Free Republic

The Air Force is preparing to trim hundreds of aircraft from its aging fleet in order to meet an Obama administration austerity order. The move will strike many Air Force supporters as ironic. Because just as the fleet is set to shrink, Defense Secretary ...

Matt Pirrello wasn’t about to let a simple drill get the better of him. So what if he had lost a leg?He had been doing “about-faces” — pivoting clockwise 180 degrees while standing at attention — since he joined the Air Force Reserve Officers’ Training Corps in 2009. Now, the once-simple act of raising his right foot, placing it about half a shoe length behind his left heel and then rotating, threw him. “The movement depends on having a knee and foot that bend in ways my prosthetic leg can’t,” said Pirrello, who lost his right leg in a training...

Stryker, the Kalamazoo-based maker of artificial hips and knees, will cut 5% of its global workforce by the end of next year to reduce costs in the face of new fees on device makers required by the U.S. health care law.

Fullerton police officers charged in death of Kelly Thomas have made their first court appearance. Cpl. Jay Cicinelli pleaded not guilty today to charges of involuntary manslaughter and use of excessive force. He was released on $25,000 bail and is due back in court November 4. Arraignment for Fullerton Officer Manuel Ramos was continued until Monday. He's being held on $1 million bail. Thomas' father asked that bail not be reduced based on the "horrific way my son was murdered." Both officers have been ordered by the court not to be in possession of firearms.

The way gravity effects quantum particles proves that it cannot be an emergent phenomenon, says physicist. One of the most exciting ideas in modern physics is that gravity is not a traditional force, like electromagnetic or nuclear forces. Instead, it is an emergent phenomenon that merely looks like a traditional force. This approach has been championed by Erik Verlinde at the University of Amsterdam who put forward the idea in 2010. He suggested that gravity is merely a manifestation of entropy in the Universe, which always increases according to the second law of thermodynamics. This causes matter distribute itself in...

Israeli Border Police and Civil Administration authorities Thursday demolished the nascent Ga'on Yarden settlement in the Binyamin region of Samaria, saying several of the buildings were built without obtaining the necessary permits. It was the second demolition carried out in one day. Five people were arrested Thursday afternoon in connection with clashes during the violent demolition at Alei Ayin this morning. During the Alei Ayin demolition 6 police officers and five residents were injured, and a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the Binyamin Police commander's car, setting it ablaze. It is not known who threw the Molotov cocktail. "Violent demolition...

The top prosecutor in Dakota County doesn't like it. Neither do St. Paul police or Minnesota police organizations. Not to mention gun-control groups. But Republicans, backed by gun-rights groups, apparently do. And so, a bill that would give Minnesotans more flexibility in using deadly force to defend themselves and their properties cleared its first legislative hurdle Thursday. The Republican-controlled House Public Safety and Crime Prevention Policy and Finance Committee voted 10-7 to send the measure to another committee. "It's a common-sense bill,'' said its chief sponsor, state Rep. Tony Cornish, R-Good Thunder. The measure would expand state laws on use...

After joyously toppling a dictator, protesters trusted the army to hold power until elections—but a vicious show of force this week has soured their faith. Ursula Lindsey reports from Cairo. The warm relations between Egyptians protesters and their army are over. Military police and, reportedly, masked special forces violently broke up protests in downtown Cairo late Friday night. The attack—and ongoing reports of "disappearances" and abuse—has soured the once hopeful relations between the military and pro-democracy forces here. The film director Ahmad Abdalla was in a group of several hundred protesters standing and chanting in front of the Egyptian parliament...

Is it constitutional for Congress make you buy broccoli for your own good, ask three professors of health law at Boston University in the New England Journal of Medicine for December 22nd. The ringing answer that they give to this question is “We don’t know.” They have decided to sit on the fence until others, in the shape of the Supreme Court, decide for them. The Affordable Care Act enjoins millions of citizens to buy private health insurance. The authors say that it is difficult to decide whether refusal to buy such coverage counts as an activity that bears on...

