Free Republic

...Referring to one of ABF’s constituent brands, Primark, Mr Weston said the retailer annually lost more to shoplifting than it paid in business rates... Shortly before Mr Weston’s despairing announcement, Paul Gerrard, who runs public affairs at the Co-op...spoke of “people coming into our stores with wheelie bins, people coming into our store with builder’s bags to steal the whole confectionery section, the entire sprit section, the entire meat section”... The lawlessness that gives Britain such a dystopian feel – the marauding shoplifters, the Rolex rippers, the smartphone thieves, the lethal parade of teenagers with knives whose conception of the...

A popular hiking trail in Hawaii had to close this week after 24 hikers became sick from what is believed to be norovirus — an outbreak many blamed on illegal squatters defecating along the remote path. A portion of the Kalalau Trail on the Kalalau section of the Nāpali Coast State Wilderness Park on the island of Kauai was shuttered for seven days beginning Sept. 4, the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources posted on Facebook this week. The DOH received reports of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea from hikers who had been on the 11-mile trail, which runs from...

Kamala Harris made a campaign stop on Saturday at a spice shop known to openly discriminate against Republicans while calling for an end to political “division.” The spice shop, Penzeys Spices in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, welcomed the Democrat nominee to browse the store and meet some supporters. While facing a gaggle of reporters, Harris claimed, “It’s time to turn the page on the divisiveness. It’s time to bring our country together, chart a new way forward.” “A lot of what I think is happening, and I was just talking with some folks here in Pittsburgh about it, is that people are...

President Joe Biden’s months-long push for a cease-fire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas has been upended again in recent days, putting the deal on life support as U.S. officials say they are reassessing next steps after they initially hoped to present the two sides with a “take it or leave it” proposal... The latest obstacle — the abrupt introduction by Hamas of a new demand... The two sides had tentatively agreed that at a certain point, Israel would release Palestinian militants serving life sentences in exchange for Hamas freeing Israeli soldiers. But this week, Hamas said civilian...

Independent candidate Cornel West was cleared to be on the Virginia presidential ballot after the state reversed its decision on Friday.In a letter to West’s campaign, the Virginia Department of Elections said it “reconsidered” its decision to bar West from the ballot and now he and Melina Abdullah, his running mate, will be on the ballot in November.The Virginia Department of Elections previously denied West due to a problem with forms required for submission in the state. West’s campaign told CBS News it was due to challenges on the validity of their elector forms.“The Department has confirmed that the campaign...

Vice President Kamala Harris has leaned into the prosecutorial experience she once downplayed...And the party has uniformly sought to blame Republicans for an illegal immigration crisis that unfolded on Democrats’ watch.... Harris and other Democrats have gone out of their way in this election to distance themselves from soft-on-crime positions they celebrated... Democratic candidates in congressional races have sunk $24 million into pro-police campaign ads so far this cycle... Republicans have increasingly focused on what they see as the weaponization of the Department of Justice against Democrats’ ideological foes....Still, Democrats have cast Trump as posing the greater threat of weaponizing...

Allies of Joe Biden were skeptical that Kamala Harris was “ready” for the national spotlight during her 2016 US Senate campaign — but were apparently happy to hand over donor lists and even offer her a board seat with the Beau Biden Foundation after her camp dangled a $1,000 contribution, emails on first son Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop show. If completed, the convoluted transaction flouted the Foundation’s tax-exempt status and may have violated federal election law, experts told The Post this week. Allies of Harris, then California’s attorney general, contacted Josh Alcorn, Beau Biden’s top political and fundraising adviser, with...

I continue to feel the strong stirring here the change of heart the repentance so allow me to share: "We are afflicted in every way but not crushed: perplexed but not driven to despair. Persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed. Always carrying in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us but...

Food prices are climbing, but soon will soar — inflation is ensured due to recent massive spending. As Americans are pushed to consume artificial meat as a solution to the alleged environmental impact of cow farts, the government seeks to expand its techno-monitoring, in the name of “health and safety,” by requiring the RFID chipping of all livestock. The argument is that animal tracking will protect the public from an animal disease outbreak.This pretense to control all food production for health and safety is reminiscent of the argument that gain-of-function research used to create the COVID-19 virus was motivated not...

