Free Republic

A White House official emphasized the administration’s plans to expand the herd of domestic cattle will strengthen the beef industry in the long-run.The official, granted anonymity to discuss internal thinking, described Argentina as a natural replacement for more highly-tariffed Brazilian beef, noting that there are broader issues for the administration to resolve in Brazil.“President Trump pledged to protect America’s ranchers and deliver economic relief for everyday Americans,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement. “The Administration is accomplishing both by expanding beef imports from Argentina to lower consumer prices in the short term while rolling out a new...

The Wright brothers made history on the morning of December 17, 1903 by undertaking the first powered, sustained, and controlled airplane flight from level ground without assistance at takeoff. Ironically, less than three decades later, the first proven act of air sabotage in commercial aviation occurred. On October 10, 1933, a United Airlines flight was destroyed, with nitroglycerin probably serving as the explosive agent. Although never solved, the bombing was believed to be an act of gangland violence.At least 86 commercial aircraft bombings have occurred since the Wright brothers made air transportation possible. The reasons have varied—from suicides, to schemes...

In a speech before the House of Commons on May 13, 1940, referencing the war against Nazi Germany, Winston Churchill stated, “What is our policy? … To wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark lamentable catalogue of human crime.”The Prussian military theorist Karl von Clausewitz once observed that “war is the continuation of politics by other means.” Various political and moral interpretations exist regarding what constitutes a “just war.” That usually depends on one’s point of view. As the saying goes, one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.X screen grab of a cartel drug boat;...

Former President Barack Obama was not pleased that former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris the day after President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race.In his new book Retribution, ABC News' Jonathan Karl provided new details on what had been widely known - that Obama didn't want a quick coronation of Harris, but rather 'a process' to determine who would become the Democratic nominee. The Daily Mail obtained an advanced copy. Obama called Pelosi shortly after her endorsement of Harris became public. 'The Obamas were not happy,' a Pelosi confidant told Karl. 'This...

The Trump administration’s military airstrikes against boats off Venezuela’s coast that the White House claims were being used for drug trafficking are “extrajudicial killings”, said Rand Paul, the president’s fellow Republican and US senator from Kentucky. Paul’s strong comments on the topic came on Sunday during an interview on Republican-friendly Fox News, three days after Donald Trump publicly claimed he “can’t imagine” federal lawmakers would have “any problem” with the strikes when asked about seeking congressional approval for them. US forces in recent weeks have carried out at least eight strikes against boats in the Caribbean off Venezuela’s coast, killing...

The Washington Post's boastful front-page slogan is "Democracy Dies in Darkness." But on today's Morning Joe, Post columnist David Ignatius kept viewers in the darkness regarding his own paper. The show devoted yet another long segment to denouncing President Trump's ballroom project, and in particular, his decision to demolish the East Wing that was deemed necessary. [snip] Ignatius offered a metaphorical analogy of his own: "This is the presidency as wrecking ball." He went so far as to claim that "the destruction of the East Wing has really upset people in a way that even Trump's most outrageous other actions...

In a startling episode of bureaucratic overreach, the British National Health Service (NHS) quietly removed a controversial guidance document extolling supposed “benefits” of first-cousin marriage, from “stronger extended family support systems” to “economic advantages.” The document barely saw the light of day before public outcry forced its withdrawal.However, the deeper issue remains: a publicly funded health institution considering normalizing consanguineous marriage based on cultural sensitivity is concerning.It’s a warning sign that the U.K. is quickly losing its grip on both medical ethics and science.Image generated by Chat GPT Let’s be clear. Marrying one’s first cousin is a known risk factor...

Political baby Zohran Mamdani is firing up Boomers — and it could be a bad sign for his bid to become New York City’s next mayor. Voters 50 and up accounted for nearly 60% of ballots cast during the first two days of early voting in the city’s mayoral election, data shows. The early flood of ballots cast by Gen Xers, Baby Boomers and the oldest New Yorkers — first reported by Gothamist — is likely far more helpful to ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, 67, a moderate looking to keep the 34-year-old socialist Mamdani out of City Hall, said Stephen Graves,...

The race for New York City mayor has tightened considerably — with ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo cutting front-runner Zohran Mamdani’s lead in half from a month ago, according to a new poll. Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, now leads Cuomo, running as an independent, just 44% to 34% among the likely Big Apple voters, the Suffolk University survey found.Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa is in third place with 11% support. But Mamdani had a 20-point lead over Cuomo in Suffolk University’s prior poll conducted in September. It’s Suffolk’s first survey since Mayor Eric Adams completely dropped his re-election bid and endorsed Cuomo. Cuomo...

US President Donald Trump has not ruled out the possibility of seeking a third term for the White House, saying he would "love to do it". But Trump rejected the possibility of running for vice-president in 2028 - an idea floated by some supporters as a way for him to circumvent the US constitution that bars the president from running for a third term. Speaking to reporters during his trip to Asia, Trump described the idea as "too cute" and said it "wouldn't be right". It is unclear what method he would use to run again. Last week, former Trump...

