Free Republic

In an industry battered by debt and sagging prices, this year’s bounty is more bad news.FREDERICKSBURG, Iowa - Kyle Wendland stepped away from his engineering degree two decades ago to follow his father – not just into farming corn, but into a world of debt, grit, and stubborn faith he could wrest a living from Iowa’s soil. He calls his place Comeback Farms, after his family nearly lost the land in the 1980s farm crisis.This summer, with bills mounting and a farm economy in recession, he led a team through the sweltering Midwest, scouting fields and sizing up what President...

North Korean leader refuses to discuss denuclearization, but meeting would boost his global legitimacyDeparting for his first Asia trip of his second term, President Trump publicly called for a meeting with a regional leader not on his diplomatic itinerary: North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. Trump, speaking to reporters on Air Force One en route to Malaysia, reiterated his openness to meeting Kim, asking the media to “put out the word.” Trump concludes his multi-stop trip to Asia in South Korea, where the president would be within roughly 250 miles from the Korean Demilitarized Zone—site of the two leaders’ last face-to-face...

TORONTO — Scandal has rocked the baseball world as shortly after their 11-4 World Series victory, several members of the Toronto Blue Jays tested positive for performance-enhancing maple syrup. Suspicions arose immediately after the Blue Jays historic nine-run outburst in the sixth inning, with several pundits accusing the Blue Jays of "syruping." "We have confirmation that at least twelve members of the Blue Jays tested well over the accepted maple syrup threshold," said MLB spokesman Dan Reeding. "This was no synthetic maple extract. Their blood tests showed extremely high levels of delicious, all-natural, performance-enhancing maple syrup. Oh, and pancakes."...

With 10 days to go until the Virginia governor election, polls show a close match between Democrat Abigail Spanberger and her Republican opponent Winsome Earle-Sears, but Spanberger still has the lead. Newsweek's tracker, based on the 10 most recent polls, shows Spanberger with an eight point lead over Earle-Sears, on 51 percent to 43 percent.

June Lockhart, a popular actress of the 1950s and ’60s known for her roles in “Lost In Space,” “Lassie” and “Meet Me in St. Louis,” died of natural causes on Oct. 23 in Santa Monica, Calif. She was 100. Lockhart became known for her performances as Timmy’s foster mother, Ruth Martin, on the CBS series “Lassie” from 1958 to 1964. She took over from Cloris Leachman as the Martin family moved on to the famous collie’s farm and became foster parents to both the orphaned Timmy and Lassie. She then starred as Dr. Maureen Robinson on the CBS series “Lost...

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) is “not a statesman,” Massie challenger Ed Gallrein — a generational farmer who served as a Navy SEAL — said during an appearance on Breitbart News Saturday. Gallrein, whom Trump endorsed, explained that Massie is “not a statesman for Kentucky” but a “career politician.” “So with respect to that, at a high level, you’ve got to bring solutions at the table. Have the integrity and the credibility to advance those. He cannot do it,” he said. Ultimately, Gallrein said Massie’s votes actively “align and actually leverage the adversary party against us and the agenda that we...

The Labour government that rules the United Kingdom is hardly a year old, but its time is already coming to an end. Its popular legitimacy has collapsed, and it is visibly losing control of both the British state and its territories. Every conversation not about proximate policy is about the successor government: which party will take over, who will be leading it, and what’s needed to reverse what looks to be an unalterable course. What is known, however, is that the next government will assume the reins of a fading state after what will likely be the final election under...

n October 19, Bolivians elected Rodrigo Paz Pereira to the presidency. A center-right senator and son of former president Jaime Paz Zamora (1989-1993), Paz ran on a platform of “Capitalism For All,” defeating conservative former president Jorge Quiroga in a run-off. This contest between two right-wing candidates marked a decisive end to almost two decades of political dominance by the leftist Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), formerly led by Evo Morales, who served three presidential terms between 2006 and 2019. In the first round of voting, the MAS candidate for president received just 3 percent of the vote, and the party’s...

An indecipherable email about my mother-in-law’s checkup has me reaching for the pitchfork.‘How do you come up with things to write about?” a young George Will once asked William F. Buckley Jr. That’s easy, said the National Review founder, “the world irritates me three times a week.” Most people seek to avoid the feeling of irritation. But for newspaper guys, irritation equals inspiration. Let me tell you an irritating little story that I think you will find relatable. It’s about my mother-in-law. She’s 86 and has been ill for a while. For the past few years she’s lived in a...

VIDEOMichael Franzese is like a walking encyclopedia of the Mob so naturally when the NBA betting scandal broke, I checked out his video channel for inside information on this since he has been there, done that. Although Franzese usually comes across as a very friendly guy, while describing how he used to convince players to shave points on games, his inner scary Mob boss came out. There is no better source of information than his channel on this scandal so watch Michael give the detailed information on sports betting and Mob involvement at the link below.Ex Mobster Breaks Down NBA...

