Free Republic

Anyone who has been out in the real world during current and previous Christmas shopping seasons knows that there has been an informal (and occasionally formal) proscription against stores wishing customers a "Merry Christmas" and promoting Christmas in their ads and promotions. On Friday, Wolf Blitzer's CNN panel tried to pretend that the hostility towards "Merry Christmas" has never existed, as they mocked a video which exaggerated its thanks to President Donald Trump for "allowing us to say merry Christmas." Trump has made his preference for "Merry Christmas" very clear. The Trumps' 2017 Christmas card, as would be expected, has a...

The course, which will launch in the fall of 2018 through Swarthmore’s religion department, will examine the Bible through a queer lens. It will examine issues of sex, gender, and identity as they present themselves in one of human history’s most influential texts. “This course surveys queer and trans* readings of biblical texts. It introduces students to the complexity of constructions of sex, gender, and identity in one of the most influential literary works produced in ancient times,” the course description reads. “By reading the Bible with the methods of queer and trans* theoretical approaches, this class destabilizes long held...

First, it is beyond the jurisdiction of the UN to tell a sovereign nation what it can and cannot recognize. The United States often stands alone with Israel against the world, and the US and Israel have been right. The bias of the international community against the nation state of the Jewish people has been long standing and evident, especially at the UN. Recall the infamous General Assembly Resolution declaring Zionism to be a form of racism. It received overwhelming support from the tyrannical nations of the world, which constitute a permanent majority of the UN, and was rescinded only...

The United Nations general assembly has delivered a stinging rebuke to Donald Trump, voting by a huge majority to reject his unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The vote came after a redoubling of threats by Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, who said that Washington would remember which countries “disrespected” America by voting against it. Despite the warning, 128 members voted on Thursday in favour of the resolution supporting the long-standing international consensus that the status of Jerusalem – which is claimed as a capital by both Israel and the Palestinians – can only be settled...

Former nurse appointed to third highest position in C of E says she respects those who object to appointment of a womanA woman has been appointed as the bishop of London, the third position in the Church of England, in a move that delighted campaigners for gender equality but is likely to dismay conservatives in the church. Sarah Mullally, the bishop of Crediton, has been appointed the 133rd bishop of London, Downing Street announced. She will automatically take a seat in the House of Lords and the post-holder is traditionally dean of the royal chapels. At a press conference at...

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres is warning that Iran may be defying a U.N. call to halt ballistic missile development even as it complies with the nuclear treaty with six world powers. He says in a report to the Security Council that the United Nations is investigating Iran’s possible transfer of ballistic missiles to Houthi Shiite rebels in Yemen that may have been used in launches aimed at Saudi Arabia. He says several other launches have also been brought to his attention. …

Turkey is the scene of a flurry of high-level diplomatic traffic this week with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ankara today to hold talks with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The two leaders will have tackled a broad range of bilateral matters, notably the conflict in Syria, energy and defense projects as well as the dispute over Jerusalem. Head of US Central Command Gen. Joseph Votel and head of US European Command Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti were also due in town later this week to discuss Syria and NATO-related business with Turkish Chief of General Staff Hulusi Akar ..

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has lashed out at Israel after Donald Trump decided to recognise Jerusalem as the Jewish state's capital. Erdogan described the nation as a 'terrorist state' and a 'killer of children' in remarks on Sunday as fresh clashes erupted in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem. The Muslim leader also vowed to use 'all means' to reverse Trump's decision, which was announced earlier this week. He said: Palestine is an innocent victim... As for Israel, it is a terrorist state, yes, terrorist! 'We will not abandon Jerusalem to the mercy of a state that kills...

President Trump should not make any change in policy pertaining to the Jersualem’s status as the capital of Israel, a top European official warned Tuesday. “A way must be found through negotiations to resolve the status of Jerusalem as the future capital of both states so that the aspiration of both parties can be fulfilled,” Federica Mogherini, the European Union’s high representative, told reporters.

