Free Republic

Get yourself a thirty-footer and go! By Matt Bracken 11-25-2013 This essay is directed to all freedom-lovers, but primarily to young unmarried American men. (At my age I count thirties as young, and would readily grant special dispensation beyond that.) It’s dedicated to the guides who showed me the stars, and to thirty great years of both calm and stormy weather. If you are a Millennial who feels that the Land of Opportunity has at least temporarily suspended the offer, leaving you stranded in somewhat less-than-hoped-for circumstances, I’m writing this for you. Maybe you did the Sandbox trip, and maybe...

Politicians with ties to land developers are trying to force the Navy to hand over one of the most valuable pieces of property in the country for free. The House version of the 2010 Defense authorization bill scheduled for conference today contains language that would speed the transfer of Naval Station Treasure Island to the city of San Francisco at no cost.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- Pirates who hijacked a Japanese tanker off Somalia earlier this week are demanding a U.S. warship shadowing the vessel back off, the wife of the tanker's foreman said Friday. "Apparently the navy ship was getting closer to them," Tess Villanueva, wife of the crew's foreman, Laureano, told The Associated Press in the Philippines. "The good news would be if they (pirates) leave the ship." Villanueva said the information was relayed to her late Thursday by Redentor Anaya, vice president for operations of SeaCrest Maritime Management Inc., which recruited the Filipino crew for the Golden Nori. Negotiations...

A LUXURY ship today narrowly escaped seizure by gunmen off the pirate-infested Somali coast when it sped off to the high seas amid a trail of gunfire. The vessel was carrying at least 600 tourists from Europe destined to the Kenyan port city of Mombasa, where it was expected to arrive Monday, Andrew Mwangura of the Kenyan chapter of the Seafarers' Assistance Programme (SAP) told AFP. "The captain made a distress call and later switched off the radio communication to avoid being traced by the hijackers," Mwangura said. He said that the gunmen sailing in three boats later abandoned the...

When Roger Cole stepped out of his Land-Rover on Haddiscoe Island, near Yarmouth, he put his foot on what he thought was a pile of old Co-op dividend tokens. On closer inspection, the foreman of the flood defence work site realised they were silver coins and quickly picked up around 200 of them. An expert from Norfolk Landscape Archaeology (NLA) was called in and found a further 100 in the tracks made by a bulldozer. The coins are dated between 1550 and 1646, and the theory of NLA finds liaison officer Dr Adrian Marsden, based at The Castle Museum, Norwich,...

One candidate for student body president at North Carolina State University is rocking the boat. A student is on the ballot, not under a real name, but as The Pirate Captain. He even has a platform or "plank." It includes "expanding the bus lines to haul thar peopled cargo to and fro from ACC bouts at the yonder RBC Center." Also, "holding meetin's open to all yae landlubbers.">snip<"Voting for someone who wants to rid the campus of scurvy dogs is not really an effective way of having student government," sophomore Christopher Sanchez said. The Pirate Captain was able to get...

<p>Security has been tightened around the world since Sept. 11, 2001, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. But in the Strait of Malacca, a narrow channel that carries one-third of global trade and most of the oil that powers Asia's economies, attacks on shipping remain a common occurrence as countries squabble over what can be done.</p>