Free Republic

The NHS will ban patients from surgery indefinitely unless they lose weight or quit smoking, under controversial plans drawn up in Hertfordshire. The restrictions - thought to be the most extreme yet to be introduced by health services - immediately came under attack from the Royal College of Surgeons. Its vice president called for an “urgent rethink” of policies which he said were “discriminatory” and went against the fundamental principles of the NHS. In recent years, a number of areas have introduced delays for such patients - with some told operations will be put back for months, during which time...

Attorney and FOX News Contributor Gregg Jarrett joined Sean Hannity to discuss the illegal money laundering and bribery of the Clinton Foundation.   It was reported earlier today that the FBI uncovered Russian bribery of the Clintons in 2009 and the Department of Justice and the FBI sat on this for four more years. Worse yet, from today’s report we discovered the investigation was supervised by then-U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein, who is now President Trump’s Deputy Attorney General, and then-Assistant FBI Director Andrew McCabe, who is now the deputy FBI director under Trump.Rosenstein and Mueller also sat on the CFIUS committee that approved...

Did you happen to catch CNN's latest smear? Anderson Cooper's show recently featured a "two-part exclusive" that claims Donald Trump's EPA director had conspired with the CEO of a mining company to "withdraw environmental restrictions" so the company could dig "the largest open pit mine in the world in an extremely sensitive watershed in wild Alaska." The report was enough to horrify any caring person. CNN showed beautiful pictures of colorful salmon swimming in Bristol Bay, and the reporter intoned dramatically, "EPA staffers were shocked to receive this email obtained exclusively by CNN which says 'we have been directed by...

RUSH: You see, it doesn’t get any better than this. I’ve had the phone fully charged for an hour and 18 minutes. It’s been sitting here doing nothing, and it’s only showing five minutes of usage. I mean, that’s ideal. You cannot get any better than that. I see all these people, “I have battery problems!” Well, I need to do a clinic on this. You know, maybe a Fourth Hour on all of this stuff sometime. I mentioned at the top of the program that there are a couple of stories today to talk about how great Trump is...

It turns out the Obama administration knew the Russians were engaged in bribery, kickbacks and extortion in order to gain control of US atomic resources — yet still OK’d that 2010 deal to give Moscow control of one-fifth of America’s uranium. This reeks. Peter Schweizer got onto part of the scandal in his 2015 book, “Clinton Cash”: the gifts of $145 million to the Clinton Foundation, and the $500,000 fee to Bill for a single speech, by individuals involved in a deal that required Hillary Clinton’s approval.

"#MeToo" is the social media meme of the moment. In a 24-hour period, the phrase was tweeted nearly a half million times and posted on Facebook 12 million times. Spearheaded by actress Alyssa Milano in the wake of Hollyweird's Harvey Weinstein sexual harassment scandal, women have flooded social media with their own long-buried accounts of being pestered, groped or assaulted by rapacious male predators in the workplace. Count me out. It's one thing to break down cultural stigmas constructively, but the #MeToo movement is collectivist virtue signaling of a very perilous sort. The New York Times heralded the phenomenon with...

At Cliffside Park High School in New Jersey, a teacher who told a student to speak English inside her classroom is facing severe backlash.

How does the United States pass good gun laws and prevent bad ones? President Trump had the best response.From washingtonexaminer.com: “We'll talk about that later,” Trump told reporters at the White House when asked about gun reform Tuesday morning. A nation has to have good laws if it is to survive and thrive. Since nations came into existence, it has become obvious that a ruling authority, or government, is necessary for people to survive and thrive. Without a ruling authority, force becomes the only law.The strongest, the best with weapons, survive as long as they can fight, defend, or...

Pole dancing has come a long way since it appeared at 1980s strip clubs. It now has an accepted scoring system. ... The Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) confirmed yesterday that it has given observer status to the International Pole Sports Federation (IPSF) in a move which sets out a “clear pathway” towards full Olympic recognition. Patrick Baumann, president of GAISF said it was an “exciting time” for pole sports and added: “We will do everything within our remit to help them realise their full potential...

KIRKUK, Iraq (AP) — The Latest on Iraq, where federal forces have moved into the disputed northern city of Kirkuk as Kurdish forces have pulled out (all times local): 3 p.m. The U.S.-led coalition battling the Islamic State group says it believes the exchange of fire between Iraqi and Kurdish forces in and around Kirkuk was a “misunderstanding.” A coalition statement says it is monitoring federal and Kurdish military vehicles and believes they are “coordinated movements, not attacks.” It said it was aware of reports of a “limited exchange of fire during predawn hours of darkness,” but “we believe the...

