Free Republic

The short answer is: 1987. .22 Short rimfire cartridges became more expensive than .22 Long Rifle rimfire cartridges in 1987. They have remained more expensive since then.This correspondent has been able to obtain manufacturer price list information for .22 Shorts from 1911 to 1996, and .22 Long Rifle ammunition from 1911 to 2022. That is 111 years of pricing history. Of the 111 years, this correspondent was able to collect data for 70 individual years. There are enough data points to give shape to the curve.There are several ways to measure the value of money, and how it changes over...

This week federal prosecutors dismantled a major multi-state drug trafficking ring in Indianapolis. A federal grand jury returned indictments against 21 people as part of a conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine. “This was a big win for the city of Indianapolis getting these people off the street,” said Mike Gannon, DEA assistant special agent in charge. 2 members of high-profile Indianapolis meth and heroin ring sentenced According to federal prosecutors, the wide-ranging investigation involved 22 different law enforcement agencies. This week, officers served search and arrest warrants at 25 locations across Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, as well as...

"The ruler of Da Qin is not permanent. When disasters result from unusual phenomena, they unceremoniously replace him, installing a virtuous man as king, and release the old king, who does not dare show resentment..."Here we have the words of the early third century Chinese historian Yu Huan, who lived during the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. Though he never left China, he collected large amounts of information on the countries to the West, chief among them the Roman Empire.Enormous thanks to John E. Hill for kindly allowing us to use his translation, and for tips on the possible...

Details in a case filed in a federal district court suggest government-directed censorship on social media and the most comprehensive interference in a domestic election in the history of the nation. We’ve heard it a thousand times: “The First Amendment doesn’t apply to private social media platforms.” That statement, however, presumes the private company’s independence from government action. But what if the social media platform defers censorship decisions to the government itself? Can the government circumvent free speech protections by using a cut-out to censor citizen speech critical of its policies or preferred political candidates? An explosive case filed in...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ripped into President Joe Biden during a Friday night speech, wishing “the United States of America a speedy recovery” from his presidency. DeSantis took the shot at Biden while speaking at Turning Point USA Student Action Summit, where, during his fiery address, he likened the president’s leadership to “a deer in the headlights” who reads from a teleprompter, Fox News reported. The Florida governor, a leading Republican candidate to make a run at the White House in 2024, also slammed Biden on his approach to energy and immigration policies. “He came in and cranked the printing...

On March 13, 2020, then President Trump declared a “national emergency” due to the newly-arising outbreak of the Covid-19 virus. Three days later, on March 16, Trump set forth a program of “15 Days to Slow the Spread.” The program included strong recommendations for anyone who felt sick, or had tested positive for the disease, to stay at home during the two-week emergency window. Here we are now some two years and four months later. The supposed Covid-19 15 day “emergency” has been repeatedly extended, first by Trump through the last ten months of his term, and then for the...

Did the Biden White House feel its party affiliation protected them from infection? It seems that way, given how this administration has gone off the rails regarding COVID. In a fair world, we'd be trashing this administration for being reckless. The stigma of getting COVID is a liberal invention. Don't let them forget it. The CDC protocols, everything has been disregarded in the aftermath of White House Steward Joe Biden contracting the virus. He tested positive a day after he went to Massachusetts to deliver remarks about his global warming executive orders. The Rose Garden was a good enough venue...

The Bible In Paintings 2 ENCOURAGEMENT FOR APPRECIATING AND APPLYING GOD'S MESSAGE MORDECAI'S TRIUMPH E S T H E R CHAPTER 6 That night the king could not sleep; so he ordered the book of the chronicles, the record of his reign, to be brought in and read to him. It was found recorded there that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s officers who guarded the doorway, who had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes. “What honor and recognition has Mordecai received for this?” the king asked. “Nothing has been done for him,” his attendants answered....

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is a non-political respite. No matter what, you won’t be flamed, and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack...

Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time Matthew 13:24–30 Friends, our Gospel today is the parable of the wheat and the weeds. God sows his good seed, his word, his love and compassion, but his project is met with opposition. And the evil is such that it insinuates itself right into the very fabric of the good. In classical theology, we speak of evil as a privatio boni, a privation of the good, meaning that evil is always and everywhere parasitic on the good. Just as a parasite is living off of a healthy body (and thereby weakening it), so moral evil...

