Free Republic

(NEXSTAR) – Gary Millerchip, the new CFO and executive vice president of Costco, shared a frank message with investors and analysts while hosting his very first Costco earnings call on Thursday afternoon. “To clear up some recent media speculation, I also want to confirm the $1.50 hot dog price is safe,” said Millerchip, shortly after welcoming attendees to the company’s Q3 earnings call. The price of Costco’s hot-dog-and-soda combo, at $1.50, has remained unchanged since the item was added to menus in the mid-1980s. But recent comments from Richard Galanti, Costco’s former CFO, left some consumers feeling uncertain about the...

Stormy Daniels has dramatically broken her silence on convicted ex-President Donald Trump, demanding: Jail him now. Speaking for the first time since White House hopeful Trump was found guilty, the former adult actress told us: “I think he should be sentenced to jail and some community service working for the less fortunate, or being the volunteer punching bag at a women's shelter.” Stormy told how she now feels vindicated - and warns the world ahead of Trump’s fresh bid for office: “He is completely and utterly out of touch with reality.” Ever since stepping down from the witness box in...

Republican lawmakers are facing an internal battle over defense spending as prominent Republicans including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and Sen. Roger Wicker (Miss.), the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, are pushing for big increases while conservatives are raising alarms over the debt. The battle within the GOP over how much to increase defense spending to deter threats from Russia, China and Iran will burst into public next month when the Senate is set to debate the annual National Defense Authorization Act. McConnell and Wicker are laying the groundwork for that debate by calling for major...

Labour has announced its plans to reduce net migration - with Sir Keir Starmer accusing the Conservatives of having "repeatedly broken their promises" to get the number down. It marks another attempt by the Labour Party to appeal to Conservative voters. Figures published after Rishi Sunak called the general election showed a net of 685,000 arrived in the UK last year - down from a record of 764,000 in 2022. The 2023 figure is still three times the number in 2019 when the last election took place. The Conservatives promised in their manifesto that year to get net migration down....

Ticketmaster owner Live Nation confirmed "unauthorised activity" on its database after a group of hackers said they had stolen the personal details of 560 million customers. ShinyHunters, the group claiming responsibility, says the stolen data includes names, addresses, phone numbers and partial credit card details from Ticketmaster users worldwide. The hacking group is reportedly demanding a $500,000 (£400,000) ransom payment to prevent the data from being sold to other parties.

NEW: Chris Cuomo gets booed on stage after old clip EXPOSES his shameful remarks on ivermectin. CHRIS CUOMO: “I don’t like what people did to Joe Rogan about Ivermectin. I don’t like it.” DAVE SMITH: “You did it!” CHRIS CUOMO: “Find the clips.” (Clip Plays)

This year the Bilderberg summit, now under way in Madrid, turned 70 years old. But the controversial and secretive gathering of the world’s elites shows no signs of slowing down. For decades the Bilderberg meeting, where the rich and the powerful gather behind closed doors to talk about what ails the world, has been the subject – understandably – of conspiracy theories. In recent years, Bilderberg has sought to remake itself and open up a little: more Davos than Illuminati. But it still raises hackles from many observers. Its beady eyes, twinkling with billionaires, are this year fixed firmly on...

North Korea is sending more balloons carrying rubbish across the heavily fortified southern border, South Korea's military has said. It comes just days after North Korea appeared to send at least 200 balloons carrying rubbish over the border in retaliation for propaganda leaflets sent from the south. South Korea's defence minister Shin Won-sik called it "unimaginably petty and low-grade behaviour" while the military added it is examining the contents of the bags floated over the border by the balloons. North Korea has yet to comment on the latest batch of balloons, but on Thursday, vice-defence minister Kim Kang Il warned...

The party once led by Nelson Mandela hit by worst election result since apartheid ended 30 years ago

@Swan President Biden VETOES the bill that would have allowed regulated financial institutions to custody Bitcoin and other crypto assets. -- Biden Vetoes Crypto Custody Bill President Joe Biden vetoed a bipartisan bill that aimed to allow highly regulated financial firms to hold Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The bill sought to repeal the SEC's SAB 121, which sets accounting standards for firms that custody crypto. Critics fear the veto may stifle innovation in the crypto industry, sparking debate among crypto enthusiasts and political commentators. Biden argued that the veto maintains the SEC's authority over accounting practices.

