Free Republic

As the Museum of Flight prepares the final flight of the first ever built Boeing 727 from its Restoration Center down to the actual museum this week, we look back at the history of the Boeing 727 program. This specific aircraft, N7001U, has spent the past 25 years at the Museum of Flight Restoration Center up at Paine Field in Everett. This prototype 727 was the first of 1,832 made when production ended in 1984 with a final delivery to FedEx. Until the 737 broke its record in the early 1990s, the 727 held the sales record for the most...

A Boy Scout troop leader was mauled by a bear after he and three Scouts stumbled upon the animal in northern New Jersey on Sunday, the Rockaway Township Police Department said. The three Scouts accompanying him were unharmed, officials said. The Boy Scout leader, Christopher Petronino, took the three Scouts to a cave at Split Rock Reservoir in Morris County, which is about 25 miles west of New York City. The 50-year-old had known about the cave since the 1980s but had never witnessed a bear using it before, according to CNN affiliate WCBS. When Petronino entered the cave Sunday...

The above photo was apparently taken at a recent demonstration in Washington, D.C. The young lady holding the sign is Jordan Denari, and she works at the anti-Islamophobia Bridge Initiative, which is housed at Georgetown University's Saudi-funded Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. "I'm a Christian and I Love Muslims"? Absolutely. However, love for Muslims represents a far different sentiment than love for the Qur'an. Denari presumably believes that Jesus is the Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, who was crucified and rose from the dead for the salvation of the human race. Yet she...

White people are quick to cite personal hardships instead of acknowledging that they are privileged because of their skin color, according to a new study. Stanford University's L. Taylor Phillips and Brian S. Lowery, writing in November's Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, split test subjects into two groups - with one given more evidence of white privilege in American culture.

LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to consider new ways of preventing violence in the community and workplace, including potential gun buyback programs and stricter controls on rapid-fire weapons. Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas proposed that the sheriff, district attorney, probation chief and health officials develop a set of recommendations within 30 days. "The recent horrific events in San Bernardino are tragic reminders that the Board of Supervisors must ensure it is doing all that it can to prevent violence in the community and the workplace," Supervisor Ridley-Thomas said in his motion, which was approved by...

This one’s gonna burn a little, so might want to rub some salve in it if you’re not a pro-life person. Michael Deppisch spotted a tweet by Sarah Marian Seltzer, who was upset with the NRA about the UCC shooting. What Deppisch wrote had her retaliating with the best three-word response she could think of: “GFY.” [Explicit language follows*]

This duck hunting protester in Australia was wading through a duck hunt in order to save hit ducks. She was then accidentally shot in the face. A duck protestor in Australia was wading through a duck hunt attempting to “save” the ducks that were shot down. A shot at a low-flying duck resulted in her accidental shooting. Back in March of 2011, these bold anti-hunters decided to interfere in a duck hunt in Australia. A 14-year-old duck hunter took a shot at a low-flying duck and shotgun pellets hit this anti-hunter in the face. Julia Symons was hit by at...

Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., the manufacturer of the business jet that crashed on takeoff last year and killed Philadelphia businessman Lewis Katz and six others, has acknowledged to investigators that a key fail-safe system on the plane has a flawed design. Gulfstream tested its fleet of GIV jets after the fatal accident and found a widespread problem: The planes could travel down the runway at takeoff speeds even when they had no ability to leave the ground. To win safety certification, the firm had promised the Federal Aviation Administration that its fail-safe design would prevent pilots from getting the jet above...

Fresh off their recent victory in having same-sex marriage legalized, many of the movement’s organizers are now turning to gun control as the next hot social issue, or so reports the New Yorker. “Marriage-equality activists in every state were armed with a talking-points tip sheet from WhyMarriageMatters.org whose logo reads “Love. Commitment. Family.” The one-page memo talks about the protection of religious freedom, the golden rule, family stability, and mutual respect. In the fight for marriage equality, the left borrowed the language of the right, in other words, and used it consistently and explicitly to bring the opposition along. Now...

One Boy Scout died and three others were rescued after being swept away in a flash flood early Saturday, according to the New Mexico State Police. A group of eight Scouts, ages 14 to 17, three crew leaders and one adult ranger were on the two-week trek across the Philmont Scout Ranch, a popular Boy Scout ranch near Cimarron. They were camped near the North Ponil Canyon, 15 miles northeast of the training center. Rain started falling early Saturday morning, flooding parts of the ranch property, according to a news release posted on the ranch’s website. Around 4:30 a.m. Saturday,...

