Free Republic

The following is adapted from a talk delivered on September 12, 2023, at the Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship on Hillsdale’s Washington, D.C., campus, as part of the AWC Family Foundation Lecture Series. The transgender movement is pressing its agenda everywhere. Most publicly, activist teachers are using classrooms to propagandize on its behalf and activist health professionals are promoting the mutilation of children under the euphemistic banner of “gender-affirming care.” The sudden and pervasive rise of this movement provokes two questions: where did it come from, and how has it proved so successful? The story...

Property-tax relief? Hardly. Proposition HH on this fall’s statewide ballot is really about growing government. And it attempts to do that by piggybacking on public outrage over skyrocketing property tax bills. The proposal’s purported property-tax “relief” — served up by Gov. Jared Polis and his legislative allies as one part of their dizzyingly complicated scheme — is a ruse. As with every attempt to play politics with a crisis, there’s a hidden agenda. And that agenda is to snooker Colorado voters into letting the state keep and spend billions of dollars in surplus tax revenue that otherwise would have to...

GROZNY, January 20. /TASS/. The Chechen authorities are negotiating the launch of the production of a light military vehicle at the Chechenavto plant, an official with the government of the Chechen republic told TASS. The official added that the vehicle will be called the "Jihad Machine" and will subsequently be tested at the Russian University of Special Forces. "The day before, the Chairman of the Government of the Chechen Republic, Muslim Khuchiev, and the Minister of Industry and Energy of the region, Adam Khakimov, held a number of working meetings with the leadership of the Russian Industry and Trade Ministry....

The United States on Thursday announced a huge $2.5 billion weapons package for Ukraine, including 90 Stryker combat vehicles, the first time Washington has committed the system to Kyiv. The new lethal assistance — announced a day ahead of a gathering of top Western military officials for the Ukraine Contact Group in Germany — includes hundreds of armored vehicles, thousands of artillery rounds and new Avenger air defense systems pulled from U.S. weapons stockpiles.

The Biden administration is preparing to announce a roughly $2.5 billion military aid package for Ukraine that is expected to include dozens of Bradley and Stryker armored vehicles, according to two people familiar with the decision, as the Pentagon intensifies its support ahead of an expected counteroffensive against entrenched Russian forces. The war has entered a phase, U.S. officials have said, that will require Ukrainian units to attack enemy forces in a concerted way, using tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and aviation in what is known as combined arms warfare. Bradleys and Strykers would significantly bolster their firepower and allow soldiers...

Anti-aircraft Stryker variant chosen by the US Army: 4 Stinger missiles on one side, two Hellfires on the other, with a 30 mm autocannon (and 12.7 mm machinegun) in between (Leonardo DRS) With its eyes firmly on Russia, the US Army is racing to field 8×8 Strykers with an array of weapons that can down enemy aircraft — from drones to helicopters to jets — and incidentally make enemy tanks think twice. The first prototypes will be delivered next year, with up to 144 (four battalions) by 2022, although the contract details are still being negotiated. With the IM-SHORAD (Initial...

A man armed with a hunting knife stabbed a woman to death Saturday inside a public library in Massachusetts, authorities said. When police arrived, they found that an elderly man also had been stabbed, Boston's Fox 25 reported. *snip* During the attack, the young woman suffered injuries to her head and upper torso, Ryan said. As she struggled toward the door, onlookers reportedly tried to help her escape. A 77-year-old man who tried to help the woman was also injured in the attack, suffering a non-life-threatening stab wound to an arm, Ryan said.

Two new Stryker armored combat vehicle configurations are being fielded to the U.S. Army and are currently undergoing drills at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland. The vehicles are the result of a two year initiative that aims to give the Stryker far more firepower and engagement range. These requirements are primarily based around the Germany-based 2nd Cavalry Regiment's need to better deter Russia in eastern Europe, and if need be, confront Russian armored fighting vehicles that are equipped with heavier weapons that the .50 caliber machine guns found on most Strykers. It is also in response to the proliferation of...

Today, after 18 months of urgent work, the Army rolled out its first upgunned Stryker vehicle, nicknamed Dragoon. The armored eight-wheel-drive troop transport, built by General Dynamics and normally armed with no more than a 0.50 calibre (12.7 millimeter) machinegun in an unprotected mount, has been rebuilt with an armored turret containing a 30 mm quickfiring cannon. That’s enough firepower, the Army computes, to dispose of other lightly armored vehicles like the Russian BMP troop carrier. If the Russians invade the Baltics, the Stryker Dragoon can’t stop their heavy tanks, but it can thin out their scout vehicles and transports,...

