Tex's Place

By Bob hoge Earlier in July, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the new “Freedom Haulers” initiative, which aims to get military veterans in the drivers’ seats of our big rigs and get illegal aliens and people who can’t speak English out. President Donald Trump officially debuted the effort Thursday at a White House press conference attended by Duffy, veterans, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins, acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling, and trucking industry leaders.  “ILLEGALS OUT, VETERANS IN,” Duffy posted to social media before the event. 🚨ILLEGALS OUT, VETERANS IN🚨 Our new campaign, FREEDOM HAULERS, is reclaiming America's highways and putting Vets in the driver's seat ✅ Make up to six-figures ✅ Flexible schedule ✅ Medical benefits ✅ Training costs covered ✅ Sign-on bonuses Get on the road in a few… pic.twitter.com/j5vBCE49PO — Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) July 30, 2026 🚨ILLEGALS OUT, VETERANS IN🚨 Our new campaign, FREEDOM HAULERS, is recla...

By Tom Knighton Constitutional carry is the law in more than half of the states. That's fantastic news, but it's not the law of the land. I wish it were, but alas, we're a long way from that ever being the case. Still, we've made a lot of ground over the years, and I'm proud of where the gun rights movement has gotten us on the national level. There are state laws that need to be addressed, but they're coming down one by one, so that's good news, too. Because constitutional carry is so common now, it seems the folks at the Rockefeller Institute seem to believe that some laws are needed to... offset constitutional carry. The Rockefeller Institute of Government published a column on the rise of constitutional carry and suggested a number of gun controls to offset the permitless concealed carry scenario. The first gun control discussed by the institute “[restricts] where guns may be carried.” They noted that “many states” already make “bars, stad...

By Matt Margolis Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) torched Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in an impromptu interview with CNN’s Manu Raju, and boy, Sanders didn't take it well. The blowup is over Michigan's Senate primary , where Democrat voters look poised to hand their nomination to Abdul El-Sayed, a Democratic Socialist who has spent months running to the left of nearly everyone else in the race. His chief rival, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.), is clearly the more electable option, but El-Sayed looks like he’s going to win. A recent poll shows Republican Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) beating El-Sayed by 10 points in a general election matchup. Swap in Stevens against Rogers, and the race is a dead heat, within the margin of error. Sanders , of course, has thrown his weight behind El-Sayed, and Fetterman thinks that is a mistake. In fact, he said so bluntly to Raju in a rather scathing attack on Sanders. He brought up Sanders' lack of regret for propping up Graham Platner , even after...

The Trust Fund doesn't exist. It went away almost nine decades ago. (Shutterstock) By Alicia H. Munnell When thinking about how to fix Social Security, it is important to understand the reasons for the shortfall. If current benefits simply cost more than what today’s workers are paying, then the right action is to reduce benefits or raise payroll taxes. However, the cost of the shortfall lies elsewhere: the Missing Trust Fund. If Social Security were financed as a funded 401(k), it would require a combined employer-employee contribution of 11.7 percent of earnings to duplicate Social Security’s benefits at age 65 for the average earner (see Figure 1). Interestingly, this required contribution is very close to the 10.6-percent tax that employees and employers currently pay for Social Security retirement benefits. But Social Security is not financed like a 401(k) plan. Instead, it operates on a pay-as-you-go basis. That is, Social Security contributions are not investe...

By Ward Clark The Alien Terrorist Removal Court has been in place for 30 years and has been unused in all that time. Leave it to the Trump administration to fire this process up and use it to get, to put it mildly, undesirable people out of our country. Case in point: An Afghan alien who helped her son plot and fund a scheme to conduct mass shootings at polling places on Election Day, 2024. Her son is now in prison and will be deported after his sentence. Now, Nazira Haji Zada, who has been living in Fort Worth, Texas, has been arrested and will be repatriated to Afghanistan . Department of Justice Files First Case in U.S. Alien Terrorist Removal Court to Deport Afghan Alien Who Supported Her Family’s Plans for Election-Day Shooting “Congress created the Alien Terrorist Removal Court three decades ago to remove from the United States alien terrorists… pic.twitter.com/NPaO1BRInH — U.S. Department of Justice (@TheJusticeDept) July 30, 2026 The DOJ post reads: Department of Justice...

