Free Republic

The German supermarket chain Penny has introduced a new LGBT Santa Claus chocolate figure in rainbow colors just in time for the Christmas holidays. Near the checkout lines at Penny supermarkets, customers now find special gay Christmas chocolate men, along with the traditional German Christmas treats of Spekulatius and gingerbread (Lebkuchen).

Twitter users celebrated a Christmas nativity scene featuring two gay Josephs last week. “Our neighbor’s two Joseph nativity is up & I’m beaming,” posted Cameron Esposito, host of Queery Podcast, on Friday, along with a photo showing two models of Joseph dressed in pink surrounding baby Jesus.

Don't be fooled by outward appearances. The Russians are mighty clever when it comes to sophisticated acts of deception. The KGB and its successor the FSB were/are notorious for it. From the Russian Orthodox Church's website... WCC welcomes meeting of Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill for unity and peace 12 February 2016 Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), has issued a statement on behalf of the Council hailing the historic meeting of Pope Francis, pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, and Patriarch Kirill, primate of the Russian Orthodox Church.The two leaders...

The Archbishop of Canterbury says he doesn’t understand why so many Christians in the U.S. support President Donald Trump. Justin Welby told ITV’s Preston on Sunday program that he “really genuinely” can’t comprehend why fundamentalists have provided such a strong base for Trump. Welby did say he would be willing to attend a state dinner in Trump’s honor if the president comes to Britain on an official visit. …

First lady Melania Trump is set to unveil the White House’s holiday decor on Monday, marking the Trump family's first Christmas in the White House. The first lady received a tree on Monday along with first son Barron Trump, and has shared several sneak peeks of the Christmas decor on social media. One key element that has yet to be revealed is a Nativity scene, the White House confirmed on Saturday. Here’s a look at what this holiday season involves at the White House: 50th anniversary of Nativity scene display The first lady's office confirmed to The Hill that the...

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The Houston Muslim community invited their neighbors to a special event aimed at building bridges between cultures and ending stereotypes about Muslims. The event provided attendees the opportunity to meet their Muslim neighbors, ask questions, clear misconceptions, dispel stereotypes, and create friendships. "Muslims are hosting this event for our neighbors to provide them with an opportunity to get to know the Muslim community and Learn about Islam," said Sultan Salahuddin of ICNA Houston.

"Christianity has a long legacy of great minds who toiled to understand the Holy Scriptures and Christian orthodoxy and applied them in ways to navigate matters of politics and international relations. However, today there is great confusion, partly due to the lack of proper catechesis, which works as a bulwark against bad doctrine and progressivism in general." "Now this independent, spirited president and his administration have come at a time when these concepts are being rediscovered and debated. What is America? How do we preserve her culturally? How do we rediscover, appreciate, and protect her?" "No doubt you’ve also seen,...

Now, new data reveal the interstellar interloper to be a rocky, cigar-shaped object with a somewhat reddish hue. The asteroid, named ‘Oumuamua by its discoverers, is up to one-quarter mile (400 meters) long and highly-elongated—perhaps 10 times as long as it is wide. That aspect ratio is greater than that of any asteroid or comet observed in our solar system to date. While its elongated shape is quite surprising, and unlike asteroids seen in our solar system, it may provide new clues into how other solar systems formed. The observations and analyses were funded in part by NASA and appear...

America's history of rendering gratitude to the Almighty Detail of the 1914 Jennie Brownscombe painting “The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth.” The Pilgrims fled England because of religious persecution and lived in Leiden, Holland from 1609 to 1620. Each October, Leiden, Holland, celebrated an annual day of thanksgiving for the end of the bloody pillaging, called “Spanish Furies” committed by Spain’s “Iron Duke” from 1572 to 1589. Leiden also had a Jewish population. Spain had driven out the Muslims, who had occupied their country for seven centuries, but then they forced the Jews out, with many fleeing to Holland. The University...

