Free Republic

Be patient with your bag of unripened avocados, because they might become more difficult to find in grocery stores pretty soon. According to a translated June 18 news release from U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar, two United States Department of Agriculture employees were attacked and detained while inspecting avocados in Michoacán, “the world’s leading producer” of the coveted fruit. Though the inspectors have since been released, the department is halting avocado and mango inspections in the region as a safety measure. USDA press representatives told SFGATE via email that operations have been paused “until further notice.” Salazar wrote that avocados will...

The son of a deli worker is speaking out after his father was brutally attacked by a man in Queens, who community members say has brought them unease in the past. Surveillance video captured the relentless, violent, and brutal attack on a 65-year-old deli worker in Woodside. The video shows a man with green hair bumping into a deli worker. When the worker confronts him, the man snaps. The enraged suspect then starts to wail on the victim with an endless barrage of punches, knocking the victim to the ground. SNIP Residents say they recognize the suspect. "Once you mentioned...

The head of the Shiite Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, threatened to expand his war against Israel in a speech on Wednesday, boasting that he allegedly has 100,000 terrorists at his disposal and suggesting war with Cyprus may also be imminent. Hezbollah, one of many Iranian proxy terrorist organizations, has long maintained ties with the Sunni jihadist group Hamas. The group has expanded its attacks on Israel since October 7, when Hamas terrorists launched an unprecedented invasion of Israel that resulted in an estimated 1,200 deaths, the abduction of about 250 people, and widespread torture, rape, and other atrocities....

On November 8, 2023, the Sierra County Sheriff’s deputies performed a welfare check on 71-year-old Patrice Miller at her home in Downieville, California. At the house rented by Miller, they found a gruesome scene. The door had been broken in, and there was bear scat on the porch. What was left of Miller’s body was inside. The bear had been feeding on it for several days. California has a rapidly growing bear population and rapidly increasing numbers of bear-human conflicts.Downieville is a small village at the confluence of the Yuba and North Downie rivers, 54 miles west of Reno, Nevada....

"A Massachusetts man was attacked by a grizzly bear protecting her cub in Yosemite National Park and lived to tell the tale. Shayne Burke was on his honeymoon with wife Chloe when he went off into the park to try to get pictures of a rare owl."

A 71-year-old woman who was found dead inside her home had been fatally mauled by a black bear... Patrice Miller’s body was discovered inside her Downieville home in November last year by police who had been called to carry out a welfare check. Officers discovered a grisly scene with evidence that a bear had been inside, likely for several days, feeding on the woman’s remains. ... Initially, investigators thought she had died before to the bear’s entry. However, an autopsy report completed last month revealed Miller was killed when the animal swiped or bit her neck, Sierra County Sheriff Mike...

A group of teens forced a woman to miscarry with a brutal attack after she and her husband dared to stray onto a Chicago street that the youths claimed as their own. The 41-year-old mother was returning home with her husband from a date night on Friday when they were surrounded by at least 10 young people in the city's notorious Streeterville neighborhood. The woman, who gave her name only as Nina, told Fox32 that she was pepper-sprayed in the face, kicked in the stomach and lost a clump of hair as her husband was held back by the mob....

Hackers targeted several high-profile TikTok accounts, including hotel heiress Paris Hilton’s — and planted malicious code on the official page of CNN, according to reports. The malware is being spread through TikTok via its direct messaging function, Forbes reported on Tuesday. The hack is a so-called “zero-day” attack — meaning that the hacker learned of the vulnerability before the software developers who thus have “zero days” to prevent it. Certain attacks are exploited through vulnerabilities that sometimes take the developers days or weeks to discover. CNN was forced to take down its TikTok account for several days after a hacker...

Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday will push back against lawmakers who have vowed to hold him in contempt, casting the effort as “only the most recent in a long line of attacks” on the Justice Department. Garland is set to appear before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday after it, along with the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, voted last month to hold him in contempt — an effort left in limbo over recess, as it’s unclear whether the GOP will be able to secure enough votes to pass the measure on the floor. It’s a busy time for...

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) joined an anti-Israel commentator this week in blaming the Abraham Accords peace deal and the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem for Hamas’s massive terror attack on Israel on October 7. “AOC” also agreed that Trump’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights — which are not claimed by Palestinians, but were taken from Syria in a defensive war — was also “directly” responsible for October 7.

