Free Republic

President Obama's weekly remarks Hi, everybody. Thirty years ago, there were 500,000 people behind bars in America. Today, there are 2.2 million. The United States is home to 5 percent of the world’s population, but 25 percent of the world’s prisoners. Every year, we spend $80 billion to keep people locked up. Now, many of the folks in prison absolutely belong there — our streets are safer thanks to the brave police officers and dedicated prosecutors who put violent criminals behind bars. But over the last few decades, we’ve also locked up more non-violent offenders than ever before, for longer...

U.S. Senate Democrats on Thursday blocked legislation meant to kill the Iran nuclear deal for a third time, securing perhaps the greatest foreign policy win of President Barack Obama's six years in office and clearing the way to implement the accord. By a 56-42 vote, the Republican-majority Senate fell short of the 60 votes needed to advance in the 100-member chamber. Despite an intense and expensive lobbying effort against it, all but four of Obama's fellow Democrats backed the nuclear pact between the United States, five other world powers and Tehran announced in July. With no more Senate votes this...

The Obama administration began carrying out the Iran nuclear deal Thursday as time expired on Republican efforts to derail it, appointing a senior diplomat to ensure that Tehran moves further away from bomb-making capability and outlining a months-long process before Western nations will start easing economic sanctions. Senators failed to reach the 60-vote threshold for a measure to keep all sanctions in place on Iran until it recognizes Israel and releases all imprisoned Americans, and then on a resolution expressing disapproval of the nuclear agreement. Two previous votes in recent days against the Iran deal also failed, and Congress’ 60-day...

Pardon the vanity, but you don't have to like Obama to see some big holes in the idea that he's Muslim. Say what you will about Islam, is there any brand of Islam that is pro-feminist, pro-abortion, pro-homosexual-"marriage"? Those are the positions of secular humanists, and leftist mainline protestantism. I put Obama in one of those two camps.

There is no question that the airstrikes launched by Russia in Syria on Wednesday would cause a lot of trouble and damage. However, American evangelist Franklin Graham believes some good could still come out of it. Speaking on Newsmax TV, Graham said the Russian airstrikes in Syria might just end up saving the lives of countless persecuted Christians. "What Russia is doing may save the lives of Christians in the Middle East," said Graham. "You understand that the Syrian government for their good and for their bad over the history of this country, they have protected Christians, they have protected...

IT WAS only when the gates of the Nazi death camps were thrown open that the industrial scale of Hitler’s killing became known. Western diplomats had received scattered information about Nazi massacres of Jewish people and “undesirables” in occupied Poland and Russia but it was difficult to confirm. Yet just 70 years since the end of the Second World War, a genocide is taking place once again, this time against Christians. Scores have already been murdered by Islamic State and thousands forced to leave ancient Christian communities in northeastern Syria and western Iraq as the extremists demand they either convert...

MOSCOW, September 29, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) – In 2013, Russia passed an amendment to the country's Child Protection Law against "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations to minors," which also safeguards children from being adopted by homosexuals. Western governments, led by the United States, condemned the law, which has as its purpose "Protecting Children from Information Advocating for a Denial of Traditional Family Values," as hateful, bigoted, and out of step with modern societies.

America and Britain have helped to endanger minorities in the Middle East The war in Syria has taken a significant turn these past few months, with the migrant crisis and the intervention of Russia. Even a few months ago one might have expected Bashar al-Assad’s downfall, and two years ago one would have bet the house on it. Now, with the refugee crisis seriously threatening Europe’s governments and the almost comic ineffectiveness of American-trained Syrian rebels, Western leaders seem resigned to accepting Russian’s involvement and some sort of truce that allows Assad to stay. Whatever one thinks of Vladimir Putin,...

