Free Republic

President Obama’s expanded food-stamp program certifying flea market retailers as vendors to provide low-income neighborhoods with fresh produce has ripped open a Pandora’s Box of fraud and corruption. This week federal authorities in south Florida busted the largest food-stamp fraud operation in U.S. history. Twenty-two defendants in the largely black and Hispanic areas of Miami-Dade County known as Opa-Locka and Hialeah swindled the government out of $13 million by fraudulently trading food stamps for cash. The crooked vendors operated food and produce stands at a local flea market as part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s initiative to eradicate “food deserts,”...

The Republican bill would hold those who intentionally make illegal purchases under the law to existing penalties for violations including making false statements on forms. A first violation is a one-year suspension, the second is two years, and the third is a lifetime ban. Democrats have said that is too harsh for a violation as small as buying a pack of cigarettes. In their version, the penalty for a first violation would be restitution, the second would be a maximum three-month suspension, and it would be a six-month maximum for subsequent violations. Advocates of the bill have said the department...

Muslim Killer on Disability and Food Stamps had Diamonds and 200 Credit Cards Posted By Daniel Greenfield On June 20, 2014 @ 11:16 am In The Point This sort of thing is surprisingly common. The only reason it has come to light is because the Muslim settler committed two murders, one of which he actually got away with. The Point has discussed the murder of Gelareh Bagherzadeh before. Gelareh Bagherzadeh was an Iranian Christian who came to this country only to be murdered by a Muslim because she encouraged his daughter to marry the man she loved. He was too...

Maine’s welfare money that was intended to be spent on necessities like food is instead being used for lavish vacations in Hawaii and Florida by some of its recipients. Department of Health and Human Service records shows that $2.8 million have been spent by welfare users outside of the state. Although half of this amount was spent in neighboring New Hampshire, some questionable uses of EBT money include a $500 EBT card withdrawal at a Disney World resort in August 2011. Maine welfare recipients also used EBT money in Florida included withdrawals at the Kennedy Space Center in Orlando and...

Under the POS’s presidency, the number of Americans receiving food stamps (now called Electronic Benefits Transfer or EBT) exploded. Today, one in five U.S. households are on food stamps. Worse still, we are taking two steps back for every step forward: For every new job that’s been created, two new recipients (let’s call them food-stampers) are added to the food stamps dole. Given our exploding national debt and the impending bankruptcy of, first, Social Security Disability (in 2016!), then Social Security itself, followed by Medicare, anyone with half a brain whose head isn’t plunged deep in the River of Denial,...

Police in two north Louisiana cities won't investigate fraudulent food stamp purchases made at local Wal-Marts this weekend unless asked by the retailer, law enforcement representatives said Tuesday. But it is unclear whether the world's largest retailer would ask local police to intervene, after a company representative said Wal-Mart believed it made the right decision this weekend and would keep customers' best interests at heart in the issue going forward.The fraudulent purchases were made at the Springhill and Mansfield locations during a massive system-wide outage on Saturday (Oct. 12). Wal-Mart spokeswoman Kayla Whaling said the retailer instructed cashiers at the...

The state’s top welfare official has admitted his agency doesn’t have the technology to prevent EBT cards from being used on booze, guns and porn, throwing into question the value of the highly touted EBT reforms that State House lawmakers passed last year — further proof that the state needs to tighten the rules even more, critics said. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way,” said state Rep. Shaunna O’Connell (R-Taunton). “What we can do is stop these stores and businesses from accepting these cards if they sell alcohol or tattoos or are nail salons. The single biggest issue is...