Free Republic

The Blue-City Model Baltimore shows how progressivism has failed urban America. April 28, 2015 You’re not supposed to say this in polite company, but what went up in flames in Baltimore Monday night was not merely a senior center, small businesses and police cars. Burning down was also the blue-city model of urban governance. Nothing excuses the violence of rampaging students or the failure of city officials to stop it before Maryland’s Governor called in the National Guard. But as order starts to return to the streets, and the usual political suspects lament the lack of economic prospects for the...

12,000 non-disabled adults were in Maine’s SNAP program before Jan. 1 - a number that dropped to 2,680 by the end of March. More than 9,000 Maine residents have been removed from the state's food stamp program since Republican Gov. Paul LePage's administration began enforcing work and volunteer requirements. The new rules prevent adults who are not disabled and do not have dependents from receiving food stamps for more than three months - unless they work at least 20 hours a week, participate in a work-training program or meet volunteering requirements. DHHS Commissioner Mary Mayhew said the goal of the...

Potentially millions of current and former illegal immigrants now have the opportunity to fly their children to the U.S. with taxpayer dollars. Once they arrive, they will be eligible for benefits including a free education, healthcare and food stamps. The State Department and Department of Homeland Security will administer the program, ... Some of the benefits they will receive are a free education, medical care, living expenses and food stamps. ... The U.S. has already sent staff to the region and began accepting applications in December. If applicants don’t qualify for refugee status, they can be considered for parole status

In 2013, Fox News proudly broadcast an interview with a young food stamp recipient who claimed to be using the government benefit to purchase lobster and sushi."This is the way I want to live and I don’t really see anything changing," Greenslate explained to Fox. “It’s free food; it’s awesome."That story fit a longtime conservative suspicion that poor people use food stamps to purchase luxury items. Now, a Republican state lawmaker in Missouri is pushing for legislation that would stop people like Greenslate and severely limit what food stamp recipients can buy. The bill being proposed would ban the purchase with food stamps...

Anger toward those living below the poverty line seems to only be increasing. Maine and Missouri have proposed bills limiting residents’ food choices if they use SNAP. Missouri House Bill 813 would bar the state’s 930,000 food stamp recipients from using their benefits to buy cookies, chips, soda, energy drinks, steak and seafood. (The legislature also implemented mandatory drug testing for TANF applicants in 2011.) If the bill becomes law, a Missourian can’t buy a can of tuna with an EBT card. Tortilla chips to go with salsa? Nope. Flank steak — tough, stringy and the only cut of beef...

Adam Smith is living on food stamps in an RV In 2012, Smith rolled into a Chick-fil-A drive-thru and slammed the female attendant: "Chick-fil-A is a hateful corporation," Smith announced, then posted the video he took of the incident online

My, what a difference two and a half years and a nasty, self righteous video by a nasty, self righteous man make. In the summer of 2012, an individual who could only accept diversity, pluralism and multi culturalism as long as it agreed with his politically correct notions, posted a video of himself harassing a Chick-Fil-A order taker on Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day. That was the day those who actually believed in diversity, pluralism and multi culturalism chose to support the fast food chain against those who disagreed with the founder who opposed gay marriage. The founder didn't say he would...

New federal grants will help 10 states test programs to help food stamp recipients find jobs, from using career coaches to quicker training courses to mental health assistance. The grants, announced Friday in Georgia by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, come as the Republican Congress is exploring ways to cut the program, which cost $74 billion last year—twice its cost in 2008.Some in the GOP have proposed stricter work requirements as a way to do that. But the Obama administration sees better worker training as an alternative to cuts or stricter work requirements. Vilsack said the grants will help USDA identify...

Republican senators want to restrict products that may be purchased with Electronic Benefit Transfer cards used in state aid programs for the poor and disabled. Under Senate Bill 169, recipients would be banned from using the cards or cash drawn on the cards to purchase alcohol, tobacco, lottery tickets, firearms, or for adult entertainment, gambling, tattooing and body piercing. A similar bill passed the Senate last year, but was killed by the House which instead studied the issue. The result, House Bill 219, which restricts using the cards at locations such as smoke shops, tattoo parlors or marijuana dispensaries. State...

With a grocery bills priced as high as $1,300 per month as of late, some American workers simply cannot afford all of their groceries on top of everything else they already have to buy. This is why the government offers food stamps. The USDA Food and Nutrition Service reports that as of September 2014, there were around 46.5 million individual food stamp recipients (22.7 million households) receiving an average benefit of $123.74 each (around $257 per household).