By Marlene Romero’s count, her son has had just one effective teacher in his five years at McKinley Elementary School here. Most of the time, she said, he has merely shuffled through classrooms, struggling in math without ever getting extra help. So when an organizer came knocking at her door promising that if she signed a petition, her son’s school could radically improve, Ms. Romero immediately pledged her support. Now, she is one of more than 250 parents in Compton who are using a new state law to force the failing school to be taken over by a charter school...

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — An unmanned Air Force space plane that spent seven months in orbit is set to return to Earth. The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle is scheduled to land at Vandenberg Air Force Base northwest of Los Angeles sometime between Friday and Monday, depending on the weather and other factors. The Air Force Space Command said in a statement Tuesday the base has begun preparations for the landing. The X-37B resembles a small space shuttle. Since it launched in April, space enthusiasts have speculated about its ultimate purpose.

Energy Department Says It Has ‘Mandate’ to Force ‘Market Transformation’ for Household Appliances Assistant Secretary of Energy Cathy Zoi said Thursday that the U.S. Department of Energy has a “mandate” to issue regulations that will determine what household appliances are available to Americans in the future. as a “mandate” to issue regulations to determine what household appliances are available to Americans in the future. Speaking at the inaugural meeting of the recently reestablished Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB), Zoi pointed to four tactics the Obama administration intended use to advance the “deployment of clean energy.” The first three were...

VIDEO HERE.

Interplanetary adventurers must contend with deadly solar radiation – but the moon's magnetic memories may hold the key to safe space flightBORED on their six-month journey to Mars? Not a bit of it. Whenever the astronauts look out of the window, they find themselves mesmerised by the glowing, shimmering sphere of plasma that surrounds their spacecraft. Hard to believe that the modest electromagnet at the heart of their ship can produce something so beautiful. Not that the magnet's raison d'être is aesthetic, of course. Its main function is to keep the astronauts from a slow, horrible death by radiation sickness....

As Yoda has said repeatedly, the Federation of the Obamocracy is a case of the Dark Side, interfering with the Constitutional Right to Bear Arms on our experimental gun platforms.. And This Interference MUST be met with the full force of patriot ridicule. So be it. May the farce, errr..FORCE be with you patriots and may the DARK SIDE go pizmo on Nov.2nd!

Maggots falling from an overhead bin from a spoiled container of meat forced a US Airways flight to return to the gate so the bin could be cleaned. Passenger Donna Adamo said she noticed a couple of flies on the Monday flight when she got to her seat but didn't think much of it. Then, as the plane was taxiing, she heard a passenger behind her causing a commotion and refusing to take her seat. "Then I heard the word 'maggot' and that kind of got everybody creeped out," she said. "All of a sudden, I felt somebody flick the...

Pressured by an aging population and the need to rein in budget deficits, Canada's provinces are taking tough measures to curb healthcare costs, a trend that could erode the principles of the popular state-funded system. British Columbia is replacing block grants to hospitals with fee-for-procedure payments and Quebec has a new flat health tax and a proposal for payments on each medical visit -- an idea that critics say is an illegal user fee. In some ways the Canadian debate is the mirror image of discussions going on in the United States. Healthcare in Canada is delivered through a publicly...

WASHINGTON, May 26, 2010 – As the Afghan army rapidly approaches a 171,000-troop level this year, the force’s top-ranking uniformed leader is tackling growing pains with help from an U.S. Army advisor. For the past year, Army Col. George T. “Tom” Donovan, a member of NATO’s training effort in Afghanistan, has been working closely with Gen. Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, chief of the Afghan army’s general staff. Donovan described Mohammadi as a “charismatic and decisive leader,” during a May 21 “DoD Live” bloggers roundtable. Donovan said he and the Afghan general are working together to improve the army’s organization, citing personnel...

(CNSNews.com) – The White House and congressional Democratic leaders reached an agreement Monday night on a so-called “compromise” that could force a vote within days on a bill to end the military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy on homosexuality, but which outraged conservatives say would delay implementation until at least December – after the congressional elections.

If that last sentence surprises you, then you're not aware of the fact that the Obama administration is planning to force us to register our homes, just like our cars, and get them inspected by an authorized agent of the DOE in order to get an "Inspection Label" for the home.

