Free Republic

Stop the Madness of Un-Thanksgiving John Horvat II 26 November As we gear up for the Thanksgiving holidays, many are preparing to engage in a strange new ritual that is crowding out the traditional turkey and pumpkin pie. The ritual, of course, is the extension of Black Friday shopping into Thanksgiving Day. It is a practice so shocking that we might as well create a new holiday—un-Thanksgiving—since nothing could be more contrary to the intention of the real holiday than its present evolution. This year, media will again report on frenzied shoppers mobbing retail stores in search of super bargains....

....Obama pardoned the national Thanksgiving turkey with a smile on Wednesday, but he admitted before saving the bird from it's likely demise that he found the decades-old tradition somewhat "puzzling." "It is a little puzzling that I do this every year, but I will say that I enjoy it because with all the tough stuff that swirls around in this office it's nice once in a while just to say, 'Happy Thanksgiving,'" he said.

Thanksgiving has never been a celebratory holiday in my family. Whenever my family did cook we always gave thanks that all the Native Americans weren't wiped out when Columbus "discovered" America. My teachers made it seem like Thanksgiving was a holiday to look forward to. The New York City public education system told me what Thanksgiving was all about. I was very careful to regurgitate what they taught me when tested so I wouldn't get a failing grade. When I was older though I was told the truth by my family. Whenever someone asked what I was doing for Thanksgiving...

The video appears on the website of Voices of Liberty, a group led by former Republican congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul. It lobbies against "unjustified wars, unconstitutional surveillance, [and] extrajudicial drone assassinations," according to its website.

People started to question Obama's anti-Americanism, his anti-Semitism, and his anti-Christianity Christians and Jews had reason to cheer loudly at the outcome of the latest national voting sessions that took place November 04, 2014; now the work can begin to undo the damage and near destruction caused by Barack Obama’s crusade to elevate the national status of Islam at the expense and standing of those two religions in America that I just named. The country-wide mesmerizing program of Obama, fostered by the United Nations and the Soros billions, on the minds of literally millions of normally patriotic, average American citizens...

The equation seems fairly simple: The more the world's population rises, the greater the strain on dwindling resources and the greater the impact on the environment. The solution? Well, that's a little trickier to talk about. Public-health discussions will regularly include mentions of voluntary family planning as a way to reduce unwanted pregnancies and births. But, said Jason Bremner of the Population Reference Bureau, those policies can also pay dividends for the environment. "And yet the climate-change benefits of family planning have been largely absent from any climate-change or family-planning policy discussions," he said. A 2010 study published in the...

I have yet to find the words to describe the overwhelming sense of satisfaction I felt on Nov. 4, 2008 when Obama won the popular vote by 53 percent. With tears in my eyes, and joy in my heart, I stood alongside people of color across the nation as we celebrated America's first inauguration of a black president. As a young black man, I felt a true sense of patriotism as I witnessed our country rally together to show, finally, that we are more concerned about who is the most qualified man for the job, regardless of race or age....

Ebola’s ebola czar called overpopulation the top leadership concern of the world, Gotnews.com has learned. Democratic operative Ron Klain and his wife, Monica Medina, spoke with a Georgetown interviewer in 2008. Ebola Czar Ron Klain Says "Overpopulation" Top Concern Video clip“I think the top leadership challenge issue in our world today is how to deal with the continuing, growing population in the world and all the resource demands it places on the world and burgeoning populations in Africa and Asia that lack the resources to have a healthy, happy life,” Klain said. “We’ve got to find a way to make...

It was the most notorious spy case of the Cold War — the conviction and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union — and it rested largely on the testimony of Ms. Rosenberg’s brother, David Greenglass, an Army sergeant who had stolen nuclear intelligence from Los Alamos, N.M. For his role in the conspiracy, Mr. Greenglass went to prison for almost a decade, then changed his name and lived quietly until a journalist tracked him down. He admitted then, nearly a half-century later, that he had lied on the witness stand to save...

In a presidential action issued on Friday, proclaiming Oct. 13 as Columbus Day, President Barack Obama noted that a “new history” launched by Italian explorer Christopher Columbus’ discovery of the new world included the history of American Indians, which he said is “marred with long and shameful chapters of violence, disease, and deprivation.” “In a new world, a history was written,” said Obama’s proclamation, required by a 1934 Congressional Joint Resolution. “It tells the story of an idea – that all women and men are created equal – and a people´s struggle to fulfill it. “And it is a history...

