Free Republic

A Florida man has revealed how he and his wife were stung with a $143,000 bill after a three-week vacation to Europe last year. Rene Remund, 71, lives with his wife Lynda, 65, in Dunedin, Florida, but is originally from Switzerland. In September, the couple returned to the town in which he grew up and enjoyed 'magical' moments with family and friends. Many of those moments were captured in photographs, which were sent back to the U.S. using cellular data. But it appeared to come at a cost. The couple returned home to shocking cell phone charges from their carrier,...

Just a simple question I want to ask. What was the last country we sent our boys to defend, or supplied with war materials, that did not eventually stab us in the back? To be honest, I cannot think of any nation we defended that has not come back and stabbed us. They either become adversaries against us, or their citizens grow up to hate us. I ask, because I see so many clamoring for us to get involved in the Ukraine/Russian war. Me? I say let them decimate each other. We gain nothing helping either side. It is time...

Joe Biden placed hundreds of dollars worth of overseas calls on a phone line paid for by his son Hunter, according to an email unearthed by DailyMail.com. The foreign phone calls were revealed in an AT&T email sent to Hunter’s Rosemont Seneca consultancy business account on February 18 2018. The email, addressed to Joe but sent to Hunter, said that more than $300 had been racked up for overseas phone calls on a number ending 3535, which other texts on Hunter’s abandoned laptop show was being used by his father. The 2018 calls were made just days before Joe received...

**SNIP** 1. Popsicle Original Headquarters: Oakland, California Purchased By: Unilever Country: England 2. Ben & Jerry’s Original Headquarters: South Burlington, Vermont Purchased By: Unilever Country: England 3. Burger King Original Headquarters: Miami, Florida Purchased By: Restaurant Brands International Country: Canada 4. Trader Joe’s Original Headquarters: Monrovia, California Purchased By: Theo Albrecht Country: Germany 6. 7-Eleven Original Headquarters: Dallas, Texas Purchased By: Seven & i Holdings Country: Japan 9. Smithfield Original Headquarters: Smithfield, VA Purchased By: WH Group Country: Hong Kong 11. Forbes Original Headquarters: Jersey City, New Jersey Purchased By: Integrated Whale Media Country: China 13. Good Humor Original Headquarters:...

Seniors lose more than $600 million a year to fraud, according to the Federal Trade Commission. That’s shocking and heartbreaking. But what also raises my hackles is when banks turn a blind eye to such activity, authorizing money transfers when it should be obvious that something out of the ordinary is happening. Lisa Spanierman contacted me recently to relate how her 81-year-old mother got fleeced to the tune of more than $600,000, and how Chase bank did precious little to prevent the theft of much of her life’s savings.

House Democrats launched a bill Wednesday that would repeal a long-standing amendment that blocks U.S. foreign aid programs from contributing to abortion overseas. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) introduced the measure, dubbed the Abortion is Health Care Everywhere Act of 2020, which seeks to repeal the Helms Amendment, a provision that passed in 1973 after the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Roe v. Wade.

When Joevie Alvarado became a teacher, she never expected to teach American students 7,600 miles away. But a dire shortage of US teachers means some schools are taking drastic measures -- like hiring teachers from half a world away. "For the first year, it's a little bit of a struggle because I'm the kind of person who misses family that easily," said Alvarado, who taught for a decade in the Philippines before moving to Arizona. But "in terms of pay, let's just say my previous pay was multiplied by eight or 10 when I got here," she said. "So having...

This is a rather strange and depressing story that popped up in the Washington Post yesterday. It deals with an American woman named Allison Blixt who currently lives in London with her wife, Stefania Zaccari, and their two sons, Massi and Lucas, ages two and four respectively. When Lucas was born, Allison went to the American embassy to register his birth and obtain an American passport for him. She was shocked to discover that no passport would be issued because the people at the embassy told her that Lucas did not have birthright citizenship. Stefania and I have lived...

Lets pray Rex Tillerson will move ahead with this mission, and I think he is the man to do it. Several leading Republican Senators are calling on Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to launch an investigation into the Obama administration’s ties to George Soros led efforts to interfere with foreign governments. We all knew this was happening, but we felt helpless to stop it. Now our Government is actually acting, and it feels good. The Senators claim Obama did this by “sending taxpayer funds to extreme and sometimes violent political activists” that promote leftist causes,” according to the Washington Free...