(CNSNews.com) - The number of beneficiaries on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps, has topped 46,000,000 for 40 straight months, according to new data released by the Department of Agriculture (USDA). In December 2014, the latest month reported, there were 46,252,064 Americans on food stamps. Food stamp recipients have exceeded 46 million in each month since September 2011. The 46,252,064 on food stamps in December was down from the 46,263,096 on food stamps in November--a decline of 11,032.As of July, the national population was 318,857,056, the Census Bureau estimates. Thus, the 46,252,064 on food stamps...

Democratic Georgia Rep. David Scott said that food stamps are necessary because of America’s “policy” of imprisoning families. “First of all, the situation regarding employment and jobs, poverty, all of that. All of that has been structured into our economic, social policy over the last quarter-century,” Scott said at Wednesday’s House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing to review the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), talking about the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs before turning to the incarceration issue. “Our policy of sending so many of our young eligible fathers to prison. Millions,” Scott said. “Our prison population went from 300,000 in...

3. New Mexico Number of food stamp recipients: 430,622 Percentage of the state’s population on food stamps: 20.65% Total cost of just these benefits alone (That is, how much do just the money on those EBT cards cost the state?): Around $53.12 million Cost of benefits alone per capita in this state: $25.47 per person

Vice President Joseph R. Biden said Democratic presidential candidates in 2016 should embrace President Obama’s economic policies and “run on what we have done” instead of running away from the administration. “In my view, those seeking to lead the nation should protect and defend and run, yes run, on what we’ve done and own what we have done,” Mr. Biden said in a speech in Des Moines, Iowa. “Stand for what we have done. Acknowledge what we have done. And be judged on what we have done, if we have any chance for continued resurgence in 2016.” He added, “Some...

Having trouble just making ends meet because of taxes that go to people who don’t work? Check your State and see how you’d do not working at all! [BELOW] Hit that share button and Tweet or send an email link to every working man and woman you know.

Here is a post by a Colorado teacher who vividly explains the difference in the lives of fortunate students and the less fortunate students whom she teaches. Her last post on this blog was a nuanced look into the psyche of some students of color who live in poverty, which you can read here. This public school teacher often blogs anonymously under the name Shakespeare’s Sister at Daily Kos. She teaches 11th grade AP Language and Composition in the Denver area. Here is Shakespeare’s Sister newest post for this blog: Recently, events in Ferguson and New York have reminded us...

Once upon a time, within the art-adorned walls of a lakeside mansion in Deephaven, Minnesota, there lived a lord and a lady. That’s what Colin and Andrea Chisholm often called themselves, anyway. The Chisholms’ total assets amounted to $97 million, including some $3 million in cash. The “lord and lady” spent lavishly on traveling, upscale restaurants, entertaining guests, massages, original works of art, a collection of purebred dogs and even a million-dollar yacht. In April 2011 alone, they shelled out more than $23,000 just on travel and luxury items. But there were some expenses—like groceries and health services—which they avoided...

Scott Walker has had a good week. The press is googly-eyed over him, waxing on about how he could just win this thing, and he's still rolling on his high from last weekend's Freedom Summit. Of course, that's not really something to write home about when you're besting the likes of Sarah Palin, Ted Cruz and Mike Huckabee. He's got that populist message down pat just like his other friends on the campaign trail. Income inequality! Deteriorating middle class! And he's so concerned about those things he's going to govern on that basis, right? Walker has a real problem on...

Madison — Setting up a likely legal fight in the federal courts, Gov. Scott Walker is proceeding with his plan to ensure that drug users aren't getting food stamp or jobless benefits. Fulfilling a campaign promise, the Republican governor committed Thursday to putting the proposal in his next budget but provided few new details on how he would pursue a plan that could run afoul of federal rules in programs such as food stamps and unemployment insurance. For the first time, he did commit to offering free treatment and job training for those testing positive for drugs, but he offered...

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that by 2017, some 2 million currently undocumented immigrants will be eligible for certain federal benefits under the Obama administration’s executive amnesty. In a report released Thursday, CBO considers how changes to immigration policy could affect the federal budget. Its estimates are based on President Obama’s expanded deferred action programs to provide legal status to undocumented immigrants. The office estimates that between 2 million and 2.5 million undocumented immigrants will “have received approval for deferred action” by 2017. The CBO’s estimate is less than the 5 million the Obama administration estimated its executive amnesty would...