  Courtesy UK Ministry of Defence The beginnings of a robust and dedicated Afghan helicopter force is beginning to take shape, thanks in part to the contribution of British military experience and expertise.The Kandahar Air Wing of the Afghanistan National Air Corps has come on leaps and bounds since its arrival in October 2009.Now with 572 personnel established on the wing, including experienced pilots, trainee pilots, engineers, logistics and admin staff, mission planning is becoming a reality.The Air Wing currently operate four Mi-17 transport helicopters but are planning to have 14 by 2011.Two Afghan Mi17s could recently be seen...

The high-profile F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program will be delayed by two years and will be significantly over cost, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said on Tuesday. “We think it is probable that there will be a Nunn-McCurdy breach,” Donley said at a breakfast with defense reporters. The so-called Nunn-McCurdy law requires the military services or the Pentagon leadership to tell Congress when the price tag of a program increases significantly. The Pentagon then must certify to Congress that the program is still worth pursuing.

It's been a long wait—in some ways, more than 50 years—but in April 2010, the U.S. Air Force is scheduled to launch an Atlas V booster from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying the newest U.S. spacecraft, the unmanned X-37, to orbit. The X-37 embodies the Air Force's desire for an operational spaceplane, a wish that dates to the 1950s, the era of the rocket-powered X-15 and X-20. In other ways, though, the X-37 will be picking up where another U.S. spaceplane, NASA's space shuttle, leaves off.

The September unemployment stats for Michigan came out this week and they are high — as expected. Mlive.com highlighted the statistics on a municipal level, showing the five cities with the highest jobless rates are all over 25 percent. The cities of Highland Park and Pontiac, which leaned heavily on auto-related employment, had the highest unemployment with 35.2 percent of residents reportedly jobless. Both cities have declared bankruptcy in the recent past. Highland Park recently emerged from state receivership and Pontiac just slipped under state control last year. While the overall state’s unemployment rate is the highest in the nation...

The New York State Health Commissioner's new mandate that all health care workers be vaccinated against both the seasonal and the swine flu this fall could qualify as the major public health blunder of the year, because it is likely to backfire. Flu has been rightly characterized as a "slippery disease" that can mutate quickly and unpredictably, which means that planning for flu epidemics must be flexible and should be reviewed regularly as evidence of disease spread and severity accumulates. We are already experiencing the beginning of a second wave of swine flu, the 2009 H1N1 influenza. Effective response will...

Here's a whole lot of information on the American Police Force Dossier: American Police Force

Barack Obama got to play peacemaker during his staged meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas. In a throwback to Bill Clinton's famous photo op on the White House Lawn with Yasir Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin, Obama stood between the men, holding their arms as the two shook hands.

BAGRAM, Afghanistan — Military commanders with the NATO mission in Afghanistan told President Barack Obama's chief envoy to the region this weekend that they did not have enough troops to do their job, pushed past their limit by Taliban rebels who operated across borders. The commanders emphasized problems in southern Afghanistan, where Taliban insurgents continue to bombard towns and villages with rockets despite a new influx of U.S. troops, and in eastern Afghanistan, where the father-and-son-led Haqqani network of militants has become the main source of attacks against U.S. soldiers and their Afghan allies.

WASHINGTON, July 1, 2009 – It would be easy to confuse Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan with the NATO International Security Assistance Force there. Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal commands both organizations. The biggest difference, officials say, is the mission. Operation Enduring Freedom was the U.S.-led operation that toppled the Taliban in 2001. American and coalition servicemembers worked with the Afghan Northern Alliance soon after the terror attack in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. Part of Operation Enduring Freedom retains that mission: to find and kill or capture terrorists. Since 2001, servicemembers assigned to Operation Enduring Freedom also have...

BRUSSELS, Belgium, June 11, 2009 – With NATO defense ministers having agreed to reduce the alliance’s military presence in Kosovo from 14,000 to 10,000 troops by the year’s end, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates today urged that the reduction take place as an organized process. On the first day of an alliance defense ministers conference here, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer announced the force reduction today, noting that Army Gen. Bantz J. Craddock, NATO’s supreme allied commander for Europe, has proposed moving toward a deterrent presence in Kosovo that will require fewer troops in the country. Gates said...

