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The California state seal declares “Eureka,” originally a Greek word that means “I found it,” and with good reason. After James Marshall discovered gold in the territory in 1848, the rush was on. By 1852, two years after California gained statehood, the population skyrocketed from 14,000 to 250,000. But times have changed, and people are now leaving. California is the second most expensive state to live in and has the second worst overall tax burden, according to the Tax Foundation. As if that is not enough, California lawmakers want the district schools to focus on progressive grandstanding instead of serving...

I've opted out of using Google as my search engine for political reasons. I'm using the Chrome brower and I switched to Bing. If you're using Chrome, it's easy to switch from Google to another search engine. In the top right corner of your screen you'll see 3 vertical dots. Click the dots and then click "settings". Scroll down to "Search Engine" and then "Search Engine Used in Address Bar". Towards the right there will be a menu of search engines (Google, Bing etc.) and select the one you prefer. I chose Bing. Exit out of "Settings". The one you...

Today's Quotefall Puzzle features a quote by Andrew Klavan. Click puzzle (or click here) for full size rendition, then use your browser's print command to print puzzle. Andrew Klavan is a conservative podcaster, featured on the Daily Wire. All hints, along with the answer, are provided in the first reply comment below, using filtered font to prevent accidental spoilers. Please refrain from disclosing the full answer in comments to prevent spoilers.To solve the puzzle: Enter the letters in the top half (letter columns) of the puzzle into the white squares on the bottom half (answer grid) belowEach letter must stay in its...

There's something about college football towns. From massive city campuses to small-town places that are synonymous with their respective teams, a college town's environment, landscape, food and drink offerings, culture and music scenes are all important factors in creating the ultimate destination. In celebration of college football's 150th anniversary, we've rounded up the 10 best college towns across the U.S.

Amid a downturn in the cryptocurrency markets, the apparent swathe of Bitcoin sell-offs from a $3 billion Chinese Ponzi scheme could be to blame. On Aug. 14, Dovey Wan — founding partner of blockchain-based investment company Primitive Ventures — called attention to the ongoing mass sell-offs from the fraudulent Chinese investment scheme, dubbed PlusToken. 10 million investors scammed of $3 billion As Wan outlines, PlusToken was created in mid-2018 and promised high yield investment returns at different rebate percentages to its four tiers of member — a classic Ponzi scheme structure. By early 2019, the project claimed to have over...

Former ESPN personality Jemele Hill accused New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft of using “white privilege” and trafficking in the “cultural capital of black entertainers,” while criticizing the longtime owner’s role in brokering a social justice compact between the NFL and rap mogul Jay-Z. Hill, who currently writes for the Atlantic, captioned a tweet from Colin Kaepernick’s girlfriend Nessa Diab in which Diab expressed dismay over a Pro Football Talk story which revealed that Kraft had begun brokering the deal between Jay-Z and the NFL in early 2018. A time period where Kaepernick, the league’s original anthem protester, was unemployed...

Posted on August 14, 2019August 14, 2019 by Msgr. Charles Pope The Biblical Roots of the Assumption of Mary While the actual event of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven is not recorded in the Scriptures, there is a biblical basis for the teaching that, considered as a whole, confirms Catholic teaching as both fitting and in keeping with biblical principles. Let’s ponder this feast in stages:The Assumption Explained – To be “assumed” means to be taken up by God bodily into Heaven. As far back as the Church can remember we have celebrated the fact that Mary was...

The feared Chicago Outfit hitman Gerald Scarpelli and the multimillionaire sex predator and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein had little in common.Except for the fact that both men reportedly committed suicide in the federal lockup, Scarpelli years ago, in 1989 in Chicago, and Epstein just the other day in New York. And in both cases, there were power players on the outside, worrying about what they'd say.Today, just as then, the conspiracy theories run wild. Sex, power, politics, and intrigue. And Epstein kills himself after his lawyers had him taken off suicide watch? How perfectly convenient.Who believes in coincidences?Scarpelli wasn't some weak...

With so many rats running for president in 2020 it's hard to keep up with who's in and who's out. Hopefully, this post will help. Below is a list of declared candidates, their occupation, the date they dropped from the race (if they did) and misc. notes.This is the first post of this list. It will be reposted each time a candidate drops out or a new candidate declares. As you can see, Mike Gravel is already gone.Please let me know via FReepmail if you find errors. Thanks! upchuck Nbr Name Occupation Dropped Notes 1. Michael Bennet CO senator 2....

<p>COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina sheriff’s department says it caught one of its own deputies last week in a child sex sting that netted over a dozen other people.</p> <p>The State reports Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott announced the arrest of Deputy Derek Vandenham on Tuesday. Twelve other law enforcement agencies assisted in “Operation Relentless Guardian,” during which deputies pretended to be 13- to 15-year-old girls and chatted with men online.</p>

CNN: Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said acting Director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services Ken Cuccinelli suggesting that only immigrants who can "stand on their own two feet" are welcome in the United States is "completely un-American." "I've been a refugee twice, once from the Nazis and we were in England, and then we came to the United States when the communists took over in Czechoslovakia. And I think that it is one of the most un-American things I've ever heard," Albright told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Wednesday night on 'Anderson Cooper 360.' "I think the Statue...

