Free Republic

A paid a visit to the local Post Office today. At the counter, I was told that the branch had no postage stamps available for purchase. None, nada, zero. How is this possible?

The government tells us 33 million Americans suffer from food insecurity! Really? 33 million Americans are hungry?

There's been an alarming rise in Made in China counterfeit postage stamps here in America ... The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has been struggling for years, saddled with an outmoded business model and huge retiree pension liabilities. And now, added to its inflationary and management woes comes a new threat: counterfeit stamps from China marketed online through paid ads on Google and Facebook, among other platforms. Counterfeiting currency, bonds, or other government paper of value is a form of warfare. The British printed Continental paper dollars to undermine the American economy during the Revolutionary War. The Union encouraged counterfeiting against...

You'll soon have to pay more to mail a letter, as the United States Postal Service (USPS) is raising the cost of its Forever First-Class stamps in July. Starting July 9, the cost of a Forever stamp, or mailing a one-ounce letter, will increase from 63 cents to 66 cents. Other mail services will also increase. Here's a full breakdown. —Mailing a one-ounce letter — increase from 63 cents to 66 cents. —Mailing a metered one-ounce letter — an increase from 60 cents to 63 cents. —The price of a postcard — increases from 48 cents to 51 cents. —One-ounce...

Establishment Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) on Thursday admitted she may lose her primary bid to Donald Trump-endorsed candidate Kelly Tshibaka. “I may not be re-elected,” Murkowski told the New York Times about the possible end of her 20-year Senate career. “It may be that Alaskans say, ‘Nope, we want to go with an absolute, down-the-line, always, always, 100-percent, never-question, rubber-stamp Republican,’ she said about Tshibaka who is leading in the polls. “And if they say that that’s the way that Alaska has gone — kind of the same direction that so many other parts of the country have gone...

Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-Alaska) said in a new interview it is possible she loses her reelection bid to a “rubber-stamp Republican.” “I may be the last man standing. I may not be re-elected,” the senator told The New York Times. “It may be that Alaskans say, ‘Nope, we want to go with an absolute, down-the-line, always, always, 100-percent, never-question, rubber-stamp Republican.’ “And if they say that that’s the way that Alaska has gone — kind of the same direction that so many other parts of the country have gone —I have to accept that,” she added. “But I’m going to...

Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-Alaska) said in a new interview it is possible she loses her reelection bid to a “rubber-stamp Republican.” “I may be the last man standing. I may not be re-elected,” the senator told The New York Times. “It may be that Alaskans say, ‘Nope, we want to go with an absolute, down-the-line, always, always, 100-percent, never-question, rubber-stamp Republican.’

On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “New Day,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack stated that the Biden administration is “trying to help people deal with the consequences of rising prices, whether it’s increasing the SNAP benefit or whether it’s making sure that the child tax credit is available to folks or whether it’s rebuilding the infrastructure of this economy” to fix supply chain issues. Vilsack said, “I think it’s — the key here is that we’re also trying to help people deal with the consequences of rising prices, whether it’s increasing the SNAP benefit or whether it’s making sure that the child...

<p>MADRID — Spain's postal service is feeling a backlash from its attempt to highlight racial inequality.</p><p>State-owned Correos España this week issued a set of four stamps in different skin-colored tones. The darker the stamp, the lower the price. The lightest color costs 1.60 euros ($1.95). The darkest one costs 0.70 euros ($0.85).</p>

Having spent some time trolling through the internet, what impressed me (and not in a good way), is how open the Democrats are about their election games. They are supremely confident that there is nothing that can stop them, no matter what they do. That may help explain how a doddering, corrupt old man may manage to beat one of the most successful presidents in American history. Here are a handful of examples to prove my point. Project Veritas reports that, in at least one Michigan post office, postal workers are segregating mail-in ballots that arrived late and stamping them...

[I left this comment] Looking at your Forever stamp selection, I see multiple major and some minor cultures or events represented - blacks, Catholics, Chinese, classic cars, dinos, dogs, ecology, fairs, flowers, gardens, Halloween, Hindus, Hip Hop, Muslims, Jews, nature, outdoors, patriotism, Santa Claus, sports, the military, two presidents, the space program, two states - winter - but ZERO for evangelicals. Nothing for the Bible, great awakenings, Protestant preachers, or even pilgrims, puritans, or churches, despite the profound influence the Bible and Protestant and evangelical faith has historically had on American culture. You seem to be bending over your back...

