Free Republic

After the historic announcement of an agreement over Iran’s nuclear programme, this week the Obama administration has begun trying to sell the deal to the United States Congress. Most Republicans, it appears, remain opposed. But while most international attention has focused on President Obama’s difficulties in getting the backing of American lawmakers, the popular excitement within Iran that greeted the announcement cannot disguise the fact that official reactions there have been decidedly mixed. The idea that solving the nuclear crisis would unlock a new Iran of economic riches and political moderation has been enthusiastically promoted by the Rouhani administration and...

Distinguished scientist Freeman Dyson has called the 1433 decision of the emperor of China to discontinue his country's exploration of the outside world the "worst political blunder in the history of civilization." The United States seems at this moment about to break the record for the worst political blunder of all time, with its Obama administration deal that will make a nuclear Iran virtually inevitable. Already the years-long negotiations, with their numerous "deadlines" that have been extended again and again, have reduced the chances that Israel can destroy the Iranian nuclear facilities, which have been multiplied and placed in scattered...

For 2,000 years, following the annihilation of Jerusalem by the Romans, the Jewish people lived in exile from its holy places, while keeping its religion, language, and customs alive in an unparalleled act of collective memory. No other people in history has experienced so much suffering, or devoted so much energy to remembering. And when, in the XX century, the greatest of all disasters wiped out the Jews of Europe, the world seemed to undergo a brief fit of remorse. The United Nations voted overwhelmingly to recognize the State of Israel as a homeland in which the Jews could at...

RUSH: Today is Thursday. Last weekend was four days ago. Depending on which day of the weekend you go back to, it could be five days ago. And if you have wishful thinking about weekends it could be six days ago, all the way back to last Friday. What happened last weekend? Donald Trump supposedly took himself out of the presidential race with one sentence about John McCain. I mean, that's what the conventional wisdom told us. From the moment it was reported that Trump said he wasn't impressed with McCain because he's not impressed with people that get captured,...

RUSH: I can't tell you the number of people echoing my sentiment, my philosophy, my theory on Hillary. You'll hear it everywhere now. And it goes like this: The more Hillary speaks, the worse she does in the polls. The less she speaks, the less she's seen, the better she does. And the reason supposedly is, by the experts of smart analyzing polling data, "Well, you know, Hillary's always been seen in a supportive role, and that's where she shines, but when she's out front and she's taking the lead, that's when she has problems." Well, she's taking the lead,...

RUSH: Secretary of state John Kerry (who proudly served in Vietnam) is testifying before a Senate committee about the Iran deal, and I watched a little bit of it. I guess I'm getting cynical as I get older. I really thought in part, when I look at the witnesses look at Kerry and the people sitting next to him up there, I literally think I'm back watching the cantina scene in Star Wars. And then I watch the questions that Rubio is asking, even Bob Menendez is asking, and the people with John Kerry, they just appear clueless in terms...

RUSH: No, Mr. Snerdley, I've not seen any footage of the massive protest in Times Square against the Iranian nuclear deal, but I saw the story on CBS Eyewitness News Web page, Channel 2 New York, their Web page, but no pictures. It's amazing, the supposedly massive protest in Times Square, thousands and thousands of people in Times Square. Times Square is a big place, but you put thousands and thousands of people, you condense them in there, it will be noticed. I read the story, I read the text on the Eyewitness 2 news website, but there's no photos,...

RUSH: From the CBS Eyewitness News San Francisco headline: "American Teens Having Less Sex According to Study." Wait just a minute. Does anybody believe that? I've always been told there's nothing we can do. I've always been told, going back to the early nineties, remember when condoms became a big deal? The AIDS scare was in full bloom, and parents were letting their teenagers have sex in spare bedrooms out on Long Island instead of backseats of the cars because it was cleaner, safer, they thought. And all the while, you know, I would express kind of shock at this....

The VMA nominations were announced this week. Who cares? you might be thinking. MTV doesn’t even play music videos anymore. Both valid points, but the awards still mean something to the artists. This became clear when Nicki Minaj took to Twitter to voice her confusion over “Anaconda” not being nominated for Video of the Year, despite breaking YouTube records and causing an international stir. NICKI MINAJ ✔ ‎@NICKIMINAJ If your video celebrates women with very slim bodies, you will be nominated for vid of the year 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊 Follow Taylor Swift ✔ ‎@taylorswift13 @NICKIMINAJ I've done nothing but love & support...

A heady bouquet: "Dr" Deborah Nucatola, Planned Parenthood's Senior Director of Medical Research, explains over a nice cabernet how to evacuate an intact calvarium. If abortion were the respectable medical procedure its proponents insist it is, there would be no such thing as "Planned Parenthood", anymore than there is a Planned Hernia megacorp. We are told constantly that abortion is a very teensy-weensy, barely statistically measurable, all but undetectable micro-sliver of the wide range of "women's health" services Planned Parenthood provides. So it only does an estimated third of a million abortions per year - or about as many abortions...