A man was stabbed in both legs by three men believed to be wielding a machete outside of the Times Square McDonald’s on Thursday afternoon, law enforcement sources said. The man, who was not identified, was rushed to Bellevue Hospital after the 1 p.m. attack, police said. He’s listed in stable condition. Cops are still searching for the three suspects, all men, who allegedly carried out the attack. One of the suspects was wearing blue jeans, a black shirt and carrying a backpack. The second was wearing a black “Wu Tang Clan” logo hoodie, while the third was clad in...

Israel launched air attacks on Syria's central region as well as the coastal city of Baniyas, killing a child and injuring ten civilians, Syrian state media said on Wednesday citing a military source. "At approximately 19:30 pm, the Israeli enemy launched an air aggression from the direction of Lebanese territory, targeting a site in the central region and a residential building in Baniyas ... leading to the death of a girl, the injury of ten civilians," the source was quoted as saying. Syrian state media reported earlier on Wednesday that the country's air defences had intercepted "hostile targets" over Homs,...

A former federal firearms instructor who worked at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia is warning the strange arrest of two Jordanian nationals in a box truck at the base may have been a "dry run" to test security outside the facility ahead of a terror attack. The same truck, had it been loaded with explosives, could have been a devastating weapon if it made it close enough to an occupied building, he warned. "Driving the box truck was a dry run for driving a box truck that was not going to be empty the second time," said Dave Katz,...

Former presidential hopeful Nikki Haley consoled an Israeli community that had been ravaged by the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack, during a Memorial Day trip she made to the Israel-Gaza border. Haley, 52, assured citizens of the Middle East ally that the US remains committed to supporting Israel despite the spate of anti-Israel protests that have swept the country. “What I will tell all Israelis: America is with you. Americans are with you — 1,200 people were brutally murdered. Let’s not forget what happened on Oct. 7,” she said in a video posted on X by Danny Danon, a Likud...

Arab mob crashes pro-Israel rally in Illinois, torching Israeli flag, attacking demonstrators, and calling for massacre of Jews. Extinguished X link.

The man attacked and mauled by a grizzly in Grand Teton National Park on Sunday was amazingly lucky During the attack, the grizzly chomped down on his can of bear spray, which exploded it into her face and immediately ended the ordeal The out-of-state man who was mauled by a mother grizzly in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park on Sunday apparently had a phenomenal stroke of luck when the apex predator essentially bear-sprayed itself. The attack on a 35-year-old Massachusetts man ended when the grizzly bit into his can of bear spray, bursting it into her own face, according to...

A carjacker stole a Los Angeles police SUV with a female cop still inside — before speeding off and crashing it just after the female officer was “ejected” and dragged down the road, according to officials. The unidentified officer was conducting “security detail” in downtown LA at about 3:30 a.m. Sunday when the man suddenly jumped into the squad car and attacked her, NBC LA reported. The cop was “ejected” from the vehicle at some point and fell onto the road as the suspect fled, police said. It was unclear if the officer was pushed, but she was dragged down...

The ship’s first power outage occurred after a crew member mistakenly closed an exhaust damper while conducting maintenance in port, causing one of its diesel engines to stall, according to the report. A backup generator automatically came on and continued to run for a short period — until insufficient fuel pressure caused it to kick off again, resulting in a second blackout. While recovering from those power outages, crew members made changes to the ship’s electrical configuration, switching to a different transformer and set of breakers, according to safety investigators. “Switching breakers is not unusual but may have affected operations...

Hamas fired rockets Friday at the Kerem Shalom border crossing, one of several points at which humanitarian aid enters the Gaza Strip from Israel. It was just the latest such attack, after a barrage of rockets hit the crossing last weekend, killing four Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers and wounding others. The IDF released a statement: Following the sirens that sounded earlier today (Friday) in the area of Kerem Shalom, one launch was identified crossing from the Rafah area into Israel. The launch was successfully intercepted by the IDF Aerial Defense Array. A short while ago, sirens again sounded in...

NYPD is investigating the viral footage of a 45-year-old woman getting strangled and r*ped on the sidewalk at East 152nd Street and Third Avenue. According to new information as reported by the New York Post, the woman had been in contact the NYPD. She was reportedly r*ped between the two cars as she laid there unconscious. The incident is being investigated by NYPD’s Special Victims Unit however the woman is no longer participating in the investigation. The man fled the scene and has still not been caught. Collin Rugg Twitter (Video)