Free Republic 1st Qtr 2026 Fundraising Target: $81,000 Receipts & Pledges to-date: $67,596
83%  
Woo hoo!! And now only $444 to reach 84%!! Thank you all very much!! God bless.

Forum: General/Chat

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  • Starting to Play the Guitar: Chords and Notes

    03/28/2026 7:46:08 AM PDT · by BEJ · 7 replies
    I'm looking for good ideas on playing the guitar for beginners. Any suggestions? Starting to Play the Guitar: Chords and Notes 1. Start by learning the chords at the foot of the neck or open position. There are a limited number of chords – roughly about 12 -- but you can eventually play many songs just using these chords. 2. Get to know the names of the strings. 3. Start to play notes up the strings. The C scale is good. Start of the low E string and play the natural notes from E up to G on the high...
  • Dress for Success, Not for Chili’s

    03/28/2026 6:42:05 AM PDT · by DoodleBob · 55 replies
    Intellectual Takeout ^ | March 27, 2026 | Annie Holmquist
    Several years ago, I joined some friends on a trip to Mackinac Island, a place famous for its Victorian culture and ban on automobiles. After bicycling around the island, we decided to splurge and have tea at The Grand Hotel, which is as polished as its name sounds. Before trooping in for tea, however, we stopped in a nearby restroom to exchange our sports clothes for something a little classier, for the hotel requires its patrons to dress up before entering its domain. Such a change was a bit of a bother, but in the long run, it made me...
  • Study Tracks Arrival of Bow and Arrow in North America

    03/28/2026 6:34:28 AM PDT · by SunkenCiv · 6 replies
    Archaeology Magazine ^ | March 24, 2026 | editors / unattributed
    The bow and arrow were first used in western North America some 1,400 years ago, according to a statement released by PNAS Nexus. Briggs Buchanan of the University of Tulsa and his colleagues radiocarbon dated 136 weapons made of organic materials, which were recovered from glacial ice patches, dry caves, and rock shelters where they had been preserved. The researchers determined that the bow appeared in a single place, then spread rapidly across North America through cultural transmission networks. In northern British Columbia and Alberta, people adopted the bow and arrow, but continued to use the atlatl to throw darts...
  • Inside the Criminal Gangs Planning to Steal 2026

    03/28/2026 6:14:27 AM PDT · by MtnClimber · 12 replies
    Welcome to Absurdistan ^ | 27 Mar, 2026 | Elizabeth Nickson
    I am re-running my stolen election pieces while the SAVE Act languishes in the Senate. The fact that it is not passed, indicates that both R and D are fully compromised. The Democrats are lost, but RINOs need primarying hard. They are like the politicians in Canada who won’t stop MAID. We need MAID up here because our health system is so overburdened we need people to die. And Fast. With voting, the only people who have made a difference are people on the ground, in the precincts that have fought this fight hard, since 2020. That we know this...
  • He who laughs last laughs best

    03/28/2026 5:04:38 AM PDT · by MtnClimber · 17 replies
    American Thinker ^ | 27 Mar, 2026 | Bill Ponton
    The parallels between American black ghettos and European no-go zones are obvious. In a relatively short period from 1940–1960, over 2.5 million blacks migrated to Northern cities from the predominately agrarian South. Their assimilation into mainstream society was arduous. It became a visible problem by the 1960s with unrest and rioting commonplace in black neighborhoods during summer months. It was against this backdrop of urban unrest and Vietnam war protest that the Canadian rock band, Guess Who, created the 1970 hit American Woman. The song’s iconic lyrics express the band’s rejection of the great temptress, America, with her seductive allure...
  • James Tolkan, Who Starred as Mr. Strickland in Back to the Future, Dies at 94

    03/28/2026 5:00:26 AM PDT · by DFG · 9 replies
    People ^ | 03/27/2026 | Madison E. Goldberg
    James Tolkan, who famously starred as Mr. Strickland in the Back to the Future franchise and as the stern Commander Tom "Stinger" Jardian in Top Gun, has died. He was 94. Tolkan died in Saranac Lake, N.Y., on Thursday, March 26, the late actor's management confirmed to PEOPLE. "I dearly, dearly loved Mr. Tolkan," a crew member who worked on Back to the Future tells PEOPLE of the late actor. "I saw him at the last convention he did this past October," the crew member tells PEOPLE. "Well, we sat next to each other, you know, meeting fans. He was...
  • Progressive Rep. Pramila Jayapal calls for reparations for illegal immigrants ‘traumatized’ by ICE

