Free Republic

Experts are warning that the Republican Party's plans to overhaul Social Security should "terrify voters". Earlier this year, the Republican Study Committee (RSC) published its FY 2024 Budget Protecting America's Social Security. Policymakers in Washington are negotiating changes to the retirement benefit system in light of concerns that the Social Security system will become insolvent by 2023. According to analysis, Republicans are proposing cuts to Social Security and raising the Retirement Age. Alicia H. Munnell, the director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, is sounding the alarm that "rich" Americans will not be the only ones experiencing...

A Florida man is under arrest after police say he stole from a gas station and left his debit card with his name on it at the scene of the crime. Deputies with the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office responded to an alarm at a gas station early Sunday morning in Palm Coast, Florida, and found the front door of the business unlocked, Fox 35 Orlando reported. After searching the gas station, deputies found a debit card with the name Lantz Kurtz sitting on the counter near a register. Security camera footage showed a man entering the store from the back...

While debt ceiling talks have put Social Security payments in the news, one topic that's been put on the back burner is a deadline Congress faces to shore up the program. Social Security's trust funds for retirement and disability benefits are projected to be able to pay only 78% of promised benefits by 2034. To fix that, Congress could consider several major adjustments. Here's what they could mean..... In just 13 years the trust funds Social Security relies on to pay retirement and disability benefits will be depleted, according to the most recent Social Security trustees' report. While benefit checks...

What do black soldier fly grubs taste like? Stilton and cheese biscuits. At least that’s how British start-up Yora Pet Foods describes its dog food made from the bugs. Established in 2019, Yora introduced the first insect protein pet food sold in the U.K. Targeting environmentally conscious pet owners, it expects to have shipped over 200 tons of product to more than 200 countries and generate sales over $2.8 million. Its business is part of a movement in which manufacturers in North America, Europe and beyond are trying to make pet food more sustainable and environmentally friendly by using proteins...

Pet owners and veterinarians are being warned about recalled Sportmix pet food products now linked to the deaths of more than 70 dogs and the illnesses of 80 others. Midwestern Pet Food is expanding its recall of dog and cat food sold online by retailers nationwide as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigates potentially fatal levels of aflatoxins. The recalled products include "05" in the date/lot code, which identifies them as having been made in the Oklahoma plant. More than 1,000 lot codes are affected. The company in December recalled only certain lots of its Sportmix product after the...

At least 15 roaming horses were fatally shot at a Kentucky strip mine site, authorities said, describing it as a "battlefield for just horses." The horses were found along U.S. 23 near the Floyd-Pike County line, WYMT-TV reported Tuesday. Some were as young as a year and others were pregnant, authorities said. “This is very inhumane and it's a very cruel act of somebody who just apparently had nothing else to do or whatever just to go back on a strip job and shoot down horses who were, one of them obviously was feeding, had grass in its mouth,” Floyd...

Kraft Heinz has recalled around 7,000 cases of cheese dip that could potentially lead to botulism. Taco Bell Salsa Con Queso Mild Cheese Dip has shown signs that it could allow for the growth of the bacteria that causes botulism. The potentially fatal form of food poisoning, can cause weakness, dizziness, double vision, and trouble speaking or swallowing. The recall affects 15 oz. jars with “best when used by” dates ranging from October 31, 2018 to January 23, 2019. Consumers who purchased the product should return them to the store for an exchange or refund. No illnesses have been reported.

NATIONWIDE — The FDA says it’s launching an investigation after a euthanasia drug was found in cans of dog food. Washington, D.C. TV station WJLA partnered with the lab Ellipse Analytics to test multiple brands of wet dog food for the drug used to assist death in vet clinics, pentobarbital. In total, they tested 62 samples of more than two-dozen brands. One brand, Gravy Train, repeatedly came back positive for pentobarbital, according to the station. Out of the 15 cans tested, nine tested positive — or 60 percent. Gravy Train, made by Big Heart Pet Foods, is owned by Smucker’s....

As everyone here knows, I hit the road last month with my dogs Kyrie and Rawley, to spend the summer in Michigan. Our 2,400-mile trip wasn’t without its challenges, many of them due to the fact that Kyrie, at 12 years old, is not handling stress the way she used to. In my column today for SFGate.com, I talk about the lessons I learned from our trip, and what dog-owners can do to make travel easier on senior pets: 1. Listen to your dogThe biggest mistake I made was thinking I could set a schedule to exercise, feed, walk and...

