Free Republic

Students at Penn-Trafford High School aren't buying that lunches prepared under federal guidelines that restrict calories, sodium and portions are their best option. So they literally are not buying them. "I would say, on average, we've lost about $20,000 a year each of the last five years," Penn-Trafford business manager Brett Lago said. "We are not in the food service industry to make money, but we don't want to lose it." School lunch participation nationally dropped from 31.6 million students in 2012 to 30.4 million in 2014, according to the federal Department of Agriculture. Pennsylvania statistics show school lunch participation...

The Australian Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) has bullied a car service company into discontinuing its advertisement because the “sexist” portrayal of women allegedly results in the “vilification of women.” ABC Australia reports Ultra Tune’s “Unexpected Situation” advertisement has been pulled after the ASB determined the ad violates a “code of ethics” pertaining to “discrimination against women.” The 15-second advertisement in question features two women caught on train tracks and then panicking as a train approaches them. In order to “avoid unexpected situations” like getting caught on train tracks, the ad suggests people should “get your car serviced at Ultra Tune.” Although the advertisement ends...

Kentucky State Representative Mary Lou Marzian (D-Louisville) has introduced legislation (HB396) that would impose tighter restrictions on the availability of Viagra. If passed, the law would limit Viagra availability to married men who have their spouse's written permission. "Right now erectile dysfunction is a woman's first line of defense against rape," Marzian declared. "We should not tear down this barrier willy-nilly by allowing any man who can get a doctor to write him a prescription have this drug. Ideally, we should put something in the water that negates every man's capability to get an erection. This would practically eliminate the...

A proposed bill in New York seeks to require that all smartphones sold in the state can be decrypted or unlocked and proposes hefty fines for vendors failing to comply.The proposed law marks the latest effort by lawmakers to make it easier for law enforcement to access and read encrypted data stored on smartphones. Should the proposed bill successfully pass through New York's state assembly and senate, Apple and Google could face fines of $2,500 per device sold in the state after January 1, 2016, if a retailer knowingly sold a smartphone that could not be unlocked or decrypted by...

Raising the bar for other cities throughout the country, New York City announced "strong" and "bold" protections for transgender and gender non-conforming individuals. The new legal guidance, issued Dec. 21 by the New York City Commission on Human Rights, came as part of an expansion of the city's 2002 Human Rights Law, which protects against discrimination in a range of categories. The updated policy specifically protects transgender and gender non-conforming individuals from discrimination in areas of employment, public accommodation, and housing.

New federal dietary guidelines, which were released early Thursday morning, tell Americans to follow a healthy eating pattern that includes a variety of vegetables, fruit, grains, fat-free dairy, oils and a variety of proteins, including lean meats. The recommendations for what Americans should and shouldn't be eating, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) update together every five years, created unprecedented controversy in 2015 when the federally appointed panel of nutritionists that helps draft them considered environmental concerns in recommending that people should eat less meat. The USDA and HHS relented...

The political left has been trying to run other people's lives for centuries. So we should not be surprised to see the Obama administration now trying to force neighborhoods across America to have the mix of people the government wants them to have. There are not enough poor people living in middle class neighborhoods to suit the political left. Not enough blacks in white neighborhoods. Not enough Hispanics here, not enough Asians there. Nowhere in the Constitution does it grant the federal government the power to dictate such things. But places that do not mix and match people the way...

INDIANAPOLIS — Maintaining the state’s roads and bridges is work fraught with obstacles and hazards. It doesn’t daunt Ed Soliday, a retired pilot and safety expert who loves telling stories and spinning metaphors. “I’m evangelist, and may 1,000 angels sing when somebody comes to see the light,” said Soliday, Republican chairman of the House Roads and Transportation Committee, who aims to convince fellow lawmakers to set aside politics in search of sustainable road funding. Don’t queue the music just yet. Soliday’s ideas for raising cash for deteriorating roads and bridges include some politically unpalatable proposals, such as tax hikes and...

Over the years the American longing to form their own communities free from European -style clusters of apartment renters shuffling to and from work on state-devised public transport lines, confined to nearby schools and shops, has been possible because of widespread private ownership of cars. Like household appliances, cars have as well liberated women to join the workforce, allowing more flexible scheduling to fit each family's needs. Mothers can work and still do the shopping, drop the kids off at schools and to their countless activities. Urban planners -- likely singles who had a semester abroad and been bedazzled by...

The federal government said Friday it would ban minors from using indoor tanning beds, taking action on an issue that many states are already handling. The Food and Drug Administration said the proposed measure was in response to 1.6 million minors using indoor tanning beds each year, according to 2013 federal data. The problem is that indoor tanning is a "known contributor to skin cancer," the agency said. People who have been exposed to radiation from tanning beds are 59 percent more likely to develop melanoma, a dangerous form of skin cancer, than those who never have used the beds,...

