Free Republic

It’s the festive season, and if there is a bitcoin fan among your friends and family, then they may have given you some of the virtual currency in your Christmas stocking. If so, what should you do with it? There are several options for you as a new bitcoin owner. We’ll tell you about them here, but before you start, please don’t do what Bloomberg TV anchor Adam Johnson did. Fellow anchor Matt Miller gave bitcoins to Johnson as a Christmas gift on air. They came in the form of a paper wallet (see below), which Johnson showed to the...

December 28, 2013 Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs    Reading 1 1 Jn 1:5—2:2 Beloved:This is the message that we have heard from Jesus Christand proclaim to you:God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” while we continue to walk in darkness,we lie and do not act in truth.But if we walk in the light as he is in the light,then we have fellowship with one another,and the Blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin.If we say, “We are without sin,”we deceive ourselves, and the...

- FrontPage Magazine - http://www.frontpagemag.com - Obama Gives Somalia $1.5 Bil, Somalia Bans ChristmasPosted By Daniel Greenfield On December 26, 2013 @ 12:14 pm In The Point | 17 Comments Barack Obama, right, is dressed as a Somali elder by Sheikh Mahmed Hassan Somalia has about 1,000 surviving Christians. And that’s a challenge in a country where everyone is either in an Islamic militia or trying to move to the United States to sponge off welfare and plot terrorist bombings.In 2009, four Christian orphanage workers were beheaded for refusing to convert to Islam. Now Somalia has gotten enough of its...

The national commander of the American Legion is demanding answers from the Veterans Administration after hospitals in three states placed restrictions on Christian volunteers, including a group of schoolchildren who were told they could only perform Christmas carols from a government-approved list. "Every Christmas, every religious holiday, Christians are more and more often targeted for censorship and restriction at VA facilities," American Legion National Commander Daniel Dellinger said. "Veterans in these hospitals fought to protect such freedoms." In Iowa City, American Legion members were told they could not hand out presents to veterans if the wrapping paper said Merry Christmas....

Amongst other things, Natural Law prescribed that all men had certain unalienable Natural Law Rights. (In fact, Natural Law was so well known and understood at the time that the Founder's debated whether the Bill of Rights was even necessary) Locke continued this line of reasoning and developed the Governance Doctrine known as “Consent of the Governed”.

Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, and their two daughters did not go to church on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, according to press pool reports. The Obamas are in Kailua, Hawaii for a 17-day Christmas vacation. Although the Obamas did not go to church for Christmas, President Obama did play golf

A group of 51 school children in Texas spent the week before Christmas making Christmas cards for veterans. According to the VA, the kids made a mistake by saying "Merry Christmas". Fox News reports VA hospital refuses to accept 'Merry Christmas' cards. Boys and girls at Grace Academy in Prosper, Tex., spent most of last Friday making homemade Christmas cards for bedridden veterans at the VA hospital in Dallas. Fourth-grader Gracie Brown was especially proud of her card, hoping it would “make their day because their family might live far away, and they might not have somebody to celebrate Christmas...

December 27, 2013Feast of Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist    Reading 1 1 Jn 1:1-4 Beloved:What was from the beginning,what we have heard,what we have seen with our eyes,what we looked uponand touched with our handsconcerns the Word of life —for the life was made visible;we have seen it and testify to itand proclaim to you the eternal lifethat was with the Father and was made visible to us— what we have seen and heardwe proclaim now to you,so that you too may have fellowship with us;for our fellowship is with the Fatherand with his Son, Jesus Christ.We are...

Sam Bierstock, MD, writes In Praise of Christians and ChristmasI'm an American Jew—100% full blooded with all four grandparents 100% Jewish as far back as you want to go. I live in a Christian country—I know it, I recognize it, and I love it. Please, please—have your Christmas parades, your house decorations, and your nativity scenes. I love New York City at Christmas and festive shopping store windows. I celebrate your joy and the spirit of your holiday season with you. I rejoice for you as you celebrate the birth of your savior. And THANK YOU from the bottom of...

As NewsBusters has reported for years, the hatred liberal media members have for and display towards former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin knows no bounds. On MSNBC’s Ed Show Thursday, substitute host Joy Reid castigated Palin first for having the nerve to show family pictures on Fox & Friends Christmas Eve – the horror! – but also for having a Christmas tree on - wait for it! - Christmas (video follows with transcript and commentary):(VIDEO-AT-LINK) JOY REID, SUBSTITUTE HOST: In “Pretenders” tonight, a merry Palin Christmas. Sarah Palin dropped by Fox & Friends to promote her manifesto on Christmas purity. She...

