Free Republic

The Christmas story begins in the town of Nazareth nine months before the birth of Jesus. Now, if any narrative ever cried out for attention to detail it is this one, so it’s worth taking a good look at this little town and what it might tell us about the nature and character of God. Nazareth is much more widely known today than it ever was in Jesus’ day. It is not among the sixty-three villages of Galilee mentioned in the Hebrew Talmud or the forty-five mentioned by first-century Jewish historian Josephus, who knew the area well. This was an...

NO SANTA IN SIGHT WORST CHRISTMAS EVE EVER DOW -653 FALLS BELOW 22,000

Former National Security Advisor Susan Rice published an op-ed Sunday in the New York Times in which she declares that President Donald Trump “does more to undermine American national security than any foreign adversary.” More dangerous than the Islamic terrorists who carried out the Benghazi attack, about which she lied to the world, blaming a YouTube video; more dangerous than the so-called “Islamic state,” which she let take root after her boss, President Barack Obama, called them the “J.V. team”; more dangerous than Vladimir Putin’s Russia, which took over Crimea on her watch; more dangerous than Iran, with which she...

A 96-year-old water main burst in a South Los Angeles neighborhood Friday, sending water bubbling up above the pavement, flooding streets and creating a void that submerged cars. It took the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power more than four hours to fully shut off the 24-inch cast iron main as water inundated the neighborhood at 55th Street and Towne Avenue. About 30 adults and 20 children were displaced from their homes; the Fred Roberts Recreation Center was set up as a temporary shelter. LADWP is covering the cost of hotel stays for some affected residents while crews do...

Well, this seems to have become an annual event. Alone on Christmas Eve, reaching out to my fellow FReepers. Myself, I have my daughter's hermit crab for company. And some great classical Christmas music. And, a little later, George Bailey and friends via BluRay. Anyone else spending this evening solo?

It had to happen. As we suspected would happen. The caravan migrants, still cooling their heels out of sight of tourists in an isolated redoubt of Tijuana, in line awaiting for their U.S. asylum claims to be adjudicated, have finally turned on their rabidly left-wing organizers – namely, Pueblo Sin Fronteras. The Associated Press has a pretty good report about the scope of the migrant disgust: We know that the migrants have turned on the organizers because suddenly, they are nowhere to be found in Tijuana. Some are still talking for the cameras, but the Tijuana mayor says he wants...

It was not a place of fun and games. And when that red phone rang — it was wired directly to a four-star general at the Pentagon — things got real. All eyes would have been on Shoup when he answered. “Col. Shoup,” he barked. But there was silence. Until finally, a small voice said, “Is this Santa Claus?”

In honor of the season I've made my Christmas novel A Fantasía for Two Lutes available as a free Kindle download. It's a story of ghosts and visions, and an allegory of Western society, as personified by its protagonist, Aaron Westwode, a good man suffering guilt for something which he can neither identify, nor define. Driven to despair and suicide, he is saved on Christmas eve by Margaret, the ghost of a woman murdered by his evil brother, a domestic terrorist. She wafts him to the other world, where visions of his past precede a trip to Hell, and confrontation...

Seattle is on the verge of making some controversial land-use changes that advocates say will make this increasingly expensive city more livable for people who aren’t wealthy. The city may soon allow taller buildings in the cores of many neighborhoods and ease restrictions on mother-in-law apartments and backyard cottages. But change is hard: Those moves have encountered legal challenges. Minneapolis this month took a much more dramatic step on density meant to ease its real-estate crunch and address its history of racial segregation: The City Council there voted to end single-family zoning altogether. Moving ahead, the Midwest city will allow...

House Speaker nominee Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.,slammed the president on Christmas Eve,as they sought to pin blame for the partial government shutdown on him."It's Christmas Eve and President Trump is plunging the country into chaos,"

Time for G.O.P. to Threaten to Fire Trump Republican leaders need to mount an intervention. Thomas L. Friedman By Thomas L. Friedman Opinion Columnist Dec. 24, 2018 Up to now I have not favored removing President Trump from office. I felt strongly that it would be best for the country that he leave the way he came in, through the ballot box. But last week was a watershed moment for me, and I think for many Americans, including some Republicans. It was the moment when you had to ask whether we really can survive two more years of Trump as...