Dima never puts out a cigarette until he smokes it right down to the filter, risking burning his fingers to squeeze out one more drag. He spent years on the Ukrainian front lines. He knows the price of a good smoke. As a battalion commander, Dima was in charge of around 800 men who fought in some of the fiercest, bloodiest battles of the war – most recently near Pokrovsk, the strategic eastern town that is now on the brink of falling to Russia. But with most of his troops now dead or severely injured, Dima decided he’d had enough....

The media have always engaged in mass lying about immigration, but they're really going the extra mile this election cycle. Lie No. 1 is the toughness of the “bipartisan” border bill, covered in my last column. (Quotes on “bipartisan” because not a single congressional Republican supports it, even the guy who co-sponsored it.) Immigration Lie No. 2 is even more comically, straw-graspingly wrong: The Biden-Harris administration is deporting MORE illegals than Trump!

Former President George W. Bush does not plan to endorse a candidate for president, his office told NBC News on Saturday. When asked whether the former president or his wife, Laura, would endorse a candidate or make public how they will vote, Bush's office said "no." "President Bush retired from presidential politics years ago," the office added. The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign declined to comment but pointed to the campaign's Republican outreach efforts. Bush's former vice president, Dick Cheney, announced on Friday that he would...

Dartmoor National Park in Devon features five hills, each taller than 1,950 feet. Cut Hill is both one of the most remote and one of the highest, coming in at 1,978 feet...Amid challenging weather conditions, work began in August to retrieve the stone box, which measured about three feet on each side and was topped with three granite capstones. Inside the cist were substantial pieces of preserved wood. The wood appeared to have been worked into its shape, raising questions on its purpose and placement in the cist...This isn't the first major find from the era in the park. In...

CEASE & DESIST: I, together with many Attorneys and Legal Scholars, am watching the Sanctity of the 2024 Presidential Election very closely because I know, better than most, the rampant Cheating and Skullduggery that has taken place by the Democrats in the 2020 Presidential Election. It was a Disgrace to our Nation! Therefore, the 2024 Election, where Votes have just started being cast, will be under the closest professional scrutiny and, WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences so that this Depravity of...

Just sit right back as the Dems implode....the swing states Trump will flip

Chronicling the changes in the Titanic has shown a 15-foot-long section of the port side of the bow's railing has fallen to the seafloor.Researchers have uncovered the bronze "Diana of Versailles" statuette, once a centerpiece in the doomed Titanic's first class lounge, and now mired in oceanic muck. It marks the first sighting of the Roman goddess Diana statue since 1986 and highlights the sunken ship's ongoing decay.The Georgia-based RMS Titanic, Inc. has the only legal salvage claim to the Titanic, the famous British passenger liner that struck an iceberg and tragically sank on April 14, 1912. A 2024 expedition...

There is a well know saying amongst Yellowstone National Park staff about bison safety that goes like this “don’t pet fluffy cows.” It’s comical and cute but is an actual warning for tourists not a treat the park’s wildlife like a petting zoo. Bison may seem like docile creatures that would have little recourse to a human dead set on making contact but that is a very dangerous misconception. In a park with predators roaming around like grizzly bears and mountain lions, bison stand above all other species when it comes to injuring the most tourists.

More state polling is out showing that the presidential race is unbelievably close, which means the debate next week is going to mean pretty much everything. If Donald Trump shows up and mops the floor with Kamala Harris or if Kamala Harris shows up and shockingly outperforms, that could be the deciding factor in this election. What are Kamala’s lines of attack going to be? The answer here is that she is going to have to memorize a lot because she doesn’t have the ability to stick and move. She has no capacity to actually adjust on her feet to...

The first inhabitants of what is now the United States appeared around 15,000 to 20,000 years ago — a blip in time compared to the annals of some of the earliest places humans lived. Initially, population growth was slow due to the continent’s geographic isolation; significant increases began only after Europeans made their way to the Americas throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. By the 20th century, the U.S. population was experiencing rapid expansion — a trend that has slowed in recent years. Here’s a look at America’s changing population through history, from early prehistoric arrivals to the decline we’re...

It’s summer, which means beach getaways, frozen cocktails, and bad sunburns in the most annoying of places. It’s also the perfect time to hold a backyard barbecue and eat enough hamburgers and hot dogs to make Joey Chestnut proud. Burgers and Hotdogs are two of the tastiest summertime staples, though they’re not exactly considered to be the most diet-friendly foods. But rather than compare hamburgers and hot dogs to salad, let’s compare them to each other. You may not realize there are certain dietary benefits that one offers over the other, so let’s take a closer look at which is...