Free Republic

Today's post is in honor of Lance Cpl. Stephen E. Spencer, 23, or Portsmouth, R.I., who was one of 241 Marines, sailors, and soldiers killed in the Beirut Barracks Bombing (see below). A majority of the casualties from the terrorist attack were members of 1st Battalion, 8th Marines. 1864: In Westport, Mo. (present-day Kansas City), Maj. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis' 22,000-man Army of the Border defeats a heavily outnumbered Confederate force commanded by Maj. Gen. Sterling Price in the largest battle fought west of the Mississippi River. The Union brings an end to Price's Missouri Expedition with his defeat in...

SHARE: Nearly every country on Earth is defined by race or ethnicity. Not America. What makes the United States different? Dennis Prager outlines the values that have allowed the American people to flourish and, unlike immigrants almost everywhere else, transformed those who arrived from across the globe into full Americans—regardless of where they were born.

Today's post is in honor of 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta Master Sgt. Joshua Wheeler who was killed in action on this day in 2015. Wheeler, 39, of Roland, Olka., was conducting a joint U.S.-Kurdish operation to liberate prisoners from an Islamic State detention facility at the time of his death and was the first servicemember killed in action in Iraq since 2011. During his 20-year career, he had well over a dozen combat deployments, for which he was awarded the Silver Star, 11 Bronze Stars - several with the combat "V" device. 1951: Operation BUSTER-JANGLE, a series of low-yield...

SEOUL, Oct. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — The Korea Tourism Organization announced yesterday that it had developed three travel packages that allow tourists to visit the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The first package, the “Hwacheon DMZ Mt. Seorak Train Tour” had a total of 80 people leaving Busan and Miryang by train to make stops at the Observation Deck in Hwacheon, the Peace Dam, Bimok Park and other attractions. On the last day of the tour, visitors enjoyed the autumn foliage at the Jujeongol at Mangyeongdae Pavilion in Seoraksan National Park. The second program had 40 retired shipbuilding workers from the...

An Alternative for Germany (AfD) politician got himself in hot water over photos of his “pilgrimage” to Hitler-related sites. The politician was reportedly pictured with a candle in front of Hitler’s birthplace in the Austrian town of Brannau am Inn. He was also pictured near the Berchtesgaden Alpine retreat of the Fuhrer, as well as posing near swastikas and SS rune-bearing banners. While the scandalous pictures have not been released, the AfD acknowledged their existence. “The person concerned was clearly reminded by the state board that such incidents are unacceptable and incompatible with AfD membership,” Torben Braga, a party spokesman,...

October 21 is Trafalgar Day, the anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar and the death of England's greatest naval hero, Admiral Horatio Nelson, on 21 October 1805. Fought off the southwest coast of Spain, Trafalgar was the greatest naval victory of the Napoleonic wars and essentially destroyed the sea power of France in a single engagement. Nelson and the British fleet had been blockading the French and Spanish fleet under Villeneuve in Cadiz after pursuing it to the Caribbean and back. When Villeneuve finally emerged to give battle, Nelson, depending on the superior seamanship and fighting skill of his "band...

Osama bin Laden, the founder, and leader of terrorism conglomerate al-Qaeda, who was responsible for the deadly and devastating Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. soil, never was hiding in Afghanistan or its damp caves, according to explosive revelations in a new book from intelligence insiders and highly secret government documents. Thousands of Americans died that day and many more in the wretched aftermath. Instead, incredibly, bin Laden was whisked to a safe house in Iran following the deadly attacks on the World Trade Centers in New York, the Pentagon and the downing of a commercial jet in western Pennsylvania...

Older-but-wiser principal named Edwina Educator apologizes for dumb decisions she made when running a big public school. Only three-minutes long, this little video tells you everything you need to know about the public school system. Please share. ------------------------------------------------------------- I made it 6 years ago. The primary purpose was to test new video software called Xtranormal. You first type your script, then you can have characters move around and speak your words as you see in this video. Quite remarkable. Some of you would enjoy experimenting with it. Unfortunately Xtranormal, which was free, is dormant. Other options are now available but...

Former Clinton aide Philippe Reines says the twice unsuccessful presidential candidate is “seriously considering running against Trump in 2020. On the one hand, she’s really disappointed in how voters treated her in 2016. They had their chance to elect the smartest woman in America to be their president, but they blew it. On the other hand, her great love for the country may drive her to once again sacrifice her own personal comfort in one more battle to save the nation from the ravages of the Trump Administration and the Republican Party.” “She's concerned about the Trump agenda of fostering...

This week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) made a big show of unveiling results of a DNA test she asserted "proves my Cherokee heritage" and demanded "an apology and a million dollars" from President Trump, who had previously offered the sum for proof of the Senator's Indian heritage. Observers from various segments of the political spectrum were not as impressed as Warren had anticipated. The test was conducted by a personal friend, not an independent lab. No Cherokee DNA was involved in the test, samples from Mexico and Peru were used instead. The results indicated that the range of possible relationship...

