Free Republic

Fellow Freepers: I will be visiting Cassino, Italy and the mountaintop Monastery of Monte Cassio next month for a writing project on the Polish II Corps. I am aware of the Polish Cemetery, but would appreciate any information on off-the-beaten-path monuments. Also, it you have any recommendations on restaurants and wineries in the area (especially those smaller local restaurants you won't find on the tourist websites) along with any "must try" dishes. Thanks in advance! V/R Bill

Since candidates first started throwing their hats in the ring for the Republican Presidential nomination, I have been cheering for Ted Cruz as my first choice. There were also a number of candidates whom I would gladly support against the Democratic challengers. I really liked the way Donald Trump was electrifying the electorate and he was near the top of my list. But that has changed. Trump is now at the bottom of my list. As I have watched Donald Trump's attacks on Ted Cruz in recent weeks, and especially those in the last few days leading up to the...

Fellow Freepers, I am looking into getting my son (13, soon to be 14) a build-it-yourself computer kit. He has ripped apart a couple of old laptops, but they don't have compatible parts. I am looking for a kit that he can use to learn to put together a working cpu that is usable and can be loaded with an operating system. I see a couple available on Amazon, but one looks too simplistic and the other is too complicated. When it comes to hardware and operating systems, I am very much a novice. I welcome your insights. Thanks so...

Fellow Freepers; I was aware of the support group for SFC Alwyn C Cashe to receive the Medal of Honor. I am sorry to say, that today was the first time I actually got to read what he did after his Bradley Fighting Vehicle was hit by an IED. I believe he deserves the Medal of Honor. For anyone who has been inside the extremely tight quarters of the dismount crew compartment with a full load of personnel and equipment it is excruciatingly tight. Throw in fire,suffocating smoke mixed with expended halon from the fire suppression system, fuel flooding the...

I am having trouble finding a good internet source to give a fair review of SlimCleaner Plus. I was trying to defrag/ run checks on my computer the other day (Windows 7). Shortly afterwards, I noticed SlimCleaner Plus on bottom tool bar. It tries to run periodically (@ once a day). Before I run it, I want to make sure its not a spy or malware before I run it. -- I welcome all comments from the smartest folks on the internet --> that would be you FREEPERs.....

OVERCOMING CYNICISM AND GIVING A FAIR SHOT AT SUCCESS AND FAILURE Since the August 21st graduation of two women from the Army’s Ranger School there has been an out pouring of commentary on the notoriety of the moment. Writing this article through the lens of a graduate of the Ranger Course (Class 10-87), I want to join those who are congratulating Capt. Kristen Griest and 1st Lt. Shaye Haver on their achievements. What is particularly notable, is the lengths the Army and the Airborne Ranger Training Brigade (ARTB) went through to ensure the women were treated fairly and that the...

Fellow Freepers, I am looking for the name and results of a late 1970's (perhaps 1980-81) field artillery experiment in which an all female gun crew were tested to see if they could sustain a required rate of fire. I am having trouble locating a copy of it or information on it. I remember Brian Mitchell wrote about it in his book Weak Link: The Feminization of the Military @1990 (I lent my copy out years ago and have not seen it since.) Any links would be greatly appreciated. V/R Bill

My Fellow FREEPERs, It is with a heavy heart, I have undertaken to start a serious national discussion on secession as, perhaps, the only means by which we can restore the balance to our nation and preserve for our posterity the freedoms given to us by our Founding Fathers and passed down to us for the last 239 years. I have reached the conclusion that our nation has passed the tipping point which the Founding Fathers and Alexis de Toqueville warned us would lead to the death of our republic: when a majority of people believe they can continuously vote...

Dear Glenn Beck, I was so honored by the three interviews you did with me during the course of my congressional campaigns against John Murtha in 2008 to 2010. I will always remember how deeply you complemented me when you closed your first interview. I am writing with the hope my words will carry some influence with you and the messages you send over the airwaves. I greatly respect your endeavors to constantly educate yourself and your listeners as well as your promotion of reconciliation between opposing factions. My head almost exploded as I was driving and listening to your...

Dear Glenn Beck, I was so honored by the three interviews you did with me during the course of my congressional campaigns against John Murtha in 2008 to 2010. I will always remember how deeply you complemented me when you closed your first interview. I am writing with the hope my words will carry some influence with you and the messages you send over the airwaves. I greatly respect your endeavors to constantly educate yourself and your listeners as well as your promotion of reconciliation between opposing factions. My head almost exploded as I was driving and listening to your...

