Free Republic

Government numbers say America is seeing about 1 in 7 people struggling with food insecurity... The nonprofit Feeding America says its research shows that Americans’ salaries aren’t keeping up with the price of necessities. Now, the government numbers say we’re seeing about 1 in 7 people struggling with food insecurity. ... Jen Muzia with the Seattle Ballard Foodbank says running the food bank has become much more expensive. "It’s not only our guests that come in to shop, we’re also seeing it on us as we go to buy food. It’s costing us way more to buy food ... the...

Three professional bootmakers told Politico Magazine they believe Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) is likely wearing lifts in his boots following his viral interview with podcaster Patrick Bet-David, who brought up allegations that he has heels inside of them. In the article published Tuesday, Politico Magazine’s Derek Guy noted that three bootmakers, including Zephan Parker, who owns the Houston, Texas-based Parker Boot Company, said that DeSantis’s boots are altered to accommodate lifts. “I’ve dealt with these politicians many times,” Parker told the outlet. “I’ve helped them with their lifts. [DeSantis] is wearing lifts; there’s no doubt.”“3 Expert Shoemakers Say Ron DeSantis...

Presidential candidate Ron DeSantis hasn't been doing all that well in the polls compared to his rival, Donald Trump, and according to jokes that have followed to the Florida governor for roughly a year, he may be seeking a "boost" in the form of high-heeled shoes. This recently caught the attention of former President Trump, who reposted a popular meme of DeSantis supposedly wearing high-heeled boots on a recent clip with Bill Maher, meaning there's a good chance Trump's next lowbrow line of attack will involve mocking DeSantis' footwear. Here's how DeSantis' shoes entered the national Republican presidential conversation. Why...

Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday his endorsements won Ron DeSantis the Florida governor’s seat. But he said DeSantis, now seen as Trump’s primary rival for the GOP presidential nomination, could have been more gracious. Trump spoke exclusively to NewsNation about DeSantis, midterms and election integrity. The full interview with NewsNation’s Markie Martin will air at 6 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. CT on NewsNation. Use our Channel Finder page here to learn how to watch NewsNation. “He was not going to be able to even be a factor in the race,” Trump said, referring to the GOP gubernatorial primary. “And...

Food banks are feeling strains from inflated prices and increased demand, while President Joe Biden says a food shortage that is “going to be real” looms. Food insecurity numbers have been on the rise since at least late Summer 2021, the Washington Post reported, citing the U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey, which compiles and releases data “on how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted people’s lives.” In early August, the survey showed that about eight percent of Americans who responded said they either “sometimes” or “often” did not have enough to eat.

IRISH farmers will be asked to grow some wheat, barley and other grains to offset any potential food shortage caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The 'wartime' plan which is being drawn up as Russia continues its bombardment of Ukraine because both countries supply large amounts of grain and fertilizers around the world. Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue has created an emergency team that has been tasked with coming up with financial support to help persuade Irish farmers to grow more grains here. The nation is heavily reliant on imported grains which are used in both human and animal food. Ireland...

Afghan War veteran and GOP Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana says terrorists in Afghanistan were waiting for a president like Joe Biden to come along in order to strike. Banks, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, told Fox News host Harris Faulkner on Thursday that the day's deadly bomb attacks on U.S. military personnel and Afghan civilians outside of Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport could have been avoided.

When we first got cameras on our smartphones or signed up for social media, none of us realized that they would come to control our lives. In our technological age, we’ve all participated in creating our surveillance state, whether as enforcers or self-censoring victims. Thanks to the technology in our smartphones, each one of us has the capability to contribute, and many on the left seem to revel in the power. The rest of us must weigh every action we take, every word we say. If we say or do the “wrong” thing, we may no longer have the right...

The EU has provisionally agreed to provide Turkey with €3 billion+ to supposedly spend on 'stemming the migrant flow' along with an easing of visa restrictions and a promise of accelerating talks about Turkey's accession to the EU. The EU has now conceded it is powerless to stem the tide of migrants and refugees on its own, and has opted to open Europe's doors to 75 million Turks. Through its desperate attempts to try and sort out the migrant crisis, the EU has shoved all its cards into the hands of the autocratic President Erdogan. This deal with Turkey will...

We had a bit of a scare this evening. It was after dark. Several LE vehicles on the roads around our house shining spotlights, soon joined by a helicopter. Obviously looking for someone. Before the helicopter joined, I had thought it might be an exercise, but one of the neighbors said our county can't afford a chopper for a practice run. It was 'bout a week ago when the LE did find a different someone, hiding in a culvert not far from here. Suspect in a high-speed chase who had fired (allegedly) at the LE in pursuit. We were wondering...

