Free Republic

And you thought Octomom had her hands full—a Tennessee man who has fathered 30 children is asking the courts for a break on child support. Desmond Hatchett, 33, of Knoxville has children with 11 different women, reports WREG-TV. The state already takes half his paycheck and divides it up, which doesn't amount to much when Hatchett is making only minimum wage. Some of the moms receive as little as $1.49 a month. The oldest child is 14 years old. Hatchett explains how he reached such a critical mass: He had four kids in the same year. Twice.

An Aldi customer in Milwaukee who shot and wounded an armed robber is suing police for the return of his gun. Nazir Al-Mujaahid had a concealed weapons permit to carry the gun, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel blog Proof & Hearsay. In February, prosecutors said Al-Mujaahid was within his legal rights when he shot the man who pointed a shotgun at a cashier and then at Al-Mujaahid, according to a prior Journal Sentinel story. But police are keeping Al-Mujaahid’s gun as evidence in the case against two men accused in the robbery. Wisconsin Carry Inc., a gun rights group,...

Gov. Deval Patrick, who was first briefed on a long-running EBT-abuse investigation only hours before last week’s raids, defended the taxpayer-funded program again yesterday. Questioned about whether last week’s 53 arrests had changed his view of the program’s problems, Patrick responded: “This is a really important program. I think most people know that it provides modest benefits that help people with their housing, their employment, their education needs and obviously when that’s abused, that’s concerning to me, as it is to anyone else.” In recent weeks, Patrick had dismissed the Herald’s coverage of the welfare card issue as “the Herald...

BEVERLY — A Lowell man arrested Friday with nearly a half-pound of heroin was also carrying an EBT card belonging to a known drug user — a card that may have been collateral for a drug debt, police and prosecutors believe. Campeo A. Diaz-Carela, 43, is facing a minimum mandatory 15 years in prison if found guilty of trafficking heroin over 200 grams, the charge he was arraigned on yesterday in Salem District Court. Diaz-Carela was also arraigned on charges of giving police a false name, after initially producing identification that showed him as Abisay Montanez, 36. Among the documents...

Welfare spending overall has increased 41%, food stamp enrollment has gone up by 70% since Obama has been in office, 5.4 million people have signed up for Social Security Disability payments. Tack on the massive abuse of EBT cards like this heroin dealer: Kimball Clark, 45, was locked up Friday on drug-dealing charges — again — when he was overheard using his one phone call to ask the person on the other end of the line to “get my EBT card and go to the ATM and get the money to bail me out, get me outa here tonight,”...

CHINATOWN (CBS) – Boston police raided five stores in Chinatown Thursday morning in a crackdown on welfare fraud. The businesses were suspected of misusing Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards. Some are suspected of paying cash for the food assistance cards, which are limited in how they are used. Last year, the Legislature voted to prohibit the use of EBT cards to buy alcohol, tobacco or lottery tickets. Just last month, a special state commission recommended expanding those restrictions to include a ban on using the cards in nail salons, tattoo parlors, strip clubs and casinos.

Several days after state Rep. Russell E. Holmes (D-Boston) pleaded for EBT card reform at a State House press conference last week, he was hit with another reminder of the deep flaws in the system. Holmes was at the Roxbury Stop & Shop by Grove Hall last Sunday when someone approached him asking if he wanted to buy the man’s EBT card. “His price was 50 cents on the dollar,” Holmes said. “It’s not a surprise to me.” Holmes has spent the last few months on an EBT card commission trying to reform the system. “It’s something that’s prevalent,” Holmes...

Keywanda is having the time of her life. Her job is raising her family of 10 children while dealing with the drama and stress of the children's fathers. Thanks to the great state of California, Keywanda can support her lifestyle of having fun, getting "Turnt Up" and the kids can even get to eat from time to time.

Check out this Boston Police Department report from last Friday that you won't believe -- on second thought, you probably will believe it. A convicted heroin dealer in Roxbury used his one phone call to reach out to someone and demand that they use his EBT card at the ATM machine to get some cash to bail him out. Read my column about this in the Wednesday Herald. We'll also have Kimball Clark's mugshot and his rap sheet. And guess what we'll be talking about at 3:08 on the radio. (Column(s) to follow in thread)

Flaunting food stamps almost seems to be a trend. First, Mr. EBT released his now-infamous rap. Shortly thereafter, girls followed suit with their own version. Now, a night club in Montgomery, Ala., is hosting its very own “Food Stamp Friday” party. On April 6, the Rose Supper Club in North Montgomery will offer a discounted cover charge — and free shots — to any patron who flashes a food stamp card at the door. Not surprisingly, some Montgomery residents aren’t happy about the way the party seems to glamorize a life on government assistance.

