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Democratic California Rep. Eric Swalwell did not react kindly to Republican Texas Rep. Troy Nehls’ comments at a Wednesday Congressional hearing about Swalwell’s alleged relationship with a Chinese spy. Swalwell and Nehls participated in a hearing about the exploitation of unaccompanied migrant children held by the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement. “Ms. Rodriguez, I apologize that you had to — you’re here for a hearing on the border, they don’t want to talk about a border. Mr. Swalwell is down there, obviously everybody knows he’s made some comments, he’s got a checkered past,” Nehls said as...

Last week, model Yumi Nu visited her agent for what she thought was a routine interview and career check in. Sports Illustrated Swimsuit honcho MJ Day and other staffers from the bikini bible popped out with a camera crew as the cover of this year’s magazine, featuring Nu, filled a nearby monitor.

'This situation is not uncommon,' an RSPCA spokesman said to Daily Mail Australia. 'We often have reports of people going to parks and removing birds like pigeons or ducks. He added that the RSPCA will be investigating the Camellia Gardens incident further. He was filmed holding it over a plastic bag held by his young son Animal activists have shared outrage after watching the footage online This is the shocking moment a man appeared to take a duck from a public park in Sydney, placing it in a plastic bag being held open by his young son. He was filmed...

It’s been just over a week since the release of Burger King’s two pitch-black hamburgers, which might have left some fast food fans in a bit of a bind. On the one hand, they’re definitely eye-catching and intriguing, but their buns owe (and cheese) their sinister shade to an infusion of bamboo charcoal. While it’s perfectly edible, we imagine some people are just a tad averse to eating charcoal. So if your palate isn’t quite that wide, but you’re still adventurous enough to eat squid ink, McDonald’s has got you covered with their own dark burger. Just in time for Halloween,...

[] Hello Kitty, the iconic cartoon cat designed by Japanese company Sanrio, is now selling beer in China. The adorable kitten, known for gracing snack cakes and children’s wardrobes, now has its own fruit-flavored beer, which is sold exclusively in China. The Hello Kitty brew, licensed by the Shanghai KT trading company and made by Taiwanese beer maker Long Chuan, comes in at least six tropical flavors, from passion fruit to banana.

Bolstered by the hype generated for its spicy ketchup, Whataburger has decided to start bottling the stuff. The burger chain will partner with HEB stores to sell it this summer. They'll sell the regular ketchup and mustard as well, and they are introducing a new potato chip product called Whatafries. The ketchup will come in 20-ounce bottles; the mustard will be in a 16-ounce bottle. According to Whataburger, its mustard is a "one-of-a-kind" recipe dating back to the 1950s. They are dubbing Whatafries a potato chip version of the their French fries, and they are crowing about the fact...

If you factor in taste, I'd have to say it's cantaloupe. Full of vitamins, minerals, and fiber, and low in calories. Just had a big hunk of it for breakfast.

Did North Carolina potteries use uranium oxide glazes in the pre-WWII art pottery era? For a long time many students of North Carolina art pottery have held that they did, but this author has been unable to find any verifiable example of such a glaze. There are many examples of chromium oxide red-orange glazes, of course, and the colors of these glazes can be very similar. However, chromium oxide is not radioactive -- uranium oxide is, even in a glaze -- and chromium oxide does not glow under ultraviolet light, while uranium oxide glazes often do fluoresce in the presence...

Dear Mr. Robinson: I've given the matter quite a bit of thought and have decided it is time to ZOT you. I was tempted when I noticed posters were allowed to insult anyone who disagreed with them; even more tempted when I saw new posters banned for asking questions, or expressing an opinion outside the mainstream - (though I must confess anyone adopting the screen name "Christ was killed by conservatives" was not going to last very long ! I'm sure he was referring to the Sanhedrin, but still...) When I saw your post today about getting "millions of people"...

There is a Cantonese saying that the Chinese eat everything that flies, except aeroplanes; everything with four legs, except tables; and everything that swims, except submarines - and visitors to Beijing's fast-food market during the Olympic Games will be left in no doubt of that. A stroll among the food stalls of Wangfujing Snack Street, not far from Tiananmen Square, reveals delicacies of every conceivable kind. Laid out in trays and boiling in cauldrons are everything from goat lungs with red peppers to scorpion brochettes, seahorses on skewers, iguana tails, dung beetles and silk worms on a stick, by way...

NEW DELHI: Instead of blaming India and other developing nations for the rise in food prices, Americans should rethink their energy policy and go on a diet, say a growing number of politicians, economists and academics here. Criticism of the United States has ballooned in India recently, particularly after the Bush administration seemed to blame India's increasing middle class and prosperity for rising food prices. Critics from India seem to be asking one underlying question: "Why do Americans think they deserve to eat more than Indians?" The food problem has "clearly" been created by Americans, who are eating 50 percent...