As we reported previously three people were killed and two others injured after a shooter opened fire in the food court of a Greenwood, Indiana, shopping mall Sunday evening, police say. Around 6:00 p.m. local time, multiple people called 911 to report an active shooter at the Greenwood Park Mall, Greenwood Police Department Chief Jim Ison told reporters. During a media briefing Sunday, police said the shooter was armed with a rifle and several magazines of ammunition. The type was weapon was not described beyond being a long gun. “It appears that he had a rifle with several magazines of...

“This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: ‘He Himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases’” (Matthew 8:17). Even excluding the miraculous healings, Jesus’ ministry was unprecedented and amazing. “Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks” (John 7:46). The man born blind, whom Jesus healed, told the Jewish leaders, “Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man [Christ] were not from God, He could do nothing” (John 9:32–33). When Jesus healed the paralytic, the onlookers “were awestruck,...

IPray For The Peace of JerusalemGenesis 43The Second Journey to Egypt 43 Now the famine was still severe in the land. 2 So when they had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little more food.” 3 But Judah said to him, “The man warned us solemnly, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’ 4 If you will send our brother along with us, we will go down and buy food for you. 5 But if you will not send him,...

A federal judge on Friday dismissed five former FBI officials -- including former director James Comey and deputy director Andrew McCabe -- from a lawsuit that former President Donald Trump filed against them and other political opponents related to the Russia investigation. Judge Donald Middlebrooks granted the Justice Department's request to substitute itself as defendants for the former FBI officials, after finding that Trump's lawsuit covered actions that they took while acting within the scope of their government employment. This is a victory for the former FBI officials, who no longer have to battle Trump in the civil litigation, which...

Leftists claim it’s anti-LGBTQ+, a charge that is very funny once you stop to think about it. Next to American Thinker, the best site on the internet has got to be Libs of TikTok. Chaya Raichik, who created and curates it, brilliantly exposes the cultural extremes of the Democrat party, not by writing about those extremes, but by allowing leftists to state them in their own words. It’s largely through her efforts that Americans got a chance to see how teachers are working hard to sexualize America’s children—or in other words, to “groom” them. No wonder leftists are now cracking...

Dion Middleton, 45, was arrested and charged for the murder of Raymond Chaluisant, 18, after the teenager allegedly fired at him from a car on Thursday with an air rifle using Orbeez soft gel balls. It is the same type of weapon used in the viral 'Orbeez Challenge' videos, The New York Daily News reported, with the challenge depicting unsuspecting strangers being fired at by pranksters. Police said the shooting took place at around 1:35 a.m. on Thursday, near the intersection of the Cross Bronx Expressway and Morris Avenue Chaluisant died in a bloodbath after being shot while traveling in...

Intended as a hit piece, it reads like an important section of Trump’s 2024 campaign manifesto to his supporters. Just yesterday, Axios carried a piece provocatively entitled “A radical plan for Trump’s second term.” The following are key excerpts from the article: The heart of the plan is derived from an executive order known as “Schedule F,” developed and refined in secret over most of the second half of Trump’s term and launched 13 days before the 2020 election. (snip) Trump signed an executive order, “Creating Schedule F in the Excepted Service,” in October 2020, which established a new employment...

After all the COVID horrors the government has put us through — and continues to — you'd think we'd at least get some form of apology for all the failures. The beauteous Ali McGraw, in the movie Love Story, tells us, "Love means never having to say you're sorry." As the latest variant of COVID-19 sweeps the land, that movie line is also the mantra of federal, state, and local health officials. They're doctors, some of them much like "Dr." Jill, and they love you, John Q. Citizen, so much that, even when they totally botch the U.S. response to...

The Defense Department is standing up a new organization to investigate unexplained aerial phenomena, particularly where it potentially affects military activities, the DOD announced July 20. The move was directed by Congress. The new organization is the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, or AARO, which replaces the Airborne Object Identification and Management Group. AARO will report to the undersecretary of defense for intelligence and security, Ronald S. Moultrie. The AARO itself will be under the direction of Sean M. Kirkpatrick, most recently chief scientist at the Defense Intelligence Agency’s missile and space intelligence center. The organization is mandated by the National...

Senegalese Minister of Economy Amadou Hott has urged the global food industry not to boycott the trade of Russian and Ukrainian food products as the food crisis rages on in vulnerable countries. Hott said at the Group of 20 meeting of financial leaders in Bali last week that without immediate resolution, the crisis — which involves both a food shortage and high prices — would kill more people “than during Covid times.” The war has seen many countries such as the U.S. and those in the European Union sanction the use or trade of Russian goods. But while staples like...