Free Republic

Once viewed as a quick, affordable meal, fast food is increasingly seen as a luxury by many Americans due to rising menu prices, according to a new LendingTree survey. The financial advice website recently asked more than 2,000 adults how they feel about -and how often they eat- fast food. Nearly 8 in 10 said they now view fast food as a “luxury,” and 62% said they are eating it less often because prices have gone up, the survey found. There was also a socioeconomic component.

IN THIS SPRING of 1953 the free world weighs one question above all others: the chance for a just peace for all peoples. To weigh this chance is to summon instantly to mind another recent moment of great decision. It came with that yet more hopeful spring of 1945, bright with the promise of victory and of freedom. The hope of all just men in that moment too was a just and lasting peace. The 8 years that have passed have seen that hope waver, grow dim, and almost die. And the shadow of fear again has darkly lengthened across...

NATO, the U.S.-led military alliance of Western nations, expressed condolences to the Iranian people for the death of their brutal president, Ebrahim Raisi, after he and other high-level officials were killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday. NATO spokeswoman Farah Dakhlallah posted on X: “Our condolences to the people of #Iran for the death of President Raisi, Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian, and others who perished in the helicopter crash.” Our condolences to the people of #Iran for the death of President Raisi, Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian, and others who perished in the helicopter crash. — NATO Spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah (@NATOpress) May 20,...

Buckets of blood dripped from Ebrahim Raisi, the 8th president of Iran, for his roles on the “Death Committee” and other atrocities under his direction. He wore a black turban to claim that he descended from the Prophet Muhammad. The Shiite president did not survive the helicopter crash of May 19, 2024. Who will mourn the death of an evil man who presided over the death and torture of so many? Dissidents were tortured, subjected to cruel inhuman treatment, and killed. A political purge against political dissidents lasted five months during 1988. Ordered by Ayatollah Khomeini, the “Death Committee” was...

“I love my job,” she told Carr. “I’ve always loved being a doctor and I delivered over 1,000 babies and I took care of families, but this is the very best work I’ve ever done in the last seven years. And people ask me why, and I think well, doctors like grateful patients, and nobody is more grateful than my patients now and their families.” Her euthanasia patients, it must be noted, are dead. As one disturbed watcher noted on social media: “Enjoying her job a little too much, I felt.” Many others concurred.

—In a huge city awash with tiny schools, few are smaller than the Hilda L. Solis Learning Academy. The public high school, housed in a former hospital in East Los Angeles, is down to 170 students from the surrounding Latino neighborhoods. On a hallway bulletin board, handwritten hearts display reasons students love the school, including, “how everyone knows each other” and “the fact that school is small.”

Restaurant chain Red Lobster could file for bankruptcy protection as early as next week, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. People familiar with the matter told the Journal that the company, overwhelmed with hundreds of millions in debt, plans to file a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition in Orlando before Memorial Day. Bloomberg previously reported in April that the restaurant company was considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Christopher Edley Jr., a prominent legal and public policy scholar who co-founded the Harvard Civil Rights Project with Dr. Gary Orfield, died over the weekend. He was 71. “Chris Edley was a smart, caring, determined advocate for justice who could move easily and powerfully through the mazes of top levels of law, politics, and research,” said Orfield, who is Distinguished Research Professor at UCLA Graduate School of Education and co-director of The Civil Rights Project at UCLA. “Working with him to create the Civil Rights Project was fascinating,” Orfield told Diverse. “He could take a complicated, heated, and many-sided debate...

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. believes abortion — even the murder of a full-term baby — should be a decision made by the mother. The presidential hopeful does not believe anyone should be able to step in and stop the murder of a full-term baby, making the remark during an interview with podcaster Sage Steele. Kennedy said he believes that the government should not be involved in determining if and when a woman can have an abortion. “We should leave it to the woman. We shouldn’t have government involved,” he said. “Even if it’s full-term?” she asked. “Even...

WASHINGTON (7News) — An investigation is underway after a man died in a crash near the White House on Saturday evening, according to the Metropolitan Police Department. At around 10:45 p.m., D.C. police said they responded to the intersection of 15th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in Northwest, D.C. for reports of a crash. When they arrived, they located a man and pronounced him dead on the scene.