<p>A judge has already thrown out one phony “lawsuit” filed by Carter Page, that one filed against Oath Inc., the parent company of Yahoo. Carter Page supposedly filed that ridiculous “defamation” suit because of a Michael Isikoff article published back on 23 September 2016 that named Carter Page, but the real and only reason for filing the suit was to protect and promote Michael Isikoff as a “source.”</p>

Today's post is in honor of Pvt. Edwardo J. Lopez, who was killed in action in Asad, Iraq on this day in 2006. The 21-year-old native of Aurora, Ill. was assigned to the 2d Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force. 1781: British Gen. Charles Cornwallis formally surrenders 7,087 officers and men, 900 seamen, 144 cannons, 15 galleys, a frigate, and 30 transport ships to an American and French force at Yorktown, Va., effectively ending the American Revolution. 1944: Two Interstate TDR assault drones are launched against Japanese gun emplacements on Ballale Island - one drone...

Flintlocks weren't the only weapon at the disposal of early American settlers – Indian tomahawks had a place and were even part of Revolutionary War soldiers' fighting kit. Tomahawks were general-purpose tools used by Native Americans and European colonials alike, and often employed as a hand-to-hand or a thrown weapon. I have always loved tomahawks. I got my first one 30 years ago. Dixie Gun Works had a sale on hand-forged heads for the ridiculously low price of $6, as I recall. I bought one and fitted a sturdy hardwood handle to it. It is no work of art, but...

“Hannah” is a rather special rifle, a Model 1874 Sharps from C. Sharps Arms that was “built around” a Badger No. 2 barrel in .44 caliber. The No. 2 barrels are heavy and that, as a result, gives this Hartford-style rifle a weight of over 15 pounds. Chambered for the .44-77 Sharps cartridge, Hannah is very pleasant to shoot and will reward this shooter with some very good groups. The idea for this rifle stemmed from a note I received from Pat Dulin at C. Sharps Arms, who wrote to tell me they had found this No. 2 Badger .44-caliber...

Today’s post is in honor of Staff Sgt. Jarred S. Fontenot, who was killed in action on this day in 2007. The 35-year-old native of Port Barre, La. died in Baghdad of wounds from an improvised explosive device and enemy small-arms fire. Fontenot was assigned to 2d Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 2d Brigade Combat Team, 2d Infantry Division. 1775: A small British fleet commanded by Capt. Henry Mowat bombards the town of Falmouth, Mass. (modern-day Portland, Maine), setting most of the coastal settlement on fire with incendiary cannonballs. Mowat then sends a landing party ashore to destroy any buildings that...

So I got an invitation today for Preservation Maryland.... ...and I'm not happy.

Today's post is in honor of Cpl. Jorge Villarreal Jr., who gave his life on this day in 2010 in Afghanistan's Helmand Province. The 22-year-old San Antonio native was killed when an improvised explosive device hit his vehicle. Villarreal was serving with the 1st Battalion, 11th Marines, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force.1918: Brig. Gen. William "Billy" Mitchell meets with American Expeditionary Force Commander Gen. John J. Pershing and floats the idea of dropping soldiers of the 1st Infantry Division behind enemy lines. Pershing approves the concept, but the war ends before paratroopers become a reality. 1922: Lt. Commander...

One tangible connection to the human cost of the Civil War can be found in the Frazier History Museum in Louisville, Ky., in the form of a beautifully engraved Henry repeating rifle, serial number 19. The rifles were highly prized on the battlefield. Confederates described the Henry as "that darn Yankee rifle that they load on Sunday and shoot all week." THE PROGENITOR of the Winchester repeaters, the Henry was a technological marvel in its time. It fired a .44-caliber, self-contained, metallic, rim-fire primed cartridge. The magazine held 15 shots, and one more could be loaded in the chamber, giving...

"I have serious concern over Elizabeth Warren's claim that she is a non-enrolled Native American, "proved" by DNA. ..... By trying to make Native American identity about race instead of tribal sovereignty, Warren has done more harm with this DNA test than she ever did with her false claim of being Cherokee. I truly hope authentic Native Americans watch what she does more than they listen to what she says. She is not a friend to us or our tribal governments. Instead, she is a "skeen yoneg" [white devil] and she's leading an attack on tribal sovereignty that could destroy...

I have been thinking for years about the language that the Left uses, such as "We will fight for _____", or "this is a struggle", or "you cannot be civil with...", or "fight in the streets", just to name some familiar and recent examples. The lexicon of the Left is clear and consistent - rational discussion is not tolerated. They don't value the dialectic. Heck, they don't even know what the dialectic is. What worse, the Left doesn't understand what the Constitutional right to assemble and protest means. They think it means they can assemble to physically intimidate their opponents...