Free Republic

Former first lady Michelle Obama on Friday bashed critics who complain that kids don't like the healthier food served under the school meal changes implemented during the Obama administration. "How about we not let kids completely guide everything?" she said, speaking at the annual summit on childhood obesity for the Partnership for a Healthier America. "How about we stop asking kids how they feel about their food? Kids, my kids included, if they could eat pizza and french fries every day with ice cream on top and a soda, they would think they were happy, until they got sick. "That...

Despite the success of socialist governments over the past two decades, conference attendees agreed that grave inequality continues to plague the region. Today's roundtable discussions focused on how to counter the oligarchs and imperialism who accompany the rise of far-right wing politicians. Cuban researchers emphasized how the academy can be used in a regional context to resist these anti-democratic forces. Despite the success of revolutionary and anti-neoliberal governments in Latin America and the Caribbean over the past two decades, conference attendees agreed that the region continues to be plagued by grave inequality. More than 175 million people remain in abject...

For Linda Dearman, the House vote last week to repeal the Affordable Care Act was a welcome relief. Ms. Dearman, of Bartlett, Ill., voted for President Trump largely because of his contempt for the federal health law. She and her husband, a partner in an engineering firm, buy their own insurance, but late last year they dropped their $1,100-a-month policy and switched to a bare-bones plan that does not meet the law’s requirements. They are counting that the law will be repealed before they owe a penalty. “Now it looks like it will be, and we’re thrilled about that,” Ms....

Lawyers for President Donald Trump said Friday that a review of his last 10 years of tax returns do not reflect "any income of any type from Russian sources," with some exceptions. It's the latest attempt by the president to tamp down concerns about any Russian ties amid an ongoing investigation of his campaign's associates. In a letter released to the AP, the attorneys said there is no equity investment by Russians in entities controlled by Trump or debt owed by Trump to Russian lenders. But it did reflect some exceptions, including income from the 2013 Miss Universe pageant that...

A high school in North Carolina has collected all of the yearbooks that were distributed to students due to some “inappropriate” comments, including President Trump’s (in)famous phrase “Build That Wall.” The News & Observer reports the Trump quote made by a Richmond Early College High School senior was “slammed on social media by some students and others who called it racist and hurtful to classmates.” Thankfully for the school, only a smattering of the books had been given out before the “offensive” statements were noticed by Principal Tonya Waddell. The district did not provide any other examples of what was...

Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation. He said in his written recusal released on March 2. "Having concluded those meetings today, I have decided to recuse myself from any existing or future investigations of any matters related in any way to the campaigns for President of the United States." Any existing or future investigations. Related in any way. Sessions consulted with the president and coordinated the firing of James Comey. Recall that Comey had testified on March 20 that he was heading the Russia investigation: "I've been authorized by the Department of Justice to confirm that...

The denarius, ancient Rome’s silver coin, was supposedly the daily wage of a manual worker. If so, the tax cuts that the richest 1 percent of Americans will receive if the Affordable Care Act is repealed — tax cuts that are, obviously, the real reason for repeal — would amount to the equivalent of around 500 pieces of silver each year. What inspired this calculation? The spectacle of Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, and Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House, defending Donald Trump’s firing of James Comey. Everyone understands that Mr. Comey was fired not because of his...

If you're sniffling and sneezing a lot more lately, you're hardly alone. Climate change is making seasonal allergies worse, an expert says. "With the combination of increased temperature and carbon dioxide, we are seeing a dramatic change, and allergy sufferers can probably feel that change," said Dr. Richard Weber, president of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. "We are experiencing longer allergy seasons, earlier onset and there is just more pollen in the air," said Weber, who's also an allergist at National Jewish Health in Denver. About 40 million Americans have seasonal allergies -- also known as hay...

Two years ago when I was living in Nicaragua, my friends and I were at a house party drinking Flor de Caña rum. Hearing that I was a journalist, an acquaintance leaned in and said that there was something I needed to hear. She began to tell me a story about that very rum we were drinking, and how people were dying because of it. Many of the workers who harvested sugarcane for the rum were suffering from chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology (CKDu), she said, a kidney failure disease correlated with heavy workload, heat, dehydration, and possibly pesticides....

While President Trump has talked tough in the past about his skeptical views on climate change, his administration appears to be taking a more cautious approach to the issue on the world stage in the early days of his presidency. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson signed a document today calling climate change a “serious threat” to the Arctic and noting the need for action to reduce its potentially harmful effects. The document, known as the Fairbanks Declaration, concluded Tillerson's chairing of a meeting of the Arctic Council, a board made up of indigenous groups and the eight countries bordering...

