Free Republic

RED (Retired Extremely Dangerous) is a wonderful spy drama with Bruce Willis. A retired spy's simple life is interrupted at Christmas when he's put on an Exterminate! list.

The X in Christmas is used like the R in R.C. My given name at birth was Robert Charles, although before I was even taken home from the hospital my parents called me by my initials, R.C., and nobody seems to be too scandalized by that. X can mean so many things. For example, when we want to denote an unknown quantity, we use the symbol X. It can refer to an obscene level of films, something that is X-rated. People seem to express chagrin about seeing Christ's name dropped and replaced by this symbol for an unknown quantity X....

The Vaccine Before Christmas By Kevin A. Wilson (with apologies to Clement Clarke Moore) ‘Twas some days before Christmas—how many I’m not sure (The days ran together; everything was a blur). All the houses were locked down from COVID-19, With everyone wishing for the promised vaccine. The children were nestled and sleeping just fine. They were all tuckered out from their classes online. And mamma in her kerchief and I in my cap Had just sanitized our hands and hung up our masks. The year had been hard. We were due a vacation. But the thing wanted most? Emergency use...

Merry Christmas from Spain. It may be a Socialist country but at least they still allow religious symbols on town land. This is our town hall decked out for Christmas.

Christmas is approaching and with it the gifts of Santa Claus and the Three Kings. The little ones begin to design the letter they will be given to receive the desired gifts. This year's will be a letter and a special Christmas due to the coronavirus pandemic . Hugo, an eight-year-old from the Galician town Noia (A Coruña), has taken this into account and has left Santa Claus a warning. On the wish list, as reported by Telecinco News , Hugo, in addition to a scooter or an electronic bracelet, asks that the coronavirus end at Christmas. The little one...

The shops in our tiny town at Christmas, to "Deck the Halls." The Trail Band.

A new picture book will depict Santa as a gay man in an interracial relationship, publisher Harper Design confirmed Tuesday. The book, Santa’s Husband, goes on sale Oct. 10 and tells the story of a black Santa Claus and his white husband who both live in the North Pole. Santa’s spouse frequently fills in for his husband at malls, according to a description of the book Harper Design provided to TIME.

Mexico saw no thaw in its gang-related violence on Christmas Day — the chilling remains of six decapitated heads were discovered in a town in the western part of the country. ...Michoacan ... police have not yet identified the victims and have also been unable to find their bodies. The heads were discovered on Sunday in a municipality near the state of Jalisco– in Jiquilpan, a region with a history of violence in recent years due to competing drug gangs,... In another two separate incidents, also on Christmas but in other regions, a total of 16 people were killed in...

Ol' Blue Eyes sings "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas"... 1957

Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) called for the removal of the White House's top counterterrorism official Tuesday, intensifying Republican criticism of the administration's handling of the attempted terrorist attack on Christmas Day. Bond said John Brennan, a special assistant to the president for counterterrorism, needs to resign because of the politcal role he has played. Brennan "needs to go," Bond told the National Review Online, a position spokeswoman Shana Marchio confirmed. "Our problem now is that we have to wonder whether we can trust Brennan after he has been a mouthpiece for the political arm that I thought only came out...

Whether it's giving gifts or munching on candy canes, everyone loves Christmas traditions, but few people know how or where these customs came from. Find out the surprising, funny and even nothing-to-do with-Jesus roots of these common Christmas traditions. Why's it called Xmas? It's a short form we've all used on greeting cards when we didn't have enough space, but few people know why 'x' is a good substitute for 'Christ' in 'Christmas'. Turns out, the Greek letter 'chi' is written as 'x' and is the first letter of the word 'Christ' in Greek. While the use of the word...

Seems appropriate on this night before Christmas to mention that the actual author of Night Before Christmas was Henry Livingston, not Clement Moore.

The government of Somalia has issued a ban on Christmas and New Year's celebrations in the Muslim country, saying the festivities "have nothing to do with Islam." "We warn against celebration of Christmas, which is only for Christians," Sheikh Mohamed Kheyrow, director of Somalia’s ministry of religion, said on state radio. "This is a matter of faith. The Christmas holiday and its drum beatings have nothing to with Islam." He said the ministry has sent letters to the police, national security intelligence and officials in the capital Mogadishu instructing them to "prevent Christmas celebrations." The announcement had echoes of Islamist...

More at Reaganite Republican

More at Reaganite Republican

For those of you who grew up in the 50's and 60's, especially in Chicago, here are some Christmas flashbacks for you.

The worst Christmas song ever isn’t actually a Christmas song. It’s just a song that uses Christmas in the hook and was popular when it was released. So Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas” gets played every year starting at the end of November. Every year, I think that the awfulness comes in part from the refreshed shock of dreadful lyrics I’ve not heard in 11 months. Instead, my loathing of the song grows through the season and year by year. So as it starts playing on repeat—and the 30th anniversary edition regales us with two versions this season—a...

Well, The Season has Begun; and I am 'In The Spirit'! What are your favorite Christmas songs/carols and renditions? Here are some of mine: Oh Come Emmanuel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHKo4NmmvRI What Child Is This? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ndtAPNUhI4 O Holy NIght: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7uiqRCW6I8 Ave Maria https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwp1CH5R-w4 Venid Pastores (taught to me by my Jr. High Spanish teacher): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew11VTnWvFs The Holly and the Ivy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3he6J0Bykz4 And finally, for fun, Baby It's Cold Outside! (there are versions of this that I like better, but this is so cute, I couldn't resist): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bbuBubZ1yE Seasons Greetings to All! =JT

Private Bergdahl - assuming he's still alive - is spending Christmas as a captive of the Taliban. His captors spent the last day or two uploading a video showing Private Bergdahl reading a statement. The video was divided into four segments and uploaded to YouTube on 25 December 2009. The YouTube account is:

More at Reaganite Republican...