Free Republic

The welfare state and socialist redistribution schemes demoralize and debase a society I am a Star Trek fan, like millions and millions of others on the planet. In later versions of the franchise, the great threat to the star fleet and the Federation was the Borg. The Borg, if I remember correctly, was about the collective—that total lack of individuality among beings and a complete lack of liberty for those civilizations that had been conquered. If one did not submit, then elimination of that civilization was the obligation of the Borg. Their goal was perfection. Does any of this sound...

Times change, attitudes change, and (thankfully) hairstyles change. In the last few years we’ve been witness to one amazing change that is surprising in its speed – the idea that adults should be allowed to smoke marijuana, either for medical purposes or because they want to. There’s no reason to think this trend will ever reverse itself. In the interest of full disclosure, while it’s been more than a decade, I am intimately familiar with marijuana. I didn’t experiment with it, I majored in it in college. But, like most people, I grew out of it. I didn’t make a...

Who doesn’t love a pay rise? Or a windfall. Or a boost in the return of your savings or investments? Sometimes, however, depending on your circumstances, a marginal pay rise can cost you more than you might think. Take a €5,000 pay rise, for example. The net return to you of this is just €2,400, or €216 a month, if you’re a higher-rate taxpayer. And yet it could put you out of reach of getting a grant for third level, which could be worth about €72,000 for three children; from getting a medical card in your senescence, and discounted childcare....

Violent crime, including murders, are increasing in Denver and Colorado, according to new statistics from police and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Murders in Colorado have jumped 27 percent in the last three years. In 2015 there were 173 murders, while there were 220 in 2017. ... murders in Denver have increased six percent in the last year. So far in 2018, there have been 51 murders, compared to 48 at this time last year, according to Denver Police. Police say the increase is because there are more incidents where multiple people have been killed. ... And for some perspective...

The central premise of my new book – that the plantation defines not merely the origin but the entire history of the Democratic Party – will seem at the first glance, and for those unfamiliar with my previous work, far-fetched or even crazy. The old Democratic plantation system, after all, was involuntary; it was based on forcibly confining slaves. Today, however, the Democrats don’t have anyone penned up in this way, and they certainly aren’t forcing anyone to work. This objection, however, can be answered by recalling how the antebellum Democrats regarded the old plantation. Democratic Sen. James Chesnut regarded...

After mentioning the Heritage Foundation in one of my columns in the Staten Island Advance, I received an invite to their annual Christmas party at the Union league Club in Manhattan. After exchanging a few words with a reporter from Associated Press, he said. "How come a woman like you, who grew up in the barrio, ended up being a Republican?" My standard answer to that inquiry has always been, "high IQ." However my answer, while facetious, was not entirely descriptive of my electoral registration choice. It was more my maverick Aquarian nature that compelled me to decline joining my...

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Friday called NBC News’ report that said the Pentagon was in “damage-control” mode to reassure NATO allies after President Trump’s visit “fiction.” Mattis, during a press gaggle on the way to Oslo, Norway, brought up the report, which claimed that “hours” after Trump departed NATO, U.S. military leaders embarked on a “full-scale” damage-control operation across Europe. The report said U.S. military leaders were “directed by the Pentagon leadership” in response to Trump threatening to reassess U.S. commitments in the region. “That was fascinating. I love reading fiction, so it was stimulating to read it,” he...

Overall enrollment in the country’s food stamp program has dropped to its lowest level in more than eight years as the economy continues to improve and the Trump administration attempts to tackle fraud in the program. According to the latest statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), enrollment in the program dropped in March to 40,083,954. The last time food stamp participation dipped this low was in February 2010, when 39,588,993 people were enrolled in the program. "As the economy continues to improve, participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is...

Social Security will spend more than it collects this year, the program’s trustees said Tuesday, marking the first time in more than 35 years that it will run an annual deficit as it slides toward insolvency by 2034. Medicare’s main trust fund is in even worse shape, scheduled to hit insolvency in 2026 — three years earlier than last year’s estimate, the trustees said. The twin warnings add even more pressure to a budget already strained by last year’s tax cuts and this year’s deal to boost spending on defense and basic domestic needs, leaving few bright spots in the...

. . .we need to discuss the fact that immigration is changing, and has already changed, America’s political landscape—for better or worse. For example: with the exception of the anomaly of Ross Perot in 1992 splitting the Republican vote, American-born voters have not elected a Democrat as president since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. That is, every Democratic president since then—Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton (second term), and Barack Obama—won because the immigrant voting block tipped the scales in his favor. Another example: since 1960 California’s population exploded from 15.9 to 39 million people. This growth was almost entirely due to...

