Free Republic

Will Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan hang onto his seat? And will Gov. Greg Abbott succeed in ousting Republicans who blocked his school choice voucher plan? Those are the big questions on the eve of Tuesday’s primary runoff elections in Texas. In order to keep his speakership, Phelan first has to win his primary runoff race in his home district Tuesday against GOP challenger David Covey. "It is a real knife fight there on the coast," said Scott Braddock, editor of quorumreport.com. Former President Trump has endorsed Covey, and Attorney General Ken Paxton blasted Phelan on social media Monday, exactly...

Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) is warning of possible retribution against some of his GOP colleagues in the House who are actively campaigning against the Texas Republican’s reelection bid. As Gonzales seeks a third term to his seat on Tuesday representing Texas’s 23rd Congressional District, the incumbent is facing a challenge from his right over his voting record to protect same-sex marriage and to implement stricter gun safety measures. Those votes attracted a crowded field of candidates looking to oust the incumbent during the March primary, forcing Gonzales into a runoff with challenger Brandon Herrera after neither candidate secured more than...

If you live in Texas and haven't already voted, go vote tomorrow! Let's hope Speaker Phelan gets the boot!

On May 19, 2024, United States District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk issued a temporary restraining order against the Biden administration, forbidding them from enforcing the parts of the ATF “final rule” having to do with a re-definition of “engaged in the business” as part of federal firearms law. From the order: CONCLUSION Defendants are TEMPORARILY RESTRAINED from enforcing the regulations — “Definition of ‘Engaged in the Business’ as a Dealer in Firearms” — published at 89 Fed. Reg. 28968 (April 19, 2024) (to be codified at 27 C.F.R. pt. 478) against Plaintiffs Texas, Jeffery Tormey, the Gun Owners of America,...

A Texas 18-year-old with autism faces permanent blindness after a supposed friend allegedly threw powdered drain cleaner into his eyes. Branden Jolly, 17, had his first court date with a judge on Friday, where he had bond set at $300,000. Brody Morgan, who has autism, was walking through his neighborhood in Friendswood when Jolly threw what turned out to be a drain de-clogger. Morgan's mother Amy said her son returned to their home screaming, initially believing it to just be salt in the boy's eyes. However, as she tried to wash his eyes with water, it only got worse, with...

The Texas Supreme Court is considering whether or not to take up the case of Caroline Antoun who is seeking personhood for her frozen embryos. The embryos are currently the property of Antoun’s ex-husband, Gaby Antoun, as the IVF contract had stated he would get custody in the event of a divorce. Antoun, however, is asking that the embryos be considered persons and placed in her custody. The former couple had welcomed twins through IVF and kept three remaining embryos frozen. Antoun said she did not fully understand the gravity of the contract she had signed regarding embryo custody and...

Lookner linked Lots of reports of injuries and damage on scanner after tornado in Denton County, Texas But Various other sources Truck stop hit on I-35 Many reported trapped

HOUSTON, May 23 (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump raised tens of millions of dollars during a fundraising swing through Texas this week, promising he would support the oil and gas industry by backing new pipelines and restoring fracking on federal land. [cut] A Houston fundraiser on Wednesday was hosted by oil billionaires Jeff Hildebrand, founder of Hilcorp Energy, the largest closely held U.S. oil firm; George Bishop, founder of GeoSouthern Energy; Harold Hamm, founder of Continental Resources; and Kelcy Warren, head of pipeline firm Energy Transfer Partners. Trump drew standing ovations when he promised to get more natural...

A former United Methodist Church pastor who was defrocked about 20 years ago for being in a same-sex romantic relationship has been reinstated by the mainline Protestant denomination. The UMC Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference voted overwhelmingly during a closed session of around 200 clergy on Tuesday evening to readmit Beth Stroud. Bishop John Schol, head of both the Eastern Pennsylvania and Greater New Jersey annual conferences, said he was “deeply grateful for the discernment of the clergy” and “grateful that the church has opened up to LGBTQ persons.” “I couldn’t be prouder as your bishop, and you couldn’t have given...

Shocking video has showed the moment a female middle school teacher was thrown to the ground while she tried to break up a fight between two students. The horrific incident took place at Hurshel Antwine Middle School in East El Paso, Texas on Monday, May 20. In the unsettling footage, the female teacher can be seen frantically trying to get in the middle of the two students. All of a sudden, one of the boys aggressively grabs the teacher and hurls her to the ground as fellow classmates cry out in shock. After the teacher was thrown to the ground,...

