Free Republic

In a recent poll for “Axios on HBO,” 55% of American women say they would prefer to live in a socialist country over a capitalist country. This week on “Problematic Women,” we discuss why women are embracing socialism and what can be done to stop this trend. Also, we break down why freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says members of Congress, despite already making $174,000 a year, deserve a pay raise. We crown Yale University graduate and future Justice Brett Kavanaugh law clerk Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld Problematic Woman of the Week. And we discuss these topics: — Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had...

Number of Ga. recipients falls 200,000 since 2018, continuing 6-year trend. As of March 31, nearly 1.38 million Georgians were receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, commonly known as food stamps, according to figures obtained from the Department of Family and Children Services by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. That’s down from more than 1.55 million in June 2018. That drop-off is part of a steady decline in recipients since 2013, when the number of Georgians using food stamps peaked at 1.95 million. State employees and advocates working with poor and low-income Georgians say the decline is the result of several factors...

Georgia’s Medicaid and PeachCare programs covered 20,000 fewer children at the end of 2018 than the year before, a new report says. That 1.6 percent drop is less than an overall 2.2 percent decline in enrollment nationally, according to the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families. The report, released Thursday, said that nationally, about 828,000 fewer children were enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which in Georgia is called PeachCare for Kids. Not every child cited in the statistics is now necessarily without coverage. With unemployment low, many less affluent people have been able to...

President Trump has signed a memorandum enforcing a provision requiring sponsors of legal immigrants to pay back the government for any social services used by the immigrant. The provision was part of the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) and Welfare Reform laws enacted by then-President Bill Clinton. The law stated that immigrants should “not depend on public resources to meet their needs.” However, the provision has not been enforced. (continued at source)

President Trump ordered federal agencies Thursday to begin enforcing existing federal rules against immigrants who end up on the public dole, telling the government to begin demanding the money be repaid by the immigrants’ sponsors. The move is aimed at legal immigrants who are generally supposed to prove they are able to sustain themselves without becoming dependent on welfare assistance. Mr. Trump, in his new directive, said a 1996 law on the subject is plenty tough, but the government has never actually followed through on what Congress wrote. ...snip In cases where immigrants do get payments, he said the people...

Immigrants in the United States and their families are forgoing essential welfare benefits like public housing, food stamps and Medicare over fear of persecution, a new study has found. One in seven immigrants avoided public benefit programs in 2018 out of concern they would risk their future green card status, the Urban Institute found in a report out Wednesday morning. Last week, President Donald Trump proposed changing the nation’s legal immigration system to limit green cards given to migrants who rely on welfare benefits or who are not financially independent. Instead, the president said he would prioritize well-off citizen-seekers with...

The White House is considering a proposal to make it easier to deport low-income (legal) immigrants who are dependent on public benefits. The Department of Justice has written a draft regulation that, if implemented, would greatly expand the number of immigrants in the U.S. who could be subject to deportation for using public benefits, Reuters reported Friday. The new proposal is part of the Trump administration’s larger effort to limit immigration from low-income foreign nationals. Such benefits include the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly referred to as “food stamps;” Supplemental Security Income (SSI) doled out to the elderly and...

The case underscores what experts say is a growing cost to taxpayers from the surge of Central American families and unaccompanied minors. "We're talking about billions of dollars in taxpayer benefits over the next few years," said Dan Stein, director of the right-leaning think tank, Federation for American Immigration Reform. "The payout for the taxpayer is enormous and income to the Treasury is miniscule." A FAIR study in 2017 found illegal immigrants are a net consumer of taxpayer benefits worth more than $100 billion a year, not including the cost of enforcing the border. While federal benefits are supposed to...

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether to count self-identified illegal immigrants in the 2020 census. Cities worry adding the citizenship question could undercount 6.5 million people. Their argument, however, isn't just about political power but billions of dollars in federal funds states expect. The case underscores what experts say is a growing cost to taxpayers from the surge of Central American families and unaccompanied minors. "We're talking about billions of dollars in taxpayer benefits over the next few years," said Dan Stein, director of the right-leaning think tank, Federation for American Immigration Reform. "The payout for the taxpayer...

Want some perspective on why so many blue sanctuary cities have so many homeless encampments hovering around? Try the reality that illegal immigrants are routinely given free public housing by the U.S., based on the fact that they are uneducated, unskilled, and largely unemployable. Those are the criteria, and now importing poverty has never been easier. Shockingly, this comes as millions of poor Americans are out in the cold awaiting that housing that the original law was intended to help.