After eight years of budget cutting, Britain is looking less like the rest of Europe and more like the United States, with a shrinking welfare state and spreading poverty. PRESCOT, England — A walk through this modest town in the northwest of England amounts to a tour of the casualties of Britain’s age of austerity. The old library building has been sold and refashioned into a glass-fronted luxury home. The leisure center has been razed, eliminating the public swimming pool. The local museum has receded into town history. The police station has been shuttered. Now, as the local government desperately...

$100 million in taxpayer cash shipped out of country in past year alone. At the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, the carry-on bag bulged with $1 million in cash from a welfare rip-off scheme. The loot was headed for Somalia, some of it to regions controlled by the al Shabaab terrorist group, and this shipment was part of $100 million sent over the past year alone. This scheme was not uncovered by the New York Times, CNN, “Frontline” or any “investigative” journalist in the old-line establishment media. It came to light in “Millions of dollars in suitcases fly out of MSP,...

Together with the death of Charlie Gard last year, whom British authorities would not allow to be taken to the United States for an experimental treatment, Evans’ death seems to confirm British policy in such matters: children belong to the state, and when the state decides that they should die, they will die. Extraordinary international efforts were undertaken to save the boy’s life. Italy, which granted Evans citizenship, kept a specially equipped plane from the Italian defense ministry on standby to transport the boy to a Vatican hospital in case the U.K. courts ordered his release. Pope Francis issued a...

As any New Yorker knows, finding an apartment is not easy. The city’s affordable housing lottery was set up to assist residents, but applying for the lottery takes time and patience. Brooklyn resident Maria Martinez told PIX11 she’s been applying faithfully for 20 years, since the inception of the lottery program. Speaking through a translator, she said the process is frustrating. “You keep applying. You hope you end up with a home, but it hasn’t happened for me yet,” Martinez said. Martinez currently rents a one-bedroom apartment in Williamsburg. She lives with her husband and two teenage children. “Sometimes I...

I got a hold of this far-left book, "The Emotional Politics of Racism". The author, as usual, using the same liberal talking points, attacking Aemrican middle class taxpayers for worrying about "welfare recipients", attacking "law and order as racist", etc. "Shaming the poor". "Shaming illegal immigrants". Is their goal really to keep people poor or to play political games? It's sickening and sad. http://www.cronistas.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/The-Emotional-Politics-of-RacismDr.Soc_.pdf

Advocates of universal basic income believe that the unconditional offer of a regular, though tiny, sum of money could help many get back on their feet, and even encourage them to invest in new business ideas. However, people from both sides of the political aisle have engaged with the proposal, which would cost money upfront but could deliver important savings by replacing unemployment benefits...

The Government is to cut the controversial six-week wait for Universal Credit payments in the comings days in a bid to see off a Conservative rebellion. Universal Credit combines six benefits into one single benefit and is designed to simplify the welfare system and to "make work pay". It was the flagship welfare reform of David Cameron's coalition government, but has been plagued with delays since its inception and by criticism over its design. One flaw is the six-week wait time which has been criticised across the political divide amid concerns it is pushing claimants into arrears on rent and...

For thirteen years in a row, Business Insider – citing its standard of living, health-care system, and high life expectancy – has put Norway at the top of its annual list of “best countries to live in.” The high life expectancy is an objective fact; the other items are a matter of debate. Norwegian health care? It works admirably, unless you require an operation or treatment that the government considers too expensive or for which there's a waiting list. Standard of living? Incomes are high, but so are taxes. But I'm not here to argue with Business Insider's rankings. I'm...

RUSH: This will be a great opportunity to delve into the Walter Williams column that I referred to earlier. It’s got nothing to do with the NFL. I mean, that’s not why he wrote it. It comes from way back on September 20th, about a week ago, and the title of his column… Where did this run? The link is so tiny, I can’t read it. It looks like the Daily Signal. “The Black Family Is Struggling, and It’s Not Because of Slavery.” Now, Walter Williams is a former guest host here. He’s brilliant guy, very conservative individual. Let me...

Giving every adult in the United States a $1000 cash handout per month would grow the economy by $2.5 trillion by 2025, according to a new study on universal basic income. The report was released in August by the left-leaning Roosevelt Institute. Roosevelt research director Marshall Steinbaum, Michalis Nikiforos at Bard College's Levy Institute, and Gennaro Zezza at the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio in Italy co-authored the study. [snip] These estimates are based on a universal basic income paid for by increasing the federal deficit. As part of the study, the researchers also calculated the effect to the...