Free Republic

At 17 years old, most people are still struggling to parallel park. Yes, it takes a bit of practice. And once the car is parked, the day is packed with school activities and homework and just hanging out with friends. But at 17, Maggie Taraska had an outrageous goal in mind: Fly solo across the United States. Both of Maggie’s parents are Air Force veterans, so the urge to be airborne is in Maggie’s genes. So she went to flight school, put in the hours with an instructor and started on her solo hours. But on her first solo takeoff,...

Image Credit Metropolitan Nashville Police Department/YouTubeThe Nashville Police have released bodycam footage of its response to a terrorist shooting at Covenant Church school:MNPD Officers Rex Engelbert, a 4-year veteran, and Michael Collazo, a 9-year veteran, were part of a team of first responders to the Covenant campus Mon morning. They fired on the active shooter, who was killed. This is their body camera footage.https://t.co/17qsZM6bNp pic.twitter.com/g4b0nMTFRD— Metro Nashville PD (@MNPDNashville) March 28, 2023The six-minute clip is shot from the perspectives of Rex Engelbert and Michael Collazo, among the first two officers on the scene. It shows impressive bravery, determination, urgency,...

A 70-year-old Marine veteran from Maryland is fighting for his life after valiantly storming into a rowhouse that exploded so that he could rescue two strangers from the devastating blast. Terry Bagley was walking to the local market in the Pigtown neighborhood in Baltimore to purchase some items for his family's Thanksgiving meal when an explosion erupted at a rowhouse around 2 p.m. on Thursday. Bagley jumped into action and bravely ran into the fiery building, looking for anyone who needed assistance in escaping. The explosion destroyed one rowhouse and damaged several others. Bagley was able to rescue a 16-year-old...

We news junkies are deeply concerned about cultural shifts, education, political wrangling, and more — and we're right to be disturbed. It's the people who pay attention that shift the culture for better or worse. Occasionally, though, you need to remind yourself that there are 330 million people in America, many of whom are just getting through their day, trying to be good people who do the right thing. In the case of six high school football players, that means leaping into action to rescue a woman trapped in a crumpled car that seemed on the verge of bursting into...

A 20-year-old Chicago man is being celebrated as a hero after he leaped into action to save the life of a man who fell on the subway's potentially deadly third electrified rail. Anthony Perry, 20, was honored in a ceremony on Wednesday by a local community leader who awarded him a new car for his heroism. Perry told WGN TV about the moment he saved the man's life: 'I don’t think I was thinking about what could happen to me at the moment. It was more of what do I have to do to make the situation peaceful. I felt...

Last night, Kyle Rittenhouse sat down with Tucker Carlson for his first post-acquittal interview. “Few Americans have ever heard his [Kyle Rittenhouse’s] voice. Over the next hour, we’re going to let Kyle Rittenhouse speak for himself. You can make up your own mind what you think,” Tucker opened. “But before we start, one observation which you can’t resist making; it’s hard to ignore the yawning class divide between Kyle Rittenhouse and his many critics in the media. Rittenhouse comes from the least privileged sector of our society. During high school, he worked as a janitor and a fry cook to...

Tallahassee, FL — Before he was arrested, FBI Supervisory Special Agent David Harris, 51, was tasked with investigating crimes against children, including child sexual abuse material, otherwise known as child pornography. Now, many are wondering if he possibly sought out this position of power to further exploit children, as he was charged with multiple crimes against children, including indecency with a child, crimes against nature and sexual battery. Davis, who lived in Prairieville, Louisiana, was arrested over the summer on sexual assault and other charges relating to a number of victims dating as far back as 2016. Now, he has...

During the 3-1/2 years of World War II that started with the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in December of 1941 and ended with the surrender of Germany and Japan in 1945, "We the People of the U.S.A." produced the following: 22 aircraft carriers 8 battleships 48 cruisers 349 destroyers 420 destroyer escorts 203 submarines34 million tons of merchant ships 100,000 fighter aircraft 98,000 bombers 24,000 transport aircraft 58,000 training aircraft 93,000 tanks 257,000 artillery pieces 105,000 mortars 3,000,000 machine guns and 2,500,000 military trucks We put 16.1 million men in uniform in the various armed services, invaded Africa, invaded...

Please watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGiN_JWv7WI

President Trump is not a basement guy. Sure, he could have done a Joe Biden and hidden in the White House the last five months, a president under quarantine cowering from the Chinese virus. The symbolism would have been disastrous for the mightiest nation on the planet. Trump had to show fearlessness in the face of the virus. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week called his refusal to kowtow to the coronavirus a “brazen invitation” to get sick. But, as the president told his old friend Rudy Giuliani on Saturday afternoon, he took the risks he had to take, because...

