Free Republic

Senator Alan Simpson (R-Wyoming) needs to get his facts straight about social security. You pay 6.5% as an employee, Your employer pays 6.5%. You pay 1.5% to Medicare, Total 14.5%. If you are self-employed you must pay the 14.5% yourself. How could he say, because senior citizens expect their social security and medicare benefits when they retire, they are greedy? “Alan Simpson, Senator from Wyoming, Co-Chair of Obama’s deficit commission, calls senior citizens the Greediest Generation as he compared “Social Security” to a Milk Cow with 310 million teats.”

On Tuesday, June 27, it will be 50 years since the first automated cash dispenser – which came to be known as an automated teller machine (ATM) – was inaugurated in London. Just thinking about it brings a smile to my face. I belong to the generation who stood 45 minutes to an hour to deposit or cash checks in the pre-ATM era. I remember getting yelled at for taking my bicycle through the drive-up line at the National Bank of Detroit to avoid the much longer line inside. It did not take me very long to become an early...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump made his debut on Washington's social circuit on Sunday by headlining an annual fundraiser for Ford's Theater, scene of Abraham Lincoln's assassination. Trump, accompanied by his wife, first lady Melania Trump, said he was glad to help continue "this long tradition of preserving one of America's most important theaters and honoring one of its greatest presidents and recognizing some of its most accomplished citizens." Trump said Ford's Theater contributes to the "vibrant culture of our nation's capital" and does "tremendous work" educating Americans about "a leader who preserved our nation in its single greatest...

U.S. aid for international family planning would be eliminated. Programs to combat HIV/AIDS in the world's poorest countries would be slashed by 17 percent. Efforts to fight malaria would be chopped by 11 percent. Those are just some of the cuts to global health spending called for by President Trump in the proposed budget he unveiled this week. On one level the reductions did not come as a surprise. Trump had already made clear in his "skinny budget" proposal, released in March, that he wanted to lower spending on foreign assistance by more than a third. Yet advocates for global...

In his emotional monologue a few nights ago, Jimmy Kimmel told us a heartbreaking story with a happy ending.His newborn son, Billy, was diagnosed with a heart disease and underwent immediate surgery—which thankfully was successful.Millions have since watched and sympathized with the comedian and his family—crying when he cried, rejoicing when he rejoiced.No one ever wants that diagnosis to be their story. It’s scary, especially when you consider that a solution comes in the form of open heart surgery on the tiniest of chest cavities.Kimmel was right to praise the doctors and nurses at Cedars Sinai Hospital and the Children’s...

Complete Headline: Chelsea Clinton receives award for volunteering with her family's foundation after insisting she's not running for public office The former First Daughter was presented with the City Harvest Award for Commitment on Tuesday night at a gala for the hunger-fighting organization Despite making several public appearances in recent months, Clinton has previously shut down rumors that she would be running for public office She said 'no child should go hungry' as she spoke at the New York event Tuesday's event was also attended by Chrissy Teigen, and Martha Stewart Chelsea Clinton urged the importance of fighting hunger as...

I'm giving a talk in early June to a group on the topic of the Knights of Columbus, Who are they? What are they? What have they done for our community in the past; what can they do for our community in the future? What are public perceptions of the Knights of Columbus? I'll also cover some very interesting history of the local Council which has been around for nearly 120 years. I suspect there are members of the Knights of Columbus who don't really know the answers to these questions. I'm interested in what non-members of the public think,...

A U.S. charity worker returned home after President Trump and aides quietly worked to secure her release from from an Egyptian jail after nearly three years, according to the Washington Post. Aya Hijazi, a U.S. citizen, her Egyptian husband Mohamed Hassanein and four other humanitarian workers were freed after weeks of behind-the-scenes negotiation by the Trump administration.

CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa., April 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- IKEA US announced today that on Earth Day, Saturday, April 22nd from 9:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m., as part of the 'IKEA Sustainable Living Your Way Event', IKEA US stores* (41 of 43 stores) and Goodwill Industries International will partner together to host their first national furniture take back activity. At this time, customers can come to the IKEA parking lot where a Goodwill® truck will be present to receive their donated used furniture. In exchange, IKEA is giving these customers a coupon for $20 off a $150 IKEA purchase (valid 4/22-5/21/2017). **...

Last month, America lost a great defender of freedom, Michael Novak.Novak was committed to rightly ordered liberty and cared deeply about the principles and practices that produce it. His enormous body of work emphasized the cultural prerequisites for political and economic freedom, as he stressed that economic conservativism and social conservatism are indivisible.In the words of Heritage Foundation founder Ed Feulner, “Michael forced those of us trained in the dismal science of economics to explain that we should be more than ‘free to choose’—rather we should be free to make good free choices.”Last year, I was the recipient of the...

