Free Republic

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany – The body of an Air Force F-16 pilot who went missing during a night training flight late Monday was found Thursday off the coast of Italy, his family announced in a statement. “It is with great sadness that we announce that the body of Captain Lucas Gruenther was found in the Adriatic Sea this afternoon,” the statement said. Gruenther and his F-16 Fighting Falcon went missing at about 8 p.m. Monday roughly 150 miles south of Aviano Air Base, where his unit, the 31st Fighter Wing, is based. A massive search effort ensued, including Italian coast guard...

Once upon a time, a group of people known as the "Democrats" expressed great fear of tyranny by government. This was a time long, long ago, when a man from a place called Texas, representing a people known as the Republicans, occupied the White House. Leaders of the Democrats feared tyranny by the Republicans and called the man from Texas racist, oppressive and tyrannical. To refresh your recollection, we offer a few examples from the distant past: Billionaire Democratic contributor George Soros. He said the George W. Bush White House displayed the "supremacist ideology of Nazi Germany" and that Bush's...

A California man said he created the hoax involving former Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o and a fake girlfriend because he was in love with the football player. Ronaiah Tuiasosopo spoke publicly for the first time in an interview with Dr. Phil McGraw for the "Dr. Phil Show," the first part of which aired Thursday.

When Brandon Hooks’ mother introduced him to “Duck Dynasty,” he found the A&E reality series funny and entertaining. But he did not expect a television show to change his life. Hooks, 31, seldom attended church while growing up. The only time he went was when his family visited his grandmother’s house. Throughout most of his life, he gave faith little thought. He did, however, grow to love hunting and fishing. This passion for outdoor activities would help guide him to discover his own faith and love for Christ. In 2006, Hooks began dating his future wife, Jessica, 29, a member...

Obama's epic foreign policy failure: Rape squads of Tahrir Square: Marauding 'state-backed gangs' are still terrorising female protesters two years after revolution Daily Mail, 29 January 2013 | Reports of 19 group sexual assaults logged on Friday in Tahrir Square Claims that attacks are state-backed to deter women from protesting Egypt's head of army warns the country is facing collapse Sex attacks on female protesters in Egypt's Tahrir Square are premeditated and state-backed, claims an organisation that rescues sexually assaulted female activists. Last Friday marked the second anniversary of the Egyptian revolution and the highest number of sexual crimes against...

A jihadist website posted a new threat by al Qaeda this week that promises to conduct “shocking” attacks on the United States and the West. The posting appeared on the Ansar al Mujahidin network Sunday and carried the headline, “Map of al Qaeda and its future strikes.” The message, in Arabic, asks: “Where will the next strike by al Qaeda be?” A translation was obtained by Inside the Ring.

The Civil War ended nearly 150 years ago, but one college professor is bringing the era up in the debate over right-to-work in Michigan. Michigan State University Economics Professor Charles Ballard said that states that embraced slavery with a "long history of strong hierarchy and inequality in race relations" would naturally be supportive of right-to-work laws. "All of the states that seceded from the union in 1861, plus a stripe in the Midwest, in the plains and in the Rocky Mountains, those states are the poorest in the country," he said in an Mlive article based on comments he made...

Two surprises happened yesterday (NOT!)(1) The latest economic data reveals the already crappy economy continued to get crappier in the 4th quarter of 2012. (But wait but wait, the Democrat-media complex kept telling us the economy was getting better! And if you believed that tripe, I got a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn.)You know who was surprised? Associated Press and the "experts" they interviewed. But people actually paying attention weren't surprised in the least. In fact, some have been predicting it ever since President Golden Calf got into office. Here's El Rushbo on yesterday's show citing the aforementioned AP: [Y]ou...

The Syrian announcement of an Israeli air strike on a military site near Damascus Wednesday, Jan. 30, drew strong condemnation from Moscow the next day: "Such action if confirmed would amount to unacceptable military interference in the war-ravaged country," said the statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry Thursday. "If this information is confirmed, then we are dealing with unprovoked attacks on targets on the territory of a sovereign country, which blatantly violate the UN Charter and is unacceptable, no matter the motives to justify it." Israel has made no comment on the Damascus statement which described in detail an...

Guatemala -- Where is that, you ask? Generally this column comes to you from Washington, D.C. or New York City. Occasionally it comes from London or Paris. Today it carries the dateline of a seaport in Guatemala, and if it were written a day ago or two days hence it would carry the dateline of Belize. It is freezing up north. The inclement weather has driven me to tropical parts. Global warming sounds more and more agreeable to me and, frankly, if you have your wits about you, to you, too. The frozen remains of palm trees have supposedly...

