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Good evening, My family and I have been planning to move from our current residence for several months now. We are considering three cities: San Antonio or Austin, Texas, and Nashville, Tennessee. Our family has decided to move due to a lack of opportunity in the job market, lack of education/extra-curricular activities, political ineptitude in our local government, an anti-entrepreneurial government agenda, as well as a high cost of living. For those of you who may feel it's your duty to warn, discourage, and dissuade us from considering AUSTIN due to the populations uber-liberal mindset, let me reassure you; we...

'Morality clause' forces them apart (Newser) – A lesbian couple in Texas is claiming discrimination after a judge told the pair they legally could not live together. Carolyn Compton and Page Price have been sharing a household with Compton's two daughters, ages 10 and 13. But the judge said Price would have to move out, because of a "morality clause" in the divorce papers Compton signed when she ended her 11-year heterosexual marriage, the Dallas Morning News reports. The fairly common clause forbids either parent from having romantic partners stay overnight while their kids are home. Getting re-married nullifies the...

<p>One of the largest Chinese telecommunications equipment suppliers, Huawei Technologies Company, recently unveiled plans to establish Future Wei, a wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary with headquarters in Plano, Texas.</p> <p>Ordinarily, such a foreign investment in the United States would be welcomed by the local Chamber of Commerce and others anticipating associated employment and revenue opportunities. As Americans learn more about the parent company and what Chinese enterprises like it are up to, however, patriots in Texas and elsewhere in this country are likely to say "No way, Huawei!"</p>

Senator John Cornyn’s office has launched an online “hotline” for Texans who believe they were unfairly targeted by the IRS to share their stories. Cornyn has already highlighted three separate cases of constituents in a video — including True the Vote, which has filed suit against the IRS — and encourages other groups to speak out. “Let’s make it clear that Texans will not stand for the kind of behavior typically associated with corrupt tin-pot dictators — not with the greatest democracy in the world,” he writes on his website.

The former U.S. Attorney for Arizona could be disbarred, after an investigation found he lied to the Justice Department about his role in trying to discredit the federal whistle-blower who exposed the botched gun-running scheme known as Fast and Furious. An Office of Inspector General report showed that Dennis Burke -- the former chief of staff for Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano appointed as U.S. Attorney for Arizona by President Obama in September 2009 -- lied when asked if he leaked sensitive documents to the press meant to undermine the credibility of ATF whistle-blower John Dodson. The IG report also...

Nidal Hasan has been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder. Islamist killer Nidal Hasan has been paid $278,000 since he murdered 13 Americans in a terrorist attack in 2009. NBC DFW reported: The Department of Defense confirms to NBC 5 Investigates that accused Fort Hood shooter Major Nidal Hasan has now been paid more than $278,000 since the Nov. 5, 2009 shooting that left 13 dead 32 injured. The Army said under the Military Code of Justice, Hasan’s salary cannot be suspended unless he is proven guilty. If Hasan had been a civilian...

The state's regional Education Service Centers no will longer issue lesson plans - and will forbid their use after Aug. 31 - for a popular online curriculum system that became a lightning rod for conservatives who criticized it as anti-American, legislators announced Monday. The move is expected to leave school districts across the state, including some in the greater Houston area, scrambling to replace CSCOPE, as the program is called, before the start of next school year.

Mr./Madam President, every week we’re here I try to remind this body of the damage that carbon pollution is doing to our atmosphere and oceans, try to awaken us to our duty.  I’ve done it thirty-three times now.  I’ve tried to kick out the underpinnings of any argument the deniers could stand on. I’ve kicked out the scientific denial argument, which properly belongs in the category of falsehood.  I’ve kicked out the economic denial argument, pointing out that in a proper market the costs of carbon must be in the price of carbon.  I tried to kick out the religious denial...

While many Americans were tuned into news coverage of the massive damage from tornadoes ravaging the state of Oklahoma, Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse took to the Senate floor to rail against his Republican colleagues for denying the theory of anthropogenic global warming. Whitehouse spent 15 minutes chastising GOP senators and justified his remarks by alluding to states that seek federal assistance in the wake of natural disasters. “So, you may have a question for me,” Whitehouse said. “Why do you care? Why do you, Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, care if we Republicans run off the climate...