For centuries the Royal Navy defended Britain from invasion and turned this island nation into a global superpower. Now the Senior Service’s role in our history is being celebrated by the Royal Mail – even if the navy and our place in the world are rather less grand than they used to be. A set of eight stamps, covering 500 years, will commemorate some the navy’s key ships, starting with Henry VIII’s Mary Rose of 1511, and concluding with the giant aircraft carrier, the Queen Elizabeth.

A new range of ten stamps which plots the life of Queen Victoria has been released to mark her and Prince Albert's bicentenaries. Six of the stamps illustrate a timeline that starts in 1830 when the young royal was an 11-year-old princess and stretches to 1890 in the final years of her mammoth 63-year reign. This collection also includes an image of Victoria's marriage to Albert and another of her holding an audience with prime minister Benjamin Disraeli. The remaining four stamps celebrate the legacy of Albert by featuring drawings of buildings linked to him such as Balmoral Castle and...

The price of Forever stamps is increasing by 10 percent, and will go from 50 cents to 55 cents, according to a United States Postal Service press release. The First-Class Mail Forever stamp price will take effect Jan. 27, the federal agency said. NBC Bay Area reports that the change is the biggest jump in the history of the USPS. Although the price is increasing, old Forever stamps remain valid for mailing a letter regardless of how much the price changes. The price change will offset a $4 billion loss the federal agency experienced in 2018. According to NBC Bay...

The manager of a Kenner post office stole $630,000 worth of stamps and sold them online after losing more than $667,000 while gambling in recent years, federal authorities said this week. Prosecutors also allege Ryan Cortez, 46, embezzled nearly $10,000 from a church in Des Allemands that listed him as its treasurer. The alleged theft was to fuel a gambling problem to which he confessed, the feds allege. And in the process of allegedly stealing stamps, authorities said, Cortez made history by committing one of the largest internal thefts the U.S. Postal Service has ever seen.

Democrats are counting on Generation Z, many of whom recently gained the right to vote, to help turn Congress blue in the midterm elections. But 49 cents may be all it takes to keep these post-Millennials from exercising their civic duty. On Tuesday, a Fairfax County, Virginia official said they are noticing a disturbing trend: young people failing to mail in their absentee ballots because they don't know how to get a stamp. Lisa Connors, of the Fairfax County Office of Public Affairs, ran a focus group this summer comprised of colleges students interning in various county departments. "One thing...

Soon, you can not only read your mail, you can smell it too, with the U.S. Postal Service launching its first scratch-and-sniff stamps on Wednesday. The stamps could take you back to your childhood, with favorite summertime treat smells including kiwi, watermelon, orange, strawberry and blueberry. The stamps will be including designs of popsicles or ice dream designs. The stamps will be released on Wednesday, June 20, with a special unveiling first at the Thinkery children’s museum in Austin, Texas. The dedication will occur at 6 p.m. and followers of the U.S. Postal Service’s Facebook page can view the ceremony...

The U.S. Postal Service today dedicated the Eid Greetings Forever Stamp recognizing the two most important festivals — or eids — in the Islamic calendar: Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. The ceremony was held at the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn.

It's a brand new year, America, and the U.S. Postal Service has just introduced its annual batch of 2016 stamps. Among the stamps is a purple-and-gold stamp celebrating the two most significant festivals in Islam: Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. The stamp's gold calligraphy (by Mohamed Zakaria of Arlington, Va.) reads Eidukum mumbarak, which translates as: "May your Eid be bountiful (or blessed)."The stamp features no actual imagery other than the calligraphy and a few words in English.

A strikingly high percentage of refugees to the United States use some form of public assistance, according to a government report to Congress. The Office of Refugee Resettlement’s Annual Report to Congress for FY2013 reveals that nearly 3 in 4 refugees were on food stamps. Additionally, nearly half were on some form of cash assistance and more than a half were on medical assistance. More than 20 percent were on Supplemental Security Income, more than 22 percent were in public housing and nearly 20 percent were on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). The report noted that many households received...