Free Republic

Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz was born in Canada but is qualified to become president should he mount a campaign in 2016 or beyond. Cruz was born in Calgary, and his father is from Cuba. But the Republican senator’s mother is from the first state of Delaware, which appears to settle the issue. Government officials didn’t exactly have to scramble for the information amid speculation the firebrand freshman senator was contemplating a presidential run and might be ineligible, considering similar questions about President Obama’s birth prompted the Congressional Research Office to compile a 2009 report to try to resolve the...

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- An attempted robbery just outside of downtown Houston erupted into a gunfight that left one suspect dead and the victim injured, police say. The shooting happened around 6:30am in the 2900 block of Pease. Police say a man coming home from a club was confronted by as many as five suspects. When the suspects tried to rob him, a shootout erupted.

Houston 'Redneck white city down in Texas." That's how Houston Mayor Annise Parker sums up the caricature of her town, and she wants everyone to know it's bunkum. Houston is "a really cool city," she says. "Open and entrepreneurial and welcoming." It's also booming. The mayor herself is a walking testament to the cosmopolitan contrarian reality of modern Houston. Annise Parker is a Democrat in a deep-red state, the first openly gay mayor of a major American city. She's a social liberal who's also a former oil-industry executive with a pro-business attitude running what may be the nation's least-regulated metropolis....

The Homeland Security Department has granted legal status to 99.2 percent of all illegal immigrants who have applied under President Obama’s new non-deportation policy for young adults, according to the latest numbers released Friday. That’s a slight drop from the 99.5 percent approval rate reported last month. The policy, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, grants legal status to most illegal immigrants under the age of 31 who came to the U.S. before age 16 ... DACA is seen as a test-run should Congress pass a broad legalization for the 11 million illegal immigrants estimated to be in the...

There is deception in the ranks of the Boy Scouts of America. A faction in the national leadership of the BSA wants to get rid of the longstanding membership policy against “open and avowed” homosexuality. But the way it’s going about it is not worthy of the Boy Scouts. The BSA Executive Committee recently released a resolution which will be presented to the National Council for a vote on May 23. To the surprise of many, the resolution addresses only “youth membership,” leaving in place the prohibition on open homosexuality on the part of leaders. It has been widely characterized...

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 second 'house of horrors' abortion clinic is being investigated in Texas, just days after Dr Kermit Gosnell was found guilty of murdering newborns at his Philadelphia termination center. Dr. Douglas Karpen, seen here in court, is accused of killing babies aborted in their third trimester Houston doctor Douglas Karpen is accused by four former employees of delivering live fetuses during third-trimester abortions and killing them by either snipping their spinal cord, stabbing a surgical instrument into their heads or 'twisting their heads off their necks with his own bare hands'. Other times the fetus was so big he would...

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...

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...

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.

In case you were wondering whether there was really an oil Renaissance happening in Texas, the state has 838 drilling rigs – about 47 percent of all U.S. rigs and 26 percent of drilling rigs worldwide. The Texas rigs are mostly operating in five fields across the state, according to the latest Baker Hughes Rig Count. The Permian Basin in West Texas has 397 rigs, the Eagle Ford in South Texas has 234, the Granite Wash in the Panhandle has 44, the Barnett Shale in North Texas has 31 and the Haynesville Shale in East Texas has 19. Our neighbors...

EOG Resources, the company with the most acreage in the Eagle Ford Shale, reported its first-quarter earnings recently. And basically, EOG is making a lot of money in South Texas. Mark Papa, CEO and board chairman of EOG, said the Eagle Ford continues to surprise “in an upside manner.” EOG’s U.S. crude oil production increased 24,200 barrels per day over the fourth quarter of 2012, mostly thanks to the Eagle Ford. The company is getting a rate of return on its South Texas wells greater than 100 percent. During the first three months of the year, EOG completed 27 “monster...

A massive emergency response is under way in the Granbury area, where at least six people were killed and dozens injured by up to three tornadoes as a relentless storm system raked across North Texas on Wednesday evening. At an overnight press conference, Hood County Sheriff Roger Deeds did not have details on the six who died. He did say that two of them were not near homes. Deeds said the death toll could rise as 14 people remain unaccounted for and nearby rural areas just outside the Rancho Brazos subdivision had not been searched thoroughly as crews did what...

A north side man will not face charges after he shot a man who was smashing the windshield of his car in the driveway of his home, 1200 WOAI news reports.  Police say the homeowner, who is in his fifties, looked out the window of his house in the 1400 block of Thorain, which is near Basse and Blanco after he heard the sound of glass breaking.  It happened about 1:30 this morning.  He saw a man smashing the windshield, grabbed a gun, and opened fire, striking the vandal in the chest.  The vandal, who turned out to be the...