Heard: high-level workers inside the USDA's SNAP program are planning a false-flag operation to ensure Obama's re-election. The plan, as I heard it from my source, is to hack or otherwise tamper with EBT accounts such that on 12:01 AM on the first day of the month (in states that fill accounts then) the welfare recipients will not have any more money on their EBT than they did. I understand that EBT recipients line up at midnight at the stores on the 1st so they can start buying. Then, when massive numbers of EBT holders are freaking out, the perps...

Of the many roles Pat Robertson has assumed over his five-decade-long career as an evangelical leader - including presidential candidate and provocative voice of the right wing - his newest guise may perhaps surprise his followers the most: marijuana legalization advocate. "I really believe we should treat marijuana the way we treat beverage alcohol," Mr. Robertson said in an interview on Wednesday. "I've never used marijuana and I don't intend to, but it's just one of those things that I think: this war on drugs just hasn't succeeded."

I saw an article a little while ago that I believe said the state of Maine had more people on the dole than there were taxpayers. I have been trying to figure out how many of the 19,378,102 persons living in New York are pulling the cart verse riding. I have tried all sorts of searches and all sorts of sites but I can’t seem to get the numbers for my state (New York). I am sure these numbers were figured on the last census and I have searched the census site and can’t seem to get up to date...

Outrageous! The Government Is Giving Out Free Cell Phones And Free Cell Phone Minutes To Welfare RecipientsMichael SnyderJanuary 29, 2012 Did you know that the federal government is giving out free cell phones and free cell phone minutes to welfare recipients? It may be hard to believe, but it is true. Right now, there are companies that are running advertisements specifically targeted at low income Americans informing them of the fact that all they have to do is sign up and they can get a free cell phone and hundreds of free cell phone minutes every single month and it...

LYNN — Police arrested a woman at a Lynn Stop & Shop Saturday after she allegedly stole $64 worth of soda cans from the store and attempted to feed them into a digital can return machine in exchange for money, according to a Lynn Police incident report. According to the report, Officer Craig Fountain was watching loss prevention video while on detail at the grocery store, located at 35 Washington St., around 8:45 p.m. when he observed 36-year-old Tina Cafarelli purchase 18 12-packs of assorted soda and pay with a state-issued electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card, which she allegedly also...

My recent excursion into the welfare system has left me scratching my head. Prior to writing and researching this project, my only impression of food stamps and similar welfare programs was that the credit only worked for certain items at certain stores and that an individual had to be in a particularly dire financial situation to receive such aid. I was wrong. An EBT card works and looks like a debit card, but instead of the user withdrawing money from a checking account, the government prepays an amount of money it deems necessary for the user’s food expenditures. Several of...

Beacon Hill Republicans are calling for a massive overhaul of the state’s welfare system after a crew of alleged Lynn grifters was charged with scamming thousands from taxpayer-funded EBT cards — including some who allegedly took the public money as payment for crack. “I want to see major reform here in Massachusetts,” fumed state Rep. Shaunna O’Connell, a Taunton Republican heading a legislative panel reviewing the EBT program. “You can spend that money on anything you want. There’s no oversight.”

Federal, state and Lynn cops busted up a welfare fraud ring at a pair of convenience stores today, arresting several people for allegedly ripping off taxpayers with government-issued EBT cards, the Herald has learned. Agents from the federal Department of Agriculture, state troopers assigned to Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett’s office and Lynn police raided two downtown stores this morning and arrested at least six people on fraud-related charges, sources told the Herald. The investigation focused on allegations that people with EBT cards — which are issued to the needy to purchase food — were being misused. Officers were still...

Why work in America?

California EBT: Life is good in California if you don't like to work!

If you want to know what the Occupy Wall Street movement is about; this is it! The American Taxpayer has awakened from its slumber and come to the realization that we can no longer afford all of these “pie in the sky” welfare programs. We’ve saddled future generations with nearly $15 trillion in debt and what do we have to show for it. The parasitic scum who live off these welfare programs now face the grim reality that they are actually going to have to work to subsist. When you back a foul and loathsome creature into a corner it...

A Brooklyn rapper is drawing heat from conservative bloggers upset over a YouTube video of him rhyming about trying to use his sister's food-stamps card to buy weed and beer. Stanley Lafleur, 24, has been called "lazy," a "leech" and the epitome of someone pimping the system since his video went viral. In the video, Lafleur, in a leather jacket and Yankee cap, struts from a bodega to a fast-food joint swiping a government-issued Electronic Benefit Transfer card to pay for mostly candy and chips. Rapping to a heavy beat, he even tries to used the EBT card to buy...