Seventy years ago, the United Nations created Israel. At least, that’s how Turtle Bay’s boosters and Israel’s critics remember it. In reality, the UN General Assembly’s vote of Nov. 29, 1947, to partition Palestine merely recognized reality. The Jews had built their state; the UN acknowledged this fact. And getting the history right is essential to any hope of lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Early Zionists started arriving to join their fellow Jews in their ancestral land at the end of the 19th century. Bit by bit (or “a dunam here, a dunam there,” as their slogan went)...

VIDEO Anti-Trump weirdos are planning a mass temper tantrum on the anniversary of the election. This is going to be absolutely hilarious.

The German government has warned the US against withdrawing from the Iran nuclear agreement. US President Donald Trump is expected to decertify Tehran’s compliance with the 2015 deal in a White House speech at 12:45 p.m. (16:45 UTC) on Friday. “We believe this agreement is an important instrument to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran,” German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said on Friday. “If … an important country like the United States comes to a different conclusion as appears to be the case, we will work even harder with other partners to maintain this cohesion,” he said. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel...

EXCLUSIVE – President Donald Trump is expected this week to “decertify” the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), better known simply as the Iran deal, declaring that the agreement reached in 2015 by the U.S. and five other international powers is not in America’s national interest. The matter will then be tossed back to Congress, which will have 60 days to decide whether to reimpose hefty pre-2015 sanctions. While the President’s likely move has generated wide condemnation from foreign policy leaders — who reiterate that the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has maintained Iran...

A couple of items from the passing parade: The Lancashire Constabulary have "added two new liveried cars to our fleet to highlight the Trans and bi-sexual community". These are decked out with their exciting new badge (right), showing the rainbow flag under the crown of Royal authority and bearing the slogan "Police with Pride". Some years ago I wrote about an Oxford student who spent a night in the slammer and was fined £80 for asking a mounted policeman (if you'll forgive the expression): "Do you know your horse is gay?" With hindsight, it seems entirely reasonable to assume, if...

"When I left office in January, I asked of you the same thing I asked of you way back in 2008: I asked you to believe not in my ability to bring about change, but in yours,” Obama says at beginning of his announcement video. “This October, we’re bringing together hundreds of leaders from all around the world for hands-on exchange in my hometown.”

Gay rights activist Edith Windsor, whose same-sex marriage fight led to a landmark US ruling, has died aged 88. Her death was confirmed to the New York Times by her wife Judith Kasen-Windsor. Ms Windsor's Supreme Court case struck down the Defense of Marriage Act in 2013, granting same-sex married couples federal recognition for the first time. She had sued the US government after being ordered to pay $363,053 (£224,940) in federal estate tax after her previous wife died. The couple had been partners for 44 years and had married in Canada in 2007. Ms Windsor argued that the provision...

But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which...

Just had the largest X-ray Flare in history while the biggest Hurricane in history is in the Atlantic. CME from previous X-5 Flare is going to hit Earth tonight around 5-6 PM EDT. The initial estimate of the arrival of the X-10 Flare is 6-7 AM EDT on 8 September 2017. This could be a repeat of the 1859 Carrington Event. We could be doing Irma without electronics or electricity.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson told fellow clergy this week that President Donald Trump “would not qualify to get into Jesus’ kingdom.” Jackson spoke Monday at the National Action Network’s “Ministers March for Justice.” During his speech, he equated the Electoral College with vestiges of racism and demanded an end to the system. In his speech to the ministers, Jackson, who also attacked Trump’s comments following last month’s violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, castigated Trump’s immigration policy. “Trump says you must be able to speak the language English, qualified and have a job skill. Jesus would not qualify to come in Trump’s...

Dear friends, If this world and America's fifth column constitutional apostates absolutely despise president Trump because he stands in the way of global socialistic fascism via "climate change" and globalism; what then after the Two Witnesses of Revelation arrive on the global stage (Rev. 11:1-7)? Dear friends, we have NEVER seen such a united national and global push against one man in my life via lawless politicians from both political parties, heads of state, the media, Hollywood, the United Nations and Washington D.C. The hatred, rage, violence and abhorrence pouring out from primarily secular western globalist is at a fever...