Free Republic

American presidents for the past several decades, since the end of the presidency of Ronald Reagan, have had a pretty abysmal record when it comes to the U.S. geopolitical relationship with Russia and Vladimir Putin. -snip- In 2013, my father participated in freedom protests in Kiev alongside Democratic Senator Chris Murphy and spoke in front of thousands of protestors. He told them 'We support your just cause, the sovereign right of Ukraine to determine its own destiny freely and independently. And the destiny you seek lies in Europe.' In 2014, following the invasion and annexation of Crimea by Russia my...

As Paul noted last night, Democrats (and some Republicans) turned John McCain’s funeral into an orgy of Trump-bashing. Evidently they thought it made political sense. It reminds me of another politicized funeral, 16 years ago. In the fall of 2002, Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone was running for re-election against Norm Coleman. Tim Pawlenty was running his first race for Governor. And, of course, it was the first midterm election of George W. Bush’s presidency. In the last days of the campaign, Wellstone’s campaign airplane crashed in northern Minnesota, killing Wellstone and a number of others. Former Vice-President Walter Mondale was...

While speaking at Senator John McCain’s funeral on Saturday, former President George W. Bush said McCain “made me better.”

Meghan McCain tore into an absent President Trump at a memorial service for her father, Arizona Sen. John McCain, in Washington on Saturday. “We gather here to mourn the passing of American greatness,” McCain, a co-host of “The View,” said at the National Cathedral. “The real thing, not cheap rhetoric from men who will never come near the sacrifice he gave so willingly, nor the opportunistic appropriation of those who lived lives of comfort and privilege.” “He was a great fire who burned bright,” she said in a speech punctuated by sobbing. “A few have resented that fire… but my...

Ever since, McCain has added compelling details at key points in his political career. When his stories are placed beside documented evidence from other sources, significant contradictions often emerge. One such case involves McCain’s experience in the devastating fire and explosions that killed 134 sailors on the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal during the Vietnam War three months before he was shot down over North Vietnam. McCain has made claims about this accident that differ dramatically from parts of the official Navy report and accounts of reliable eyewitnesses.

In July 1967, a fire broke out on board the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal. An electrical anomaly had caused the discharge of a Zuni rocket on the flight deck, triggering a chain-reaction of explosions that killed 134 sailors and injured 161. At the time, Forrestal was engaged in combat operations in the Gulf of Tonkin, during the Vietnam War. ...The impact of the rocket had also dislodged two of the 1000-lb AN-M65 bombs, which fell to the deck, and lay in the pool of burning fuel between White's aircraft and that of Lieutenant Commander John McCain.

Did Richard Nixon pardon John “Songbird” McCain of charges as serious as treason and did our defunct mainstream media hide this horrific side of a man who would have been our president in 2008, save only for a Black being on the ticket? What is the truth here? “Colonel Ted Guy was preparing criminal charges against John McCain when Nixon took Admiral McCain’s little boy under his wing. Where are McCain’s 32 propaganda tapes that were made during Vietnam and broadcast over the radio to US troops?” asks Gordon Duff, a disabled, Marine combat veteran of Vietnam writing about the...

I will not use Wikipedia as some people have BUTTHURT with Wiki. This is what is will use: http://www.navsource.org/archives/02/cv-59/59f-0729.htm

This memorial is in memory of sacrifices made aboard the Naval carrier USS Forrestal - CVA-59 on July 29, 1967, on a Saturday morning in North Vietnam -- Gulf of Tonkin,

Anyone paying attention knows that John McCain has been a Big-Government Globalist Neocon (BGGN) for virtually his entire senatorial career. As with many BGGNs hiding out in the Republican Party, McCain likes to talk about smaller government, but his track record is littered with the promotion of one big government program after another. But, what else would one expect from a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)? Lately, however, McCain has outdone himself. He has introduced two bills in the US Senate that are about as Machiavellian as they could be. I am referring to S.3081, a bill...

Link only, per FR posting rules

Longtime incumbent John McCain now leads conservative challenger J.D. Hayworth by just seven points in Arizona’s hotly contested Republican Senate Primary race. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely Arizona GOP Primary voters shows McCain ahead 48% to 41%. Three percent (3%) favor another candidate, and eight percent (8%) are undecided. Following the announcement that Sarah Palin would campaign for his reelection, McCain opened up a 53% to 31% lead over Hayworth in January. The two men were in a near tie in November. But now Hayworth, a former congressman turned popular local talk radio host, is a formal...

TUCSON - J.D. Hayworth, a former congressman and conservative AM radio host, nearly lost his voice this week delivering fiery attacks on John McCain, the Republican 2008 presidential nominee whom Hayworth accuses of betraying his party and getting too cozy with East Coast liberals. The four-term senator, says Hayworth, "is not the John McCain we knew." Hayworth’s assault from the right in a GOP primary has forced McCain to launch an early, aggressive defense of his seat. And today, McCain will attempt to enhance his conservative bona fides by hosting the party’s new darling, US Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts,...

Video Herethe video is not the best quality but the narration is good

On this day in 1967, one hundred and thirty-four men died and sixty-two were wounded in a fire on an aircraft carrier, the USS Forrestal. Among the planes waited to take off, a missile misfired and hit another plane, sparking a massive inferno. As bombs and fuel exploded, Lt. Commander John McCain jumped out of his own plane and ran toward the flames -- yes, toward the flames -- attempting to rescue another pilot. An exploding bomb then injured McCain in the chest and legs. More information here. Video at link

What's the take around here about the story of McCain being the pilot who started the Forrestal explosions/fire by wet-starting his jet on deck, and touching off the rocket of the A-4 behind him? Did he really get an immediate transfer off the ship even before it was under control? (Like they were afraid the surviving crew was going to basically kill him for this?) Is this something that is an urban legend or did it really occur and he has some or all of the blame for this happening?

This message was placed on my youtube memorial of the disaster of July 29,1967 by (openyoureyesin2008) I click on the url (openyoureyesin2008) and found that this man just joined youtube this morning and went straight to this memorial and placed your comment against Sen. John McCain and also did not view any other videos. If you click on this video, you can also read the answer I gave this person. I submit is this an attempt to smear or discredit the wonderful service that John McCain served in North Vietnam by a 27 year old who has now clue what...

It was 40 years ago today, in the waters off Vietnam, that the crew of the USS Forrestal saw the gates of hell. A missile accidentally fired from a plane on the flight deck triggered a blazing inferno that would claim the lives of 134 men, two from New Jersey -- Francis Campeau of Bergenfield and Richard Vallone of Bridgewater. Not since World War II had a ship's crew sustained so many casualties. The Forrestal, the first of the Navy's newest class of super carriers left Norfolk, Va., in June 1967 for what was to be her first combat deployment....

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...

In a test of the venerable and versatile C-130's suitability to support the Navy, a C-130F was equipped with an antiskid braking system and landed on the U.S.S. Forrestal. Footage courtesy Lockheed Aeronautical Systems Company. The LandingThe Take Off