“I just swipe my EBT .. . Every day I get my ‘swipe’ on . . . I mean who cares? It’s the EBT it’s not food stamps.” — YouTube rap song, “My EBT.” Welcome to EBT Nation! Gone are the days of food stamps and social embarrassment. Forget using taxpayer benefits for government cheese and day-old bread. When you’re “EBT’n’ ” (like the cool kids call it), you’re livin’ large! Walk through Downtown Crossing, for example, and you’ll see signs at Tello’s for hip jeans, tops and lingerie. You’ll also see another sign: “We Accept EBT!” Now nobody’s going to confuse Tello’s with...

VIDEOWARNING: Strong language

It's free swipe your EBT

Video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o64Fz-KW1Dk. Drudge says: YOUTUBE HIT: SONG CELEBRATES WELFARE CARD! **WARNING CONTAINS GRAPHIC LANGUAGE** 'SWIPE! SWIPE!'...

Click to the video.

Found on the ground in the parking lot.

In an ever-growing number of states, if you crave a taco or fried chicken from a fast-food restaurant, you can pay for it with food stamps. Food stamps - known more formally as the USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program - have been in use for grocery staples, such as bread and milk, since 1934, but now, for the first time, they can be used for fast food in four states across the country. The number of businesses – including convenience and discount stores, gas stations and pharmacies – that have been approved to accept food stamps has increased by a...

Food Stamps Welcomed At Restaurants NOV. 23, 2010 By KATY GRIMES We’ve known for some time that there are abuses of electronic welfare benefit (EBT) cards in California. The EBTs are accepted nearly anywhere that sells food — grocery markets, convenience stores and even restaurants. Costco does not accept food stamps or EBT cards, but Trader Joe’s does. The cards also have a cash component; they come loaded with cash allowances in addition to the electronic benefits. What most people don’t know is that the government doesn’t keep a record of what is purchased with the cards. In the “Frequently...

Spurred by a newspaper's report that California's welfare debit cards can be used to withdraw cash in more than half the casinos in the state, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday issued an immediate ban on state-provided cash assistance at ATMs in gambling establishments. The Los Angeles Times disclosed that Electronic Benefit Transfer cards work in automated teller machines at 32 of 58 tribal casinos and 47 of 90 state-licensed poker rooms. The report also found the state Department of Social Services published a list of useable ATMs where the EBT cards that work like debit cards could be cashed. That...

Socialism run amok. Here in my State, the Socialist State of Kalifornia, we take a load of taxes from those who work and give it to any freeloader who wants it. Sure, there are those who need a helping hand for a few months until they find work....but in my experience working the streets of a low income area in South Central, many...MANY...of these people on welfare are just too lazy to get a job. Why should they? This state pays them more for doing nothing then they can make at a entry level job. If you add kids to...

When they tell you its for the kids, please reflect back on this blood curdling video:

While many of you have been downing beers, smoking cigarettes, and doing drugs on the government dime for years, how many of you knew your EBT cards could be used to pay for your gambling expenses and to chow down on fast food too? Just when you thought it could not get any better, your California EBT Cards are now welcomed at almost half the casinos and many of the fast food restaurants in the state.

While purchasing alcohol and drugs with your EBT (Food Stamps) card is illegal and is not condoned by this blog, it is surprisingly easy to do. Often it involves nothing more than a stroll to your local bodega. If you do not know what a bodega is, you are probably one of the fools paying for this program via your tax dollars. Since my last post Drug and Booze Stamps Compliments of USDA has made this site a haven for people in Brooklyn googling on how to purchase Beer with their EBT cards, I am offering the below training course...

Food Stamps Altering How Retailers Do Business Record number of Americans — 37 million — depend upon the benefit By Nicole Maestri and Lisa Baertlein SAN FRANCISCO/LOS ANGELES - At 11 p.m. on the last day of the month, shoppers flock to the nearest Walmart. They load their carts with food and household items and wait for the midnight hour. That's when food stamp credits are loaded on their electronic benefits transfer cards. "Once the clock strikes midnight and EBT cards are charged, you can see our results start to tick up," says Tom Schoewe, Wal-Mart Stores Inc's chief financial...

CHICAGO (AP) - Nearly half of all U.S. children and 90 percent of black youngsters will be on food stamps at some point during childhood, and fallout from the current recession could push those numbers even higher, researchers say. The estimate comes from an analysis of 30 years of national data, and it bolsters other recent evidence on the pervasiveness of youngsters at economic risk. It suggests that almost everyone knows a family who has received food stamps, or will in the future, said lead author Mark Rank, a sociologist at Washington University in St. Louis. "Your neighbor may be...