Two women in a convenience store were burned in an assault in the early hours of Monday morning when another woman entered the store and doused them with a flammable liquid that ignited. The women were inside the Buy & Save convenience store in the 2700 block of Azle Avenue playing video games around 2:30 a.m. when the suspect entered and sprayed them with an unknown liquid, according to the Fort Worth Fire Department. [Snip] It is unclear why the women were attacked or how the liquid was ignited. One victim, whom Hilo described as 18 or 19 years...

There is no way Texas Gov. Rick Perry can support the bipartisan immigration reform bill because, he says, it fails to deal satisfactorily with border security. "You cannot have a legitimate conversation about immigration reform until you deal with the issue of border security. And, as far as I'm concerned, this bill does not address it,'' Perry told Newsmax TV in an exclusive interview.

A young hunter in Texas has bagged the largest alligator ever certified in the state, weighing 800 pounds and measuring 14 feet, 3 inches. For Braxton Bielski, 18, it was a dream come true because he had grown up with a fascination for dinosaurs and always wanted to hunt prehistoric-looking alligators, sometimes referred to as “living dinosaurs.”

A leading pro-life group has put together a web site to expose Douglas Karpen. Like Kermit Gosnell, this Texas-based abortion practitioner kills unborn children who are born alive in a gruesome abortion-infanticide process. This week, LifeNews exposed Douglas Karpen — who, like the Philadelphia-based abortion practitioner, is also killing babies born alive after botched abortions. Unlike Gosnell, who killed babies by jamming medical scissors into their necks, at his Houston abortion clinic former employees of Karpen testify he goes one shocking step further, he kills the babies wit his bare hands by twisting their necks execution style. A new video...

Three armed home invaders broke into a house and beat up the resident before pushing him into a closet, not realizing it was a weapons storage area.

Driving in the early morning hours to his job at a metal shop in Buda, Miguel Montanez at first thought the approaching lights were a school bus or a tow truck. But Montanez says it was a Hays County SWAT truck that rammed his car head-on. As they collided, another police vehicle pinned him from behind, he says. He heard a shot. “I saw my windshield crack, and I ducked down as low as possible,” Montanez said. “I really thought I was going to die.” Seconds later, he says, three deputies were pointing assault rifles at him. “That’s when I...

Why was the IRS interested in efforts to ensure the recall of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker was legitimate? As the Obama Administration seeks to pivot to a new explanation for their activist Internal Revenue Service (IRS), we find out they took particular interest in the Verify the Recall effort which took place in Wisconsin during 2012. Two of the three groups involved in Verify the Recall experienced delays in receiving their non-profit status. More ominously, the IRS asked at least one other conservative organization, in another state, about their relationship with the effort. The North East Tarrant Texas Tea Party...

Radio host Dennis Miller and National Review columnist Mark Steyn considered Thursday the possible outcomes if the United States continues down the path of socialism. If socialism became the prevailing governing philosophy, Miller speculated, escaping it wouldn’t require a move to the Australian outback. Instead he suggested heading for the state of Texas, because it would be the first place to push back against it. “If I ever do flee, don’t think fleeing has to involve you going over to Alice Springs or something,” Miller said. “I’m going to Texas because that’ll be the first place that pushes back. They’re...

Authorities in Houston, Texas are responding to calls for an investigation of Douglas Karpen, who is being considered the second Kermit Gosnell for killing babies born alive after abortion. Yesterday, the Lt. Governor of Texas demanded an investigation of an abortion practitioner who is considered the second Kermit Gosnell. A new video expose’ of Douglas Karpen has three former abortion clinic employees of abortion practitioner Douglas Karpen exposing horrific practices that took place at his abortion clinic. That a second Kermit Gosnell would be operating in Texas is so revolting that Lt. Governor David Dewhurst is demanding an investigation. Local...

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A pack of tornadoes killed at least six people and injured dozens in East Texas Wednesday night. The city of Granbury, southwest of Ft. Worth was hardest hit.

