Free Republic

There is a 43-year-old woman, born in Texas, who should be dead right now. In fact, she should have never been born. Forty years ago, the Supreme Court decided that the Texas law that prevented Jane Roe from ending the life of her unborn daughter was unconstitutional. But by the time the Supreme Court issued its decision in 1973, http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1258350/posts she had already been born and adopted by a family—likely not knowing that all that ink spilled in Roe v. Wade was about her. Norma McCorvey is “Jane Roe.” She claimed then that her pregnancy was the result of...

Freshman state Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, filed a bill on Thursday that would allow concealed handgun license holders to carry weapons on college campuses. The measure is similar to a bill filed by state Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, one week earlier. Campus carry has been a controversial topic for multiple sessions and has come back into the spotlight after an argument on a Lone Star College campus in North Houston on Monday led to gunfire and multiple injuries. For opponents of campus carry, the takeaway is that more guns lead to more harm on otherwise safe campuses. For supporters, such...

A Texas teen says a Halloween movie inspired him to shoot his mother and sister to death after watching the main character in the film murder his family “with ease and with little remorse.” Jake Evans, 17, wrote a chilling four-page confession for the killing of his mother Jamie Evan, 48, and his younger sister, Mallory, 15. Jake writes in his confession that after watching Rob Zombie’s 2007 remake of the horror movie “Halloween,” he lured his sister out of her room and shot her multiple times. He then killed his mother. “While I loaded the gun back up, I...

A Lufkin man charged with unlawful possession of a firearm in a Wednesday afternoon point-blank shootout was defending himself, according to an Angelina County investigator. Unlike Benjamin Bogany, 30, and Destini Williams, 23, who were both in another vehicle, Andrew Netherton, 30, has not been charged with aggravated assaulted with a deadly weapon following the Wednesday afternoon incident on Winston 8 Ranch Road near Hammer Equipment off Highway 59 north.

This is the first day of the gun show since the City of Austin discussed possibly banning from the Travis County Expo Center. State law, however, prevailed because the move would have proved illegal in Texas... “It took 20 minutes to park the truck and about an hour waiting in line,” Another group, One Million Moms for Gun Control marched at the Texas Capitol... The group expected over 100 participants to join in the Austin event.

Video of a Webb County Sheriff has surfaced as he points his gun at Mexican nationals. It's stirred up controversy on the international level. The Sheriff's Department is now responding to video that surfaced of one of their deputies pointing a gun at undocumented immigrants. The Sheriff's Department says they received information that a wanted fugitive from Mexico who escaped from a Nuevo Laredo prison was now living in the United States, but a video that surfaced today shows a Webb County deputy forcing individuals trying to cross into the U.S. back into Mexico by pointing a gun. "I think...

Random checks happen at stations across country. Passengers catching the 9:30 a.m. Amtrak train from Austin to Dallas were met with an unexpected surprise when they got to the station. Transportation Security Administration agents, Austin police officers, and the Department of Homeland Security were all waiting for them. ... Random security checks are voluntary ... The random check takes about 10-15 minutes and happens hundreds of times a day at bus, train, and subway stations across the country.

TRINITY COUNTY, TX (KTRE) - Officials with the Trinity County Sheriff's Office believe that an armed neighbor prevented a violent confrontation between an armed convicted felon and a woman from the Glendale community from escalating into something much more serious Tuesday. Bobbie Prater says she got home around 1 p.m. Tuesday when she heard gun shots. Her dog was growling, so she decided to go to her front porch to see what was going on. "I went on to my front porch and my neighbor's son was there," Prater said. "He scared me. I kept asking what do you want....

In January 2008 Barack Obama told the San Francisco Chronicle: “Under my plan of a cap and trade system electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket. Businesses would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that cost onto consumers.” He promised that his plan would cause electricity rates to skyrocket. ... Barack Obama’s EPA just killed off another 3,900 energy jobs in Texas. ... Obama’s new EPA regulations will cost the coal industry $180 billion and force electricity rates to skyrocket.

When a Houston-based company purchased a refinery in Nixon about six years ago, it had been mothballed for years — and it showed. Rust streaked the plant’s storage tanks and piping. But after refurbishing, the 15,000-barrel-a-day refinery began to process crude oil about a year ago, with every drop coming from the Eagle Ford shale. “The drilling in the area is very impressive,” said Jonathan Carroll, CEO of Houston-based Blue Dolphin Energy Co. “You can look at maps and see that we are sitting right in the middle of the Eagle Ford, which is great.” Nixon, about 54 miles east...