President Trump’s initial budget proposal would end aid for poor families to pay their heating bills, defund after-school programs at public schools, and make fewer grants available to college students. Community block grants that provide disaster relief, aid neighborhoods affected by foreclosure, and help rural communities access water, sewer systems, and safe housing would be eliminated. Mick Mulvaney, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, suggested recently that even small amounts of federal funding for programs like Meals on Wheels, which delivers food to house-bound seniors, may not be justified. With billions of dollars worth of...

Former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton will be honored by Variety magazine next month for her humanitarian work along with five other women. [Snip] Clinton, vice chair of the Clinton Foundation, will be celebrated for her work with Alliance for a Healthier Generation, which says its goal is to "reduce the prevalence of childhood obesity and to empower kids to develop lifelong, healthy habits." Clinton co-founded the group.

Meals on Wheels received 50 times the typical amount of daily donations on Thursday after the White House proposed cuts to some of the program’s sources of funding, a spokesperson for the group said. Volunteer sign-ups also jumped, increasing by 500%, according to Jenny Bertolette, a spokeswoman for Meals on Wheels America. Bertolette said the support to the national Meals on Wheels office has been “amazing” and “very overwhelming.” She said local programs raise funds individually, but she theorized that “there was likely a groundswell of local support, as well.” The outpouring of support comes shortly after the White House’s...

US President Donald Trump will donate his $400,000 (£329,620) salary to charity at the end of 2017, his spokesman has confirmed. And in an unexpected twist, he wants the White House press corps to decide where it should go. Before taking office, Mr Trump told CBS's 60 Minutes that he would not claim his presidential salary. It was confirmed that it would be donated after multiple media outlets asked if he was keeping that pledge. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told a press briefing: "The President's intention right now is to donate his salary at the end of the...

Former New York Senator Malcolm Smith was yesterday sentenced to seven years in prison for bribery and related offenses. He was convicted in February. A former majority leader in the New York Senate, Smith was defeated for re-election in 2014. Smith is the latest associate of U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) headed to jail. Formal investigations of several New York politicians began in 2010 after the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) exposed corruption through stories in the New York Post, New York Times and New York Daily News. The first story, in the New York Post of January 31,...

Bread for the World warned that the current FY 2018 budget outline drafted by President Donald J. Trump would worsen hunger and poverty in the U.S. and abroad. The cuts to domestic social safety net programs and foreign aid are aimed to boost the Pentagon’s budget by 10 percent. “President Trump is proposing slashing programs that help hungry and poor people,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “These programs include nutrition assistance in the U.S. and aid to poor and hungry people around the world. This comes when 20 million people are at risk of famine...

Ashley Jordan is a stay-at-home mother of five who usually hates grocery shopping: the lines always feel chaotic, especially when she brings her children, and the bill can often be more than her family can afford. But on Saturday, reports WISTV, she was pleasantly surprised by the actions of a Walmart cashier named Sharnique Dasant. Jordan wrote on Facebook that she normally doesn't engage with people at her local store in Columbia, South Carolina, but this time the woman behind the counter was friendly and conversational. After all of the items had been scanned, Jordan started digging around the corners...

Little Caesars founder and Detroit Tigers owner Mike Ilitch was well-known for his philanthropic efforts with veterans and the poor, which garnered him the praise of a succession of presidents. But billionaire Illitch - who died aged 87 on Friday - didn't stop sharing when he was out of the spotlight. And one of his friends wants the world to know that the businessman spent 11 years secretly helping a civil rights icon after she needed a new home.

The head of the Secret Service accepted full responsibility Thursday for last week's security breach at President Barack Obama's first state dinner, but he said that the president and Vice President Joe Biden were never in danger from a party-crashing couple who shook hands and posed for pictures with them. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan told the House Homeland Security Committee that his agents were at fault for allowing uninvited Washington socialites Tareq and Michaele Salahi into a lavish state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Sullivan told the committee that three uniformed agents had been put on administrative...

As the president-elect has repeatedly made clear, his first full day in office will be a busy one. He has promised to effect a wide array of changes. But what about his second day? If he has some free time, we have some suggestions. As the threat from international terror groups and homegrown radicalization increases, clamping down on domestic Islamist networks should be a priority. In particular: terror financing. Under the Obama administration, the federal government appeared to ease up on prosecutions of American Islamist charities linked to terror. This was a marked change from the years after 9/11, when...