Barack Obama, right, is dressed as a Somali elder by Sheikh Mahmed Hassan Somalia has about 1,000 surviving Christians. And that’s a challenge in a country where everyone is either in an Islamic militia or trying to move to the United States to sponge off welfare and plot terrorist bombings.In 2009, four Christian orphanage workers were beheaded for refusing to convert to Islam. Now Somalia has gotten enough of its act together to ban Christmas. The Somali Government has banned celebration of Christian festivities in the country.The Director General of the ministry, Sheikh Mohamed Khayrow Aden, and the Director...

The Grinch might be out of a job soon. Sixty holiday revelers in the Argentine town of Rosario found out the hard way why they should always read the signs at the beach when they were attacked by a shoal of piranhas during a Christmas Day swim. The attack occurred at a beach along the city's Parana River, where residents were trying to escape scorching 100-degree temperatures. More than 20 children were wounded by the hyper-aggressive fish, with one seven-year-old-girl reportedly losing a piece of her finger. The attack is the worst of its kind in Rosario since 2008, when...

John Zachary created a Nativity scene for Claremont United Methodist Church that employs a figure of Trayvon Martin as a commentary on gun violence. Previous scenes have had Mary and Joseph as a homeless couple and as war refugees. “You try to put it in a context of how it would be today,” Zachary said.Nativity scenes have a few standard elements: a manger, swaddling clothes, happy parents, sheep, maybe the Three Wise Men. They don’t generally include Trayvon Martin. But there he is, wearing a hoodie, a stream of blood pouring from his chest onto the straw-covered floor of the...

Christmas day is usually a pretty quiet affair for Jewish people. Most spend it as a day to relax and catch up, watch movies, go to friends, eat Chinese food, have family over or just simply listen to Christmas music and read the ads for the after-Christmas sales. I seem to find myself in a rather introspective mood this Yuletide season. Perhaps it is age creeping upon me, but I question the most basic issues, actually non-issues, and I can’t find answers. Perhaps others can supply the information I seek. First and foremost why is it that Christmas songs are...

Dec. 24, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The ‘war on Christmas’ is by now a long-hallowed tradition in North America. Every year, starting in November, atheists and conservatives battle over nativity scenes and Christmas trees on public property. And we have the ‘naughty or nice’ lists, the boycotts, and letters targeting retailers who try to cash in on Christmas without acknowledging the reason for their annual windfall. It’s a worthy battle and one that I’m happy to play some small part in as a pro-life, pro-family, and “pro-Christmas” journalist. But I think it’s important we recognize that what we have come to...

HYANNIS (CBS) – A Hyannis woman has been arrested for allegedly stealing toys that were donated through the Toys For Tots program. On Christmas Eve, two neighbors say 49-year-old Janice Tully gave them a ride to pick up donated toys for their five children at the Barnstable Police Department and the Independence House.

Above: Bob Clark, director of classic "A Christmas Story",and his son were killed by a drunk illegal alien on 4/4/2007. by John HillFor many Americans, Christmas means something else besides faith, family, food (and presents). It means movies: It's a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Carol (pick one), Miracle on 34th Street. On Christmas I often watch a modern classic: A Christmas Story, the irreverent adaptation of Jean Shepherd's memoir of Christmas memories from childhood. Many of our readers also caught this extraordinary film (at least) once yesterday, as the cable network TBS shows it non-stop for 24 hours every year at Christmas....

It’s an economist’s tradition — adding up the cost of the gifts from the holiday standard “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” Analysts at PNC Bank recently calculate the combined cost of all those leaping lords, milking maids, golden rings and French hens for 2013 at $27,393.17, a 7.7 percent jump from 2012. Springing for the full song — every item each time you sing so you wind up at the end with 12 partridges — will cost you $114,651.But the federal government has its own version of the song, with contracts, agencies and programs that — with a little stretching...

The King James Version of Luke 2:14 is one of the most famous verses in the English language Bible: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." The current Roman Catholic version is: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased.” The Catholic version seems to me more restrictive with the conditional clause than the universality of the KJV translation. Is there any theological implication? Is one a more "accurate" translation from the original Greek? I think the Protestants beat the Catholics on this one.

Video at link