Update at 8:46 p.m., by Tristan Hallman: WFAA reports homes have been leveled in Hood County. Update at 8:06 p.m., by Tristan Hallman: Tornado warning now in effect in Tarrant and Johnson counties. Tornadoes have touched down in Pecan Plantation (a residential town near Granbury) and northeast of Decatur. Update at 8 p.m., by Tristan Hallman: NWS reporting baseball-sized hail in Granbury not far from the town’s high school. Update at 7:43 p.m. by Tristan Hallman: A tornado has been spotted developing in Hood County near Lake Granbury, the National Weather Service reports. Granbury is in the storm’s path. Update...

The Lt. Governor of Texas is today demanding an investigation of an abortion practitioner who is considered the second Kermit Gosnell. A new video released yesterday has three former abortion clinic employees of abortion practitioner Douglas Karpen exposing horrific practices that took place at his abortion clinic. The three informants, Deborah Edge, Gigi Aguliar, and Krystal Rodriguez, have come forward to tell of their horrific experiences working for him at one of three of his Texas abortion clinics, the Aaron Women’s Clinic in Houston. A fourth informant has co-operated with Operation Rescue, filing an affidavit about her experiences, but remains...

House Bill 928, also known as the “Come and Take It” law, passed the Texas House on May 8. The legislation mandates that no state money can be spent to enforce federal firearm regulations that do not also exist in state law and is a push-back against proposed federal rules on firearms and ammunition. However, it does not penalize state law enforcement officers who help the feds. The legislation was written by Republican Representatives Matt Krause (R-Arlington), Scott Sanford (R-McKinney), Allen Fletcher (R-Cypress), George Lavender (R-Texarkana) , and Kenneth Sheets (R-Dallas). According to Matt Krause’s website, the idea for the...

After the conviction of late-term abortionist Kermit Gosnell on murder charges, Operation Rescue has been repeatedly asked if there is any evidence that similar practices exist at abortion clinics elsewhere in the nation. That documentation has now been released. Operation Rescue arranged to have Life Dynamics, Inc. produce a video interview, released yesterday, with three informants who came to Operation Rescue as the result of our Abortion Whistleblowers Program, which offers a reward of $25,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of abortionists who are breaking the law. The three informants, Deborah Edge, Gigi Aguliar, and Krystal Rodriguez,...

President Barack Obama says he wants to “see if we can institutionalize” in Washington the community spirit that sometimes emerges after a terror attack or an industrial explosion. The president made the comments during a fund-raising trip to New York, shortly after leaving Washington, D.C. in an uproar over an explosion of scandals, including last week’s revelations of politically motivated IRS investigations and the White House’s editing of reports on the lethal terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya. Shortly after Obama flew north, D.C. was rocked by another political explosion when the Associated Press said the Justice Department obtained two months...

Following up on last week’s piece detailing the reasons why the Shale oil and natural gas boom has taken place in Texas, but not in other states like California and New York, we’ve seen quite a bit of interesting, related news pieces over the last several days. On Monday, the Wall Street Journal published a very informative op/ed in its Review & Outlook section, titled “A Tale of Two Oil States”, which made more detailed comparisons between the economic performance between Texas and California, and the ways in which each state’s policy decisions related to shale development have affected that...

Por La Raza, Todo! Joe Biden in full pander mode, totally without shame.- by John HillStand With ArizonaFew can equal Vice President Joe Biden as a race-baiting panderer. And Joe is increasingly making his professed amor for "Hispanics" standard fare for his stump speeches pushing amnesty for illegal aliens. Biden never misses an opportunity to put Hispanics - and especially illegals - on a pedestal. In January, addressing a group of newly-elected Latino members of Congress, Biden insisted that "now the nation -- and I might add the hemisphere -- understands the Hispanic community must be courted. Must be courted....

Hey, did you see what Senator Cruz tweeted out last week ahead of Big Guy’s “all-hat-no-cattle” trip to Texas? Here it is: That seems a little dismissive on Ted’s part doesn’t it? Even a little derisive? If I were Senator Cruz, I’d make sure all my tax records were in order: IRS agents singled out dozens of organizations for additional reviews because they included the words "tea party" or "patriot" in their exemption applications…in some cases, groups were asked for lists of donors, which violates IRS policy… Yikes! That last part – about the list of donors - is a little disconcerting....