Show Us Your Dove Recipes and Prove Anti-Hunters Wrong- (08/28) Michigan Join our e-mail alert list In their quest to ban dove hunting in Michigan by ballot in November, anti-hunters have stated repeatedly that doves are not eaten by hunters, giving the impression that they are left in the field to rot. The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance wants sportsmen across the country to prove the anti-hunters wrong by submitting their best dove recipe and perhaps winning a sportsmen’s prize package for doing so. Anti-hunting groups in Michigan have created a campaign of misinformation designed to win the votes of urban-dwellers and...

Springville, Utah -- A black bear that bit a sleeping Boy Scout through the wall of his tent was shot after it later returned to the camp, authorities said. Colton Stewart, 14, woke up early Wednesday to a burning sensation in his upper arm, then realized it was a bear biting his arm through the tent, state wildlife officials said. He pulled away and heard the bear run off through the brush. "It wasn't biting viciously. They put their mouth on things to see what they taste like," said Anis Aoude, regional wildlife manager for the state Division of Wildlife...

Hollywood actor Tom Cruise is planning to eat his new baby's placenta, it emerged today.It is the latest in a series of unusual revelations by the 43-year-old Mission Impossible star about the child he is expecting with fiancee Katie Holmes. He told GQ magazine: "I'm gonna eat the placenta. I thought that would be good. Very nutritious. I'm gonna eat the cord and the placenta right there." Cruise has also claimed he knew actress Holmes, 27, was pregnant, even before she told him. A follower of Scientology, he has defended the religion's belief that women should give birth in silence....

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Some customers say wild horses couldn't drag them to the table at a New Zealand restaurant that's offering a chargrilled horsemeat dish called "Mr. Ed is Dead." Restaurant owner David Kerr said Wednesday that he received lots of complaints and abusive phone calls after he started serving horse steaks at his eatery in Hamilton, North Island, as part of an annual event during which restaurateurs compete to offer the best out-of-the-ordinary culinary delights to diners.

WASHINGTON - Fancy state dinners aren't all the new White House chef will need to do — the Bushes are looking for someone who knows barbecue and other good old American fare. Laura Bush told Newsweek she doesn't expect that any of the celebrity chefs with books or television shows will be interested in becoming head chef at the presidential home. But she's looking to fill the job with someone who "can really showcase American foods." The previous White House chef, Walter Scheib III, has left to pursue new opportunities after nearly 11 years of cooking for two presidents, and...

Because of the recent popularity and notoriety of Michael Moore’s latest flight into propaganda, Fahrenheit 911, a movie I watched this weekend packed an extra punch, on top of its many other visceral attacks on the senses. It’s not often that a European makes a movie which destroys (both literally AND figuratively) liberal documentarians, but that is exactly what the 1979 Italian movie Cannibal Holocaust does, in spades. Made for $100,000.00 in the late ‘70s by director Ruggero Deodato, CH is certainly not for everyone. Most FReepers should, in fact, take a pass. The film is reputed to be the...

The last few months I've seen an increasing trend for FReepers to start going for each others jugular. Sometimes we forget (I've certainly done it myself) that in the grand scheme of things, we are on the same team. We may disagree on priorities or how far we are willing to go, but we have enough enemy in the left without creating more amongst ourselves. We can disagree but be civil to each other. We can debate nuance, but not believe that our personal positions are more important than the health of the whole. Let's argue vigorously but remind ourselves...

Chef fired 12 times wins Chinese animal rights award Thu May 6, 1:01 PM ET BEIJING (AFP) - A Chinese chef fired 12 times for refusing to cook wild animals has been awarded the honorary title "Green Chef Protecting Wildlife" by the China Wildlife Conservation Association. Thirty-two-year-old Zhang Xingguo's defiance has also seen him resign 20 times from cooking jobs, the Xinhua news agency said Thursday. He claims to have converted more than 700 chefs who now refuse to cook the wild animals that regularly grace dinner tables in a country that believes they are good for health. Civet cats,...

Cyber women test what's real By Jo Twist BBC News Online technology reporter Software cyberbabes, created by powerful computers, sophisticated modelling packages and active imaginations are getting extremely human-like. Rene Morel's 3D model has a very human face Virtual cyberbabes are used in advertising campaigns, hit shoot-em-up games, and the pop industry, from Lara Croft to virtual pop idols, T-Babe and Diki or DK-96. Some of the best 3D models around are currently on show at an exhibition which has just opened in London called Perfectly Real: Women in Bits and Bytes. But they raise questions about what people...