Free Republic

Just when you think the media could not possibly become more loathsome, the Fourth Estate bullies prove you wrong again. The Washington Post’s latest ugliness was to exploit the disability of a newspaper reporter in order to smear the Republican nominee for president. Then — and this is the least surprising part of the story — the Post lied about it. Other than the subject of that paragraph — which I slyly switched from Trump to the media — that is an exact paraphrase of the Post’s opening lines from an editorial hawking the media’s most successful lie about Donald...

FULL TITLE: 'I have been told I should have aborted Sophia... that she will be a drain on society': The unspoken secrets of a special needs mum 'I know there is racism, prejudice and discrimination. I just didn't know how real it was until I became a special needs mom. I have been told I should have aborted Sophia. I have been told that she will be a drain on society. I have been told that I am lucky to at least have one "normal" kid at home. 'These words do hurt. I know it seems like I let them...

Non-handicap drivers are gobbling up parking spaces all over California. State lawmakers say the rampant abuse of the disability parking placard system starts at the Department of Motor Vehicles. A few hours ago, elected leaders announced a bi-partisan audit of the DMV in hopes of getting to the root of the problem. We uncovered cheating of the system in the Bay Area. D.A. Issues Warning To San Franciscans Who Abuse Disabled Parking Placards There is an incredible amount of fraud and it’s been going on for years. There has to be. Does 1 in 8 California drivers have a disability?...

The Baker act, also known as the Florida Mental Health Act of 1971, Florida Statute 394.451-394.47891 or commonly known as the Baker Act. A draconian and unjust law that allows the involuntary institutionalization and examination of an individual for any reason at all. The Baker Act allows for involuntary examination (what some call emergency or involuntary commitment). It can be initiated by judges, law enforcement officials, physicians, or mental health professionals. There must be evidence that the person possibly has a mental illness or is a harm to self, harm to others or self neglectful. Truthfully these standards are...

Texas Senator and Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz has placed a lot of electoral eggs in the basket that is Indiana, and so it was that Cruz found himself gamely pressing the flesh with voters outside the Pie Pan restaurant in Evansville this weekend. Pool cameras caught most of what was a truly impressive display of retail politicking by Cruz, who dutifully posed for photos and chatted up voters, and even managed to find a couple of eight year-old girls who weren’t terrified of him. All this was done to periodic bursts of song from Cruz body man Bruce Redden:...

Donald Wolfe said he would walk there from his apartment on West 50th Street in Manhattan — 38 steps to the elevator, 54 steps through the lobby, 75 steps down the block to the corner and 37 steps across Eighth Avenue. First he put the jug with the water on his wheelchair. His oxygen tank was already in place, on the back. Off he went, pushing the wheelchair, a transport device for the garden supplies if not, at the moment, the gardener. He was not shuffling. Not shambling. But not speedwalking, either. “We’re so dry right now,” said Mr. Wolfe,...

Folks, let's be clear: Autism is almost-certainly not caused by vaccines. Let's remember the first rule of observational studies, which incidentally I was surprised to find a few years ago in my daughter's High School intro-to-stats class: Observational studies can only show correlation and correlation cannot prove causation. However, the absence of correlation is damn near bomb-proof evidence that the alleged cause you believe exists is false. Measles vaccination in the US began in 1963 following approval in 1962. Within five years near-complete compliance was obtained within the US. MMR, the combined vaccine that people like to blame autism on,...

Hundreds of thousands of borrowers who are permanently disabled could have an estimated $7.7 billion in student loans forgiven, the Department of Education announced Tuesday. Starting next week, the Department of Education will send letters to 387,000 people who have been identified as eligible for what is called a "Total and Permanent Disability" loan discharge because they are disabled and cannot work. The Department of Education and Social Security Administration worked together to identify borrowers who have been receiving disability payments and are eligible to have their loans discharged.

Investigators identified nearly 2,000 cases of potentially phony disability claims stemming from a massive Social Security fraud scheme, but three years after the scam was first exposed, the government says it’s still struggling to stop the payments. Only slightly more than 300 cases have been disqualified, and Social Security is still “in the process of effectuating those terminations,” the agency told The Washington Times just days after the accused ringleader and two lead accomplices were indicted on federal fraud charges. Despite three investigations into suspicions of massive fraud, Social Security officials say they are assuming all of the applications are...

Provides efficient, streamlined process in support of the MyVA Initiative of Medical Disability Examinations for Veterans WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) today announced the award of twelve major contracts that will enhance its ability to deliver timely disability benefits claims decisions to the nation’s Veterans in line with the MyVA initiative. The contracts make up a $6.8 billion enterprise-wide Medical Disability Examination Program under Public Law 104-275, and represent a major step forward in improving the disability examination experience for Veterans. A unique feature of this multi-contract award will see the consolidation of the contracts under a...

