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Melania Makes Surprise Trip to Texas, Visits Children Housed in Detention Facility

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First lady Melania Trump made an unannounced visit to a Texas facility Thursday to get a first-hand look at some of the migrant children sent there by the U.S. government after their families entered the country illegally.

The first lady’s stop at Upbring New Hope Children’s Center in McAllen came the morning after President Donald Trump signed an executive order halting the practice of separating these families. Trump had come under pressure to stop the practice, including from GOP allies and the first lady herself, following a public outcry sparked by widespread images of children held in fence-like structures.

The trip was intended to lend support to those children who remain separated from their parents, said Stephanie Grisham, the first lady’s spokeswoman.

“She wanted to see everything for herself,” Grisham said.

Accompanied by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Mrs. Trump met with the executive director of the facility and other staff in a makeshift conference room where she was told the staff treated the 58 children housed there as if they were their own.

The first lady asked that the children be reunited with their families “as quickly as possible.”

The trip came together within the past 48 hours, Grisham said.

“She told her staff she wanted to go and we made that happen,” she said.

The president, speaking at a Cabinet meeting, said that his wife was “down at the border,’” and Grisham said the first lady had the full backing of her husband.

“She told him ‘I am headed down to Texas’ and he was supportive,” Grisham said.

Mrs. Trump, whose focus as first lady is on child well-being, appears to have been among those pushing her husband to act.

Grisham released a statement last weekend saying the first lady “hates” to see children separated from their families and “believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart.”

Hours before Trump used his executive order to halt family separations, a White House official let it be known that Mrs. Trump had been voicing her opinion to the president for some time, including that he needed to help families stay together.

Trump acknowledged Wednesday that the mother of his 12-year-old son, Barron, had been prodding him.

“My wife feels very strongly about it,” he told reporters after he signed the order.

The pair of statements from the first lady amounted to an unusual public intervention by Mrs. Trump into a policy debate. Her four former living predecessors, seemingly encouraged after Laura Bush authored a scathing opinion piece, followed with sharper commentary of their own condemning the family separations as shameful.

The last-minute trip to Texas marks the first public action by Mrs. Trump since she announced in May an initiative named “Be Best” to focus on the overall well-being of children and help teach them kindness. She had been expected to travel to promote the campaign but was sidelined a week after the announcement following surgery to treat a benign kidney condition. (For more from the author of “Melania Makes Surprise Trip to Texas, Visits Children Housed in Detention Facility” please click HERE)

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Billboard Directs Liberals to Keep Driving Until They Leave the State. It’s Coming Down Soon.

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By The Blaze. A Texas billboard, which gained national attention for its message that directed liberals to keep on driving until they’ve left the state, will come down soon, according to USA Today.

“Liberals please continue on I-40 until you have left our GREAT STATE OF TEXAS,” the billboard says, as shown in a photo taken by Kyle Mccallie, who noticed the sign while driving to work. . .

“I was shocked that it traveled that fast,” [Randy] Burkett [of Burkett advertising] told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “I believe in free speech, but this country is divided enough as it is. I’ve spoken with the client, and he’s agreed that it should come down. We’ll be reimbursing him.” . . .

In protest, Roman Leal created a GoFundMe account on Tuesday to raise money for a billboard to counter the sign’s message to liberals:

We need a sign that represents the true, hospitable spirit of the great state of Texas. “Texas is for Everyone — Except Bigots” will go up on the Lamar digital billboard at I40 and Coulter. It will be visible to travelers and commuters driving along the interstate in Amarillo, giving us a chance to put our best boot forward. Meeting the campaign goal will keep the billboard up for 4 weeks. Any contributions exceeding the goal will be used to pay for a longer duration.

(Read more from “Billboard Directs Liberals to Keep Driving Until They Leave the State. It’s Coming Down Soon.” HERE)

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Texas Billboard That Tells ‘Liberals’ to Keep Driving Will Come Down

By USA Today. A billboard in the Texas panhandle that gained national attention for its message urging “liberals” to keep driving until they leave the state will be coming down.

“Liberals please continue on I-40 until you have left our GREAT STATE OF TEXAS,” the sign reads, according to a photo taken by Kyle Mccallie.

That photo has been shared more than 10,000 times on Facebook.

Burkett Outdoor Advertising, the company that owns the sign, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that the sign would be taken down after all the attention, much of it negative.

“I was shocked that it traveled that fast,” Randy Burkett, the company’s owner, told the newspaper. “I believe in free speech, but this country is divided enough as it is. I’ve spoken with the client, and he’s agreed that it should come down. We’ll be reimbursing him.” (Read more from “Texas Billboard That Tells ‘Liberals’ to Keep Driving Will Come Down” HERE)

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Grandmother Fights Back After Teens Force Their Way Into Her Home, Hold Husband at Gunpoint

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By The Blaze. . .Christina Nichols answered a knock at her front door Tuesday when the teens took her off guard. . .

