Free Republic

This November, the Dallas Independent School District will ask voters to approve a shocking $3.7 billion bond—on top of their outstanding $2.5 billion debt, which they haven’t finished using yet. They propose spending $40 million of this not in the classroom, but to support Democrat policies like “immigration services.” "It is our responsibility to use the 2020 bond funding to right the wrongs of our past,” said Michelle Prudhome-Coleman, director of Dallas ISD’s Racial Equity Office. The district’s presentation mentioned “unfair distribution of financial, educational, and material resources” in the past. This bond is unique because, unlike other bonds, the...

The Medical Center released the most aggressive COVID model to date, showing base ICU base capacity full by Saturday, and surge capacity exhausted by July 8 if current rates of hospitalization persist. A TMC model also predicts ICU surge capacity — extra, temporary beds and equipment used in emergencies — could be exceeded as soon as July 6 if the steep rate of new COVID hospitalizations continues, the most aggressive modeling to date. Eleven leaders of the system’s member hospitals and medical schools said in a joint statement that COVID-related admissions were increasing at an “alarming rate,” stretching the capacity...

Texas’ Hispanic population has grown by more than 2 million since 2010, according to new population estimates released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau, and the state's demographer now predicts that Hispanics will be the state's largest population group by mid-2021. An annual gain of 201,675 between July 2018 and July 2019 pushed the count of Hispanic residents to more than 11.5 million, the census estimates show. Although annual growth has slowed slightly in recent years, the new figures put a sharp point on how quickly the Hispanic population continues to climb. The annual growth in Hispanic residents has outpaced...

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced on Thursday that the state will pause any further reopening as the state continues to report record increases in Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations. Businesses that were permitted to open under the previous phases can continue to operate at the designated occupancy outlined by the Texas Department of State Health Services, according to statement from Abbott’s office. “The last thing we want to do as a state is go backwards and close down businesses. This temporary pause will help our state corral the spread until we can safely enter the next phase of opening our state...

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said Thursday the state will pause its efforts to reopen the economy as the number of confirmed coronavirus infections spikes and hospitals begin to fill. Abbott has been warning of a mounting catastrophe for days, as new cases rise precipitously in Houston, the Dallas metroplex and in cities like Austin, San Antonio and El Paso. Abbott said businesses that are already allowed to operate under the current reopening phase will continue to be able to do so. "As we experience an increase in both positive COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, we are focused on strategies that...

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order June 25 to ensure beds are available for patients with COVID-19 as cases continue to spike in the state. The executive order suspends elective procedures in four Texas counties: Bexar, Dallas, Harris and Travis. The order directs all hospitals in those areas to postpone all nonemergent procedures. The order allows Mr. Abbott to add or subtract from the list of counties to address surges in hospitalizations that may arise in other parts of the state. "As Texas faces a rise in COVID-19 cases, we are focused on both slowing the spread of...

This nation has never been perfect and even embraced the atrocity of slavery, but it has continued to improve, sometimes dramatically, throughout our history, and has continued to sacrifice like no other nation to liberate others in the world. Now, however, there are those who want to destroy the only form of government that allows the kind of self-improvement we have made. Many have peacefully protested for good reason, but those who have taken the injustice sparks and fanned them into the burning our country need to answer for their crimes. There are those who had organized, raised money from...

Given its hold on many American Democrat politicians (Joe Biden among them) and its aggressive global stance, it is not surprising that during testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee in July 2019, FBI Director Christopher Wray emphasized: “there is no country that poses a more severe counterintelligence threat right now than China.” Now in 2020, China has purchased over 100,000 acres in West Texas for what they say is an economic project. U.S. intelligence is casting a suspicious eye at their claim. Retired CIA station chief Daniel Hoffman told the media, “The specific location in Xi’s crosshairs is the iconic...

BELL COUNTY, Texas (KWTX)—Bell County Judge David Blackburn issued orders Wednesday that direct all businesses to require the use of face coverings by employees, customers, contractors and vendors on premises where physical distancing isn’t possible and “strongly encourage” residents wear face coverings in public places “where it is difficult to maintain social distancing.” Any law enforcement agency can enforce the business directive, which goes into effect at 12:01 a.m. Monday and remains in effect at least through July 13. Violations may be reported by calling (254) 933-5203. Violators may be fined as much as $1,000.

Coronavirus hospitalizations in Arizona and Texas have hit record numbers as cases continue to surge in states in the South and the West, overwhelming medical professionals. Arizona reported a record high of 3,591 new cases Tuesday, with nearly 60,000 known cases in the state overall. The swell in cases came as President Donald Trump held a rally at a Phoenix megachurch Tuesday. There was a surge in the number of inpatient beds occupied by positive or suspected COVID-19 patients, with 2,136 beds occupied, compared to 1,992 Sunday, according to data from the state's Department of Health Services. Meanwhile, 84 percent...