    03/28/2026 4:20:35 AM PDT · by GrandJediMasterYoda · 42 replies
    NYPost.com ^ | 3/28/26 | Nicholas McEntyre
    Progressive Rep. Pramila Jayapal calls for reparations for illegal immigrants ‘traumatized’ by ICE Progressive Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) is calling for illegal immigrants to be paid reparations over alleged trauma they sustained from the Trump administration’s crackdown and ICE operations across the US. Jayapal made the shocking revelation on Friday in front of a panel of “experts” during a hearing she hosted titled “Kidnapped and Disappeared: Trump’s Attack on Children.” “We are going to have to have some form of reparation for the kids and the families that have been traumatized through all of this,” Jayapal said at the conclusion...
  • The factory that produces half of Britain’s salt could soon be killed by Net Zero policies

    03/28/2026 4:06:15 AM PDT · by RandFan · 15 replies
    X / Spiked ^ | March 28 | Spiked Online
    @spikedonline The factory that produces half of Britain’s salt could soon be killed by Net Zero. For the first time in history, England is set to be a net importer of the world’s most important mineral. This will be catastrophic for UK manufacturing, says Ruari McCallion
  • Today's Cryptogram

    03/28/2026 4:04:37 AM PDT · by nikos1121 · 8 replies
    ZQD WMIONZS BY I LDXVBT’V ONYD NV NT ENXDGZ LXBLBXZNBT ZB ZQDNX GBKKNZKDTZ ZB DUGDOODTGD, XDRIXEODVV BY ZQDNX GQBVDT YNDOE BY DTEDIPBX. —PNTGD OBKFIXEN
  • Epstein victims to get $72.5M from Bank of America settlement

    03/28/2026 3:49:18 AM PDT · by zeestephen · 23 replies
    CNBC (Business Website) ^ | 27 March 2026 | Dan Mangan
    In 2023, JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay Epstein victims $290 million and separately to pay the U.S. Virgin Islands $75 million. Deutsche Bank, that same year, agreed to pay victims $75 million...CNBC has requested comment from the two law firms that represented the victims in the suit filed in October 2025 - Boies Schiller Flexner and Edwards Henderson.
  • 'No Kings' calls itself leaderless but its own internal documents tell a very different story

    03/28/2026 3:31:15 AM PDT · by Libloather · 32 replies
    Fox News ^ | 3/28/26 | Leo Briceno
    "No Kings," a decentralized protest movement that crystallized in opposition to President Donald Trump's second term, will hold thousands of events on Saturday morning, according to Sarah Parker, an organizer for one of the events in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The protests mark the most recent development for the amorphous group, which has prompted similar events in the past. "Tomorrow we’re going to have over 3,500 events across the country," Parker said. "I think it’s important to be out in the streets at this moment in time to save our country. The events will be overwhelmingly peaceful and there are going to...
  • Chuck Norris learned of secret daughter nearly 30 years after brief affair

    03/28/2026 2:52:45 AM PDT · by dennisw · 29 replies
    fox ^ | Published March 27, 2026 | Stephanie Nolasco Fox News
    Looking at the letter, Norris called his mother, asking if she could talk with the woman claiming to be his daughter. The matriarch agreed to see her face-to-face instead. While Norris was initially hesitant to meet Dina, his mother called him, urging him to come over immediately. Dina was there. Seeing her stopped him in his tracks. "I walked into the living room and nearly had my breath knocked out of me," Norris wrote in his book. "There, standing before me, was a beautiful young lady. I was stunned, but the moment I saw her, I knew. I didn’t need...
  • Adorable Owl Rescued After Taking Nosedive Onto Busy SoCal Roadway

    03/27/2026 9:39:03 PM PDT · by nickcarraway · 20 replies
    New York Post ^ | March 27, 2026 | Nine Joudeh
    An adorable owl was rescued late Thursday evening by the California Highway Patrol after crashing onto a busy Southern California roadway. The injured owl was found on a busy three-lane road in Stevenson Ranch at about 10:14 p.m., officer Luis Quintero from the California Highway Patrol told the California Post. Officers spotted the beige, wide-eyed owl stranded along The Old Road, just north of Stevenson Ranch Parkway in Santa Clarita. Lying helpless in the left lane, the owl struggled on its back, wings fluttering against the pavement.
  • Taxpayers fund radical SoCal group helping run city’s No Kings protest