After World War II, there was a golden era when Americans, especially those that had an education, could expect to have a job and keep it until retirement and retire with an adequate pension. Those days, which Allison Pugh, professor of Sociology at University of Virginia, refers to as the "20-year career and a gold watch" model, are over. Between a competitive global market, recession and job automation, and a switch to part-time and contingent workers, Americans now live in a culture of perpetual job insecurity, where they are easily laid off, at both high and low-level jobs, and can...

WASHINGTON — As hundreds of commuters emerged from Amtrak and commuter trains at Union Station on a recent morning, an armed squad of men and women dressed in bulletproof vests made their way through the crowds. The squad was not with the Washington police department or Amtrak’s police force, but was one of the Transportation Security Administration’s Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response squads — VIPR teams for short — assigned to perform random security sweeps to prevent terrorist attacks at transportation hubs across the United States. “The T.S.A., huh,” said Donald Neubauer of Greenville, Ohio, as he walked past the...

While Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano touts the U.S. border as being more secure than ever, the Department is quietly ordering Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to scale back border inspections. In a news report out of Texas last week, current and former CBP agents are saying the standard daily presence and routine checks normally conducted by CBP officers at transportation hubs are a thing of the past. (KRGV, Oct. 25, 2011) According to the Associated Press, field offices nationwide began receiving secret orders to scale back the inspections soon after Secretary Napolitano announced the administration would begin to grant...

:28 Chaffetz: When did you first speak with Eric Holder about Fast and Furious? Napolitano: I don't believe I have ever spoken with Eric Holder about Fast and Furious. 3:01 Why is that you, as the Secretary of of Homeland Security with one of your agents dead on the scene, did not get briefed about fast and furious? Napolitano: I do not know.

Great disaster prompts more women to seek marriage 2011/05/15 A growing number of singles, particularly women in urban areas, are scrambling to find marriage partners after the country's worst natural disaster in postwar years has forced them to think about their lifestyles and the future. "I am more worried about my future and now realize how important it is to have a family," a 30-year-old female company employee in Tokyo said. "I want to form a bond with others." The woman said her experiences after the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake spurred her to rethink her lifestyle. It took...

A retired special education teacher on his way to a wedding in Orlando, Fla., said he was left humiliated, crying and covered with his own urine after an enhanced pat-down by TSA officers recently at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. “I was absolutely humiliated, I couldn’t even speak,” said Thomas D. “Tom” Sawyer, 61, of Lansing, Mich. Sawyer is a bladder cancer survivor who now wears a urostomy bag, which collects his urine from a stoma, or opening in his stomach. “I have to wear special clothes and in order to mount the bag I have to seal a wafer to my...

The word "Devout" sometimes means "Radical". There is no way of knowing the personal history of these Muslims, new appointees to Home Land Security. Some Muslims have indicated they want nothing to do with "Radical Muslim" beliefs.....indicating they want to mainstream into American Society. Many other Muslims have indicated they belong to the "Brotherhood", and wish to replace American culture and law with Muslim culture and law (these Muslims are a clear and present danger). Below is a link to the "white paper" study put out by the Center for Islamic Studies at the Hudson Institute on "THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD...

STRATFOR published an analysis last Wednesday noting that a reliable source in Mexico informed us that the Sept. 30 shooting death of U.S. citizen David Hartley on Falcon Lake — which straddles the U.S.-Mexico border — was a mistake committed by a low-level member of the Los Zetas drug trafficking organization. The source also informed us that those responsible for Hartley’s death are believed to have disposed of his body and that the Zeta hierarchy was conducting a damage-control operation to punish those responsible for the death and to distance the cartel from the murder. The source further reported that...

(CNSNews.com) – The U.S. government does not have “effective control” of 1,081 miles of the 1,954-mile-long U.S.-Mexico border, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the division of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) responsible for securing the border.“Border miles under effective control” is a metric DHS uses in its annual performance reports to measure the performance of the Border Patrol.As defined by DHS, a mile of the border is under the “effective control” of the U.S. government “when the appropriate mix of personnel, equipment, technology and tactical infrastructure has been deployed to reasonably ensure that when an attempted...

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain had a terse exchange over border security in a Wednesday hearing on terrorism threats. McCain, R-Ariz., questioned Napolitano’s effectiveness at securing the border and enforcing immigration laws. Napolitano said illegal immigration is down and drug and gun seizures are up.