Free Republic

The Trump administration is setting out to do what this year’s farm bill didn’t: tighten work requirements for millions of Americans who receive federal food assistance. The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday is proposing a rule that would restrict the ability of states to exempt work-eligible adults from having to obtain steady employment to receive food stamps. The move comes just weeks after lawmakers passed a $400 billion farm bill that reauthorized agriculture and conservation programs while leaving the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which serves roughly 40 million Americans, virtually untouched. […] Currently, able-bodied adults ages 18-49 without children...

The agreement would allow Cuban players to come to the United States on work visas, with MLB teams playing the CBF a release fee, a similar system to how Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese players join MLB teams. As Jeff Passan noted, the pact would "end the trafficking of players by smugglers—situations that have led to players being kidnapped, threatened and extorted. Cuban players coming to MLB have been smuggled out by human trafficking organizations that are often tied to other criminal organizations, and often they lose a big chunk of their bonus to pay for their passage out of Cuba,"...

A high school assistant principal has been suspended for allegedly cornering a transgender student in the boys bathroom and challenging the teen to use a urinal to “prove that he was a boy,” according to reports. Michael Critchfield, a sophomore at Liberty High School in West Virginia, said he went to the bathroom before leaving for a school trip on Nov. 27 when Assistant Principal Lee Livengood barged in, according to a statement from the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia. “He kept asking me why I was in there. [He said] I shouldn’t be in there because I...

The Supreme Court held long ago in Brady v. Maryland that the Constitution requires the prosecution, which holds all the cards in a criminal case, to give the defense all evidence favorable to the defendant, whether it impeaches a witness, mitigates punishment or shows his innocence. Indeed, the burden is on prosecutors to find anything in the possession of the government that is favorable to the defense. From the minute Judge Emmet G. Sullivan received the case against Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, which will be decided on Tuesday, he ordered Mueller to provide the defense with all Brady material Last...

<p>Iranian-backed hackers scrambled to break into the personal emails of US Treasury officials after harsh economic sanctions were placed on Tehran last month, a cyber security group said.</p> <p>The hacking group, named Charming Kitten, also targeted foreign nuclear experts in data tracked by Certfa analysts in the UK.</p>

Outraged Democrats vowed to appeal a federal judge’s ruling that could undo the US health care law known as Obamacare, saying on Saturday that they will use their new power in Congress to hold Republicans responsible and “expose their lies.” US District Judge Reed O’Connor ruled late Friday that the health insurance reform, officially known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA), is unconstitutional. The White House said it expects the ruling to be appealed to the Supreme Court. For now, it said in a statement, “the law remains in place.” But Democrats, who have seen the law survive scores of...

Barack Obama took to social media Saturday to urge people to sign up for health care on the final day of Affordable Care Act enrollment. His appeal came a day after a Texas judge struck down the former president’s signature legislation as unconstitutional. Besides reminding people that Saturday would be the final day to enroll for affordable health care for 2019, Obama appeared to play down the significance of the ruling. “You might have heard about a federal court decision on a Republican lawsuit trying to strike down the Affordable Care Act in its entirety,” he said in Facebook post....

Former President Barack Obama on Wednesday was presented with the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Award, which celebrates leaders “who have demonstrated a commitment to social change," the Associated Press reported. “I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but I’ve been on this hope kick for a while now. Even ran a couple of campaigns on it. Thank you for officially validating my hope credentials,” Obama said during his acceptance speech. “If we summon our best selves, we can inspire others to do the same. It’s easy to succumb to cynicism, the notion that hope is a...

On Friday morning Hillary Clinton responded to a court order forced by Judicial Watch to answer more questions about the setting up of her private server. Judicial Watch appeared in a DC federal court last month on a motion to compel more testimony from Hillary Clinton as well as to make public video recordings of depositions of top Clinton aides such as Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills. The court ruled that Hillary Clinton must answer more questions about the setting up of her private server under oath. As expected, Hillary Clinton responded to the court order with her usual arrogance...

WASHINGTON — One of the nation’s most iconic displays of support for military veterans, those missing in action and prisoners of war is coming to an end. The annual Rolling Thunder ride — which has brought thousands of bikers to the D.C. area for decades — is hitting the brakes. They won’t be riding after their May 2019 run, group officials confirmed to WTOP. The key issues cited by the group are costs and communication problems with the Pentagon Police Department. “We had so many problems in the last two or three years with the [Pentagon Police] and the parking...

