Free Republic

The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) in Kings Point, New York, has covered up a large painting of Jesus Christ in one of its buildings following a complaint from an advocacy group. After receiving a complaint from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, whose founder and president Michael Weinstein fired off a letter to Vice Adm. Joanna M. Nunan on Jan. 10, the school unfurled a white curtain over the large image of Jesus walking on water toward a boat of men lost at sea. "I come to you this day to demand that the USMMA, which you currently command as...

When her brother, Aaron, was serving in Iraq, 20-year-old Rachel Seesan used to laugh with him about the castles he built there. “When I last talked to him on the phone, he was joking to me about how he used his hard-earned engineering skills just to build sandcastles in the sand,” she said. “That’s just something we joked about.” She was not alone in her fond memories of Army 1st Lt. Aaron N. Seesan, who died Sunday from injuries he received while fighting in Iraq. He died of burns he received Saturday after a roadside bomb exploded and set fire...