@Geiger_Capital The first felony conviction of a former US President wasn’t for the Iraq or Afghanistan wars, illegal CIA coups, drone striking weddings, or spying on Americans… It was because Trump misclassified a $130,000 payment for a porn star’s NDA. Tells you everything you need to know.

@nicksortor JUST IN: President Trump tells @Timcast he will give “very serious consideration” to pardoning Julian Assange SHOULD ASSANGE BE PARDONED?

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) is set to receive Yeshiva University’s highest honor for his service and global leadership, with the university proclaiming him as the “Hero of Israel.” Fetterman, a staunch supporter of Israel in its war against militant group Hamas, will be awarded the school’s “Presidential Medallion” during the institution’s 93rd annual commencement ceremony Wednesday, the school said in the news release. “Senator Fetterman is one of the true heroes of our time for his unwavering and courageous commitment to moral clarity, which has fortified our community and been a clarion call for our country,” Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman,...

Libertarian-minded Rep. Thomas Massie reminded Sen. Elizabeth Warren she voted for a foreign aid bill that sent arms to Israel as the Massachusetts Democrat called the IDF's offensive in Rafah 'horrific.' 'The Israeli bombing of a refugee camp inside a designated safe zone is horrific. Israel has a duty to protect innocent civilians and Palestinians seeking shelter in Rafah have nowhere safe to go,' Warren wrote on X. Massie, R-Ky., shot back: 'Ma'am, you voted to send those bombs to Israel.' Warren voted to pass a $95 billion foreign aid package that included $26 billion for Israel and Gaza. Some...

The 6th June marks a significant day in world history. Just after midnight on 6th June 1944, the Allied forces invaded northern France, beginning the largest amphibious military operation in world history. Known as Operation Overlord or D-Day, the invasion marked the Allied assault on Hitler’s ‘Fortress Europe’ and changed the course of WWII. --- There are a number of ways you can remember the beginning of the liberation of Western Europe. You can visit ‘Legacies of D-Day’ at the site of the British Normandy Memorial in France and the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. The exhibition will be open...

Children have picked ingredients used by suppliers to two major beauty companies, the BBC can reveal. A BBC investigation into last summer's perfume supply chains found jasmine used by Lancôme and Aerin Beauty's suppliers was picked by minors. All the luxury perfume brands claim to have zero tolerance on child labour. L'Oréal, Lancôme's owner, said it was committed to respecting human rights. Estée Lauder, Aerin Beauty's owner, said it had contacted its suppliers. The jasmine used in Lancôme Idôle L'Intense - and Ikat Jasmine and Limone Di Sicilia for Aerin Beauty - comes from Egypt, which produces about half the...

Nigel Farage is having a press conference to launch the Reform Party's UK general election campaign. Here are some quotes "I happen to think that invasion was appropriate." Nigel Farage defends his use of the word "invasion" to describe the influx of migrants coming to Britain. Journalist asks if Labor win the election will it immigration get worse? "How can get it worse?" "The French Navy needs to stop what they're doing (in terms of escorting boats)." "A large influx of young males coming from an entirely different culture… has had frankly disastrous social affects." "I cant find a district...

NEW: Rishi Sunak has posted his first TikTok video

In a cold dusty part of central China, a local Muslim leader stands alone in the courtyard of a small mosque. It feels eerily quiet. We both know we shouldn't stay too long. If the police realise foreign journalists are here, it will bring trouble for him - and for us. He is careful about what he says. Everyone here is. But there is a subtle reality at play that he wants to communicate. "The religion was living and now, it's like it's dying," he says. What he's describing is, in part, the impact of an express policy in Xi...

At dawn on Friday 12 April, Israeli teenager Benjamin Achimeir walked out from his settler outpost in the occupied West Bank, with a flock of sheep, and disappeared. Achimeir, 14, had been living and working on a tiny farm outpost near his family's settlement, Malachei HaShalom - one of nearly 150 Israeli settlements in the West Bank regarded as illegal under international law. The young teenager was murdered that morning out on the pasture, according to Israeli police, but it would be 24 hours before his body was found At 08:30 on Saturday, Elisha Yered, a former spokesman for MP...