Free Republic

Egg prices reached another record high last month. It now costs American shoppers an average of $6.23 for a dozen eggs — nearly a five-fold increase since 2020.Yet while families have been squeezed by grocery sticker shock, agriculture corporations have been raking in record profits. Cal-Maine, the country’s largest egg producer, took in $509 million this quarter alone, tripling its profits from a year ago.Gouging consumers is bad enough. But it gets worse: Cal-Maine and other ag companies were breaking the bank at the same time they were also quietly getting millions in taxpayer-funded relief payments from the federal government....

Russia's president signs decree late Tuesday, amid visit to city earlier that day Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree renaming the international airport situated in the city of Volgograd to its historical name of Stalingrad. “In order to perpetuate the Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, I decree to assign Volgograd International Airport with the historical name ‘Stalingrad’,” said the decree published by the Kremlin late Tuesday. The renaming of the airport comes as Putin conducted a visit to the city earlier that day, which also included talks with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander...

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) is continuing his anti-Trump crusade, stoking 2024 election denial during an appearance on a far-left podcast. “The enemies allegedly stole U.S. data. The leak came through Elon Musk Starlink,” the host said, asking Swalwell to talk about election integrity in the upcoming elections in 2026 and 2028, given that — she says — people are concerned about the security of the 2024 presidential election. Immediately, Swalwell played into the fears, rattling on about Elon Musk and suggesting there was malfeasance on his part in the 2024 elections. “Elon Musk has done nothing in the last five...

“I will use my presidential authority to set import quotas. . . . We can manage the short-term shortages more effectively and we will, but there are no short-term solutions to our long-range problems. There is simply no way to avoid sacrifice.” — Jimmy Carter, the “malaise speech,” July 1979 “You don’t necessarily need a choice of 23 underarm spray deodorants or of 18 different pairs of sneakers when children are hungry in this country.” — Bernie Sanders, May 2015 “Access to cheap goods is not the essence of the American Dream.” — Scott Bessent, March 2025. “[China] made a...

Owen McIntire, 19, is facing federal charges for allegedly tossing two Molotov cocktails into a Missouri Tesla dealership last month, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages to two Cybertrucks and two charging stations, according to the feds. The University of Massachusetts physics student was granted release by US Magistrate Judge Jessica Hedges due to “serious and ongoing” medical needs — which include gender-affirming medical care that requires daily medication as well as mental health support, according to KMBC. McIntire is also on the autism spectrum and was diagnosed with both ADHD and depression, all of which require medications...

cis’ funeral in Rome, President Donald Trump revealed Tuesday evening what he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed during their viral meeting at the Vatican when both were in attendance for the late Pope Francis' funeral. "I was telling him that it's a very good thing if we can produce a deal, that you sign it, because Russia is much bigger and much stronger," Trump said Tuesday evening during a town hall hosted by NewsNation, which he participated in by phone. The pair met face-to-face for the first time since their contentious Oval Office meeting in February, while both attended...

Stephen Miller unleashes on the media's hypocrisy: "It is a sad reflection on the state of our media and many of the outlets represented in this room that you obsessively try to shill for this MS-13 terrorist... Each and every one of you that sides over and over again with these MS-13 terrorists, to the extent you have the financial means to do so, you all choose to live in condos or homes or houses as far away from these gangbangers as you possibly can." ... The ‘Compassion First’ strategy: extend empathy to violent offenders, forget their victims. Soft-on-crime, hard-on-common-sense.

MADISON, Wis. -- A Florida man who was found to have communicated with the Abundant Life Christian School shooter was arrested for allegedly planning a mass shooting at a law enforcement facility. According to the arrest affidavit Damien Blade Allen and the 15-year-old girl who police say opened fire at Abundant Life Christian School in December, killing two and injuring six, exchanged messages for months over TikTok. A joint investigation between FBI and US revealed Damien Blade Allen allegedly conspired with other individuals online to commit mass violence. Allen was also arrested for impersonating a law enforcement officer. He allegedly...

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — Yemen’s Houthi rebels announced late Wednesday that they had launched a drone attack targeting the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and accompanying warships in the Arabian Sea, in what they describe as part of a broader escalation against American and Israeli military assets in the region. Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a statement that the operation involved multiple drones aimed at the USS Vinson and associated naval forces. This comes just 24 hours after a separate drone attack that allegedly forced the USS Harry S. Truman to retreat to the far northern Red Sea...

National security adviser Mike Waltz and his deputy, Alex Wong, will be leaving their posts in the Trump White House, according to multiple sources familiar with their departure. They are expected to leave Thursday, sources say. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Journalist Mark Halperin first reported the departures. In March, Waltz came under scrutiny after he put together a Signal chat and mistakenly included The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, disclosing discussions with top national security officials about plans for a military strike on Houthi targets in Yemen. Goldberg published his account, and he initially...

