Free Republic

Donald Trump on Saturday reiterated his belief that Japan should arm itself to deter a threat from North Korea rather than have the U.S. military protect the longtime ally against the rogue nuclear nation. Meanwhile, Trump throughout the day maintained that the U.S. should pressure NATO member states to begin "paying their fair share." "I would rather have them not arm, but I'm not going to continue to lose this tremendous amount of money. And frankly, the case could be made that let them protect themselves against North Korea. They'd probably wipe them out pretty quick," Trump said at a...

Many thanks to JLH for translating this report from Junge Freiheit. The translator includes this note: I can’t help wondering what the Foreign Legion must be like now. The translated article: France’s Police Have a Problem With Radical Muslims March 23, 2016 Security forces in front of a synagogue PARIS: The French police have a problem with Islamists in their ranks. In a confidential document from the Ministry of Public Security (Prefecture of Police) obtained by the newspaper Le Parisien, there is discussion of 17 cases of radicalization between 2012 and 2015. According to the document, officers on patrol heard...

This week the US Navy released some new guidelines concerning the wearing of tattoos. Like everything else in the Navy, like everything else in the US military, the policies are another indicator of the social changes which are turning the US Armed Forces into a three ring circus with weapons. According to Military.com, the new guidelines, which will go in effect on April 30th, set the Navy apart from the other military services in terms of permissiveness. They are an acknowledgement of a changing culture and a youthful population, officials said. Legalized pot is the sign of a changing culture...

Seven of 15 outside health advisors appointed to recommend ways to improve veterans’ health services over the next two decades have proposed shutting down all VA medical centers and outpatient services, and having its nine million enrollees get their medical care in the private sector. The 34-page “straw man” document released by the congressionally-created Commission on Care, calls for an immediate halt to construction of new VA hospitals and clinics, and launch of a “BRAC-like process” to begin closing existing facilities. Shuttering the largest medical system in the country would leave the VA to be “primarily a payor” for the...

SIERRA VISTA — Anticipating more air traffic and a need for more frequency space, the commanding major general at Fort Huachuca said plans are being prepared to expand Libby Army Airfield and other auxiliary air strips on the post. Speaking at the Fort Huachuca 50 dinner Thursday night at Pueblo del Sol Country Club, Maj. Gen. Scott Berrier said the expansions will help to reduce current and future congestion in the local air space as the fort increases its training missions. “The future is going to be very complex, and the way we think about it is that we need...

The investigative storytellers have released the final of season II podcast revising history of the Bergdahl ordeal. It began on June 30, 2009 when Bergdahl walked off Observation Post Mest after midnight. He left his post in an attempt to report how lousy his unit leadership was to Forward Operating Base Sharana some 20 miles away. He didn’t get too far before being captured by the Taliban. He was kept as a hostage by the Haqqani group in Pakistan. As he walked away from his base, Bergdahl left his gear, weapon and a note renouncing American citizenship. "Serial" finished its...

Dear Sister and Viking Kitty, Yes, I've been gone a long time. You see-- I was determined to become a professional blogger here at FreeRepublic. But after carefully juggling many electrons into halfway (halfwit?) decent posts, Jim 'Swiss Family' Robinson told me that I was not actually blogging, because FR is a FORUM, not a blog. I was stuned. Stymied. And, he told me he wasn't going to pay me for my posts or my barbed wire--and neither should I--taxpayer dollars should have built that wall decades ago. SO ..instead of getting a blogger stipend, I donated to FReepathons. Hope...

It’s hard to believe the resolve the United States once showed in defeating enemies. One wonders if in a 24/7 news cycle of “living room wars” whether this nation could have ever mounted the sustained effort it took to join the Allies in stopping Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. Americans today would find such will to win at any cost difficult to comprehend. Perhaps with Easter just passed, it is fitting to remember Easter of 1945 when the invasion of Okinawa, the last battle of World War II and the largest sea-air-land operation in history, began. It would also be...

It's a great time to be a despotic tyrant who threatens your neighbors. And as Khamenei knows, to be quite open about it. Who's going to do anything? Who would be enough of a fool to think that anyone with real power in Iran thought otherwise? Oh. Right. As always, beware of media characterizations that pretend this or that Iranian official is “moderate” or “more moderate” or whatever. They’re grading on a pretty radical curve when they tell you that, but it’s irrelevant at any rate. Only the mullahas have real power in Iran, and lest you have any doubt...

There’s a VA facility near my home and I pass by it about three times each week on the long runs I use to keep my body from stagnating as I grow older and achier. Seeing our American flag waving from a tall pole near the entrance to the veterans’ complex always puts a little bounce in my step. So I’m chugging by it last week wearing a sweat-stained PT shirt emblazoned with a replica of the Vietnam Service ribbon when a guy limping toward the entrance and leaning on a cane spots me. He smiles, waves and points to...

