Free Republic

Mark Griffin won a $70 million verdict against Tyson Farms after wastewater from the company’s Hanceville plant polluted the Black Warrior River in Alabama, leading to a flesh-eating bacterial infection that changed his life. Tyson Farms is a part of the Tyson Foods family of businesses. "I want the people who are responsible for the spill in the river to have to be held accountable for what they've done," Griffin said. The long recovery Griffin contracted flesh-eating bacteria from the Black Warrior River six years ago after a pipe malfunction at Tyson Farms’ Hanceville plant released hundreds of thousands of...

First lady Melania Trump on Thursday denied having any knowledge of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's crimes, saying, "The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today." The first lady's office and the White House did not immediately respond to ABC News when asked what prompted her to publicly speak out about the issue. President Donald Trump said he did not know the first lady was going to make a statement today about Epstein, according to an MS Now reporter who said she had a brief phone interview with the president. Asked by ABC News...

Trump can’t negotiate away free movement in the Strait of Hormuz or highly enriched uranium. He could use the next two weeks to negotiate an end to the war with terms that address Iran’s ballistic-missile and nuclear programs, including its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, as well as its support to terrorist proxies and freedom of navigation. But the U.S. and Iran likely aren’t aligned on acceptable minimum requirements, especially as Tehran thinks it is winning. Issues like the nuclear program could be kicked down the road. The third option is that Mr. Trump could threaten to strike Iran again...

One of the Central Coast’s most iconic landmarks is up for sale or lease. The owner of the property that houses the Giant Artichoke Restaurant says the building is available, opening the door to a new chapter for the well-known Castroville landmark. The post, shared in the Facebook group Prunedale Bargains, Deals and Independent Businesses, reads: “For sale or for lease. Interested parties only, please no solicitation for listing here.” It also includes several photos of the restaurant, including its iconic giant artichoke at the front of the building. In a message to KSBW 8, Boudreault confirmed he owns the...

A federal judge in Idaho has delivered an order protecting the private communications of a pro-life organization that was hit with a subpoena for that information even though it was not party to a lawsuit brought against the state by a group of abortion promoters. It was the Northwest Abortion Access Fund, the Indigenous Idaho Alliance and others who had been in court demanding access to the communications of the Right to Life of Idaho, Inc. Magistrate Judge Debora Grasham quashed, or canceled, the subpoena, determining that the abortionists’ insistence on the subpoena because it would help them overcome “inefficiency,...

President Donald Trump warned Iran on Thursday against charging fees on tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, writing on Truth Social: “There are reports that Iran is charging fees to tankers going through the Hormuz Strait — They better not be and, if they are, they better stop now!”

Construction of a “transformational” new railway line linking China, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan will allow goods to transit from east to west across Eurasia a whole week faster. On the way, it’s also predicted to have a transformational impact on the economy of Kyrgyzstan, one of the slowest developing countries on the continent. Now, the “CKU” will give direct transit options for most of Central Asia while unlocking substantial natural resource opportunities among a depressed, mountainous region of Kyrgyzstan. The trilateral agreement to build the 300-mile-long railway was signed on December 27th, 2024, and construction began the following year. $1.1 billion...

FR CANTEEN MISSION STATEMENT Showing support and boosting the morale of our military and our allied military and the family members of the above.Honoring those who have served before. FReeper Canteen Come on in, we're open Need a place just to hang out? This is it. Pull up a seat and relax. We serve coffee, tea, conversation and music. Our AWESOME military, our AWESOME allies, and their families are welcomed and honored here. Birthday wishes for all April babies.No worries in the FReeper Canteen Just Hangin' Cafe. Grab a cup or a glass, and start a conversation. You never...

U.S. Central Command Commander Adm. Brad Cooper said Thursday the United States has achieved its core military objectives under Operation Epic Fury, declaring Iran “has suffered a generational military defeat” after its more than four-decade military buildup was systematically destroyed in under 40 days. Providing an update as a fragile ceasefire takes hold, Cooper said U.S. forces dismantled the Iranian regime’s ability to project power beyond its borders, adding, “We set out to dismantle” that capability “and we clearly accomplished this task.” He said Iran’s conventional military — “built over 40 years at the cost of billions of dollars” —...

Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith had written to Australian Federal Police and the Office of the Special Investigator multiple times offering to hand himself in before his high-profile arrest in front of his teenage daughters at Sydney Airport this week. Veterans have reacted ­furiously to what they see as an orchestrated and deliberate attempt to humiliate Australia’s most decorated soldier to justify only the second arrest after the Office of the Special Investigator’s (OSI) six-year, $300m investigation into ­alleged war crimes. Roberts-Smith was arrested in front of media cameras on Tuesday as he arrived at Sydney Airport on a Qantas...