Exclusive: Pamela Geller covers latest Hamas-CAIR attack on anti-savagery ads The Chicago branch of the Hamas-tied Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is trying to stop my organization’s campaign countering their bizarre jihad propaganda, threatening suit to keep our ads that tell the truth about jihad from running. Hamas-CAIR once again moves to silence the freedom of speech of those who stand against the jihad and Islamic supremacism. They are bent on imposing Shariah restrictions on criticism of Islam. It all started when Hamas-CAIR developed a new propaganda ad campaign, a psyop, that kicked off on Chicago buses and is now...

Report: Navy's P-8 Aircraft Plagued with Problems; Deployment in Doubt (c) asa663@verizon.net Received from a former P-3 crewmate. It would appear that there are some serious development problems with the new P-8 aircraft. Here is some input from a friend, USN Retired, who is working for a defense contractor who has a contract with both P-3 and P-8 development. He is working with the P3 but has a LOT of input from the P-8 part of the company. Three cases in point about the waste of our defense establishment. Sonobouy launching: The P-8 can’t launch sonobouys at any high speed....

Just a day before we learned the GDP fell from + 3.2% (the fairy tale told to us before November’s election) to -.01%, for the last quarter of 2012, Louisiana Democrat Senator Mary Landrieu pronounced the Obama Administration’s wild spending “problem” something that was made up by Fox News. Landrieu is one of the head cheer leaders of a new breed of “in-your-face” Democrat who simply deny anything is wrong with our economy – or anything else in America for that matter. “Who are you going to believe; me or your lying eyes?” comes to mind. She is joined by...

Madness. Your taxpayer dollars at work to advance Islamic culture: a culture, by its very nature, designed to destroy all others. They are at war with us. Would school students in 1944 have recited the Pledge in German? Mark Steyn discussed this very thing when we were fighting an Arabic public school in Brooklyn here in New York City, in my interview with him. "It shows how we mischaracterized, we willfully misunderstand Islam. Yes, on the face of it, yes, Arabic is a language. In a sense there would be no difference between opening a foreign language school -- a...

The National Staff Organization – a group comprised of teachers union organizers, negotiators and lobbyists – recently published an article in which it complains about an apparent rise in “workplace bullying.” The WAR – or Winter Advocacy Retreat – newsletter reads: “To get a handle on what workplace bullying looks like, unions have to consider bullying warning signs like continuous criticism, silent treatment or credit not being given to a worker. Then unions have to develop the strategies to deal with it and restore control to the situation.” Just let it marinate for a minute that unions are complaining about...

Be sure to wash those foods or cook them thoroughly... About 1 in 5 illnesses were linked to leafy green vegetables — more than any other type of food. And nearly half of all food poisonings were attributed to produce in general, when illnesses from other fruits and vegetables were added in... Many of the vegetable-related illnesses come from norovirus, which is often spread by cooks and food handlers. So contamination sometimes has more to do with the kitchen or restaurant it came from then the food itself...

For many Americans, Fox News is their “alternative” choice for news. They’ve made it the No. 1 cable news network, largely because they believe its “fair and balanced” promotional slogan. Many even believe Fox leans to the right and provides news they can’t get anywhere else. But is Fox really different from the rest of the media? Or has it been successful merely at positioning itself as different? Would it surprise you to know that individuals at News Corp., the parent company of Fox News, gave nearly six times as much money to Barack Obama than Mitt Romney in the...

I’ve just finished reading the 122 pages of Diane Feinstein’s latest “gun-control” bill, Senate Bill S.150, and was surprised to find some important things missing. Even more surprising was one small item briefly mentioned on page 13 that has not been reported in any “news” coverage I have seen. It’s a whopper — it invalidates her entire list of guns, and I’ve written ten books on this topic, I know what I’m saying! — but first, here’s what’s missing. 1. Criminals Nothing addresses criminals — everything is aimed at innocent people who haven’t done anything wrong. There is not even...

Dick Durbin told the NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre that background checks WILL deter criminlas from buying guns (apparently at places where background checks are conducted). And so it is good to know that Democrats are going to have background checks set up in "back alleys." /s Dems will also set up "Gun Free Zone" signs all across America in back alleys and the like, so that when criminals see these signs it will deter them from selling hot guns/stolen guns in those "back alleys." /s BTW, why is Sen. Feinstein using a Straw Man argument when she brings up malls...

A recent Loop item noted that outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, despite a record number of countries visited, was the only secretary in many years not to visit the Vatican — except for Warren Christopher. We were relying on the official records compiled by the State Department historian’s office. But some former top aides to Christopher insist the records are wrong, and they are pretty sure they were at the Vatican with President Clinton, Christopher and Pope John Paul II. Well, let’s see. The historian’s records say Christopher “accompanied President Clinton to meetings with Prime Minister Berlusconi, President Scalfaro,...