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I know most letters you get are from kids. So let me start by saying there is no toy that I need. But there is something I want for Christmas — not for myself but for my state. Most Popular UC regent who asked to hold actress’ breasts is considering... Ed Lee cared deeply about San Francisco. Maybe too deeply The Ball family: When exasperation leads to the wilderness In Stephen Curry’s absence, Kevin Durant shows he’s a leader GOP tax bill could trigger $25 billion in cuts to Medicare SF Aquatic Park closed to swimmers after third sea lion...

Volunteers have criticised the Red Cross charity after receiving a communication telling them to remove crucifixes from the walls of their branches as the organisation looks to become more secular. The Belgian branches of the international aid organisation received an email from the Provincial Committee of the Red Cross in Liège to remove all crucifixes. André Rouffart, president of the Red Cross in Verviers, said: “We were asked to respect the principles of the Red Cross”, and not to distinguish between race or religious belief 7sur7 reports. Mr. Rouffart said there had been pushback from volunteers and other members on...

Belk has given Salvation Army bell-ringers and their iconic red kettles the heave-ho — just in time for the Christmas season.. The national department store chain will no longer allow Salvation Army volunteers to man kettles outside their stores — a move that is expected to result in a $1 million drop in donations. “It’s a huge impact for us,” Salvation Army Lt. Rob Dolby told the Todd Starnes Show. “Those funds go to operate Christmas programs serving tens of thousands of kids.” Dolby works with the Salvation Army in Anderson, South Carolina. He said the money dropped into those...

RUSH: By the way, I’m told Twitter is blowing up. I’ll tell you, folks, some of this stuff, I’m just getting sick of it. There is apparently a children’s book depicting a gay Santa in a biracial marriage, and now a gay nativity scene is being popularized called gaytivity, two Josephs kneeling over the baby Jesus. And there’s an article in a feminist publication called Refinery 29, describing the scene. “What if it wasn’t Mary and Joesph who met their child that night, but instead Murray and Joseph? Or Marty and Joseph?” Because, after all, they say, Jesus had two...

CNN will boycott this week’s White House Christmas party amid ongoing tensions between President Trump and the network, a CNN spokesperson told Politico on Tuesday. “In light of the President’s continued attacks on freedom of the press and CNN, we do not feel it is appropriate to celebrate with him as invited guests. We will send a White House reporting team to the event and report on it if news warrants,” the spokesperson said. A CNN spokesperson did not immediately respond to The Hill's request for comment. The White House Christmas party is held annually, and is typically a casual...

<p>An elementary school in the city of Skien, Norway has announced its Christmas festivities this year will include not only the usual reading of verses from the Bible by students but also two verses from the Koran.</p>

Trump Christmas White House Christmas is Back at White House! No More Mao Ornaments, ‘Christmas Tree’ Goes Up on Monday Obama Christmas White House The viral message claims the Obama's will have "holiday trees" instead of Christmas trees in the White House, and religious-themed ornaments are forbidden.

Christmas Music Can Harm Your Mental Health, Psychologist Says November 8, 2017 2:45 PM CBS Local — Are you one of those people that can’t stand hearing Christmas songs months before the holiday actually arrives? Does hearing festive carols weeks before Thanksgiving only make you upset that you haven’t eaten your turkey yet? A psychologist in Great Britain says your reactions don’t make you a Grinch because too much Christmas music is actually bad for your mental health. Clinical psychologist Linda Blair claims the constant barrage of Christmas tunes too early in the season forces people to remember all the...

The war on Christmas came early this year.That is, according to President Trump, who devoted a large portion of his speech at a Celebrate Freedom event at the Kennedy Center on Saturday to railing against those who might try to shy away from overt references to Christianity in American discourse.“Our religious liberty is enshrined in the very first amendment in the Bill of Rights. The American founders invoked our Creator four times in the Declaration of Independence,” Trump said. “Benjamin Franklin reminded his colleague at the Constitutional Convention to begin by bowing their heads in prayer. I remind you that...

Maybe, facing the combined power of Disney and Christmas, orchestra conductor Giacomo Loprieno should have just let it go. At the end of a musical adaptation of the children’s movie “Frozen,” Loprieno stood up after the last notes had died away, with an urge to convey to his young audience an unpalatable truth. “Santa Claus doesn’t exist,” he said. Stunned parents who had taken their kids to the event in Rome on Thursday took to social media to express their fury, the press reported on Saturday. …

Was Muhammad really a prophet? Did he really pray with Jesus, Abraham and Moses, all of whom lived hundreds and hundreds of years before Muhammad was born? Did Muhammad really ascend into heaven from the Dome of the Rock at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, accompanied by the angel Gabriel? Perhaps the Old Gray Lady simply fears for her life and does not want her shiny glass louvered building off Times Square reduced to rubble. You remember — “Je suis Charlie” and all that? Perhaps The New York Times believes it is wrong to question the teachings of Islam, especially...