The video covers the case of Felipe Bename (also referred to with variations like Philip Bianame or Phipe Benemy), the former mayor of North Miami, who has been exposed for a long-running immigration fraud scheme and is now facing deportation and revocation of his U.S. citizenship under the Trump administration. Key Details from the Case Entry into the U.S. (1997): He allegedly arrived from Haiti at Miami International Airport using a fake passport under the name Jean Phipe Jeanvier. In 2000, an immigration judge ordered his deportation after he lost an appeal, but he ignored the order and stayed in...

As we cross the one month mark of the Israeli-American war on Iran, a sufficient corpus of data is emerging to contemplate the kinetic dynamics of the conflict. This is a very strange war. It is not merely the fact that the roster of combatants and associated parties - Netanyahu, President Trump, Lindsay “Holden Bloodfeast” Graham - comprise the most polarizing figures in world politics today. As if to punctuate this fact, I fully anticipate angry comments berating me for using a sanitized and emotionally titrated word like “polarizing.” But we digress. Far more interesting than endless apoplexy over Israel...

On a bright but cloudy morning on 9 August 1945, a B-29 bomber, named “Bocks Car”, of the US Army Air Force, flew over the Japanese port city of Nagasaki and dropped a highly radioactive Plutonium implosion bomb onto the city, 300 yards from the second largest Roman Catholic cathedral in the Far East, Urakami Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary... This was the nuclear bomb that went on giving for years after it was dropped – giving to the people of Nagasaki the horrible after-effects of nuclear radiation that slowly kill victims for years... Children...

(The Center Square) – In the last year of the Biden administration, millions of dollars flowed from the city of Atlanta to nonprofits so they could aid migrants pouring through U.S. borders. A quarter-million dollars went to a Chicago-based Islamic activist organization that was raising money for Gaza at the time. The Center Square wanted to know what, specifically, that group and others spent their grant money on. But for months, requests to the office of Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, filed under the Georgia Open Records Act, have been answered with hefty price quotes ranging from hundreds to more than...

In a significant development, thousands of Lebanese citizens have reached out to Israeli security forces to provide critical information on Hezbollah's senior leadership and hidden infrastructure. The Israeli security establishment has revealed that a massive wave of cooperation from Lebanese civilians has directly led to some of the most significant military achievements in the current war. Following a psychological operations campaign by Unit 504, which involved dropping thousands of flyers across Lebanon, over a thousand local residents have come forward with actionable intelligence. This influx of data has provided the Intelligence Directorate with the precise locations of high ranking officials...

An Ohio doctor is reportedly suing a surgery center alleging that his patient died of a fatal overdose after a “tummy tuck” procedure. Dr. Shahryar Tork, a plastic surgeon based in Cincinnati, filed a civil lawsuit against JourneyLite Surgery and its anesthesia partner Associated Anesthesiologists of Springfield, Inc., claiming negligence and underqualified personnel led to the death of patient Rachel Tussey, according to WLWT. Tussey had a “tummy tuck” at the surgery center and was reportedly later found to be unresponsive during her recovery. [snip] Tork said the surgery went well and Tussey needed “very low doses of pain medication...

The Bronx judge who sent an ex-NYPD sergeant to prison Thursday for fatally flinging a picnic cooler at a fleeing drug suspect claimed the punishment would serve as a “general deterrent” for other police officers. Judge Guy Mitchell justified the sentence of 3-to-9 years behind bars for former Sgt. Erik Duran, 38, by arguing, in part, that the decision would send a message — even as police and legal experts ripped it as “extreme and damaging” for law enforcement. The judge also rejected Duran’s testimony that throwing the cooler at scooter-riding Eric Duprey, 30, during the August 2023 undercover drug...

One way to squeeze Iran would be to seize Kharg Island. Pipelines from Iran's major oil fields—Ahvaz, Marun, and Gachsaran—feed into the island's long jetties, which sit in waters deep enough to accommodate supertankers. The facilities on Kharg process 90 percent of Iran's crude exports. These exports fund the regime's military operations, proxy networks, and nuclear program. If the United States can seize and control Kharg Island, it could effectively cut off the Iranian economy and force the regime to the negotiating table—or fuel the internal unrest needed for the regime to collapse.The Pentagon appears to be giving the President...

A deputy with the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office was shot and killed while in the line of duty on Thursday. The deputy, who has not yet been identified, was among those serving an eviction notice around 10:20 a.m. when he was shot in the area of North Newcomb Street and West Grand Avenue in Porterville. The suspected shooter, 60-year-old David Morales, has continued to fire shots at deputies, according to the sheriff’s office. People in the area are being urged to shelter in place and schools are on lockdown. The detective who was struck was taken to Sierra View Medical...

A millionaire New York Democrat running for Congress dropped his bid Thursday as he faced a firestorm of criticism for resurfaced social media posts about kiddie porn and sex with a 17-year-old — but he claimed he made his decision for altruistic reasons. Peter Chatzky was running in a crowded Democratic Party primary for the 17th House District in the northern suburbs to challenge Republican Rep. Mike Lawler. “Today, I am suspending my campaign,” said Chatzky, a software executive and deputy mayor in the Westchester County village of Briarcliff Manor. He dropped out just hours before he was expected to...