Free Republic

A grateful nation is honoring a living hero this June. Marine Cpl. Kyle Carpenter threw himself on a grenade to protect his friends on Nov. 21, 2010. He lived, but his wounds were grievous. According to Huffington Post, “he lost his right eye and injured his left, both eardrums were blown, most of his teeth were blown out and much of his jaw was missing. His right arm was shattered, his left arm, wrist and hand had multiple breaks, his right lung collapsed and he had shrapnel wounds in his legs.

Yesterday, the video of a heroic cat saving a boy from a vicious dog attack went viral. Today the family is speaking out about their furry friend,

Cristina Simoes was watching television with her son Camron when their apartment complex caught on fire. At first she went to the front door only to realize that a heavy smoke was filling the hallways, blocking their escape.While waiting for First Responders, she finally realized she had no choice but to jump with her baby. The superhuman mom said of her choice: “It’s so worth it because he’s okay.”  WATCH:

<p>Two Alameda County sheriff's deputies were beaten trying to break up a fight between two men at an apartment in Castro Valley, authorities said Sunday.</p> <p>The deputies responded about 11 p.m. Saturday to reports of a fight at a complex on the 2400 block of Grove Way, said Sgt. Ray Kelly, a sheriff's spokesman.</p>

LITTLE FALLS, Minn. — A Minnesota man who killed two teenagers who broke into his home can be heard on an audio recording talking to himself for hours after the shooting and at one point, apparently describing the slain teens as "vermin." Byron Smith, of Little Falls, faces first-degree premeditated murder charges in the deaths of 18-year-old Haile Kifer and 17-year-old Nick Brady on Thanksgiving Day in 2012. Smith, 65, claimed he was defending himself and feared for his life after several break-ins at his home. Prosecutors, though, say Smith planned the killings. They say he sat in a chair...

Normally I don’t have any special affection for the TV show 60 Minutes. So trust me when I say I was overwhelmed by the show on March 30. I wish every student in middle school or high school could see this program. They would see heroism, genius, ethics, inventiveness, capitalism at its best, visionary talent, the future unfolding, all the things they need to see. The first segment was about a young manager of a brokerage firm. He saw trading irregularities he didn’t like, and did something about it. (Most of us won’t understand the math but you will quickly...

A Good Samaritan stopped and helped an injured dog that somehow ended up in the HOV lane of the Eastex Freeway early Friday. The dog was spotted in the outbound HOV lane near Tidwell shortly before 8:30 a.m. Animal Control officers were called to the scene, however it was a Good Samaritan who was able to get there first. Rickey Young, a father and contractor, said he heard about the problem on the radio and wanted to do something to help. “I’m just kind of a softy on that stuff,” he said. “I have a dog and would hate to...

Today's TopClip features a remarkable tribute for a legendary man. Radio legend Mark Levin remembered the life and heroism of Walter Ehlers, the last living Medal of Honor recipient from D-Day in WWII, who died late last week at the age of 92. Rest in peace, Staff Sergeant Ehlers. - TRNWATCH/LISTEN:

Artist Mauro Pallotta. Credit: Andreas Dueren/CNA. Vatican City, Jan 29, 2014 / 10:02 am (CNA).- Artist Mauro Pallotta revealed that his viral depiction of Pope Francis as a superhero was done to portray how the pontiff uses his papal authority “for the good.” “I thought of representing this Pope, Francis, as a super hero of the Marvel (Heroes), simply because, according to me, he is one of the few people who, having a real power as a Pope, he uses it for the good like the superheroes of the American Marvel,” Pallotta told CNA on Jan. 29. Pallotta, 41, is...

Rick Williams is a hero for trying to save the life of fellow Revenue-Virginius Mine worker Nicholas Cappanno in a mine accident Sunday that took both their lives, Cappanno’s brother, Eric Keep, said Monday. Cappanno, a 34-year-old Montrose resident, was new to the hard-rock mine industry, having worked at the Ouray County mine only a few weeks, Keep said. He died alongside Williams, his immediate supervisor in the newly reopened silver and gold mine just southwest of Ouray, in an accident that also injured 19 others early Sunday. “He worked in the gas patch for years, but that would take...

A Pentagon probe into the mishandling of hero Army Capt. William Swenson's Medal of Honor nomination found retired Army Gen. David Petraeus had sought to downgrade it, but shed no light on why the soldier's file was scrubbed from military computers and never passed up the chain of command. Swenson, who was nominated for the military's most prestigious award for helping to extract fellow soldiers from a 2009 ambush in Afghanistan's Ganjgal Valley, was given the medal last month by President Obama based on a duplicate file. He and his advocates have expressed bitterness over the fact that his nomination...

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...