Free Republic

LOS EBANOS — Five men from Mexico face federal drug charges after U.S. Border Patrol agents were fired upon from the Mexican side of the Rio Grande. The shooting took place Friday evening along the river near Los Ebanos after agents saw a dark Ford Expedition that approached the river and then was loaded with bundles of marijuana by several men who had used rafts to move the bundles from Mexico to the U.S. side, court records show. The agents requested backup and moved in to intercept the vehicle as it was leaving the river, heading northbound. Upon spotting the...

Will Gov. Mitt Romney reverse the decision of President Barack Hussein Obama and issue the Purple Heart to the victims of the jihad attack on Fort Hood in 2009? The day before the general election, Nov 5, is the third anniversary of the jihad attack by Maj. Nidal Hasan at Fort Hood, Texas. Thirteen of our service members, as well as one unborn baby, died under Hasan’s gunfire. None of our service personnel was armed, making them easy targets as Hasan screamed “Allah Akbar!” and began shooting. President Barack Hussein Obama refuses to designate Hasan’s assault on Fort Hood as...

Three years after Major Nidal Hassan opened fire in a personnel center on Fort Hood, Texas, the Obama regime has yet to declare the incident is what it obviously is: an act of terrorism. Rather, according, to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta: “the department is dealing with the threat of violent Islamist extremism in the context of a broader threat of workplace violence.” Unfortunately, this is not trivial. Because the incident is not considered an act of terrorism, the victims do not get combat-related special compensation that provides disability pay for medically retired servicemembers. Manning, who was shot six times,...

Victims of the Nov. 2009 Ft. Hood shooting are being denied benefits commensurate with combat injuries because the Obama administration refuses to label the attack an act of terrorism. Instead, the shooting Maj. Nidal Hasan carried out after screaming "Allahu Akbar" it is still being labeled "workplace violence." The difference between labeling the incident "workplace violence" and "terrorism" is not only the rightful recognition 13 of our troops deserve for being killed in service to their country on Nov. 5, 2009, but also ongoing benefits that would help survivors pay for the physical therapy, and other medical and psychological treatments...

The Chronicle's backing of Barack Obama in 2008 broke a 44-year string of endorsing Republican candidates for president. Like so many others, we were captivated by the Illinois senator's soaring rhetoric and energized by his promise to move American politics beyond partisan gridlock and into an era of hope and change. It hasn't happened. Four years later, President Obama's deeds have failed to match his words, much less his specific vows to cut the national debt by half and bring the nation's unemployment rate to 6 percent. As Texans, it is a particular vexation that this president's attitude toward the...

The cheering midst of a rally featuring President Barack Obama and a largely college-age crowd of 15,000 on the Oval at Ohio State University would not seem a likely place to encounter those not in the presidentÂ’s corner. Yet, the first five students approached at random by a Dispatch reporter on Oct. 9 turned out to support Republican Mitt Romney and his aspirations of replacing Obama in the White House. The must-vote adoration and enthusiasm for Obama isnÂ’t what it once was among 18- to 29-year-old Millennials in central Ohio, a must-win area in a must-win state for presidential hopefuls....

Henry and Mary Alice Cisneros want the 45 mostly immigrant families served by American Sunrise, the nonprofit they founded, to take a pledge — a 10-point promise to become American. They'll pledge to learn English, and to know American customs. They'll vow to become “learning” households that meet their financial needs and make college graduation a family tradition. Most importantly, they'll agree to “carry our home country in our heart but commit to our obligations in the United States.”

WESLACO - Illegal entry into the United States is the only option for many who seek to escape poverty and violence, experts said. Immigrants put their money, trust and ultimately their lives in the hands of human smugglers. Some of those smugglers are not old enough to hold a driver's license. One of those smugglers is accused of crashing a van loaded with 17 illegal immigrants near Palmview. Life ended for nine of those immigrants. "These smugglers are ruthless people," Border Patrol Spokesman Henry Mendiola said. Mendiola is familiar with the carnage left behind by some of the human smugglers....

Robbie Middleton was doused in gasoline and set on fire on his eighth birthday in 1998He died 13 years later from cancer caused by the burns covering his bodyIn a video recorded on his deathbed he accused his alleged attacker Don Collins of raping him two weeks before he was set on fireDon Collins, now 27, is to be charged with felony murder

COLLEGE STATION - A bomb threat has led to an evacuation at Texas A&M University in College Station.The university asked students to evacuate "by foot immediately" at around 11:34 a.m. A witness at the scene said students were calmly and slowly evacuating the area.The evacuation comes a day after Texas State University was evacuated after receiving a similar threat. Three buildings on the campus in San Marcos were evacuated around 9:40, but students were later around to return in the early afternoon.More details to come.

