Free Republic

It was late March, and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was going poorly. The Kremlin had done its best to black out Western coverage of the war domestically, as well as its reports of failed Russian advances and widespread brutality. On the Kremlin’s flagship media channel, Russia-1, came a very different, ghoulish story: from Russian-occupied Ukraine, an “exclusive” report alleging Ukrainian militants brutally raped and murdered a Ukrainian woman and disfigured her corpse. In the footage, a correspondent follows a pro-Russian separatist soldier into a school basement in Mariupol to view the corpse of a dead woman. The...

Navy veteran Patrick Lancaster describes himself on Facebook as “an independent crowdfunded journalist,” but critics argue that he is a foot soldier in the Kremlin’s information war against Ukraine. The Army is inviting social media influencers to DC to learn how to reach the youths On Monday, Lancaster posted a video from the city of Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine, which has been besieged by the Russian military for weeks. The Russians have blasted their way through the city the same way they razed other cities, including Grozny in Chechnya and Aleppo in Syria. The city’s mayor has claimed that at...

Republican Joe Collins, a Navy veteran challenging Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters in California’s 43rd Congressional District, launched a campaign ad Saturday blasting the congresswoman for residing outside the district she represents while her constituents “suffer the consequences” of her policies. “Maxine does not live in her district. But I do. I was born right here in South L.A., in a place Maxine refuses to live,” Collins says in the ad. “Maxine Waters does not drink our water. She does not breathe our air. And while she sits here in her mansion, our district is in ruins.” ... Do you know...

The name of a Navy veteran may be cleared after he was convicted, fined, and imprisoned for digging ponds in a wooded area near his Montana home, to supply water in case of fire. The Supreme Court has vacated a lower court ruling against Joe Robertson, who was sent to federal prison and ordered to pay $130,000 in restitution through deductions from his Social Security checks. Any definitive legal victory for Robertson would be posthumous, since he died March 18 at age 80. But his lawyers describe the Supreme Court’s action as a “big win” for Robertson’s widow, Carrie, who...

Retired U.S. Navy Commander John Wells The New Orleans Saints have a wonderful 50-year relationship with long suffering fans that have supported the team through mostly losing seasons. Unfortunately, the team is putting that relationship in jeopardy with their asinine position on the National Anthem controversy. For some unknown reason, the team’s management and coaching staff have decided to support the right of disgruntled players to protest alleged social injustice during the National Anthem. In week 3 of the season, ten players sat for the Star-Spangled Banner and since that time multiple players have been kneeling prior to the anthem...

We petition the 0bama administration to: Award Yogi Berra The Presidential Medal of Freedom for his military service, civil rights and educational activism. Yogi Berra should be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. A man of unimpeachable integrity and respect, he befriended the first black and Latino baseball players in Major League Baseball. Yogi enlisted in the U. S. Navy during World War II and served during the D-Day invasion. He continues to be an avid supporter of our armed forces. Berra greatly values education. While with the Yankees, he created a scholarship at Columbia University that is still active...

On the day after New Year’s, as most of the world now knows, Wesley Autrey, a construction worker and a Navy veteran, was waiting for the train with his two daughters at the 137th Street Station in New York. Then, a man collapsed on the platform and began convulsing. After Autrey helped him get up, the man collapsed again and fell onto the tracks. With the lights of the Broadway Local visible down the tunnel, Autrey had to make what he later called a “split decision”—a decision that inspired a nation and taught us a powerful lesson about what it...

---------- The following transcript is taken from ABC's special June 30, 1971 broadcast of "The Dick Cavett Show," during which former Navy Lieutenant John Kerry represented Vietnam Veterans Against the War. He was opposed by fellow Navy veteran John O'Neill, representing Vietnam Veterans for a Just Peace. ---------- MR. CAVETT: The fact is I don't have an opening monologue tonight because the subject of the show is quite serious, and I figured why make it more serious with one of my monologues, so I thought I would just start in. You know, I guess, who my two guests are tonight:...