In 1997, a forensic examiner in Berlin reported one of his more unusual cases in the journal Forensic Science International. A 31-year-old man had retired for the evening to the converted garden shed behind his mother’s house, where he lived with his German shepherd. Around 8:15 p.m., neighbors heard a gunshot from the direction of the shed. snip The German shepherd was calm and responded to police commands. On the way to an animal sanctuary, the dog vomited some of its owner’s tissue, including skin with still-recognizable beard hair.

Australian tourists are unwittingly eating dog meat in Bali, according to evidence provided to the ABC's 7.30 program. The animals are brutally caught and then butchered not far from the beaches visited by more than 1 million Australians every year. Some of the animals are poisoned, posing a risk to human health, according to a leading toxicologist. Whilst eating dog meat is not illegal in Bali, killing animals cruelly or eating meat contaminated with poison is against the law, Animals Australia's campaign director Lyn White said. "The dog-meat trade breaches animal cruelty laws and food safety laws. That is a...

According to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration statement released Friday, Evanger’s, a family-owned and -operated cat and dog food business, decided to voluntarily recall five lots of the product – all of the Hunk of Beef products that were manufactured that same week. The products were distributed to retail locations and sold online in these states: Washington, California, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Hunk of Beef is Evanger’s best-selling food. Pets nationwide consume more than one million cans of the product each year, the company said in a...

La Vista Police spotted a semi with an empty trailer in an industrial area on Monday. It had been stolen from a Bellevue trucking firm lot. Investigators have determined about 36,000 pounds of Blue Buffalo dog food worth about $120,000 had been stolen from the trailer.

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia -- A former Russian Interior Ministry officer who was sent to prison after claiming that soldiers were fed dog food has been released. He had served more than four years. Major Igor Matveyev made headlines in May 2011 after he claimed that soldiers in Russia's Far East were given to eat dog food to save money.

As it often happens, a competition between companies had benefitted the consumer. Purina was bent on catching Blue Buffalo in an advertising lie – they claimed they never used poultry by-product meal in their foods. However, Purina did some testing of Blue Buffalo product and found that was not the case and sued them for False Advertising. Just last week, a year after the case was filed, Blue Buffalo admitted to using by product meal in “a ‘substantial’ and ‘material’ portion of their pet food.” (www.petfoodhonesty.com) Blue Buffalo asked the Court for additional time to file an Amended Complaint in...

More than 1,000 dog deaths may now be linked to toxic jerky treats according to the Food and Drug Administration. And the agency says since 2007, there have been almost 5,000 complaints of pet illnesses related to the treats.

Pet jerky treats, mostly imported from China, are being linked to more than 1,000 deaths in dogs, more than 4,800 complaints about animal illness, and, for the first time, sickness in three people who ate the products, federal health officials said Friday, according to nbcnews.com. But Food and Drug Administration officials say they still can't identify a specific cause for the reported illnesses or deaths, despite seven years of tests and investigation.

SOME of us may have tried it out of curiosity, others by accident after a few beers. And then there are those of us who have eaten dog food because our siblings may have forced us to. But food blogger Colin McQuistan had none of those excuses and simply decided to try the animal food just for the heck of it. And while pet food clearly warns on the label that it should not be eaten by humans, Mr McQuistan was determined to try it. The good news is he lived to tell the, er, tail. The Scotsman, who is...

THE execution of Jang Song Thaek, the No. 2 man in North Korea, took Beijing by surprise and will adversely affect bilateral relations.Beijing's displeasure is expressed through the publication of a detailed account of Jang's brutal execution in Wen Wei Po, its official mouthpiece, in Hong Kong, on Dec 12.According to the report, unlike previous executions of political prisoners which were carried out by firing squads with machine guns, Jang was stripped naked and thrown into a cage, along with his five closest aides. Then 120 hounds, starved for three days, were allowed to prey on them until they were...

Federal health officials are warning pet owners to be cautious about feeding their dogs jerky treats as they continue to investigate a treat-related illnesses that has left nearly 600 dogs dead and sickened more than 3,000 others. The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday issued an alert to consumers about the illnesses and deaths tied to jerky treats from China. Officials say the exact cause of the illnesses remains unknown. "This is one of the most elusive and mysterious outbreaks we've encountered," Bernadette Dunham, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine, said in a statement. "Our beloved four-legged companions...