Free Republic

It’s hard to imagine anyone liking Adam Schiff. The man just seems so, so horribly insufferable, the kind of person you’d spend time with only if you absolutely had no other options, like watching grass grow or finding a nice, long line somewhere to stand in. Truly, being forced to stay awake and listen to the man drone on for hours at a time during the Senate impeachment hearings sounds like a fate far worse than the sweet bliss death would provide. One can mock the fidget spinners and other assorted toys employed by some GOP senators to keep from...

Today’s CG is from The Arkansas Democrat Gazette DMT NUF GFQFU IMM MVO IM EFI NGMIYFU HMNV MU IM OUFNC N GFB OUFNC. —NGMGDCMTE 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...

1778 - During the American Revolution, the Continental sloop Providence, commanded by Capt. O. P. Rathburne, attacks New Providence Island, spikes the guns of the fort, captures small arms, holds off the sloop of war Grayton, and captures a privateer and five other vessels, while freeing 20 released American prisoners. A pretty good days work for our sailors.

College affordability has gone from the arcane to the mainstream, with efforts to curb college costs quickly becoming a litmus test for presidential hopefuls. With good reason: an estimated 45 million borrowers now owe $1.5 trillion in student loans, more than any other category of debt besides mortgages. But the cost of college is just one side of the affordability equation. Far too many students are leaving college without the skills they need to generate a return on their educational investments. Despite record-low unemployment, job offers for recent college graduates continue to decline. Scarcely 40% of the Class of 2018...

Washington Post journalist has been suspended by the newspaper after she tweeted a link on Sunday to a years-old story about the Kobe Bryant rape case just hours after the basketball legend and his daughter were killed in a helicopter crash. Felicia Sonmez, who covers national politics for the Post, took to Twitter shortly after the world learned of Bryant’s death along with eight others aboard his private helicopter which crashed outside of Los Angeles. She posted a link to an April 2016 story from the news site The Daily Beast which carried the headline: ‘Kobe Bryant’s Disturbing Rape Case:...

Transgender activist Jessica Yaniv was reportedly arrested after attacking Canadian journalist Keenan Bexte outside of court. "Yaniv has been ordered to cease all contact with me, both directly and indirectly," Bexte told the Post Millennial on Wednesday. "I can’t wait for the day when Yaniv is put away for the long haul. (Yaniv) is dangerous and unpredictable." Yaniv could face five years in prison for the charges. Earlier this month, Bexte posted a video of Yaniv punching him outside of a courthouse. "Get away from me," Yaniv yelled while hitting Bexte, who was also filming the altercation. The transgender activist...

Uganda: A Muslim mob set fire to the home of former Muslim, Ali Nakabale, 36, for converting to Christianity. Four of his family members—including his two children, a 6-year-old son and a nine-year-old daughter—were burned to death in the blaze. His wife, who was enraged to learn that Ali had become Christian, reportedly prompted the arson attack.

I want to know why you Democrats are such cowards that you have not yet launched another civil war to free America of the totalitarian nightmare of President Donald J. Trump. I mean, if he’s truly Hitler 2: Electric Boogeyman, then isn’t it your sacred duty to remove this cancer on our body politic with arms if necessary? Look, I get that you Dems have a track record on insurrections designed to oppress the rights of Americans you feel superior to that is pretty poor (0-1) but come on, heroes of democracy, make your move! Just sitting here in the...

Last Easter and the Easter before that, and for several more Easters, a story circulated both among neopagans and those they wished to educate. It concerned the origin of the Easter Bunny. The story goes something like this: Once, when the Goddess was late in coming, a little girl found a bird close to death from the cold and turned to Eostre for help. A rainbow bridge appreared and Eostre came, clothed in her red robe of warm, vibrant sunlight which melted the snows. Spring arrived. Because the little bird was wonded beyond repair, Eostre changed it into a snow...

"...since no crimes exist it must be Dismissed"

The deadly animal-borne coronavirus spreading globally may have originated in a laboratory in the city of Wuhan linked to China’s covert biological weapons program, said an Israeli biological warfare analyst. Radio Free Asia last week rebroadcast a Wuhan television report from 2015 showing China’s most advanced virus research laboratory, known the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The laboratory is the only declared site in China capable of working with deadly viruses. Dany Shoham, a former Israeli military intelligence officer who has studied Chinese biological warfare, said the institute is linked to Beijing’s covert bio-weapons program. “Certain laboratories in the institute have...

