Free Republic

U.S. Army Ranger Cpl. Josh Hargis was lying on a hospital bed in Afghanistan, hooked up to a breathing tube with his right hand heavily bandaged when he was awarded a Purple Heart for his valor in the battlefield. None of that, however, stopped Hargis, 24, from following military protocol and lifting his bandaged hand to salute the Ranger Regimental Commander who pinned the Purple Heart to his red, white and blue blanket. "Grown men began to weep and we were speechless at a gesture that speak[s] volumes about Josh's courage and character," one of the officers present in the...

In only seven days, Sen. Ted Cruz will address the largest political gathering of conservatives in Virginia. Do you have your tickets, yet? On the day he speaks, it will be exactly one month to the election of a new governor for the Commonwealth and we're building momentum! I personally invite you to come and listen to Ted Cruz, along with Ken Cuccinelli, and over 1,000 politically-active conservative Virginians. Come be inspired.

The Greatest Hero America Never Knew The true story of Waco's Col. Robert Howard. By by David Feherty The Department of Homeland Security is not doing its job. As proof, I, David Feherty, a 17-year resident of the Dallas area but an Irishman by birth, recently became an American citizen. There goes the neighborhood—but yay, me! The reason I felt compelled to become an American is my Troops First Foundation, a nonprofit organization that does its best to improve the quality of life and future prospects of some of our most severely wounded servicemen and women. I became involved after...

'The remarkable story of the first victim of the September 11 terrorist attacks has been revealed for the first time in a new biography. Internet entrepreneur Danny Lewin was 31-years-old when he was killed on American Airlines Flight 11 as he fought to stop hijackers from taking over the plane.'

Gilberton, PA, Police Chief Mark Kessler was suspended after posting videos of himself shooting borough-owned automatic weapons and shouting obscenities about liberal attacks on the Second Amendment. And heading into the August 30 Gilberton Borough Council meeting--where he is expected to learn his professional fate--Kessler makes it clear he is willing to lose his job for the Second Amendment.

A woman in a wheelchair and a 10-year-old were the unlikely heroes at a Decatur apartment fire Thursday. A mother's desperate action to save her babies turned neighbors into rescuers. "I caught the newborn baby from falling. Before it had hit the ground I caught it," said Zna Gresham, 10. Gresham said she just did what was asked after she ran out of her burning apartment to safety outside. "Then when I was getting out, the lady from upstairs, she was dropping her babies and she asked me and my sister can she get the babies for her," Zna told...

One of the most severely wounded survivors of the Benghazi terror attack, Diplomatic Security agent David Ubben, risked his life to help save his fellow Americans, and is still being treated at Walter Reed medical center to this day, Fox News has learned. Fox News is the first news organization to make direct contact with Ubben -- who has had multiple surgeries at Walter Reed to save his right leg, which was badly wounded in the Sept. 11 attack. Fox News has also learned new details about Ubben's heroic actions on the night of the attack, including fighting alongside the...

Perhaps I am out of line here, but I am growing tired hearing the GOP calling Snowden a traitor. Before he leaked that the government is spying on all of the people in just about every way possible. I had no clue. If we, the freeest people since the beginning of time, cannot compose a simple email without it being opened and read by who knows who, then I say, we have lost freedom of the most basic nature and I am, if no one else, is better knowing it because of Snowden than not. Am I off base on...

A mother fought to keep her family alive as they clung to their capsized boat in cold water infested with jelly fish while her brother swam for five hours to get help. Contessa L. Riggs, 43, of Washington D.C., was fishing off the coast of Deal Island, Md., on Tuesday with her brother, John Franklin Riggs, her 70-year old father, 9-year-old niece and 3-year-old son, when a thunder storm struck. "It was sundown. The water suddenly became very choppy and a wave crashed into the boat, filling the boat with water," Riggs told ABC News. -snip Riggs knew that nobody...

MARINE MISSING IN ACTION FROM KOREAN WAR IDENTIFIED The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Korean War, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors. Marine Pfc. Richard S. Gzik, 19, of Toledo, Ohio, will be buried Sept. 28, at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. On Dec. 2, 1950, Gzik and the other Marines of M Battery, 11th Artillery Regiment, 1st Marine Division, came under attack on the west side of the Chosin Reservoir in North...

Sen. Ted Cruz is joining Tea Party activists in calling on Congress to abolish the Internal Revenue Service as the freshman lawmaker made the case from tax reform. The Texas Republican on Monday said news that the IRS targeted the nonprofit applications of conservative-leaning political groups was an "inspiration" because of how it has sparked "normal American citizens that are standing up for liberty." In the wake of the IRS scandal, Tea Party groups have repeatedly called for the agency to close its doors, and Cruz, a hero of the conservative movement, echoed their sentiments. "It is a challenge that...

