Free Republic

Lt. Gen. David Berger has been confirmed by the Senate as the new commandant of the Marine Corps, replacing Gen. Robert Neller this summer, according to a service statement Thursday. Gen. Berger will receive his fourth star before taking his post as the 38th Marine Corps Commandant during a change of command ceremony in July. The full Senate confirmation vote came hours after Sen. Dan Sullivan dropped his block on Gen. Berger’s nomination on Wednesday.

Ford has announced plans to close an engine plant in Wales, dealing yet another blow to a UK industry that is being ravaged by weak car sales and uncertainty over Brexit. The US automaker said it would shutter its plant in Bridgend by September 2020, when a contract to supply engines to Jaguar Land Rover ends. Some 1,700 people work at the factory. Ford (F) said Brexit did not influence its decision. But the company had previously warned that it may have to close plants if Britain leaves the European Union without protecting trade.

“Hans Sauer of BIO said that it is easy to argue—after the heavy lifting of discovery and development has been done and a product has made it to market—that it should not be patented in the public interest. ‘As if innovative products fell from the sky and ought to go directly into the public domain…. It is right to encourage complaints about problems, but we must do so with an appreciation of the system’s longer-term benefits for society.’” Wednesday’s Senate hearing on patent eligibility reform, which began more than 30 minutes late due to votes on the floor, opened with...

As part of a broader plan intended to make housing more affordable, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) on Wednesday proposed a tax credit that would effectively cap the rent most Americans pay at 30 percent of their income — a move his presidential campaign said would help 57 million people. The release of Booker’s proposals comes amid plans from several Democratic candidates on a wide array of subjects ahead of the party’s first debate later this month. Though Booker has traveled extensively to early nominating states, he has yet to gain traction in polls among the crowded field of Democrats. With...

Now that Robert Mueller has closed up shop as special counsel and shot off fireworks at his final press conference, the country can step back and assess the job he did. The results are decidedly mixed. Mueller made two vital contributions. The first was an in-depth investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. He concluded it was systematic and favored Donald Trump. The second was an intensive examination of possible coordination between the Russians and the Trump campaign. He concluded that no charges were warranted against any Americans. The country needed those investigations and Mueller deserves praise for conducting...

The meaning behind the "D" in D-Day has to do with military terminology. On the morning of June 6, 1944, Allied forces staged an enormous assault on German positions on the beaches of Normandy, France. The invasion is often known by the famous nickname “D-Day,” yet few people know the origin of the term or what, if anything, the “D” stood for. Most argue it was merely a redundancy that also meant “day,” but others have proposed everything from “departure” to “decision” to “doomsday.” According to the U.S. military, “D-Day” was an Army designation used to indicate the start date...

After World War I, Germany's economy suffered from depression and a devaluation of their currency. On January 30, 1933, Adolph Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany by promising hope and universal healthcare. Less than a month later, on February 27, 1933, a crisis occurred -- the Rheichstag, Germany's Capitol Building, was suspiciously set on fire. Hitler was quick to use this crisis as an opportunity to set aside Germany's Weimar Republic and seize emergency powers as a dictator. He suspended basic rights and accused his political opponents of conspiracy. He ordered mass arrests followed by executions, even ordering his SS...

Whenever a new king took over an empire in the days of the Old Testament, there were certain threats and dangers that went along with the assumption of the throne. These dangers were heightened when a person outside of the previous monarch’s own family took over. When that happened, the transition was rarely smooth. Immediately people would come out of the woodwork with a claim on the throne and frequently, these people would try to raise their own army to take over the country. Because of those threats, the smart thing for the new king to do would be to...

Mikey McBryan, youngest son of 'Buffalo' Joe McBryan both of Buffalo Airways and 'Ice Pilots' fame undertook a D-Day DC3 restoration project in DEC 2018...

The Trump campaign is requesting that a federal court sanction the Democratic National Committee (DNC) over its lawsuit alleging that the campaign conspired with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election, citing special counsel Robert Mueller’s report. In a court filing Tuesday evening, attorneys for the campaign said Mueller’s findings show that the campaign did not work with Russia to meddle in the election, and that the charges against the campaign should be dismissed and the DNC sanctioned as a result. ... Calling the lawsuit “a politically motivated sham case,” the campaign said the DNC is acting to move forward...

A statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was sold online for more than $1.4 million on Wednesday after it was removed from a Dallas park nearly two years ago over concerns the monument was racist. The bronze statue drew a top offer of $1,435,000 from a bidder identified only as "LawDude," according to the Lone Star Auctioneers Inc. website. The second highest bidder, "MustangJerry," maxed out at $1,432,500 after placing 41 bids since the statue first went up for auction with a starting price of $450,000 on May 26. The Dallas City Council last month voted 12-3 to declare...

Proselytism, triumphalism, and more! June 5 is the feast of St. Boniface Winfrid in the Roman calendar, an eighth-century Englishman who evangelized the Germanic peoples with such zeal and success that he is commonly known as the Apostle of Germany. Today the so-called Catholic News Agency sent a tweet with a link to its biographical page about this great bishop and martyr, which notes: St. Boniface was very bold in his faith, and was well known for being very good at using the local customs and culture of the day to bring people to Christ. He was born in Devonshire,...

Complete run of the live broadcasts on NBC Radio June 06, 1944.

* The wife of House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings used her charity to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars into her private LLC, according to new documents obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation. * Maya Rockeymoore Cummings’s charity receives funding from organizations with interests before her husband’s congressional committee. * Multiple charity watchdogs said the previously undisclosed financial arrangement between Rockeymoore Cummings’s charity and for-profit company raises red flags. House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings’s wife has funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars from her charity to her private for-profit organization, according to a previously undisclosed cost-sharing arrangement that multiple...

Police have launched a murder investigation after former Arkansas State Senator Linda Collins-Smith, a Democrat-turned-Republican, has been found shot dead at her home in suspicious circumstances.Collins-Smith's former press secretary, Ken Yang, confirmed her death to local media on Tuesday night and revealed the case is being investigated by police as murder. Collins-Smith was elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives as a Democrat but switched to the Republican Party eight months after taking office in 2011.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is about to have the weight of the liberal world on her shoulders. On the one hand, she hates Trump and wants to destroy him. On the other, is executing a politically charged impeachment fight that will rile up congressional Republicans and energize the Trump coalition worth it, especially if their side has no candidate who can beat Trump. Yes, we all know about Biden and his white working-class roots etc., but that an impeachment fight will nuke that outreach effort. He’s already halfway there by kowtowing to the Green New Deal trash that’s being peddled...

Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall drew the ire of citizens and law enforcement groups on Monday when she implied that society is to blame for forcing criminals who commit violent acts

Former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn has fired his legal team as he awaits sentencing for lying to the FBI about his conversations with a top Russian official, according to a new filing Thursday from his long-time attorneys. The lawyers, Robert Kelner and Stephen Anthony, offered no explanation for their abrupt dismissal in a two-page motion delivered to the federal judge who will mete out Flynn’s punishment stemming from his 2017 guilty plea to Robert Mueller’s prosecutors. In their filing, the attorneys said Flynn had notified them that “he is terminating Covington & Burling LLP as his counsel and...

Does anybody know if there is a website that lists American Soldiers names and grave locations in France? I had an uncle, my namesake, killed in France in WWII, age 19 in 1944, but I don't know where his grave is. Anybody know how to locate it? Thanks in advance, Red Badger

Video Link "I’m no hero, I was lucky. I’m here. All the heroes are dead and I’ll never forget them as long as I live.”