Free Republic

Bells will ring across the country and in Lynchburg on Thursday to mark the 150th anniversary of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s surrender to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in Appomattox, the symbolic end of four years of bloodshed. A historic bell will be rung at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park at 3 p.m., the time the surrender occurred. People at historic sites, schools, parks, government buildings and within communities throughout Lynchburg and the country will join in at 3:15 p.m., ringing bells for four continuous minutes, representing the four years of fighting.

The surrender of Confederate Robert E. Lee to Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant 150 years ago Thursday was the definitive milestone of the end of the Civil War.

In a speech one month ago, the first black president of the United States challenged millions of white Americans to resist the convenient allure of overlooking the country’s blemished moral record. It was a dual challenge, actually—first to the classical understanding of American exceptionalism, but also to America’s persistent critics, who abjure the concept of exceptionalism altogether. “What greater expression of faith in the American experiment than this?” President Barack Obama said. “What greater form of patriotism is there than the belief that America is not yet finished, that we are strong enough to be self-critical, that each successive generation...

On March 30, 2005, Terri Schiavo had her last full day of life on this earth and both her family and Father Frank Pavone of Priests for Life will never forget the last moments they shared with the woman whose former husband won a court order to take her life.Terri was killed on March 31, 2005 when her former husband won a protracted legal battle against the Schindler family for the right to disconnect her feeding tube. Doctors who examined Terri say she was not in a persistent vegetative state and that her condition could have been improved has she...

IOTO, Japan — Dozens of aging U.S. veterans, many in their early 90s and some in wheelchairs, gathered on the tiny, barren island of Iwo Jima on Saturday to mark the 70th anniversary of one of the bloodiest and most iconic battles of World War II. More than 30 veterans flown in from the U.S. island territory of Guam toured the black sand beaches where they invaded the deeply dug-in forces of the island’s Japanese defenders in early 1945. They were bused to the top of Mount Suribachi, an active volcano, where an Associated Press photo of the raising of...

How does one celebrate the 39th anniversary of the day one was convicted of armed robbery and use of a firearm to commit a felony? Long walk with your prize-winning dog? A cake? A shot and a beer? I'm sure that whatever Patty Hearst does today, it'll be done in style, for it's her conviction about which I'm talking. Yup, it was this day in 1976 when a jury of her peers (as much as anyone can be the peer of a wealthy socialite) came back from 12 hours of deliberation and delivered that verdict. You know her story, of...

On this day in 1965, state police under the command of the Democrat Governor, George Wallace, attacked African-Americans who were demonstrating for voting rights in Selma, Alabama. The rampaging Democrats used billy clubs and tear gas and dogs in their “Bloody Sunday” assault. A Republican-appointed federal judge, Frank Johnson, soon ruled in favor of the demonstrators, enabling them to complete their march two weeks later.

Turkey’s Ziraat Bankasi General Manager Hüseyin Aydin has told reporters that the state-run lender plans to launch its off-shoot, Ziraat Katilim Bankasi, an Islamic participation bank, on May, 29, which is the anniversary of the Ottoman conquest of Istanbul. “The 300 million dollar-equivalent Turkish Lira capital has been provided by the Treasury,” Aydin said March 5 while speaking to reporters in Istanbul on the sidelines of a joint meeting of the Union of Arab Banks (UAB) and the Banks Association of Turkey (TBB), which he personally chairs. The participation bank will open 20 branches this year and will operate as...

Some of the fashions at fashion week are so crazy it’s hard to tell if they’re real or not. So we had some of the guys in our graphics department make some fake ones..

Jewish community leader trapped inside Auschwitz concentration camp after getting locked in while filming a television show on the 70th anniversary of its liberation. The head of Rome’s Jewish community found himself locked into Auschwitz on Tuesday night and then arrested when he tried to escape. Riccardo Pacifici was doing a television interview after the ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the camp’s liberation, when he realised the camp’s gates had been closed. Mr Pacifici was locked in with Jewish community spokesman Fabio Perugia, the television host and two technicians. Mr Pacifici, whose grandparents died in the camp, spent...

As pro-life supporters from around the nation gather in Washington, D.C. today to mark the 42nd memorial of the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that decriminalized abortion in the U.S., Operation Rescue announces that two more abortion facilities have permanently closed. “Today, as pro-lifers, we should be encouraged that our efforts have not been in vain. Abortion clinics are closing in record numbers due to their tireless work of men, women, and young people all across this nation,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “America is beginning to reject abortion, and that is evidenced in closed clinics and...

