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SAN JACINTO, BATTLE OF. The battle of San Jacinto was the concluding military event of the Texas Revolution. On March 13, 1836, the revolutionary army at Gonzales began to retreat eastward. It crossed the Colorado River on March 17 and camped near present Columbus on March 20, recruiting and reinforcements having increased its size to 1,200 men. Sam Houston's scouts reported Mexican troops west of the Colorado to number 1,325. On March 25 the Texans learned of James W. Fannin's defeat at Goliad (see GOLIAD CAMPAIGN OF 1836), and many of the men left the army to join their families...

On March 6th, one of the most significant events in the history of not only our state, but our country, will be commemorated: the Battle of the Alamo. Why is this battle so important? I think because it shows just how much we Americans value our freedoms and what we will sacrifice to preserve them. At the Alamo, 189 documented defenders took on thousands of Mexican troops, a turning point in the Texas Revolution. Battle at the AlamoThe valiant “Texians” held on for 12 days, finally being annihilated on the 13th day, March 6. The event motivated the Texians, and...

When a government has ceased to protect the lives, liberty and property of the people, from whom its legitimate powers are derived, and for the advancement of whose happiness it was instituted, and so far from being a guarantee for the enjoyment of those inestimable and inalienable rights, becomes an instrument in the hands of evil rulers for their oppression. When the Federal Republican Constitution of their country, which they have sworn to support, no longer has a substantial existence, and the whole nature of their government has been forcibly changed, without their consent, from a restricted federative republic, composed...

Mysterious outside groups are asking state parties for personal data on potential delegates, Republican campaigns are drawing up plans to send loyal representatives to obscure local conventions, and party officials are dusting off rule books to brush up on a process that hasn’t mattered for decades. As Donald Trump and Ted Cruz divide up the first primaries and center-right Republicans tear one another apart in a race to be the mainstream alternative, Republicans are waging a shadow primary for control of delegates in anticipation of what one senior party official called “the white whale of politics”: a contested national convention.

(CNSNews.com) – Former Solicitor General Ted Olson told “Fox News Sunday” that it is “not illegal” for a bakery for instance to refuse to participate in a gay wedding under last week’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide. “It's not illegal under this ruling,” Olson said in response to Fox News host Chris Wallace’s question about how the ruling will affect religious freedom. “There's the question – and it became hot this spring – of religious freedom. Can the proverbial baker or photographer who is selling his services openly, can he refuse to participate in a same-sex marriage...

Fairfax, Va. –The National Rifle Association today announced support for H.R. 2710, federal legislation aimed at limiting the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) from using executive overreach to undermine the Second Amendment. H.R. 2710 was introduced by United States Representative Rob Bishop (UT-1). "This important legislation would prevent arbitrary ammunition bans like the one attempted earlier this year by the Obama Administration," said Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action. "With the support of America's law-abiding gun owners, the NRA was able to beat back Obama's attempt to ban ammunition used by...

Is the idea of federalism dead? Does the concept have no relevance in the modern world? Not according to Ernest Young, who addressed the topic in an essay titled “Federalism as a Constitutional Principle.” The essay was given as the William Howard Taft Lecture on Constitutional Law at the University of Cincinnati College of Law on October 28, 2014. In fact, Young believes that federalism, and understanding its concepts, is needed more than ever. “The need for federalism has radically increased as the world has become more diverse, complex, and interconnected,” he said. He starts off citing the 1995 Supreme...

It's happening again— President Obama is using his imperial pen and telephone to curb your rights and bypass Congress through executive action. Even as news reports have been highlighting the gun control provisions of the Administration's "Unified Agenda" of regulatory objectives (see accompanying story), the Obama State Department has been quietly moving ahead with a proposal that could censor online speech related to firearms. This latest regulatory assault, published in the June 3 issue of the Federal Register, is as much an affront to the First Amendment as it is to the Second. Your action is urgently needed to ensure...

February 2nd is Chris Kyle Day, declared Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Abbott announced his intention to make the declaration official later today. The slain hero has come under fire recently as left-of-center celebrities and media personalities have insisted that patriotic Americans honoring Kyle were, in essence, worshiping a “coward” and a soldier who went on “killing sprees,” despite the fact that Kyle’s shooting has been credited with saving the lives of countless numbers of U.S. soldiers. Perhaps discouraged by the complete success of “American Sniper,” the film that memorializes the life of Kyle, left-of-center talking heads reacted in outrage at...

