Free Republic

President Obama acknowledged in an ABC interview Sunday that he has been exchanging letters with Iranian President Hassan Rowhani. Obama told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that he has communicated with Iran’s leaders in “indirect ways.” “Have you reached out personally to the new president?” Stephanopoulos asked. “I have,” Obama replied, “and– and he’s reached out to me. We haven’t spoken– directly. But–” 1 inShare 3 President Obama acknowledged in an ABC interview Sunday that he has been exchanging letters with Iranian President Hassan Rowhani. Obama told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that he has communicated with Iran’s leaders in “indirect ways.” “Have you...

NAANTALI, Finland Russian President Vladimir Putin bluntly rejected U.S. pleas to turn over National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden on Tuesday, saying he is free to travel wherever he wants and insisting that Russian security agencies haven't contacted him. Snowden is in the transit zone of a Moscow airport and has not passed through Russian immigration, Putin said, meaning he is not technically in Russia. ... A high-ranking Ecuadorean official told The Associated Press that Russia and Ecuador were discussing where Snowden could go, saying the process could take days. He also said Ecuador's ambassador to Moscow had not seen...

While the presidential horserace will consume much of the political media’s attention over the next year, muted Running Mate Match Game speculation is already underway. One figure that generates a disproportionate amount of discussion on this front is Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). Despite a series of public demurrals, Rubio-for-VP buzz is unlikely to dissipate any time soon. In Rubio, Republicans have a gifted politician, a very effective communicator, and someone who has earned near-universal admiration among conservatives. He also hails from a critical swing state, and could almost single-handedly put a coveted and growing demographic into play, virtually overnight. Rubio...

A Waterloo man and his dog made a harrowing escape from the clutches of a vicious black bear Thursday while portaging near Wawa, Ont. Tom Tilley, 55, killed the nearly 200-pound bear by jumping on its back and stabbing the aggressive animal with a six-inch hunting knife after his dog alerted him and distracted the bear. "Love is a very powerful emotion and my thought right away was, 'You're not going to kill my dog,' " Tilley said yesterday. "I really consider my dog a hero. Without that first warning I would have had the bear clamping down on my...

You know, I've been a member of FR since before the 2000 election. I have not always agreed with the posts of the male-dominated membership in FR, but I have appreciated the positions of each and every one of you. But it has become very clear to me during this 2004 campaign why many women cannot embrace the conservative and/or Republican agenda. I have been since Nixon, and will remain one despite the predominance of the sexist condescension of a large group of Republican men. So let's get down to the bare bones of the situation, okay? And I really...

Polls are the genital warts of election year. They are the swarming gnats in your Jell-O salad, the dead escalator in your shopping mall, the sour milk in your coffee. Because clearly, if you attempt to follow any of them, the AP polls or the American Research Group polls or the Newsweek polls or the ABC News polls or the CBS News/NYT polls or the Zogby polls, you can only conclude one thing: These polls are designed solely to mangle your head and confound your synapses and elate you and titillate you and then plunge you into instant despair and...