Last night on The Kelly File, Megyn Kelly slammed the Obama Administration for refusing to “take seriously” those who have raised concerns about illegal immigration and sanctuary cities. The Fox News personality explained: “That’s the message 24 hours after a half dozen witnesses went before Congress to testify about this issue. Many were families who lost loved ones at the hands of illegal immigrants. All of them begging Washington for some help.” After playing a clip from Jim Steinle, father of murdered San Francisco native Kate Steinle, Kelly declared: “Well, that last person was Mr. Steinle, the father of Kate...

Despite the revelation on Wednesday that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) made secret side deals with Iran over nuclear weapons inspections and refused to disclose the details to the U.S. Congress, NBC, ABC, and CBS all ignored the story. By contrast, Fox News’s Special Report led with the breaking news that evening as anchor Bret Baier informed viewers: “As President Obama continues to both court and mock critics of his legacy-shaping nuclear agreement with Iran, there is word tonight of a separate covert deal between the Islamic Republic and the U.N.’s nuclear team. Two of them, in fact, that...

Not manhandled by security, I should note, but manhandled by two fellow vets. And I’m not exaggerating in using that word: They’re shockingly rough with a guy who looks to be in his mid-70s. A broken hip will learn the old-timer not to go mouthing off about Benghazi, I guess. Kind of surprised to find two Obama fans this ardent at a VFW gathering, to be honest. Perhaps reflecting mixed feelings about the president among veterans, Obama often drew tepid applause, especially for comments about his nuclear deal with Iran. He did, however, receive a rousing ovation after calling for...

After a few days of vacation, I wondered whether the Donald Trump phenomenon would have burnt itself out somewhat, as it did four years ago in a summer fizzle. Instead, Trump’s polling has strengthened nearly to the same level as in the spring of 2011 among Republican primary voters. So why is Trump picking this time to threaten to leave the GOP? The Hill’s exclusive interview with the mogul this morning includes a demand for fairness from the RNC from Trump, with an explicit warning that Trump may consider a third-party run: “The RNC has not been supportive. They were...

Byline (Cuomo Quote): "This is just the beginning. We will not stop until we reach true economic justice." Getta load of Andrew Cuomo, the governor of the once-great state of New York. For the first time ever, reports Business Insider, a U.S. state "may single out one industry for a big wage hike." Under a plan approved by New York's Fast Food Wage Board, a $15-per-hour minimum wage would be phased in over three years in New York City and six years across upstate New York, whose economy has long been the American equivalent of East Germany. The mandate would...

Over the past three weeks, my family and I spent more than 22 hours driving more than 1,400 miles for our vacation. The trip involved enduring construction traffic, heavy rainstorms and unbelievably frightening, dense and fast traffic along interstates merely two lanes wide. We made it through safely, partly because I pulled over to let my husband drive through the rain (I hate driving in rain) and partly because he has learned to endure my uncontrollable need to provide commentary about his driving skills from the passenger seat -- even though his driving record is better than mine. It defies...

...if we come to see ourselves as meat, then meat we shall become." -- Leon Kass, M.D., "Toward a More Natural Science" What is most shocking about an undercover video of a conversation between Deborah Nucatola, a Planned Parenthood executive, and two antiabortion activists from the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) posing as employees from a biotech firm is why anyone is shocked. For those who haven't been paying attention (ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN all ignored the story during their Sunday morning political talk shows, but not Fox), the discussion centered on the sale of donated tissue from aborted...

Edmund Burke famously said, “Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it.” This could not be more relevant to the debate raging over the Iran nuclear deal. On Oct. 21, 1994, President Bill Clinton announced a deal with North Korea aimed at ending its pursuit of a nuclear weapon. “This is a good deal for the United States,” Clinton said. “North Korea will freeze and then dismantle its nuclear program. South Korea and our other allies will be better protected. The entire world will be safer as we slow the spread of nuclear weapons.” Before addressing questions by...

Every now and then I have to apologize for going a little bit over the top. Recently, I did that when I suggested we should eliminate all university majors ending with the word “studies.” Obviously, that’s a little extreme. So I apologize. Instead, I am going to suggest that we eliminate some of the “studies” majors and just rename the rest. I write today to suggest that the first one we should rename is Women’s Studies. From now on, I propose that we call it “Hysterical Women’s Studies.” My reasons for the immodest proposal are based on direct and indirect...

Ninety-five percent of black voters in 2008 voted for then-Sen. Barack Obama. Surely a "progressive" black president would care about, empathize with and understand black America in a way no other president ever has or could, right? Exit polls from Pew Research show that 63 percent of all voters -- and 65 percent of Obama voters -- cited the economy as the number one reason they voted for him. Iraq was a distant second at 10 percent. Even for black Obama voters, "It's the economy, stupid." After six years, the report card is in. The grades are not pretty. By...