Free Republic

The elimination of firearms will not make the world a more peaceful, less violent place. Quite the contrary! Those persons who would seek to intimidate or to physically harm or kill another person (whether driven by greed, lust, jealousy, hate, zealotry or mental illness) will still do so. But the tools they employ (be they blades or sticks, hands or fists or whatever) will require a degree of physical size and strength to be wielded as weapons and a degree of physical size and strength to defend against. Until the advent of firearms, the advantage in combat always went to...

Today’s CG from The Arkansas Gazette. PY PE VPYT IBK FZEEPIOE ZE PY PE VPYT MPKQ ZOH VZYQK, YTQW ZKQ LIIH EQKAZOYE, NBY NZH JZEYQKE. —-ZQEIF 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...

In the wake of the Virginia gun rights rally on Monday, Democrats in the Capitol are not slowing down their push for tyranny. They are moving a bill through the legislature that would effectively criminalize dissent against Governor Blackface Northam and other state government officials. House Bill 1627 was introduced by Delegate Jeffrey M. Bourne last week. The legislation “provides that certain crimes relating to threats and harassment may be prosecuted in the City of Richmond if the victim is the Governor, Governor-elect, Lieutenant Governor, Lieutenant Governor-elect, Attorney General, or Attorney General-elect, a member or employee of the General Assembly,...

Rosie Williams, who starred in series three of Love Island, says she was offered £100,000 a year plus all her clothes and bags, to become a companion to a man in Dubai. She showed us one of the recent messages she had received, from a man purporting to be in Dubai. It says she may be surprised to hear from him but he has an "important transaction" he wishes to share - which she says is a common turn of phrase in these messages. And she says she would never be tempted, despite the large amount of money involved. Rosie...

The mobile phone of billionaire Jeff Bezos was reportedly hacked during a conversation between the Amazon founder and Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the WhatsApp messaging service, according to reports. Bezos was allegedly hacked in May 2018 after receiving an encrypted message from the personal account of the crown prince -- which is believed to have included a hostile file containing code that led to the infiltration of his phone, a digital forensic analysis said. It was "highly probable" the infiltration was triggered by the infected file sent to The Washington Post owner, according to the Guardian. It was...

A marathon first day in the Senate impeachment trial against President Trump erupted into a shouting match well after midnight early Wednesday morning, as Trump's legal team unloaded on Democratic impeachment manager Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y. -- in an exchange that prompted a bleary-eyed Chief Justice John Roberts to sternly admonish both sides for misconduct in the chamber. Nadler began the historic spat by speaking in support of the eighth amendment of the day proposed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, after each of Schumer's previous attempted alterations to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's rules were rejected by a united...

A giggling suspect accused of randomly battering three women in violent Manhattan street attacks was cut loose without bail Friday over the objection of prosecutors. Homeless defendant Eugene Webb was freed just two days after allegedly punching a woman in the face on West Houston St., knocking out one of her teeth — then hours later shoving a second woman to the ground and kicking her on Park Ave. and E. 42nd St. The Manhattan District Attorney’s office sought $10,000 cash bail or a $30,000 bond, but Criminal Court Judge Ann Thompson ruled that Webb should be released on his...

January 22 2020 Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children Reading 1 1 Sm 17:32-33, 37, 40-51 David spoke to Saul: “Let your majesty not lose courage. I am at your service to go and fight this Philistine.” But Saul answered David, “You cannot go up against this Philistine and fight with him, for you are only a youth, while he has been a warrior from his youth.”David continued: “The LORD, who delivered me from the claws of the lion and the bear, will also keep me safe from the clutches of this Philistine.” Saul answered...

A 3-year-old Malaysian boy living in the UK has become the youngest member to join Mensa UK, the largest and oldest international high IQ society in the world, Mensa officials said. Muhammad Haryz Nadzim was invited to join Mensa after meeting with a psychologist and scoring 142 on the Stanford-Binet IQ test, placing him in the 99.7th percentile, his mother, Nur Anira Asyikin, told CNN.

McGregor sent a congratulatory message to Trump when the president touted his accomplishments on Martin Luther King Day, two days after the Irishman was back on top of the MMA world with his 40-second win over Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone at UFC 246. “Phenomenal President. Quite possibly the USA 🐐,” McGregor wrote. “Most certainly one of them anyway, as he sits atop the shoulders of many amazing giants that came before him. SNIP “It’s easy for someone who isn’t in there to comment… I don’t give a **** about Donald Trump,” McGregor said at the time.