Having solved all other problems plaguing our society, New York Times opinion author (and food journalist) Mark Bittman has his eye on the big prize. Taking a page from Michael Bloomberg’s big government playbook, Mark is looking for a new way stop people from drinking soda. Since efforts to ban sales of any sort fell flat in the courts (pun intended) the author is looking for more of a generational change, and the way to do that is to stop kids from getting in the habit of drinking the sugary beverages at an early age. How do we do that?...

Imagine if you were faced with this situation. Your doctor, after running a battery of tests on your six year-old daughter, tells you that she is suffering from a rare cancer that is almost invariably fatal. "But there must be something doctor," you blurt out. "Aren't there some new drugs available that work in at least some cases?" The doctor replies, "Yes, there are some drugs that do show promise in treating your daughter's cancer. The problem is that they have not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration and therefore I can't get any of them. And...

CHICAGO (AP) — Nearly two years after Illinois decided medical marijuana users shouldn't be prohibited from owning guns, several patients received letters from state police telling them their firearms cards were being revoked. Although the agency insists the letters were sent to just four people before the mistake was corrected, some cannabis supporters say the error signifies an underlying ambivalence about medical marijuana in the 23 states where it's now legal.

Sandbar Lounge, a downtown Casper institution, will close for good Saturday, and its owner says the city's recently imposed smoking ban is to blame. “The smoking ban destroyed the bar, as I foretold it would,” Nancy Goddard wrote Monday in a post on the Sandbar's Facebook page. “I have cried a million tears and will probably cry a million more again. I apologize. I tried and failed. God bless.” Casper residents voted Nov. 3 to reinstate a 2012 smoking ban on bars. More than 6,000 voters cast ballots, with 54 percent voting in favor of the ban. Ban supporters, such...

...Michael Bloomberg...trashed two top-tier Republican presidential candidates in a CNN interview airing Friday.After dismissing "right-wing crazies" who reject mainstream climate science, Bloomberg was asked by CNN's Christiane Amanpour what he made of the GOP field...."There's one of them who was a surgeon, unfortunately at Johns Hopkins, who doesn't believe in science," Bloomberg said. "Somebody said that's like a business executive that doesn't believe in profits."Bloomberg then said that Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas had said some of the "stupidest" things about climate change despite his intellect. He noted that Cruz's intelligence had been praised by Alan Dershowitz, a prominent US...

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D) did New York a huge favor earlier this month when he declared fantasy sports leagues a form of illegal gambling and ordered two of their principal organizers, DraftKings and FanDuel, to stop taking bets from state residents. Fantasy leagues are not games of skill, Schneiderman decreed, but rather games of chance, and therefore illegal under state law. And gambling is illegal for good reason: It can lead to addiction and all other sorts of social ills. What a relief. From now on, New Yorkers will not be tempted by the deceitful lure of...

Contender for the Democratic presidential nomination Sen. Bernie Sanders (S-Vt) made an effort to define democratic socialism in a speech to Georgetown University students this week. "Unlike the socialism imposed by Lenin or Mao, democratic socialism allows voters to select who will rule over them," Sanders said. "With the backing of the electorate, these rulers will redress the inequities stemming from inequalities that are no fault of the individual." Sanders asserted "the notion that a person's hard work might entitle him to a disproportionate share of the world's wealth is just plain wrong. A person's ability to work hard is...

Don’t you love donating to causes you believe in? Don’t you love that warm fuzzy feeling from knowing that contributing to a worthy cause? And don’t you especially love that you can support whatever organization you choose anonymously? That last one is especially important given the news over the last few years that the IRS has been targeting conservatives with audits and denial of tax-free status for nakedly political reasons. Well, if the IRS has their way, this may be a luxury that will soon go the way of the dinosaur. A new rule is proposing that non-profit organizations collect...

When Congress left town for the August recess, it did so without coming to an agreement on a long-term transportation bill. Instead, the president signed a three-month extension that set the stage for another showdown this fall. More than 30 such temporary extensions have passed since the last multi-year transportation bill expired in 2011. The inability of Congress to come together to pass a transportation package has frustrated the myriad special interests whose lobbyists want assurances that the dollars will keep flowing for years, and not just months, to come. And the media, which seldom miss an opportunity to push...

Obesity is still rising among American adults, despite more than a decade of public-awareness campaigns and other efforts to get people to watch their weight, and women have now overtaken men in the obese category, new government research shows. For the past several years, experts thought the nation's alarming, decades-long rise in obesity had leveled off. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report Thursday that the obesity rate has climbed to nearly 38 percent of adults, up from 32 percent about a decade earlier.