Free Republic

1777: Marquis de Lafayette lands in South Carolina, having crossed the Atlantic on a ship that the 19-year-old French officer purchased with his own money. He soon makes fast friends with Gen. George Washington and the Continental Congress, and is offered a commission as a major general. 1917: Taking off from bases in Belgium, German Gotha bombers target London for the first time. Hundreds of civilians are killed and the air raids would continue, virtually unopposed, for the next month. 1942: While patrolling a beach on New York's Long Island, Coast Guardsman John C. Cullen catches four German saboteurs posing...

Here’s a brief update to the Pregnant Ranger story posted on US Defense Watch yesterday: A source at the Mountain Ranger Camp at Dahlonega has informed USDW that a female Ranger School student is indeed pregnant. Apparently, this student and her boyfriend are in the same Ranger School class (yes, Virginia, it’s not your grandfather’s, your father’s or even your older brother’s Army anymore). Both students were recycled during the Benning phase. While in the ‘Gulag’ awaiting the beginning of the Benning phase recycle, she got pregnant. She’s now at the Mountain Phase, and as of today, still has not...

European participants in the Obama-arranged "deal" that is supposed to discourage Iran from developing nuclear weapons insist that the country's stepped up uranium enrichment program does not violate the terms of the agreement. Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini, explained that "a careful reading of the terms shows that Iran has only agreed to forego attacking us with nuclear weapons until they are 'physically able to do so.' All work on bombs and delivery systems prior to the attainment of this capability are unconstrained by the agreement brokered by former US President Obama and his Secretary of...

1775: British Gen. Thomas Gage declares that the city of Boston is under martial law until the colonists repay for the tea they destroyed during the Boston Tea Party. Gage will pardon all colonists who lay down their arms except Samuel Adams and John Hancock, who are to be hanged. Meanwhile, British ships arrive at Machiasport (present-day Machias, Maine) to commandeer a load of lumber for the construction of barracks during the colonists' Siege of Boston. 31 militia members, led by Jeremiah O'Brien, board the merchant ship Unity and engage the British armed sloop HMS Margaretta. After an hour of...

Link only due to copyright issues: https://www.commondreams.org/views/2018/06/11/how-corporate-media-got-trump-kim-summit-all-wrong?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=socialnetwork

1871: Rear Adm. John Rodgers’ Asiatic Squadron lands 650 sailors and Marines on the Korean Peninsula. The force storms the Citadel, later known as Fort McKee, and after 15 minutes of fierce close combat, 243 Koreans lay dead and the American flag flies over the fortress. 1903: U.S. Military Academy cadet Douglas MacArthur graduates at the top of his class and receives his commission as a second lieutenant in the Engineer Corps. His father Arthur served as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army and earned the Medal of Honor during the Civil War, and the MacArthurs own the distinction...

(News, Comment, Analysis) "What will Israel's reaction to this be? How effective will Syrian air defenses be against a reaction? What will Russia's reaction be to Israeli attacks on its ally's forces?" Col. Pat Lang on his "Sic Semper Tyrannis" blog 6/10/2018 The word from Syria is that the Assad regime is planning their "largest offensive of the war" to launch this week. The report published by "Almasdar News" Saturday June 9th says the big offensive expected in southwestern Syria against the jihadists is about to kick off. The US State Department issued a statement May 25th warning the Syrian...

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and United States President Donald Trump held a bilateral meeting on Monday (Jun 11), just one day before Mr Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are due to meet for a planned summit on Sentosa island. Mr Trump was received by Mr Lee at the Istana, and was accompanied by secretary of state Mike Pompeo, national security adviser John Bolton, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and White House chief of staff John Kelly. Mr Lee is also hosting a working lunch for Mr Trump and his delegation. Mr Trump’s motorcade left...

EOS says in six to nine months the manufacturing plant will be in full production. Electro Optic Systems or EOS is an Australian company that's coming to the Rocket City. The company is based out of Australia but is now opening a United States Headquarters in Huntsville. The building will produce products of the company for the defense industry. Their United States President who has been a part of the defense industry in Huntsville for years told WAAY 31 about the products they will be manufacturing. "What you can do with this system is you can stay in the vehicle,...

Japan could invest in a small arsenal of land-based missiles, each carrying one or more nuclear warheads. The missiles could be stationed in hardened silos, like the American Minuteman III, or on mobile launchers like the Russian RS-24 Yars. A Japanese ICBM would be smaller, not needing the range and fuel to reach North America. The ability to reach all of China, European Russia and the Middle East would be sufficient. It is perhaps China’s greatest nightmare: a nuclear-armed Japan. Permanently anchored off the Asian mainland, bristling with nuclear weapons, a nuclear Japan would make China’s security situation much more...

