Free Republic

Afghanistan Approach As the Trump administration debates its Afghanistan War approach, Blackwater founder and former Navy SEAL Erik Prince is recommending, that the U.S. military goes back to its light footprint concept. Prince stated that this approach was used during the first 12 months following the September 2001 attack was the most effective. This was a culmination of CIA, special operators and contractors working with Afghan forces with tactical air support. In other words, why not go back to something that was in the works that was successful. Prince was referring to a model that for a couple of hundred...

1942: While patrolling a beach on New York's Long Island, Coast Guardsman John C. Cullen catches four German saboteurs posing as stranded fishermen. The Germans escape, but the leader turns himself in to the FBI - kicking off a two-week manhunt for the remaining Abwehr military intelligence operatives (all are American citizens born in Germany). The lid is blown off "Operation Pastorius," the German plot to sabotage strategic American targets. All of the agents are captured and six are executed. 1943: 76 B-17F "Flying Fortress" bombers set out to attack the U-boat pens at Kiel, Germany. 60 "Forts" hit the...

There are some myths about suppressors out there. Most of these myths comes from gun owners that don't own a suppressor or from playing the video game "Call of Duty". One of the myth is the ineffectiveness impact of the weapon. Fortunately, we have United States Marine Corps Gunner Christian Wade to set the record straight. Gunner Christian Wade is a Chief Warrant Officer 5 and is the Gunner for the 2nd Marine Division, literally making him an expert on small arms and their employment. I don't know about you, but I can't think of a better source for reliable...

Donald Trump famously boasted that “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters.” I wonder if that offer is good for a North Korean long-range missile hitting the same spot? I ask, because North Korea’s state media is now hinting that it will test a long-range missile capable of hitting New York — and trolling Donald Trump in the process. You may recall that back in January, some media outlets got the idea that North Korea might test an intercontinental-range ballistic missile (ICBM), prompting Trump to unleash a two-part Twitter...

1775: British Gen. Thomas Gage declares that the city of Boston is under martial law until the colonists repay for the tea they destroyed during the Boston Tea Party. Gage will pardon all colonists who lay down their arms except Samuel Adams and John Hancock, who are to be hanged. Meanwhile, British ships arrive at Machiasport (present-day Machias, Maine) to commandeer a load of lumber for the construction of barracks during the colonists' Siege of Boston. 31 militia members, led by Jeremiah O'Brien, board the merchant ship Unity and engage the British armed sloop HMS Margaretta. After an hour of...

Chelsea Manning said if given the chance to speak with former President Barack Obama, she would say thank you. In her first interview since her May 17 release from prison, Manning was in tears when asked by ABC News journalist Juju Chang what she would say to the president. “Thank you for giving the chance, that’s all I wanted,” said Manning. “That’s all I asked for was a chance. That’s it, and now this is my chance.” Manning, a transgender U.S. Army private, was arrested in 2010 for releasing over 700,000 documents to WikiLeaks. As Bradley Manning, she was sentenced...

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — A federal judge ordered a young woman charged with leaking classified U.S. documents to remain jailed until her trial after prosecutors argued she might possess more stolen government secrets. Prosecutors also said Thursday that 25-year-old Reality Winner might try to flee the U.S. if released on bond. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Solari told the judge Winner had written in a notebook: “I want to burn the White House Down … find somewhere in Kurdistan to live. Ha-ha!” Wearing an orange jumpsuit and leg shackles, Winner pleaded not guilty in U.S. district court to charges that she...

Now that Reality Winner's in legal jeopardy for abusing her paid position and illegally distributed classified documents to the media and issued a threat to the White House, maybe being a "pretty, white and cute" female is something that could be exploited because she is just so much smarter than everyone else.

1772: In what is considered to be the first naval engagement of the American Revolution, colonists led by Abraham Whipple and John Brown board and set fire to the British customs schooner HMS Gaspee, which has run aground off Warwick, R.I. while conducting ant-smuggling operations. 1942: Naval Reserve Lt. Cmdr. Lyndon B. Johnson - a U.S. congressman for Texas at the time - volunteered to observe an Army Air Force bombing raid on New Guinea. Johnson's plane turned around moments later under suspicious circumstances - some accounts say the B-26 came under enemy fire and others cite engine malfunction. Inexplicably,...

RICHMOND COUNTY, Ga. - An Augusta woman charged with leaking classified information was indicted by a federal grand jury on one count, but prosecutors said they are likely to add more. A federal magistrate judge held a detention hearing for Reality Winner Thursday afternoon. The 25-year-old worked as a contractor for the government and is accused of giving classified information from the National Security Agency to an online news outlet. She entered a not-guilty plea. The judge denied bond. Prosecutors argued that the only thing Winner could do if she were released on bail is be recruited by the nation’s...

