Free Republic

Children and parents across the country are fed up with the restrictive new school meal regulations implemented by the Department of Agriculture under the “Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010,” which has long been touted by first lady Michelle Obama. The standards — which cap meal calories at 650 for students in kindergarten through fifth grade, at 700 calories for middle school students and 850 for high school students — also dictate the number of breads, proteins, vegetables and fruits children are allowed per meal. A spokeswoman for Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King, who earlier this month introduced legislation to...

Police arrested a Texas mom for allowing her children to play outside last week, after a neighbor reported to police that the kids were riding scooters around a cul de sac. Tammy Cooper, who was arrested for child endangerment, insists she was watching her children from a lawn chair in her front yard. Now, Cooper is suing the La Porte Police Department, the arresting officer and the neighbor who made the call.

First Lady Michelle Obama stopped by a Virginia YMCA yesterday where she met with elementary and middle school kids. The kids had tough questions for the first lady, including the whereabouts of the president of the United States. She did not immediately know. From the pool report: Asked where he was, she said, “he’s at work,” then asked the adults, “Where is Barack Obama?” She was told he’s in Colorado today. When asked by a kid where the Obamas would live if President Obama loses, "The First Lady said they could figure that out later," according to the pool report....

Twitchy reported earlier today that the most vile tweets from Jason Biggs’ Twitter feed had quietly disappeared, and now it seems there might be a very obvious reason why — Nickelodeon has begun tweeting Biggs’ Twitter handle in promotions for its Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot, for which Biggs provides a voice. That’s right: kids following Nickelodeon’s @TMNTMaster — an account which boasts nearly 2,400 followers — are literally one click away from the feed that introduced us to, well, this, not to mention a quick bit of Christian-bashing as a follow-up...

GLENDALE, Mo. – A suburban St. Louis woman with a history of depression bought a gun two days before she killed her two children and herself while her husband was in another part of the house, authorities said Friday. Mitchell Murch II called police Monday to report that he heard shots. Police who responded found 42-year-old Catherine Murch in the kitchen, 10-year-old Mitchell Murch III elsewhere on the first floor and 8-year-old Mary Claire Murch on the second floor of the house the well-to-do suburb of Glendale. Police questioned Mitchell Murch II but said they believed the case was a...

Isaac Anthony is a conservative six-year-old who knows where he stands on political issues and the upcoming Presidential election. 10. He takes money from people who work hard and gives it to people who don’t work at all. 9. He wants everybody to wait in a long line to see the doctor. 8. He thinks babies are a burden. 7. He wants to keep people on welfare and food stamps so that they will vote for him. 6. He doesn’t want Americans to drill for oil or mine for coal. 5. He lets bad guys into our country. 4. He...

LUVERNE, AL --(Ammoland.com)- Mention kids and guns in the same sentence in many public settings and the “enlightened” folks will recoil in horror. Those of us who don’t live in the artificial bubble of New York City or Los Angles understand that introducing young people to the shooting sports is a tradition as old as this nation. Thankfully there are still people in the United States dedicated to providing education and training to the next generation of shooters. On July 15th 2012 I was present for the opening of the Ohio 4H Shooting Education Camp, a weeklong program designed to...

Houston police officer Karl Pederson is all too familiar with the consequences of a curious child coming into contact with a gun. During his 27 years on the force - 15 spent working at Texas Children's Hospital - he's seen too many kids die in gun-related tragedies. "All the children's deaths have stuck with me," the 49-year-old father of two said. "Any time a child loses their life, it's just crushing to me, and I think it can always be prevented." For some, prevention means keeping kids as far away from guns as possible. For Pederson, it means placing a...

The interim girls basketball coach of West Broward High School was arrested Tuesday, accused of having sexual relations with a 16-year-old girl on her travel team, Pembroke Pines Police said. Marquita Adley, 25, of Miami is charged with three counts of sexual battery by a custodian on a victim under age 18, and was released from jail after posting $15,000 bond, according to the Broward Sheriff's Office. The victim told police that she and Adley had several sexual encounters between April and June, including during a sleepover party at a teammate's house, police said in the complaint affidavit against Adley....

This is a fifteen second marathon. Picture Look at this picture. What do you see? Eight children; or is it seven? Can you tell? What are they doing? Well, the four on the right look like they’ve started to race. You can even tell by their body positions that this isn’t going to be a jog; it’s an all-out sprint. The others, meanwhile, look like late-starters. They’re already behind. The boy closest to you, wearing a green shirt, appears to have decided to drop his bike to join the race. Will he be last to finish? Who’s last in this...

