Free Republic

Arizona Sen. John McCain took another swipe at Trump administration policy in a speech to the U.S. Naval Academy, where he slammed both isolationism and nationalism, ideas he said are ascendant within the President Trump’s White House. In the speech to the midshipmen in Annapolis, Maryland, on Monday, the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman ripped into the Trump administration’s policies, although — taking a Voldemort-like approach that’s become habitual among anti-Trump conservatives — he never mentioned the president’s name. McCain contrasted the “hopeful atmosphere of 1991” after the fall of the Soviet Union with “the current circumstances of our world,”...

FAIRFAX, Va. - A Virginia teenager has been appointed to all four American military service academies. Timothy Park, 18, beat the odds with stellar grades, test scores, leadership, community service and fitness. "I'm feeling amazing right now," Park said. In fact, the odds are so great, it's a rare reality for anyone to get into all four schools. "It's about one percent, if not less," Park said. "Of the whole country."

The U.S. Naval Academy is preparing to open its screening process for Navy SEAL training next year to women who are juniors at the academy, the superintendent said Monday. Vice Adm. Walter 'Ted' Carter told the academy's Board of Visitors at their quarterly meeting that the school is waiting for specific guidance from the Navy before definitely opening next spring's screening. He noted it could take longer before female midshipmen will take part in the rigorous 24-hour marathon screening process. 'We'll be ready to put women through the screener as early as next year,' Carter said. 'I don't know that...

Worth seeing again.

A patio chair smashed the sandwich shop window. Glass fell around Midshipman Brad Kadlubowski, seated before a window, at the Subway shop in Baltimore. Inside, a father steered his wife and two children to the back of the shop on Saturday. His son has asthma; the father worried about tear gas. Another chair smashed another window. Everyone to the back, the midshipmen instructed. Families and Naval Academy midshipmen had come for dinner before Saturday's Orioles game. Protests over the death of Freddie Gray began peacefully that day, but ended with confrontation. By Monday, the day of Gray's funeral, protests escalated...

President Barack Obama told graduates at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., Friday that they—and he—must “constantly strive to remain worthy of the public trust.” “You will lead this country, and if we want to restore the trust that the American people deserve to have in their institutions, all of us have to do our part, and those of us in leadership—myself included—have to constantly strive to remain worthy of the public trust,” said Obama. … The president urged them to “carry forth the values” that they learned at the Naval Academy, “because our nation needs them now more...

I certainly don't endorse all the comments posted on this blog, nor even all the guest columns. Case in point: I disagree with the argument below, because I don't think we want our corporals and lieutenants to try to be constitutional lawyers weighing each order they receive. (Or even our generals, like Douglas MacArthur, who got fired in part for following by his own reading of the Constitution.) I think people need to be taught that the issue of "legal orders" applies to war crimes and the like, not to whether one believes the executive branch has abided by the...

You have worked long and hard to reach a high profile position, as those who came before you had. You did everything that was asked of you, and more. You believed in a system that told you all you had to do was work hard, pay attention to detail, excel in your efforts, show exceptional dedication, and demonstrate professionalism better than those around you. You also knew that the system was a meritocracy based on fair, established rules that everyone agreed upon. Why wouldn't you believe that? Those in positions of authority, those whose word was gold, those who asked...

The Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead announced in Annapolis recently that "diversity is the number one priority" at the Naval Academy. The Naval Academy superintendent, Vice Adm. Jeffrey Fowler, echoed him. Everyone understands that "diversity" here means nonwhite skins. Fowler insisted recently that we needed to have Annapolis graduates who "looked like" the Fleet, where enlisted people are about 42 percent nonwhite, largely African American and Hispanic. The stunning revelation last week was that the Naval Academy had an incoming class that was "more diverse" than ever before: 35 percent minority. Sounds good, only this comes with a...

With moist eyes, young midshipmen and hardened old warriors alike, stood at attention yesterday as the casket of Vietnam War hero retired Marine Col. John Walter Ripley was taken from the Naval Academy Chapel. One old comrade, who stood with Col. Ripley against a large Communist force on Easter Sunday 1972, flew in from California for the funeral Mass and final commendation. "Col. Ripley worked as my adviser for two years," retired Vietnamese Marine Corps Lt. Col. Le Ba Binh said through a translator during an interview. "He was a genuine guy, very nice, very well spoken. It hit me...