From a speech in Prague, Berlin and Paris. First published in the Paris newspaper "Возрождение (Vozrozhdenie, Revival)", № 15 dated June 17, 1925. *** Today we turn our thoughts to the Russian national hero Lavr (Laurel) Georgiyevich Kornilov. While people are alive and as long as they believe in God, so long out of their midst heroes will arise to lift and carry on himself the burden of their lives. And as long as the nation is alive, which gave birth to such a hero, as long as it is alive and bearing in its heart the faith in God,...

Director Oliver Stone brought thunderous applause to a crowd of more than 500 festivalgoers at the 16th Shanghai International Film Festival in China on Monday when he praised whistleblower Edward Snowden as a “hero.” In response to a passionately worded indictment from an audience member accusing the U.S. National Security Agency of “eavesdropping on the world,” the celebrated—and provocative—director said, simply: “Snowden is a hero,” before launching into a brief discussion of the revelations about the U.S. spy programs and their aftermath. …

The whistleblower who leaked details of top-secret US surveillance programmes has disappeared from sight in Hong Kong - with Russia saying it would consider granting him asylum. Edward Snowden, 29, left his hotel on Monday, ahead of a probable attempt by the US government to have him returned to face charges. Mr Snowden, who was a contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA), had admitted giving details of the monitoring of phone calls and internet data, from companies such as Google and Facebook, to The Guardian and Washington Post. He checked out of Hong Kong's Mira Hotel, where he was...

Edward Snowden, the 29-year-old who leaked information about the NSA's data surveillance programs, said he had the authority to wiretap even the president's email if he had a personal email address. In an interview with Glenn Greenwald the UK Guardian posted on Sunday, Snowden said while the NSA surveillance programs were at first more narrowly tailored, the agency now "specifically targets the communications of everyone" and stores them because "it's the easiest and most efficient" way to achieve their ends. He said he had the authority to wiretap nearly everyone in the United States.

So I guess you’ve heard. Fading, 34 year-old NBA free agent Jason Collins has been declared a hero for publicly announcing that he digs dudes. Well, it’s about time! Used to be all a guy had to do was die at Omaha Beach or some other such nonsense. The Imperialist USA is finally seeing some major progress. What callous soul wouldn’t be moved by this youngish man’s gallantry? Who wouldn’t shudder at his sacrifice? Merriam-Webster’s defines courage as “mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.” Think of it. Just as his middling basketball career...

In an age when it seems heroes are hard to come by, it’s stirring to see a genuine hero in action. Last August, FRC building manager Leo Johnson was temporarily manning the front desk at our Washington headquarters when a now-confessed terrorist intent on killing everyone in the building entered with a handgun and 100 rounds of ammunition. As he drew his gun, Leo courageously charged the attacker into oncoming gunfire. Even after sustaining a direct hit to his forearm, he subdued the attacker and wrestled the gun away from him. Leo Johnson’s heroism saved countless lives that day. Now...

MIT has identified the police officer killed in the line of duty on Thursday evening as Patrol Officer Sean A. Collier, 26, of Somerville, Mass. Collier had served as a member of the MIT Police since Jan. 9, 2012, following service as a civilian employee with the Somerville Police Department. He was single and a native of Wilmington, Mass. “Sean was one of these guys who really looked at police work as a calling,” said MIT Police Chief John DiFava. “He was born to be a police officer.” Collier was shot Thursday evening following an altercation at the corner of...

Now, he’s flying with the angels. Tom Griffin, one of just five surviving Doolittle Raiders, died Tuesday night in his sleep at the Fort Thomas VA hospital in Kentucky. He navigated one of 16 North American B-25 Mitchell bombers from an aircraft carrier in the middle of the Pacific during the early dark days of World War II to launch a surprise daylight attack on Tokyo, lifting American morale. The longtime Green Township, Ohio, resident was 96. By his own count, Mr. Griffin cheated death eight times during World War II. The first time was when he took off in...

The Republican attorney general's controversial comments in his upcoming tome could come back to haunt him in the Virginia governor's race.Pragmatic Republicans looking to hang onto the governorship in Virginia have been hoping that their nominee, state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, would tailor his outspoken conservative views for a more-moderate Old Dominion electorate.  But based on excerpts released from his new book, Cuccinelli is making no apologies — and comes out swinging hard against all government entitlement programs.According to reports from Politico and The Washington Post, Cuccinelli doesn’t limit his criticism of government programs, but also is skeptical of its...