Free Republic

Bernie Sanders often claims that America has the highest child-poverty rate of any advanced democracy in the world. He uses this fact to justify his call for a European-style social-welfare state. But what if it’s simply not true? In a new article for the journal Education Next, we demonstrate that when cross-national poverty rates are calculated appropriately, it becomes clear that America is rather unexceptional, at least on this score. We have a significantly lower proportion of children living in poverty than Ireland and the United Kingdom, and about the same as Germany and even Finland. How can that...

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved Sunday for legislation a bill submitted by MK Yoav Kisch (Likud) called "Parents and their Children." The law would make Israel the first country in the world to take away parents' rights as legal guardians of their own children. It would hand over vast power to social workers, who will be able to initiate proceedings against parents who, in their opinion, fail to respect a list of ten "children's rights" enumerated in the bill. These rights include the right "to physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development and to develop their talents and personal...

<p>A worker at a Canadian pharmacy accidentally gave out out bipolar medication to trick-or-treaters instead of candy, according to a report.</p> <p>The mix-up unfolded after a woman unknowingly dropped her 17-year-old son’s prescription drugs while on her way out of a Beauport pharmacy.</p>

Our sister site Twitchy posted about this pro-gun control tidbit from CNN's Sally Kohn, where she wrote that guns kill or injure 10,000 kids a year, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. In all, she was trying to say that given these figures, shouldn’t we regulate firearms in the same fashion as we do cars and children's toys? Recently, my CNN colleague Mel Robbins made a startling point. Robbins was on "Legal View" to discuss the case of an 11-year-old who shot and killed an 8-year-old neighbor when host Ashleigh Banfield noted that 10,000 children are killed or injured by guns every year. […]...

Pope Francis gives a thumbs up (CNS photo/Paul Haring) See POPE-AUDIENCE-SCANDAL Oct. 14, 2015. Francis encourages young people to read the Bible, sharing his own reading habits in his prologue for the new YoutCat German Bible The Bible is a “dangerous book” that young people should read daily rather than letting it gather dust on their shelves. “The Bible is not meant to be placed on a shelf, but to be in your hands, to read often – every day, both on your own and together with others,” the Pope wrote in the prologue for a youth bible published...

An Oregon couple who prayed and rubbed olive on their dying son following a home birth rather than call 911 and seek help will continue to serve six years in prison each after a judge upheld their manslaughter conviction. Dale and Shannon Hickman, both 30, were both convicted in 2011 of second-degree manslaughter for the death of their son, David, who died nine hours after his home birth in 2009. David was born two months early at his grandmother's home with undeveloped lungs, and died after having trouble breathing and turning blue. The Hickman's - members of a controversial faith-healing...

SNIP This year, some SJWs (or, for the uninitiated, "internet feminist harpies") are taking it upon themselves to suggest more "empowered" costumes for young girls than those you might find in your average Spirit Halloween store. Now, I have nothing against going as, say, Marie Curie or Frieda Kahlo (especially since both have the added possibility of some truly gruesome makeup effects - radiation is bad for you, kids!), or even as a tiny Supreme Court justice. But I have to draw the line as Makers Women's suggested "female empowerment" Halloween costume. That's right, parents of America: nothing says "heroic...

The United States is home to the most obese population in the Americas, Asia and Europe, has the fattest kids by a wide margin and is tops in poor health for teenagers, according to the latest measure of well-being from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. In its "How's Life 2015?" report released Tuesday, the United States is also among the nations with underperforming students and second in murders and assaults. But the U.S. shines when it comes to personal wealth and even the number of rooms in our homes, said the organization that charts the personal and economic...

October 5, 2015 (BreakPoint) -- The way to win over a culture is to capture the minds and hearts of its young people. The gay-rights movement has certainly learned that lesson, which helps explain a current trend in youth literature. Anyone who reads books for teens these days will tell you that portrayals of gay relationships and characters are rapidly increasing.

The Mercer Island School District in the State of Washington has barred students from playing the game of “tag” on school grounds or within eyesight of school personnel. Communications director Macy Grade described the ban as “an essential step to ensure the physical and emotional safety of all students.” In the game of “tag,” one child is designated as “it” until he or she can tag/touch another child and pass along the “it” status. Grade characterized the game as “potentially devastating to children’s self-esteem. First of all, the person who is ‘it’ is isolated and stigmatized. Second, all the other...

