Free Republic

A one-time employee of the infamous Joe Exotic's Oklahoma zoo said that law enforcement is likely to file new charges against more people -- if investigators examine the web of those involved in animal cruelty crimes exposed by the Netflix series "Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness." "A 'monster' is a relative term. And Joe fits the bill," Kelci "Saff" Saffery, a former worker at the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park, told former prosecutor and Fox Nation host Nancy Grace. According to Saffrey, Exotic -- whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage -- was motivated above all else by greed and...

"Death and destruction are central to their whole operation," DEA chief Anne Milgram Milgram said Friday, calling the Chapitos and the global network they operate "a network that fuels violence and death on both sides of the border." El Chapo, the Sinaloa cartel's founder, is serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison in Colorado after being convicted in 2019 on charges including drug trafficking, money laundering and weapons-related offenses. In January, El Chapo sent an "SOS" message to Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, alleging that he has been subjected to "psychological torment" in prison.

Victor Cuevas' lawyer said the punishment phase for this murder conviction will begin on Wednesday.Victor Cuevas, the man who was at the center of the India the tiger investigation, was found guilty of murder Tuesday in connection to a 2017 shooting in Fort Bend County. Cuevas was found guilty in a deadly shooting that happened the evening of July 14, 2017 in front of a Buffalo Wild Wings in the 5600 block of W. Grand Parkway. Bond was set at $750,000 for that case, and Cuevas was arrested two weeks later at an airport when returning from Mexico. He bonded...

Six lions and three tigers at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C., are believed to have been infected with COVID-19 after returning “presumptive positive” tests this week. The zoo said in a Friday press release that a group of African lions, along with a Sumatran tiger and two Amur tigers, were positive for COVID-19 in initial tests based on fecal samples, with final results expected in the next few days. The zoo said that it conducted the tests after animal keepers last weekend “observed decreased appetites, coughing, sneezing and lethargy in several lions and tigers.”

Scientists at Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies (LLU) have taken to studying the progression of the coronavirus in cats, after it was discovered that not a single cat in the country has tested positive despite several possessing antibodies, Latvian Television, the state broadcaster, reported last week. Cats are one of the most popular pets for humans, and often live closely with them. This is especially true in Latvia, which has Europe's second highest percentage of cats ownership per household per capita. At the start of the pandemic, many worried that the virus could potentially affect their favorite feline...

MLB is giving players the option of wearing BLM patches on their jerseys? Knock yourselves out as I won't be watching....ever again

Roy Uwe Ludwig Horn, whose collaboration with Siegfried Fischbacher created the well-known animal training and magic duo Siegfried & Roy, died of complications from COVID-19 Friday in Las Vegas. He was 75. Horn had revealed on April 28 that he had tested positive for coronavirus. “Today, the world has lost one of the greats of magic, but I have lost my best friend,” Siegfried said in a statement, “From the moment we met, I knew Roy and I, together, would change the world. There could be no Siegfried without Roy, and no Roy without Siegfried. “Roy was a fighter his...

Al Kaline, the legendary Detroit Tigers outfielder who played for more than two decades, has died at the age of 85.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—As if Americans haven’t had enough bad news, there are now reports of a huge disaster in the making. Apparently President Donald Trump has started watching the documentary Tiger King on Netflix and has purchased seventeen tigers, which are currently roaming the White House. “This is worse than when he watched that Michael Bay Ninja Turtles movie and ordered nunchucks from Amazon,” said one White House staffer who wished to remain anonymous. The tigers are now all over the White House, destroying priceless furniture and art. Even the Secret Service is too intimidated to confront them. Trump, though, seems...

The LSU Tigers defeated the Clemson Tigers in the College Football Playoff Championship game on Monday night and they have claimed their fourth national title in school history. And while the team and the school have been celebrating all week, they will take their partying from Baton Rouge, La. to Washington D.C. On Wednesday, it was confirmed by Newsweek that President Donald Trump will have the LSU Tigers as his guest at the White House on Friday as he honors the team for their championship win. One of the biggest questions for the ceremony is what will Trump feed the...

