Free Republic

Not long after President Donald Trump was sworn in, we happened to run into the Rev. Jesse Jackson on the street. He gave a thumbs-up to Trump’s inauguration speech but said the new commander in chief has much work to do in order to unify a nation riven by a divisive campaign. “The speech was full of hope and inclusion and he reached out to cities in a way they’ve not been reached out to for a long time,” he said. “But with that must come a target, a timetable and a budget.” Trump’s speech hit many of the populist...

The United States Digital Service is a startup at The White House, using design and technology to deliver better services to the American people. www.usds.gov For people who need timely access to critical benefits, interacting with the government can become as time consuming as a part-time job. As William has encountered time and again, enrolling in these programs can be cumbersome, duplicative and at odds with the demands of working and caring for one’s family. In recent years, non-profits, academia and state and federal government agencies alike began studying and experimenting with a shift toward a more family-centered — as opposed to...

Congressman Danny Davis is a Democrat representing Illinois's 7th District, which includes some Chicago neighborhoods hardest hit by gun violence. His own grandson was shot and killed last November. MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: We hear now from Congressman Danny Davis. He's represented the 7th Congressional District since 1996, but gun violence is not just an abstract concept to him. His 15-year-old grandson Javon was killed in a dispute over borrowed clothing last November, and Congressman Davis delivered the eulogy. He was kind enough to host us in his offices on Capitol Hill. Congressman, thank you so much for speaking with us...

2016 will go down in history as the year when the world finally saw sense. Nowhere will this be more apparent than in America’s bold and brilliant decision to elect Donald Trump who, in my view, is set fair to be one of the truly great U.S. presidents. I realise that this isn’t obvious to some people—even those who claim to be on the conservative side of the political argument. But after a recent trip to D.C. for some private briefings, both with his transition teams and with key members of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy, I came away more confident...

The following is an email from Mark Nugent of Sacramento california who at the age of 16 was forced into the mental health system against his will, branded mentally ill, stripped of his trust fund by his liberal parents and forced on SSI. The SSI program was originally intended for those liberals branded too old or too stupid to work. It pays very little, about $695 a month and to receive it one must not hold assets or property worth more than $2000.  People with disabilities who receive SSI [Supplemental Security Income] payments continue to be the nation’s poorest citizens....

In Rochester, New York, the mayor is making a controversial change to the city’s law enforcement strategy. Normally when we’re talking about crime here I’m dealing with murders, sexual assaults and all of the truly horrible things which unfortunately happen. This one, however, has to do with traffic violations. Wait! Don’t stop reading yet… there’s a point to be made here.Mayor Lovely Warren is preparing to shut down the city’s system of automated red light cameras which record motorists running stop lights and are used to issue tickets. Her complaint isn’t that the cameras don’t work properly or are...

Africa is still battling “transitional periods,” from slavery and colonialism, to neocolonialism and eco-imperialism. Its wars, diseases and suffering will never end until we stop having greedy leaders who only care about their families, cronies and tribal members. The continent has enough natural resources to bring peace, health and prosperity to nearly everyone. And yet 90% of Africans still lack electricity and basic necessities, while corrupt leaders who could help transform our nations embezzle billions and leave parents and children starving and poor. From Rwanda and Liberia to the Sudan and Uganda, we see every day the horrible effects of...

According to Compassion International, approximately half of the population of the entire planet currently lives on $2.50 a day or less. Meanwhile, those hoarding wealth at the very top of the global pyramid are rapidly becoming a lot wealthier. Don’t get me wrong – I am a very big believer in working hard and contributing something of value to society, and those that work the hardest and contribute the most should be able to reap the rewards. In this article I am in no way, shape or form criticizing true capitalism, because if true capitalism were actually being practiced all...

Donald Trump loves the idea of infrastructure. He brings it up all the time. He wants to make an infrastructure bill a priority in his first 100 days as president. And Democrats like Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer have said they’d love to work with him on this."We are going to fix our inner cities and rebuild our highways, bridges, tunnels, airports, schools, hospitals," Trump promised cheering supporters on election night. "We're going to rebuild our infrastructure, which will become, by the way, second to none. And we will put millions of our people to work as we rebuild it."The...

After 8 years of prosperity. All of a sudden we are all poor and homeless again.