By John Boch On Saturday, June 23, three of Guns Save Life’s intrepid members, Chris Betley, John Sutter and Steve Fuller drove to Chicago to participate in the city’s annual gun “turn in” event titled, “Don’t Kill A Dream Save A Life.” In short, the sum real-world value of the guns we took up to the Windy City would have been calculated by most people – ourselves included – solely on their scrap metal value. To the gun-hating do-gooders up there, though, they were worth big dollars; $100 for each firearm and $10 for BB-guns and replicas. No questions asked....

After a Brooklyn principal's controversial ban on "God Bless The USA" from a graduation ceremony in favor of Justin Bieber's song "Baby," several New York Republicans are blasting the decision as anti-American and offensive. Congressman Bob Turner-- who last year replaced disgraced Congressman Anthony Weiner-- even staged a bizarre press conference adjacent to Hawkins' Public School No. 90, where he and several elementary school children camped outside on Monday waving American flags and belting out "Proud To Be An American." The press conference, however, took a turn when several hecklers showed up to protest Turner's sing-a-long. Amidst the uncomfortable singing,...

It's no secret that Facebook is lousy with kids ages 12 and under — despite the social network's Terms of Service requiring members to be at least 13. What's more, several studies show that plenty of kids who lie about their age to join, do so with the permission of their parents, and even their help. Now, the Wall Street Journal reports that Facebook is exploring ways to give kids access while being mindful of government regulations and safety concerns: Mechanisms being tested include connecting children's accounts to their parents' and controls that would allow parents to decide whom their...

Last week Glenn Beck discussed the all-encompassing reach of the Nanny State as local officials have been cracking down, not on gang violence or organized crime rings, but on enterprises as innocent as children’s lemonade stands and bake-sales. Whether America’s youth are selling their refreshments for charity, school-funds, or simply for their own mad-money and enjoyment, bureaucrats seem to be hyper-focused on dismantling what was once a cornerstone of the American experience. If it sounds too outrageous to be true, consider the following stories from around the country and listen to Glenn Beck explain why Big Government tactics like this...

A new children’s book is taking some heat for its controversial message aimed at kids, which says that eating vegan is the loving thing to do. The book is called “Vegan is Love: Having Heart and Taking Action,” and its author and illustrator, Ruby Roth – a young, enthusiastic vegan activist – hopes to teach young readers not only about veganism as a diet choice, but also as a moral choice. Roth explains that Vegan is Love expands upon the message of her popular first book “That’s Why We Don’t Eat Animals,” in which she describes how our daily diet...

The U.S. Department of Labor is withdrawing a rule that would have limited the sorts of work that children can do on farms.

Here's a one minute video edit by Dylan Wade of he and his friends having tons of fun doing acrobatic jumps out of trees into a pond. It incorporates Twixter slow motion and pinpoint sync to the music. Warning: When you view this video it either will make you feel 10 years younger, or it may scare another couple of years on to you.

“Best friend bans” — apparently, they’re a thing. Educational psychologist Gaynor Sbuttoni said the policy has been used at schools in Kingston, South West London, and Surrey. She added: “I have noticed that teachers tell children they shouldn’t have a best friend and that everyone should play together. “They are doing it because they want to save the child the pain of splitting up from their best friend. But it is natural for some children to want a best friend. If they break up, they have to feel the pain because they’re learning to deal with it.” Russell Hobby, of...

What usually is a treasured opportunity for cross generational chit-chat became a silent car ride as a luminescent glow eerily lighted his facial features in the back seat. My grandson has mastered a hand-held electronic thinga-ma-jig which muted what had previously been a casual forum for conversations about life-in-the-now and even life-everlasting. No knock-knock jokes. No “Hey, look, a horse trailer and it has horses inside!” No seemingly insignificant queries such as, “Justin says there is no God. Is that true?” Where once we easily conversed about hurt feelings, roadside beggars, birthdays, bullies and the like, this day the unilateral...

What usually is a treasured opportunity for cross generational chit-chat became a silent car ride as a luminescent glow eerily lighted his facial features in the back seat. My grandson has mastered a hand-held electronic thinga-ma-jig which muted what had previously been a casual forum for conversations about life-in-the-now and even life-everlasting. No knock-knock jokes. No “Hey, look, a horse trailer and it has horses inside!” No seemingly insignificant queries such as, “Justin says there is no God. Is that true?” Where once we easily conversed about hurt feelings, roadside beggars, birthdays, bullies and the like, this day the unilateral...