Free Republic

President Donald Trump likes to claim credit for the number of Americans who have stopped receiving food stamps since he entered office. In July 2018, he said 3.5 million had fallen from the rolls; the next spring, 5 million had. In his State of the Union speech this month, the number had grown to 7 million. Democrats say those figures only show Trump has pushed struggling Americans off public assistance by pressing to restrict eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Medicaid and other programs. For now, the evidence supports Trump’s contention that an improving economy is more responsible for...

Google Ends Kite Energy Initiative. Commercializing the tech will take too long and be too risky. 2-20-2020 AUTHORS Andy Szal Google’s parent company is ending an ambitious effort to harness wind energy using kites after officials determined that commercializing the technology would be “longer and riskier” than originally hoped.

A man with a tattoo on his forehead that says “Crime Pays” has run afoul of police in Indiana for the second time since Nov. 29. Donald Murray, 38, was busted Monday in Terre Haute after leading police on a short pursuit, the New York Post reports. He was charged with resisting law enforcement, possession of methamphetamine and auto theft. Murray and his tattoo gained notoriety after his first run-in with Terre Haute police on Nov. 29 landed him on the "Live PD" TV show. That day cops said he crashed a car after a high-speed chase and then...

Speaking at the Oscars earlier this month, Māori director and writer Taika Waititi told his audience they were “gathered on the ancestral lands of the Tongva, Tataviam and the Chumash”—Native American groups who lived in and around modern Los Angeles. “We acknowledge them as the first people of this land on which our motion picture community lives and works.” This may have struck many American viewers as unusual. But such “land acknowledgments” have been common for years in Australia, New Zealand and my own country, Canada. Originally intended as a tribute to the legacy and rights of Indigenous peoples, they...

Aliya Feroe recalls the flustered OB-GYN who referred her to another physician after learning she identified as queer. For Rhi Ledgerwood, who was designated female at birth, identifies as trans and doesn’t have sex with men, it was a doctor advising about condoms and pregnancy prevention. For Tim Keyes, who came out as gay at age 17, it’s when doctors automatically assumed he sleeps with women. Ask any LGBTQ patient about awkward doctor visits and chances are they’ll have a story to tell. When being heterosexual is presumed even in doctors’ offices, those who identify otherwise can feel marginalized and...

Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders suggested Wednesday that online attacks attributed to his supporters, known as “Bernie Bros,” might be the Russians trying to “divide” Americans.

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – Officials with the medical examiner’s office are ruling a former NASCAR driver’s deathan accident by drowning after she was found dead inside her Ski Island homeon Monday. Forty-three-year-old Candace Muzny was discovered inside her home Monday afternoon. Her death was initially ruled suspicious, but now authorities say her cause of death was an accidental drowning. The 43-year-old former NASCAR driver was arrested and charged just last month after allegedly punching a metro nail technician for not speaking English.  Muzny is also accused of cutting the responding Oklahoma City Police officer with a knife.  She had only been out of jail for a few...

The media are sounding the alarm. As Bernie Sanders solidifies his lead over his 2020 Democratic presidential competitors, members of the media are starting to worry that a race that once appeared impossibly easy for Democrats to win is suddenly slipping from their grasp. These TV talking heads are now forecasting not just a possible Trump re-election, but a 49-state, Walter Mondale-style blowout.

After nearly a dozen years moving through the U.S. visa system, Sai Kyaw’s brother and sister and their families were at the finish line: a final interview before they could leave Myanmar to join him in Massachusetts and work at his restaurant. Then a dramatic turn in U.S. immigration policy halted their plans. The interview was postponed, and it’s not clear when, or whether, it will be rescheduled. “It’s terrible,” Kyaw said. “There’s nothing we can really do except pray. They’ve been waiting 12 years. If they have to wait another 12 years, they will.” His is just one of...

The White House can't get its broad immigration proposal moving, so officials are pursuing a narrow deal that would please the business community but might go against the president's campaign promise to reduce overall immigration. In recent months, the administration has been in talks with senators about legislation that would create new categories of temporary worker visas or lengthen the allotted stays for those workers, among other possible changes, according to four people familiar with the discussions. A White House official confirmed the ongoing negotiations on the guest worker proposal and said the effort is an attempt to generate action...

Two people were killed when a car went off Highway 1 and over a cliff in Big Sur on Tuesday morning, according to the California Highway Patrol.