The “Stolen Land and Hoarded Resources Redistribution, Decolonization and Community Reparations Tour for Mama Earth and its Earth Peoples” was launched last spring by POOR Magazine, led by “Poverty Skola” Lisa “Tiny” Gray-Garcia of POOR Magazine/Prensa POBRE and fellow race, disability, indigenous scholars Leroy Moore from Krip Hop Nation and First Nations Ohlone warrior Corrina Gould of the Sogorea Land Trust. They plan to resume the tour in the coming months. Along with many local Bay Area community allies, this nationwide tour kicked off in April in the wealthy Pacific Heights neighborhood in San Francisco (Yelamu), later followed by a...

Claiming the role of champions of the masses is something the political left has been doing ever since there has been a political left — which is to say, ever since the late 18th century, when people with such views sat on the left side of the French National Assembly. Like so much that is claimed by the left, their compassion for the masses has seldom been subjected to any factual test. Both their words and their deeds reveal their low opinion of the people they claim to be championing. When Barack Obama referred to ordinary working people as people...

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Low-income families who want to visit the Science Museum of Virginia will now get to do it at a fraction of the cost. Local media outlets report that the museum will charge an exhibit admission fee of $1 per child and $2 per adult to families who have an Electronic Benefit Transfer card. If they pay an additional $1, they can watch a movie in the museum's Dome Theatre. EBT cards are used by low-income families to pay for things like groceries....

Ignoring the Poor Is a Damnable Sin – A Homily for the 26th Sunday Msgr. Charles Pope • September 24, 2016 • The Rich Man and the Poor Lazarus by Hendrick ter BrugghenIn the Gospel for today about the rich man and Lazarus the Lord gives us some important teachings on judgment and Hell. We live in times in which many consider the teachings on Hell to be untenable. They struggle to understand how a God described as loving, merciful, and forgiving can assign certain souls to Hell forever. Despite the fact that the Doctrine of Hell is taught...

Poverty is down, median income is up and health coverage expanded last year. These gains are felt across all racial, ethnic, gender and age groups in the U.S. The gender pay gap, income inequality, unemployment rates – all decreasing. Both the poor and those with middle incomes saw economic gains in 2015, according to new U.S. Census data. And the economy even added more than 2.6 million jobs last year. Sounds like cause for celebration, doesn't it? But don't break out the bubbly just yet. Although these figures are heartening, especially after so many years of increasing hardship in the...

The Foreign Minister of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez inaugurated the mural along with members of the community, artists and activists from the U.S. and Latin America. Rodriguez was also accompanied by members of the African American community in the Bronx. During the inauguration people shouted, “You can see him, you can feel him! Chavez is present!"

On Tuesday, the Census Bureau released its annual poverty report declaring that 43.1 million Americans lived in poverty in 2015. We should be concerned about any American living in real material hardship, but much of what the Census reports about poverty is misleading. Here are 15 facts about poverty in America that may surprise you. (All statistics are taken from U.S. government surveys.) Poor households routinely report spending $2.40 for every $1 of income the Census says they have. The average poor American lives in a house or apartment that is in good repair and has more living space than...

Each year the U.S. Census Bureau releases its data on poverty. And each year the news seems even worse than the year before. This year is no different, with Census informing us in its annual report that some 43.1 million Americans, or about 13.5% of us, were officially poor in 2015. The number of poor fell during the year as the nation continued to climb out of the economic crater left by the economy's financial implosion in 2008... ...contrary to the rhetoric of the left and the misleading data from the government, the 43 million in poverty number is vastly...

Just like during the last economic crisis, homeless encampments are popping up all over the nation as poverty grows at a very alarming rate. According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, more than half a million people are homeless in America right now, but that figure is increasing by the day. And it isn’t just adults that we are talking about. It has been reported that that the number of homeless children in this country has risen by 60 percent since the last recession, and Poverty USA says that a total of 1.6 million children slept either in...

Don't expect a second War on Poverty, regardless of who wins the election. Picking up where Lyndon Johnson left off in the 1960s would seem a logical response to the campaign's relentless criticism of economic inequality. But appearances are deceiving. Most proposals to reduce inequality -- conspicuously from Hillary Clinton -- are aimed at the middle class. Spillovers for the very poor would be mostly incidental. These proposals include: raising Social Security payments; increasing subsidies for early childhood care; reducing -- or eliminating -- college tuition at state colleges and universities; boosting the minimum wage. For his part, Donald Trump...