Free Republic

Iran: One of the linchpins of former President Obama's nuclear deal with Iran was that it would be accompanied by a near-ban on Iran having any access to the U.S. banking system. A new congressional report says that, too, was a lie.[snip] Obama sent a clear message to Congress: If you don't block ( this nuclear deal), we will bar Iran's access to our financial system. The deal was clear, unequivocal.[snip]It was also a lie. Obama lied, and so did others in his administration. That's the conclusion of a report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. It alleges Obama...

Gangbangers peddle drugs in plain sight, hustlers resell cheap booze on the street corner — 50 cents will get you a capful — and prostitutes lead johns to the boarded-up husk of what used to be a Taco Bell. This is Tompkinsville Park on Staten Island’s North Shore in 2018 and, to area residents and merchants caught in its heroin- and K2-infested vortex, this is a battlefield. “Every day you see muggings, prostitutes, people smoking crack and shooting up heroin,” said Xhafer Gjeshbitraj, 52, who owns a building across the street from the tiny, triangular park bounded by Bay Street...

After rising just over a decade ago to its highest level ever, the nation's home ownership rate fell to match its all-time low and could drop even further in the months to come. In the second quarter of this year, the rate fell to 62.9 percent, not seasonally adjusted, which is the same as it was in 1965, when the U.S. Census started tracking the metric. During the epic housing boom in the mid-2000s, the rate soared as high as 69.2 percent. That was when politicians touted the so-called "ownership society."

Pro-ISIS groups have begun celebrating the Nice massacre which has left at least 77 people dead and more than 50 injured - but the terror group is yet to officially claim responsibility. Scores of Bastille Day revellers were mown down by a truck after gathering to watch a fireworks display in the French city. Eyewitnesses say there was an exchange of gunfire in the aftermath of the terror attack before the driver was shot dead. A second suspect is currently on the run according to French authorities. One French media outlet, weekly news magazine Paris Match, is reporting that ISIS...

“This is not the end of anything here.” Following the horrific violence and murder of police officers in Dallas this week, conservative talk host Rush Limbaugh made a disturbingly plausible prediction on his show. Rush suggested that Dallas might just be the beginning of something and that the next targets could be the Republican National Convention and the Democratic Convention after that. The Washington Free Beacon reported: After Dallas, Rush Limbaugh Predicts Republican and Democratic Conventions Will Be Attacked Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh predicted Friday that both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions later this month will be the...

Iran said Saturday it will continue its ballistic missile program, after the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said that the missile tests aren’t in the spirit of the country’s landmark nuclear deal with world powers. “Iran will strongly continue its missile program based on its own defense and national security calculations,” foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said in comments published on the ministry’s website. Iran’s missile program is not linked to the nuclear deal and does not conflict with the U.N. Security Council resolution endorsing the agreement, he said. “Iran’s missile program has aimed at defense and it is not designed...

he city recorded its 300th homicide this weekend and went on to record six others over a 60-hour period that saw 59 people shot, 13 fatally, from Friday afternoon through early Monday morning. So far this year, about 1,800 people have been shot across the city and more than 200 of those wounded have died of their wounds, according to records kept by the Chicago Tribune. A total of 306 people have been killed this year by shooting, stabbing or other means, Tribune records show. A 3-year-old boy was among the wounded who survived the weekend shootings. Police said he’s...

When the U.S. housing bubble peaked a decade ago, soon to burst with far-reaching consequences, the pain was particularly severe for black and Hispanic Americans. A disproportionate number of minorities succumbed to subprime mortgages and foreclosures and lost their homes. Their collective loss of home equity and shift toward rental housing could widen America's racial and ethnic divides well into the future, according to researchers and housing advocates. The drop in home ownership has grown so severe that it could impede wealth creation for generations of minority families, said Antoine Thompson, executive director of the National Association of Real Estate...

North Korea's Musudan Missile Test Actually Succeeded. What Now? North Korea claims its sixth Musudan missile test this year was a success. Why does that matter? By Ankit Panda June 23, 2016 Yesterday, North Korea launched two liquid-fueled Musudan (Hwasong-10) intermediate-range ballistic missiles. As I wrote then, the tests marked the fifth and sixth test launches of the missile this year. Testing began in mid-April, to coincide with the birth anniversary of Kim Il-sung, North Korea’s founder and grandfather to current leader Kim Jong-un. Sadly for Kim, all four tests prior to yesterday had failed either at launch or shortly...

An elderly Christian man living in Raqqa, Syria, faced forced conversion to Islam as he can no longer afford to pay the minority or jizya tax, a penalty enforced by the Islamic State to minorities living under its jurisdiction. In a video posted by the terror group’s Amaq news platform, a man identifying himself as Mostafa Abu Alzer recites the “Shahada,” the declaration required to enter the Islamic faith, while also stating that his conversion is of his own free will.

Islamic State militants have not only stolen a majority of the military Humvees provided to the Iraq Security Forces (ISF) by the U.S., they are now re-purposing them into car bombs. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi confirmed that 2,300 are in ISIS hands, more than 2/3 of all Humvees provided to Iraq by the U.S. Most were stolen after the terrorist group captured the Iraqi city of Mosul in June 2014. While the vehicles were designed as a fast means to carry U.S. personnel and their supplies into battle, it turns out they are even better suited to be used...

Rising drug and alcohol overdoses, suicides, and disease from chronic alcoholism — labeled “deaths of despair” by one expert — are cutting the lives of white Americans short by nearly a half a year on average. Increases in these types of deaths among whites means that life expectancy for whites is not increasing as fast as it is for other groups, according to a government report that offers an unusual look at how different threats are affecting U.S. lifespans. “Things are moving in the wrong direction,” said Anne Case, a Princeton University researcher, of what she calls “deaths of despair.”...