Free Republic

One of the most misused words in the English language is “free,” as in “it’s free.” Whether it’s the free samples of stuff at Costco, or the free pens and refrigerator magnets they give away at your local bank or car dealership, or the free hip replacement your mother-in-law just received, we use the term freely, so to speak, without ever considering it’s true meaning. When we say “it’s free,” what we really mean is that someone else is paying for it—voluntarily or involuntarily. And this is a very important distinction. Because one is morally defensible, while the other is...

WTF of the Week: Paul McCartney Wants a Free T-Shirt by Michael Gallucci December 17, 2013 1:48 PM Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Apparently being a member of one of the greatest groups of all time and one of the richest and most popular people on the planet isn’t enough for Paul McCartney. Now the dude wants a free T-shirt to go with his knighthood and power to shut down Times Square. As you can see in the above video, the Beatle known as the Cute One back in the day made an impassioned play for a free T-shirt...

QUEENSBURY, N.Y. -- Coming soon to your local sheriff: 18-ton, armor-protected military fighting vehicles with gun turrets and bulletproof glass that were once the U.S. answer to roadside bombs during the Iraq war. The hulking vehicles, built for about $500,000 each at the height of the war, are among the biggest pieces of equipment that the Defense Department is giving to law enforcement agencies under a national military surplus program. For police and sheriff's departments, which have scooped up 165 of the mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles, or MRAPS, since they became available this summer, the price and the ability to deliver...

"We have just concluded the 5th fiscal year since President Obama took office. During those five years, the federal government has spent a total $3.7 trillion on approximately 80 different means-tested poverty and welfare programs. The common feature of means-tested assistance programs is that they are graduated based on a person’s income and, in contrast to programs like Social Security or Medicare, they are a free benefit and not paid into by the recipient," says the minority side of the Senate Budget Committee. "The enormous sum spent on means-tested assistance is nearly five times greater than the combined amount spent...

France's National Assembly on Tuesday voted for a revamp of the country's debt-ridden pension system amid protest marches in Paris and other cities over the controversial measure. The reforms will raise the pay-in period for pension contributions, meaning employees will need to work longer to be eligible for full pensions. Protestors in Paris marched to the National Assembly under a banner calling for "the creation of jobs, retirement at 60 and salary increases."

Operating through an “emergency and health services” protocol, congressional representatives, senators, their staff, credentialed journalists, other credentialed media personnel, and U.S. Capitol Police are still receiving free flu shots at health units in the Capitol and at locations in office buildings. … According to a “Contingency Staffing Plan for Operations” for U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, page 3, the partial government shutdown will, however, prevent the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from performing its role to protect the citizenry from influenza. …

Obamacare’s been stumbling along at quasi-full force for over a week now, and for some Americans, the Affordable Care Act is not all it was cracked up to be: Justin Gaines @justing1284 I checked out an Obamacare exchange and it impressed me.. Until I saw the lowest premium for me was 3x what I am paying now 4:56 PM - 5 Oct 2013 41 Retweets 6 favorites My health insurance will TRIPLE in cost. I can't afford that. http://t.co/rqIY3TLeII — Austin Lee (@austinklee) October 8, 2013 Wesley Chow @WesleyWChow Just notified that I will be paying more for my existing...

The real problem with the Lifeline Program that provides free cell phones – commonly known as “Obamaphones” – to low-income individuals is not that it’s been abused, but that not enough low-income Latinos are using the subsidized phones, according to The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). “Probably about 30 to 35 percent of the people who qualify for Lifeline would be Latino, and yet only about 15 percent of the users of Lifeline are Latino,” Brent Wilkes, executive director of LULAC, said in a conference call Wednesday. When CNSNews asked for a comment on documented reports of fraud...

...snip... The takers outnumber the givers, and that will only increase in years to come. The “Occupy” riots across this country in the last two years were mere dress rehearsals for what lies ahead – years of unrest sparked by the increasing discontent of the unsuccessful who want to seize the fruits and the bounty of the successful, and do not appreciate the slow pace of redistribution. If this election proves one thing, it is that the Old America is gone. And, sad for the world, it is not coming back.

WASHINGTON - Maryland is the latest target of Texas Gov. Rick Perry in a new radio spot that criticizes his counterpart Gov. Martin O’Malley and the state’s high taxes. Perry criticizes Maryland for high taxes on businesses and families, comparing it to his state’s low taxes, “fair” legal system and limited government, in a commercial from Texas Wide Open for Business, part of the Texas Economic Development Division within the Office of the Governor. "When you grow tired of Maryland taxes squeezing every dime out of your business, think Texas, where we've created more jobs than all the other states...

