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Rockefeller Christmas tree lights go ON! Thousands turn out (and BOO) de Blasio as he hits the button after performances by Diana Ross, John Legend and Tony Bennett to kick off holiday season New York Mayor Bill de Blasio flipped the switch Wednesday to light the Rockefeller Center Christmas TreeThe lighting followed a televised extravaganza that featured performances by Diana Ross and Tony BennettThe 72-foot tree is decorated with 5 miles of multicolored LED lights and a 900-pound Swarovski crystal starThe festive spirit was momentarily interrupted when de Blasio was booed by some in the crowd when his name...

President Trump and first lady Melania Trump receive the 19 1/2-foot-tall Fraser fir at the north portico of the White House in a horse-drawn carriage.

But if you want to turn yuletide tradition on its head, you could start by flipping your tree upside down. Improbable as it may sound, topsy-turvy trees are all the rage for 2017. The curious practice dates back to 12th-century Central and Eastern Europe, when the inverted triangular shape was believed to signify the Holy Trinity. Devout people argue that the tip of the tree ought to point towards heaven, but the fashion has gradually taken hold and last year made its way to the UK, when London's Tate Britain gallery copied the style for its seasonal centrepiece.

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump kicked off the holiday season in the nation's capital Thursday evening by lighting the National Christmas for the first time. For the special event that also included the Pageant of Peace ceremony, the first family was joined by hosts Dean Cain and Kathie Lee Gifford on the White House Ellipse. Several White House officials were in attendance for the popular occasion including Donald Trump Jr.'s family and Tiffany Trump. ....The program kicked off with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke introducing the president while speaking from the podium. 'Merry Christmas, America,' he said, referring...

<p>SUDBURY, Mass. (AP) - Police in a Massachusetts town are showing residents how not to transport their Christmas trees.</p> <p>The Sudbury Police Department posted a picture Friday of a vehicle with a large tree on top of it. Almost the entire car – which seems to be a Toyota Prius – appears to be hidden.</p>

...In a segment on Fox & Friends, host Pete Hegseth opened a discussion about trendy inverted decorations by linking them to the so-called war on Christmas, a rallying cry for some evangelicals and Republicans who argue politically correct culture is hurting American values. Hegseth wondered aloud whether having a traditional, right-side-up Christmas tree was part of those values and then asked Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski what he thought. ~~SNIP~~ “It’s like an upside-down world. It’s like Seinfeld, the bizarro world. Like you can be a U.S. senator after groping people on a picture and nobody has any...

San Antonio's traditional Alamo Plaza tree-lighting ceremony will relocate families to Travis Park on Friday, but the cheer is continuing at the original spot -- thanks to a (now-not so) secret elf. Over the weekend, locals and tourists seemed happy to spot an 18-inch tree standing small but proud in front of the Alamo. No one knew how the little tree got there, but they crouched beside it and posted photos on Facebook and Instagram. And that elf -- he isn't done yet. The tree stood in the exact spot a much bigger tree usually stands during the holiday season...

My far ranging missionary friend was in Northern Wisconsin a few days ago.  He noticed this gun culture Christmas tree and sent me some photos. The book is John Lott's famous "More Guns, Less Crime". The belted ammunition appears to be 7.62 NATO linked blanks. Probably left over from a National Guard exercise. This is a good, environmentally friendly way to celebrate Christmas. No live trees were harmed to create this display. ©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included. Link to Gun Watch

Two Palestinian Arabs have been arrested by Palestinian Authority (PA) Security Forces, after they set a Christmas tree on fire in the Arab Christian majority town of Zababdeh near Jenin in Samaria. A PA security officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, revealed the arson that took place on Wednesday in statements made Friday in time for Christmas, the Associated Press reports. While alleged Jewish "price tag" vandalism attacks have been widely decried by the PA, in Israel and on the international scene, Wednesday's attack on a Christian symbol has been met with a deafening lack of condemnation. ...

In New York City, even sidewalk space is coveted real estate. Street vendors sometimes spend a fortune or languish for years on waiting lists to acquire one of the permits that allow them to sell goods in tightly regulated locations. But once a year, there's an exception, laid out in an artfully worded city ordinance: During the month of December, anyone may sell "coniferous trees" just about anywhere - no license required. It's a rare tree-for-all. Peddlers flock in from across North America. Big trucks carrying huge loads of trees arrive in the dead of night. Stands selling coniferous trees...