America’s labor market is flashing red, and the Federal Reserve is watching the light change instead of hitting the brakes. Job openings have fallen to 7.26 million, the lowest level in 4½ years. Private-sector hiring has turned negative, with September’s ADP data showing -32,000 jobs after August was revised down to -3,000. Employers’ plans to add workers have plunged 71% from last year, and year-to-date hiring announcements are the weakest since 2009. The Fed must move decisively by cutting rates 50 basis points in both the October and December meetings to prevent further deterioration in employment and restore confidence to...

Recent lawsuits reveal a troubling pattern of cities working with private, fee-based lawyers. These cases lack proper legal backing, misuse courts to alter state and national policies, and create chaos when the outside legal bills are due. For example, in pro-fracking Pennsylvania, an upscale county near Philadelphia partnered with contingency fee lawyers to sue energy companies over climate change, an attempt to fundamentally transform a key business in the Keystone State. In public health, private lawyers exploited their municipal engagements to fight for years over their fees, thus delaying a multi-billion-dollar settlement to help victims of the opioid crisis. A...

Billionaire businessman Timothy Mellon – scion of the famed American banking family – is the deep-pocketed donor who gave $130 million to pay US troops during the government shutdown. The reclusive Mellon was identified as the source of the funds in a Saturday report by The New York Times. President Trump announced this week that “a friend” who “loves the military and loves the country” – but who didn’t want to be identified – had given the funds. Trump referenced the contribution en route to Asia Friday night, calling the request for anonymity “pretty unusual in the world I come...

Too many on the left stubbornly hang on to a failed and unconstitutional approach.Democratic politicians grappled with the issue of racial preferences for decades without much success at reconciling competing beliefs. On the one hand, the American public has long been against the practice. In 2020, even as liberal California voters supported Joe Biden over Donald Trump by an overwhelming 29 points, an effort to reinstate racial preferences was soundly defeated by 14 points. On the other hand, Democratic interest groups in Washington, D.C., have been diehard supporters of racial preference policies, driving positions on these issues that many politicians...

Sports betting has become so ubiquitous and so massive in the US that it can be difficult to remember that at the start of 2018, it was only legal in four states, and only in Nevada could you bet on individual games.All that changed in May of that year, when the Supreme Court stuck down the federal law that barred most forms of sports gambling. Since then, the legal sports gambling industry has spread to 38 states plus Washington, DC, with revenues of nearly $14 billion in 2024, much of which has come from burgeoning and highly addictive mobile apps...

The headlines say federal troops are coming to Illinois. ICE is calling for National Guard protection. Governor J.B. Pritzker is howling about federal overreach, while the media frames it as another Trump stunt.But let’s be clear: the issue at hand is much larger than safeguarding ICE personnel.This is power politics, pure and simple.Let me explain: urban areas like Chicago are mini-states with single-party rule under Democrats; Chicago hasn’t had a Republican mayor in nearly a hundred years. The urban areas are then power bases for Democrats to have undue influence over the rest of a given state. Illinois is actually...

A Laois Fine Gael Councillor said he believed people who spoiled their vote shouldn’t be entitled to State benefits. Councillor John King made the comment at the Laois Presidential Election Count Center in Scoil Chríost Rí (Christ the King School) in Portlaoise this morning. In Laois, more than one in ten voters chose to spoil their vote rather than select any of the candidates on the paper. In total there were 4,156 spoiled votes, representing 14.6 percent of the Laois vote. “I am disappointed with the spoiled votes because our forefathers fought to get those votes,” Councillor King said in...

Candidate for the Democrat nomination for US Senator from Maine Graham Platner's Nazi SS tattoo has stirred up some controversy. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt), who has endorsed Platner, urged voters "to not fall victim to those who would unfairly judge this solid fighter for socialism. Remember, Nazi is short for National Socialist German Workers' Party. While Hitler took a wrong turn when he reneged on his deal with Stalin to carve up the smaller nations of eastern Europe between them during World War II, his previous program of socialist investment in German factories helped rescue the country from the Great...

The government shutdown will end soon. How do I know? Because whatever political advantage Democrats had a few weeks ago by “standing strong!” and “confronting Trump!” is quickly evaporating. When the polls flip, so will the party that has lost its way. Voters have a way of sniffing out the truth. They are beginning to understand that Democrats are rudderless, and are voting to keep the government closed out of confusion, not conviction. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and their colleagues claim they desperately want Obamacare premium subsidies extended, but they have...

President Trump’s upcoming trip to Asia is a reminder that his trade philosophy has not changed: America’s economic strength is the foundation of its global influence. His mission is to turn high-stakes negotiations into opportunities for American workers and investors. But as trade tensions with China ignite again, business leaders should prepare for volatility and opportunity to rise in tandem.The White House hopes to announce a series of trade agreements during his trip to Malaysia, Korea, and Japan. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has indicated that the administration expects to sign multiple deals during the Asia swing. The agreements would...