Free Republic

Army Private Aaron Toppen and his family are members of the same church I attend. I don't know the family personally, I do remember our church praying for Aaron as he attended his last service at our church. Visitation Services for Private Aaron Toppen are tomorrow, June 23rd from 1-9pm. Funeral Tuesday starting at 10am. Any/All Chicago area Freepers who would like to help support Aaron Toppen's family are welcome to attend. Our church is a very large one, expect (and hope) that the turnout will be huge to support the family. My family will be attending the wake tomorrow...

We have often heard statements such as “War is hell” or “I went through hell.” These expressions are, of course, not taken literally. Rather, they reflect our tendency to use the word hell as a descriptive term for the most ghastly human experience possible. Yet no human experience in this world is actually comparable to hell. If we try to imagine the worst of all possible suffering in the here and now we have not yet stretched our imaginations to reach the dreadful reality of hell. Hell is trivialized when it is used as a common curse word. To use...

Well, my friends, how does it feel to watch our Republic bleed out?

Radio personality Casey Kasem has been taken off life support after a judge ruled Wednesday that daughter Kerri Kasem could start withholding medication, food and fluids. Mr. Kasem, 82, is suffering from Parkinson’s disease, sepsis and dementia, the Detroit Free Press reported. “Transitioning our father’s treatment to comfort-oriented care was one of the hardest decisions we’ve ever had to make,” Kerri wrote on her Facebook page Wednesday. “For people who do not understand the natural dying process: Giving food and water to a dying body creates pain and further suffering,” she wrote in a later post. “The body does not...

He was inundated with threats. He was denounced as a traitor. He was vilified and excoriated. Why? Did he advocate violence in the name of Islam, thereby twisting and hijacking the Religion of Peace? No, he took students on a field trip to Auschwitz to teach tolerance and empathy. The guardians of the

Deconstructing The Dead: Cross Over One Last Time To Expose Medium John Edward By Michael Shermer History is not just one damn thing after another, it is also the same damn thing over and over--time's arrow and time's cycle. Fads come and go, in clothing, cars, and psychics. In the 1970s it was Uri Geller, in the 1980s it was Shirley MacLaine, in the 1990s it was James Van Praagh, and to kick off the new millennium it is John Edward. Edward's star is rising rapidly with a hit daily television series "Crossing Over" on the Sci Fi network and...

Elliot Rodger pounded on the sorority house front door while, inside, the young women he yearned to slaughter were preparing for another Friday night. The awkward 22-year-old was obsessed with exacting “retribution” for what he experienced as a lifetime of social and sexual isolation, and had planned meticulously to target as many people as possible, authorities say. But here again, he was denied access to those he felt should worship him. So when no one answered after several minutes, Rodger improvised.

May 26, 2014 - 06:47 AMBy: James Quinn The definition of death rattle is a sound often produced by someone who is near death when fluids such as saliva and bronchial secretions accumulate in the throat and upper chest. The person can’t swallow and emits a deepening wheezing sound as they gasp for breath. This can go on for two or three days before death relieves them of their misery. The American retail industry is emitting an unmistakable wheezing sound as a long slow painful death approaches. Death rattle It was exactly four months ago when I wrote THE RETAIL...

Q: How many people die every year? In 2012, an estimated 56 million people died worldwide. Q: What kills more people: infectious diseases or noncommunicable diseases? Noncommunicable diseases were responsible for 68% of all deaths globally in 2012, up from 60% in 2000. The 4 main NCDs are cardiovascular diseases, cancers, diabetes and chronic lung diseases. Communicable, maternal, neonatal and nutrition conditions collectively were responsible for 23% of global deaths, and injuries caused 9% of all deaths. Q: Are cardiovascular diseases the number 1 cause of death throughout the world? Yes, cardiovascular diseases killed 17.5 million people in 2012, that...

