Free Republic

HOUSTON — Kanye West and his choir of 100 singers pulled off a pair of performances inside two Harris County jails on Friday afternoon. Three days later, inmates and Harris County Sheriff's Office employees are still talking about it. "It’s a tremendous impact. Beyond the lights, beyond the circumstances, beyond the ceremony, there were people there that showed they were broken and were very excited that God met them where they were at," said Don Savell who leads the H.C.S.O. Chaplaincy program. Each performance spanned 45 minutes. About 400 male inmates witnessed one show and 100 females inmates were moved...

"Combat Effectiveness" Being Degraded by Obama's Military Policies By evaluating an overwhelming amount of evidence that has been building for 6 ½ years, the obvious conclusion personnel with extensive military experience will come to, is that Obama’s military policies have been degrading the finest US military fighting force in history. Over the last 6 ½ years, the US Armed Forces has been hollowed out by Obama, his Social Experiment On Diversity has severely fractured unit cohesiveness, his “Politically Correct Policies” have negatively affected unit morale, and the “Combat Effectiveness” of the US military is being degraded. Tip of the spear...

President Obama and his friends in the media want the public to think Americans serving in uniform are just fine and dandy with homosexual conduct in the military. This view is being spread through a series of selective leaks from the Pentagon's Comprehensive Review Working Group, which is putting the finishing touches on a report regarding the future of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. Mr. Obama has promised the fringe special-interest activists who helped him win the 2008 election that he will deliver what for them is the symbolic victory of opening barracks to lesbians, gays, bisexuals and the...

HEIDELBERG, Germany, Dec. 3, 2009 – For Army Spc. Andrey West, the Lord has worked in mysterious ways. Army Spc. Andrey West assembles a drum set for the praise and worship team at Patrick Henry Village Chapel in Heidelberg, Germany. U.S. Army photo by Ina Stiewitz  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. At the age of 40, he found himself enlisting in the Army, something he previously had no intention of doing. And after serving two years as a motor transport operator, he now is on the path to becoming an Army chaplain. When West returned from a 15-month deployment...

For the first time since the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, a chief rabbinical chaplain is servicing the spiritual and religious needs of Jewish soldiers in Russia's armed forces and various security services. Rabbi Gurevich and three Russian Jewish soldiers. Photo: Courtesy Rabbi Aharon Gurevich, 34, was appointed after being asked to fill the role by the chief rabbi of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement in Russia, Rabbi Berel Lazar, who had received official permission from the Russian government to establish a military rabbinate. Upon accepting the post, Gurevich was granted the rank of colonel by Russian authorities and was given permission to visit...

J'accuse...! In 1898 a Parisian literary newspaper, L’Aurore, printed what some have called the greatest newspaper article of all time. Written by Emile Zola, the 4,000-word article exposed a corrupt French military more concerned with appearance than reality. An innocent man, Alfred Dreyfus, was falsely convicted and sent to Devil’s Island. Then, it was pride, fear and anti-semitism the drove the machinations. Today, our military is undermined by Saudi petrodollars promoting a single religion, indeed, a single sect, politely known as Wahhabi Islam, but more accurately termed Islamic Fascism, that threatens our nation with physical and economic terror. Aside from...