Free Republic

An 80-year-old Venezuelan woman died, possibly from trampling, in a scrum outside a state supermarket selling subsidized goods, the opposition and media said on Friday. The melee at the store in Sabaneta, the birthplace of former Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, was the latest such incident in the South American nation where economic hardship and food shortages are creating long queues and scuffles. The opposition Democratic Unity coalition said Maria Aguirre died and another 75 people were injured – including five security officials – in chaotic scenes when National Guard troops sought to control a 5,000-strong crowd with teargas. “Due to...

I just bought two half gallons of Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla in Central Texas. There was a line big enough to buy out the entire stock I have Blue Bell in my freezer. Neener. Neener.

As always, the Food and Drug Administration has its eye on the ball and its arms around freedom…in a big, stifling bear hug. The Founders no doubt intended that the federal government would have a passel of people in charge of telling successful condiment producers what they can put on their labels. For freedom. In this case, the federal government has decided a vegan company cannot put the name “Just Mayo” on its clearly labeled vegan mayonnaise product because the company doesn’t include egg whites in the mixture and does include some healthy stuff, like beta carotene. One would think...

LOS ANGELES - McDonald's Corp and Tyson Foods both severed ties on Thursday with a Tennessee farm where workers were seen stabbing, clubbing and stomping on chickens in an undercover video shot by animal rights activists. The videotape, which was unveiled by Mercy For Animals at a news conference in Los Angeles, depicts gruesome animal cruelty toward the birds at what the group said was T&S Farm in Dukedom, Tennessee, which was under contract to Tyson Foods. Tyson supplies chicken to McDonald's, the world's biggest fast-food chain, for its McNuggets. Representatives for T&S Farm could not be reached for comment....

With all these food and nutrition programs in place, why are American citizens falling through the cracks of hunger, nutrition, and need? Why is the nation as a whole deemed obese? As liberals complain that people are going hungry and the first lady transforms the school lunch fare to “healthy” offerings nobody seems to like, the federal government is spending plenty on “domestic food assistance to provide food for the hungry and other vulnerable populations in this country.” According to the Congressional Research Service, there are many agencies that offer food assistance to the needy in this country, citizens, non-citizens,...

Sometimes government’s dishonesty, incompetence, wastefulness, and misguided nannyism combine to make a perfectly ridiculous story. Today’s comes to us from Florida, where the Ocheesee Creamery is being forced to dump gallons upon gallons of good, natural skim milk because the state is requiring the business to label its good, natural skim milk “imitation” because they haven’t added anything to it. Paul and Mary Lou Wesselhoeft have been fighting this in federal court with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs, which had formerly allowed them to sell their skim milk while calling it skim milk. No one seemed confused...

When a friend or family member is sick, overwhelmed, homebound, or taking care of a new baby, we say what we can — So sorry. Thinking about you! — and then, because we know that won't make everything better, we do the next best thing: We bring them food. Food speaks for us when words fail, which is why putting together a thoughtful, personal food care package is one of the kindest things you can do for a struggling friend or loved one. We've thought a lot about what makes a great care package, and we finally think we've cracked...

Iowa and New Hampshire are two states when it comes to politics that are to some degree are jaded to the star power of candidates. These are the states that have presidential candidates visiting in barber shops when you walk in for a haircut. These are the states where you are going to lunch at 12:00 (when the town horn sounds) with your parts manager from the John Deere dealership only to find a governor talking to a group in the back room of the local pizza restaurant. I had seen the reaction to Donald Trump when he came to...

From Denny: OK, I've been hearing about the popularity of "bacon blogs" and wondered "is there anything you can't pair well with bacon?" Answer: not much as "the pig" is quite versatile. I see why the pig has so many devotees. Check out the savory bacon recipes: Bacon Explosion (BBQ), Bacon Pie, Bacon Balls (mini-cheese balls), Bacon Bread, Clams Casino Bacon Explosion This is a calorie monster, weighing in at 5000 calories! Read that as "bring your friends" to this BBQ because it reigns as King of BBQ. Ingredients: 2 pounds thick-cut sliced bacon 1 1/2 pounds Italian sausage, casings...

It was in Macaracuay, in front of a small shopping center called CC Macaracuay which has the misfortune of its grocery store (former C.A.D.A.) become a public shop, Bicentenario after the expropriation of EXITO chain. I drove in front around 7:30 and the line was much bigger. Driving in front again around 10 AM I was so surprised at the remaining extent of the line that I filmed it.