The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office has agreed to change two of the most scrutinized aspects of its civil forfeiture program - a $6-million-a-year juggernaut aimed at taking cash and property out of the hands of drug dealers. In federal court filings this week, city lawyers agreed to limit their practice of barring homeowners from properties tied up in forfeiture proceedings until the case has made its way before a judge. Prosecutors also said they would no longer enforce several controversial requirements routinely included in deals struck with property owners to settle forfeiture cases. Those include restrictions blocking relatives accused of...

Debbie Davis was driving along a busy roadway in Kansas City when she saw something that made her slow down.

An Arizona college instructor charged that American soldiers are anti-Muslim rapists who pose "a greater threat" to world peace than ISIS, and says he leveled the charge to make the U.S. "stronger and better." University of Arizona instructor Musa al-Gharbi, who also is an academic affiliate at the university’s Southwest Initiative for the Study of Middle East Conflicts, made the comments in a column penned for the online forum TruthOut, and defended them when reached by The Washington Free Beacon. He called Americans "hypocritical" for expressing moral outrage at the Islamic State, which has raped, murdered and beheaded thousands of...

Air Force Tech. Sgt. David Shea sensed no danger as he stood with his .50 caliber machine gun ready at the open ramp of his CV-22 Osprey coming in to land on a small, rutted airstrip in Bor, South Sudan. A crowd of up to 10,000 people milled about a United Nations compound 200 feet below, where 30 U.S. citizens were waiting that sunny Sunday morning for the Ospreys to evacuate them from a country slipping into civil war. The Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) crews and 21 Navy SEALs on board to protect the operation had been told...

Hang around aircraft restorers and you’ll inevitably hear tales of priceless historical relics hidden in barns, buried in shrink wrap, or otherwise stuck in time awaiting discovery. These stories are almost always wild exaggerations or outright fiction. But if you’ve ever heard of the cache of iconic warbirds at Wilson Connell “Connie” Edwards’ west Texas ranch, it’s absolutely real. The irascible former movie pilot who made a fortune in the oil business has added to his vast inventory of mostly World War II-era fighters, seaplanes, and surplus parts for more than a half century. Now, he’s decided to sell many...

On September 10, only hours before the anniversary of the 9-11 attacks, President Obama summoned the nation to a renewed campaign against Islamic terrorists in the Middle East. Using one of several names for the fanatics who have seized large swaths of Syria and Iraq, the president said, “This counterterrorism campaign will be waged through a steady, relentless effort to take out ISIL, wherever they exist, using our air power and our support for partner forces on the ground.” As the president’s words indicate, precise application of air power is crucial to this plan. The U.S. has already bombed over...

Deaf and severely hearing impaired individuals could soon serve in the Air Force if legislation introduced in July by a California lawmaker is passed. An Air Force captain convinced U.S. Rep. Mark Takano, D-California, to introduce a bill that would allow deaf and hearing impaired people to serve in the Air Force as part of a pilot or demonstration program. Current Defense Department hearing requirements bar the deaf from serving, as well as individuals who currently require or previously used a hearing aid, or have a cochlear ear implant.

Updated: August 1, 2014 11:32 AM The striking power and stealth of the U.S. Navy’s Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) concept was reduced to protect the role of the service’s next-generation of manned fighters, USNI News has learned. In particular, the change in UCLASS from a deep strike stealthy penetrator into the current lightly armed intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) focused aircraft was — in large part — to preserve a manned version of the F/A-XX replacement for the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, several Navy, Pentagon and industry sources confirmed to USNI News. Industry, Pentagon and Navy...

WATSON, LA (WAFB) - On a rainy Monday afternoon, the buzz of air-powered tools rattled through the garage at CSC Lifts, Liners, and Accessories. The experienced hands of Darrell Carmena applied just the right pressure to make the tools sing. It was a song he has played since he left the US Air Force in 1974. During the Vietnam era, Carmena re-skinned damaged aircraft with shiny new aluminum. These days, he turns small trucks into monsters. Carmena said the Ford F-350 on his rack that day is for a very special person. When he is finished, it will be a...

The Defense Department is discussing a $1 billion cut over the next three years to the commissary’s budget in a move that could lead to a widespread closure of stores, Pentagon and industry officials said. Word of the pending cut comes two months after news that the Pentagon’s top financial advisor ordered the Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) to produce a plan to close most stateside commissaries should the need arise. The commissary agency currently operates 247 stores worldwide. Under the requested closure plan, all but 24 rural stores stateside and stores located outside the continental U.S. would close.