At least 25 people were killed Monday during a a seven-hour assault that began with a car bomb at a government building in the Afghan capital, authorities said. A police officer and four attackers were among the dead after the standoff at the National Authority for Disabled People and Martyrs' Families in Kabul, according to Najib Danish, an Interior Ministry spokesman. The attack began Monday afternoon with the detonation of a vehicle bomb at the gates to the building, Danish said. Three gunmen then stormed the building, where hundreds were working.

An offer from Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei to provide free Wi-Fi at Washington Redskins football games sparked a federal complaint that ultimately led to the end of the partnership, according to a Wall Street Journal article on Monday. In 2014, Huawei and Redskins officials struck a deal that would have allowed Huawei to provide Wi-Fi to suites at the team's home, FedEx Field. In exchange, Huawei would advertise during broadcasts and in the stadium, the Journal reported. Huawei advertised in FedEx field at two games. Redskins Vice President Rod Nenner even presented Huawei general manager Ming He on the field...

A federal court judge on Monday ordered North Korea to pay the parents of Otto Warmbier more than $500 million, for what she called barbaric treatment in custody that led to the 2017 death of the University of Virginia student. The case attracted international attention because of the horrific circumstances of his death, and because Warmbier was seized by North Korea at a time of escalating tensions with the United States. Warmbier was visiting the country in January, 2016 when he was prevented from leaving, accused of attempting to steal a propaganda sign, and sentenced to 15 years of hard...

Well, it’s Christmas Eve. For those of who are traveling today, hope you get to your respective family gatherings safely. In the meantime, on the political front, the Democrats have decided to shut down the government. They do not support border security. President Trump wants $5 billion for part of his wall. The Senate has adjourned and we could be in for a long showdown over this part of the spending package. Armageddon won’t come I assure you, but for those on the Left hoping that Trump’s approval ratings could take a hit—there are a few reason why it won’t...

While poor Bilal Hassam is beset by “Islamophobia,” here are some recent news items from the real world:Benedict Kiely Real Clear Politics reported last Tuesday that Christians in Iraq face a new threat from “Popular Mobilization Units,” who in the town of Karamles, near Mosul, recently blocked a road that led to a church, preventing the congregation from going to the church, and “also strafed the church with gunfire.” Kiely added that the local priest “told me that this was the second time his church had been attacked in the last nine months. One of the militiamen held a handgun...

arly morning explosions rocked Baltimore’s Mt. Vernon neighborhood today as multiple cars were set on fire in the area of Charles and Eager streets. “We believe this was a random act of violence,” interim Police Commissioner Gary Tuggle said, speaking to reporters at Baltimore Police headquarters. Tuggle said seven cars were set on fire and that the flames spread to two vehicles. Across Baltimore, news of the explosions were one more grim reminder of another violent week in which the city officially passed the 300 homicide benchmark for the fourth year in a row.

Just imagine the New York Times publishing an article entitled “What a Christian Could Teach Supporters of the Saudi Crown Prince About Jesus,” or “What a Christian Could Teach Supporters of the Ayatollah Khamenei About Jesus.” This is not to compare Trump either to the Saudi Crown Prince or the Iranian Supreme Leader, although many Leftists are so deranged regarding Trump that they would endorse such comparisons with relish. The point I’m making, on the other hand, is that the New York Times editors would rather have their teeth pulled out with rusty pliers than ever to publish an article...

Syrian Christians hope for "a Christmas of forgiveness and reconciliation", embracing "the whole country, non-Christians included”. Without a new culture, one that doesn’t forget the wounds but goes beyond them, it will not be possible to build "a future of coexistence,” said Fr Amer Kassar, of the Church of Our Lady of Fatima in Damascus. Speaking, to AsiaNews, the 40-year-old Syro-Catholic diocesan priest described the beautiful atmosphere in the capital as preparations get underway to welcome the birth of Jesus, like “before the war". In homes, streets and churches "we are getting ready for Christmas" in a context that is,...