A day after Israel's counter attack on a Syrian SA-5 surface-to-air missile site we are learning more about the incident, and unfortunately, some questionable outlets and commentators are spreading rumors that imply one of Israel's F-35Is was the aircraft targeted by Syrian missiliers, and that the aircraft was damaged in the attack. It appears that the first sortie put "more than one" aircraft “within the effective range” of the Syrian SA-5 missile that fired at the flight according to an Israeli Defense Forces spokesman. The engagement supposedly occurred at around 9AM local time. It remains unclear the exact mix of...

The security guard who approached Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock's hotel suite before the massacre said he heard "drilling sounds" before he was shot through the door. In an episode of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" set to air Wednesday, Jesus Campos recounts for the first time on TV the night of the shooting. Campos was wounded by Paddock on October 1, minutes before the gunman sprayed gunfire on concertgoers at the Route 91 Harvest Festival from a hotel room in the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort Casino.

The UK’s Independent, hitherto generally regarded as not run by insane people, on Sunday ran a piece entitled: “How the teachings of Islam could help us prevent more sexual abuse scandals.” Now on the question of the Independent’s sanity, the jury is decidedly out. The article is written by Qasim Rashid, which explains a great deal. Rashid is a professional liar, a one-man cottage industry of deception and hypocrisy. He has whitewashed Muhammad’s support for torture and the reality of jihad violence and Sharia oppression; dissembled about the Qur’an’s sanction of deception of unbelievers; lied about the presence of violent...

In the course of a rambling interview on CNN this morning, Dem Congresswoman Frederica Wilson repeatedly claimed that she didn’t want to “politicize” the issue of the conversation President Trump had with the widow of a soldier killed in Niger. Right. Wilson would never politicize it. Except . . . she said: Trump lied about the conversation, that given the chance she would have cursed him out on the phone, that Trump doesn’t know how to sympathize and that his actions were “disgraceful.” Oh, and for good measure, Wilson said that Trump “has a brain disorder, and he needs to...

Hillary Clinton’s What Happened tour is playing well in the sanctuary state of California, a safe house for the Democrats’ losing presidential candidate in 2016. Last week, on a dog-whistle stop in Davis, Hillary addressed a packed house of 1,800 fans, some decked out in pussy hats. “Historically, people really like me when I’m serving in a supporting role,” Clinton said.  “When I left being secretary of state, I had an approval rating of 69 percent.” But when she sought to lead the nation, “then it gets a lot harder.” As Clinton explained, Russian interference “is a clear and present...

The Obama administration knew that Russia had used bribery, kickbacks and extortion to get a stake in the US atomic-energy industry — but cut deals giving Moscow control of a large chunk of the US uranium supply anyway, according to a report Tuesday. The FBI used a confidential US witness working inside the Russian nuclear industry to gather records, make secret recordings and intercept ­e-mails as early as 2009 that showed the Kremlin had compromised an American uranium trucking company, The Hill reported. Executives at the company, Transport Logistics International, kicked back about $2 million to the Russians in exchange...

"Awareness must be raised." "A spotlight must be brought to this crucial issue." "We must all think about our own culpability." These tired nostrums are repeatedly deployed in our politics to explain why someone complains about a broad problem or tells a specific story of victimization without accompanying evidence that would allow us to act. Accusations of institutional racism rarely come along with specific allegations regarding specific police officers. If allegations and names were included, we could all look at the evidence and determine whether or not to call for consequences. Stories of sexual assault and harassment at work are...

Football players kneel. Owners support them. President threatens owners with tax consequences. What does the First Amendment say about all this? This is not an easy question, though some of President Trump’s critics seem to think it is. The ACLU has said it is ready to defend the First Amendment rights of players and to challenge the president’s “unconstitutional efforts to bully the NFL into complying with his view of what is politically correct.” But are President Trump’s efforts “unconstitutional,” or are they constitutionally protected expression? Some Trump critics allege that the presidential threats constitute state action and chill the...

It is an article of faith among many that some of the most patriotic Americans are immigrants. Leaving one's country and culture in search of a better life has a way of clarifying the reasons for making such a consequential choice. The freedoms and opportunities we enjoy as native-born citizens, but can sometimes take for granted, are often even more deeply cherished by new Americans in their adopted homeland. Trading up carries with it a reminder of what one has lived down – and can be all the more meaningful for it. In a similar way, it may also be...

Through the first six weeks of the NFL season, total viewership of games is down 7.5 percent, compared with the first six weeks of 2016. An average of 15 million people watched games for the first six weeks this year, compared with 16.2 million people through Week 6 last season, according to metrics from Nielsen. An NFL spokesman didn't immediately return a message from ESPN seeking comment. In the past week, Credit Suisse lowered its price targets on both Fox and CBS stock, citing NFL ratings declines. "If ratings don't improve materially, we see a potential headwind to domestic advertising...