A rash of inexplicable ground-shaking BOOM sounds being heard around the world in recent days has prompted some Israeli rabbis to suggest they are the anticipated signs of the imminent coming of the Jewish Messiah. The mysterious sounds and their shocks that have rattled both nerves and the ground were first chronicled by WND Sunday and have since received global attention. They have been accompanied by dramatic sightings of fireballs that have NASA scientists scratching their heads. While local news reports have recorded the BOOMS in Michigan, Florida, Idaho, California, Tennessee, Oregon, Minnesota, San Diego, Russia and Denmark, among other...

Christmas preparations are in full swing at the White House, and they sure are a lot more involved that what goes on in most houses, which usually involves dragging the tree out of storage and flinging a bit of tinsel around. Melania Trump and son Barron joined in an old-fashioned tradition of receiving the official White House Christmas tree, something that the first lady of the house does every year, though Michelle Obama had trouble dragging her teenagers out into the cold for the festive event last year. Melania and Barron welcomed a 5.9 metre- (19 foot 3 inch) tall...

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I shared my review of The Man Who Invented Christmas last week (I liked it.) In addition to screening the film, which was based off a book by author Les Standiford, Townhall also had the chance to sit down in a roundtable discussion with actor Dan Stevens and Director Bharat Nalluri at last weekend's premiere in New York City.Stevens, famous for lighting up the screen both in Downton Abbey and Beauty and the Beast, is equally charming and entertaining as Charles Dickens. In our discussion, he explained the true story of how the author, down on his luck after three...

Marine Le Pen's political awakening came at the age of eight, when she survived a bombing at her family's Paris home. Five kilograms of dynamite had been placed on the landing outside the apartment at 9 Villa Poirier. The explosion ripped open the entire front of the building. A baby in the next-door flat fell five floors and was saved by the branches of a tree. In her autobiography, the woman who took over the leadership of France's National Front (FN) from her father describes the chaos, the smoke and debris. She and her two sisters “were on our knees...

Early Thanksgiving travelers are expected to stuff Interstate 15 with heavy traffic and delays this week. The Utah Department of Transportation is predicting heavy delays — of up to 45 minutes — on Interstate 15 along the Wasatch Front during the evening commute on Wednesday, as many people head out of town or escape from work a bit early for the holiday. UDOT said its engineers expect a 25 percent increase in traffic on both Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, compared to a typical weekday commute of about 200,000 cars per day. It expects heavier than normal traffic on Tuesday from...

The thought of shaping the future is powerful, but past history is also very important. Karl Marx said, “If I can steal their history, I can steal their country.” Roots are essential and powerful; foundations are critical. Before facing Goliath, David asked the question, “Is there not a cause?” Interestingly, the Hebrew word used for “cause” also means “history.” Therefore, David may have been asking his brother and fellow Israelites, “Is there not a history?”

French authorities will stop Muslims from praying in a street north of Paris, the country’s interior minister said on Sunday, after a series of protests by lawmakers and locals over what they view as an unacceptable use of public space. “They will not have prayers on the street; we will prevent street praying,” Interior Minister Gerard Collomb told Questions Politics (Franceinfo, France Inter, Le Monde). Prayers in the street have taken place every Friday in the multiethnic suburb of Clichy-la-Garenne since March to protest the closure of a popular local mosque that had operated in a government building but since...

I thought this was great! So before the Seasons meaning gets buried in the noise and minutia take a watch!

<p>TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) - A third Ohio pastor has been indicted on sex trafficking charges, and prosecutors say all three men worked together to entice underage girls with money in exchange for sex.</p> <p>A federal grand jury in Toledo has indicted the Rev. Cordell Jenkins, of Cleveland, the Rev. Anthony Haynes and the Rev. Kenneth Butler on conspiracy to sex traffic children.</p>

On Nov. 10, Michelle Holland Conner paid a visit to Sam's Club in Dothan, Alabama — a place she admitted to IJR she finds herself almost daily. As she rounded out her shopping, she heard music, which she assumed was coming from someone testing out speakers in the electronics department of the store. However, she noticed one unusual detail — it was Christian music, and people don't usually test speakers out with Christian music.