Free Republic

Inflation is still afflicting American consumers and that means that the elevated interest rates needed to fight it are going to keep afflicting borrowers and taxpayers. The Journal’s Nick Timiraos reports:

A Section High School transgender female student says she was turned away from the prom Friday because she was wearing a dress and wouldn’t change into slacks. Jackson County parent Lesa Drake spoke with WAAY 31 News. She tells us she told her son that if he and their friends needed anything during prom night, to give her a call. Lesa then says she got a call from a transgender female student asking if she would help walk her into the prom. Drake says once she got to the prom, Section High School’s principal told the transgender student she could...

Attendees from 16 states came together for a prom celebration supported by donors like Elliot Page and Ariana Grande. Michael wore a blue, tulle-draped gown with a long train (their inspiration was the MET Gala, which they hope to attend one day) and performed the song Warrior by Demi Lovato. He danced with his friends and let themselves soak in an experience they didn’t think they’d ever get to have: going to prom. At the nation’s capitol on Monday night, trans youth organizers threw the Trans Youth Prom, bringing together attendees from 16 states. According to a press release, the...

The student, who says she is non-binary and goes by the name B Hayes, posted a photo on Instagram holding a cardboard sign that said, “They wouldn’t let me in because I’m in a suit.” In the post’s caption, she wrote, “My senior prom was today and i wasn’t allowed in the doors because i was wearing a suit. i should not have to conform to femininity to attend my senior prom. i will not compromise who i am to fit in a box. who are you to tell us what it means to be a woman?”“I greatly appreciate the...

Unvaccinated students attending the Exeter, New Hampshire, high school prom were “numbered” with a sharpie pen and then tracked throughout the evening, a New Hampshire parental rights advocate reported. Ann Marie Banfield, who writes at the blog Granite Grok, reported New Hampshire Rep. Melissa Litchfield, who represents the Brentwood district, posted to Facebook Tuesday that some constituents informed her their unvaccinated students who attended the Exeter High School prom Monday night “had a number written on them in Sharpie” and were tracked throughout the evening. Litchfield continued with some quotes from “angry” constituents: If they were on the dance floor...

This is what a pandemic prom looks like under New York state guidelines. Forget popular kids and dorks — seniors at one Long Island high school dance will be divided by whether they are vaccinated or unvaccinated against COVID-19, The Post has learned... The school said that, per state and CDC guidelines, kids who are vaccinated will be able to attend maskless — while those who aren’t will need to wear a face covering. Students will need to show proof of inoculation to attend mask-free, and will be given wristbands to signify they’ve gotten the jab, Dr. Ira Pernick, the...

A Michigan high school created a two-tiered price structure for its prom this year: $80 for unvaccinated students and free for those who have received a coronavirus vaccine. Southfield High School’s prom is scheduled to be held June 14, according to a listing of 2021 graduation events: The information from the school district says “fully vaccinated” attendees attend for “free,” while “not vaccinated” students and guests are charged $80. “It’s not a violation of the law as we are not requiring individuals to receive the vaccine nor are we prohibiting those without a vaccine from attending,” Superintendent Jennifer Martin-Green said...

Michelle Obama is helping to give students a prom. Obama's nonpartisan organization, When We All Vote, and MTV will host a virtual prom event for the class of 2020. The event, announced on Thursday, is meant to boost the spirits of the students whose proms and graduation ceremonies have been canceled due to Covid-19 as well as shine a light on registering and voting in the national election in November. MTV's Prom-athon is also being held in partnership with the 2020 Prom Challenge which Obama publicized in February by sharing her own prom photo. The event is scheduled to kick...

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - The disruption caused by COVID-19 has been incredibly inconvenient for everyone. But for some young adults, the timing of this lockdown has been heartbreaking. The second semester of senior year is usually full of milestones: senior prom, senior trips, and graduation, just to name a few. But high school seniors across the state and country are missing some of these once-in-a-lifetime memories in an effort to stop the spread of Coronavirus. Now, as the cancellations have started, local seniors are struggling to accept that for their class, these rites of passage may never happen. “It’s devastating...

On Friday, Darcy Krueger, 17, showed up at the Tampa Bay Homeschool Homecoming Dance wearing a black jumpsuit, but was turned away because of a dress code. Darcy, who has been entirely homeschooled except for one semester of middle school, has attended many events thrown by the organization behind the homecoming dance, TampaBay Homeschool Prom, her mother tells Yahoo Lifestyle. But this time, she was sent away for failing to wear a dress. Darcy, who has been entirely homeschooled except for one semester of middle school, has attended many events thrown by the organization behind the homecoming dance, TampaBay Homeschool...

