Free Republic

The beef industry is battling multiple challenges: a prolonged drought across key cattle states, record‑high feed costs and the smallest U.S. cattle herd in 75 years.Beef prices in the United States are at record highs heading into the holiday season — and tariffs aren’t the only reason. At Oak Barn Beef in West Point, Nebraska, family tradition runs deep. Owner and operator Hannah Klitz is a fifth‑generation cattle producer. Alongside her husband, she sells farm‑to‑table beef to the local community and ships products nationwide. "Quarter four is normally our busiest quarter, just because of all of the gifting — and...

Two illegal immigrants from Mexico were recently arrested in connection to the murder of a 43-year-old woman in Texas. Enrique Gomez-Urbina, 21, of Mexico, was arrested by the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force and is charged with first-degree murder and resisting arrest, according to the Austin Police Department. He has an immigration detainer pending the homicide investigation. Gomez-Urbina's "associate," Jesus Llamas-Yanez, 48, of Mexico, who is wanted by federal authorities in Mexico for a weapons charge, is being extradited back to Mexico. On Oct. 6, a local tire shop employee found a woman’s body in a wooded area behind the...

School officials at Kingston Community Schools in Kingston, Michigan, say a threat made against a school over the weekend was generated using artificial intelligence. In a statement on the district's Facebook page, Superintendent Shona Vennevy says an investigation determined that the threat that used a student's photo was not real. "At this time, there is no credible or ongoing threat to our students, staff, or school community," Vennevy said. "Our top priority remains the safety and well-being of everyone on campus. We are continuing to work closely with law enforcement to ensure our school remains a safe and secure environment...

Lindsay Sandiford, 68, was arrested after arriving in Bali in 2012 when Indonesian authorities found cocaine worth €2.1 million in her suitcase. A British drug-smuggling grandmother who has spent 12 years on death row in Indonesia will be sent home to the UK, the two countries announced on Tuesday. Lindsay Sandiford, 68, has been imprisoned on Bali since 2012. She was arrested at the resort island's airport after authorities found 3.8 kilogrammes of cocaine worth €2.1 million hidden in the lining of her suitcase. During the trial, Sandiford said she was forced to carry the drugs by a gang that...

An internal probe found that FEMA officials under Joe Biden's administration refused to help disaster victims who displayed support for President Donald Trump, the Department of Homeland Security announced Tuesday. DHS investigators said the politically motivated discrimination stretched from Hurricane Ida in 2021 to Hurricane Milton in 2024. The DHS Privacy Office concluded that FEMA workers "systematically bypassed" homes with pro-Trump or Second Amendment signs, collecting political data on survivors in direct violation of the Privacy Act of 1974. The report described the behavior as "a troubling overreach" that weaponized federal disaster relief against Americans in crisis. DHS Secretary Kristi...

The idea of autism as a single spectrum has shaped thinking for decades, but the metaphor is misleading, says this public health expert.The phrases “autism spectrum” or “on the spectrum” have become part of everyday language. They are often used as different ways of referring to someone who is “neurodivergent”. The term was coined in the 1980s by psychiatrist Dr Lorna Wing, whose work transformed how autism was understood in the United Kingdom. At the time, her “autism spectrum” concept was groundbreaking. Instead of seeing autism as a rare, narrowly defined condition, she recognised a wide range of traits and...

Rep. Jim Jordan, GOP Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has referred former President Barack Obama’s CIA Director John Brennan to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution — accusing him of knowingly making false statements to Congress during a 2023 transcribed interview. That would be in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and fines. On Tuesday, in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Jordan (R-Ohio) wrote that the former CIA director “knowingly made false statements during his transcribed interview” with the panel back in May 2023 in...

A pair of Los Angeles television anchors watched in horror as a suspected car thief was killed live on-air during a police chase Monday night. Helicopter footage of the near-30-minute chase was being broadcast on KCBS-TV when the suspect was shown emerging from a van in the Mount Washington neighborhood in an apparent attempt to flee. The man is seen hopping over a divider on the 110 Freeway before a car in the opposing lane speeds by, striking him as the camera had zoomed in.

Summary Colombia has been major US ally, recipient of aid Steep tariffs would hit legitimate businesses, analysts say Alienating Latin America provides opportunity for China WASHINGTON/BOGOTA, Oct 21 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's threat this week to slap Colombia with tariffs over its drug policy marked a sharp escalation in his feud with a country that has long been one of Washington's closest Latin American allies.It was also a rejection of an established idea about countering the narcotics business: that free trade can make legitimate exports more attractive than drug trafficking.Read about innovative ideas and the people working on...

Some Democrats are worried in the final weeks of the election.The interviewer asked each candidate a simple question: Would you fight for the right of New Jerseyans to pump their own gas?Republican Jack Ciattarelli answered in one word: “no.” His opponent, Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill, took 53, invoking President Donald Trump’s tariffs without ever giving a clear yes or no.The exchange — which she later gave a more direct answer on — spoke to a growing worry among Democrats: That Sherrill, their only hope at holding the New Jersey governorship, is playing it too safe. Her front-runner caution — careful...