Donald Trump and his campaign manager are not perfect, nor are their detractors Americans, Israelis, and fair minded people all over the globe should be outraged at the U.S. Secret Service and the mainstream media, not at Donald Trump in America or the Israeli medic who shot the terrorist in Israel. In America, it has already been established that the Secret Service failed to prevent the reporter Michelle Fields from reaching and even touching the Republican frontrunner for the presidency of the United States. So the Secret Service should be condemned, and Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, should be...

I'm hours late on this post, but better late than never. For National Vietnam Veterans Day A great episode from the CBS News Vietnam Series with Walter Cronkite. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTcLw8l9rQQ

In the 1993 film, Gettysburg, Lieutenant General James Longstreet says to Harrison, the actor/spy from Mississippi, “You know what’s gonna happen here in the morning?” Longstreet was attempting to convince Harrison that participating in General Lee’s attack toward the center of the Yankee lines on July 3, 1863, might not be in the best interest for his health and general well-being. He was also pointing to the fact that Harrison, while motivated to the cause, was incredibly naïve. US Defense Watch to President Obama, Ash Carter, Ray Mabus, Eric Fanning and the Joint Chiefs… “You know what’s going to happen...

Like many officers in the retired community, I am puzzled as to why the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other senior service leaders are so supine in the face of those Obama administration’s policies that are clearly inimical to maintaining a strong national defense. The most blatant recent example is the policy to assign women to the combat arms. Whatever the prevailing political view may be, the Chairman, Chief of Staff of the Army, and Commandant of the Marine Corps know the policy is deeply flawed. Beyond compromising unit cohesion, morale, and combat effectiveness, the policy contains...

"I'll take a semiautomatic rifle any day of the week over a boltaction, and twice on Sunday." That's what my husband told me when I confessed my love of the Mauser M98 bolt-action. A discussion ensued, and we were not talking hunting – we were discussing war. Our passion for rifles and history often leads to a great deal of research and conversation. Neither of us has served in the military, but the conversation thankfully extends beyond the theoretics of our living room to those who have first-hand experience to tell it how it is, or was. Speaking with veterans...

The Daily Beast's foreign correspondent, Christopher Dickey, didn't pull any punches when asked what most Europeans think of GOP presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz and their recent statements about NATO and dealing with ISIS. After playing footage of former Sec. of State Hillary Clinton and Sec. of State John Kerry responding to Trump's assertion that the United States should rework our relationship with NATO, along with Ted Cruz and his constant threats to use carpet bombing to deal with ISIS, here's how Dickey responded to Chris Jansing's request for comment. JANSING: What's the concern that you're hearing Chris,...

The latest Islamic atrocity entailing the bombing of an airport and train station in Belgium has inspired US President Barack Obama to launch what is being called a "taunting offensive" against the Islamic State. "We will beat them by saying 'you are not strong, you are weak,'" Obama said. The President praised his own behavior as a model for all Americans to follow. "Rather than ranting in rage and threatening them with retaliation as the GOP candidates currently campaigning for president did, I mocked the terrorists by going to a baseball game with Cuban President Raul Castro and tangoing in...

Su Bin, also known as Stephen Su and Stephen Subin-a Chinese national-pleaded guilty to conducting an extended hacking campaign against two American defense contractors over the course of several years. He pled guilty this week to conspiracy and stealing military aircraft secrets and passed them on to China. Su Bin, 50, a businessman based in China, helped hack the networks of two aerospace companies and stole technical data on the Boeing C-17 strategic transport aircraft. The data included information on the airframes on board computers. He also was collecting computer files of the Lockheed F-35, F-22 stealth fighters and unnamed...

An Egg Harbor Township veteran who died after setting himself on fire Saturday outside a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs clinic in Northfield has drawn attention to problems in the VA system. Charles R. Ingram III, 51, was airlifted to the Temple Burn Center in Philadelphia on Saturday, where he died later that night, Northfield police said. No note of explanation was left at the scene or at Ingram's home, said Northfield acting Police Chief Paul Newman. RELATED ARTICLE EHT man sets himself on fire in Northfield Ingram's family members have declined to speak to The Press. But the public...

Will the Joint Chiefs ever make a stand against the Obama Administration? Will the Joint Chiefs ever stand up against the insane social engineering policies which are eviscerating the military like a late night Ginsu chef? Last September, General Martin Dempsey retired as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and escaped in a rowboat down the Potomac as the Pentagon began to sink into the cold depths of the wide, grey river. Dempsey’s reign of cowardice and political correctness was a genuine disaster for the US military. Under Dempsey and his sidekick, Army Chief of Staff, General Ray Odierno,...