Free Republic

MVFSF’Y BFLFS FBEQUV MKPF ME AE CII MVF BEMVKBU XEQ GCBM. —DKII GCMMFSYEB 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 these...

For the first time, a judge has denied a request to take away a man’s guns under Colorado’s new red flag law. A Limon woman claimed a man who she had a relationship with threatened her with a gun and filed the request. Since the law took effect, the red flag law has had many gun owners seeing red. At least four requests have been filed since the first of 2020; CBS4 is aware of them being filed in Denver, in Larimer County and this one — in Lincoln County. Many gun owners, like Jak Gruenberg, despise it. “Red flag...

The stakes were high when Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren met at Warren's apartment in Washington, DC, one evening in December 2018. The longtime friends knew that they could soon be running against each other for president. The two agreed that if they ultimately faced each other as presidential candidates, they should remain civil and avoid attacking one another, so as not to hurt the progressive movement. They also discussed how to best take on President Donald Trump, and Warren laid out two main reasons she believed she would be a strong candidate: She could make a robust argument about...

“Today my family had very constructive discussions on the future of my grandson and his family,” the reigning monarch shared in a statement. “My family and I are entirely supportive of Harry and Meghan’s desire to create a new life as a young family. Although we would have preferred them to remain full-time working Members of the Royal Family, we respect and understand their wish to live a more independent life as a family while remaining a valued part of my family. “Harry and Meghan have made clear that they do not want to be reliant on public funds in...

Pics at link. American troops are in the process of clearing debris and rubble from an area the size of a football stadium Monday at a military base in western Iraq that was hit by Iranian airstrikes. The attack on the Ain al-Asad base last Wednesday, where about 1,500 American and coalition forces are stationed, was carried out in retaliation for the killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guards Gen. Qassem Soleimani. An Associated Press crew touring the facility Monday saw damaged military trailers as well as forklifts lifting rubble and loading it onto trucks. “There were more than 10 large missiles...

A California couple was arrested after police say they left out bikes to lure thieves and then recorded themselves beating them with bats which they posted to YouTube, police say. -snip Police say videos of the assaults were posted on YouTube. In the videos, police say the suspects appeared to plant a bicycle in the front yard of their home, unattended, and wait for someone passing by to stop and attempt to steal it. When someone would try to make off with the bike, the suspects would rush from the house and assault the person with a baseball bat.

Border wall construction for a privately funded barrier is underway in Mission. Ground was broken Sunday after a legal fight partially ended. A McAllen federal judge cited with the defendants to allow construction to get started.

Same-sex marriage is legally recognized in Northern Ireland from today. Following a legal change last autumn, same-sex couples can now register to marry and the first ceremonies will take place next month. Those who are already married will have their marriage legally recognized in Northern Ireland. Heterosexual couples will also be able to enter into civil partnerships from today. But same sex couples in a civil partnership will not yet be able to convert it to a marriage in the province — the Northern Ireland Office is set to begin a consultation on the matter later this year. The status...

President Donald Trump is hoping to win reelection on the economy, but the stats that he likes to tweet about — such as the value of the stock market and the unemployment rate — do not tell the real story. The truth is: The economy is badly broken for the vast majority of Americans across the vast majority of the country. About half of Americans don’t own stocks, and the share of national income going to workers — rather than investors — is actually near an all-time low. Meanwhile, almost half of all American workers earn an average of $10.22...

Masochist (Iran): Bomb Us Please, Make it Hurt! (...long pause) Sadist: NOoooooooo! mwaahaahaa.

Those racist Democrat voters just eliminated another protected minority candidate. – A year ago today, the conventional wisdom among the D.C./New York City pundit class held that the Democrat 2020 presidential nomination would most likely end up being won by one of Kamala Harris, Irish Bob O’Rourke or Cory Booker. As of today, all three formerly leading candidates are out of the race with the exit Monday morning that Booker is done. Yeah, the Senator from New Jersey only officially announced he was “suspending” his campaign, but c’mon, we all know he’s done, and so does he. And thus, those...

