Free Republic

On December 14, 2011 Barack Obama delivered a speech to soldiers at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, on how the Iraq War was over: “It’s harder to end a war than to begin one… We’re leaving behind a sovereign, stable and self reliant Iraq.“ And with that Barack Obama pulled all US troops from Iraq despite the advice from top military leaders. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKSb2ukQxvYFast forward three years… Today Barack Obama sent 1,000 US paratroopers from Fort Bragg back to Iraq as part of the Operation Inherent Resolve mission. The place is a mess.

Progressives will always claim that no matter how badly their plans go wrong, at least their terrible policies were well-intentioned.The regimes that shot orphans, starved entire cities into submission and committed genocide were “caring” in comparison to the heartless Dickensian capitalists who did nothing for the poor except create cheap products and jobs. They might have killed millions, but their red hearts were in the right place. They didn’t just spend all their time gobbling caviar and diving into swimming pools full of all money like the millionaires of the West. Instead they gave speeches about Marxism-Leninism, killed anyone who...

American Sniper had a record-breaking debut. It’s the widest release ever for an R-rated movie, the biggest debut ever for a Best Picture Oscar nominee; it’s the highest grossing January movie in history and it’s already the second highest grossing war movie of all-time. The movie has already gone beyond “blockbuster” all the way up to “cultural phenomenon” in the space of a few weeks’ time. However, ironically, as the movie has become more popular with the public, liberals have gotten more and more upset about it. You’ve already seen the quotes from Michael Moore and Bill Maher, but...

RUSH: Scott Walker wowed them in Iowa at whatever this thing was, this Republican, slash, conservative, just wowed them. And you know me, folks, if you have spent any time listening to this program in the last two years, you know that I believe Scott Walker is the blueprint for the Republican Party if they are serious about beating the left. Scott Walker has shown how to do it. And apparently he showed up and he made a speech on Saturday that had people telling them it reminded them of the speech I gave at CPAC. Now, if that's true,...

Encouraged by the Democrat Media complex to write his own narrative, President Obama has apparently decided to deliver it in the form of a comic book supervillain monologue. Obama’s “swagger” has led us beyond the realm of “laughingstock” status and straight into comic book adventure territory. The classic elements are there: the villain with his faithful yet bumbling sidekicks, his plan to “transform” the world, monologues where he lectures and justifies. The superhero, however, has yet to make his entrance. In this series, the Democrat Media complex edits the script, and try as they might to cast Obama as the...

The theme of Obama’s last campaign was “Forward.” Having thoroughly alienated Republicans in Congress, he is boldly moving forward on his final mission of also alienating the Democrats. It’s no secret that Harry Reid, the former Senate majority leader, now loathes Obama. But the conflict between Senate Democrats and Obama is approaching explosive temperatures. Senator Menendez accused Obama of parroting talking points out of Tehran as the Senate approaches a sanctions vote. Obama has threatened to veto bills on Iran and Keystone, along with others, leading to a showdown in which Democrats will have to choose between Obama and electability....

Anti-police activists are getting their wish fulfilled as more police departments are outfitting officers with body cameras that record sight and sound from the officersÂ’ perspective.So far the results of three recently released videos of police encounters that ended in fatal shootings show the dangers officers face on patrol.Warning: Video shows deadly violence.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCrQyUQCJS0A video from Selma, Alabama shows a Black officer fatally shooting a Black man, Ananias Shaw, as he charged the officer while wielding an ax.A second video from Arizona shows the fatal shooting of Flagstaff Officer Tyler Stewart who used the gentle technique demanded by cop-hating agitators. A...

The reporting on the latest Obama-Netanyahu tiff has failed to explore a decisive geopolitical likelihood: Israel has calculated that Iran absolutely will not develop nuclear weapons during the remainder of the Obama administration. For those who closely follow the relationship between Israel and the United States, specifically the tumultuous rapport between Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and President Barack Obama, it was assumed that the “chickensh*t” fiasco this past October was the climax of the Obama administration’s frustrations with Netanyahu. This assumption was obliterated however when Netanyahu accepted an invitation this week from Speaker John Boehner to address a joint session...

Can we be honest for a minute about the latest liberal crusade gripping the country like a deflated football?If you are sincerely concerned about fair play in sports and waiting patiently for the NFL to conclude its investigation of “Deflategate,” this column is not directed at you. Maybe you’re a New England Patriots fan or just a neutral observer. Maybe you don’t care about football at all. But for the rest of you, the mob salivating over the prospect of finding something to diminish the Patriots’ 2014 achievements, let’s face it.You hated Tom Brady before the national media lost its...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEG-ly9tQGk Danish archer Lars Andersen might be the most accomplished archer of our time. Not because of any awards or medals, but purely because of what he has accomplished by studying ancient texts and paintings. Andersen posted a video on Friday attempting to disprove the Hollywood myth of archery. Not only that, he explains how the art of archery is lost on today's archers because a majority of them stand still and aim at their target rather than be able to run, shoot, and hit their targets while also being able to shoot rapidly. Andersen says that the ultimate feat...