Mohamed Osman Mohamud: Misunderstander of Islam He yelled "Allahu akbar" and tried to kick agents as they swooped in to arrest him. DoJ press release here. "Feds Arrest Somali-Born Teen in Car Bomb Plot," from the Associated Press, November 27 (thanks to Markus): PORTLAND, Ore. -- A Somali-born teenager plotted to carry out a car bomb attack at a crowded Christmas tree lighting ceremony in downtown Portland on Friday, but the bomb turned out to be a dud supplied by undercover agents as part of a sting, federal prosecutors said. Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, was arrested at 5:40 p.m. just...

As an Alaskan, I am flattered that this year's Capitol Christmas tree comes from our own Chugach National Forest. Selected by the U.S. Forest Service for its perfect, conical shape and evenly dispersed branches, the 74-foot Lutz spruce is a statuesque symbol, for sure. But it symbolizes much more than holiday cheer.

It came down to the addition of a single word for the a tree lighting ceremony, but that word carried enough significance for borough Councilwoman Charlene Storey to resign. Minutes after the council voted 4-2 Thursday night to change the name of the ceremony from A Tree Lighting to A Christmas Tree Lighting, the councilwoman-at-large, left the meeting. She later submitted her letter of resignation with the municipal clerk's office. "I cannot in good conscience continue to be part of a council that is exclusionary or to work with a Mayor who is such," Storey said in her letter. When...

Chicago protesters pulled down barricades and tore light strands off the city Christmas tree Wednesday night in Millennium Park, WGN-TV reported. It was the second night of protests over the death of Laquan McDonald, a black 17-year-old who was fatally shot by a white police officer.

North Korea is irate at its neighbor to the south for its decision to allow Christians to erect a 30-foot Christmas tree roughly two miles form the border, saying it will “escalate confrontation” and cause a war. The KCNA news agency, North Korea’s state-run media apparatus, described the Christmas tree as an “intolerable insult” and an act of “despicable psychological warfare” by South Korea that “will fan up the confrontation with the fellow countrymen in the north and bring a war disaster.”

We haven’t even had time to hang the mistletoe and would you believe there are already skirmishes breaking out in the war on Christmas? The latest yuletide battleground is Butler Elementary School in Belmont, Mass. Over the years I’ve covered my fair share of anti-Christmas school house shenanigans. There was the dimwit who confiscated a child’s candy canes and the dunderheads who banned the colors red and green. And how can we forget about the simpletons who outlawed classroom poinsettias or the Junior League communists who rewrote the lyrics to "Silent Night"? But those are junior varsity skirmishes compared to...

This year, your real Christmas tree will be more expensive than it needs to be. That’s because the Department of Agriculture is imposing a fee on each fresh-cut tree sold. A few months ago, the federal government created a national marketing program to advertise the virtues of real Christmas trees. It’s funded by a 15-cent surcharge that will be added to the cost of each tree sold. It’s not a tax, Washington insists -- merely a fee that you have to pay. “The Christmas tree industry requested this initiative to fund Christmas tree research and marketing, the program will be...

There’s an outrageous story out of Seattle (my home base) that shows the way that good intentions can occasionally produce disgusting results. Because of the prevailing climate of political correctness, a decent guy and honorable clergyman looks like a horse’s rear end and has provoked appropriate indignation from millions of people. According to misleading news stories featured prominently in newspapers and on TV (including KING 5 TV News): “All 15 Christmas trees inside the main terminal at Sea Tac Airport (Seattle-Tacoma International) have been removed in response to a complaint by a rabbi. A rabbi wanted to install an eight-foot...

It seems that those who favor the all or nothing inclusion of December symbols in the annual display in front of the municipal building have been successful in making that happen. Over the weekend - with it still unclear if the lighted tree is to be called a "Christmas tree" or a "Holiday tree" - a crèche and an atheist sign were added to the display. Meanwhile the official name for the lighted tree in the display remains an issue for some. Resident Tim Wagner and others said they will continue to press for administrative action to call the "Holiday...

The best part of this jaw-dropping display of ignorance from MSNBC’s Joy Reid on Christianity? It comes in a segment called — wait for it — “Pretenders”! Reid argues that Sarah Palin, whose latest book celebrates Christmas, was a hypocrite and a bad Christian because … she put up a Christmas tree! Why, the noted Biblical scholar Reid smirked, that’s a violation of Scripture:(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 brought a treat better than Christmas cookies – family photos. (BEGIN...