Two of them held Nichols back while a third aimed a gun at her husband. Nichols, who has been married for more than 50 years, told the TV station she was not prepared to live without her husband. That’s when her fighting instincts took over.

Nichols, who is in her 70s, stomped on the boy who was holding her and bent his thumbs back.

“He dragged me out into this hallway and then he gave me a big shove and I went down,” she told the TV station.

Nichols yelled out to her grandson, who was in another room. But the teens ran out of the home before he could get to them, according to the report. Police believe one of the the intruders may be as young as age 14. (Read more from “Grandmother Fights Back After Teens Force Their Way Into Her Home, Hold Husband at Gunpoint” HERE)

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Texas Grandmother Fights Back After Teens Storm Into Her Home

By CBS DFW. The DeSoto Police Department said on Thursday afternoon, “All three suspects have been identified and charges are being filed for the offense.” . . .

“That’s why I opened the door because all I saw was a young boy standing there,” said Nichols. “Who expects something like this from a young kids. I didn’t even see the other two. They must have been hiding somewhere out of sight.” . . .

“And the other kid grabbed me from behind like on my chin and the other hand went over my mouth,” she said.

The teens ran out of the house before her grandson could get to them.

Nichols has some scrapes and bruises and nothing from her home was stolen. (Read more from “Texas Grandmother Fights Back After Teens Storm Into Her Home” HERE)

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Father of Texas Mass Killer Reveals What He Believes Was Behind the Deadly Massacre

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By The Blaze. The father of Santa Fe High School’s mass killer has spoken out on his beliefs as to why his son committed the atrocity that ended the lives of 10 people on Friday. . .

On Monday, the killer’s father told The Wall Street Journal that his son was a “good boy” and said that bullying was likely behind the cold and calculated execution of 10 people inside Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas. . .

“I believe that’s what was behind [the massacre],” the father said.

The father said that his life as a Greek immigrant in the U.S. has been pleasant up to this point, noting that he left his village in northern Greece when he was just 12 years old. . .

“He never got into a fight with anyone. I don’t know what happened,” he told Greek Antenna TV, according to the Post. “I hope God helps me and my family understand. We are all devastated. It would have been better if he shot me than all those kids.” (Read more from “Father of Texas Mass Killer Reveals What He Believes Was Behind the Deadly Massacre” HERE)

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Texas Shooting Suspect Won’t Face Death Penalty, Could Be Paroled

By USA Today. The suspect in Friday’s school shooting may be considered an adult in Texas state courts, but he cannot face the death penalty, according to a 2005 federal Supreme Court ruling.

For 100 years, Texas has considered 17-year-olds to be adults when they commit crimes, according to research from The Marshall Project. And Dimitrios Pagourtzis was charged Friday as an adult with capital murder and aggravated assault on a peace officer.

But the 2005 high court ruling that bans execution of criminals younger than 18 and a 2012 ruling about juveniles facing life in prison mean that Pagourtzis could be up for parole after 40 years.

“The courts ruled based on the idea that those 17 and younger don’t have the cognitive development to appreciate right from wrong,” said Michael Radelet, a University of Colorado at Boulder sociology professor who has testified in more than 75 death-penalty cases. “Cases like this that are especially violent and an enigma make some people think they are more deserving of death, but the ruling is about the development of the juvenile brain.” (Read more from “Texas Shooting Suspect Won’t Face Death Penalty, Could Be Paroled” HERE)

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‘We’ve Devalued Life’: Texas Lt. Gov Says Abortion, Violent Games and Divorce Play Part in Shootings

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By ABC News. The Texas lieutenant governor, speaking two days after 10 people were killed in a school shooting in his state, said abortion, divorce and violent video games and movies show that ‘we have devalued life,’ which he pointed to as a cause of school shootings.

Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos on “This Week” Sunday, “We have devalued life, whether it’s through abortion, whether it’s the breakup of families, through violent movies, and particularly violent video games.”

Patrick continued, “Psychologists and psychiatrists will tell you that students are desensitized to violence, may have lost empathy for their victims by watching hours and hours of video violent games.”

He said, “the problem is multifaceted. It’s not any one issue. But we, again, we have to look at our culture of violence, just our violent society, our Facebook, our Twitter, the bullying of adults on adults, and children on children. We have to look at ourselves, George, it’s not about the guns, it’s about us.” . . .