As shocking as the photos and stories from ex-employees are in this report from Operation Rescue, I canÂ’t say that IÂ’m surprised: The three informants, Deborah Edge, Gigi Aguliar, and Krystal Rodriguez, have come forward to tell of their horrific experiences working for abortionist Douglas Karpen, at one of three of his Texas abortion clinics, the Aaron WomenÂ’s Clinic in Houston. A fourth informant has co-operated with Operation Rescue, filing an affidavit about her experiences, but remains at this time anonymous.As shocking as their stories are, these women did more than just talk; they brought forward evidence of illegal late-term...

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,...

An Irving high school student drugged a 15-year-old classmate for several days and forced her to have sex with men who gave him drugs and money in exchange, police said Tuesday. Nimitz High School student Travis Lekas, 17, is also accused of trying to recruit other students from Nimitz and Bowie Middle School to engage in prostitution. Police said they are working to determine whether Lekas had other victims. Lekas, who was arrested at his home Monday, faces one count of human trafficking of a minor, one count of compelling prostitution and one count of sexual performance by a child....

inder Morgan Energy Partners said this week it would spend $106 million to buy about 20 acres next to its Pasadena terminal, build nine new storage tanks and build a new barge dock that is expected to help relieve current barge congestion in the Houston Ship Channel. The land will be used for a future crude condensate and refined products terminal capable of handling 10 150,000-barrel tanks with a connection to the Explorer Pipeline. The new barge dock, which will complement existing infrastructure at the Pasadena terminal, will provide additional capacity to handle up to 50 barges per month. And...

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...

As Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson travels the U.S. speaking on college campuses and to churches, a common refrain is that "this is the greatest nation on earth." Robertson also name checks some of his American heroes, especially "George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson." As the Daily Tribune reported, when Robertson spoke at Northeast Texas Community College he spoke of Washington as the "father of [our] country," and he quoted Adams as saying: "Statesman, my dear sir, may plan and speculate politically, but it is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles from which freedom can securely...

BAYTOWN, TX (KTRK) -- Baytown police were investigating a shooting at a convenience store Saturday, and whether or not it's linked to other armed robberies in the area. The store at Alexander Food Store on North Alexander has been robbed before and that's why the clerk was prepared with a gun. Police say a confrontation between the gunman and a female store clerk around 11am ended with the alleged gunman in the hospital. "We heard, 'Pow! Pow!'" witness Christina Odom said. "He just fell backwards like that." Baytown police say a man in his 40s ran into the food mart...

A single vote made the difference in a Lytle ISD school board election. Turns out, it was the only vote. The final tally: 1-0. “Going back to your old textbooks: your vote counts,” Lytle ISD spokesperson Derrick Adams says. “Your vote makes a difference.” The million dollar question around Lytle: who is the one person who voted? That person isn’t talking but everyone else is, telling News 4 this is embarrassing for the town. One by one. “In 1980 we had 779 votes,” city secretary Josie Campa says. Year by year. “Had 1,161 in 1981,” Campa says. Every last vote...

Officials with the Greater Tomball Area Chamber of Commerce and Houston Northwest Chamber, the city of Tomball, and the Klein and Spring school districts went to Virginia recently to serve up a little Texas hospitality to Exxon Mobil employees who will be relocating to the new campus in 2014 and 2015. An estimated 3,000 employees and their families attended the “Let’s Discover Houston Fair” in late April at the Exxon Mobil headquarters for Downstream Operations in Fairfax, Va., to learn about the communities, schools and the amenities in the Greater Houston area. “What Exxon Mobil put together to bring us...

Hot teacher alert!

BAYTOWN, TX (KTRK) -- Baytown police were investigating a shooting at a convenience store Saturday. The store at Alexander Food Store on North Alexander has been robbed before and it's why the clerk was prepared with a gun. Police say a confrontation between the gunman and a female store clerk around 11am ended with the alleged gunman in the hospital. "We heard, 'Pow! Pow!'" witness Christina Odom said. "He just fell backwards like that." Baytown police say a man in his 40s ran into the food mart, wearing a mask, brandishing a handgun and demanding money. "The clerk, in fear...

CBS Anchor: 'We Are Getting Big Stories Wrong, Over and Over Again' "Our house is on fire." Daniel Halper May 11, 2013 12:09 PM CBS anchor Scott Pelley said at a speech at Quinnipiac University that journalists "are getting big stories wrong, over and over again." "Our house is on fire," said Pelley. The video of Pelley's speech is courtesy of nowthisnews.com. "These have been a bad few months for journalism," he added. "We're getting the big stories wrong, over and over again." The CBS newsreader was quick to take at least partial blame. "Let me take the first arrow:...

My story begins in mid-December 2001. I was newly married, healthy, excited and shocked to be carrying twins! All had been going along in the pregnancy just fine until one Saturday morning. I noticed something was not quite right so I called my doctor, hoping he would say, “Don’t worry. Everything will be just fine.” I had just been at his office the day before for a routine check-up. He told me that from this point forward, even though I was only 26 weeks along in my pregnancy, to call if I sensed anything out of the ordinary. That’s called...