Lubbock, TX - The Department of Economics at Texas Tech University and Worth Publishers invite you to a public speech presented by Prof. Paul Krugman, winner of the 2008 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, on Thursday, October 25th at 5:00-7:00 pm on the TTU campus in the Human Sciences Building, Room 169. Prof. Krugman's speech is entitled "The Crisis: Year Six", and will be immediately followed by a "Questions & Answer" session. Space is limited, so please arrive early. Professor Paul Krugman is the 2008 Nobel Prize winner and a Professor of Economics at Princeton University. He received his...

NEW YORK — A Corpus Christi man pleaded guilty Wednesday to plotting to assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States, agreeing to hire what he thought was a drug dealer in Mexico last year for $1.5 million to carry out the attack with explosives at a Washington restaurant. Manssor Arbabsiar, 58, entered the plea to two conspiracy charges and a murder-for-hire count in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, where Judge John F. Keenan repeatedly asked Arbabsiar whether he intended to kill the ambassador. Arbabsiar, a U.S. citizen who holds an Iranian passport, said he did. Sentencing was set for...

Despite an overall drop in illegal immigration nationwide, there has been a huge spike in the number of undocumented immigrants found dead in the south Texas brush country this year, and a disturbing number of the illegals found dead and alive attempting to sneak into the U.S.in the past three months have been young people. 1200 WOAI news reports some who deal with illegal immigration blame the DREAM Act, and talk that young people in the United States illegally may receive legal residency or even a path to citizenship in a second Obama term. “Ever since this dialogue from Washington...

WESLACO - Mexican nationals studying at the University of Texas-Pan American are worried that the violence they fled from may be catching up with them on the U.S. side of the border. "I am from Miguel Aleman ... it's a small town an hour-and-a-half away from here," one student said. "I came for my studies," she said. "All my family is from Mexico," the student said. She said it was a way to flee the violence gripping border regions in Mexico. "I have to take some other precautions ... coming to school," she said. She asked to have her identity...

MESQUITE, Texas (CBS HOUSTON) – A North Texas woman has been arrested after being accused of posting Facebook photos of an undercover policeman who testified against her friend in court. Mesquite police arrested Melissa Walthall, 30, for allegedly posting the photo of the officer, who authorities say recently testified in a drug case against her friend. Her Facebook post identified the person as an undercover officer, according to a federal affidavit. After a caller tipped off Mesquite police to Walthall’s Facebook post about a week ago, an investigator found that it posed a “viable threat to that officer’s safety,” the...

AUSTIN — Tea party conservatives will push next year to rescind a state law that allows illegal immigrants to pay state-resident tuition rates, and when they do, a little-known fact could be at the center of the debate: Students who aren’t citizens are also eligible for state financial aid. Nearly 2,500 students who are in the country illegally received more than $9.5 million in state higher education grants in fiscal year 2010, the most recent figures available from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. There were 16,476 illegal-immigrant students paying resident tuition rates, meaning more than 1 in 7 get...

Because everyone had such a great time at the last shoot we are anxious for the next one. The date for the 8th Annual TCMS shoot will be June 8th, 2013 and will be held at Dietz Gun Shop and Shooting Range, in New Braunfels, TX. Providing we get the OK from Mr. Dietz – I will call him this week to discuss our coming to the range. Staying in the Pelican Bay cottages this year was a stroke of genius, so we will again be staying in cottages. The cottage pick for this shoot is the Cypress Creek Cottages,...

AUSTIN - Two years since a conservative sweep of the State Board of Education,November's election carries high stakes, with all 15 seats on the ballot and the instructional direction of 5 million Texas school children in the balance. The divide over the issues of history and science,political and religious ideology is deep. One side views the fight for control of the board as nothing less than a cultural clash. The other sees the November contests as critical choices to protect conservative values. The board determines curriculum standards and textbooks for Texas'K-12 public school system and controls the $26 billion PermanentSchoolFund....

La Joya school district officials have added new controls for the district’s free lunch program they say should help pass a state audit later this year. The district is in danger of losing federal funding for up to five years for the program after successive state reviews showed it was distributing an excessive number of free lunches. The Monitor reported in September the district is currently paying about $1.5 million out-of-pocket each month for its free breakfasts and lunches for low-income students. More than 90 percent of students at La Joya campuses rely on the program for free breakfasts and...

CONROE, Texas - A jewelry store owner fired shots at three people who tried to rob him and threatened to kill his mother on Wednesday. Conroe police said two men and a woman walked into Wilkins Jewelry, 1712 N. Frazier St., about 10:30 a.m. One of the men asked Mitch Wilkins about getting a ring cleaned while the other man and the woman asked Wilkins' 77-year-old mother for help picking something out. Detectives said the men pulled out guns. Wilkins said he was pistol-whipped. "He vaulted over this case, and when I turned around he had a pistol in my...