By AG News Staff Elon Musk is reviving his political operation to help Republicans defend their congressional majorities in an election year that has grown increasingly competitive. Musk is reactivating America PAC, the super PAC that spent more than $260 million helping elect President Donald Trump in 2024, according to people familiar with the plans. The group will focus on door-knocking, digital advertising and direct mail to turn out conservative voters, including many who typically skip midterm elections. Musk’s representatives have not disclosed a specific dollar figure for the 2026 effort, but given his 2024 spending, which made him the largest individual political donor in a single election cycle in American history, Republican operatives expect a substantial commitment. The renewed investment gives the GOP a formidable new asset heading into November. GOP super PACs and committees already hold more than a $300 million cash advantage over their Democratic counter...

By Ben Smith New York is demanding emissions data from ethanol and biodiesel plants hundreds of miles outside its borders, plants that may have no idea their fuel ever crossed into the Empire State. Iowa and Missouri are fighting back in federal court. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway renewed their case Wednesday in a joint op-ed , putting the constitutional principle plainly: "One state's authority ends where another state's sovereignty begins." Bird and Hanaway argue New York's greenhouse gas reporting rule can reach producers in their states simply because that fuel is later sold in New York, even when the producer never sold it there directly. Iowa, Missouri, and the American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce filed suit May 14 in federal court in Missouri. They're targeting the two New York officials responsible for enforcing the rule: Attorney General Letitia James and Department of Environmental Con...

By Ben Smith Two outgoing Republican senators managed to do Wednesday what Democrats could not: stop President Donald Trump's nominee for attorney general before his confirmation reached the Senate floor. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who lost his Republican primary after Trump backed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who is not seeking reelection, withheld support for Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) then postponed Thursday's committee vote because Blanche lacked sufficient support to advance. Neither Cornyn nor Tillis will be back for the next Congress. Both are now using the final months of their terms to hold Trump's nominee hostage over wording in the administration's settlement of the president's $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS. That settlement was a direct response to contractor Charles Littlejohn's theft of Trump's confidential tax records, which he han...

By David Manney Kirk Bangstad has spent years turning Minocqua Brewing Company into a political megaphone. In January, the brewery promised free beer on the day an unnamed target died. Later posts made clear President Donald Trump was the target. Fox News : On Jan. 22, the Minocqua Brewing Company appeared to suggest it would give free beer to patrons if Trump was killed, and while not explicitly using his name, posted on Facebook , "Free beer, all day long the day he dies." The post continued, "Show us this post when it happens in a few months and we’ll make good on that promise." The post was updated to say, "we meant the Madison Taproom because that’s open all year, if he dies in the summer, then it’s gonna be the Minocqua Taproom." In reply to comment on the post, the company also did not refer to Trump by name but said that the post hinted at a high-profile figure when asked whether the timeline for the deal could be moved up earlier. "Well...

It does not fire missiles, but Qatar wields extensive influence that endangers Israel by funding, propaganda and its ties with terrorist organizations. Experts warn Qatar poses a strategic threat. By Shachar Kleiman This week, the question of Israel's relationship with Qatar resurfaced. For years, the Gulf emirate has pursued a hostile policy that undermines Jerusalem's standing in the West, fuels hatred toward Israel and even supports its most brutal enemies. At the same time, senior officials, retired Israel Defense Forces officers and Israeli businesspeople have not hesitated to work with the Qataris when it suited their interests. Qatar experts who spoke with Israel Hayom painted a troubling picture of the network of ties between Jerusalem and Doha, but stressed that Israel needed a coherent and consistent policy. Improvised measures and populist declarations would only cause harm. "Qatar's reputation around the world has genuinely been tarnished,...