The fees, which are new, were part of the GOP’s domestic policy and tax law President Donald Trump signed on July 4, but the administration’s rollout has been plagued by mishaps.“Congress made clear that these new asylum fees were long overdue and necessary to recover the growing costs of adjudicating the millions of pending asylum applications,” the lawyers wrote.The Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, a membership organization that serves asylum seekers in the U.S., sued the Trump administration this month after hearing from thousands of members confused by the new asylum policy. The organization filed a motion for a preliminary injunction,...

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., didn't exactly have praise for President Donald Trump on Monday during an interview on "The Daily Show," but he did appear to say he had a better sense of America's situation than the Democratic Party. Stewart went on to commend his guest's "consistent" messaging, claiming that the "true inheritor of the Sanders revolution is Trump," while adding Trump was the "most socialist president" of his lifetime. lifetime. "Taking a percentage of companies to do business, that's a Bernie Sanders idea. Doing a Trump Rx where the government is involved in selling pharmaceuticals, that's a Bernie Sanders...

After soaring to fresh records this week, gold prices suffered a spectacular fall on Tuesday — their biggest one-day drop since 2013.The precious metal plunged 5.7 percent to around $4,109 an ounce as investors cashed in profits, the dollar strengthened, and safe-haven demand faded. Silver fell even harder, down 7.2 percent to under $47.50, while platinum also slipped.It marked an abrupt end to one of the wildest rallies in years. Gold had climbed more than 50 percent in 2025, driven by fears over inflation, geopolitics, and market turmoil. That surge was initially driven by big banks and hedge funds.But even...

Walmart paused corporate job offers to candidates that require H-1B visas to work in the U.S., Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the change, as the Trump administration’s planned policy requiring companies to pay $100,000 fees for new applicants requiring the visas begins to impact American businesses.

The lunch was intended to be a display of unity within the Republican conference and President Donald Trump, but Paul has been consistently voting against a continuing resolution that would restore federal funding through Nov. 21. Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul on Tuesday claimed that he had not been invited to a Rose Garden lunch at the White House with his colleagues in the upper chamber to discuss the ongoing government shutdown.The lunch was intended to be a display of unity within the Republican conference and President Donald Trump, but Paul has been consistently voting against a continuing resolution that...

The implementation of a Gaza ceasefire agreement is "going better than expected" and the truce can hold, US Vice-President JD Vance has said during a visit to Israel.Vance also warned that "if Hamas does not co-operate, it will be obliterated", while refusing to give a deadline for when the Palestinian group must disarm - a part of US proposals yet to be agreed.US President Donald Trump, who brokered the ceasefire deal earlier this month, said America's "great allies" in the Middle East would be ready to "go into Gaza with a heavy force and 'straighten out Hamas' if Hamas continues...

SAN DIMAS, CA — A group of bored high school students asked their chemistry teacher this week when he was going to teach them how to cook meth and go on crazy adventures in an RV. The group peppered teacher William Wright with questions about how to cook "really pure crytal meth" and "when the actual fun part of chemistry was going to start, with the drug cartels and feds and whatever." "I'll be honest, I had no idea what these kids were talking about," Wright told reporters. "I don't know where they would get such wild ideas, but...

“If only Muslims were clever politically, they could take over the United States"Rising outrage by families of 9/11 victims and FBI agents involved in the original World Trade Center bombing investigation, along with attacks from political rivals and questions from the one or two media outlets not in the tank for his campaign, forced Zohran Mamdani to answer why he had campaigned at the Al-Taqwa Mosque, which had been under NYPD surveillance, and tweeted a photo of himself with Imam Siraj Wahhaj, an unindicted coconspirator in the World Trade Center bombing.And Mamdani’s response was accusing critics of ‘Islamophobia’.“The same imam...

[Catholic Caucus] Vatican grants two-year extension for Latin Mass in ClevelandThe Diocese of Cleveland has confirmed that the Vatican has granted permission for the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass at two diocesan churches for a further two years.The extension applies to St Mary’s Church on South Main Street in Akron and St Stephen’s in Cleveland, both of which had previously been granted limited approval to continue celebrating the liturgy according to the 1962 Roman Missal.In an email to the Catholic Herald, Nancy Fishburne, Head of Communications for the diocese, said: “Yes, the Holy See granted a two-year extension of...

A planned summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin was put on hold on Tuesday, as Moscow's rejection of an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine cast a cloud over attempts at negotiations. A senior White House official told Reuters "there are no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future" after Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had a "productive call" but opted against an in-person meeting. Trump had announced last week that he and Putin would meet soon in Hungary to try to bring an end...