Free Republic

"Everything is Christian", Jean-Paul Sartre wrote after the war. Two thousand years of Christianity have left a deep mark on the French language, landscape and culture. But not according to France's Minister of Education, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem. She just announced that instead of saying "Merry Christmas", state officials should use "Happy Holidays" -- clearly a deliberate intent to erase from discourse and the public space any reference to the Christian culture in which France is rooted. Jean-François Chemain called it the "eradication of any Christian sign in the public landscape". A year ago, the controversy was ignited in the French town...

Europe’s open borders may symbolize liberty and forward thinking for some — but they increasingly look like the continent’s Achilles’ heel. Europe’s No. 1 terrorism suspect crossed at least two borders this week despite an international manhunt, and was felled only by chance, in a random ID check. The bungled chase for Berlin attack suspect Anis Amri is just one example of recent cross-border security failures that are emboldening nationalists fed up with European unity. Extremist violence, they argue, is too high a price to pay for the freedom to travel. Defenders of the EU’s border-free zone say the security...

He was just looking for a better life. It’s not his fault. ------------------- "In what might possibly be the fakest news headline in this era of "fake news," the Associated Press delivers a whopper of a headline that actually sympathizes with a vicious murderer." “Troubled Berlin attack suspect sought better life in Europe.” The article then drips with compassion: "Desperate and drifting, Anis Amri took the path trodden by countless other North African teenagers: an illegal boat journey to Europe in hopes of a better life. He fell into crime instead — and is now suspect No. 1 in the...

The French government has confirmed that some 91,000 police, military police, and soldiers will be on duty over the Christmas weekend due to the heightened threat from terrorism. […] Following last November’s terror attack in Paris, the government mobilized some 120,000 members of security forces over the Christmas period. Many soldiers and police officers will be on duty outside churches over the weekend to reassure churchgoers. …

Austrian police will distribute 6,000 pocket alarms on New Year's Eve to help prevent incidents like the mass sex assaults in neighbouring Germany a year ago, the interior ministry said on Tuesday. "It's a national campaign aimed primarily at women on New Year's Eve," ministry spokesman Karl-Heinz Grundboeck told AFP. If activated, the free gadgets will emit a shrill sound aimed at chasing away potential aggressors, he added.

MILAN, Dec 23 (Reuters) - The suspect in the Berlin Christmas market truck attack was killed in a pre-dawn shoot-out with police in a suburb of the northern Italian city of Milan on Friday, Italy's interior minister said. "The man killed was without a shadow of doubt Anis Amri," Marco Minniti said, referring to the 24-year-old Tunisian who is suspected of driving the truck that smashed through a Berlin market on Monday killing 12 people. Minniti told reporters that Amri was stopped by two policemen at around 3 a.m. (0200 GMT) in front of the Sesto San Giovanni train station,...

Anti-Semitism is turning some of Britain’s top universities into no-go zones for Jewish students, according to a top peer. Baroness Ruth Deech, who once held the highest office for dealing with student complaints, said the situation stems from institutions failing to curb a perceived hatred of Jews because vice chancellors are afraid of offending potential investors from the Gulf. As a result, the peer said Jewish students are gradually getting a feeling universities such as Manchester, Exeter, SOAS and Southampton are places they should avoid, which could be perceived as anti-Semitic. …

It is no secret that Islamists consider the Germans as a bunch of cowards. “You love life; we love death”, they continue to repeat. Because wherever they look, the combatants of Allah see only people and governments only too ready to capitulate. And Germany is Europe’s soft underbelly. The Bundeswehr, Germany’s army, already belongs to history; the country has welcomed more than one million Muslims; German ministers envision the creation of an “official Islam”, while German churches are closing at weekly rhythm; the Sharia courts are already operating; comedians such as Jan Bohmermann are criminalized and the “night of Cologne”...

Several days ago, Merkel may have walked on her own into one a potentially career-ending, political traps as she prepares to runs for her fourth term as Chancellor in 2017, when she said has said "it would be particularly repulsive if a refugee, seeking protection in Germany, was the perpetrator" of the Monday Christmas market terrorist attack. Alas, despite having already been slammed by her political opponents, such as AfD's Frauke Petry, who have long claimed that any and all terrorist attacks on German soil are the direct result of Merkel's open door policies (the AfD and other anti-immigrant groups...

A massive, migrant crime wave is surging across Germany according to figures buried in a new report released by the country’s Interior Ministry. The data reveals that without migrants considered, crime rates in Germany would have remained roughly static since 2014. But, in fact, the country recorded an extra 402,741 crimes committed by migrants.