Want to join the Air Force? Look at the picture above. How about now? Still no? Well damn, the Air Force is gonna be pissed -- this was supposed to be a powerful recruitment tool. The Challenger Vapor features radar-absorbing stealth-black paint, not unlike what is used to mask stealth bombers. The Vapor is set to run almost silently, thanks to "stealth exhaust" - whatever that means. Reminds us of when KITT used to go "Silent Mode" on Knight Rider. You need biometric verification to enter the cockpit via gull wing doors. The driver can view night/thermal vision projections on...

A TRUE American hero has been freed. Three pirates are dead. A fourth pirate is in custody. Our Navy shone. Now the hard work starts. This weekend's success won't be enough to keep our merchant mariners and cargo ships safe. Somali pirate gangs have already threatened retaliation against third-party captives. (We'll see what they do.) And all Somalis believe that the United States lacks strength of will and staying power. They remember President Bill Clinton's cowardly retreat from Mogadishu. They'll expect a replay from President Obama. Some pirates may avoid US-flagged ships. Others will go out hunting for them --...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force on Monday endorsed the Pentagon in its plan to end production of Lockheed Martin Corp's top-of-the-line F-22 fighter jets after having pushed to buy more for years. "This is the time to make the transition from F-22 to F-35 production," Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and General Norton Schwartz, the service's top uniformed officer, wrote in an opinion piece in the Washington Post.

The only sure way to deal with pirates is to kill them. Piracy is on the rise on the high seas, but governments - including ours - are not taking the threat seriously enough. The first seizure of a U.S. flagged vessel by pirates in recent memory was thwarted yesterday as the crew retook the vessel. The taking and retaking of the Maersk Alabama has grabbed headlines, but it was one of six ships attacked in that area since last weekend. The only reason this ship was saved is that the American crew fought back. Today's pirates are bolder, better...

Emergency crews have called off the search in Texas for a C-17 transport plane.

BAGHDAD — Multi-National Force - Iraq announced yesterday that two Brigade Combat Teams, who are scheduled to redeploy in the next 6 months, along with associated enabling forces such as logistics, engineers, and intelligence, will not be replaced. Additionally, an F-16 squadron recently redeployed and will not be replaced. This drawdown of forces from Iraq will reduce the total number of U.S. Brigade Combat Teams from 14 to 12. Additionally, a British Combat Brigade will also redeploy without replacement. The reduction is possible due to the increased level of security and stability that Iraq has achieved over the last 12...

BAGHDAD, March 8, 2009 – Two Army brigades leaving Iraq in the next six months won’t be replaced, Multinational Force Iraq officials announced today. Associated enabling forces -- such as logistics, engineers and intelligence soldiers -- will leave along with the brigades, and an Air Force F-16 squadron that recently returned to its home station also will not be replaced, officials said. The drawdown will reduce the total number of U.S. brigade combat teams in Iraq from 14 to 12. A British combat brigade also will return home without replacement. Officials said the increased level of security and stability that...

Last Friday, Vice President Joe Biden and seven White House cabinet members traveled to Philadelphia to kick off the inaugural gathering of President Obama's Middle Class Task Force. The task force will convene monthly in cities across the country to confront the problems faced by average Americans. It's an admirable goal; with rising costs, stagnant wages and job cuts, a Pew Research study found that 78% of self-described middle class Americans have trouble maintaining their current standard of living. Still, the middle class may have a better shot at making ends meet than at influencing the Middle Class Task Force....

Federal officials said this morning they have indicted an Afghan national for lying about his alleged ties to terrorists in a bid to fraudulently obtain a U.S. passport. Ahmadullah Sais Niazi, 34, who was arrested without incident this morning at his Tustin residence by members of the joint terrorism task force, was named in a five-count indictment returned Feb. 11 by a federal grand jury. The indictment, unsealed this morning, alleges Niazi hid associations with “Specially Designated Global Terrorists,” groups including Al Qaeda, Hizb-i-Islami and the Taliban, when he

(IsraelNN.com) US President Barack Obama may pressure Kadima prime ministerial candidate Tzipi Livni to enter into a coalition with Likud's Binyamin "Bibi" Netanyahu if Netanyahu is asked to head the government. Obama's only hope of forcing Israel back to the negotiating table with the Palestinian Authority is through a 'national unity government' comprising Likud and Kadima, according to a report in Britain's The Daily Telegraph. According to sources in Washington, Obama is ready to manipulate Israeli politics behind the scenes in order to make that happen, as Israeli president Shimon Peres determines who he will ask to head up Israel's...

