Free Republic

"Freedom's Frigate" is the nickname of a sailing ship now on its way to America. It's a replica of the French vessel that helped our country win the war of independence. Before its departure, Mark Phillips went aboard: As memorials to American wars go, this one goes right back to the first one -- the Revolutionary War. And it is certainly among the most handsome and most intricate history lessons ever built. A newly-launched replica of the French frigate, Hermione, is now in mid-Atlantic, ploughing her way westward toward the U.S. East Coast. She's retracing the voyage of the original...

A replica of the French navy frigate Hermione that brought General Lafayette to America to rally rebels fighting Britain in the US war of independence, will set sail for the United States again on Saturday, 235 years after the original crossing.

Students at one northern California high school are learning more than just the birds and the bees. Along with local area groups, some parents are irate that their children’s sex ed class at Acalanes High School in Lafayette is being taught by employees of Planned Parenthood without their prior knowledge. They are also fuming over the methods and materials being used, including a checklist that asks students if they are “ready for sex” and another worksheet that describes how to give and obtain consent, as well as a diagram that uses a "genderbread" person for lessons in gender identity. “[Parents]...

A state judge in Lafayette on Monday declared Louisiana’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, a ruling that conflicts with a federal judge’s decision earlier this month upholding the state ban.Fifteenth Judicial District Judge Edward Rubin’s decision, made in an adoption case involving two women in Lafayette, will have no immediate impact on the status of same-sex marriages in Louisiana. Rubin’s strike at the ban is another salvo in a legal battle that soon could be settled by the U.S. Supreme Court. “This is a major win for Louisiana families, but it’s the first step in a long road,” said Chris...

PARIS — A reconstruction of the 213-foot (65-meter) frigate used by France's Marquis de Lafayette to bring reinforcements to American revolutionaries in 1780 has tested the waters for the first time.

Today in 1777, the Marquis de La Fayette, at the age of 19, arrived in South Carolina in an effort to join the American Revolution. After informing Congress he would serve without pay, Congress commissioned him as a major general and Washington accepted him as his aide-de-camp in August 1777. La Fayette would eventually lead troops throughout the Revolution, and helped defeat Cornwallis in Yorktown in 1781. An American flag continues to fly on his grave in France to this day.

LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A Lafayette man who pleaded guilty to repeatedly sexually assaulting a teenage girl has been sentenced to a full 42 years in prison under his plea agreement in the case. (snip) Stansberry's child molesting sentence won't be eligible for one day of credit for each day served. Harrington says that means he'll serve a total time on that charge of 42 years.

The family of 29 year old Bethany Arceneaux decided to take matters into their own hands after Lafayette Police in Louisiana failed to rescue her. They stormed the kidnapper's home as he was stabbing Bethany. They exchanged gunfire resulting in the death of the kidnapper and the rescue of Bethany. Bethany Arceneaux had been abducted earlier in the week in front of her child's daycare by 29 year old Scott Thomas, the father of her 2 year old son. The child was left in the car following the abduction. "We found her. We went and got her in that house....

La Fayette frigates' missile upgrade set for 2017 Taipei, Nov. 4 (CNA) The surface-to-air missiles on the Navy's fleet of La Fayette Class frigates will be replaced with a more advanced system starting in 2017, a senior Naval officer said Monday. The U.S.-made RIM-72C Sea Chaparral missiles will be replaced with Taiwan's own Sky Sword IIs, Navy Chief of Staff Kao Tien-chung said when answering questions at the Legislative Yuan's Foreign and National Defense Committee. The ship-based Sky Sword II, or Tien Chien II, is a variant of the radar guided air-to-air missile developed by the Chungshan Institute of Science...

LAFAYETTE — A state trooper, who saw a naked man struggling with a St. Landry Parish deputy in the deputy’s squad car on Interstate 49, fired his handgun and then stunned the alleged attacker with a stun gun, State Police Troop I said Thursday. State Police said Byron Simon, 22, of Ville Platte, ran naked to the deputy’s squad car, jumped inside and began struggling with the deputy, who was responding to a report about a two-vehicle wreck at about 4:20 p.m. Wednesday. State trooper Travis Gallow, who also was responding to the accident, drove up to the deputy, who...