The Republican lieutenant governor also said, “We can’t sit back and say, ‘It’s the gun.’ It’s us as a nation, George … On this Sunday morning, when we all go to church and pray or go to synagogue or the mosque or wherever we go, let’s look inward at ourselves as a nation.” (Read more from “‘We’ve Devalued Life’: Texas Lt. Gov Says Abortion, Violent Games and Divorce Play Part in Shooting” HERE)

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Sheriff: Texas Deputies and Alleged Santa Fe Gunman Exchanged Fire for 25 Minutes

By Fox 6. A shooting at a Texas high school lasted for a terrifying 30 minutes on Friday. For 25 of those minutes, officers and the gunman engaged in a gunfight, Galveston County Sheriff Henry Trochesset told CNN Sunday.

The first shots were fired not long after classes began around 7:30 a.m. (8:30 a.m. ET), officials said. Officers arrived to the Santa Fe High School art lab section about four minutes into the shooting, Trochesset said, and engaged the shooter right away.

A total of 10 people — eight students and two teachers — were killed and 13 were injured as a result of the shooting. Dimitrios Pagourtzis, 17, was identified as the shooter. He was armed with a shotgun and a .38 caliber handgun.

When asked whether all of the victims were shot by Pagourtzis, Trochesset said authorities will have to learn that after the medical examiner autopsies are complete.

There is a “decent amount of cameras in the school,” Trochesset said, so a lot of video does exist. Investigators are going through all of the video and putting together a timeline, Trochesset said. (Read more from “Sheriff: Texas Deputies and Alleged Santa Fe Gunman Exchanged Fire for 25 Minutes” HERE)

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Texas Governor Says School Shooter Illegally Possessed Weapons

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By The Daily Wire. On Friday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said at a press conference that the alleged 17-year-old shooter who killed several of his classmates at Santa Fe High School was illegally in possession of his weapons.

According to Abbott, the shooter was in illegal possession of a .38 revolver and a shotgun that he obtained from his father.

(Read more from “Texas Governor Says School Shooter Illegally Possessed Weapons” HERE)

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Student Says School Shooter Was Picked on by Coaches, Wore Trench Coat Daily

By The Daily Wire. On Friday, a student told a local Texas news station that the alleged Santa Fe High School shooter wore a trench coat every day in the hot Texas weather and was picked on by coaches.

A reporter for Click2Houston interviewed an unidentified student from the school and asked him what he knew about the alleged shooter.

“He’s been picked on by coaches before for smelling bad and stuff like that and he doesn’t really talk to very many people,” the student said. “He wears a trench coat every day and it’s like 90 degrees out here.”

“I heard that he wore a shirt today and it said ‘born to kill,’ the shirt he was wearing, I don’t even know how the school can allow that,” the student continued.

The reporter then asked the student about his reaction to the school’s handling of the shooting, asking him if they handled it appropriately. (Read more from “Student Says School Shooter Was Picked on by Coaches, Wore Trench Coat Daily” HERE)

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Bump Stock Inventor’s Company Shutting down Its Website and Will Cease Taking Orders Next Month

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Slide Fire Solutions based out of Moran, Texas has announced it is shutting down its website and will cease taking orders for the product it invented and manufactures: bump stocks.

In a statement on its website, Slide Fire said, “On Sunday, May 20, 2018 at midnight CDT, Slide Fire will cease taking orders for its products and shut down its website. Orders places prior to May 20th, 2018 will all be processed and shipped. We thank you for your support.”

The bump stock firearm accessory gained national attention after it was utilized during a mass murder in Las Vegas last fall. A bump stock device is used to increase the firing rate of semi-automatic weapons.

Shortly after the killings, the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence teamed up with Las Vegas law firm Eglet Prince to announce a class-action lawsuit against manufacturers, marketers and sellers of bump stocks; Slide Fire was included as a defendant.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives gave Slide Fire the go-ahead to produce bump stocks in 2010, in light of the fact that the agency has no authority over firearm accessories. But in the aftermath of the Las Vegas murders, the NRA raised eyebrows by expressing their support in regulating bump stocks. The ATF is currently exploring options for banning the devices. (Read more from “Bump Stock Inventor’s Company Shutting down Its Website and Will Cease Taking Orders Next Month” HERE)

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Woman Calls Cops on Man at the Park Because of His Pro-Gun Shirt

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By Bizpac Review. A Texas woman called the police when she became suspicious of a man at a children’s’ playground.

But the man, a father who was there with his own two daughters, had done nothing wrong except wear a T-shirt that offended the woman.

