Free Republic

In a move that endangers a major sector of German agriculture, there is an effort to ban pork sausages from public cafeterias in schools, hospitals, nurseries, and elsewhere. Judged as a portion of tax revenue, pork agriculture accounts for nearly a fifth of the local economy in Germany’s Schleswig-Holstein region. Pork sausages are at the very heart of Germany’s traditional cuisine. Yet the decisions have been made in many parts of Germany to simply remove pork from public life. There is some opposition to the move to strip pork sausages from Germany. “The protection of minorities – including for religious...

Stephanie Rader, a spy for the U.S. during World War II, died at 100 in January. But thanks to a spat between two Republican senators, her life was one month too short to see her service honored by Congress. Arizona Sen. John McCain temporarily blocked a bill commemorating veterans of the Office of Strategic Services with a gold medal as he feuded with Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, who leads the committee in charge of the measure. The bill finally passed this week after McCain relented, but not before Rader had passed away... McCain at first denied knowing anything about...

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. - New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie plans to issue a statement Wednesday afternoon suspending his presidential campaign, The Washington Times has learned. The announcement follows a disappointing sixth-place finish in New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary, where Mr. Christie was hoping a strong showing would give him more breathing room in a race where the tough-talking governor competed with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida to emerge as the most viable alternative to businessman Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas...

Peppa Pig puts kids off pork by Latin Correspondent | 28th January 2016 229 SOCIAL BUZZ A traditional Colombian lechona. Photo: Pinterest. A traditional Colombian lechona. Photo: Pinterest. Peppa Pig, a firm favorite among kids across the globe, is causing uproar in one Colombian department. Parents in the town of Ibagué, in the Tolima department, famed for its pork dishes and traditional gastronomy, are hitting back on social media over claims that Peppa is putting their kids off pork. One of the region’s typical dishes includes Lechona, a whole roast pig stuffed with chick peas, rice, onions and spices –...

Three questions continue to perplex me. Why is anyone surprised that Donald Trump is still leading the race for the GOP nomination? Why is anyone surprised that Ted Cruz is catching up? And last, why is anyone surprised that a GOP-controlled Congress passed a gallstone with a $1.1 trillion “omnibus” budget bloated with pork, pork, and Planned Parenthood funding? I’ll start with the last question first. Congress needs an enema, and has needed one for nearly two decades.  The last useful Congress we had, from a small-government, fiscally-responsible viewpoint, sat when Newt Gingrich was speaker and Bill Clinton was president. ...

This guy has had enough and has come up with an idea to stop immigrants trying to get onto his truck while going through the Eurotunnel :)

The World Health Organization (WHO) will soon warn that some of America’s favorite meats are as dangerous a cigarettes. WHO will target processed meats such as bacon, ham and sausages as causes of cancer and will say red meat is also hazardous to health in a decision to be released Monday. The findings resulted from a meeting of scientists from 10 countries. The Daily Mail reports WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer will conclude that a host of processed meats should be placed in the highest of five possible rankings as “carcinogenic to humans.” The ranking will put burgers...

WASHINGTON — After a week of controversy surrounding its abrupt removal of pork dishes from the national menu for federal inmates, the government did an about-face this week and put pork roast back on the prison bill of fare. The Bureau of Prisons disclosed the decision to The Washington Post hours after a Republican Senate leader expressed dismay at what he implied was a wasteful survey of inmates’ food preferences and a lack of transparency in the decision. “The pork industry is responsible for 547,800 jobs, which creates $22.3 billion in personal incomes and contributes $39 billion to the gross...

In a pig’s eye. Last week we told you about the menu change at federal prisons where pork products disappeared from the table back on October 1st. What was up with that? At the time I wondered whether it had to do with pressure from religious groups who don’t eat pork or perhaps some sort of political shenanigans between the administration and the pork industry. We don’t have all of those answers yet, but the resulting uproar spurred somebody to action and the ban on pork in prison has apparently been ended… at least in part. (Washington Post) After a...

Just one week after the federal Bureau of Prisons banned pork products from its 122 prisons, pork roast will return to the dinner lines, officials said Friday. The reversal came just hours after Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, who represents the farm-strong state of Iowa, wrote to complain about the decision. "The pork industry is responsible for 547,800 jobs, which creates $22.3 billion in personal incomes and contributes $39 billion to the gross domestic product," Grassley wrote to Bureau of Prisons Director Charles E. Samuels, Jr., reports The Washington Post, complaining that the "unprecedented" decision to take away pork could harm...

