Free Republic

Believe it or not, the US Marshals Service in Houston is arresting people for not paying their outstanding federal student loans. Paul Aker says he was arrested at his home last week for a $1500 federal student loan he received in 1987. He says seven deputy US Marshals showed up at his home with guns and took him to federal court where he had to sign a payment plan for the 29-year-old school loan.

Meet young Australian Muslim teen Stephanie Kurlow who hopes to become first hijabi ballerina. Kurlow, 14, embraced Islam along with her siblings, Australian father and Russian-born mother in 2010 and had initially feared the religion might derail her dream of dancing. “I think that’s what may have stopped some other Muslims from following a career they want, but I know what I’m doing is right and I’m going to keep doing it,” she told the Sydney Morning herald when asked whether she thought Islam forbade dancing. Kurlow hopes to turn her dream into reality by raising $10,000 to train full-time...

Pittman's paper highlights the strategies grandmothers devised to keep grandchildren in their care without jeopardizing subsidized housing, such as keeping children's names off leases to avoid being disqualified for senior housing. In some cases, grandmothers were not getting benefits available to them or were jumping through unnecessary hoops to access services because they were misinformed. In most situations, parents either failed or refused to contribute financially to their children's care. In one case, a daughter left her mother to care for her 2-year-old daughter without transferring the child's public assistance payments -- leaving her mother without any formal support or...

Recently I went to see a play at an Off-­Broadway theatre that I love, a production I found remarkably profound. I was in town for only a day, and redeye jetlag fatigue or not, I was going to the show if I could find an affordable ticket. What I didn’t predict was that the show would lead to a confrontation with microaggressions and white privilege. Turns out the social conflict wasn’t just happening on the stage. I got to the box office and asked the staff if they had any discounts. The price that they offered wasn’t low enough for...

There is nothing more volatile to societal stability than millions of unemployed men, growing angry and resentful towards the ruling class for their lot in life. A simmering rage is bubbling below the surface as 20% of American households rely on food stamps to survive, the percentage of Americans in the labor force stands at a four decade low... The rise of Donald Trump and Ben Carson in the early polls for Republican presidential candidate is being fueled by a rising anger and discontent with the corporate media promoting offensive social agendas, the flaunting of the Constitution by a president...

FERGUSON • Tiahesia Palmer was checking out some of the free services, but her son wanted a haircut. So the Ferguson resident signed up Isiah, 7, to get his head shaved at the haircut tent at Saturday’s “Day of Hope.” He took off his ballcap and sat silently while a woman with the Elaine Steven Beauty College cleaned up around his ears. Palmer smiled. Wearing an “I-heart-FERG” T-shirt, she was happy that her community had attracted the event. Hundreds attended the festivities at Forestwood Park in Ferguson to receive free goods and services. The city and about 40 local churches,...

The headline on this op-ed piece in the Washington Post says it all: College applicant: I got in! But I can’t afford it. Was all my hard work for nothing? The author of the piece is a high-school senior in Lousiana who just got admitted to Tulane, so let’s cut her some slack here. But what does it say about the success of President Obama’s constant yammering about how college should be “free” (incrementally, of course, beginning with community college, but we’ve all seen this leftist movie before and know where it’s going)? A lot, is what: I am...

Black protesters targeted white people eating brunch today at New York City restaurants. They joined hands and screamed at white patrons. Posted by Kristinn Taylor on Sunday, January 4, 2015, 1:10 PM Black protesters targeted white people eating brunch today at New York City restaurants. They joined hands and screamed at white patrons. “ATTN WHITE Man, I have no guilt disturbing your brunch. Its YOU that has no right to be here. #blackbrunchnyc” The protesters stormed the restaurants and harassed staff and patrons.

Only 11 of the 653 callouts to the address in Shard End, Birmingham, had actually resulted in anyone being taken to hospital, despite 400 being described as being for “someone generally unwell”. It means paramedics were called on average nearly TWICE A DAY. In one shameful incident paramedics rushed to the house as the resident had a HEADACHE. Selly Oak MP Steve McCabe wants court action against prolific time wasters after it was revealed the West Midlands Ambulance Service was called out a scandalous 5,000 times to just 30 addresses. He said: “Someone is going to die while hard-pressed ambulance...

She’s a mom on a mission. A single mother-of-two from the Los Angeles neighborhood of South Central recently went on strike against her employer McDonald’s. Maribel makes $9.35 per hour working as a server but that’s not enough to support her family (she shares a home with 10 other people including her children, grandmother, and niece). “I need fifteen to buy my babies diapers, their wipies, their clothes,” she explains. “Its hard with nine dollars per hour — you can’t do that. It’s really hard to pay rent.” On December 4, Maribel, along with a large group seeking $15 per...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A mob of teenagers reportedly attacked once again in Memphis. Police said a large group of teens flooded the streets near Central High School Friday just before 10:00 p.m. “Had I had been armed we would have had a lot of kids laying in the Bellevue street that night,” Sharon Mourning said. Mourning said she would have done whatever she needed to protect herself, “So we just driving and all of a sudden all of the kids ran into the middle of the street.” Mourning and her daughter Princess were driving on Bellevue Friday evening. “It was...

MORE than 70 people were shot in Chicago over the Indepence Day weekend, prompting the city’s police Superintendent to express his disappointment.

On March 21st, we will march on Washington, DC to demand immigration reform. Our vision of reform includes immigrants and native-born U.S. citizens working shoulder to shoulder to achieve better wages, working conditions, and labor protections. People from all across America will lend their voice in the fight for reform. We will come together as one voice on the National Mall for a strong America – for families, for workers, for businesses, and for security. Join thousands from across the country in the March For America in DC on March 21st, and demand Congress act NOW to pass immigration reform...