Fifty years ago, 899 young men gathered in the then-new Naval Academy field house to hear a graduation address by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. After four grueling years of military and academic training, their numbers had dwindled by a quarter,but for those who had survived, promising futures stretched out ahead. [snip] "We're not going out looking for another job, especially one that's as overwhelming as being president of the United States," said Potter, who planned to travel from California to attend the reunion. "Many of us wonder, 'Where does he get the energy to do this?' But those who knew...

When I speak with my liberal friends about the upcoming election, one point they think that they can trump me on is intelligence. They regurgitate the litany of how dumb Reagan was, and connect the dots to how dumb John McCain is because he graduated at the bottom of his class at the Naval Academy. It is amazing to me how uneducated liberals are when it comes to education. The world begins and ends with the Ivy League, and class rank must be the only indicator of intelligence. Let's compare the schools the candidates went to, how they were graded,...

A recent Washington Post profile of John McCain’s years at the Naval Academy portrayed him as an unruly, fun-loving, under-achieving Midshipman struggling with his obligation to live up to his family’s brilliant military legacy. It was “a four-year course of insubordination and rebellion,” McCain later wrote. McCain graduated 894th out of 899 in 1958, five spots above the “Anchorman,” the lowest-ranking midshipman. In this respect he did uphold one family tradition; his similarly rebellious father Jack, who would rise to the rank of Admiral and was the Pacific Command CINC while his son was being held prisoner in Hanoi, had...

ACLU tries to halt mealtime prayer at Naval Academy By Josh Mitchell | Sun reporter 8:09 PM EDT, June 25, 2008 A national civil liberties group is renewing a push to end mealtime prayer at the U.S. Naval Academy, where a group of midshipmen recently complained to officials that they felt pressured to participate in the longtime practice. The tradition, believed to date back to the college's founding in 1845, now involves a chaplain's leading grace before a noon meal that all 4,200 midshipmen must attend at King Hall. Midshipmen are not required to pray, though they must stand during...

A Naval Academy graduate drafted last week by the St. Louis Cardinals was denied a bid to play ball Thursday and ordered to report for duty. Mitch Harris, a newly commissioned ensign and Naval Academy graduate, must serve a five-year active duty commitment, Navy Secretary Donald C. Winter ruled. “He will report to his ship as ordered,” Cmdr. Jeff Davis, a Navy spokesman, told The Associated Press. Harris, a native of Ocala, Fla., who played high school ball in North Carolina, was selected in the 13th round with the 395th pick overall. The 22-year-old right-hander went 20-13 with a 2.51...

A female midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy testified Tuesday that a fellow midshipman raped her in her dorm room after he had been drinking. Mark Calvanico is accused of rape, making a false statement to investigators, conduct unbecoming an officer and unauthorized absence.

WASHINGTON — A Navy officer has described for a Washington jury how she worked as a call girl while also serving as a supply officer at the Naval Academy. Lt. Cmdr. Rebecca Dickinson testified Thursday that she had sex for money while working for Deborah Palfrey's escort service, according to The Washington Post. She testified she quit in April 2006 because she didn't like the work and because she had other commitments. Palfrey has said she was unaware that the escorts were having sex for money. She says the business was an erotic fantasy service. Testimony resumes Monday.

A Navy physician has been charged with allegedly videotaping U.S. Naval Academy midshipmen having sex at his house. The Navy's Bureau of Medicine and Surgery says Commander Kevin Ronan is charged with conduct unbecoming an officer, violations of federal and state wiretapping and videotaping laws and obstructing justice. The bureau's statement didn't say when he was charged and how many victims there are. Ronan allowed midshipmen to live at his home in Annapolis. Defense Attorney William Ferris said Ronan didn't make the recordings. Instead, Ferris said Ronan is the victim of extortion by a midshipman who failed out of the...

ANNAPOLIS -- A Navy doctor who played host to students at the U.S. Naval Academy is being investigated amid reports that he videotaped nude midshipmen without their consent, according to two newspapers. A spokesman for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service confirmed yesterdaythat the agency is investigating a sponsor, the name for Annapolis residents who agree to open their homes for midshipmen to relax on weekends or school holidays. "We are investigating allegations of wrongdoing against a sponsor, but other than that we can't comment," spokesman Ed Buice said. The Baltimore Sun and Annapolis Capital, citing documents related to the case,...

Naval Academy graduate killed in Iraq A related article: http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/113-05012007-1339122.html You can see where the son got his mettle. Semper Fi. My son called and said portions of Bancroft Hall (dorm) were being evacuated. Anyone hear anything?