Free Republic

This is the first vanity I have ever posted on FR. Today, while my wife and I were at the grocery, we got stuck behind an obvious Middle Eastern "immigrant." He ran up a bill of over $400 in baby formula, cheese, and all sorts of other things. I could see the items being rung up as he was doing this. And then I watched him produce one WIC voucher after another to pay for all of this, and I watched the cashier zero out one item after another. This process took more than 20 minutes, and held up everyone...

NEW YORK (AP) — A crackdown on illegal immigration under President Donald Trump has driven some poor people to take a drastic step: opt out of federal food assistance because they are fearful of deportation, activists and immigrants say. People who are not legal residents of the U.S. are not eligible to take part in what is formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. But many poor families include a mix of non-legal residents and legal ones, such as children who have citizenship because they were born in the U.S. In those cases, it is often an adult...

Daham Al Hasan fled from Syria to Denmark, leaving behind his three wives and 20 children. Under the Danish rules of family unification, one of his wives and eight of his children have joined him in Denmark. But Al Hasan wants all his children with him, as well as all his wives. Lawyers estimate that the remaining wives will be able to join their children in Denmark. The case has caused a shock not only because of what it will cost the Danish state just in child allowance, but because Al Hassan claims that he is too ill to work...

(Colorado) Between May and November last year, 5,000 welfare recipients withdrew taxpayer money more than 10,000 times at casinos, liquor stores and pot shops despite a new state law requiring agencies to block the abuse, officials told lawmakers Tuesday. The numbers, which show 9,204 withdrawals at liquor stores, 40 at racing establishments, 134 at marijuana shops and 737 at casinos are higher than the numbers Watchdog.org found in a similar six-month period in 2014, when we wrote stories that sparked the legislation. But Watchdog.org’s analysis was conservative and excluded many venues that sell both food and liquor, like Sam’s Clubs....

The German government proposed measures Wednesday to tighten migration regulations for citizens from elsewhere in the European Union amid accusations of welfare abuse by poor immigrants from Bulgaria and Romania. Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Cabinet was proposing a six-month limit on EU citizens staying in the country, which is Europe’s biggest economy, without a job. In addition, he said EU citizens suspected of having abused Germany’s welfare system can be banned from re-entering the country. “Freedom of movement is an essential part of the European integration, which we fully stand behind,” de Maiziere told reporters...

Supporters of President Obama’s health care law had predicted that expanding insurance coverage for the poor would reduce costly emergency room visits as people sought care from primary care doctors. But a rigorous new study conducted in Oregon has flipped that assumption on its head, finding that the newly insured actually went to the emergency room more often. The study, published in the journal Science, compared thousands of low-income people in the Portland area who were randomly selected in a 2008 lottery to get Medicaid coverage with people who entered the lottery but remained uninsured. Those who gained coverage made...

All full of his normal bombast and bluster, on 4/11/13, Bill O’Reilly once again proved he hadn’t a grasp on the subject at hand, whether or not to legalize marijuana. His plan is to put responsible adults or children who smoke into the legal system, destroying them and their families. He wants to keep feeding the corrupt legal system that thrives off of these “offenses/freedoms” (depending on your point of view). He wants these draconian punishments because he feels that pot will destroy anyone trying it, a view responsible for turning more people into...

The government has defended its housing benefit cap after it emerged London's Newham council was trying to find homes for some families 160 miles away. The council has been accused of "social cleansing", but its mayor said it was trying to find the best solution. But Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said there were "thousands of houses" within five miles of Newham that fell within the cap. Westminster council is also understood to be considering a similar proposal. As part of its welfare reforms, the government has introduced weekly caps on housing benefit of between £250 for a...

Texas child welfare officials say more than half the teen girls swept into state custody from a polygamist sect's ranch have been pregnant. Child Protective Services spokesman Darrell Azar says 53 girls between the ages of 14 and 17 were living on the ranch in Eldorado. Of that group, 31 already have children or are pregnant.

A family's second chance By Andrew M. Seder 12/17/2003 Charles and Barbara Smith and 14 of their 18 children are moving back into their North Scranton home today, just in time for the holidays. The Smith family was forced to leave the house after the city condemned it July 29 -- the first known Habitat for Humanity home in the country to be condemned. On Tuesday, a team of city inspectors went through the house at 2517 N. Main Ave. and removed the "unfit for human habitation" label. Mr. Smith says he regrets what happened because of "my neglect...