A House Judiciary Committee hearing erupted in bickering on Wednesday as lawmakers heard testimony from a pair of Justice Department whistleblowers and two former senior officials over allegations that the Trump administration has politicized the agency. The fracas began as former Deputy Attorney General Donald Ayer was delivering an opening statement. As Ayer ran over his allotted five minutes, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) began making a tapping noise to drown him out. Gohmert's behavior angered the Democrats on the committee and prompted one to call for the sergeant-at-arms to intervene."Mr. Chairman, I would ask that the sergeant-at-arms be called upon...

We were told that the governmental interest in ensuring that hospitals aren’t overrun with too many COVID-19 patients was so strong that it superseded the Bill of Rights. All businesses had to be shut, masks must be worn, church services had to be canceled. As Chief Justice John Roberts said in upholding California’s ban on church services, “When those officials ‘undertake to act in areas fraught with medical and scientific uncertainties,’ their latitude ‘must be especially broad.’” The very first action one would expect a government to undertake to stem the tide of a virus is to not purposely admit...

AUSTIN — Gov. Greg Abbott sternly warned Texans of “rampant” spread of coronavirus that took the state to a new high Tuesday of more than 5,000 new cases in a single day. Saying Texans should stay home unless they have a good reason to venture out, Abbott late Tuesday afternoon gave local officials more powers to limit public gatherings during the upcoming Fourth of July weekend. He expanded the ability of mayors and county judges to restrict outdoor gatherings of over 100 people -- down from the previous limit of more than 500 people in outdoor gatherings. Previously, this applied...

GOP rallies around Trump after firing of Manhattan US attorney BY ALEXANDER BOLTON - 06/22/20 08:05 PM EDT — GOP rallies around Trump after firing of Manhattan US attorney Senate Republicans on Monday largely defended President Trump following his controversial decision this week to fire Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) said Trump was within his right to fire Berman, who was involved in a number of politically sensitive investigations that touched on Trump and his advisers. “It’s kind of like previous firings, I would say,” Thune said....

After the United States Supreme Court upheld an Obama-era amnesty program, Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (TX) says now is the time for a “permanent solution” to provide amnesty for an entire class of illegal aliens. Created in an executive order by then-President Barack Obama in 2012 after Congress declined to pass comprehensive immigration reform, DACA permitted some illegal aliens to remain in the United States and prevented law enforcement officials from deporting them. The lawless program was challenged by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and President Donald Trump as unconstitutional. In a 5-4 decision on Thursday, George W. Bush-appointed...

Increasing numbers of Houston residents have reportedly been diagnosed with COVID-19 after attending protests against the death of George Floyd. Large protests began in the city days after the death of Houston native Floyd, an unarmed black man who died while police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 25. Texas has been experiencing a surge of new COVID-19 cases. Harris County, which encompasses Houston, has been adding hundreds of new cases each day to the more than 17,000 total confirmed cases reported as of Monday.

ALBANY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo is actively talking to New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont about mapping out mandatory quarantine “guidelines” for individuals traveling into the tristate area from Florida and other states seeing spikes in COVID-19 cases. Cuomo said the trio is “seriously considering” implementing a 14-day isolation for Floridians and that could be extended to travelers coming from Texas, Arizona and at least 20 other states. “The virus is up and more people are getting sick and now our fear in New York is those people are going to travel to New York and...

Voices are rising up against the decision of Quaker Oats to cancel Aunt Jemima. Family members of women who portrayed Aunt Jemima are not happy about erasing the iconic marketing symbol now.Lillian Richard, an East Texas native, is credited with putting Hawkins, Texas on the map. The small town of 1,278 as of the 2010 census was even named the pancake capital of Texas by the state’s historical commission because of her. Visitors are welcomed by signs proclaiming the town as “Home of Lillian Richard ‘Aunt Jemima.’ Ms. Richard was an ambassador for Quaker Oats. Vera Harris is the...

President Trump is expected to sign an expansion of immigration restrictions in the coming days in response to the economic downturn from the coronavirus pandemic -- an order that will reportedly suspend a number of guest worker programs. Trump signed an order in April suspending some forms of immigration, citing “the impact of foreign workers on the United States labor market, particularly in an environment of high domestic unemployment and depressed demand for labor” as a reason for the restriction, as well as pressures on health care and other factors. That order suspended, for 60 days, green cards for immigrants...

Former Vice President Joe Biden did not sponsor or co-sponsor any of the six bills recognizing Juneteenth during his time in the U.S. Senate, though he is now attempting to champion the holiday. Juneteenth commemorates the day that slaves in Galveston, Texas, were informed — on June 19, 1865 — that they had been freed by President Abraham Lincoln in the Emancipation Proclamation more than two years before. A search of GovTrack records of congressional bills, which is a complete record of all legislation dating back to 1973 — the year Biden entered the Senate — finds that Biden neither...