Children as young as 10 years old are receiving taxpayer-funded birth control in Washington State, according to public records obtained by Judicial Watch from the agency that provides medical coverage for the poor. JW filed a public records request with the Washington Health Care Authority after reading a disturbing article in a pro-life news site over the summer about a Seattle high school that offers different forms of birth control without parental knowledge or consent. This includes implanting an intrauterine device (IUD) in a girl’s uterus free of cost. It’s part of an initiative offered by Medicaid, the joint federal...

Quinn said that they brought the police commander to their camp, where he confessed to the assault. When the man shrugged his shoulders and laughed in their faces, they threw him to the ground. Quinn explained that it wasn't meant to be revenge, but to send the message to the man and to the other local policemen that sexual assaults would not be tolerated.

UNITED NATIONS – The Obama administration’s immigration policy should come into clearer focus when world leaders gather at the United Nations later this month for the General Assembly. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon will convene a special meeting on the refugee crisis, and the outcome will provide a roadmap for U.S. policy. The Obama administration has been adopting U.N. guidance on immigration, such as the U.N.’s recommendation to “move away from the detention of all migrants… particularly unaccompanied minors, and families with children. Aim to eradicate the detention of children completely … Age verification is not a justification for...

The U.S. Secret Service ordered hundreds of parents and their cancer-stricken children out of Lafayette Square on Saturday night, barricading the park for at least two hours and disrupting the group’s plans for a candlelight vigil to raise awareness and research funding for childhood cancer, participants said. Some of the parents and children expressed hurt and disappointment that Secret Service and National Park Police, citing security precautions, virtually shut down part of a two-day event called CureFest for Childhood Cancer. “We ended up waiting at the gates for two hours, and they never let us in,” said Natasha Gould, an...

Expectant parents wanting the best for their babies typically focus on the best strollers, cribs and cost-effective diapers. But they might want to consider where best to have their baby. That place may not be Pennsylvania, with its low number of pediatricians, obstetrician-gynecologists and parental-support groups, and the lack of a “baby-friendly environment.” Pennsylvania actually ranked next to last, ahead of only Mississippi, based on health care costs and available services and resources for babies and parents, according to WalletHub.com’s 2015 rankings of the best and worst states in which to have a baby.

Regulating fast food kids' meals that include toys may end up making the meals healthier, according to a new study. If a proposed new policy in New York City is approved, then fast food meals that come with toys would contain fewer calories overall, and fewer from fat and sodium, researchers report. "We can create policies that will nudge us toward healthier behaviors," said senior author Marie Bragg, of NYU Langone Medical Center in New York. The proposed policy, which was introduced to the New York City Council, says fast food meals that come with a small toy must include...

A Lithuanian mother living in Norway who had her two children taken into care has speculated that social services intervened because of her daughter was dressed too prettily. Airida Pettersen, who moved to Norway in 2008 after marrying a Norwegian man, is one of several hundred immigrants to have had their children taken into care by Norway's Child Protection Service, or Barnevernet. "I dress my daughter in a pretty dress and make her comb her hair," she told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Lithuania. "They look at me like I'm from a Third World country. In my...

August 28: Pope Francis reportedly sent an encouraging letter to lesbian founder of publishing house for children’s books. Today’s Il Giornale reports, “The Pope blesses gender ideology books. To the author he writes: “Go ahead.” The report continues, “Pope Francis still amazes, writing a long letter to the author of the books that the mayor of Venice, Luigi Brugnaro, wanted to ban from its schools. After the Synod on the family that threatens to split the church, the Pope again lines up in defense of the same-sex couples.” Francesca Pardi, founder with her partner Maria Silvia Fiengo of the publishing...

With homosexual and transgender issues always at the forefront, whether we like it or not, it's a relief to know that now your kids will have a gender-fluid option for this coming Halloween: Halloween probably isn’t the best time to deal with an incredibly sensitive subject like gender reassignment. But that hasn’t deterred a major company from conjuring up a Caitlyn Jenner costume in time for Oct. 31. Spirit Halloween, the company behind the pop-up costume stores that appear all over the city every fall, has exclusively confirmed to Confidenti@l that it will be carrying the insensitive getup this year....

I am sorry. To all you moms out there who can’t go out to eat because your kid screams and ruins your dinner, I am so sorry. Until now, I’ve been incredibly spoiled and I may have even thought it was your fault that your kid was screaming during dinner. (I may have judged you a little.) My first two children–girls–were what we called white-tablecloth babies. We could take them to the best upscale restaurant on the Magnificent Mile and they wouldn’t make a peep. They would eat their dinner and play with a toy and everyone would smile...