The V.A. Death Panel 5/22/2014Miami VA Whistleblower Exposes Drug Dealing, Theft, AbuseNBC News: Albuquerque VA assigning veterans to doctors who NO LONGER WORK THEREAnother Dem Calls Obama Out on His Lackluster Response to VA ScandalAmerican Legion: We Have Totally Lost Confidence in ShinsekiVeterans groups blast Obama’s remarks on VA scandal: ‘Tremendous disappointment’ Shinseki Rescinds Bonus to Phoenix VA Director5/21/2014Obama transition team was told about 3 audits showing VA misreported wait timesVA Hospital Director Where 40 Died Received Bonus Last Month- VA claims bonus was result of 'administrative error' Dem Slams Obama’s Response to VA ScandalObama: 'I Know People Are Angry'Obama: 'We All...

(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. State Department on Monday declined to say if Martin Wani, a 20-month-old Christian boy imprisoned by the Islamist Sudanese government, is a U.S. citizen. “You don’t know whether that little boy in prison is a U.S. citizen?” CNSNews.com asked State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki at the department’s Monday press briefing. “I don’t have any more details to share,” Psaki said. The State Department also would not say if the boy’s father, Daniel Wani, is a U.S. citizen and if, as the father has reportedly said, the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum asked the father to secure DNA...

BERLIN — Around 20 former guards at the death camp Majdanek could face charges in Germany, following a widespread probe of the Nazi SS men and women who served there during World War II, war crimes investigators said Tuesday.

Micah Brown HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - Monday was the day that changed David and Ryann Brown's lives forever. Micah Andrew Brown, a 5-year-old boy who loved riding in fire trucks, the color blue and wearing his rain boots no matter the occasion, succumbed to injuries he sustained when his mother's SUV collided with an 18-wheeler and flipped on Old Highway 431 in front of Hampton Cove Elementary. Ryann and her youngest daughter, Noelle, 3, suffered minor wounds during the wreck, but 9-year-old daughter Sarah and 8-year-old Rebekah remain hospitalized with serious injuries at facilities in Huntsville and Birmingham. Hundreds of mourners...

A self-proclaimed Satanist who claimed to have killed almost two dozen people could face the death penalty in the killing of a man she and her husband are accused of luring to his death through a Craigslist ad, a Pennsylvania judge ruled Monday.

On Mother’s Day Tommy Yancy, father of two, was pulled over for not having a front license plate. What transpired beyond that point is not totally clear, but his injuries resulted in his death. Yancy, 32, was a veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan. There has been almost zero media coverage of the incident. A local publication, Imperial Valley Press, offers only a sidenote about his family raising money for his memorial and this: The 32-year-old Yancy died following an altercation with law enforcement during a traffic stop May 11 in Imperial. The circumstances around the death and the traffic...

FULL TITLE: Infant girl dies of starvation after her parents replaced her formula with water and cereal to save money A suburban Chicago couple was accused Friday of the unthinkable – starving their infant daughter to death. Markisha Jones, 19, and Gene Edwards, 22, both of Barrington, were initially arrested January 8 after paramedics called to their home found their seven month-old daughter Mya dead on the dining room table. They were found to have replaced the child's precious baby formula with water, cereal and the occasional glob of baby food, sources told the Chicago Tribune.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin took to social media Friday to blast the Obama administration’s use of death panels in a post she titled, “No Problem With Death Panels, Not Even a Smidgen.” The term “death panel” refers to the rationing of health care by a review board given the power to decide who receives, and who is denied health care. Although the Obama administration has steadfastly denied the existence of death panels — especially in the Affordable Care Act — evidence of health care rationing by the federal government continues to mount. Palin invited her Twitter followers to “take...

Jeb Stuart Magruder, the former White House aide who served seven months in prison for his role in the Watergate scandal that forced Richard Nixon to resign from the presidency in 1974, has died. He was 79. Magruder, a retired Presbyterian minister, died Sunday in Danbury, Conn., of complications from a stroke. Jeffrey H. Hull of the Hull Funeral Home in Danbury confirmed his death.

Natural family planning is gaining support with some women because of health concerns about hormonal birth control. (FOTOLIA) "Women start to realize if I’m eating organic and I’m drinking out of glass, and I’m making all these efforts in every other aspect of my life, why would I manage my fertility with a carcinogen?" — Karen Murphy Corr, Serena BC Natural family planning is gaining popularity with those who have no religious reasons for abstaining from hormonal birth control. “I would say that there is a shift of people using NFP for reasons other than faith,” said Kristen Gilbert,...