Troy Johnston, who was at a Benbrook playground where his four and six-year old daughters were playing, was legally and openly carrying his firearm on a holster on his hip, according to Blue Lives Matter. But it wasn’t the gun that set the woman off, it was Johnston’s shirt which read, “I’ll control my guns, you control your kids.”

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A man and his family reportedly approached Johnston a short time after he had been there letting the father know a woman was “fuming” over Johnston’s shirt and the fact that he was armed.

“I thanked him for letting me know, and continued playing with my kids,” Johnson said, before another family approached him and asked to read what his shirt said. (Read more from “Woman Calls Cops on Man at the Park Because of His Pro-Gun Shirt” HERE)

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Woman Calls Police Over Man Wearing Pro-Gun T-Shirt at Park

By Blue Lives Matter. A short while later, another man and his family approached Johnston, and asked to read his shirt, he said.

Johnston showed him his shirt, at which point the man warned him that his father-in-law had just been harassed by woman in the parking lot, and that she was contacting police regarding Johnson’s attire.

The man told Johnston that he didn’t know “what was wrong with her,” and that he actually “felt more secure knowing there was someone there that would protect them,” Johnston said.

Although he had intended to leave prior to his conversation with the second man, Johnston said he opted to wait for police once he became aware that they had likely been called to the area.

According Benbrook Police Department (BPD) Corporal J. Reese, a woman contacted the department at approximately 3:21 p.m., and reported a “suspicious person” with a “gun holstered to his chest,” was wearing a shirt that read “You control your kids, I’ll control my guns.” (Read more from “Woman Calls Police Over Man Wearing Pro-Gun T-Shirt at Park” HERE)

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Councilwoman Triggered by Teen’s TRUMP Shirt, Faces Charge for Berating Group of ‘Scared’ Girls

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By Bizpac Review. A Texas councilwoman is facing misdemeanor charges after a MAGA shirt sparked an anti-Trump outburst.

West University Place Councilwoman Kellye Burke was accused of yelling obscenities Saturday at a group of teenage girls over a Trump T-shirt, KPRC2 reported.

Investigators at the Harris County Precinct One Constable’s Office filed a “class C misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge” against Burke, a volunteer for @MomsDemand.

The girls, who did not want to be identified for fear of retaliation, were confronted by the councilwoman while they waited on line to buy cookies at a local shop, according to KPRC2.

“A tall, short-haired blond woman came up to them and screamed, ‘Grab em by the (expletive) girls!’” the father of one of the girls said, adding that the teens tried to laugh off the incident at first. (Read more from “Councilwoman Triggered by Teen’s TRUMP Shirt, Faces Charge for Berating Group of ‘Scared’ Girls” HERE)

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West U Councilwoman Accused of Yelling Obscenities at Teen Wearing Trump Shirt Releases Statement

By Click 2 Houston. Investigators at the Harris County Precinct One Constable’s Office on Wednesday filed a disorderly conduct charge against West University Place Councilwoman Kellye Burke, after accusations that she berated a group of teenage girls over a Trump T-shirt . . .

The father said the girls left without responding to the woman. He said one of the girls said she noticed that Burke had taken a picture of her.

“They were scared,” the father said. “They were absolutely scared. My little girl essentially wanted to know if this woman was going to hurt her.” . . .

He said Burke reached out to his wife, and met with and apologized to both of them.

“We accepted her apology,” the father said. “I would be just as angry if any parent said this to my child but as an elected official I’ll let her voters handle this matter. (Read more from “West U Councilwoman Accused of Yelling Obscenities at Teen Wearing Trump Shirt Releases Statement” HERE)

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A Megachurch Just Did Something HUGE for U.S. Families

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A Texas megachurch has blessed more than 4,000 families within a 20-mile radius of each of its five campuses this Easter by paying off their medical debt totaling more than $10.5 million.

Stephen Hayes, senior pastor of Covenant Church based in Carrollton, announced during his Easter Sunday sermon that thanks to generous giving by church members, the church had enough extra funds to donate $100,000 to an organization that purchases medical debt for pennies on the dollar and forgives individuals and families of their debt.

“What if we bought up some of this medical debt and write on the letters, ‘We are Covenant Church and we are local in this area and we can serve you in any way and we would love to be your church. But even if we don’t get to meet you, just know that God loves you,'” Hayes said . . .

Initially, the church wanted to designate $50,000 to veterans with medical debt within a 20-mile radius of each of the campuses and $50,000 to families with medical debt within 20 miles . . .

“Right now, there is no veteran in our radius where we minister that will have [medical] debt from this day forward,” Hayes said, adding that many of them suffered injuries caused by war. “It is already paid. Really cool.” (Read more from “A Megachurch Just Did Something HUGE for U.S. Families” HERE)

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