Muslims Are Required To Fulfill Five Demands for Being a Good Muslim, one in Which He Must Visit Mecca Islam: Haj Pilgrimage incomplete without hot Camel sex *SNIP* "If He Had Sexual Intercourse with His Camel would that make his hajj void" http://www.wikiislam.net/wiki/Islam_and_Bestiality#cite_note-E.L._Masters-8 http://www.barenakedislam.com/2009/06/13/islams-rules-for-having-sex-with-animals/ Islamic Scripture Qur'an In contrast with what secular and non-Islamic religious sources say about bestiality, this is what the Qur'an has That's right - absolutely, positively nothing. Unlike the Qur'an's clear-cut rulings on the morality of homosexuality, Polygamy, rape, and pedophilia, the permissibility of bestiality seems to have been left open to ‘interpretation.’ If Islamic teachings...

OAK BROOK, Ill., July 22 (UPI) -- Late wakers and breakfast lovers may have something to celebrate: McDonalds is in talks to offer an all-day breakfast menu as soon as October. At approximately 10:30 a.m., most locations of the American fast-food chain switch over their menus so lunch and guests can no longer order hash browns and McGriddles past the cut off time. But according to documents obtained by the Wall Street Journal, the extension customers have been requesting all along may be granted. According to Business Insider, the company started testing out the all-day menu at a few locations...

Transcend Lighting, one of the more unconventional startups accepted into Y Combinator’s latest cohort, is launching out of beta today to bring its energy-saving LED lights to indoor farmers everywhere. Founder Brian Bennett, an optical engineer by training, invented the first Transcend prototype after his father challenged him to build some LED lights for the family farm in upstate New York. When the lights he designed were successful, Bennett entered a business plan competition at Columbia, won some money to continue developing the idea, and was accepted into Y Combinator’s Spring 2015 class. “Farms today, generally speaking, use high pressure...

We’re a month away from going over budget in using this year’s planetary resources. One way to balance our ecological books is to eat more insects. By mid-summer of each year, we use up the Earth. Known as Earth Overshoot Day, it’s the day, sometime in August, when our yearly demand for ecological resources exceeds how much the planet can replenish those resources for the year. Soon after August 15, this year, Earth will be operating on a deficit. All the while, the population of Earth is growing. It’s estimated there will be 9 billion people by 2050, an additional...

In 1946, President Harry Truman signed the National School Lunch Act. Like the road to hell, it was paved with good intentions. The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is now rife with fraud. Consider this: the NSLP currently serves 60 percent of all students in both public and private schools. We know that two-thirds of all Americans do not live at or below the 130 percent of the poverty level required for free school lunches. For every person who signs up for free and reduced lunch the school district gets extra benefits beyond the subsidy for the food itself. When...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) - When Americans line up for salad, you know there must be something special about it. That's exactly what's happening at the hot new restaurant chain Sweetgreen. It is already being dubbed the "next Chipotle." Sweetgreen was founded in 2007 by three Georgetown University friends who had a simple vision: make healthy food yummy, affordable and fun. "Healthy food shouldn't just be for the top 1%," Jonathan Neman, one of the co-founders, told CNNMoney. He studied abroad in Australia and was frustrated when he returned to the U.S. and felt his affordable meal options were limited. Just...

Professor’s Manifesto: Vegans Must Illegally Overthrow Society to Save the World by KATHERINE TIMPF July 9, 2015 A professor at the University of Texas at El Paso wrote a manifesto saying that animal-rights activists must rise up and commit “illegal raids” and “sabotage attacks” in order to save the world from a “mass extinction.” In a 2009 piece for the Animal Liberation Front titled “Manifesto for Radical Abolitionism: Total Liberation By Any Means Necessary,” associate professor of philosophy Steven Best says that groups like PETA are just not radical or progressive enough. After all, they work with corporations (boo!) “in...

The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA), originally passed in 2010 and heartily endorsed by First Lady Michelle Obama, is set to expire in September unless Congress acts to renew it. You may recall some of the details of that initiative including forcing all grains to be “whole grain rich” (whatever that means) and wiping out most of the salt in foods. Given the less then spectacular reception the program has received from schools – not to mention students – the GOP is looking at scaling back or at least modifying the rules. But The Hill was quick to characterize the...

MONTPELIER, VT -- All food and beverages sold through vending machines are now subject to Vermont's 9% meals and rooms tax, effective July 1. A 6% sales tax on sugary drinks is also in effect. The new levies are part of a tax package that lawmakers passed in May to raise a $30 million in new revenue. Lawmakers expect the sales tax on soft drinks to raise about $8 million a year, and applying the meals tax to vending machines to add about $1 million a year. Exempt from Vermont's sugary drink tax are products that contain milk, soy, rice...

All over the country, people are still flaming over Donald Trump's controversial, pretty racist comments about Mexicans during his Presidential candidacy speech. The fallout from his remarks, in which he said Mexicans are drug dealers and rapists "bringing those problems to us," has been great: NBC and Univision canceled its telecast of the Miss USA pageant, which Trump partially owns; Macy's and Serta severed their ties with Trump's brand; and even NASCAR ended their sponsorship with The Donald. But in D.C., where Trump is set to open his latest and greatest hotel, the backlash wasn't so much pointed at Donald...