Free Republic

Has anyone seen the ads for medicare benefit heath cards? The ads also describe is as a grocery card; able to be used for food and medicine. Some of the ads also shows grandma or grandpa puts on parties and BBQ for family saying they paid for it by the card. Is this suggesting improper use and possible fraud, at least in my mind.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday ensured that the abortion pill mifepristone can continue to be available by mail without an in-person appointment with a clinician. A ruling by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on May 1 had imperiled widespread access to the pill. Now, the Supreme Court has granted emergency requests brought by drugmakers Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro seeking to block that ruling. The decision, a loss for the state of Louisiana, ensures there will not be any disruption to the availability of the drug as litigation continues. On May 4, in an order...

A notorious trans-identifying serial killer has been convicted in the brutal 2022 slaying of 68-year-old Susan Leyden, whose dismembered headless torso was discovered in a shopping cart near her apartment in Brooklyn, New York City. Harvey "Marceline" Marcelin, 87, of New York, was found guilty by a Brooklyn Supreme Court jury on May 7 of first-degree murder, evidence tampering, and concealment of a human corpse. He faces a maximum life sentence without the possibility of parole, the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office said. The defendant had two prior murder convictions and was out on parole when he brutally murdered Leyden, making...

I will soon file a criminal complaint with the Dutch police against Wes Streeting, the British Health Secretary and allegedly one of the leading contenders to become the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Since 2004, I have lived under constant death threats, forced to reside in government safe houses under round-the-clock police protection. I have lost my freedom and my privacy for more than two decades now.... I have received thousands of death threats – mostly from Islamic radicals (including fatwas), but also from other, leftish, extremists. Until earlier today, I was unaware that senior British Labour politician...

A controversial new tax on second homes in New York City was quietly lowered from $5 million to a “market value” of $1 million — increasing the number of homeowners who will get squeezed as part of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s never-ending budget negotiations. Hochul’s office finally released details of her and Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s new tax on second homes in New York City to the New York Times Thursday, the latest concession to the Democratic socialist mayor and his liberal followers on a tax-hike crusade they say will target the rich. The so-called “pied-a-terre” tax would apply to second homes...

Thirty-year-old rugby player Eugene Hanna, of the Glenora Bears from Auckland, New Zealand, died Tuesday after an injury sustained in the team’s opening game May 2. Hanna, a member of the Premier Reserves squad, suffered an injury described only as “unsurvivable,” although the team did not detail the exact malady. He spent 10 days in the hospital attempting to recover before he died. ... The New Zealand Rugby League emphasized the importance of safety protocols in in a statement, while specifically mentioning “head injury and concussion protocols.” “This is truly heartbreaking and something we never want to see happen, and...

One of Dallas’ robotaxi services is under investigation for a series of crashes between December and March. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced May 6 it is investigating Austin-based Avride, Uber’s autonomous rideshare partner in Dallas, because of 16 crashes in Austin and Dallas related to “executing lane changes into other vehicles and failing to avoid vehicles or objects in the roadway,” according to the report. At least nine of the 16 crashes included in the investigation took place in Dallas, according to records. Uber began offering autonomous vehicle rides in Dallas through its partnership with Avride in December,...

The ink isn’t even dry on New York City’s proposed pied-à-terre tax — and one Miami Beach tower is already counting the money. At the Perigon Miami Beach, a 72-unit oceanfront condominium in Mid-Beach designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Rem Koolhaas’s firm OMA, developers say they logged more than $70 million in sales from New York buyers in the 30 days after the building reached its full structural height in early March. The project, developed by Mast Capital, is priced from $12.55 million and expects to open in 2027. It is no coincidence, on April 15, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and...

Defendant Allegedly Attempted to Defraud the New York City Campaign Finance Board of $1 Million in Public Matching Funds Earlier today in federal court in Brooklyn, a criminal complaint was unsealed charging Angela Aquino, a 2025 candidate for New York City Public Advocate, with wire fraud in connection with her scheme to defraud New York City’s campaign finance system to obtain public matching funds. Aquino was arrested today and is scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon by United States Magistrate Judge Clay H. Kaminsky. Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Nadia I. Shihata,...

Don’t cure cancer because it would devastate the cancer industry! Don’t improve healthcare access because you’ll hurt the funeral industry! That’s the kind of brain hurt logic NPR employed to decry President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration as a devastating blow to the U.S. economy. “The economic chilling effect of Trump's immigration crackdown,” read NPR reporter Greg Rosalsky’s incoherent May 12 headline. Rosalsky flailed over Trump’s ICE raids in Little Village, Chicago: “Many in the community seemed to be scared to go about business as usual. There seemed to be a clear ‘chilling effect’ on their economic activity —...

WASHINGTON CITY, Utah (KUTV) — Mia Bailey said she decided to kill her parents after her mother interfered with a gender transition surgery. According to newly acquired interrogation video from Washington City police in June of 2024, then-28-year-old Bailey detailed what led her to kill both her parents, how she did it, and the flee from police that followed. Bailey cited years of turmoil with her parents. "I told them I was going to kill myself so many times," she said. "Mental health declining, that’s why I needed that surgery." Bailey said she was dealing with an abusive family, was...

