Free Republic

Foodies go to great lengths to get their lips on the world’s finest ham. But if you wouldn’t transport prize boar sperm from Portugal, invest $200,000 to import your own pigs, raise litters free range on organic grains and imported acorns, and dry age their hind legs by hand for years—well, then you’re not as obsessed as Rodrigo Duarte, owner and butcher at Caseiro e Bom. The son of pig farmers in Portugal, Duarte grew up raising and butchering hogs, but didn’t have the opportunity to open his own place until he emigrated to Newark, New Jersey’s Portuguese enclave, the...

China is forging ahead with the construction of its third aircraft carrier in under a decade, highlighting the scale of Beijing’s maritime ambitions. A series of satellite images from the Jiangnan shipyard, recently published by a China-focused think tank, shed light on the ongoing construction of China’s Type 002 carrier. The images reveal a typical military vessel construction site, replete with a floodable basin and multiple sluice gates. While the haziness of the photos makes it difficult to discern the carrier’s dimensions, the hull appears to measure forty meters in width by forty-eight meters in length. If prior reports are...