Words have meaning. Sometimes even the small ones by their inclusion or omission can have a huge impact. Most readers in their first glance at the title of this article thought the word “the” was mistakenly dropped from in front of Ukraine. Over the last century, we have become used to referring the nation of Ukraine as “the Ukraine.” This writer has been guilty of the mistake, even in recent writings. The inclusion or omission of an article of speech like “the” conveys the difference between a sovereign, independent nation of Ukraine and a region or territory claimed by Russia...

KIEV, Ukraine - A protest by about 300,000 Ukrainians angered by their government's decision to freeze integration with the West turned violent yesterday, when a group of demonstrators besieged the president's office and police drove them back with truncheons, tear gas and flash grenades. Dozens of people were injured. The mass rally in central Kiev defied a government ban on protests on Independence Square, in the biggest show of anger over President Viktor Yanukovych's refusal to sign a political and economic agreement with the European Union. The protesters also were infuriated by the violent dispersal of an opposition rally two...

This past week I took my kids to see the second movie in the Hunger Games trilogy, Catching Fire. While it is a violent series, I cannot think of a better movie or book series to open the door to moral and political discussions with our teen and preteen kids. For those unfamiliar with the Hunger Games, it is the story of a gladiatorial competition in a futuristic totalitarian regime, which requires each of 12 isolated districts to select a teenage boy and girl by lottery to fight to the death until only one “victor” survives. The story centers on...

Someone may have posted something on this already...Scary concept and has a little too close to real feel... http://www.dragondaymovie.com/?video=video-8-3

As we pause to remember and honor the service of our veterans on this Veterans Day, let us also remember those veterans who are all too often remain forgotten – even when we take the time to remember those who were intentionally overlooked for so many years. Just three of these examples include the Filipino Scouts of World War II, the US Soldiers and their Korean Augmentees who fought and died along the De-Militarized Zone (DMZ) in Korea in the years after the Korean War ceasefire was signed, and the Hmong tribesmen who fought along with our Special Forces in...

In The Art of War, Chinese strategist Sun Tsu tells the story of how one ancient warlord toppled his most dangerous rival by offering a condemned prisoner a reprieve if he successfully delivered a secret message to the rival’s most capable and loyal general. The prisoner swallowed a wax ball containing the message and was sent into the enemy’s territory. When he was caught, he told the enemy warlord of the message for his general. The wax ball contained the promise of payment to the general for his proposed betrayal of his warlord. Believing his general was plotting against him,...

As I type my thoughts for this coming Memorial Day, it is my prayer that are worthy of surviving the flurry of other current events and will have an impact on those who read them and perhaps, will be referred to on other occasions and perhaps help drive the remembrance on future Memorial Days. I always experience a bit of dread as I ponder how to say something of relevance that goes beyond the standard “honoring those who gave all for our freedom” which gets circulated by so many writers while so many Americans head to the beach or prepare...

Radio Host to Lead Armed March on DC July 4th 'To Put Gov't on Notice that We Won't be Intimidated' May 5, 2013 Libertarian activist and radio host, Adam Kokesh plans to lead an armed march on Washington, D.C. this Independence Day. Launched as a group on Facebook, the "Open Carry March on Washington" hopes to get 1,000 supporters to march into the nation's capital with loaded rifles. The group plans to meet at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. From there, they will march across the Memorial Bridge into Washington, D.C. and continue down Independence Avenue. While Virginia permits open...

I received this in an email this AM from my friend Joe John at Combat Veterans for Congress.... It is really good and worth a watch! The Miami Dolphin cheerleaders sent the US Troops in Afghanistan a music video and they sent one back…imitating them almost to perfection. SO cool!! Plus the Soldiers light off a four point deuce mortar as a point of punctuation. Ya gotta love the American fighting man ! Soldiers win…hands down! CLICK BELOW:

As the fallout from the Boston bombing continues, Americans are coming to terms with the realities of the terrorist threats we are facing in our country. Part of this is adopting a prepared mindset to meet the threats where they occur. The Chechens are here. So are Muslims from Dagestan, Albania, and Bosnia. Much has been made in the press about the more Caucasian look of the Tsarnaev brothers. But what sets the radicalized segments of these ethnic groups apart from their Middle Eastern counterparts, is not so much the racial aspects of their ethnicities, but the way they fight....