North Korea seized the USS Pueblo and accused the crew of spying. The crew was released 11 months later. NK, however, kept the vessel.

The Polish Mission to the UN hosted a special event on Wednesday marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz from the Germans titled “Why have we failed at preventing genocide and how to change that?” Speakers at Wednesday’s conference included four out of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (China was the only no-show), the Polish ambassador, as well as the ambassadors from Israel, Rwanda, Germany, and several distinguished historians and NGO heads, including a presentation from Professor Piotr Cywi´nski on what Auschwitz looks like today. Israel’s ambassador Ron Prosor opened his address invoking the...

On the New York City subway, Bernhard Goetz, a 45-year-old white male, shoots four young black men after they surround him and ask for $5. After wounding three of the unarmed men, Goetz pointed his gun at 18-year-old Darrell Cabey, who was not wounded but cowering terrified in the subway car, and said, "You don't look too bad, here's another." Goetz then shot Cabey in the back, severing his spinal cord. Three of the youths recovered, but Cabey was paralyzed and suffered permanent brain damage.

Happy Clinton Impeachment Day! On this day in 1998 Bubba Clinton was Impeached By the House. Unfortunately, the Senate then, as now, had no backbone and the traitor miscreant was not removed. In the next few months we have an even graver threat to our Liberty to deal with. The GODless communist usurper, who fancies himself as dictator, MUST be removed and incarcerated! Let's pray, for the sake of our beloved Country, that congress will swiftly do what's best for our future by upholding The Constitution and removing Baraq Hussein mohammed 0bama!

Belgium’s King Philippe, right, and Queen Mathilde throw nuts to the public, during the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge, in Bastogne, Belgium, on Saturday. The tradition dates from when the Germans asked for the US surrender in Bastogne, to which General Anthony McAuliffe answered: ‘Nuts!’ Photograph: Yves Logghe/AP Braving snowy weather, Americans and Belgians gathered in the Ardennes on Saturday to mark the 70th anniversary of one of the biggest and bloodiest US battles of the second world war, the Battle of the Bulge. Jean-Claude Klepper, 62, of Virton, Belgium, said “we must never forget what...

At dawn on Dec. 7, 1941 the I-26 surfaced and fired a warning shot at the Cynthia Olson, the radio officer sent out an SOS from position 33.42N-145.29W which was picked up on the mainland and Minoru reported seeing lifeboats being lowered, after which he began to shell the ship. Some time during the attack the Japanese commander received the signal "Tora, tora, tora!" indicating the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor had been a success. Compaired to what was going on at Pearl Harbor his attack would be easy. Since the Cynthia Olson was unarmed she would offer no resistance,...

Back on top: World Trade Center reopens for business 13 years after 9/11 terrorist attack as first employees move in Thirteen years after the 9/11 terrorist attack, the resurrected World Trade Center is again opening for business - marking an emotional milestone for both New Yorkers and the nation. Publishing giant Conde Nast will start moving on Monday into One World Trade Center, a 104-story, $3.9 billion skyscraper that dominates the Manhattan skyline. It is America's tallest building.

NORFOLK--Fourteen years after al Qaida suicide bombers attacked the USS Cole, shipmates, friends and families of the fallen sailors will come together to remember. A private ceremony is planned Sunday at Naval Station Norfolk. It was October, 12, 2000, when the guided missile destroyer was refueling at the Port of Aden, Yemen, when terrorists blew a 40 x 40-foot hole in the ship's hull, killing 17 crew members. Former Cole sailor Anthony VanCampen served as ship's bugler then. He plans to play "Taps" at this weekend's memorial service. "The biggest thing for me is that somebody has to tell the...

In 1979, after a long campaign of political pressure applied by the Carter administration in the United States, the Shah of Iran fell to the Islamic Revolution, ending a tradition of monarchic rule that had persisted in Iran for thousands of years since the rule of Cyrus the Great. The stage was set for the rise of the Ayatollah, and the establishment of a theocracy in Iran that, today, most Iranians do not even want. But what if none of that had ever happened? While a momentous departure from actual history, it is not nearly so far-fetched as it sounds....