A function held at the Austrian embassy in Germany still served traditional festive fare such as Lebkuchen but rebranded them as 'winter delicacies'. . . . A reporter attending the event wanted to know exactly what the Austrians suddenly considered "winter delicacies" and asked the embassy for a clarification. The ambassador then admitted that the traditional Christmas foods had been rebranded out of respect for Islam.

Grant Parish District Attorney Jay Lemoine pushed back against the ACLU’s letter, telling KALB News “It seems these days it is typical for everyone to rush to want to be offended.” Lemoine said the courthouse already has a secular display, a Christmas tree, inside the building. “The offense would be if the religious symbols were taken out of Christmas,” Lemoine continued.

This is the Tunisian asylum seeker who has become Europe's most wanted terrorist after his ID was found under the seat in the lorry used to massacre 12 people at a Berlin Christmas market. Police today revealed they are hunting Anis Amri, 21, a refugee who came to Germany earlier this year. His paperwork was found in truck's footwell. He is probably armed, 'highly dangerous' and a member of a 'large' Islamic organisation and has weapons training abroad, security sources say. Despite an unfolding international manhunt the first pictures of him released in Germany

A traditional nativity scene will not be put up in a Belgian town this year, amid claims it was scrapped in order to avoid offending Muslims. A former leader in Holsbeek, about 20 miles outside Brussels - claims there will be no manger to mark the festival because it would be 'too provocative'. . . . The decision not to put a nativity scene up was supported by the ruling coalition of the Christian-Democrats and the Green Party. But the Flemish-nationalist N-VA party called for locals to attend the town’s next assembly meeting - and to each bring a nativity...

FULL TITLE: Abortion Activists Sing Sacrilegious Christmas Carols: “Hark! The Nasty Women Sing, Glory to the Nuva Ring” WARNING: BARF ALERT On December 17, a crowd of women gathered on the snow-covered grounds of New York City’s Trump International Hotel. Dressed in red choir gowns, they pulled out songbooks and began to sing familiar Christmas tunes. However, upon closer inspection, listeners realized that the lyrics had been given a feminist twist. “Hark! The nasty women sing, glory to the Nuva ring! Joyful all erections rise, get an implant if you’re wise,” the “Nasty Women’s Choir” crooned. Then later: “You better...

--snip-- Angela Merkel said it was a “difficult day” for Germany and that she was “shocked” by the horrific “terrorist attack”. She added that the crime with “be especially hard for us all to bear if it were confirmed that the person who committed this act was someone who sought protection and asylum.”

The secular war on Christmas recently trained its big guns on the door of the nurse’s office in a Texas middle school. Squarely in its sights was a homemade poster on the door, depicting lovable Linus quoting from the children’s classic A Charlie Brown Christmas: “For unto you is born this day in the City of David a savior which is Christ the Lord. . . That’s what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown.” Horrors! The Bible quoted in a public school where impressionable schoolchildren passing by would surely be exposed to the alarming idea that Christmas has something to...

Those who want a new twist on the traditional crèche can buy a 10-piece Hipster Nativity scene that features Joseph sporting a lumberjack beard taking a selfie; baby Jesus and a peace-flashing Mary, holding a Starbucks cup, are included. The three wise men show up on Segways holding Amazon boxes full of presents; there is also a cow draped in a sweater with a “100% Organic” seal on it. This depiction is more trendy than it is offensive. A gun-rights activist in Columbia, South Carolina has hijacked Christmas to make his case defending the Second Amendment. It is the work...

Those who want a new twist on the traditional crèche can buy a 10-piece Hipster Nativity scene that features Joseph sporting a lumberjack beard taking a selfie; baby Jesus and a peace-flashing Mary, holding a Starbucks cup, are included. The three wise men show up on Segways holding Amazon boxes full of presents; there is also a cow draped in a sweater with a “100% Organic” seal on it. A gun-rights activist in Columbia, South Carolina has hijacked Christmas to make his case defending the Second Amendment. It is the work of the Palmetto State Armory. Billboards are being displayed...