Europeans came to this country for a better life. It hasn't always meant helping the less fortunate. The South’s aversion both to taxes and to mandated government safety net structures had a long, and somewhat surprising, pedigree. In the late eighteenth century, popular radical writers such as Condorcet in France and Tom Paine in England had called for the creation of comprehensive social insurance systems based around universal pensions, child allowances, and education for all. Neither, however, managed to successfully alter prevailing political and moral doctrines. In France, after the frenzy of the revolutionary years the counterrevolution of the post-Napoleonic...

Boston public schools will begin serving free lunches to all students this school year even if families have the financial means to pay, school officials are expected to announce Tuesday. The meal program, more than a year in the making, is part of an experimental federal initiative that aims to make it easier for students from low-income families to receive free meals by eliminating the need to fill out paperwork, including potentially invasive questions about income. Cities such as Atlanta, Detroit, and Chicago have been or will be participating in the free-meal program. Starting next school year, the program will...

Viviana Sanchez surveyed the long lunch line at Northeast High School last week and pondered her options. And she was glad she had options. Instead of waiting forever in the cafeteria line for a less-than-appetizing meal, the sophomore strolled over to a vending machine and had her lunch within seconds. "I like this better," Sanchez said last Thursday after pulling out a yogurt parfait and chocolate milk from Star Food Healthy Express machine. "This tastes better and it's quicker to get." The Oakland Park school is one of about 40 middle schools and high schools within the Broward County Public...

Could public colleges be free? Yes, says the head of the union for University of California’s 4,000 instructors and librarians. How? Trim non-essential functions, redirect a bunch of money and end tax breaks that mostly benefit wealthy college-goers’ families, argues University Council-American Federation of Teachers President Bob Samuels. . . . “The major stumbling block is people no longer believe in large government programs.” (Excerpt) Read More at InsideHigherEd.com...

As college tuition keeps rising, so does student debt. Asked about ways to make higher education more affordable, 59 percent of Americans “strongly agreed” that colleges and universities should reduce tuition and fees, and 46 percent said companies should provide more assistance to their employees. Forty percent said the federal government should provide more assistance, 38 percent said state governments should provide more, and 38 percent said community-based scholarship organizations should provide more assistance. …

Law enforcement officials pushed back hundreds of people who were crowding around a large pile of merchandise outside an Augusta grocery store Tuesday afternoon. But the goods sitting in the parking lot of the Laney Supermarket didn't make into anyone's hands.

Recently, the village idiot of CONgress, Dumbocrat Sheila Jackson Lee, took to the House floor and said this: *** "As yesterday was the official birthday of President Lincoln, February 12, and although it was a tragic time in our history, I can assure you that it shows the greatest promise of America when people could come together and do something great. I stand here as a freed slave because this Congress came together." http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2013/02/14/sheila-jackson-lee-congress-i-stand-here-freed-slave#ixzz2L1ZqHb7J *** Aside from the fact that this may very well be the most historically illiterate thing ever uttered (it's right up there with claiming that the...

A major element of surviving and thriving for an American Rhodie is identifying: in what ways and how strongly can the Regime exercise leverage over me and my Tribe? If the Regime can hurt you, that’s leverage. If you need the Regime, that’s also leverage. To that end, briefly consider the following facts: 1. In ObamaCare, the Regime created impossible-to-refuse incentives for all health care providers to acquire and deploy electronic health care record-keeping systems. 2. The Regime has built and deployed a gigantic server farm for the NSA in Utah capable of storing and searching virtually infinite quantities of...

Those who work for a living might want to put away shoes, hammers, and other hard objects to keep from throwing them through the computer. A new study shows that on average the government spends $168 per household on various assistance programs, one-fifth more than the median income of $137. As the Republican side of the Senate Budget Committee reported (after all, who else in government is going to do it?), welfare spending per hour per household in poverty is $30.60, which is higher than the $25.03 median income per hour. The Weekly Standard points out that direct welfare payments...

Exclusive: Pamela Geller traces death of the republic to 2 short words The United States of America was created as an independent nation whose founding ideal was the principle of individual rights. Freedom. Ayn Rand said that “freedom, in a political context, means freedom from government coercion.” America was the first moral government based on individual rights, the nation of the Enlightenment. In this age of Obama, that ideal has been tossed aside for … “free stuff.” I have, for some time, struggled with the new reality: America void of her reason, existing without the reason for her existence, her...