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton railed against House Speaker Dade Phelan at the Texas Republican Party’s convention Thursday in San Antonio, predicting voters would oust him in Tuesday’s primary runoff election. Phelan is fighting to keep his political career alive in a contentious race against oil and gas consultant David Covey. Patrick, Paxton and Texas GOP Chair Matt Rinaldi have all been instrumental in the campaign to unseat Phelan, a five-term Republican from Beaumont, and have derided him as a fake Republican who has handed too much power to Democrats.

On May 16, 2024, Governor Greg Abbott pardoned Sgt. Daniel Perry. Perry was convicted of murder on April 7, 2023, in what many believe was a politically motivated case in Austin, Texas. During the prosecution, a police detective complained about the prosecution’s bias against Daniel Perry. On July 25, 2020, BLM protestors blocked Perry’s car and beat on it. Then, one of the protestors, Garrett Foster, approached Perry’s car with an AK47-style rifle and motioned for Perry to roll down his window. After rolling down the window, Perry said he saw Foster start to raise his rifle toward Perry from...

A Houston-area church has fired its longtime pastor after local police arrested him on child pornography charges. In a public statement, Calvary Chapel of The Woodlands announced its board had unanimously stripped 63-year-old Bruce Hollen of his lead pastor role on May 8, the same day that Montgomery County authorities arrested him. “The board hereby has determined that Bruce Hollen no longer has authority, authorization, or permission to conduct any business on behalf of Calvary Chapel of the Woodlands,” the church website said. “He may not hold himself out as a leader in any capacity for the church, and he...

The day after the 2020 presidential election, I predicted the left was going to target any attorney who dared to get involved challenging election fraud. They’d already started successfully targeting conservative attorneys, it just hadn’t gotten much attention yet. Since most people are bored by legal issues, they fly under the radar. I wrote about it over a year ago, and things have gotten far worse since then. This year, they launched “The 65 Project” to brazenly accomplish it, named after the 65 lawsuits Trump-affiliated attorneys filed after the election. The left has developed a powerfully coordinated legal election effort...

Media Matters followed suit with several liberal outlets by laying off at least a dozen staffers following a federal probe and lawsuit by “X” chief executive officer Elon Musk.Staffers, some of whom have been with Media Matters for years, took to social media announcing their sudden departure from the outlet. The layoffs followed federal probes filed by Republican Attorneys General Ken Paxton of Texas and Andrew Bailey of Missouri into the outlet for possible fraudulent activity by allegedly manipulating data on “X,” formerly known as Twitter.

A high-flying Texas judge overseeing a number of significant criminal trials has mysteriously been missing from the courtroom for nearly a month amid concerns of manic behavior and a police interaction, according to a report. Judge Kelli Johnson, one of Harris County’s longest-serving current jurists, hasn’t been seen at the 178th District Courthouse in Houston since May 1 — with no explanation on where she has gone or when she’s set to return, ABC13 reported. A court spokesperson has so far only confirmed “Johnson is out for personal matters” after initially refusing to address the judge’s unexplained absence. But an...

Two years after 19 fourth-graders and two teachers died, families and survivors also announce $2 million settlement with the city.. UVALDE, Texas— Families of children killed in the mass shooting at an elementary school here two years ago and survivors filed a lawsuit Wednesday against 91 state police officers and the local school district, calling their response the “single greatest failure of law enforcement to confront an active shooter in American history.” ... Uvalde attack and failures of responding law enforcement to stop the killing shocked the nation. A gunman killed 19 fourth-graders and two teachers while nearly 400 officers...

Donald Trump told a crowd of delighted Texans he wants to move and retire in the Lone Star State as he continued his love affair with the South. Speaking to an adoring crowd at the NRA National Convention, the former president said: 'I want to move to Texas and I want to retire in Texas... a lot of people are moving to Texas.'

Former President Donald Trump said he would consider tapping Ken Paxton for U.S. attorney general if he wins a second term in the White House, calling his longtime ally “a very talented guy” and praising his tenure as Texas’ chief legal officer. “I would, actually,” Trump said Saturday when asked by a KDFW-TV reporter if he would consider Paxton for the national post. “He’s very, very talented. I mean, we have a lot of people that want that one and will be very good at it. But he’s a very talented guy.” Paxton has long been a close ally of...

GROOM, Texas (KVII) — The couple killed in a shootout with law enforcement on I-40 near Groom was transporting more than $3 million worth of cocaine purchased from a Mexican drug cartel. The Putnam County Sheriff's Office in Tennessee said it began investigating Edward Stevenson, 60, and Elizabeth Stevenson, 51, through undercover drug buys. On Thursday, detectives executed a search warrant at their home in Cookeville, about 90 minutes east of Nashville. They seized 3/4 of a pound of methamphetamine, fentanyl, multiple firearms, body armor and ammunition. At the time of the search, detectives received information that the Stevensons were...