Free Republic

Former First Lady Barbara Bush has been hospitalized in Houston, according to a local report.

As if ObamaCare’s botched website, coverage cancellations, and higher costs were not bad enough, the Obama Administration has quietly dealt yet another blow – this time striking millions of the nation’s most vulnerable seniors. Specifically, the Obama Administration has decided to deeply cut funding for the Medicare program’s home health benefit as a way to help pay for ObamaCare. The Administration made this announcement very quietly, waiting to do so until the very end of the last Friday before Thanksgiving, perhaps thinking that most people would not be looking. To be sure, the timing of the Administration’s quiet announcement did...

Rarely does an investigative report manage to unite industry executives, academics, and regulators in such a way as the recent Frontline/ProPublica Life and Death in Assisted Living. Unfortunately for the producers and writers, they have united all three elements in expressing how their report misrepresented the industry. The Frontline show originally aired on July 30, 2013, on PBS for one hour, and the accompanying four-part series written by A.C. Thompson (who hosted and co-produced the Frontline show) appeared concurrently in ProPublica. They claim to have spent over a year on the project. It is unclear when they developed their...

A dangerous game known as the “Knockout game“, has now made it’s way down to Fort Meyers, Florida. Where a 15-year-old girl named Traveshia Blanks, has attacked more than just one eldery person. Traveshia Blanks, of Fort Myers, has been charged with two counts of battery on a person 65 years of age or older. Another victim, a 72-year-old man told the news station he was weeding his garden Tuesday when he was kicked from behind. The victim fell to the ground and said he saw a woman walking away laughing, joining a group of people. According to NBC-2, Harry...

In a era where "the elderly do not count", where they are often "discarded", "a nation that does not respect grandparents, has no future , because it has no memory", it forgets that "often they had a heroic role in the transmission of the faith in times of persecution". This is Pope Francis' lesson during Mass celebrated at Casa Santa Marta, inspired by the biblical story of the Elder Eleazar , who chose martyrdom for consistency with his faith.The Pope noted that Eleazar, as recounted in the Book of Maccabees, "faced with the choice between apostasy and fidelity has no...

While caring for both of her aging parents, Philadelphia-based photographer Isa Leshko made a conscious decision not to photograph her family. But about a year later, while visiting a friend’s farm, she found herself drawn to an elderly horse. Since then, she has captured dozens of animals in their winter years, including farm animals, horses and dogs. Some of them are factory farm rescues; others beloved pets. Many of the animals passed away shortly after Leshko photographed them. She writes: I am creating these photographs in order to take an unflinching look at aging and mortality. My maternal grandmother had...

Stand outside the huge gates to Doris Day’s fortress-like home in California’s beautiful Carmel Valley and you can sometimes hear the sound of the canine companions who share the Hollywood star’s life. It’s been some years since Day, now 91 and so reclusive many may be surprised to learn she is still alive, used to steal through the streets of the nearby town of Carmel in the middle of the night on a regular basis. Locals would watch in surprise as she rounded up stray dogs and emaciated cats, bundling them in her car to take home and look after...

My mother Betty, 87 years young, fell and broke her leg. She's scheduled for a rod implant surgery tomorrow at 7 AM. She's a wonderful lady, active with her church and circle, and still mentally sharp. She's doing well after her fall, and was very positive when I spoke to her earlier today. I would greatly appreciate your prayers and good thoughts! God Bless!

A World War II veteran and the nation's oldest living Medal of Honor recipient has died in New Jersey. Nicholas Oresko, an Army master sergeant who was badly wounded as he single-handedly took out two enemy bunkers during the Battle of the Bulge in 1945, died Friday night at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, hospital officials announced Saturday. He was 96. Oresko had been hospitalized after injuring himself in a fall at an assisted living center in Cresskill. He died of complications from surgery.

For much of this last week, according to the spokespeople for the National Park Service, the NPS has asserted that the White House specifically ordered that they barricade the open air memorial commemorating the sacrifice and service of the veterans of World War II. In multiple statements to the press NPS spokespeople made it clear that they were directly instructed by the White House specifically to shut the memorial that had previously never been closed. How do you close something that by design is intended to be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year?...