Rep Steve Stockman (R-TX) giving away a Bushmaster AR-15 on July 4. People who visit his re-election website--www.stockman2014.com--can find a link marked "Enter To Win An AR-15." Under this are the words, "Click here to enter to win the gun Obama doesn't want you to have." Once you click where instructed, you are asked to enter your name, zip, and email and that's that--you're entered into the drawing and are added to his online mailing list. Democrat National Committee Communications Director Brad Woodhouse reacted to news of the give away by pointing out this was the same gun Adam Lanza...

(Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors charged a paramedic, one of the first to respond to a deadly explosion last month in the Texas town of West, with unlawful possession of pipe bomb components, but authorities said no evidence linked the charge to the fertilizer plant disaster. Bryce Reed, 31, appeared at federal court in Waco, Texas, on Friday, where he faced one count of unlawfully possessing an unregistered destructive device. He did not enter a plea, said Daryl Fields, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in the Western District of Texas. Local police said there was no known connection between...

Chris Crane, president of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers union, spoke to Mark Levin on The Mark Levin Show Thursday evening. Crane recently testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the immigration bill working through Congress. Crane explained how President Obama and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano have, since the administration’s start, “attempted to shut down” border enforcement and “absolutely” tied law enforcement’s hands.

Famed Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz ranks Sen. Ted Cruz among the school’s smartest students, adding that the Canada-born Texan can run for president in 2016. Cruz was a “terrific student,” Dershowitz told The Daily Caller. “He was always very active in class, presenting a libertarian point of view. He didn’t strike me as a social conservative, more of a libertarian.” “He had brilliant insights and he was clearly among the top students, as revealed by his class responses,” Dershowitz added. Dershowitz also gave a high estimate of Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren — who has decidedly different political...

Will these 3D printed guns be used in the commission of crime? Undoubtedly. But will they also be used for self-defense? Equally surely. If you ban 3D printed guns, how does this change? With law-abiding citizens obeying the law, only criminals will be the ones who get these relatively inexpensive guns. Is this a civil liberties issue? To me this is a way to lower the cost of people obtaining guns -- a big benefit given that it is poor minorities who live in high crime urban areas who benefit the most from owning guns. Yet, it looks as if...

Texas authorities now looking at the WestTown fertilizer plant explosion as CRIMINAL.

President Obama went to Texas on Thursday to kick off a nationwide tour pushing his economic policies, apparently unaware that Texas has thrived the past four years by doing pretty much the opposite of what Obama has prescribed. Since taking office, Obama has pushed more government as the way to get the economy moving. He dramatically boosted spending, imposed massive amounts of new regulations, ran enormous deficits, and has imposed more than $1 trillion in tax hikes. [snip] Texas, meanwhile, has pursued a far different path from the one Obama advocates.

The federal government has sent a letter to a personal defense advocate demanding he remove the 3D blueprints for a functional homemade gun from his website. Cody Wilson of Defense Distributed, which hosts designs for 3D-printable firearms and firearm components, has complied with the government order to remove the files. “DEFCAD files are being removed from public access at the request of the US Department of Defense Trade Controls,” reads the banner at the top of his website defcad.org. “Until further notice, the United States government claims control of the information.” Defense Distributed's Twitter account lays blame on Secretary of...

'Act of faith' did not cost track team win, student's reaction to official did An act of faith has cost an area track team a win and a chance to advance to the state championships. This past weekend, the Columbus High School Mighty Cardinals had just won a boys relay race when a runner’s final gesture got them disqualified. As he was crossing the finish line, Derrick Hayes pointed up to the sky. His father believes he was giving thanks in a gesture to God. “It was a reaction,” father KC Hayes said. “I mean you’re brought up your whole...

