Free Republic

President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, paid $93,362 in federal taxes last year with an earning of $477,383, which is a lower income than in the past few years due to a decline in the sales of the president's biographies. They gave $70,712 to 33 charities. The Obamas paid taxes at an effective rate of 19.6 percent, according to 2014 tax returns released by the White House, The Associated Press reports. "In January 2013, the President signed into law legislation that extended tax cuts to middle-class and working families and helped improve the country's fiscal health by asking the...

Prince Harry is seen flying a Spitfire upside down in footage released from his charity work with injured veterans. The prince was cheering and smiling as he rolled the plane during a flight along the Isle of Wight coastline in August last year. The stunt was to promote his Spitfire scholarship which offers training for wounded servicemen and women. He also met two trainees who are hoping to pilot the aircraft in a Battle of Britain flypast.

The latest trend among leftists who were shocked by their defeat at the polls Tuesday is an apparently spontaneous campaign called “Don't Give,” which calls on people to stop donating to the poorer Israelis and the socio-economically weaker regions known as “the periphery,” because these Israelis insist on voting for Likud, in election after election. The campaign's name in Hebrew, Lo Latet, is a reference to Latet (“To Give”), a major charity group that collects donations for the needy. The campaign started as a Facebook trend, which gathered steam after it was reported about in the news, and has turned...

A logical pairing. One’s a washed-up former champion who didn’t know when to quit, the other’s Evander Holyfield.No no, I kid. There are obvious differences between them. For instance, Holyfield had to defeat some legit heavyweights, not just tomato cans, to earn his title. Zing.The next time you hear someone call Mayweather/Pacquiao the fight of the century, you tell ‘em it’s not even the best fight in May. In fact, Romney is slated to fight former heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield in the marquis event during a several-bout evening at the Rail Event Center near the Union Pacific Depot...

There is no “right to food”. Food never was any sort of fundamental “right”. Saint Paul already warned us that to those who do not want to work, we shall give no food. You can’t find any clearer evidence that food is not a fundamental right of the person. Of course, charity demands that we feed the hungry. But this is not a subjective right of the hungry, merely the result of the charitable help of those who feed them because – let us say this once again – consider them, in their charity, worthy of being fed. Charity is...

When professors do pay attention to religion, they usually get it wrong. “Conservatives would rather have [social welfare] provided by religious organizations, which is incompatible with other aspects of Catholic social teaching,” Robin Sowards, an adjunct professor at Duquesne University told an audience at the Modern Language Association (MLA) convention in Vancouver, Canada. Here are a few highlights from the history of Catholic Charities: October 24, 1727—“Ursuline sisters arrive from France to open an orphanage, school for street girls, and health facility in New Orleans. It is the first formal Catholic charity in the present United States.” January 1, 1845—“The...

....The gathering of about 1,000 women -- to be at The University of Miami's BankUnited Center -- was set to begin Wednesday. But it was one of the many events in South Florida that have been postponed or cancelled due to a historic blizzard named Juno. Organizers announced Tuesday that the breakfast with Clinton will be held Monday, March 16. The 34-year-old, who lives in a New York City apartment with her 36-year-old husband Marc Mezvinsky, will headline the gathering of more than 1,000 women. Adriana Cisneros, vice chairman of Cisnero and the chair of the event, said in a...

Mathew 18 1 AT that hour the disciples came to Jesus, saying: Who thinkest thou is the greater in the kingdom of heaven? 2 And Jesus calling unto him a little child, set him in the midst of them, 3 And said: Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greater in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And he that shall receive one such little child in my name, receiveth me. 6...

Doctors’ house calls are considered a thing of the past, but not in the appointment book of Dr. Carrol Frazier Landrum, an 88-year-old physician from Edwards, Mississippi. The good doctor will see you no matter who you are, where you are, or how much money you have — as long his 2007 Toyota Camry can deliver him to your location. But now his state’s medical board wants to see him gone. Dr. Landrum, a WWII veteran, was forced to make a change after crime drove him from his Edwards, Mississippi, office two years ago, and he couldn’t find another space...

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office has gone to the dogs. Well, at least its rugs have. [snip]

Federal prosecutors announced Thursday they have indicted Pete Seda, the head of the Ashland branch of the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, on fraud and tax charges. Seda, also known as Pirouz Sedaghaty and Abu Yunus, and another officer of the foundation, Soliman Hamd Al-Buthe, are part of a three-count indictment for illegally transporting $150,000 to Saudi Arabia. The indictment, filed in U.S. District Court in Eugene, charges them with conspiracy to defraud the United States, filing a false IRS return for a tax-exempt corporation and failure to file a report of international transportation of currency. Known locally as a peace activist,...