The Illinois Board of Higher Education suspended its state-wide diversity, equity and inclusion scholarship program this month after the Justice Department threatened to sue. Attorney General Pam Bondi said she is “committed to rooting DEI out of American institutions, including in the education system.” She should turn to the University of California system. The UC Board of Regents oversees two main diversity programs: the President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, or PPFP, and the Advancing Faculty Diversity Program, or AFD. PPFP was founded in 1984 to recruit “women and minority Ph.D. recipients” to the UC faculty, and its 2024 cohort includes no...

Tens of thousands of New York City residents have fled the Northeast for warmer climes in a five-year period — taking nearly $14 billion worth of income out of the Empire State. A new report by the nonpartisan Citizens Budget Commission found around 30,000 Big Apple dwellers moved to Florida between 2017 and 2022, many of them ending up in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties. The report chalked up the mass migration to factors including lingering effects of the pandemic, as well as general affordability, quality-of-life concerns and safety. The city has seen a reduction in its adjusted gross income...

A department store has sacked its CEO after an investigation into alleged conflicts of interest. Kohl's announced that Ashley Buchanan, who has been CEO for six months, was relieved of his duties after the company claims it found evidence he favored certain vendors. The department chain said Buchanan didn't disclose this relationship in accordance with its company policies. Buchanon's release comes after an independent firm concluded the ex-CEO 'violated company policies by directing the company to engage in vendor transactions.' The company said the sacking is not attributed to the company's performance, though, the brand is facing some serious headwinds....

On Wednesday’s “PBS NewsHour,” Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) said that her disagreement with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) over his rhetoric about oligarchy was just over the word and “It’s not that I disagree on the concepts or on the principles, and he’s right.” She also stated that the debate in the Democratic Party isn’t “about moderate versus progressive and whatever all of that means.” Co-host Geoff Bennett played a clip of Sanders saying, “I think the American people are not quite as dumb as Ms. Slotkin thinks they are. I think they understand very well, when the top 1% owns...

Department of Education newsletter claiming Israel is committing “genocide in Gaza” was sent out to hundreds of teachers — prompting fuming Jewish educators to call it out as another example of ingrained antisemitism in the city’s public school system. The 14-page “Teacher Career Pathways” spring 2025 newsletter — which sports the logos of the city DOE and the United Federation of Teachers union — went out over the last week to “master teachers” across the system’s 1,800 schools. “The genocide in Gaza, among other global injustices, emphasized the urgent need for student voices to be centered and heard,” it said....

Seattle’s May Day celebrations are set to begin Thursday with a rally at Cal Anderson Park at noon, focusing on workers’ and immigrants’ rights. King County resident Hilda Ortiz plans to attend the event, which she says has taken on new and serious significance. “Everybody’s afraid, I mean, even people that have legal status,” Ortiz said. Ortiz noted that some individuals, fearing immigration crackdowns under the Trump administration, are too afraid to attend the rally and march. She asked them to create posters that can be displayed at the event. “That way they are represented in some way, and they...

She’s cracking. Gov. Kathy Hochul sounded off Wednesday about the “outrageous” price of eggs — jokingly telling New Yorkers to make chocolate cake with applesauce instead. The unprompted recipe suggestion came as Hochul, during a news conference in Midtown, slammed President Trump’s tariffs for driving up prices on everything from avocados to children’s toys. “And I’m done talking about the price of eggs — just give up eating them,” she said, drawing laughter. “It’s just outrageous, outrageous.” “You can make a really good chocolate cake with applesauce,” she added. “I digress, it’s also vegan.”

The text of the agreement, made public by Ukraine’s government, made no mention of the security guarantees that Kyiv had long sought. The minerals deal signed between the United States and Ukraine on Wednesday could bring untold money into a joint investment fund between the two countries that would help rebuild Ukraine whenever the war with Russia ends. But Ukraine’s untapped resources that are the subject of the deal will take years to extract and yield profits. And those could fail to deliver the kind of wealth that President Trump has long said they would. It is not yet clear...

Blackouts are becoming longer and more common in Xcel’s Colorado service territory, with 90,000 customers experiencing 6 or more outages in 2024.. Xcel Energy, Colorado’s largest electricity provider, is having increasing difficulty answering customer calls, sending out bills and keeping the lights on, according to two reports by state utility regulators. Blackouts more than doubled in 2024 and customer complaints have jumped 100% in three years, according to a Colorado Public Utilities Commission briefing Wednesday on outages. Outages have become more prevalent across Xcel Energy’s service territory which includes zones from the northeast, near Sterling, to Greeley, the Denver metro...

Failed Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris looks around America today and sees a whirlwind of change driven by Donald Trump’s triumphant return to the White House. She told supporters Wednesday night she doesn’t like it. No, not one bit. In a 15-minute speech to an elite audience of Democrats in a gold-trimmed ballroom at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, the former vice-president was making her first major speech since losing November’s election. The crowd included Democratic donors, candidates and elected officials. Among them were Eleni Kounalakis, the lieutenant governor of California and former California Congresswoman Katie Porter, both of...