As I mentioned earlier this week, President Obama is visiting Texas today to mark the beginning of yet another of his (now infamous) “pivots� to jobs and the economy, talking up all of the reasons why the government needs to do more to “stimulate� the economy so we can keep spending and centrally planning our way out of this mess — because that’s all worked so remarkably well so far and everything. During his stay of about five hours in Texas, Obama was announcing a pair of executive actions the White House said would help the economy in the absence...

Last weekend's NRA event brought in the highest attendance yet for a three-day convention at the George R. Brown Convention Center. Numbers released today by the National Rifle Assocation show 86,228 attendees over the May 3-5 weekend, beating last year's St. Louis attendance. That convention brought in 73,740 NRA supporters.

President Obama‘s visit to Texas today is making big headlines, considering that the political and ideological divides could not be more stark between the Lone Star’s leading “red state” status and a President who is widely considered to be well left of center.

President Obama travels to Texas on Thursday for the second time in as many weeks. He will talk about job training and economic opportunity, but he may have a political opportunity on his mind as well.

AUSTIN, Texas, May 9 (UPI) -- Republican Gov. Rick Perry said through a spokeswoman Texas was "the right place" for President Barack Obama to visit Thursday to tout economic growth.

The tawdriness of American identity politics reached a new low this week as former New Mexico governor, frustrated 2008 democrat presidential candidate, and serial corruption suspect Bill Richardson offered his take on the junior senator from Texas. On Sunday, Richardson was a guest on ABC’S This Week when he said that because Ted Cruz doesn’t support amnesty for illegal aliens, he shouldn’t be considered an Hispanic! “Almost every Hispanic in the country wants to see immigration reform. No, I don’t think he should be defined as a Hispanic,” Richardson said. Such a politically perverse statement reminds me of how a...

Cheerleaders in a small Texas town can continue to display their Bible verse banners at football games, after a district judge ruled Wednesday that their actions did not violate the Constitution. The cheerleaders in the football-dominated town of Kountze garnered national attention when they sued the school district in a case that pitted free-speech rights and religious freedom against the doctrine of separation of church and state. Hardin County 365th Judicial District Court Judge Stephen Thomas said the banners that included religious messages — such as "If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31" — made...

The National Rifle Association just wrapped up its annual meeting in Houston back in the Lone Star State. Some highlights: Texas Governor Rick Perry fired a big gun for funsies, a bleeding Obama zombie target was banned, and Sarah Palin recieved a standing ovation for her speech. This is the same speech in which she represented her 4.5 million “brothers and sisters” of the NRA by wagging her finger at the “lamestream media,” a “poodle-skirted cheerleader for the president” and giving her audience the wink and nudge of the elbow with names in her family like “Trigg” and “Remington.” Palin’s...

The Washington Post offered a splashy profile of freshman Sen. Ted Cruz on Tuesday, and the most surprising thing about it was a lack of venom. The reporter described "the self-assured, nonstop talker who won national debate championships as an undergraduate at Princeton." Cruz "honed his reputation early in his career as a dazzling Supreme Court advocate" and now "has bashed into the national conversation," most notably in attacking establishment Republicans, who've called him and other young Senate conservatives "wacko birds." This story, however, wasn't as surprising as James Carville's declaration on ABC's "This Week." He was typically blunt --...

Sen. Charles Schumer said Monday he is putting his full support behind legislation aimed at stopping the production of undetectable plastic guns that can be made using relatively cheap 3-D printers. A Texas-based libertarian group has successfully been able to produce a functioning plastic handgun using a 3-D printer that anyone could purchase, Schumer said. He said the group plans to post on the Internet how to go about making this cheap, but functioning weapon that could pass through metal detectors at airports and elsewhere. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he is joining Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington) who has pushed for new...

Residents of a Houston neighborhood are being warned to stay away from giant African land snails after a woman found one in her garden and snapped a photo of it. The snails, researchers warn, are potentially dangerous to touch, in part because they can carry meningitis. Scientists have warned anyone who comes in contact with them to wash their hands thoroughly. "They also carry a parasitic disease that can cause a lot of harm to humans and sometimes even death," Autumn Smith-Herron, director of the Institute for the Study of Invasive Species at Sam Houston State University, told NBC Houston...