Judge slams Mountie in Banff arrestRCMP and the Crown are looking into the case of a Banff constable who Tasered a man multiple times while arresting him, after a judge ruled the officer was not justified in handcuffing him in the first place. Provincial court Judge John Reilly accused arresting officer Const. Casey Murphy of using excessive force and giving "deliberately false" evidence during the trial on a charge of obstructing a police officer. Exshaw resident Adam Dormer, 26, was found not guilty on Monday and will not have to pay a bylaw fine issued for being a nuisance. "We...

WASHINGTON -- If you're a criminal and you're not entitled to be in the United States, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano wants you out of the country. Napolitano wants what she calls "criminal aliens" off American streets. She is looking at existing immigration enforcement programs to see if taxpayers are getting the most bang for their buck. "That sounds very simple, but it's historically not been done," Napolitano said, speaking to reporters and senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials Thursday. About 113,000 criminals who were in the U.S. illegally were deported last year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said. The agency...

The New Year is shaping up as a brutal one for Californians. With the potential acquiescence of a governor who once posed as taxpayers' most ardent defender, the Democrats who control the Legislature are poised to execute a slick end run around the state constitution and impose vast tax hikes on a simple majority vote. These higher sales, gas and income levies are likely to make the recession last longer and be more destructive. And they will only be the beginning. At least until Proposition 11 ends gerrymandered legislative districts in 2012, we can expect a steady series of tax...

Candidate Barack Obama promised "change we can believe in," but he never hinted that this change would all but circumvent Congress to impose on America the most dramatic liberal social transformation since the New Deal. While promising to lead, he did not suggest that he would create a kind of "imperial presidency" that would horrify the Founding Fathers. Based on their own direct experience with a sovereign, they were rightly concerned with any one man having too much power. This is the kind of power that Obama is now reaching for, following the same kind of "stealth strategy" that helped...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt2yGzHfy7s

USNA has beaten USAFA for the 6th consecutive year, 33-27!!!! GO NAVY, BEAT ARMY!

WASHINGTON, June 13, 2008 – The current number of forces in Afghanistan is enough to accomplish the mission, but it’ll take awhile to do so, the U.S. officer who just finished his tour as commander of NATO troops in Afghanistan said here today. “Let’s just say that somebody waved a magic wand, and by gosh, between the Afghans and the international force you’d produced a force that was well over 400,000,” Army Gen. Dan K. McNeill said to reporters at a Pentagon news conference. That larger force, McNeill said, likely would produce “instant quiet” across much of Afghanistan. Yet, “in...

SENATE, No. 1415 STATE OF NEW JERSEY 213th LEGISLATURE INTRODUCED MARCH 3, 2008 Sponsored by: Senator STEVEN V. OROHO District 24 (Sussex, Hunterdon and Morris) SYNOPSIS Permits use of deadly force against black bears in certain cases. CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT As introduced. An Act concerning black bears and the lawful use of deadly force, and supplementing chapter 4 of Title 23 of the Revised Statutes. Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey: 1. a. In addition to the lawful taking of a black bear by a licensed hunter during authorized times...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 31, 2008 – As Iraqi maneuver units continue to make great progress, coalition trainers must concentrate on “enablers” of the force, the general in charge of the effort to train Iraqi forces said today. Army Lt. Gen. James M. Dubik, commander of Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq, spoke to military analysts by phone from his headquarters in Baghdad. He said coalition and Iraqi planners understand that enablers -- combat service support functions for the military -- must make progress for the Iraqi military to be a balanced force. The combat units of the Iraqi army are doing well;...