When Svetlana Lokhova saw the internet light up with suggestions she was a Russian spy, she initially thought it was a joke. But the Russian-born academic soon found herself, in her words, "collateral damage" in the controversies surrounding the Trump administration and the swirl of allegations about Russian espionage. The claims revolved around her contact with Gen Michael Flynn in Cambridge in 2014. Flynn resigned after just 24 days as US National Security Adviser after allegations he had failed to be honest about contacts with the Russian Ambassador to the US during the transition to the Trump administration. The story...

Federal authorities have canceled the temporary deferred status of an illegal immigrant who is the face of so-called “dreamers” in the Atlanta area, opening the door to her possible deportation. Immigration and Customs Enforcement stripped Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals (DACA) protections from Jessica Colotl, a 28-year-old Mexican national, because she admitted to making a false statement to law enforcement following an arrest in 2010. A government lawyer asked an immigration judge to issue a deportation order on May 3. ICE confirmed Wednesday that Colotl’s case falls within with government policy not to offer protected status to certain categories of...

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., warns Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein that his reputation as an ‘‘independent, apolitical actor’’ is at risk unless he begins sharing details of the firing of former FBI director James Comey with lawmakers in the coming days. ‘‘Over the last three decades of your career at the Department of Justice, you have developed a reputation for integrity and impartiality,’’ Schumer wrote to Rosenstein. ‘‘That reputation, along with the personal and public commitments you made to me and other Senators that you would be an independent, apolitical actor as Deputy Attorney General, earned you broad...

The major health insurance provider Aetna announced that it would be pulling out of the last two states where it still participated in ObamaCare. Yet, the morning news shows of ABC and NBC completely ignored this important news story, while CBS This Morning gave it a mere 25 seconds. This continues a longstanding network news tradition of defending the Affordable Care Act and ignoring its failures. In a study released on October 28, 2016, the MRC’s Bias by the Minute project detailed how the evening news shows on these three networks routinely ignored or barely covered ObamaCare’s failures during that...

Last year, two national insurance companies dropped out of the marketplace in Alabama, leaving just one option for individuals who purchase insurance through the federal exchange set up under Obamacare. Lack of competition in areas with just one or two insurance providers has been linked to higher premiums in a recent study by the Urban Institute. Median benchmark monthly premiums in areas with just one insurance company averaged $451, compared to $270 for areas with six companies or more. Rural areas and Southern states tend to have less competition, according to the study. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama is...

So far this year, almost 10,000 people have become U.S. citizens in Maryland. One of the newest citizens is a Baltimore Oriole who gave the city nine memorable years. he special ceremony, which happens twice a day in Baltimore, was a little more nerve-wracking than stepping onto the field at Camden Yards. Orioles Hall of Famer Melvin Mora has become a U.S. citizen after 17 years in the country. "I was trying not to cry," Mora said. "I said, 'What am I doing?' You know, I've been hitting with 40,000 people and now my hands are shaking so you know...

President Trump plans to name Kris W. Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state who has pressed for aggressive measures to crack down on undocumented immigrants, to a long-promised commission to investigate voting fraud in the United States, a White House official said on Thursday. The commission is the official follow-through on Mr. Trump’s unsubstantiated claim that several million “illegals” voted for his Democratic rival and robbed him of a victory in the national popular vote. Mr. Kobach, who has championed the strictest voter identification laws in the country, will be the vice chairman of the commission, which is to be...

President Donald Trump on Thursday called James Comey, the FBI chief he fired, a "showboat" and "grandstander" and said in a NBC-TV interview he would have dismissed him even if officials at the Justice Department had not recommended it. "He's a showboat. He's a grandstander. The FBI has been in turmoil," Trump told NBC. "I was going to fire Comey. My decision," Trump said. "I was going to fire regardless of recommendation."

The grapevines that line rolling hillsides and sweeping valleys in Northern California’s wine country have become iconic – a symbol of the region’s rustic charm that helped California earn its reputation as a world-class wine and food destination. But winegrapes have new competition: weed. California’s legalization of recreational marijuana has led to the beginning of a major transformation of wine country. It’s been just seven months, but already investors are snapping up property where wine was once produced. Vineyard operators are developing expertise in cannabis cultivation. New, specialty marijuana businesses are sprouting up in Sonoma and Mendocino counties. And farmers...

President Donald Trump now says he's open to releasing his tax returns — after he leaves office. When asked in an interview published Thursday by The Economist, Trump found no reason to make his tax returns public even if it means Democrats would get on board with his tax plan — a bare bones version of which was unveiled last month. "I doubt it. Because they're not going to … nobody cares about my tax return except for the reporters," Trump said. "Oh, at some point I'll release them. Maybe I'll release them after I'm finished because I'm very proud...