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TGIFF! Its Fiddle Friday and Country Roots. Put the two together and we have Ranger's Hornpipe by the Stripling Brothers (1929). The tune was recorded in Chicago on Aug. 19, 1929. THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com/

When word first broke that Meghan Markle had convinced Prince Harry to divorce the royal family, it struck many as a bizarre and sad conclusion to what could have been a great chapter in the family's long history. Then, when Meghan turned out to be greedy and entitled, while Harry was apparently a milquetoast, people turned against the duo. Now, though, with the latest report on Meghan's extraordinarily self-centered worldview, she's becoming a comic figure who must be enjoyed. It started with Prince Harry, who had grown from being a bit of an ass to being an active-duty soldier to...

Vladimir Putin relishes using Russia’s political and economic power to destabilize and disrupt nations. One example of such activity is in Venezuela, where Russia has been propping up dictator Nicolas Maduro through billions in loans and buying oil with the Russian company Rosneft. Maduro is one of the most brutal dictators of our time, and the Trump administration is actively working to oust him from power. Millions of citizens have fled Venezuela. The country is overrun with violent drug cartels, Russian and Cuban military units operate freely within the country. Maduro’s government now runs on illegal sources of income such...

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Philadelphia police have released images of the suspect wanted for spray-painting racial slurs on the Cecil B. Moore mural in North Philadelphia. Police say he was also caught spray-painting slurs at Brightside Academy and Habitat for Humanity. The incidents happened on Feb. 15, between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. The suspect is described as a black male, between 25 to 35 years of age, with a medium build. He was wearing a black jacket, gray sweatshirt, blue jeans, brown shoes and carrying a black duffel bag.

Makers of mobile game Plague Inc. say the game is no longer available in the China App Store. In a blog post Thursday, Ndemic Creations said the app, which lets players simulate and strategize the spread of disease globally, was taken down because it "includes content that is illegal in China as determined by the Cyberspace Administration of China." "It's not clear to us if this removal is linked to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak that China is facing," the company said in the post. "However, Plague Inc.'s educational importance has been repeatedly recognized by organizations like the CDC." In 2013,...

The MSM's line o' the day is that coronavirus should not be politicized. But liberal media partisans like Chuck Todd just can't help themselves. And so it was that on his MTP Daily show on MSNBC this afternoon, Todd taunted President Trump with what appeared to be a pre-packaged line, twice saying that when it comes to the coronavirus, the president should "reap what he sows." Get the rest of the story and view the video here.

One overarching truth emerged from the cacophonous Democratic debate this week: The Democrats haven't got game. They're floundering. They're lost. And they're coming up short. Everyone on that stage except maybe the clueless Michael Bloomberg recognized that Sen. Bernie Sanders is the dominant front-runner, so they trained their sights on him, which is hardly a smart strategy for ingratiating yourself to the Democratic base responsible for his popularity. It's like trying to win someone's love by trashing his family. So right out of the gates, these contenders shot themselves in the foot. Not a good look. Moderator Norah O'Donnell, herself...

How is it that there are 20-year-old illegal alien men in our public schools, walking the same halls as junior high girls? Last week, Jonathan Coreas-Salamanca, 20, and Ivan Reyes Lopez, 19, were each arrested in two different Montgomery County, Maryland, high schools for raping two 11-year-old girls outside school. WJLA reports that Coreas-Salamanca attends Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring. He is accused of having multiple sexual encounters with an 11-year-old after the victim’s father found salacious text messages on her phone. ICE has lodged a detainer on Coreas-Salamanca, who is an illegal alien from El Salvador. There...

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MOSCOW — Russian military officials denied responsibility for an airstrike in northern Syria that killed dozens of Turkish troops, as the risk of a major military confrontation between Russia and Turkey in the region escalated sharply. Russia’s Ministry of Defense issued a statement Friday stating that no Russian jets had been operating in the area of the strike in Idlib province Thursday. “Aircraft of the Russian Air Force did not engage in combat in the Behun vicinity,” the ministry said. Gov. Rahmi Dogan of Hatay province in Turkey, announced that 33 soldiers were killed. Dozens more were wounded. The Russian...