Cruise Automation, a subsidiary of General Motors and a developer of driverless vehicles, today unveiled a new vehicle that it designed to operate without a driver on-board in San Francisco. The all-electric minivan does not feature manual controls such as pedals or a steering wheel.

A Southern California company is hoping to bring its dorm-like facility for adults to San Diego for locals looking to save cash and enjoy communal living. Los Angeles-based Haven Coliving has almost a hundred people who are sharing the same space and the same mindset.

ALBANY, NY (WRGB) — The man charged with manslaughter in the stabbing death of an Albany woman was set free without bail Thursday after facing a judge. 52-year-old Paul Barbaritano was released on his own recognizance. The body of 29 year old Nicole Jennings was found dead in a Brevator St. apartment back in July of 2019. At the time, Barbaritano was also found in the apartment with self-inflicted stab wounds, according to police. Barbaritano was charged with manslaughter and remanded after his arraignment last year. On January 2nd, he faced a judge and was then released on his own...

STONY POINT, N.Y.(CBSNewYork) — There is grief and concern following a Christmas Eve crime. A woman was struck and killed by an unlicensed driver who left the scene. He was arrested, and immediately released back on the street, under the terms of New York state’s new bail reform law. Those close to the victim are struggling to understand why, CBS2’s Tony Aiello reported Thursday. “I feel fortunate to have met her and have had her in my life,” friend Irene Secone said. Friends and family are distraught following the death of 35-year-old Marie “Rosie” Osai. The immigrant from Haiti, a...

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC/WAVY) — A rally scheduled to last just an hour led thousands of gun-rights supporters to the Virginia State Capitol, prompted state and federal authorities to increase security measures on Capitol grounds and drove groups planning to counter the pro-gun rally to change their Lobby Day plans. Despite concerns of potential threats, there was only one arrest and no reports of extremist violence or any security issues, a spokesperson for Capitol Police said. Last week, Gov. Ralph Northam (D) said law enforcement officials found “credible, serious threats” linked to the rally when he declared a state of emergency temporarily banning weapons...

• Burglary in the second degree (residential burglary) • Burglary in the third degree • Robbery in the second degree (aided by another person) • Robbery in the third degree • Manslaughter in the second degree • Criminally negligent homicide • Aggravated vehicular homicide • Vehicular manslaughter in the first and second degrees • Assault in the third degree • Aggravated vehicular assault • Aggravated assault upon a person less than eleven years old • Vehicular assault in the first and second degrees • Criminal possession of a weapon on school grounds • Criminal possession of a firearm • Criminal...

Federal prosecutors in Brazil are accusing U.S. journalist Glenn Greenwald of criminal association over his role in spreading hacked messages from Brazilian officials' phones that suggest collusion between a judge and prosecutors in the conviction and jailing of a former president. Greenwald published the allegations in the online publication The Intercept, which he co-founded, and The Intercept Brasil. He decried the accusation released Tuesday as an "obvious attempt to attack a free press in retaliation for the revelations we reported." "We're going to defend a free press like we always have, we're not going to be intimidated by the Bolsonaro...

U.S. officials are weighing the benefits and risks of proposed experiments that might make a dangerous pathogen even worse — but the details of that review, and the exact nature of the experiments, aren't being released to the public. Later this week, officials are to hold a meeting in Bethesda, Md., to debate how much information to openly share about this kind of controversial work and how much to reveal about the reasoning behind decisions to pursue or forgo it. The meeting comes as the high stakes of this research are coincidentally being highlighted by events in China, where public...

The cold didn’t stop thousands from marching, chanting, and raising signs high for women’s rights on January 18. See photos from the 2020 Women’s March, taken around the country. And we’re off! For the fourth year in a row, people of all genders gathered around the world for the Women’s March. It’s a tradition that began in 2017, when more than four million people hit the streets in cities around the world to peacefully protest on the day after President Donald Trump‘s inauguration. The protestors had certain goals in mind: rally against pay disparity, homophobia, racism, religious persecution, and gender...

The US Central Command announcing on the first day of the impeachment trial opened in Washington that more US troops serving at the Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq when Iranian missile struck the base earlier this month have been taken to Germany for treatment of concussion related injuries.... A former inspector with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) told the UN Security Council that the group's report about an alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma, Syria in April 2018 ran contrary to the findings of its own fact finding mission....... Speaking to the UN Conference on Disarmament...