For 45 years, research at American universities has been supervised by Institutional Review Boards (IRBs), which are committees that ensure scientific research is conducted ethically. At most universities, faculty, students, and staff must obtain approval from the IRB before engaging in any aspect of scientific research. To protect research participants, the IRB scrutinizes research protocols, stimuli, and even recruitment materials (such as emails and flyers). Researchers may not begin their research until they receive the IRB’s blessing. This, however, does not end the IRB’s supervision. Any change in procedures—even trivial changes to wording in a recruitment flyer or a clarification...

Transcribed and reproduced by: Murtadd to Human. [https://www.murtaddtohuman.org/the-presence-of-jews-on-the-west-bank-has-nothing-to-do-with-prospects-for-peace/] (Jihad. Featured). “The presence of Jews on the West Bank has nothing to do with prospects for peace”. In light of the current open season on the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria, Murtadd to Human wishes to support these beleaguered communities by sharing with readers Caroline Glick’s powerful address to an Intelligence Squared debate in London ten years ago. Anjuli Pandavar. 04 Mar 2023. “The presence of Jews on the West Bank has nothing to do with prospects for peace”. Ze'ev Jabotinsky, The Iron Wall. By Caroline Glick, Intelligence Squared, YouTube,...

How could the country that is now the foremost persecutor of Christians in the world have emerged from the work of a dedicated Christian missionary? Jonathan Cheng’s history of North Korea, "Korean Messiah," sets out to explain... Samuel Moffett, a Presbyterian missionary who arrived in ‘the Hermit Kingdom’ of Korea in 1890, built a vast mission compound in Pyongyang. His ministry helped spark the great Christian revival of 1907, which led to Pyongyang being called the ‘Jerusalem of the East’ with great churches and crowded Wednesday prayer meetings. Moffett ran a world-class seminary, and his theology carried a message of...

A glamorous lawyer who has amassed a following online for reenacting her gangbanger clients’ cases is suspected of helping out the criminals she defended in court. Viral attorney Gabriela Vieira Serafin’s home in the southern Brazilian city of Florianopolis was raided by drug enforcement agents on Tuesday morning as investigators suspect she may have used her privileged access to inmates to pass messages to and from gangsters on the outside. Serafin was not home at the time and has not yet been charged with a crime — however police discovered and seized two cell phones, SIM cards, USB drives and...

Fairfax County Commonwealth’s attorney Steve Descano testified Thursday that voters are “obtuse” if they expect him to fulfill his campaign promises. Republican Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan got into a heated exchange with Descano after his office removed his immigration policy from his website weeks prior to the hearing before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement. Descano said his campaign promises are not actually his policies. “My policies do not say that we do not prosecute based on immigration status,” Descano said. “Well if it’s not your policy, then why did you change your website?” Jordan asked....

The King’s Speech is the centerpiece of the State Opening of Parliament in the UK, where the monarch reads a speech written by the government.The UK government will take “urgent action to tackle antisemitism and ensure all communities feel safe,” King Charles III pledged during the King’s Speech on Wednesday. The King’s Speech is the centerpiece of the State Opening of Parliament in the UK, where the monarch reads a speech written by the government, outlining its legislative agenda for the upcoming session. During Wednesday’s speech, King Charles presented 37 upcoming bills, including the following: the Tackling State Threats Bill,...

As good, pro-business, pro-prosperity conservatives, we should love a success story like Buc-ee's, and I'm pretty darn sure most of you readers do. I'm a recent convert to Buc-ee's myself, having first experienced this wonderful mega-convenience store/souvenir store/truck stop/fast food joint for myself just last February, on a feral hog hunting jaunt to Texas. It's a great place, a great business model, and they have great barbecue brisket sandwiches. Now, in the next year or two, they will be expanding into at least six new states. At least six states are slated to open their first Buc-ee's locations by the...

Explanation: What are some of the most interesting astronomical objects you can see in the night sky? Armed with a good pair of binoculars or a small telescope, if you live in the Northern Hemisphere, you can look for the very popular objects in the Messier Catalog. Most of them, but not all, are also visible from the southern half of the Earth. The featured image shows all 110 objects in the catalog at uniform scale -- the same magnification. Charles Messier created the catalog in the 18th century. He was interested in comets, and his catalog was a list...

Bordeaux-no! A Michigan woman was arrested and then rushed to the hospital after she stole a bottle of wine and hid it inside a “body cavity,” cops said. The 48-year-old was allegedly caught by shopkeepers drinking a bottle of alcohol in a Traverse City liquor store without paying for it, and returned the next day to nab a bottle of Chardonnay. Employees attempted to stop her, but were unable to find the pilfered tipple. That is, until police arrested her and found it stashed inside an unnamed bodily orifice at the jail, at which point she was brought to Munson...