Radical leftist Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) reportedly had a secret stock portfolio and tried to delve into the marijuana business. In an article for the Washington Free Beacon published Monday, Andrew Kerr shared more information on Crockett’s apparently shady dealings. The report said Crockett “owned stocks in at least 25 companies that she did not disclose to the public during her first congressional run in 2022, even though she’d quietly admitted to the holdings the previous year as a Texas state legislator,” adding she did not disclose the stock holdings when she got to Washington. The Beacon said it found...

The Washington Post editorial board defended President Donald Trump's ballroom construction on Sunday and argued that the next Democratic president would be happy to have the ballroom."In classic Trump fashion, the president is pursuing a reasonable idea in the most jarring manner possible. Privately, many alumni of the Biden and Obama White Houses acknowledge the long-overdue need for an event space like what Trump is creating. It is absurd that tents need to be erected on the South Lawn for state dinners, and VIPs are forced to use porta-potties," the editorial board wrote.Construction crews began demolition of the East Wing...

Amazon is planning to cut as many as 30,000 corporate jobs starting as soon as Tuesday, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. After over-hiring at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the company is reportedly working to cut expenses by making job cuts. While the figure represents a small percentage of the company's 1.55 million total employees, it is almost 10 percent of its 350,000 corporate workers. It would represent the largest job cut at Amazon since late 2022, when around 27,000 jobs were eliminated. It comes months after CEO Andy Jassy said Amazon would reduce its corporate headcount...

Federal prosecutor David Raskin was expecting that the criminal case he had helped build against former president Donald Trump would be filed in Washington, D.C., when a colleague bumped into him with surprising news: Their boss, special counsel Jack Smith, had decided to bring the case in Florida. “Are you all f---ing insane?” Raskin blurted out to his fellow prosecutor on that spring day in 2023, in a hallway at a Justice Department building in D.C. Raskin, who had been investigating Trump for keeping dozens of classified documents at his Palm Beach golf club, was alarmed by what he saw...

Gov. Tina Kotek wants Oregon to go full force on harnessing the potential of forests, farms, wetlands and waterways to reduce emissions, preserve wildlife habitat and help communities withstand the threat of climate change. That’s the focus of a sweeping executive order Kotek issued on Thursday to prioritize conservation on both natural landscapes such as forests or wetlands as well as on so-called working lands – farms, ranches and commercial timberlands. It also includes waterways and state-managed ocean waters. The order comes as the state faces both a significant revenue shortfall due to federal tax cuts and the loss of...

Federal prosecutor David Raskin was expecting that the criminal case he had helped build against former president Donald Trump would be filed in Washington, D.C., when a colleague bumped into him with surprising news: Their boss, special counsel Jack Smith, had decided to bring the case in Florida. “Are you all f---ing insane?” Raskin blurted out to his fellow prosecutor on that spring day in 2023, in a hallway at a Justice Department building in D.C. Raskin, who had been investigating Trump for keeping dozens of classified documents at his Palm Beach golf club, was alarmed by what he saw...

A lawsuit filed in New York City on Monday alleges Black and Latino voters are being unconstitutionally diluted in the city’s only congressional district represented by a Republican. The Monday suit was filed by Elias Law Group, a Washington D.C. based firm chaired by well-known Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias, and singled out New York’s 11th district which has been represented by Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, a Latina, since 2021, according to the New York Times (NYT). The action comes after Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and California — pending a vote — have already redrawn their House maps ahead of...

It didn’t take long for someone to go to court and attempt to seize control of the president’s White House renovation project.The White House — the People’s House — can’t fit many people in its walls for special events, so it must pitch a tent about one football field away from the building for major functions. Event capacity is capped at 200 people in the White House’s East Room. It has been a problem for more than 150 years, according to the Trump administration. Now Trump is using around $300 million in private money to make the White House more...

A Video is at the link-click, but if you have young children or grandchildren, it would be worth your while to get the book, work out how to perform it as poetry, and read it to them yourself--they'll always remember it. This is avowedly biased on the side of Rudolph Flesch's 1955 "Why Johnny Can't Read"; if you're hydrophobic/distempered about this topic, please don't bother with any flaming in the comments. This is just Dr. Seuss fandom, no fanaticism intended. Bruce Deitrick Price's "Science of Illiteracy" is in the 1st comment, for those who maintain an open mind. That damned...

Tyler Avalos, 29, was arrested Oct. 16 after allegedly posting the threat on TikTok, FBI says. A Minnesota man was arrested after allegedly offering $45,000 for the killing of Attorney General Pam Bondi, according to court documents.Tyler Avalos, 29, published the threat on TikTok saying he wanted Bondi "dead or alive" but "preferably dead," according to an affidavit by FBI Special Agent Caleb Jurchisin.The investigation into Avalos started Oct. 9 when a tipster from Detroit "submitted a report to the FBI National Threat Operations Center" and flagged the suspect's TikTok feed, the FBI said. The TikTok post included a picture...