Free Republic

So much has changed, not least the US presidency, writes Erika Dreifus from New York What a difference a year makes. At the end of October 2016, I was travelling in Israel with a group from my home congregation. Our 10-day voyage was scheduled to return us to Newark Liberty International Airport early on Tuesday morning, November 7 — in time to vote in that day’s U.S. presidential election. But just in case we encountered any delays, I obtained and submitted an absentee ballot prior to departure. Much about those days lingers in memory: the Israeli hotel breakfasts — still...

John Schnatter, the CEO of Papa Johns who appears in nearly all of his chain’s TV commercials, is blaming a massive drop in his company’s revenue on kneeling NFL players. Papa Johns is a big sponsor of the NFL, but it seems highly unlikely that a few men protesting police brutality could torpedo an entire pizza chain. Perhaps “Papa John” should look at his business practices before blaming others, as Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins explains. (VIDEO-AT-LINK) Transcription: You may not know the name John Schnatter, but you probably do know him as Papa John, the CEO of Papa John’s...

Ultimately, company is expected to create total of 110 additional jobs ROANOKE, Va. - A $10 million investment and 50 new jobs are coming to Roanoke. Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced Tuesday afternoon that Humm Kombucha, a kombucha tea company, will be opening a facility in Roanoke. Excitement is already brewing about Humm establishing its East Coast headquarters in Roanoke. The company started looking at the Star City about four months ago and said Roanoke is the perfect place to grow the company. Humm Kombucha is one of the fastest-growing kombucha companies in the country and is expected to have a...

Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods Market Inc. turned to social media to recruit 6,000 new store employees. The company is having a National Hiring Day on Nov. 2., encouraging prospective employees to show up casual, prepared to interview. Whole Foods says people who show up have “the possibility for on-the-spot job offers.” The company launched a website, joinwfm.com, with FAQs for prospective employees, where they can fill out a pre-hiring day application to streamline the process.

You know your country has done something really weird when it ends up on the morning news in Japan. Sometimes strange Japanese trends confuse the rest of the world, but right now the tables have turned and it’s an American trend that is confusing Japan. Recently McDonald’s announced that they would be releasing a limited supply of Schezuan dipping sauce. The campaign was born from an episode of the show Rick and Morty where the mad scientist Rick goes on a tangent about how his life’s purpose is to obtain “that Mulan Schezuan teriyaki dipping sauce.” Rick’s goal to find...

CORBIN, Ky. (LEX 18) – On Wednesday, Governor Matt Bevin joined local and state officials and executives from Smart Wood, a French family-owned manufacturer of ice-cream and coffee-stir sticks, to open the company’s Corbin facility — a 90-job, $15 million operation capable of producing up to 2 billion sticks annually. “From our first meeting with Smart Wood’s executive team in France, I was confident this was a company that could thrive in Kentucky,” said Gov. Bevin, who toured Smart Wood’s headquarters and parent plant last year during an economic development mission to Europe. “Smart Wood is dedicated to producing high-quality...

Fast food is supposed to fast and cheap; but by the time you order an entree, side and a drink, you can easily spend $8 or more. Consumer expert Amy Davis scoured fast food menus to show you how you can fill up for $5 or less. There are a lot of fast food chains now offering $5 deals. Those didn't make Davis' cut because you'd need more than $5 after taxes. We wanted to see which fast food chains could fill up our tanks mid-day if we have nothing more than a five dollar bill. Forget about those combo...

Immediately following reports of Harvey Weinstein’s alleged decades of sexual harassment and sexual assault, Anthony Bourdain rallied for people to support Weinstein’s accusers. That very large group includes Bourdain’s girlfriend, Asia Argento, and Bourdain hopes that people won’t remain silent on the issue. And since Weinstein has donated to many Democrat candidates (including Hillary Clinton) over the years, the former Democratic nominee’s slow response drew a lot of criticism both for its tardiness and brevity. On Tuesday, Clinton told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria that she was “just sick. I was shocked. I was appalled.” Clinton also said that she “certainly” wasn’t...