A U.S. appeals court Thursday blocked rules by the Trump administration allowing more employers to opt out of providing women with no-cost birth control. States were likely to succeed on their claim that the changes to President Barack Obama’s health care law were made without required notice and public comment, a divided, three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said. The panel upheld a preliminary injunction against the rules issued by a lower court judge last year. An email to the Justice Department seeking comment was not immediately returned. Obama’s health care law required most companies to...

The leader of a South African political party has called for the killing of white women and children in a row over the taxi industry. Andile Mngxitama, president of Black First Land First (BLF), was speaking at a rally on the weekend in Potchefstroom near Johannesburg when he made the violent comments. He tells the cheering crowd: 'For each one person that is being killed by the taxi industry, we will kill five white people. 'For every one black person we will kill five white people. ... Mngxitama has since claimed that these comments were taken out of context and...

A suspect in a 1987 bombing that wounded six American soldiers in Honduras is leading a group of migrants demanding entry into the United States. Alfonso Guerrero Ulloa organized a march of approximately 100 migrants to the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana, Mexico, on Tuesday, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Ulloa delivered a letter to the consulate on behalf of the migrants, asking for either entry into the U.S. or a payment of $50,000 per person. “It may seem like a lot of money to you,” Ulloa told the Union-Tribune. “But it is a small sum compared to everything the United...

(snip) -- Two groups of Central American migrants made separate marches on the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana Tuesday, demanding that they be processed through the asylum system more quickly and in greater numbers, that deportations be halted and that President Trump either let them into the country or pay them $50,000 each to go home.

Last Saturday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union Party voted down a motion to freeze funding for the Palestinian Authority until it stops its “pay to slay” imbursements to terrorists and their families. The motion stated that “with the payments, the PA knowingly and willingly supports terror against Israel and makes this a worthy financial business.” But Merkel’s party wasn’t moved. One day later, a Palestinian terror attack seriously wounded a pregnant woman. The baby, who was delivered in an emergency procedure, held out for a few days and died on Wednesday. In October during a visit to...

The Democrats and President Obama gave Iran 150 Billion Dollars and got nothing, but they can’t give 5 Billion Dollars for National Security and a Wall?https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1072836035514634240

The Trump administration is poised to withdraw federal protections for countless waterways and wetlands across the country, making good on President Donald Trump’s campaign pledge to weaken landmark water rules long resented by some developers, farmers and oil, gas and mining executives. Environmental groups said the Trump administration proposal would have a sweeping impact on how the country safeguards the nation’s waterways, scaling back not just a 2015 Obama administration interpretation of federal jurisdiction over the nation’s waters, but also how federal agencies enforce the 1972 Clean Water Act. […] The changes would affect what waterways and wetlands fall under...

Illegal immigration skyrocketed to the highest level in more than a decade for the month of November, as President Trump’s border wall remains unfunded by the Republican-controlled Congress. Last month, illegal immigration at the United States-Mexico border soared to levels that the country has not seen since Fiscal Year 2014, when more than 51,500 illegal aliens tried to cross the border in April 2015. In November 2018, there were close to 52,000 border crossings on the southern border, alone, marking the highest level of illegal immigration in the month of November since 2006.

Russia is deploying nuclear-capable Tu-160 Blackjack bombers to Venezuela this week as part of an increasingly provocative pattern of bomber training flights, according to American defense officials. At least two Blackjacks will fly from a strategic forces air base in Russia to Venezuela as part of a series of training exercises that will include long-range refueling, said officials familiar with Russian plans for the flight. The bomber foray to South America will be Russia's seventh training flight for Blackjack bombers in the past three months. Mark Schneider, a former Pentagon official and specialist on the Russian military, said Tu-160 flights...

Between a Christmas tree and a menorah display in the Illinois state capitol, a statue from the Satanic Temple is standing for the holiday season. The display shows an apple upheld by an arm which has been encircled by a snake. The words “Knowledge is the greatest gift” is written across the front of the black base. The satanic tribute was erected at the statehouse rotunda in Springfield. Near the display is an explanation from the local government. “The State of Illinois is required by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution to allow temporary, public displays in the...