Someone on Trump staff, listen up! This radio station, 107.1 FM in Austin, TX, is airing all kinds of material which is VERY derogatory towards President Trump AND the U.S. public in general. You will find loads of material which can be used for ads explaining the Mexican illegal immigrant attitude towards the United States and the American people giving foundation for WHY immigration MUST be controlled. You will understand WHY the Democrat Part is so desperate to get Mexicans and other Hispanics from Latin America here to vote for their Socialist program. For example: A lady from Zacatecas (State...

For weeks, 11-year-old Azlyn Hobson buzzed with excitement for the Valentine’s Day dance at her Utah middle school. Two previous dances at the Laketown, Utah, school had been loads of fun, and this time she had a crush on a boy at school she hoped to dance with. On the morning of the big event, she layered a red-and-pink floral sundress over a long-sleeve T-shirt and leggings, and carefully arranged her hair. But Azlyn’s enthusiasm waned when a different boy, who made her feel uncomfortable, asked her to share a slow dance. “She was so excited in the morning when...

CNN’s Christiane Amanpour said the time may be ripe for a NATO-inspired pact for members of the media: “An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.” . . . “Be careful. Keep your guard up. We are the pillars are democracy and freedom. They may be there for a few turns. Journalists are there forever.”

Several moderators of The Donald, Reddit’s largest pro-Trump community, have been purged by the site’s administrators, who aim to replace them with moderators approved by the San Francisco company. The Donald is one of largest and influential hubs of pro-Trump activity on the web, with over 790,000 subscribed Reddit users. The Donald’s statement follows: Reddit has been trying to slowly kill The_Donald since it played a role in getting Trump elected in 2016. It started with user harassment, moved on to restricting our posts from being seen by most of the rest of Reddit (The third highest-traffic website in the...

Fox News commentator Britt McHenry announced via Twitter on Thursday that she has been diagnosed with a brain tumor and is undergoing treatment. “I’m with an amazing medical team and surgery is imminent. Thank you for continued support and understanding at this time,” she wrote.

The annual conservative conference CPAC is slated to take place later this week outside of Washington, D.C. at the Gaylord Hotel overlooking the National Harbor from Wednesday, Feb. 26th through Saturday, Feb. 29th. President Donald Trump’s closest and most loyal allies will be in attendance, and the commander in chief himself will deliver the keynote address. After his acquittal by the Senate on impeachment charges, Trump gave high praise to CPAC chairman Matt Schlapp; a former President Bush official turned Trump loyalist. On Wednesday, a panel on connecting to GOP voters to messaging will take place with three senior Trump...

Naomi Seibt, a blonde German teenager, has become a U.S. think tank’s weapon of choice when it comes to combatting climate activist and global phenomenon Greta Thunberg. The Heartland Institute, a conservative think tank that rejects the scientific consensus on climate change, labeled Seibt as “a fantastic voice for free markets and for climate realism” and has booked her to speak at CPAC later this week. Seibt has already headlined at the UN climate conference in Madrid this past December, and CPAC will be her American debut. Although the German 19-year-old rejects “climate alarmism,” she mimics Thunberg in several ways,...

Today’s CG is from The Arkansas Democrat Gazette LV ZGGDWJUZLW LPW NWZTLO VX Z AMVQXKZIW, UL UA MWJWAAZDO LV ALZMS VTL UM LPW JVKS. —TMIMVQM 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...

Israeli scientists: 'In a few weeks, we will have coronavirus vaccine' Once the vaccine is developed, it will take at least 90 days to complete the regulatory process and potentially more to enter the marketplace. By MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMAN FEBRUARY 27, 2020 20:58

NATO ambassadors will meet in Brussels at Turkey's request on Friday to hold consultations about developments in Syria, the alliance said after the killing of 33 Turkish soldiers in a Syrian air strike in the Idlib region.