Free Republic

<p>After a decade in dock, the historic 1920s-era Delta Queen riverboat will cruise again.</p> <p>President Donald Trump signed legislation on Tuesday authorizing the 285-foot-long riverboat immortalized in poems and songs to cruise again along the Mississippi and several other rivers.</p>

It’s the Christmas season again, which means it’s time for the annual debate. Well, actually, it’s time for several annual debates: Is “Happy Holidays” a valid greeting, or is it the sign of a Liberal War on Christmas? Is Wham’s “Last Christmas” the GOAT of Christmas songs, or is it a cheesy artifact that should have been left in the 1980s with parachute pants and bleached bangs? Now that we survived the discomfort of avoiding political discussions with Uncle Frank at Thanksgiving dinner, do we really have to do it again at Christmas? What should Starbucks put on their cups?...

By now I'm sure most of our readers have been confronted by the idea of intersectionality — the leftist view that there is a hierarchy of victimhood in the world. Individuals who fit into various minority categories are found to be more credible than those who, by nature of birth, are in the majority — and bonus points are awarded if you fit into more than one category.

<p>It’s an unconventional take on the nativity scene at St. Susanna’s Parish Dedham. The baby Jesus is in a cage, the wise men are closed off by a wall. For the parish, the crèche is meant to be thought provoking. “We try to take a picture of the world as it is and put it together with a Christmas message,” said Pastor Fr. Stephen Josoma.</p>

~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941 ~ On Sunday, December 7th, 1941 the Japanese launched a surprise attack against the U.S. Forces stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. By planning his attack on a Sunday, the Japanese commander Admiral Nagumo, hoped to catch the entire fleet in port. As luck would have it, the Aircraft Carriers and one of the Battleships were not in port. (The USS Enterprise was returning from Wake Island, where it had just delivered some aircraft. The USS Lexington was ferrying aircraft to Midway, and the USS Saratoga and USS...

Capital Metro voted on Wednesday to continue offering students free rides on the transit system. The summer pilot program, Kids Ride Free, is now permanent. Students from kindergarten to 12th grade can ride by bus or rail at no charge... The estimated lost fare revenue is $250,000 to $300,000. But Capital Metro thinks building lifelong transit habits will pay-off in the long run.

As Americans commemorate the life of the late president George H.W. Bush, liberal media figures have used Bush 41 to launch into attacks on President Donald Trump. A Grabien montage captures the many attacks. "But what becomes undeniably obvious with every bio run about Bush 41 is that stark contrast between these two men," MSNBC co-host Mika Brzezinski begins, launching into attacks on Trump. "Over the last two years, deviancy has continued being defined down by this current president, his cronies, his supporters." "Donald Trump is 180 from who George H.W. Bush is," CNN reporter Jamie Gangel adds. She further...

A grand jury has been called to hear evidence concerning former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn's lobbying work for the Turkish government as the former Trump aide's role in the special counsel investigation appears to be coming to a close. The New York Times reports that a grand jury in Virginia will hear evidence that Flynn was serving as an unregistered agent of the Turkish government in the U.S. days after the 2016 election when he penned an op-ed for The Hill attacking Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric exiled from Turkey living in Pennsylvania. Investigation of Flynn's contact...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Latest on Wisconsin Republican lawmakers moving to limit the powers of the incoming Democratic governor and attorney general (all times local): 4 p.m. The incoming Democratic governor of Wisconsin says he will make a personal appeal to outgoing Republican Gov. Scott Walker to veto legislation that weakens the new administration’s powers.

Another top FBI official who helped oversee the Trump-Russia and Clinton email investigations is retiring, as the last traces of the bureau's embattled leadership team that once stood under Barack Obama's presidency disappear. The official, Bill Priestap, will retire from his post as assistant director of the FBI’s counterintelligence division by the end of the year. “Assistant Director Bill Priestap became eligible to retire and has chosen to do so after 20 years of service,” an FBI spokesperson told Fox News on Wednesday. Priestap, who participated in the bureau’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server and the FBI’s initial...

PARIS -- Former "Baywatch" star Pamela Anderson moved from Malibu to Marseille recently and made a trenchant observation on Twitter about the recent fuel tax protests by "Gilets Jaunes" ("Yellow Vests") motorists. "I despise violence," Anderson tweeted, "but what is the violence of all these people and burned luxurious cars, compared to the structural violence of the French -- and global -- elites?" The problem with France is indeed structural. The current system really isn't that much different from the old one that dominated prior to the French Revolution. The elites are still there. So is the king. He's now...