...Folks, Americans are extremely naive about what’s coming. We just cannot imagine that people who burst into tears in the face of gentle mockery of their political beliefs can ever come to power. They are already in power, in the sense that they have mesmerized leaders of American institutions. I’m telling you, that 2015 showdown on Yale’s campus between Prof. Nicholas Christakis and the shrieking students was profoundly symbolic. Christakis used the techniques of discursive reason to try to establish contact with these young people. None of it mattered. They yelled and cursed and sobbed. The fact that he disagreed...

In three critical Rust Belt states that delivered a victory to President Trump in 2016 by narrow margins, President Trump leads in head to head matchups against the top Democratic candidates in Wisconsin, but loses or trails within the margin of error in Pennsylvania matchups, and is locked in close races in Michigan, according to a Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pea-ack) University Poll released today. This is the first swing state poll of the 2020 presidential election cycle from the Quinnipiac University Poll that includes separate polls conducted simultaneously in key swing states. The poll was conducted from February 12th - 18th, prior...

Recently, while at a comedy club, the daughter of former president Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, was verbally reprimanded, so to speak.(snip) Comedian Pete Holmes, who produced and starred in HBO’s Crashing, shared on ‘Conan‘ exactly what happened the evening Obama and a friend stopped in at The Comedy Studio.(snip) Holmes went on to recount his run-in with Obama and how he had repeatedly asked her and her friend, politely, to please stop distracting him with their whispering and giggling. He also shared his horror at learning it was she that had been so rude…and that he had...

Former Rep. Dana Rohrabacher denied that he spoke with Julian Assange on behalf of President Trump about a pardon. Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, claimed Wednesday that he had been told by Rohrabacher that he could be pardoned by Trump if he stated that Russians were not connected to the hacking of the Democratic National Committee's emails. In a statement, Rohrabacher denied that he promised a pardon to Assange on behalf of Trump. “At no time did I talk to President Trump about Julian Assange. Likewise, I was not directed by Trump or anyone else connected with him to meet...

A UK magazine called ArtsProfessional has published the results of a “Freedom of Expression survey” and the results are not good. The survey found that in the professional art world in the UK , self-censorship is the norm and pressure to stay silent on controversial issues is felt by most. A culture of self-censorship and fear of backlash from funders, colleagues and the public is convincing arts and cultural workers to stay silent on important issues, according to new research from ArtsProfessional… While about 90% of respondents agreed that “the arts and cultural sector has a responsibility to use its...

Green tea is one of the healthiest beverages on earth: It’s full of flavonoids that can help reduce inflammation, aids in lowering bad cholesterol and can lessen your chances of heart attack or stroke, Harvard Medical School tells us—all important factors to counteract the effects of the day-old cheese stick and half a sleeve of crackers you sometimes refer to as “lunch.” But does this mean you can drink green tea before bed and reap all its healthy benefits? The short answer: No. Well, not if you want to get a good night’s sleep. Wait, why can’t I drink green...

'Squad' congresswoman Ilhan Omar told friends years ago that the man who went on to become her second husband was in fact her brother, DailyMail.com can confirm. And now for the first time one of those friends has come forward to reveal exactly how Omar and Ahmed Elmi scandalized the Somali community in Minneapolis. Abdihakim Osman is the first person to go on record to speak of how Omar said she wanted to get her brother papers so he could stay in the United States, at a time when she was married to her first husband Ahmed Hirsi. But hardly...

Like any good politician, Jill Karofsky wants the public to know where she stands on the issues and how she will enact an agenda based on her ideals once elected. “I believe in protecting our environment from corporate polluters, protecting women’s health care, and holding corrupt politicians accountable,” she says in a television ad that has been running all month. It’s direct, to the point, and effective. It also completely disqualifies her as a serious candidate for the office she seeks. “As your Supreme Court Justice,” she concludes in her ad, “I’ll make decisions based on the law.” The irony...

The Central Coast is getting a new beachfront campground. California State Parks has been trying to build campsites at Fort Ord Dunes State Park for more than a decade and the project is finally moving forward. Advertisement "This spring we are really excited to announce that we are going out to bid," said State Parks Monterey District Superintendent Brent Marshall. State Parks has received all of the necessary permits and Marshall said construction on the $25 million project could start as soon as this fall. The campground will be nestled between the dunes and out of the view of Highway...