Soldiers are livid after being told to remove their combat patches in an attempt to be “welcoming” to new recruits. It’s an insane move that goes against the unofficial combat patch creed: “You earn it. You keep it. You wear it.” But that’s apparently the policy now for Fort Carson’s 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team. Soldiers are told to strip their uniforms bare to the bone, only showing the name, rank, American Flag, U.S. Army tape and the 4th Infantry Division insignia, the Army Times is reporting. According to officials, the move is designed to promote a “unified army culture.”...

ARLINGTON: New threats from Russia and China mean the Army must take on new missions — but it’s got almost no new money so the Army is looking at ways to modify existing systems to do some radically new things. So imagine howitzers firing precision-guided cannon shells to shoot cruise missiles out of the sky or to sink ships on the South China Sea. Imagine networking existing sensors in new ways to counter Russian heavy jamming. Imagine eight-wheel-drive Stryker armored vehicles acting as mobile anti-aircraft guns. “One of the highlights that I was trying to emphasize is repurposing existing capability,”...

Members of a major left-wing dark money outfit are providing large chunks of cash for, and serving as top advisers and officers of, President Barack Obama’s personal advocacy group. Democracy Alliance donors have contributed at least $1.87 million to Organizing for Action (OFA), the 501(c)(4) organization that evolved out of Obama’s reelection campaign, according to data released by OFA. Democracy Alliance members also have official roles in running OFA. According to Democracy Alliance documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, OFA’s board of directors includes four Democracy Alliance “partners,” individuals who pay $30,000 in annual dues and contribute at least...

Overall, what do you think about the Army down- sizing in Hawaii: 1,400 fewer troops and loss of the Stryker Brigade?

Between fear of Russia, urgency from the Army, and lobbying from General Dynamics, funding to upgun the Army’s GD-built Stryker armored vehicle has grown 350 percent in three weeks. In mid-May, the House approved a $79.5 million addition to the administration’s budget request. Yesterday, the Senate, not to be outdone, voted $371 million — four and a half times more. The House Appropriations Committee has actually approved $411 million on Tuesday, but that hasn’t passed the full chamber yet. Why does Stryker have such momentum? Some of our sources cynically pointed to General Dynamics’ lobbying operation, which is one of...

One of the last American combat units stationed in Europe is asking the government for bigger guns amid rising tensions over Russia’s involvement in the Ukraine conflict. The 2nd Cavalry Regiment is requesting that 81 of its 8-wheel-drive Stryker infantry carrier vehicles be equipped with 30-mm. automatic cannons -- double the caliber of the 12.7-mm. guns they already carry, the military news website Breaking Defense reports. The House Armed Services committee is already setting aside money for the upgrade, which the Army approved Wednesday, according to a memo obtained by the website.

Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki resigned Friday, after more than a month of battling criticism about access to care and tampering with official wait lists at VA health centers. At a meeting with President Barack Obama, during which Mr. Shinseki presented the VA's internal findings of improper scheduling procedures and long wait times across the VA health system, the retired general offered to resign to give a new VA leader the chance to fix the systemic problems at the department. His resignation marks his second departure from public service since his career began in the military in the...

Lt. Tyler Tessman awoke in the desert one day this week with two problems. He had to rethink a tough training mission that stacked the odds against his Joint Base Lewis-McChord Stryker platoon. And he had to consider the possibility that his team might be grounded before he could even start on the battle plan. Three of the four Strykers vehicles in his platoon were immobilized — one from too many busted tires, one from a broken axle and one from an assortment of safety issues that made it undrivable.

The final numbers are in for the 2013 ballot initiatives and, surprise!, the pro-Amendment 66 campaign spent a ridiculous amount of money. But, they raised less than what they hoped as some cited $12 million as a target. They raised (and presumably spent nearly all) $11,079,408 to garner only 496,151 votes or 35% of the votes. That’s $22.33 per vote, which is more than either of the presidential candidates in the 2012 election. Not shocking, but the largest contributors to the effort were the Colorado Education Association and the National Education Association (aka the teachers unions). Each contributed two million...

The most pivotal figure in the Colorado recall election may be an unseen Kentucky woman who’s directing the Democratic fundraising. Julie Wells, the registered agent for more than two dozen groups since 2006 raising and spending millions to benefit Democrats, is also the registered or designated filing agent for at least two committees contributing funds and airing ads on behalf of Democratic state Sens. Angela Giron and John Morse. Her latest group is We Can Do Better, Colorado, which launched a television spot Thursday accusing Republican recall candidates Bernie Herpin and George Rivera of supporting personhood, the Colorado Democratic Party’s...

EXCLUSIVE...CompleteColorado.com EMAILS SHOW WHITE HOUSE DROVE FAILED GREEN-LOAN IN COLORADO