“I’m terrified, I’m terrified that she’s not going to be treated fairly,” the mother of accused leaker Reality Sara Winner told CBS News after her daughter’s arrest under the Espionage Act for stealing Top Secret documents and passing them along to a media outlet. Billie-Jean Davis says her daughter is afraid that law enforcement will “make her disappear,” but then at the same time claims that the US government wants to make an example of Winner. “That’s not fair,” she tells CBS:(VIDEO-AT-LINK) The mother and stepfather of 25-year-old Reality Leigh Winner, the NSA contractor accused of leaking government secrets, are...

1966: During a test flight of the North American XB-70 "Valkyrie," an experimental six-engine bomber capable of flying at three times the speed of sound, an F-104 "Starfighter" chase plane collides with the Valkyrie, sending the bomber spiraling out of control and instantly killing the pilot of the chase plane, Joseph A. Walker - a former Army Air Force captain, fighter pilot during World War II, NASA chief test pilot, and the first U.S. civilian to fly high enough to be considered "spaceflight." The Valkyrie's pilot manages to eject, but the co-pilot is trapped inside the stricken warplane and crashes...

The KORD Heavy Machine Gun was never designed to be fired from the hip, but the soldier in this video demonstrates who the boss is. The KORD Heavy Machine Gun is a Russian weapon, and it went into service in 1998. The term heavy machine gun is well-earned by this gun. The lightest model weighs in at a hefty 56 pounds, but not bad compared to the U.S. M2 50 Cal weighing in at 83 pounds. The manufacturers of the KORD Heavy Machine Gun designed it to be mounted on a vehicle, used for ground support, and deployed for anti-aircraft...

Reality Leigh Winner, a recently separated Air Force linguist and a new hire by Pluribus International Corporation as a support contractor with a Top Secret clearance, allegedly searched for and printed out a Top Secret government report, folded it up, and dropped it in the mail to an online news outlet. Yesterday, the U.S. Attorney’s office revealed her arrest in an unsealed indictment. The arrest warrant and independent reporting indicate that the classified material was almost certainly a report published by the Intercept just two hours before the indictment became public. Winter apparently searched for this report within classified systems...

In this segment of WW2 firearms, two lucky shooters from Iraqveteran8888 Youtuber got a chance to fire the M3A1 "Grease Gun" and in doing so they were in awed by its raw power. Watch as they shoot this historic firearm, showcasing how forceful it still is today. According to Wikipedia, “The original M3 was an answer to the somewhat complex design and high production cost of the M1A1 Thompson during World War II.” This 'Grease Gun' was made cheaper for WWII, and used actively up until Desert Storm. Did you notice how accurate the firing was? It was by no...

An NSA document purporting to show Russian military hacker attempts to access a Florida company which makes voter registration software is sent anonymously to The Intercept. A low-level NSA contractor, Reality Winner, above, is arrested almost immediately. What’s wrong with this picture? A lot. Who Benefits? Start with the question of who benefits — cui bono— same as detectives do when assessing a crime. — Trump looks bad as another trickle of information comes out connecting something Russian to something 2016 election. Intelligence community (IC) looks like they are onto something, a day or so before ousted FBI Director James...

1830: Following nearly four years at sea, the sloop of war USS Vincennes arrives at New York, becoming the first United States warship to circumnavigate the globe. 1912: At College Park, Md., U.S. Army Capt. Charles D. Chandler fires the first machine gun ever mounted to an aircraft. The plane is a Wright Model B flown by Lt. Roy C. Kirtland - the namesake of Kirtland Air Force Base. While The "Lewis Gun," designed by Col. Isaac N. Lewis is not picked up by the United States military, the weapon sees extensive service during World War I with both the...

When the news broke that Reality Winner, a 25-year-old NSA contractor with an apparently heavy social media presence, had been charged with leaking a classified document to reporters, many people wondered: How does someone so young have a such a top-level security clearance? It’s actually very common. "The vast majority of people who do the National Security Agency’s intercept work, who translate and analyze — most of them are fresh out of high school," said Matthew Aid, an intelligence historian who has written about the NSA. "There are thousands and thousands of 18 to 21-year-olds doing critically important and secret...

Aleksandra's Note: On this website you'll find much information regarding Lt. Col. Milton Friend of the USAF, particularly in the way his life path has crossed with that of Serbia's legendary General Draza Mihailovich, both before the General's death and decades after his passing. Lt. Col. Friend has been directly involved in the effort to establish a monument in Washington, D.C. honoring General Mihailovich and his saving of over 500 American airmen in WWII, and in the Mihailovich rehabilitation process in Belgrade, Serbia that ended successfully in May of 2015. I'm reposting a news story here from 2010 in honor...

1862: A Union flotilla decisively defeats the steams the Confederate fleet at Memphis, Tenn. and captures the city. 1918: Two battalions of Marines, led by Brig. Gen. James Harbord, advance against four German divisions in Belleau Wood, the site of an old French hunting preserve near Chateau-Thierry. The Marines face withering fire, with over 1,000 casualties in the first day of battle alone. In three weeks, the Marines drive out the Germans, but at a high cost; Enemy machine guns, artillery, and gas attacks inflict 10,000 American casualties. But the tenacity of the "Devil Dogs" at Belleau Wood becomes legend....