Restaurant Owner Says Sales Are Up 300% Since He Refused To Show NFL Games

When Is It Okay Not To Tip At A Restaurant? Dr.Of Common Sense Goes To Cracker Barrel

Think you can’t live a fulfilling life without eating traditional meat? Richard Branson, billionaire founder of Virgin Group, thinks you can. In fact, he thinks meat as we know it will be completely different in just a few decades. “I believe that in 30 years or so, we will no longer need to kill any animals and that all meat will either be clean or plant-based, taste the same and also be much healthier for everyone,” Branson wrote in a blog post about Virgin’s investment in Memphis Meats, a company that synthesizes meat using real animal cells. “One day we...

n this city, a petri dish of progressivism, a prevailing theory is that when you raise the price of something, people will buy less of it, except when they do not. A related theory is that constitutional and statutory texts should be construed in the spirit of Friedrich Nietzsche: There are no facts, only interpretations. The city council has voted to impose a tax, effective next year, on sugary soft drinks, raising the price of a 2-liter bottle of soda about $1.18. Presented as a public health measure to combat obesity, the tax is projected to generate about $15 million...

McDonald's is experiencing a feeding frenzy thanks to lots of people in legal pot states suddenly having the munchies. A joint study by Consumer Research Around Cannabis and Green Market Report found that 43 percent of people who bought recreational marijuana in the last four weeks chose McDonald’s as their go-to fast food spot. Another 18.3 percent went to Taco Bell, 17.8 percent went to Wendy’s and 17.6 went to Burger King. The study looked at Denver; Las Vegas; Washington, D.C.; Sacramento, California; and Portland, Oregon—all of which have legalized the wacky tobaccy. There's probably no link between pot consumption...

The President is skimping on his veggies Donald Trump loves fast food. He chugs Diet Coke, brings buckets of KFC on airplanes, and grabs Burger King on the campaign trail. “It’s quick,” he told the Daily Mail in 2015, chowing down on a hamburger. But it might not be so great for him. Jo Travers, esteemed nutritionist and author of The Low Fad Diet, recently assessed Donald Trump’s reported diet. Though Trump has no hesitation stocking the White House pantry with Lay’s potato chips, she’s not so sure he should. President Trump loads up on saturated fats and processed meat...

Governor Greg Abbott today announced that Brakebush Brothers, Inc. will build a new 315,000 square foot processing plant in Greenville, TX. Brakebush Brothers is a family owned business, which has been in operation for 92 years as a processor of chicken products. This new facility is expected to create over 800 jobs in Greenville’s Park West industrial park and will be the second Texas location for Brakebush Brothers. A Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF) grant offer of $780,000 has been extended to Brakebush. “The Texas economy continues to drive business growth, creating opportunities that make the Lone Star State a premier...

HARTWELL, Ga. | A pet care company is investing $320 million and will create as many as 240 new jobs in a manufacturing facility and distribution center in Georgia’s Hart County. Gov. Nathan Deal announced Nestlé Purina PetCare Co.’s plans Wednesday. Purina’s vice president of manufacturing, John Bear, in a statement said the Hartwell site is “an excellent location” for the company’s first new U.S. factory in 20 years.....

BENTON COUNTY, Ark. (News release) - Today, Simmons Prepared Foods, Inc. announced it will build a new chicken facility in Benton County between Decatur and Gentry. Governor Asa Hutchinson joined Simmons’ leadership and local officials at today’s announcement at Simmons Great Hall on the campus of John Brown University. The company plans to invest $300 million in the facility which is expected to create approximately 1,500 new jobs, bringing total employment at the operation to over 2,300 people by 2022. It will also create new contracts with local Arkansas farmers. The facility will produce fresh and frozen chicken products for...

For some Americans, going out to dinner is a treat, planned and budgeted for. For others, it's just another Tuesday night. And Wednesday. And Thursday. And that second group of people is becoming the majority. The number of Americans who enjoy cooking is declining, while the prevalence of food delivery startups, meal kit subscriptions and culinary-centric television shows grows. In the Harvard Business Review, researcher Eddie Yoon shares data he's gathered over two decades working as a consultant for consumer packaged goods companies. Early in Yoon's career, he conducted a survey that determined that Americans fell into one of three...

A recent survey of 50 Nobel Prize winners found the smartest among us believe that two of the biggest threats to humanity are climate change and President Trump — and we can’t rely on the latter to help us resolve the former. The President’s swift exit from the Paris accord, rollback of key components of the Clean Power Plan and persistent denial of climate change itself (not to mention his own hot temper) make this clear. People of conscience must tackle this issue ourselves, and one of the single best steps we can take to help fight climate change is...

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