ISIS on Tuesday claimed responsibility for a truck rampage through a Berlin Christmas market that killed 12 people, as German police hunted for the attacker. “A soldier of the Islamic State (ISIS) carried out the Berlin operation in response to appeals to target citizens of coalition countries,” the ISIS-linked Amaq news agency said, without identifying the perpetrator. The claim came shortly after German prosecutors, saying they lacked evidence, released a Pakistani asylum seeker who was the sole suspect in the case, sparking fears of a killer at large. “We can’t rule out that the perpetrator is on the run,” Interior...

With a commanding lead over his competitors, it appears Holland's anti-Islam, anti-migration Geert Wilders is willing to make his point more aggressively after yesterday's deadly attacks across Europe. In a shocking tweet, he summed up his (and we suspect many Germans) feelings... After being convicted for incitement to discrimination (and insulting an ethnic group), we can only imagine what punishment the European bureaucrats will mete out for such a tweet.

The suspect in the truck attack that killed 12 people at a busy Berlin Christmas market came from Pakistan and had applied for asylum in Germany, the country’s top security official said Tuesday. Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière said the suspect, who denies involvement, entered Germany on Dec. 31 last year and arrived in Berlin in February. German Chancellor Angela Merkel described herself as “shocked, shaken and deeply saddened” after what she said the government must assume was a “terrorist attack.” De Maizière said that as far as officials know, the Islamic State group has not claimed responsibility. …

MORE than 1000 Muslims took to the streets of London last night chanting Allahu Akbar and demanding an Islamic caliphate. The street outside the empty embassy in Belgrave Square, London, was closed off as it filled with protestors and Islamic leaders chanting loudly and calling for America to be punished over Aleppo. The demonstration became an alternative to an official rally calling for an end to the bloodshed in Syria outside Downing Street. During the speeches which lasted almost an hour the crowd chanted Allahu Akbar 'God is the greatest' and cheered for those calling for a global caliphate. Protestors...

- While Geert Wilders was being prosecuted in the Netherlands for talking about "fewer Moroccans" during an election campaign, a state-funded watchdog group says that threatening homosexuals with burning, decapitation and slaughter is just fine, so long as it is Muslims who are making those threats, as the Quran tells them that such behavior is mandated. - "I am still of the view that declaring statistical facts or even sharing an opinion is not a crime if someone doesn't like it." - Finns Party politician, Terhi Kiemunki, fined 450 euros for writing of a "culture and law based on a...

Britain will be among the first countries worldwide to adopt an international definition of anti-Semitism in efforts to fight hate crimes and incitement targeting Jews which have been on the rise this past year. On Monday, in pre-released excerpts of a speech she is set to give, British Prime Minister Theresa May said, “it means there will be one definition of anti-Semitism — in essence, language or behavior that displays hatred towards Jews because they are Jews — and anyone guilty of that will be called out on it,” according to Reuters. […] The IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition...

The predominantly Christian country of Slovakia passed a law on Nov. 30 that effectively bans Islam as an officially recognized religion, which also blocks Islam from receiving any state subsidies for its schools, reported Reuters. The prime minister, Robert Fico, said in May that "Islam has no place" in Slovakia. Prior to the law being passed, Slovak National Party Chairman Andrej Danko said, "Islamization starts with a kebab and it's already under way in Bratislava -- let's realize what we can face in 5 to 10 years." "We must do everything we can so that no mosque is built in...

A church in Kristianstad has been forced to hire guards to keep the peace at services after the disruptive behaviour of “new clientele” has become increasingly serious in recent years. Christians have become frightened to visit the Holy Trinity church as newcomers are reported to yell loudly and smash liquor bottles during services, masturbate in the pews and urinate and defecate both inside and in the church grounds. Concerned locals have even reported concern over attempts to kidnap children during baptism. Police yesterday gave the go-ahead to the church to have Security guards at all future services, weddings and christenings....

..... What is reality in France today? Violence. It is spreading. Not just terrorist attacks; pure gang violence. It instills a growing feeling of insecurity in hospitals, at schools, in the streets -- even in the police. The media does not dare to say that this violence is coming mainly from Muslim gangs -- "youths," as they call the in the French media, to avoid naming who they are. A climate of civil war, however, is spreading visibly in the police, schools, hospitals and politics. The Police The most jolting evidence of this malaise was to see more than 500...

This is the horrifying moment a thug kicks a woman in the back, sending her flying eight steps down a flight of stairs and landing on her face at the bottom. CCTV shows the young woman walking through the metro station in Berlin when the man comes up behind her, holding a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other. The yob, dressed in jeans and a leather jacket, aims a targeted kick at her back, toppling her down the stairs, and then walks away.