A 17-year-old resident of Loudoun County, Virginia is a finalist in Duck Tape’s annual “Stuck at Prom” Scholarship Contest, in which high school students compete to make the best possible prom wear out of duct tape. Christina Mellott, now a rising senior at Freedom High School, entered the contest this past school year after hearing about it from friends and family. Mellott has been designing clothes for three to four years already, and got her start in design after receiving a sewing machine for Christmas. Her friends and family thought she may be able to cinch the Duck Tape competition...

The barrier-breaking new show, “The Prom,” claims to feature the first lesbian couple to ever front a Broadway musical. And while fictional, the creators say the story was inspired by real-life events — and a real-life politician. [snip] Beguelin said an additional source of inspiration came from an unlikely place: Vice President Mike Pence. He said he especially wants those, like Pence, who are not known to be proponents of LGBTQ rights, to come see the show. While Pence has recently been criticized by LGBTQ advocates for, among other things, speaking at an anti-gay group's conference and not mentioning the...

Philadelphia mom, 44, who shelled out $25k on Arabian themed prom send-off for her son complete with camel and three dates is charged with fraud for collecting disability and faces 140 years behind bars Saudia Shuler, the mom who dropped $25,000 for her son's 2017 prom, has been charged with wire fraud, theft of government funds and Social Security fraud The 44-year-old was said to have applied for benefits, describing herself as disabled and unable to work, but continued working She even operated a restaurant called Country Cookin' - costing the government close to $37,000 Shuler could face a staggering...

Things got a little wild at one high school prom.... Christopher Columbus High’s big night at the Double Tree Hilton Miami Airport Convention Center on Friday had a jungle theme. Staff and student organizers spruced up the room with jungle themed decorations and made arrangements for several animals to be brought in. Among them was a tiger in a cage. This angered some...

A Lesbian high school couple claimed they were not allowed into a prom court because of their sexuality. Shenta Knox announced on Twitter on April 26 she was running for prom queen and her girlfriend, Sam Washburn, for prom king because Morton Ranch High School in Texas does not provide two queen slots. The students said they were 'confident' of receiving lots of votes so were shocked to heard they had failed to win a place when the results came out, leading to them thinking they could have been barred due to their sexuality. 'I was feeling confident but then...

I am very critical of China's government. It's corrupt, authoritarian and in some respects totalitarian. I have deep reservations about Chinese culture as well. The Chinese government bans sex-selective abortions -- i.e., killing females in utero -- but Chinese people still do it in staggering numbers. China also practices ethnic discrimination that would be instantly recognizable as a kind of Jim Crow or apartheid if the majority Han Chinese were white and minorities such as the Uighurs were black. I could go on, but you get the point. The reason I bring all of this up is that I want...

If you’re a normal human being you likely don’t pay very close attention to the way other people, especially strangers, dress, or what they eat, or the things they like. You’re too busy leading your life to care, plus you’re a decent human being not interested in butting into the harmless choices other people make – live and let live, you likely say. But “woke” liberals are anything but normal people. (I just wrote a book about these people.)The average “woke” liberal – a term that refers to the most sensitive and aware liberals (think of hypersensitive and obnoxious having...

A high school student's prom pictures have generated a furious debate online after some social media users accused the 18-year-old of "cultural appropriation". Twitter user Keziah, who is not Chinese, posted pictures of herself wearing a cheongsam, or qipao - a traditional Chinese dress - for her prom in Utah, USA, last week. In a widely-shared response to the pictures, one Twitter user, Jeremy Lam, tweeted: "My culture is not your... prom dress". The original tweet, and Lam's criticism on Friday night, have attracted hundreds of thousands of likes, tens of thousands of retweets, and thousands more comments as...

The Florida high school student who made a racist sign asking his girlfriend to the prom has issued a profuse apology. His family issued a more profuse apology. But the promposal brouhaha is forcing him to forgo all the rest of his high school activities — a decision made in conjunction with the high school administration. There will be no prom, no graduation experience or anything else for him. So, quite a lot of consequences and punishment for a racist, but likely just stupid teenage boy stunt to get a girl. Lesson learned, move on, right? We all know that...

Between the dresses and tuxedos, the tickets, and the ride, it’s easy to spend a lot of money on prom. One teacher who noticed that people were splurging on prom as opposed to, say, school supplies, expressed her opinion about it publicly — and is now being punished. On May 12, Caitlin Cormack, a middle school teacher in Bedford, Ohio, took to Snapchat to express her frustration with students and parents choosing to overspend on prom but not on school supplies or a tutor. “These damn kids and parents … not enough money for school supplies or passing grades but...