    03/27/2026 9:32:41 PM PDT · by Libloather · 11 replies
    California Post ^ | 3/27/26 | Jamie Paige
    Taxpayers are yet again helping fund disruptive activism in Los Angeles — this time the radicals planning to chaos across the city and county for Saturday’s “No Kings” protests, which organizers claim will be the biggest yet. One the leading groups participating in the event is the Liberty Hill Foundation, a social justice nonprofit that receives $14 million in Los Angeles city funding for tenant outreach and housing programs. Public filings show the group has donated tens of thousands of dollars to the ACLU of Southern California, raising further questions about taxpayer-supported organizations being used for radical political advocacy. ACLU...
  • Iran gives flimsy excuse why its probably gay and injured new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei hasn’t been seen

    03/27/2026 8:58:41 PM PDT · by Libloather · 14 replies
    NY Post ^ | 3/27/26 | David Propper
    Iran’s probably gay and likely incapacitated new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei hasn’t been seen publicly in a month — but it has nothing to do with poor health, the evil regime has claimed. Khamenei has been lying low for security reasons after his father, former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was wiped out by the US and Israel at the start of their war with Tehran. “The reason for his absence from public view is the observance of security considerations due to the current special circumstances,” said Ali Bahreini, Iran’s representative to the United Nations office in Geneva, CNN reported,...
  • How Genes Can Be Both a Cause and a Potential Fix for Autism: Severe Autism May Be Treatable

    03/27/2026 8:27:06 PM PDT · by SeekAndFind · 3 replies
    Epoch Times ^ | 11/08/2025 | By Marina Zhang
    Three children grew up in the same household, raised by the same parents, exposed to the same environment. Yet their lives unfolded in dramatically different ways—all because of a single gene. The older brother met all of his early developmental milestones and could read at the age of 5. He had an excellent memory for car license plates and could make rapid mental calculations. His social deficits, however, came to light once he started school. He was socially awkward, had few friends, couldn’t understand social cues, and was prone to mood swings. He was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, which is...
  • I need help in remembering a tv miniseries or tv movie

    03/27/2026 8:16:03 PM PDT · by Jonty30 · 50 replies
    Today | Jonty30
    What I remember about it is that it is approximately a Victorian era movie or miniseries. The show aired anywhere from the late 70's to late 80's. In the show, it involves an older sister or single mother and two younger children who are taken in by a compassionate wealthy young gentleman, possibly an aristocrat. He tries to raise the children to be fit for his level of society, but the young man becomes resentful of him and ends up stabbing him in the leg when the young man reveals that he is now broke because of bad investments. I...
  • AI Failure

    03/27/2026 7:19:20 PM PDT · by Tawiskaro · 22 replies
    I embarked on a vanity project to record some of my chess games against Shredder, my cell phone app. The games are recorded in algebraic notation, but I prefer the traditional English descriptive notation, so I asked ChatGPT to make the conversion. It kept correcting itself through multiple iterations. I finally had to stop it. I turned to Grok to get the conversion done. It seemed to work, so I asked Grok to illustrate the game with board positions at critical points in the game. It turned into a major league fail on steroids. I won't bore you with the...
  • Now it Can Be Told: The Lives Ruined by the COVID Jab

    03/27/2026 7:16:42 PM PDT · by SeekAndFind · 25 replies
    Hotair ^ | 03/27/2026 | David Strom
    Apparently, we can finally talk about it in the mainstream media. For years, we were censored, called names, and polls were done asking people whether we belonged in concentration camps. Half of Democrats believed it should be a criminal offense to question the efficacy of the vaccine. Seriously. Almost half of Democrats once believed that if you were a vaccine skeptic, you belonged in a camp and should have your children taken away. One of my own family members believed that. Other findings from the poll:Other punitive measures in the same pollFrom the same survey, with Democrat shares described in...
  • James Tolkan, ‘Back to the Future’ and ‘Top Gun’ Actor, Dies at 94

    03/27/2026 6:27:09 PM PDT · by Borges · 22 replies
    THR ^ | 3/27/26 | Mike Barnes
    James Tolkan, the character actor who expressed a disdain for “slackers” in the Back to the Future trilogy and portrayed Tom Cruise’s no-nonsense commanding officer in Top Gun, has died. He was 94. Tolkan died Thursday in Saranac Lake, New York, a family spokesperson announced. Tolkan also played Napoleon and his look-alike in Woody Allen’s Love and Death (1975) and was the crooked accountant known as Numbers who works for Big Boy Caprice (Al Pacino) in Warren Beatty’s Dick Tracy (1990). He appeared in three movies directed by Sidney Lumet: as a cop in the Pacino-starring Serpico (1973), as a...