On February 23, 1836, the arrival of General Antonio López de Santa Anna's army outside San Antonio nearly caught them by surprise. Undaunted, the Texians and Tejanos prepared to defend the Alamo together. The defenders held out for 13 days against Santa Anna's army. William B. Travis, the commander of the Alamo sent forth couriers carrying pleas for help to communities in Texas. On the eighth day of the siege, a band of 32 volunteers from Gonzales arrived, bringing the number of defenders to nearly two hundred. Legend holds that with the possibility of additional help fading, Colonel Travis drew...

Here's the question asked in my September 2000 column titled "It's Time To Part Company": "If one group of people prefers government control and management of people's lives and another prefers liberty and a desire to be left alone, should they be required to fight, antagonize one another, risk bloodshed and loss of life in order to impose their preferences or should they be able to peaceably part company and go their separate ways?" The problem that our nation faces is very much like a marriage where one partner has broken, and has no intention of keeping, the marital vows....

Social Justice for All It appears that there are two popular definitions of “social justice”. One involves an individual who chooses to give freely to people in need; this one is historically referred to as charity. The other requires the use of government force under the guise of good will to seize production from one and give to another. This one is nothing but theft and historically results in little less than slavery. Unfortunately, this is what most people mean when they speak of social justice. Definition of Justice: “The administering of deserved punishment or reward” Is it possible that...

WASHINGTON -- The glow from a health care triumph faded quickly for President Barack Obama on Sunday as Democrats realized the bill they fought so hard to pass in the House has nowhere to go in the Senate. Speaking from the Rose Garden about 14 hours after the late Saturday vote, Obama urged senators to be like runners on a relay team and "take the baton and bring this effort to the finish line on behalf of the American people." The problem is that the Senate won't run with it. The government health insurance plan included in the House bill...

In a victory for President Barack Obama, the Democratic-controlled House narrowly passed landmark health care legislation Saturday night to expand coverage to tens of millions who lack it and place tough new restrictions on the insurance industry. Republican opposition was nearly unanimous. The 220-215 vote cleared the way for the Senate to begin debate on the issue that has come to overshadow all others in Congress. A triumphant Speaker Nancy Pelosi likened the legislation to the passage of Social Security in 1935 and Medicare 30 years later. "It provides coverage for 96 percent of Americans. It offers everyone, regardless of...

Introduced in the Michigan House on August 11, 2009, the “Firearms Freedom Act” (HB-5232) seeks “to make certain findings regarding intrastate commerce; to prohibit federal regulation of firearms, firearms accessories, and ammunition involved purely in intrastate commerce in [the State of Michigan]; to provide for certain exceptions to federal regulation; and to establish certain manufacturing requirements.” The bill was authored by Rep. Phillip Pavlov and currently has 44 co-sponsors. While the HB5232’s title focuses on federal gun regulations, it has far more to do with the 10th Amendment’s limit on the power of the federal government. It specifically states: The...

Liberals who have idealized Obama don't want to believe that their President is capable of bullish behavior towards Latin America. It was Bush, they say, who epitomized arrogant U.S.-style imperialism and not the new resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Recent events in Central America however force us to look at the Obama administration in a sobering new light. While it's unclear whether Obama had advance warning of an imminent military coup d'etat in Honduras the White House has not emerged from the Zelaya affair unsullied. In December, 2008, even before his inauguration, Obama received an irate letter from Honduran president...

WASHINGTON — The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Wednesday that employers could reduce or eliminate health benefits for retirees when they turn 65 and become eligible for Medicare. The policy, set forth in a new regulation, allows employers to establish two classes of retirees, with more comprehensive benefits for those under 65 and more limited benefits — or none at all — for those older. More than 10 million retirees rely on employer-sponsored health plans as a primary source of coverage or as a supplement to Medicare, and Naomi C. Earp, the commission’s chairwoman, said, “This rule will help employers...

GALVESTON — A Spring couple charged with injury to a child in the death of 2-year-old Riley Ann Sawyers were been indicted on charges of capital murder by a Galveston County grand jury Wednesday, said District Attorney Kirk Sistrunk. The grand jury deliberated for three minutes before handing down the indictments, Sistrunk said. Kimberly Dawn Trenor, 19, the mother of the 2-year-old girl, previously known only as Baby Grace, and Royce Clyde Zeigler II, 24, are accused of beating the child to death this summer. The little girl's body was stored in a plastic container in a shed for up...

George Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to "recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and...

SCHWERZENBACH, Switzerland: The posters taped on the walls at a political rally here capture the rawness of Switzerland's national electoral campaign: Three white sheep stand on the Swiss flag, as one of them kicks a single black sheep away. "For Greater Security," the poster reads. The poster is not the creation of a fringe movement, but of the most powerful party in Switzerland's federal Parliament and a member of the coalition government, an extreme-right party called the Swiss People's Party, or SVP. It has been distributed in a mass mailing to Swiss households, reproduced in newspapers and magazines and hung...