Fidelity’s 2024 State of Retirement Planning shows that TikToker @my_secrets_untold is part of the “new retirement,” wherein 57% of Americans plan to keep working after retirement — at least part-time. Of those planning to delay retirement, two-thirds are in the same boat as @my_secrets_untold: they’re doing it out of financial necessity. Working past 65 will give you a greater safety net because you’ll still have income coming in. You can’t just rely on Social Security, which currently doesn’t offer most retirees enough money to live on — particularly when paying for health care (a major concern for many Fidelity respondents)....

Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (D-N.J.) has passed away from complications after suffering a heart attack on April 6. Payne never regained consciousness after the cardiac arrest and was kept alive on a ventilator in the intensive care unit at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center. He was 65 years old. "Tammy and I are deeply saddened by the tragic passing of our friend, and a steadfast champion for the people of New Jersey, Congressman Donald Payne, Jr.," wrote New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy in a statement released just after noon ET on Wednesday. Payne's office originally attempted to depict the heart...

Soulful gospel artist Mandisa, a Grammy-winning singer who got her start as a contestant on “American Idol” in 2006, has died, according to a statement on her verified social media. She was 47. “We can confirm that yesterday Mandisa was found in her home deceased. At this time we do not know the cause of death or any further details,” the post reads. “We ask for your prayers for her family and close knit circle of friends during this incredibly difficult time. Mandisa was a voice of encouragement and truth to people facing life’s challenges all around the world.” Mandisa...

"World-renowned Belgian virologist Dr. Geert Vanden Bossche has another warning for the public: the mass collapse of immunity among the fully vaccinated is upon us."

EXCLUSIVE: The Biden campaign said it does not want the votes of those caught on video chanting "Death to America" during a recent anti-Israel rally in the 2024 battleground state of Michigan. A Dearborn crowd was led in chants of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" by Michigan-based activist Tarek Bazzi during last Friday’s International Al-Quds Day rally. When asked if the president was still courting those agitators, who typically lean Democrat, Biden campaign spokesperson Charles Lutvak replied, "No." Bazzi’s remarks were also denounced by the White House. "The White House condemns these abhorrent and antisemitic remarks in the...

"I didn't buy groceries last pay period" "You know why?" "I currently am being charged over $200 a month, for a CARBON TAX" "There's an extra $40 on my gas bill and $187 extra on my hydro bill" "Canadians are suffering" "I fill my SUV to go to work and it used to cost me $71. Now it costs me $98" "It shouldn't have to be this way" "It's sad" "I work full time" https://media2.giphy.com/media/3oEjI8Kq5HhZLCrqBW/giphy.gif

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released previously hidden reports of facial paralysis and other adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination.The 780,000 reports were received shortly after the COVID-19 vaccines were rolled out, and show people experienced a wide range of post-vaccination problems, including heart inflammation, miscarriages, and seizures.“Loss of consciousness and seizure immediately following injection. Went to ER by ambulance,” one person reported.“Diagnosed with Bells Palsy today due to left-sided facial numbness and paralysis,” another said.People lodged the reports with V-safe, a text-message system created by the CDC to monitor for possible side effects of COVID-19...

Tens of thousands of American families continue to demand justice for what they believe are the wrongful deaths (murders) of loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic. Such justice soon may be coming due in large part to the dedicated efforts of two attorneys in Florida (working pro bono) to thoroughly research the criminal codes of 25 states to identify crimes committed by various high-level officials and organizations prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the attorneys, a former prosecutor, prepared extensive legal briefs (documenting strong evidence of crimes) that have been submitted to the attorneys general of Texas...

Surgery patients on blockbuster weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy could be at risk of choking to death, a study warns. Researchers in California looked at nearly 1 million Americans who had an endoscopy, which examines the upper digestive tract. They found that patients who underwent the procedure - which involves inserting a tube with a camera on the end down the throat while the patient is sedated- were 33 percent more likely to suffer aspiration pneumonia. This causes food, liquids, or saliva to get sucked into the airway, which could lead to choking and kills nearly 60,000 Americans a...

Subtitle: A Canadian judge has ordered an injunction from a father to be lifted so that his 27-year-old autistic daughter can be permitted to undergo a doctor-assisted suicide. On March 14, I reported on the story of a 27-year-old Albertan woman with autism who had been approved for euthanasia in December; she was planning to receive a lethal injection on February 1 when her father, whom she lives with, successfully obtained a temporary court injunction the day prior. Her father argued that her autism and “possibly other undiagnosed maladies do not satisfy the eligibility criteria for MAiD [Medical Assistance in...