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D., R.I.) came out today to the media, calling for the United States to take an active role in the Syrian Civil War that has claimed the lives of over 600,000, half of which are civilians. Whitehouse spoke in favor of direct U.S. intervention, comparing it the U.S. helping the Allied Forces in Europe in World War I.

A Lafayette family’s 15 year old pet dog was shot inside their fenced backyard today by Lafayette Police. Officers were dispatched when the Sonnier family’s house alarm was set off because a door was not properly closed when they left the house this morning. According to the Sonniers, when the alarm went off, the monitoring company called the contact list, including Michelle Sonnier, a nurse practitioner who was with a patient at the time. Her husband Matt was also unable to answer, so they called Michelle’s mother, next on the list. She then called Matt – he was able to...

The Lafayette Flag Brigades' 10th annual 9/11 Remembrance and Candlelight Vigil will feature not only what is believed to be the largest overpass display in California, but also a display of three large pieces of steel recovered from "ground zero," the site of the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks. The remembrance, at the El Curtola overcrossing of Highway 24 on the Lafayette-Walnut Creek border, begins at 3 p.m. with the flags and with the display of the steel pieces. At 5:30 p.m., the main speaker, scheduled to be a retired Fire Department of New York firefighter, will address the gathering....

French snub costs Taiwan's military By Jens Kastner TAIPEI - After Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou took office in 2008, his Kuomintang Party (KMT) government invited reporters to a show of military strength. Journalists were shown the Mirage 2000-5 fighter fleet, demonstrated as the pride of Taiwan's air force, while the navy showed off its Lafayette frigates, the island's most advanced combat ship. There was much awe over the two centerpieces of Taiwan's weaponry, both had one thing in common: their country of origin was France. But now, fears are being raised over combat readiness, since the era of Franco-Taiwanese military...

Lafayette, Ind. (WLFI) - The first tea party Wednesday afternoon had the Pedestrian bridge packed with people wanting their voices to be heard. Many say the government is spending too much money, and it's unfair to taxpayers.

President's Day seems to be a good moment to talk about presidential dogs this year, as the topic is of some importance to the media mindset of late. President Obama's interest in obtaining a new White House dog for his children has created a widespread positive copycat effect, a meme of interest. Did you know Lafayette would turn up in this history too? The first dogs were a direct result of gifts from the individual who seems to be there in much of the "name game" found in lexilinking mentioned as recently as yesterday here, the Marquis de Lafayette. The...

LAFAYETTE — The silencing of talk radio on University of Louisiana at Lafayette buses riled students into action Wednesday. Students sat in the quadrangle and gathered student signatures for a petition against the administration’s decision last month that asked drivers to tune radio dials to music stations rather than talk radio programming. The change stemmed from a complaint made by a student rider’s objection to comments aired on political conservative Rush Limbaugh’s talk show.

LAFAYETTE — The three treehouses would be nestled into the branches of a mighty oak, just as in a Disney movie, with steps up the tree's trunk and a bridge to a nearby house.A Pixar writer and director dreamed up this idea — not for his next movie, but for his family's next house.He and his wife bought 15 acres of secluded, vacant land in Lafayette and proposed a 60-foot-tall artificial oak tree with three treehouses. A suspension bridge would link them to a new house on the adjacent hill. An elevator would connect the house to a garage 25...

Steven Senne/Associated PressThe Cincinnati medal. A gold medal that was created for George Washington and presented to the Marquis de Lafayette was auctioned at Sotheby’s in Manhattan on Tuesday for a record $5.3 million, and will remain in France after residing there for 183 years. The enameled patriotic badge was bought by the Fondation Josée et René de Chambrun at the Château La Grange, Lafayette’s historic home 60 miles east of Paris. snip... The medal will be available to the public by appointment at Chateau La Grange “as soon as Sotheby’s gets it there,” he said, adding that “the...

A gold and enamel medal that once belonged to the American Revolutionary hero the Marquis de Lafayette goes on auction here Tuesday, and could fetch as much as 10 million dollars, experts said. The medal being sold by Lafayette's descendants was given to the Frenchman in 1824 by relatives of America's first US President George Washington, when Lafayette was 67 years old. The gift was made a quarter-century after the death in 1799 of Washington, who as a general led US troops to victory in their battle for independence against Britain. -snip-