Douglas Marshall Saxon (4 Jul 1950 – 13 Aug 2019) was born in Jamaica, NY to Marshall Saxon and Jacklyn Smith. He grew up mostly in and around Florida, living in Miami, Coral Gables and Hialeah. At 19 he volunteered for the U.S. Army and served in Vietnam (’68-’69) with the 1st Armored Cavalry Division, where he was a medic and tank driver. After his stint in the Army he traveled around the U.S., eventually ending up in Los Angeles, CA where he met and married the love of his life and had one daughter. Throughout his life his interests...

When Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting an underage girl for prostitution in 2008 and served a 13-month sentence under the cushiest of conditions, it was his bodyguard and driver, former UFC fighter Igor Zinoviev, who frequently picked him up at the Palm Beach jail and shuttled him between the office and various appointments. Zinoviev also trained Epstein in a regimen that included weight-lifting and some light fighting drills. And whenever Epstein jetted around to his various estates, Zinoviev accompanied him, riding along on the pretend billionaire’s Lolita Express. The mysterious Russian MMA fighter drew some attention from the media...

When I was a child, my father -- former House Speaker Newt Gingrich -- was an environmental studies professor at West Georgia College in Carrollton. In 1971, our family spent the second Earth Day picking up trash from the side of the road. We often hiked, canoed and camped in the Okefenokee Swamp. One of my earliest memories is of the "Keep America Beautiful" commercial, produced in 1970 for the first Earth Day. It portrayed what appeared to be an American Indian crying over the pollution that littered our country. Later, we found out the actor was neither an Indian...

Today’s Cryptogram LY FTN ANVHO EOTEQO, FTN DGUO XT WLCO WT QTUO WDOC. ---CTWDOP WOPOBG You can find this little fun word game, to combat early dementia and senility in us baby boomers, in several daily publications. The way it works is a letter stands for another letter. For example: AXYDLBAAXR is LONGFELLOW (does not apply to today's cryptogram). Beware, the game is very addictive. If this is your first time, don't be intimidated. PLEASE DO NOT post the answer in general comments, but DO post your time and any tips you might give the group on how you solve...

It has been an open secret for several decades that the writing is on the wall for most historically black colleges and universities. Since 1989, eight HBCUs have closed because of lost accreditation or bankruptcy. The reasons are myriad, but principally because HBCUs no longer command a monopoly on attendees created by de jure segregation. For the past half-century, HBCUs have had to compete for students among mainstream public and private institutions, as well as for-profit educational institutions. But the changing market dynamics do not tell the entire story, especially because some HBCUs such as Howard University, Morehouse College, and...

Prayers up for continuing progress and success. FR is funded solely by contributions made by the liberty loving patriots who love and use it. We are beholden to no political party. No advertisers, no outsiders, no sugar daddies, no corporate string pullers. Definitely no government subsidies or tax breaks. No 501c or other IRS non-profit status. This means no commercial ads. No annoying pop-ups. No ad tracking. No mail campaigns. No spam. No third-parties -- not even the IRS -- trying to control what we do or say. We are self-funded, fiercely independent and enjoy our freedom to speak plainly...

Many of us choose to turn off the read receipts on our mobile phones to give us a better excuse for not immediately replying to messages. After all, there's nothing worse than seeing that familiar blue double-tick on WhatsApp, or the iMessage timestamp pop up to indicate the person has received and read our text and actively chosen not to respond. This is especially true when it comes to dating - but for one man from New York, being ghosted on this occasion would probably have been the preferable option. Eric Dimitratos, 33, who works in digital marketing, shared a...

In the 1990s, only 40 percent of students who entered a four-year state college graduated within the next six years. In the 2000s, that six-year graduation rate increased—to 50 percent. But during that timeframe more poorly prepared students also entered college, so one would expect a drop in graduation rates, not the opposite.So why did the opposite happen? A new study from Brown University, reported recently in The Atlantic, examines that question and concludes the most likely reason is that colleges have lowered their standards even further.While student achievement over this timeframe decreased, as measured by math test scores,...

If the news is any indication, Democrats and the progressive left generally have virtually nothing left in their political arsenal except for claims that their opponents are "racists" and "white supremacists." This pointless strategy -- evidence of Democrats' desperation -- is doomed to failure, for at least two reasons. First, the word "racist" has become so overused and contorted that it no longer has any meaning. The term used to refer to someone who believed that his or her race was superior to others, and who behaved accordingly. But as the number of actual racists dwindled in the past few...