An Israeli man was caught on film placing a piece of pork on the face of a Palestinian terrorist moments after the terrorist was killed after carrying out an attack. The terrorist had stabbed an Israeli Police Officer in the town of Kiryat Arba, located next to Hebron, injuring him. He was shot by other officers and pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics after attempts to revive him failed. Police claim that the terrorist tried to grab the gun of the injured police officer after he was stabbed, in an attempt to shoot nearby Israelis. Israeli news outlet Walla...

The Obama administration has banned bacon, pork chops, pork links, ham and all other pork products from all federal prisons. But for those concerned that the U.S. government is bending to the will of Muslim inmates, the Bureau of Prisons, which falls under the charge of the Justice Department, insists the change was made based on a survey of prisoners’ food preferences, the Washington Post reported.[snip]“In general we welcome the change because it’s facilitating the accommodation of Muslim inmates,’ said CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper. “We hope it’s not an indication of an increasing number of Muslims in the prison system.”[snip]The...

The federal Bureau of Prisons, a subdivision of President Barack Obama's Justice Department, has banished all pork products from the menus in all federal prisons ... The government says it made the decision to do this because a survey showed that inmates do not like eating pork products. The Council on American-Islamic relations said “we welcome” the move by the government to deny pork to prisoners, but warned that it might spark “Islamophobia.” ... They just don’t like the taste of pork…. “The National Pork Producers Council isn’t buying it. 'I find it hard to believe that a survey would...

The federal government has removed bacon, pork chops, ham, and all other pig products from the menu at its 122 federal prisons, impacting the nation’s 206,000 federal inmates. The Washington Post reported that the ban went into effect when the new fiscal year began last week. According to the Bureau of Prisons, the decision was made after surveys revealed that inmates do not like the taste of pork. The bureau runs the country’s federal penitentiaries, which includes providing inmates with three meals per day. “Why keep pushing food that people don’t want to eat? Pork has been the lowest-rated food by inmates for several years,” Edmond Ross, spokesman for...

The Federal Bureau of Prisons is going whole hog in cutting pork from its menu. With this month’s start of fiscal year 2016, there will be no bacon, no pork chops, no pork roast, no pork sausage — no pork-related food at all — served to the nation’s 205,723 federal inmates, including those at FCI Fort Worth or FMC Carswell.While there have been grumblings from some inmates’ family members that the prohibition had to do with Muslim or Jewish dietary restrictions, Bureau of Prisons spokesman Ed Ross said that isn’t the case.

Kitchens that are shared between office workers may soon be banned from storing pork products like sausage rolls over fears that they are “offensive”. New guidelines proposed by interfaith group CoExist House say that employers should consider worker’s religions before allowing ham sandwiches placed in the fridge alongside other products. The group also suggests that alcohol should not be served at corporate events in case it upsets members of certain faiths.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-04/beef-isn-t-for-dinner-anymore-as-americans-devour-cheaper-pork

school in central France has hailed back to the Middle Ages this week, after forcing Jewish and Muslim students who do not eat pork, as well as vegetarians, to wear red and yellow discs around their necks. The Piedalloues primary school in Auxerre, in Burgundy, forced eighteen students to wear the discs, in order to ensure that cafeteria workers did not give them pork or meat. The practice was withdrawn this week after outraged parents and local officials compared the practice to wearing yellow stars, as mandated by the Nazis, the Telegraph reports. The mayor immediately ordered the practice be...

PM rocked by extraordinary claims from former Tory treasurer Lord Ashcroft that he was in a 'dope smoking group' and took part in a debauched initiation, but No 10 says it 'does not recognise' the accusations

Japanese beef imports to drop further than thought Japan, the world's largest importer of US beef, will see imports shrink further than previously expected, as exportable supplies of the meat tighten. The US Department of Agriculture bureau in Tokyo forecast Japanese beef imports falling to a five-year low of 727,000 tonnes this year, 13,000 tonnes below the department's official forecast. The forecast came despite an increased forecast for consumption, of 1.24m tonnes, narrowly higher year on year. However, the extra consumption will be met from stocks rather than imports, which will drop for a second successive year, as exportable supplies...