Thousands of elderly poor have a home today because of one remarkable woman.Saint Jeanne Jugan grew up in a small town in the aftermath of the French revolution. Times were hard. The winters were brutal. To support her family, Jeanne worked from a young age as a shepherdess, kitchen maid, and tending the sick at a Civil and Naval Hospital. In this last position, she discovered her lifeÂ’s vocation: helping others.Confident in her Catholic faith, Jeanne set out to serve those most in need. She cared for the poor and the elderly as if they were her own family, even...

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) -Authorities say they've charged a Syracuse teenager with the unprovoked beating of a 70-year-old man outside a convenience store, an attack that left the victim in serious condition. Police Chief Frank Fowler says Monday that 18-year-old Romeo Williams has been charged with second-degree assault after Saturday morning's beating of Jim Gifford as he walked across the parking lot outside a 7-Eleven store. Fowler says Williams hit Gifford in the face, knocking him unconscious. Police say Williams then entered the store and celebrated by taking off his hat and holding it up in the air and smiling before...

Inspiring Examples of Aged Faith September 7th, 2010 by Fr. Kyle Schnippel Last week, I had the opportunity to con-celebrate Mass with two priests who, together, have 120 years of priestly experience.  Only bringing 6 years to the Altar myself, I was somewhat in awe of the two aged servants who have toiled long in the vineyard of the Lord.As I reflect back on this Mass, and as I have continued to grow in friendship with these two men (who are both old enough to be my grandfather!), I continue to marvel at the great gift of the priesthood for...

Look at the crop of oft-cited Democratic presidential hopefuls for 2016 and you have a hard time surmising how the party’s captured the lion’s share of young voters in recent cycles. Hillary Clinton would take office at age 69, Joe Biden at 73. Both have sought the presidency before, and should Biden again attempt the climb, it’d mean he tried in three different decades. As for the second tier, Andrew Cuomo owes a lion’s share of his presidential caliber to his famous last name, with his father likely being the one Democrat who could’ve stopped Bill Clinton in 1992. Martin...

Sometimes, God simply laughs, and occasionally, he lets us into the joke. I saw THIS PICTUREof George Soros and his brand new bride on a FR thread. I noticed the text behind him, on the movie poster, and it simply SCREAMED for some attention.I created THIS:

A Texas-based company that sells wheelchairs and motorized scooters to people with limited mobility announced Friday that it's shutting down for good, following federal scrutiny over its advertising and billing.

The world’s oldest man, a 112-year-old self-taught musician, coal miner and gin rummy aficionado from western New York, has died. He was 112. Salustiano Sanchez-Blazquez died Friday at a nursing home in Grand Island, according to Robert Young, senior gerontology consultant with Guinness World Records. Sanchez-Blazquez became the world’s oldest man when Jiroemon Kimura died June 12 at age 116. …

International Business Machines Corp. plans to move about 110,000 retirees off its company-sponsored health plan and instead give them a payment to buy coverage on a health-insurance exchange, in a sign that even big, well-capitalized employers aren't likely to keep providing the once-common benefits as medical costs continue to rise. The move, which will affect all IBM retirees once they become eligible for Medicare, will relieve the technology company of the responsibility of managing retirement health-care benefits. IBM said the growing cost of care makes its current plan unsustainable without big premium increases. IBM's shift is an indication that health-insurance...

Yesterday many of us participated in a thread entitled "I miss America when it was Decent and Good." Many of us shared our memories and there were some wonderful stories. Today, someone posts that "elderly kooky types" "infest FR" and "go on and on about their grandchildren and what a great president Eisenhower was." Just for kicks (see I'm dating myself already), how many FReepers are "elderly kooky types?"

ANDERSON – Police announced formal charges against a 17-year-old suspect in connection with the July rape of a 93-year-old Anderson woman. According to Anderson Police Chief Larry Crenshaw, the suspect lived closed to the victim. Crenshaw said police collected DNA samples from several people and connected the suspect to the crime through a DNA match. Charges against Iquise V. Taylor include rape, burglary, criminal confinement and strangulation police announced during a news conference Monday. He’s been charged as an adult. Crenshaw called it a “horrific and unimaginable attack” and said the department was satisfied to bring some kind of closure...