Free Republic

A man in Austria was charged in the death of his girlfriend after leaving her behind, in a case testing ideas of freedom and responsibility in the mountains.The Grossglockner, Austria’s highest mountain, seen from the nearby Sonnblick Observatory.Credit...Kerstin Joensson/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images A distant webcam captured the moments the couple’s hiking trip started to unravel. The pair, a boyfriend and girlfriend, were nearing the summit of Grossglockner, the tallest mountain in the Austrian Alps, when their lights appeared on its dark peak. Around midnight, the man said, his girlfriend was struck by sudden exhaustion and could not continue. He...

There has been renewed interest in combat and warfare in general lately, since we always seem to be forced into situations as a nation where we have to send more of our young people to nasty places to risk their lives and their bodies for our own needs. In the last couple of weeks, the movies American Sniper and Sole Survivor have generated interest and vigorous discussion among us. The movies represent a sincere attempt by filmmakers to get away from the usual morbid voyeurism of combat and the self-debasing, anti-American propaganda and try to reach what is true, as...

Nathan, Jared, and Jason Hubbard. Inga Barks filled in for syndicated talk-radio host Mark Levin last night (and did a great job). During the last 1/2 hour of the show, she spoke with sole surviving son Army Specialist Jason Hubbard and Congressman Devin Nunes about this: Forced to leave the combat zone after his two brothers died in the Iraq war, Army Spc. Jason Hubbard faced another battle once he returned home: The military cut off his family's health care, stopped his G.I. educational subsidies and wanted him to repay his sign-up bonus. It wasn't until Hubbard petitioned his local...

Shep just read a statement of defiance from Iraq stating that President Bush "should be hit with shoes". Very scary...