How dare he speak out on the Iranian nuclear threat!On Thursday the Obama White House said they would not meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu because they wanted to “avoid the appearance of influencing a democratic election in a foreign country.”The Israeli elections are two weeks after Netanyahu is set to address a joint session of Congress.On Friday an Obama administration official told reporters Netanyahu “spat in our face.”The Times of Israel reported: The White House’s outrage over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to speak before Congress in March — a move he failed to coordinate with the administration...

That MSNBC routinely, almost compulsively, mischaracterizes what conservatives say is nothing new. It’s what makes the network so adorable. But in a recent trend, anchor Rachel Maddow has been upping the ante, altering quotes we just heard her play on tape.On Monday night, for example, Rachel ran a news clip from President Reagan’s 1983 Martin Luther King Day signing ceremony: “Chris Wallace, NBC Reporter (by miraculous coincidence, currently a Fox News anchor): ‘There was an air of celebration in the Rose Garden and an underlying tension. White House officials wrestled for days how to usher in a holiday the president...

As hundreds of thousands of members of the pro-life community descend upon Washington D.C. for the March for Life Thursday, the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives has caved to Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) and a group of GOP women who believe passage of a bill that would ban abortions past the fifth month of pregnancy would hurt the Party’s chances with women and millennials. The upending of the bill comes as a member of that GOP leadership team, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA)—the House GOP conference chair—is leading the House delegation to, and addressing the crowds of pro-life...

In the video, the mood changes in a flash when Days tells his partner about the gun and starts yelling, "Show me your hands!" The driver, Leroy Tutt, raises his hands immediately. Reid does not at first. Days, still yelling, reaches into the car and appears to remove a gun. "I'm going to shoot you," Days shouts, at one point addressing Reid by his first name. "You're going to be f---ing dead. If you reach for something, you're going to be f---ing dead." Days tells his partner, "He's reaching for something." Faintly on the video, Reid can be heard telling...

The Patriots used underinflated footballs on Sunday night. The next question is how did it happen? According to a National Football League letter about the investigation into the controversy that was shared with the Globe, the Patriots were informed that the league’s initial findings indicated that the game balls did not meet specifications. The league inspected each of the Patriots’ 12 game balls twice at halftime, using different pressure gauges, and found footballs that were not properly inflated. According to ESPN, 11 of the 12 game balls were found to be underinflated by about 2 pounds each. The NFL specifications...

I haven’t yet seen the movie American Sniper, but I have read Chris Kyle’s autobiography, on which it is based. I therefore believe that I am qualified to write on the topic.Although, come to think of it, I’m not really going to write about American Sniper at all. Instead, I’m going to write about some of the reactions to American Sniper, which function as a Rorschach test of American (and, dare I say, un-American?) values.I have to begin with the fundamental premise, one that drives the Left nuts, which is that Clint Eastwood, with help from a superb Bradley Cooper,...

What happens when we run out of taboos? The question arises thanks to a column in Salon.com from one Jenny Kutner, an assistant editor "focusing on sex, gender and feminism." This particular column focuses on an 18-year-old woman who is currently dating. That wouldn't be odd, except that she is dating her biological father. Apparently, this woman's father left her family when she was 4; when he came back into her life, she was 16. "It was so weird and confusing," she said. "I was seeing my dad for the first time in forever but it was also like, He's...

RUSH: This is a good point here. A story by Alex Pollock at Real Clear Markets: "Why Did No One Predict the Oil-Price Collapse?" This interests me. "We have just had a free fall in one of the most important prices in the world-the price of oil. Looking back, we are keenly aware that it dropped about 60% from its 2014 high to its recent low. Although some people thought the price of oil would go down, nobody (at least nobody that I can find) publicly predicted anything like this big a drop. Why? Oil prices went from $108 a...

Full Title - New York Sheriff On Handgun Renewal Permits, ‘Throw Them In The Garbage Because That Is Where They Belong.’ [VIDEO] Fulton County, N.Y. is home to a strong hunting and fishing tradition. Guns are everywhere, but life isn’t easy.Temperatures are often well below zero, and snow piles drift up so high against your home that you have to go to the second floor to be able to look outside a window. Jobs are scarce since the leather industry exited a few decades ago. Taxes are high, and it seems the government solution to the unemployment problem is to...

There are gong to be many millions of newly befuddled, fearful, and angry taxpayers this April, hit with the consequences of Obamacare’s social engineering when they try to file their taxes in April. Many will suffer unexpected financial penalties and costs, especially those accustomed to filing under the simplified tax forms applying to straight salaried people with standard deductions. H&R Block is warning that “[n]o one can understand” the New Obamacare tax code requirements for filing this year. In fact, millions of people accustomed to filing the postcard-sized 1040EZ form will now have to file extremely complicated and detailed forms,...