House Panel to Ask for NSA Spying Probe A congressional panel will ask the National Security Agency's internal watchdog to investigate whether the super-secret spy agency eavesdropped without warrants on a Muslim scholar and later hid that evidence in a 2005 terror prosecution that got him a life sentence.The House Select Intelligence Oversight Panel and the judge overseeing the case want the NSA's inspector general to find out if the government failed to disclose evidence that might have cleared the name of a Northern Virginia spiritual leader Ali al-Timimi, Rep. Rush Holt (D- New Jersey) told the New York Times.That...

Protesters gathered outside the Clinton Foundation in New York City to complain about "missing money" from the Haiti recovery effort from the 2010 earthquake: "New Yorkers with roots in Haiti say the picture [of the Haiti recovery] isn't so rosy," said the NY1 anchor. The protesters claimed that the $10 billion meant to help rebuild Haiti did little to help the country after the devastating quake. And that much of the money went to non-Haitian companies. "[I]n Harlem, people raised their voices to call attention to the missing money," said the local New York City reporter. "This protest outside the...

Virginia Beach, Va. – A Navy wife is admitting she stole from the Navy SEAL Foundation when she worked there handling payments, but her lawyer is keeping the details of the crime secret. Tammy Marie Mason will be sentenced for embezzlement next month. Her court file discloses only that she stole more than $200 from the charity that benefits the families of fallen Navy SEALs. A document outlining the facts of the crime has been sealed at the defense attorney’s request, said a spokeswoman for the Virginia Beach Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office. The charity’s top executive told NewsChannel 3 the loss...

“Nobody can fully understand the meaning of love unless he’s owned a dog. He can show you more affection with one flick of his tail than a man can gather through a lifetime of handshakes.” Gene Hill, author of “The Dog Man.” >At first glance, if it were not for its decrepit, arthritis-consumed back legs, one may not immediately recognize that a handsome old dog named Mo spent most of its years living under less-than-ideal conditions – before receiving affection, happiness and hope in its final days.< >For the first time in its 14 years on earth, the mixed breed...

The Obama administration announced new rules under Obamacare on Monday that target nonprofit hospitals’ efforts to get paid by their patients.Nonprofit hospitals, which serve a charitable purpose and are often religiously affiliated, will now be subject to strict rules on when and how they can collect payments from customers, thanks to regulations included in the health-care law. As a condition of their tax-exempt status, these hospitals must “take an active role in improving the health of the communities they serve,” Treasury Department deputy assistant secretary for tax policy Emily McMahon wrote in a blog post Monday. Under the new IRS...

I've noticed some commercials recently by the wounded warrior project. What am I missing here? Why aren't soldiers cared for for injuries sustained while serving? Does government/military aid cease after a soldier leaves the service? How can this be?

COVINGTON, GA Trust. Fortitude. Professionalism. Compassion. These are the virtues that the Georgia State Patrol is committed to and are ethics that apparently come naturally to Trooper Asher Gray. ##Gray, who lives in south Newton County but who is stationed out of Post 9 in Marietta, was working an off-duty job at The Home Depot in Clayton County this fall when he noticed a group of children come in the store and use the restroom. ##“I found that a little odd, and then one night during the week, I saw the same two boys leave the restroom and run through...

George Steinbrenner's Yankee Silver Shield Foundation has, for 32 years, provided for the education of the children of New York City cops, firefighters and Port Authority employees who were killed in the line.Yankee owner George Steinbrenner died in 2010, but his appreciation for the men in blue who protect New York City lives on. For 32 years, Steinbrenner's Yankee Silver Shield Foundation has provided for the education of the children of New York City police officers, firemen and Port Authority employees who died in the line of duty, and will do so for the family of NYPD officer Rafael Ramos,...

The story is told that when Tennessee frontiersman Davy Crockett served in the US Congress (between 1827 and 1835) he voted for a bill appropriating $20,000 for relief for victims of a fire that broke out in Georgetown. When he returned home, a constituent farmer chastised him for supporting the bill and for “giving what is not yours to give.” The farmer told Crockett the constitution does not grant Congress the power to give charity and if it did, “You will very easily perceive what a wide door this would open for fraud and favoritism and corruption, on the one...