The chief financial officer of Chinese tech giant Huawei has been arrested in Canada. She faces extradition to the United States. Meng Wanzhou, also known as Sabrina Meng and Cathy Meng, was apprehended in Vancouver on December 1, according to Canadian Justice Department spokesman Ian McLeod. In addition to her role as CFO, Meng serves as deputy chairwoman of Huawei's board. She's the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei. Meng "is sought for extradition by the United States, and a bail hearing has been set for Friday," McLeod said in a statement, which was first reported by The Globe and...

The Honduran woman interviewed by the reporter described the free meals given to her as ‘pig food.’ “The food that they’re handing out here is terrible. Refried beans? As if they were feeding the pigs. If we don’t eat this, we will die of hunger,” the ungrateful Honduran migrant said Her sister posted video on Instagram of the two sisters in Dallas. When everyone wondered where Mirian Celaya is, the Honduran migrant who despised Mexican beans, she was already crossing to the US. And in the last hours have circulated videos of the Honduran controversy with his sister, celebrating his...

December 5, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Facebook has covered over a posting of a picture of Santa Claus kneeling before the Baby Jesus, warning viewers that the photo "may show violent or graphic content.” A second warning beneath the obscured image of Santa on bended knee, reverentially adoring the Christ Child states, “This photo was automatically covered so you can decide if you want to see it.” Screen grab of Facebook censoring image of Santa and baby Jesus. Users can click on a button to uncover the photo.  Facebook explains on its site what it means by “Violence and graphic content:”  "We also...

There are a few movie scenes guaranteed to put a lump in my throat every time. Near the top of the list is the end of "Saving Private Ryan," Steven Spielberg's World War II masterpiece. Earlier, in a climactic battle scene, a dying Capt. Miller (Tom Hanks) tells Pvt. Ryan (Matt Damon) to "earn this, earn it." Translation: Live a life worthy of the sacrifice so many made for you. In the final scene, decades later, an elderly Ryan visits Miller's grave in Normandy, France, and tells the headstone that he's remembered Miller's plea every day since. "I hope that...

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top executive and daughter of the founder of the Chinese tech giant Huawei was arrested on Saturday in Canada at the request of the United States, in a move likely to escalate tensions between the two countries at a delicate moment. The arrest of Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer, unfolded on the same night that President Trump and President Xi Jinping of China dined together in Buenos Aires and agreed to a 90-day trade truce. The two countries are set to begin tense negotiations in hopes of ending a trade war that has been pummeling both economies. Those talks...

Cdl. Burke: ‘Synodality’ suggests some kind of ‘new church’ where pope’s authority is destroyed LIMERICK, Ireland, (LifeSiteNews) – Cardinal Raymond Burke has come out criticizing the concept of “synodality” that was barely discussed during the recently concluded “Youth Synod,” but, nevertheless, found its way into the final document, surprising many of the Synod Fathers.  “It’s become like a slogan, meant to suggest some kind of new church which is democratic and in which the authority of the Roman Pontiff is relativized and diminished—if not destroyed,” said Cardinal Burke in an exclusive interview with LifeSiteNews.  “This is typical of a...

Amid this holiday season of reflection, I'm thinking about America's future. A new poll from Gallup serves up some sobering data regarding how young Americans feel about their country. Gallup asked the question, "Do you think the U.S. has a unique character that makes it the greatest country in the world, or don't you think so?" Eighty percent said "yes," America is the greatest country, in 2010 and 78 percent said yes in 2018. However, among 18- to 34-year-olds, 80 percent said yes in 2010 but this dropped by 18 percentage points in 2018 to 62 percent. It's troubling to...

Even as anti-gas tax riots raged in France this week, the naturalist David Attenborough warned a crowd at a United Nations climate change summit in Poland that the “collapse of our civilizations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon.” UN General Assembly President Maria Espinosa told the media that “mankind” was “in danger of disappearing” if climate change is allowed to progress at its current rate. Speakers, who flew in to swap doomsday stories and partake of the meat-heavy menu, advocated for radical changes to avoid this imminent environmental apocalypse. These days, “the point...