Americans should “be rooting” for President Donald Trump at next week’s U.S.-North Korea summit on denuclearization, former President Bill Clinton said Thursday. “I think we should be rooting for [Trump] to succeed with the North Korea negotiations,” Clinton said in an interview with PBS NewsHour managing editor and anchor Judy Woodruff. Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are meeting June 12 in Singapore to discuss ending the regime’s nuclear weapons program — a goal that has eluded previous U.S. presidents, including Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Clinton. The summit could be successful even if it doesn’t produce...

FULL TITLE: VIDEO: Imran Awan’s Attorney’s Epic Meltdown: Slams Trump, Offers to Sell Case Evidence to Reporter for Cash, Calls Marine a Criminal Imran Awan’s attorney Chris Gowen is not the brightest bulb in the shed. The attorney snapped Thursday, unleashed an epic meltdown that could jeopardize his client’s scheduled plea hearing on July 3. Unglued is not a strong enough word to describe Gowen’s rant, triggered by Crowdsource the Truth editor Jason Goodman who recorded the phone call. Gowen likely crossed the legal line, offering to sell Goodman evidence in the Awan case for $1,000. That offer came after...

The other day out in the wild of Social Media the Russian Systema Serbia was showing off their tactical prowess by surfing down a staircase which caught lots of attention. Well, Mike the Cop on Facebook who always likes to try out new things, decides he wants to see how hard is it to do this tactical surfing and see if its worth doing. What he finds out is that its easy to learn to do but reality is that it hurts (like hell) when you try to surf this tactical style down a staircase. He may have done better...

If somehow North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agrees to a disarmament-and-peace deal with President Trump at talks planned for June 12, one reason may be this: He wants to reduce the heavy burden of paying for one of the world’s largest standing armies. North Korea’s spending on its military eats up about a third of the official budget – yet one more cause of its mass poverty. No other country ranks as high in military expenditures as a percentage of the overall economy. And to add to this burden, 1 out of every 25 North Koreans serves in the armed...

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan said on Wednesday it had cut all defence ties with North Korea, in a rare admission that it used to have such ties in the first place. The announcement came as Washington is locked in a standoff over Pyongyang's missile and nuclear weapons programmes, and as Sudan, which is still on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, reels from an economic crisis. "Sudan's government would like to affirm that its defence production sector has cancelled all contracts ... with North Korea, and ended all relations, direct or through a third party," the foreign ministry...

The reality of a Free World depends upon clear-minded people who love freedom so much that they would be willing to sacrifice their own lives for such Liberty, and that is why the very real sacrifices made on D-Day should always be remembered Remembering D-Day with the genuine sense of danger, destruction, and death that had stained that dark period of world history will soon be lost to the generations of youth who will inherit the future. D-day belongs to cobwebs of history, and the old, old soldiers who returned from the horrors of that war have faded into the...

Calvin Congden posted the above picture on facebook during December of 2015. It was taken in front of the Christmas tree in his home. He is a military veteran who has had extensive firearms training. Notice the correct trigger finger placement. Notice the military medals and the American flag. He routinely volunteered as a Santa Clause for Hillsdale Foster Care Children. He had recently transferred from Michigan Department of Corrections to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.  His picture was used to denigrate him to fellow employees, his lawsuit contends. He was later "constructively terminated". From freep.com:...

The Soviet Union was the first to begin developing firearms specifically for their combat divers. The Soviet Navy was worried about divers attacking their ships in their naval anchorages, and in particular those of the Black Sea fleet based in Sevastopol, located on the Crimean Peninsula, and Odessa, Ukraine. These anchorages could be easily threatened by NATO forces operating out of Turkey. The Soviet Navy had as many as 1,000 combat divers in their Black Sea fleet, but averaged about 300 in most other naval bases. Known as Naval Spetnaz divers, these divers were not trained to the same level...

When you think of tactical movements with guns, you would think of deliberate movements, covering all angle and cool postures. Tactical movements down a staircase should be just that, however, these guys from Russian Systema Serbia may know something that we in the U.S. don't. These Russians are surfing down a stair case. The first thing that comes up is how practical is this? And, why and when would you ever do this? Other than to look cool. Anyways its still fun to watch Not sure why tactical school is teaching this technique, but it's definitely strange to say the...

ROBERTSDALE, AL (WALA) - Baldwin County has landed another manufacturer from outside the US. Canada-based AdvanTec Marine will be setting up shop in Robertsdale. AdvanTec manufactures closures and fittings for yachts and ships and this will be their first facility in the southeast US. The company plans to hire 46 workers and AdvanTec will be putting out an annual payroll of nearly two and a half million dollars. Most of the jobs are high-paying, skilled labor jobs. Very soon, an empty warehouse in the Robertsdale Industrial Park will be a thriving business once again. It’s been vacant since Hydrotech Industries...