Ratcheting up the confrontation over the Syria war, Russia said Monday that its “volunteer” ground forces would join the fight

Exclusive: Republican frontrunner lays out foreign policy Condemns Iraq ‘disaster’ with exceptions for atrocities – ‘Isis is one of them’ Suggests sympathy for Putin’s Syrian intervention in wide-ranging interview

Cuban military operatives reportedly have been spotted in Syria, where sources believe they are advising President Bashar al-Assad’s soldiers and may be preparing to man Russian-made tanks to aid Damascus in fighting rebel forces backed by the U.S. Cuban paramilitary and special forces units are on the ground in Syria, citing evidence from intelligence reports. Cuban troops may have been training in Russia and may have arrived in Syria on Russian planes.

Iran has sent around 1,500 fighters to Syria over the past few days, a regional official and Syrian activists claim. The Iranian soldiers, bolstered by Russia’s airstrike campaign, are preparing for a grand offensive against militants in the northern Aleppo province, which would be announced in the coming days, the official told the AP. They’re also accompanied by a new wave of Hezbollah fighters. The soldiers were arriving at Damascus airport and transported to a military base in the coastal town of Latakia. The presence of Iranian troops could strengthen Russia's mission of empowering Syrian President Bashar Assad's embattled government....

Russian jets have made 41 sorties and carried out 40 attacks against the twisted terror group in the past 24 hours, a defence official claimed. The attacks took place in dozens of ISIS strongholds in the Syrian provinces of Aleppo, Hama, Idlib, Latakia and Deir ez-Zur, he added. Russia's bombing campaign against the so-called caliphate, which controls vast swathes of Syria and Iraq, began earlier this month. General Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for the Russian Defence Ministry, said: "Sukhoi Su-24M bombers delivered pinpoint strikes against terrorist targets near the city of Aleppo. "They took out workshops used by the militant terrorist...

VLADIMIR Putin has branded the US "weak" for refusing the cooperate with Russia in their mission to destroy the evil Islamic State. Washington officials have refused to meet with a delegation from Moscow about the Syrian crisis unless it stops assisting president Bashar al-Assad. They have claimed Putin is only looking to prop up Assad's regime by bombing Syria – rather than tackle the twisted terror group. But Putin blasted their "unconstructive" stance at a meeting with the president of Kazakhstan yesterday.

Russia gets a bad press. Literally. In fact Western media coverage of Russia is almost always extremely negative. That would be excusable if it was mostly accurate, but in fact it’s usually blatantly wrong. The reality of Russia is far removed from the fiction that we’re meant to believe. As investors, understanding the difference is essential. Here are just some of the surprising things about Russia that you probably don’t know. In no particular order… Russia has a flat rate of tax on personal income of just 13%. This compares with top rates of personal income tax of 45% in...

<p>Noting the obvious, Vladimir Putin pointed out that the US is in a very weak position concerning Syria...</p>

In her most dramatic speech to date about climate change, National Security Advisor Susan Rice suggests climate change was partially responsible for the conflict in Syria and represents a looming threat to the entire world. “In the years prior to civil war breaking out in Syria, that country also experienced its worst drought on record,” she said during a political speech at Stanford University. “Farming families moved en masse into urban centers, increasing political unrest and further priming the country for conflict.”

It's now a tenet of conventional wisdom that our policy in Syria is an embarrassment as well as a flop. Washington insiders place great importance on "optics," and the sight of Russian President Vladimir Putin flexing his muscles is making their eyes sting. "Current and former Obama officials say the president's reluctance to respond more assertively against Putin is signaling U.S. weakness and indecision," reports Politico. One current aide lamented anonymously that "we act like we're totally impotent." Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state under George W. Bush, and Robert Gates, secretary of defense under Bush and Barack Obama, couldn't agree...

Two Libyans have been identified as suspects in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, nearly 27 years ago, Scottish and U.S. officials say. They have asked for Libya's help to interview them.

A former Pakistani defense minister appeared to confirm on Indian television on Tuesday that both his country's senior military and civilian leadership knew of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's presence in their country at the time of his death in 2011. Bin Laden was killed after his compound in the environs of Islamabad was raided by U.S. Navy SEALs. [....] [T]his week, Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, Pakistan's defense minister between 2008 and 2012, told Indian TV station CNN-IBN that they knew that bin Laden was in Pakistan. Here's an excerpt of CNN-IBN's journalist posing questions to Mukhtar: Question: Did this word...