecutors had argued in June before the Austin-based Court of Criminal Appeals that the convictions be reinstated in what they called a scheme to influence Texas state elections. "We agree with...

Leadership: Texas Gov. Rick Perry smiled confidently for his mug shot, as if to signal he would prevail over politicized big government. In fact, that may resonate as a campaign theme for voters weary of the same abuses. Until now, the prevailing "narrative" was that a governor under indictment on two counts of "abuses of power" would be political toast. Because even if the charges were baseless, as these are, the mug shot and the screeching headlines would bring certain opprobrium. It certainly happened that way for now-exonerated House leader Tom DeLay, whose career was ruined by the same tactics...

Should the grand jury have been transparent or secretive --- concerning the evidence presented by the district attorney, etcetera? Once again, we have a Travis County grand jury indicting yet another high-profile Republican. One was Tom Delay (then House Majority Leader from 2003 to 2005) and now presidential aspirant Rick Perry, governor of Texas. The evidence that is presented is under the discretion of the district/prosecuting attorney. This attorney has strong control over the process and the room itself, and there is no one present to provide counter argument(s), and, finally, there is no judge present. If you are a...

".......Lehmberg, who plead guilty and accepted a 45-day jail sentence, has declined to comment about the case. But the Travis County Democrats issued a statement calling Perry’s tactics “character assassination and deflection.” “We didn’t expect Gov. Perry to take responsibility for his actions, but smearing Rosemary Lehmberg and complaining the indictment was political does not answer the charges,” said Joe Deshotel, a spokesman for the county party.

If this indictment isn’t dismissed on the Defendant’s first motion, then we need to reconvene that grand jury to review a multi-count indictment on a slew of charges against Barack Obama, Eric Holder, Lois Lerner, and many others in the federal government who have threatened, coerced, and harassed countless Texans, banks, businesses, and citizens with actions and consequences—including sham indictments, criminal prosecutions, actual and threatened imprisonment–far more pernicious and insidious than an executive veto. Allowing anyone to abuse the criminal justice system and the extraordinary power of a prosecutor even to persuade a grand jury to obtain an indictment...

On Tuesday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said Texas Gov. Rick Perry's enthusiastic embrace of in-state tuition for illegal immigrants is a magnet that lures more illegal immigrants to America – just like President Barack Obama's temporary amnesty program for DREAMers. “President Obama won’t send them home, and Gov. Perry has done the same thing by giving them in-state tuition," Paul told the Wall Street Journal during a significant Iowa trip. "That’s a beacon without any kind of border security."

So let me get this straight; Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg – also the head of the Public INTEGRITY Unit – is convicted of aggravated DUI. When she refuses to resign for behavior unbecoming of her office – accountability is foreign to most liberals - Governor Rick Perry promises to veto the 7.5 million budgeted for the Integrity Unit. And for this, something presidents and governors practically do on a weekly basis, he is indicted on felony coercion charges by a heavily Democratic-laden, Austin grand jury? Oh, something definitely stinks in the Lone Star state and it’s called dirty...

OKAY. It's obvious this is another Tom Delay type witch hunt. My question isn't really if there is any validity to this. It's more about if it will actually work this time against Gov. Perry or will it (hopefully) backfire and shine a big bright light on the corruption that is the Dem party today. Your feedback is much appreciated... Oh, and if "they" can be allowed to get away with this, shouldn't the same thing happen to the two most corrupt gov employees we have right now? Obama and Holder. I'm hoping if we all break out our new...