Instead of respecting and worshiping fragility, anxiety, and vulnerability, it is time to reconsider stoicism and fortitude. In the last week, a 99-year-old World War II veteran from Yorkshire, England, raised more than 31 million British pounds for the National Health Service by walking around his yard in a challenge that then went viral. He is a member of a certain generation regularly taught that when the bugle calls, one should rally around the tattered banner regardless of who is leading the nation to battle.This sentiment was once ingrained in the bloodstream of every civic-minded individual all over the world:...

U.S. troops last weekend reportedly found themselves in a standoff with Russian forces trying to gain access to key oil fields in northeastern Syria. The Saturday standoff — first reported by Turkish media outlets, citing unnamed local officials in the Turkey-Syria border region — seems to have ended without any shots being fired or any real risk of violence between the two sides. American military personnel reportedly stopped a Russian convoy near the town of Rmelan, and the Russian forces then apparently turned back and returned to their home base. Still, the near-clash serves as a reminder of the high...

<p>A Southern California woman punched a mountain lion Thursday and tried to pry its jaws open to save her dog from an attack in her backyard, officials said.</p> <p>The unidentified woman suffered a minor cut after the mountain lion attacked her miniature Schnauzer in the city of Simi Valley near Los Angeles, police Sgt. Keith Eisenhour told KNBC-TV.</p>

A blind man was forced to carry his disabled adult son on his shoulders in chin-deep water as Hurricane Dorian tore apart their home in the Bahamas. Brent Lowe, 49, rushed to save his 24-year-old son who has cerebral palsy when the deadly hurricane bore down on their home in the Abaco Islands on Sunday with 220 mph winds. Lowe, who has been blind for 11 years, told the New York Times that there were eight people sheltering in his cement home when the hurricane first made landfall. They were huddling together in the bathroom when the storm tore the...

Apologies for the vanity. The sources I could find are on the "do not post list". Hopefully this gets picked up. STEM School Highlands Ranch in Colorado students burst into a spontaneous protest, walking out of an event to protest politicians and the media pushing for gun control. The protest happened after Sen. Michael Bennet and Congressman Jason Crow, spoke to the crowd and spoke about gun control. The kids wanted to honor their heroes.

A French priest who helped comfort the wounded after the worst terrorist attack on Paris this century and who survived an ambush in Afghanistan today also emerged as a hero of the Notre Dame fire. Jean-Marc Fournier, chaplain of the Paris Fire Brigade, saved the Blessed Sacrament and the Crown of Thorns from the blazing cathedral on Monday night. It was feared that both religious artefacts would be lost as flames engulfed the medieval building, but Father Fournier made sure they were taken to safety. Etienne Loraillere, an editor for France's KTO Catholic television network, said Father Fournier 'went with...

On some air bases the Air Force is on one side of the field and civilian aircraft use the other side of the field, with the control tower in the middle. One day the tower received a call from an aircraft asking, “What time is it?” The tower responded, “Who is calling?” The aircraft replied, “What difference does it make?” The tower replied, “It makes a lot of difference ... If it is a commercial flight, it is 3 o’clock. If it is an Air Force plane, it is 1500 hours. If it is a Navy aircraft, it is 6...

Last weekend, I was truly humbled to be the guest of honor at Miami University’s (Oxford, OH) Naval ROTC Marine Corps & Navy Birthday Ball. Out of all the accolades, events, interviews, and things I’ve done as a result of being a published author and former Marine, this was by far the most important and impactful. When I woke up Thursday morning, I’d planned to write a column about the experience, including the discussion with the midshipmen about leadership, the hard lessons I’ve learned through failure, my time in the Marine Corps, the relentless challenges of their chosen path as...

BALTIMORE -- Perched on a therapy table at Johns Hopkins Hospital, one of the few quadruple amputees from the Iraq War reached up over his head with both hands and launched a pink ball to the Marine Corps commandant. Five months ago, Army Sgt. Brendan Marrocco’s arms belonged to someone else. Marrocco, who was blown up in 2009, is the first soldier to receive a double arm transplant -- and just the seventh successful recipient in the United States. Marrocco didn’t have any physical sensation of the plastic ball in his hands, but he managed a pretty good zip as...

Early in 2017, ABC breathlessly reported, “Hair loss and balding are something we associate with aging, not a younger population, yet more and more millennials say they're experiencing hair loss.” Theories include diet and health problems. But Moneyish.com didn't hesitate to conclude: “Millennials are going bald from too much stress.” We live in a rich, safe, successful country. Why is there so much stress? Why do so many young people feel they are under siege and about to be overrun? Perhaps we should look at what public schools, in tandem with higher education and the media, tend to emphasize. Namely,...