About 1 mile of a planned 3-mile section of new border wall has already gone up near the town of Fronton in western Starr County, Texas. This is only the second government project in South Texas that has metal bollards already erected, and this site is significantly further along than the one south of Donna in Hidalgo County. (Construction of a privately funded border wall on private property next to the Rio Grande also is underway south of Mission, Texas.) Both government projects were started two months ago, but U.S. Border Patrol agents said that unlike the Donna project, this...

In war, you know you’re winning when your enemy is Iretreating. In politics, you know you’re winning when your enemy’s talking points are limp, convoluted, and nitpicking. Leading Democrats, and even Republicans who thought President Trump was too swashbuckling in his slaying of Iran’s Quds Force commander Maj. Gen. Qassam Soleimani a week and a half ago, are grasping as straws in their complaints now that it’s clear the killing of the terrorist mastermind has tamed rather than unleashed Tehran’s Islamofascist regime. The Trump Administration officials who briefed the Gang of Eight in Congress on Soleimani’s planned attacks of Americans...

Don Jr. [has] ... already teased about running for governor of New York or mayor of New York City, but a better bet will be a quickie relocation to Montana or some other state, at least nominally, before he launches his political career. Junior has spent a lot of time on the campaign trail and has learned the ropes. Expect to see him at the center of the Trump efforts in 2020 and as a constant presence on social media. . . . . Yes, the Imperial Trumps are here to stay. Get ready for four years of the right-wing...

The rising tide of local governments in Virginia declaring themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries "is entirely unlawful" because "state law prohibits local governments from enacting ordinances or resolutions that are inconsistent with state laws," according to a Washington Post editorial authored by Mary McCord. "Allowing local governments to act in defiance of state laws imposing gun control will lead to anarchy," she wrote. "Permitting disobedience in this matter would be a dereliction of government's duty to see that its laws are faithfully enforced." McCord sought to differentiate illegal Second Amendment sanctuaries from illegal immigrant sanctuaries that have been declared by local...

Philippine authorities have urged a "total evacuation" of nearly half a million people near the capital Manila, after a volcano spewed ash up to nine miles (14 kilometers) into the air Sunday prompting warnings of a possible "explosive eruption." The Taal Volcano, about 37 miles (60 kilometers) south of the capital Manila on the island of Luzon, is one of the country's most active. Images from the scene on Monday showed streams of lava beginning to gush out the volcanic vent, the sky above still thick and dark with ash and steam. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS)...

This tweet by @realDonaldTrump with more than 100k likes is already the most liked Persian tweet in the history of Twitter. A strong show of support by Iranians for Trump's Iran policy, something the MSM does not and will not report. Tweet at

A teen was rushed to the hospital Saturday night after being shot in the chest by another teen, authorities confirm. The gunfire erupted around 9:10 p.m. during a basketball game between South Oak Cliff and Justin F. Kimball High Schools inside Ellis Davis Field House, police said. Investigators said the incident stemmed from a fight in the stands during the game. According to a Dallas ISD police source, two teens, both of whom are not enrolled in Dallas ISD, got into a physical altercation before one pulled out a gun and shot the other. On Sunday, Dallas police announced that...

Actually, the records of temperature and CO2 over the past 650,000 years indicate that Earth's temperature always rises first, followed by a rise in Carbon Dioxide. Published papers, clearly show it is always temperature which rises first by at least several hundred years and then the carbon dioxide responds.

At a campaign rally last week in Dover, New Hampshire, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) told her audience that she couldn't think of a good reason why President Trump ordered the recent deadly airstrike on Iranian terror leader Qasem Soleimani. "Why not a month ago?" she asked. "Why not a month from now?" She ventured a guess and concluded that it was pure politics. "One of the questions I raised just right after this came out, does this have anything to do with the fact that Donald Trump is right on the eve of an impeachment hearing?" she asked. Rep. Dan...