Houston Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee is a tough boss. Even she will tell you that. After all, one former staff member famously told the conservative web site The Daily Caller that the Democratic congressman once declared, “I’m a queen, and I demand to be treated like one.” A 2011 Texas on the Potomac investigation revealed that Jackson Lee went through more staff more quickly than any other member of the Texas congressional delegation. Now, a new study by the Washington Times found that the veteran Texas Democrat had the highest turnover rate for all of Congress over the past decade....

As the federal government moves forward on its plans to tighten gun restrictions, Texas lawmakers are proposing legislation to expand gun rights in the state. The latest proposal is HB 700 filed Thursday by state Rep. George Lavender, R-Texarkana, that would allow individuals with concealed handgun licenses to carry weapons in plain view on a belt or shoulder holster. “For some it is a matter of personal safety, for others it is simply a convenience/personal preference issue,” said Lavender, who carried similar legislation that failed last session. He added others view it as a constitutional issue. [Snip] Other recent...

What is so interesting about this is what Rogers (who hails from the great state of Texas) is upset about; Obama’s lack of leadership and association with corrupt financial interests. Hmmm. She has a point there. The response from Democrats? Wait for the tolerance… They pulled her campaign funding. She won her primary anyway. Via Your Black World: Kesha Rogers is no longer getting any form of backing from the Democratic Party. The woman who once had aspirations of running for Congress, has lost the support of the party for committing a serious political sin: Calling for the impeachment of...

A Parker County 17-year-old wrote in a confession released Thursday that the horror movie remake of "Halloween" gave him the idea to kill his mother and sister. Jake Evans is on trial for the Oct. 3 slayings of his 15-year-old sister, Mallory, and mother, Jami in their upscale Aledo home. The confession was introduced as evidence. In a four-page written confession to police hours after his arrest, Evans said he had watched the remake of "Halloween" three times earlier that week. The 2007 Rob Zombie film is about a 10-year-old boy who murders several people and kills a number of...

EL PASO, Texas -- Reaction to the historic decision to allow women in combat roles was swift at Fort Bliss. “It’s absolutely the right thing to do," said commanding General Dana Pittard following Wednesday’s announcement made by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Most of the 230,000 combat jobs that will open up to women are in the Army, giving them the opportunity for higher pay and a path to leadership. “It’s about time they let women have those options -- if they want them,” said Marlana Quendau, 27, who has served eight years in the Army. “If they want to do...

The new judge in the Fort Hood shooting rampage case faces a controversial decision next week: whether to spare Nidal Hasan a possible death sentence and let him plead guilty in the worst mass shooting on a U.S. military installation. Hasan wants to plead guilty to 13 counts of premeditated murder, Army rules prohibit a judge from accepting a guilty plea in a death penalty case...

Killeen's homeless have nowhere to go, and that means dozens, possibly hundreds of our veterans are stuck out in the cold. More than 62 thousand American veterans are living on the streets. Nickie, a 58-yr old Vietnam Marine veteran, is one of them, but the Fort Hood area doesn't have any homeless shelters, turning cold nights into life or death battles that leave Nickie wondering. "Am I going to make it until tomorrow? Am I going to make it, straight up," said Nickie with tears in his eyes. A few warming centers open, but only when temperatures dip below freezing,...

As Senate Democrats unveiled an “assault weapons ban” encompassing a variety of rifles, shotguns, and pistols, the newest lawyer in the U.S. Senate pointed out that “real assault weapons” have been illegal since 1934. “Washington politicians shouldn’t be taking advantage of recent tragedy to try to push an aggressive gun control agenda,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in a statement today. “Real assault weapons—machine guns—are already functionally illegal, and they have been since 1934. This proposal would have done nothing to prevent the terrible murders in Newtown, but it would limit the constitutional liberties of law-abiding citizens.” Through the National...

FORT WORTH (CBS 11 NEWS) – Sexy pictures, taken for private purposes, are finding their way online. The website, described as a revenge porn site, is posting explicit photos submitted by men seeking revenge on their ex-girlfriends. But a group of Texas women may get the last laugh, after filing a lawsuit against the site. Hollie Toups, 32, says she “stopped breathing for awhile” when she found semi-nude pictures of herself on the site. Toups went from being a modest teacher’s aide in Beaumont to an unintended porn star, after an ex-boyfriend posted explicit photos along with personal information. “I...

More than half the Senate on Wednesday urged quick approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, ramping up pressure on President Barack Obama to move ahead with the project just days after he promised in his inaugural address to respond vigorously to the threat of climate change. A letter signed by 53 senators said Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman’s approval of a revised route through his state puts the long-delayed project squarely in the president's hands. “We urge you to choose jobs, economic development and American energy security,” the letter said, adding that the pipeline “has gone through the most exhaustive...