The 2020 Democratic candidate with whom the CIA whistleblower had a "professional" tie is Joe Biden, according to intelligence officers and former White House officials. Lawyers for the whistleblower said he had worked only "in the executive branch." The Washington Examiner has established that he is a career CIA analyst who was detailed to the National Security Council at the White House and has since left. On Sept. 26, the New York Times reported that he was a CIA officer. On Oct. 4, the newspaper added that he "was detailed to the National Security Council at one point." Michael Atkinson,...

Use it or lose it. Article V opponents believe America is too corrupt to be trusted with a Convention of the States. They believe We The People fulfilled Ben Franklin’s fears and are no longer fit for self-government, which if true, means we don’t have any business voting either. Nonsense. Thanks to our collective failure to demand Article V Conventions of the States when necessary, We The People slowly, over decades, relinquished our sovereign authority to Scotus. I challenge anyone to explain the practical limits of the Supreme Court of the United States. On paper, our system provides mutual checks,...

The U.S. Department of Defense announced Saturday the death of a North Carolina soldier serving in Syria. Army Spc. Antonio I. Moore, 22, of Wilmington, was supporting Operation Inherent Resolve in Deir ez Zor Province. He died in a rollover accident Friday while conducting route clearing operations. The incident is under investigation. Moore was assigned to 363rd Engineer Battalion, 411th Engineer Brigade in Knightdale, N.C. He enlisted in May 2017, and this was his first deployment. “The 363rd Engineer Battalion is deeply saddened at the loss of Spec. Antonio Moore,” said Lt. Col. Ian Doiron, 363rd Engineer Battalion commander. “Antonio...

A heartwarming video of Kobe Bryant explaining the finer points of pro basketball to his daughter, Gianna, re-surfaced following their deaths in a helicopter crash in California on Sunday. A YES Network camera caught Kobe, 41, and Gianna, 13, courtside at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center during a Dec. 21 game between the Nets and the Atlanta Hawks. Kobe, wearing a Navy pinstripe jacket over a white crewneck shirt, gestured with his hands while leaning over and speaking to Gianna, who wore a gray knit cap and a pastel, multicolored top.

It’s perfectly possible to feel tired and at the same time have trouble dropping off. Certain life stresses and health problems can leave us feeling exhausted, but at the same time make it difficult to relax and get to sleep. Also, missing out on sleep can disrupt our natural rhythms, which can make us feel wide awake when we’d usually be sleeping. Finally, caregivers sometimes refer to their infants as being ‘too tired to sleep’. This happens when the baby has been awake for longer than their little bodies can cope with, resulting in stress and difficulties settling.

"The owners of DC Solar, a Benicia-based company, pleaded guilty today to charges related to a billion dollar Ponzi scheme— the biggest criminal fraud scheme in the history of the Eastern District of California. The government’s investigation has resulted in the largest criminal forfeiture in the history of the District with over $120 million in assets forfeited that will go to victims, and has returned $500 million to the United States Treasury, with more to come, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced. Jeff Carpoff, 49, of Martinez, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. His...

By the time the House impeachment managers finally wrapped their opening arguments Friday, it had become painfully clear that their goal in this trial is simply to spend as much national-TV time as they can get denouncing President Trump as a menace to the nation and the world. It’s not about proving their case, or even making a real case for new witnesses and subpoenas; it’s not even about convincing “gettable” Republican senators to vote their way. You can tell by the way the “prosecutors” keep showing their contempt for those Republicans, from Jerry Nadler’s charge the first night that...

Long before Democrats finished making their marathon impeachment case Friday night, momentum had deserted them. The loops of repetition had gone from annoying to unbearable and the wild assertions got even wilder as their talk, talk, talk became a trial of its own. Despite the historic nature of the event, the public voted by staying away. Many gallery seats sat empty, a fact that recalls a gem from the late Yogi Berra that “If the people don’t want to come out to the ballpark, nobody’s gonna stop them.” Still, even a fraudulent impeachment is not a laughing matter and until...

Called BAZ1B, it may also help explain why domesticated animals look cuter than their wild kin Domestic animals’ cuteness and humans’ relatively flat faces may be the work of a gene that controls some important developmental cells, a study of lab-grown human cells suggests. Some scientists are touting the finding as the first real genetic evidence for two theories about domestication. One of those ideas is that humans domesticated themselves over many generations, by weeding out hotheads in favor of the friendly and cooperative (SN: 7/6/17). As people supposedly selected among themselves for tameness traits, other genetic changes occurred that...