A YouTube video of a woman angered by a man who confronted her for parking in a disabled parking spot outside a Tim Hortons in Toronto has sparked howls of Internet outrage.The video, posted by the man - named Ryan Favro - has garnered more than one million views since it was posted on Monday.It begins with Favro politely asking the woman about her parking as she returns to her Jeep with her Timmys coffee and ice coffee."So why do you park in a handicapped parking spot? Are you handicapped?" he is heard asking. "No," she says, and walks away."Well,...

Blind woman learns to shoot Picture from concealed nation An Georgia television station raised a question about whether a person who is legally blind should be allowed to exercise their Second Amendment rights.  They asked if a person who is legally blind should be forbidden, by law, from carrying a weapon to protect themselves.  From newschannel9.com: Her father, Sheriff Warren Wethington, taught her how to shoot. He told Byfield he wants his daughter to be able to protect herself. "The people who express their opinions that my daughter's not safe with a gun most likely have never held one,...

Almost every week, it seems LifeNews discovers another story about parents aborting their unborn child because of a disability or abortion activists targeting unborn babies who have physical defects. These stories are disheartening, frightening even. But then there also are many stories of hope – families who choose life because they refuse to see their unborn child as less of a person, and celebrities who use their fame to celebrate other people’s lives rather than their own. Football star Tim Tebow is one of them. This Valentine’s Day, the pro-life sports star promoted a special event for people with special...

Today parents are sometimes pressured to abort simply because their unborn child has a cleft lip, a correctable condition. Physicians categorize it as a disability. Yet a surprising number of successful individuals were born with cleft lips. Among them is Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning. Manning’s success story shows that his cleft lip did not hinder him at all. Because his parents chose life, Manning was able to grow and pursue his dreams in football. This week, he and his team will play in the biggest American sports game of the year — the 2016 Super Bowl. Manning is not only...

A painting hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York called The Adoration of the Christ Child. Created in the 16th century by a Flemish artist, what stands out in this sublime presentation of the Nativity is the detail of the characters standing around the crib. Two of them, an angel and a shepherd, appear to have Down’s Syndrome. This suggests that the condition has been around for a very long time, and it helps illuminate the early modern approach to disability. Religious art normally conformed to classical standards of beauty. By implication, the artist regarded people with Down’s...

Early Monday morning, news agencies began reporting that ISIS clerics have issued an oral fatwa calling for the systematic killing of children with Down syndrome and other genetic disabilities. According to reports, nearly 40 disabled infants in ISIS territory have already been suffocated or given lethal injections.The news is sickening. The world has watched, on YouTube, the violent martyrdom of Christians at the hands of ISIS fighters. We’ve seen photos of martyred families and beaten prisoners. We’ve seen shootings in Paris, Beirut and San Bernardino, all claimed as ISIS sponsored acts of terrorism. And still, the West has not yet...

Story Highlights D'Arcee Neal, who has cerebral palsy, took a five-hour flight last week A mix-up meant there was no wheelchair to help him off the plane; he was told to wait for one He waited but finally crawled out of the plane with no assistance (CNN)—A man returning from a meeting about disabled accessibility policies arrived home with a very personal example of the problem. D'Arcee Neal, who has cerebral palsy, took a five-hour flight from San Francisco to Washington last week. A mix-up at the gate meant there was no wheelchair to help the 29-year-old off the plane,...

The gang from "Sesame Street" is welcoming a new member to the neighborhood — Julia, a girl who has bright orange hair and big green eyes. She also has autism. Julia is the latest creation from the Sesame Workshop, and she offers children a relatable character they can understand, whether they're living with autism or know someone who is. On Wednesday, "Sesame Street and Autism: See Amazing in All Children" was launched online, and Julia is just part of that educational and awareness initiative. "Children with autism are five times more likely to get bullied," Dr. Jeanette Betancourt, the senior...

[WARNING: The video below contains profanity. Viewer discretion advised.](VIDEO-AT-LINK) RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. (WPEC) — A Riviera Beach police officer was videotaped confronting a disabled veteran for not looking "handicap" for parking in a disabled parking space. U.S. Army combat veteran Isiah James, who has served nearly 10 years for our country, was absolutely shocked when a trip to a popular Riviera Beach drug store turned confrontational with the law. James says he was issued a disabled person parking permit, and it was properly displayed in his vehicle the entire time. During his deployment, James took fire and was hit with...

There is an economic crisis that isn’t much talked about, but which is responsible for a downward spiral that none of us want to see continue. Men are opting out of the workplace. That’s right. According to the U.S. Department of Labor statistics, in the 1950’s about three percent of men between 25 and 54, which is still considered “prime” working age, were unemployed and not seeking employment. In the late 1960’s that had climbed to about five percent. In 2013 it was reported at 12 percent. And the last report placed it at 16 percent. These aren’t just men...