Another fantastic offer by Trump! Overseas income to Trump will go to U.S. Treasury. What is the ethical problem here. Impossible! Right? Think again. Critics point out his name on everything from golf courses to hotels will have increased security risk, with costs that Trump will have to cover. Oh yes. those dangerous Trump kids will have be included. For some, the taste of " Sour Grapes" is irresistable.

When Obama interfered in Britain's Brexit election (against the will of its people), the liberals applauded. When Obama interfered in Israel's election (against the will of its people and FOR the radical Muslims), the liberals applauded (and demanded more oppression of the Israeli Jews!) When Obama interfered in Egypt's election (against the will of its people and FOR radical Muslims), the liberals applauded - until the Muslim generals took their country back. When Obama interfered in Iraq's election (against the will of its freed people and FOR radical Muslims inside ISIS and Iran) by removing American troops and military strength...

Goal: 100% of Eligible US Voters in Israel

For basic background, many American corporations have offices, subsidiaries and sales in foreign countries. The difference for U.S. companies is that while their foreign competitors are generally only required to pay local/country taxes on their foreign earnings, U.S. corporations not only pay the local/country tax, but they also face a U.S. tax on foreign earnings they bring back to the United States. [snip] With regard to foreign earnings, American tax authorities add insult to already serious injury. While U.S. companies are already paying foreign corporate taxes on their earnings, they similarly face a U.S. tax if and when they return...

Meanwhile, Avengers: Age of Ultron debuted in 44 international markets and earned a stunning $201.2 million. In nearly all of those markets, it opened above The Avengers and Iron Man 3.

President Barack Obama will propose raising $238bn by levying a one-off tax on the cash piles held by US companies overseas to repair the US’s crumbling roads and bridges. The measure, a key plank of the US president’s budget to be outlined on Monday, would impose a 14 per cent “transition” tax on the estimated $2tn in earnings US companies have amassed overseas, the White House said on Sunday. Critics say the existing offshore cash mountains testify to the aggressive foreign tax planning by US companies, while businesses cite them as evidence of the handicaps they face under an uncompetitive...

More than half a million retirees receive their Social Security benefits abroad, according to International Living , a monthly newsletter focusing on retiring overseas. The Social Security Administration currently sends 613,650 retirement-benefit payments outside the U.S., more than double the 242,128 benefit payments sent abroad in 2002. And even that data likely under-represents the actual number of Americans retired overseas, says Dan Prescher, 60, special projects editor of the newsletter. (International Living gets much of its financial support from advertisers who sell overseas real estate to retirees, and other services for those wishing to relocate.) “San Diego has some of...

As the Obama administration weans the U.S. off dirty fuels blamed for global warming, energy companies have been sending more of America's unwanted energy leftovers to other parts of the world where they could create even more pollution. This fossil fuel trade threatens to undermine President Barack Obama's strategy for reducing the gases blamed for climate change and reveals a little-discussed side effect of countries acting alone on a global problem. The contribution of this exported pollution to global warming is not something the administration wants to measure, or even talk about.

Harvard Law School scholar David Barron is an Obama administration nominee for a federal appeals court. He is also the author of government memos that make legal justifications for killing U.S. citizens overseas with drone strikes, which is why his selection to the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals has been delayed. The White House has agreed to allow lawmakers to review at least one of the drone memos after U.S. senators and the the American Civil Liberties Union expressed concerns, technology website Ars Technica reported Wednesday.

does anyone know where to get some that are legit? it seems lately that ones bought locally in Spain or Greece work for 5 minutes when they were allegedly loaded with 30 minutes worth of time to be able to call the US. are there ones that can be purchased at a legit source here in the US ? do they have any that allows my actual cell number to come up on caller ID so people will know it is me?

Okay, who stole our jobs? Democrats accuse Republicans of out-sourcing American jobs. But no one knows how this is happening. Republicans have no idea how they supposedly outsource jobs. If someone started a petition saying “Let’s repeal section 99 U.S.C. Section 1234 to stop outsourcing jobs,” probably 80% to 90% of citizens and elected officials would rush to sign. The repeal of such a mythical section would probably take 48 hours to pass both houses of Congress and be signed by the President. But how can you repeal something if you don’t know what you want to repeal? One of...