The Seattle City Council has voted unanimously to celebrate “Indigenous Peoples’ Day” on the same day as Columbus Day, the federally recognized holiday, reports the Associated Press (AP). According to the AP report, the resolution that passed on Monday declares “Indigenous Peoples’ Day” the second Monday of October and intends to honor the contributions and culture of Native Americans and the indigenous community in Seattle. Supporters of the action said it will recognize the rich history of people who have inhabited the area for hundreds of years. "This action will allow us to bring into current present day our valuable...

For the first time, Russia, which is in the midst of a major strategic nuclear modernization, has more deployed nuclear warheads than the United States, according to the latest numbers released by the State Department. Russia now has 1,643 warheads deployed on intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles and heavy bombers. The United States has 1,642, said the fact sheet released Wednesday.

… With (Bernie) Sanders’ Iowa visit coinciding with Hillary Clinton’s much-anticipated return to the state, some Democrats have wondered if the senator’s presidential ambitions are merely an elaborate display of effigy-burning—an attempt to move Clinton and the center of gravity of the entire party to the left. Not so, the senator says. “If I run, I would like to win. That’s why I would run,” he told msnbc Thursday. He’s not interested in being a protest candidate, he insists. Sanders realizes it’s a long shot. “For me to win, it would require a grassroots effort on the part of literally...

Some are calling it the “latte salute.” When President Obama stepped off Marine One at the Wall Street landing zone in New York City, en route the United Nations, he saluted two Marines at the bottom of the stairs as he held a coffee cup in the same hand.

OCEANSIDE, Calif. - Three 18-year-olds were behind bars Tuesday on suspicion of defacing American flags in a North County senior housing neighborhood last summer. Ruben Jimenez, Daniel Moran and Breanna Alexis Serrato allegedly spray-painted the three flags -- writing "(expletive) USA" on one of them -- in the 3800 block of Rosemary Way in Oceanside late on the evening of July 18, according to Lt. Leonard Cosby. A surveillance camera captured images of the crimes, he said.

Focus on police bias obscures meaningful debate on structural racism that perpetuates racial injustice and inequality. In the wake of the death of Michael Brown, the unarmed teenager shot by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, on Aug. 9, the public has heard quite a bit about the town, its residents and their supposed violence. But about half an hour drive west of Ferguson, along a highway straddling the Missouri River, you will come to what may seem a planet away: St. Charles County. St. Charles is a “Whitopia” — a predominantly white county that has posted 6 percent...

It is a long-standing and often repeated lament on the right that academia and college campuses are self-declared enemies of conservative thinking broadly, and the Republican party specifically, and in a treacherous but overt and unrepentant manner. So it comes as no surprise to website The College Fix that some colleges are offering course credit for promoting socialist causes and participating in socialist recruitment on campus. Not a surprise, but still an outrage. Young Democratic Socialists (YDS) are coordinating with administrators to help YDS Leader program participants get college credit for their activities. According to The Fix, activities which...

Can Touré Neblett not see the incandescent irony of his statement? His show-ending rant on The Cycle today condemned the censorship of the shocking images of war. Railed Touré: "we're blocked from seeing so much of the cost of war, of the evil of war as if we are too sensitive or squeamish or unable to handle the graphic truth." Touré focused on one particular photo, taken by photojournalist Kenneth Jarecke during the first Gulf War, deploring the fact that AP refused to publish it. Incredibly, Touré then proceeded to . . . censor the photo himself, declaring that "it's...

Woodruff, S.C. - 7 On Your Side was contacted by several upset parents who say Woodruff High School students were made to take down American flags from their vehicles on September 11. Spartanburg District 4 Superintendent Rallie Liston said four students arrived at the school Thursday morning with U.S. flags propped up on poles in their pickup truck beds. The school's principal, Aaron Fulmer, confiscated the flags because he said it is against district policy to “draw attention” to one's vehicle. The flags were returned to the students at the end of the day. The students were not punished. Fulmer...

A D.C. public school gave a sixth grade class a homework assignment that required students to draw comparisons between former President George W. Bush and Adolf Hitler.