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...

Hours after a West paramedic was arrested for possessing a destructive device Friday, the Texas Rangers and McLennan County Sheriff’s office launched a criminal investigation into the fatal fertilizer plant explosion that killed 15 people, injured 200 others and damaged hundreds of homes. But authorities have yet to say whether the arrest of 31-year-old Bryce Reed was related to the April 17 explosion at West Fertilizer Co. Reed was being held by U.S. marshals on Friday after he was booked into the McLennan County Jail. As Reed was due in federal court in Waco on Friday, divergent portraits of the...

On Monday, the Texas House of Representatives passed a bill that would bar state officials from enforcing any new federal gun laws.  Via Kevin Drum, I see that the MaddowBlog’s Steve Benen calls the bill “crazy.” In this case, Texas’ nullification bill effectively hopes to freeze the status quo of federal gun laws in place indefinitely. The state is prepared to honor federal laws as they currently exist, but if policymakers in Washington expanded current laws in any way, Texas would ignore those changes — based on the “because I say so” theory of modern jurisprudence.It wouldn’t matter if new...

Jewish Scouting leaders are taking a vocal role in efforts to pass a historic resolution that would partially lift a ban on gays in the Boy Scouts of America. In a meeting of the National Jewish Committee on Scouting in February, members voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution lifting the BSA’s longstanding ban on gay members. … The resolution would not change the BSA’s ban on gay adult leaders. “I am advocating for complete change and inclusiveness,” NJCOS Chairman A.J. Kreimer told JTA this week. “I’m speaking with other people and as an area president, one of 26 in...

There's a popular saying in America that "whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting over." The United States supreme court has been called upon to settle a battle that is raging over access to the Red River which serves Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. Water-starved Texas feels that it is entitled under the Red River compact, which was signed by all four states, to billions of gallons of water from the Oklahoma side of the river basin. Oklahoma insists that Texas is not doing enough to conserve. Texas is also fighting a battle with New Mexico over access...

President Obama will travel to Austin Thursday to promote job creation, while profitable corporations are moving to Texas to escape his bad economic policies. Huge companies in the booming firearms industry are considering moving to the Lone Star State, where Gov. Rick Perry promises a welcoming business environment. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Monday that Mr. Obama’s trip to the Texas capital will highlight the need “to ensure that good jobs for the middle class are available here in this country — and that includes the kinds of improvements we’ve seen in manufacturing and in industries in manufacturing...

'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.

Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz welcomed President Obama to the Texas Thursday, where Obama is scheduled to begin his "Middle Class Jobs and Opportunity Tour," by highlighting Texas' job record in comparison with the administration's. "America is stuck with high unemployment and low GDP growth, so it's encouraging to see the President coming to Austin to talk about jobs - perhaps he will learn how to create some from the folks who know how," Cruz said in a statement. "Texas is leading the nation in economic growth and job creation because of principled, conservative leaders who understand the keys to...

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.

. . . . . . The office of Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, sent out a press release Wednesday pushing five amendments he filed to the bill, which generally tightens enforcement and provides a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants. Cruz’s amendments seek to further tighten border security, streamline the legal immigration process, deny public benefits to those here illegally, reform the high-skilled worker visa program and prohibit a path to citizenship for the undocumented. . . . . . . In a press release, America’s Voice, a leading national group that advocates for more lenient...

Democratic strategist and former Bill Clinton adviser James Carville said something about Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tx.) on ABC's This Week Sunday that is guaranteed to raise eyebrows on both sides of the aisle. "I think he is the most talented and fearless Republican politician I’ve seen in the last 30 years." JAMES CARVILLE: I think he is the most talented and fearless Republican politician I’ve seen in the last 30 years. I further think that he’s going to run for president and he is going to create something. I’m not sitting here saying he’s going to win, and I think...

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.

Convicted ex-Enron Corp. CEO Jeffrey Skilling's more than 24-year prison sentence for his role in the once mighty energy giant's collapse could be reduced by as many as 10 years if a federal judge approves an agreement reached Wednesday between prosecutors and defense attorneys. Under the agreement, which Justice Department officials say includes a previous court-ordered reduction of as much as nine years, Skilling's original sentence will be reduced to somewhere between 14 and 17.5 years. The agreement still has to be approved by U.S. District Judge Sim Lake, who is set to hold a June 21 hearing in Houston...

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...

In one of my first essays for NRO back in 2005 (“Are You an Originalist?”), I selected the Constitution’s “natural born Citizen” criterion for eligibility to be president—a provision that then seemed at the time to be beyond the distorting effects of political bias—to illustrate that everyone intuitively recognizes the common-sense principle at the heart of the interpretive methodology of originalism: namely, that the meaning of a constitutional provision is to be determined in accordance with the meaning that it bore at the time that it was adopted. The public debate in 2008 over whether John McCain, having been born...