Beset by injuries and tragedy, Ausmus' team struggled for nearly every month of the summer, except for a burst of inspired play through its grief over the midseason death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs in a hotel room in Texas. Only five major league regulars made it through the entire season without going on the injured list. "I want to thank Brad for his hard work and dedication to this organization over the last two seasons as both a special assistant and a manager," Eppler said in a statement. "He navigated this franchise through one of its most difficult seasons with...

TORONTO -- Justin Verlander took the mound for the ninth inning, fully aware of the no-hitters he had finished -- and his near misses, too. Zeroed in, he wouldn't be denied this time. Verlander pitched his third career no-hitter, punctuating a dominant season by striking out 14 to lead the Houston Astros past the Toronto Blue Jays 2-0 on Sunday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzbJn2UAoIs He was Major League Baseball's first superstar. The first man ever inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. And he still has the game's highest career batting average – .366 – almost 90 years after he retired. His name is Ty Cobb. Yet, despite his historic achievements, he is often remembered for being the worst racist and the dirtiest player ever to take the field. If you know baseball, you've heard the stories: Ty Cobb would pistol-whip black men he passed on the street. He once stabbed to death a black waiter in Cleveland just because the young man...

Ty Cobb was one of the greatest baseball players of all time and king of the so-called Deadball Era. He played in the major leagues—mostly for the Detroit Tigers but a bit for the Philadelphia Athletics—from 1905 to 1928, and was the first player ever voted into the Hall of Fame. His lifetime batting average of .366 is amazing, and has never been equaled. But for all that, most Americans think of him first as an awful person—a racist and a low-down cheat who thought nothing of injuring his fellow players just to gain another base or score a run....

Once upon a time in America, baseball was not only the National Pastime but also the national obsession, an idyl of summer. Every town and city had a team. Abbott and Costello made their bones with their classic routine "Who's on First?" Baseball was the great equalizer on sandlot and ballpark. Everybody knew the words to "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," and everybody shared in the enthusiasm for the home team. Baseball was the great equalizer for Jews in the common excitement of the sports culture, as it eventually would be for blacks and Hispanics. But Detroit fans...

...The reasons why big cats turn on humans are complex and can be specific to individuals. But they can no longer be explained outside the context of climate change. Biodiversity depletion, habitat loss, extreme weather events, and a greater struggle over natural resources are affecting how animals live...

London Zoo say Melati was mauled to death by the male on their first encounter Asim, the male, had been kept in an adjoining enclosure prior to their meeting The younger male killed Melati in an interaction which 'quickly escalated' London Zoo's beloved female tiger Melati has been brutally mauled to death by her potential new mate while the two beasts were being introduced. The zoo says 10-year-old Melati died Friday during her first encounter with Asim, a seven-year-old male who was shipped in from Denmark last month. The two tigers had been kept in adjoining enclosures for 10 days...

My wife is a big Tigers fan so I watch a lot of Tigers games. As such, I’m quite familiar with the Fox Sports Detroit broadcast crew of play-by-play man Mario Impemba and color commentator Rod Allen. They’ve been together for years. I think Impemba is one of the better play-by-play guys around and, while not everyone’s cup of tea, Allen — who is, frankly, kinda weird sometimes — sort of grows on you over time. Tigers fans have even developed a drinking game for when he’s on the air that is fun, albeit dangerous for your liver. My favorite...

Fired Detroit Tigers pitching coach Chris Bosio said Thursday he was given the boot for using the word “monkey” in a conversation overheard by an African-American staffer. Bosio, 54, was cut loose earlier this week for what the Tigers called “insensitive comments.” According to WXYZ-TV, Bosio directed “racially charged language” at a team employee. But Bosio told USA Today he wasn't talking about the employee or using the word in a racial or disparaging manner. He said he was using it to describe pitcher Daniel Stumpf, a white player who's pitched for the Tigers since 2017.

The Detroit Tigers have just issued a press release saying that they have fired pitching coach Chris Bosio, citing “insensitive comments that violated Club policy and his Uniform Employee Contract.” The comments are not specified, but I’m sure we’ll be hearing more about them later. Jason Beck reports that the comments were made to a team employee.