It was with much trepidation that I planned a recent trip to Chicago. I was informed by many friends that Chicago is a great city and a great place to visit. However, Chicago is in the news for all the wrong reasons, with daily reports of shootings and violence reaching historically high levels. The Chicago you experience as a tourist is very different from the city being reported on on a daily basis in the news. Downtown Chicago was crowded with tourists and provided a visitor every impression of being a prosperous, vibrant, and highly livable city. Visiting the areas...

How much are illegal aliens costing Americans? Even the housing cost alone is incredible. Last month, I revealed that the Trump administration had moved to block illegal alien DACAers from getting taxpayer subsidized mortgages. Under Obama, FHA rules had been bent so far backward that people who were not only non-citizens, not only non-permanent residents, but weren’t even legally here, were having taxpayers guarantee their mortgages. The December letter by Senator Menendez, who had recently been on trial for corruption charges, Senator Booker, on whose watch the $100 million poured into Newark public schools dissipated, and Senator Cortez-Mastro, who had...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez believes the US should consider cutting military and economic aid to Israel — and Jewish Democrats are blasting her for it. “I think it’s something that can be discussed,” she said Sunday on Yahoo’s “Skullduggery” podcast, adding that the idea should “certainly” be on the table. “I think these are part of conversations we are having in our caucus,” the congresswoman added. “I hope to play a facilitating role in this conversation and a supportive role in this conversation. But I also know that there have been people leading on this for a long time, like Congresswoman...

It was never like this before. The migrants come now in the middle of the night or in the bright light of day. Men and women arrive by the hundreds, caked with dirt, with teens and toddlers in tow. They jump the small fences in remote parts of Texas, and they gather on the hot pavement at the main border crossing in California. Tired and fearful, they look for the one thing that they pray will allow them to stay in the United States, at least for a while: a Border Patrol agent. Gone are the days when young, strong...

While exploring a run for president in Nevada, Mayor Bill de Blasio endorsed a committee to study reparations for descendants of slaves and then went further — saying that the country needs “a program of actual redistribution” of wealth. A progressive activist asked the mayor his position on reparations at an event in Las Vegas Friday following the endorsement of the compensation plan by other presidential contenders like Elizabeth Warren. “There’s no question that the issue of reparations has to be taken seriously,” said de Blasio, whose Vegas area barnstorming continues today, stating a clear, public position on the topic...

The onetime president of the NAACP’s Spokane, Wash., chapter, Rachel Dolezal, reached a settlement with the state last month regarding her welfare fraud case. Dolezal, who made headlines in 2015 after her claims of being African-American were debunked by her own parents, reached a diversion agreement on March 25 that required her to pay restitution and complete 120 hours of community service, her attorney confirmed to KXLY on Thursday. “I think it’s a fair and equitable resolution of the matter,” Dolezal attorney Bevan Maxey said. “I don’t believe she tried to obtain benefits that she wasn’t entitled to. Needless to...

King County is moving forward with a plan that would use taxpayer money to facilitate efforts to pay bail for low-income people. “In an effort to advance its commitment to equity, social justice and support the public well-being, King County will be appropriating funds to an organization that remits payment of pretrial bail, with a specific emphasis on indigent individuals,” the request read. “Successful applicants will provide bail for indigent individuals who would otherwise spend their pretrial time in jail, causing undue burden and costs for King County and the individuals.” The request for proposal does not mention potential safety...

Sweden needs more migrants to keep its vast welfare state afloat despite the high unemployment rate for foreigners, according to the country’s Public Employment Service Director General Mikael Sjöberg. Mr Sjöberg, along with labour market analyst Torbjörn Israelsson, argues that the increase in the country’s elder population in coming decades could lead to a collapse of the welfare state without added migration, Nyheter Idag reports. The pair, do, however, acknowledge the huge disparity between the employment rate of native-born Swedes and foreign-born residents which was highlighted in a report last year that showed natives to have a low 3.6 per...

A Louisiana convenience store owner is accused of carrying out more than $1.2 million in food stamp fraud where he bought food stamp benefits off of local patrons on the government dole. Authorities arrested Mohammad Abudayeh, 25, of Alexandria, on March 14 and charged him with multiple fraud charges— including money laundering, unauthorized use of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, racketeering, computer fraud, and bank fraud.

....."There was more good news from the State of the City — Seattle is giving away even more free stuff. Low-income residents will get free Orca cards. College is free, transportation is free, everything is free in Freeattle"....