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Mann had his biggest commercial success with a rocking 1959 version of ‘Mona Lisa.’Carl Mann, the rockabilly singer and pianist who was one of the last of the original rockers championed by Sam Phillips at Sun Records, died on December 16 at the age of 78. Mann, described in a 2012 book as the Last Son of Sun, had his biggest commercial success with a rocking 1959 version of “Mona Lisa,” Nat King Cole’s 1950 No.1, which reached No.25 in the US. Mann became a key part of the significant revival of interest in rockabilly that swept Europe in the...

Gal Gadot has defended her casting as Cleopatra after she was met with accusations of “whitewashing” the upcoming biopic. Critics have said that an Arab or African actress should play the role of the iconic Egyptian leader instead of the 35-year-old Israeli actress. “First of all, if you want to be true to the facts, then Cleopatra was Macedonian,” Gadot told BBC Arabic. “We were looking for a Macedonian actress that could fit Cleopatra. She wasn’t there. And I was very passionate about Cleopatra.”

For many this fateful year, Christmas will be like no other. In previous years many of us would be asked, “Are you going somewhere for Christmas? Will you gather with family?” We often had many and rich answers to those questions. This year many of us will answer, “No, I am not going anywhere and will try to connect “virtually” with family. Some are even warned and scorned by public officials not to yield to the natural instinct to gather with family or go to church.It is in this climate that we do well to meditate this Christmas on...

December 25 2020 The Nativity of the Lord Church of the Nativity, Bethlehelm, Israel Lectionary 13Reading 1 Is 62:1-5For Zion’s sake I will not be silent,for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet,until her vindication shines forth like the dawnand her victory like a burning torch.Nations shall behold your vindication,and all the kings your glory;you shall be called by a new namepronounced by the mouth of the LORD.You shall be a glorious crown in the hand of the LORD,a royal diadem held by your God.No more shall people call you “Forsaken,”or your land “Desolate,”but you shall be called “My Delight,”and...

The tradition of performing George Frideric Handel’s Messiah is as inseparable from festivities preceding Christmas as the oversweet carol arrangements oozing through loudspeakers at shopping centres. It’s a tradition worth noticing, as the Messiah was originally composed as an Easter offering, first performed in Dublin on April 13, 1742. With lines such as, “He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief”, this is understandable. It is curious why this masterpiece, structured in three parts and performed for hundreds of years at Easter, gradually became a ubiquitous element of the Christmas traditions. After all,...

I brought this topic up 10 years ago to a forum and near got burned at the stake.. Time to revisit this as This may be what can be revived. Communist Control Act of 1954 The Communist Control Act is an American law signed by President Dwight Eisenhower on 24 August 1954, which outlaws the Communist Party of the United States and criminalizes membership in, or support for the Party or "Communist-action" organizations and defines evidence to be considered by a jury in determining participation in the activities, planning, actions, objectives, or purposes of such organizations. The Act has since...

President Donald Trump on Christmas Eve repeated his concerns over Big Tech censorship a day after he vetoed a defense-spending bill over Congress’s failure to remove liability protections for Silicon Valley’s social media companies. “Twitter is going wild with their flags, trying hard to suppress even the truth. Just shows how dangerous they are, purposely stifling free speech. Very dangerous for our Country. Does Congress know that this is how Communism starts?” Trump said in a Twitter post on Thursday night. “Cancel Culture at its worst. End Section 230!” he said. Trump and his administration have repeatedly underscored the risks...

An overeager dad dressed in a full-on Buddy the Elf costume — from the 2003 Will Ferrell movie — to pick up his daughter after school, and her mortified reaction was priceless. “Oh, my goodness, it’s Alayna!” Gregory Sumsion shouted at his high-schooler while wearing the yellow and green outfit and curly wig. “I know her! I know her!” he continued as he approached his shocked daughter, who exclaimed, “Why am I related to you?!” as her nearby mother captured the whole thing for TikTok. The video has been viewed nearly 6 million times. “I want to sing you a...

Congresswoman-elect Lauren Boebert — ‘Guided by the Constitution and my responsibility to constituents, I will object to the Electoral College results on January 6th.’ Guided by the US Constitution and my responsibility to my constituents, I will object to the Electoral College results on January 6th.— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) December 24, 2020 Rip that omnibus bill up, Mr. President! pic.twitter.com/mShvRMPlxo— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) December 24, 2020

WASHINGTON — As she asked the U.S. Supreme Court this month to overturn President Donald Trump’s election loss, the attorney Sidney Powell cited testimony from a secret witness presented as a former intelligence contractor with insights on a foreign conspiracy to subvert democracy. Powell told courts that the witness is an expert who could show that overseas corporations helped shift votes to President-elect Joe Biden. The witness’s identity must be concealed from the public, Powell has said, to protect her “reputation, professional career and personal safety.” The Washington Post identified the witness by determining that portions of her affidavit match,...

Washington (CNN) Hours before President Donald Trump retweeted a message for his vice president to "act" in stopping the ratification of the Electoral College, he met for more than an hour in the Oval Office with Mike Pence, whom he has complained recently isn't doing enough to support his bid to overturn the election. The discussion was "entirely unrelated" to the eventual tweet, one person familiar with the matter said, though would not specify whether the issue of the January 6 ratification in Congress arose. The two men went separate ways for the holiday. As Trump enters the holiday stretch...

I may not have done this correctly, but it's Christmas so I blame the eggnog if this is incorrectly formatted. This is a YouTube video, I guess a vanity, about VP Biden having a double. He obviously has gone to some trouble to put together a narrative of Biden being swapped out for a doppelganger. I can think of several reasons why this might be desirable by the Biden's supporters. There was a series on TV a few years ago about a Russian couple that was inserted into out society as a travel agent. It was a fun series, the...

WASHINGTON—Several Pennsylvania state senators, all Republicans, met with the president in the Oval Office on Dec. 23 to discuss election fraud issues in their state. Among them was Sen. Doug Mastriano, who said afterwards that he’s “never seen anyone more resolved or determined” as Trump, “because truth is on his side.” “The mood was determined. We need to find out what the heck happened here,” Mastriano told The Epoch Times. He said the group took Trump through the various concerns they had, including a dump of 570,000 votes in the middle of the night for Democratic nominee Joe Biden, during...

To the Robinson Family: Thank you for the wonderful gift you provide us all year. Freerepublic.com keeps our extended family of conservatives together. Without your generosity and commitment the site would not exist. Merry Christmas Jim. Please know that you and the entire Robinson family are loved. God bless you all.

I saved at least 8 Republican Senators, including Mitch, from losing in the last Rigged (for President) Election. Now they (almost all) sit back and watch me fight against a crooked and vicious foe, the Radical Left Democrats. I will NEVER FORGET!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 24, 2020

Before one sets out to analyze the astronomical charts for the skies on any date (widely available now in computer programs), in relation to candidates for the star of Bethlehem, one must determine a plausible date or range of dates for Jesus’ birth. Historians estimate it based on when Herod the Great died: placing it within the two previous years. The most accepted date for Herod’s death is 4 BC. Christians who have written about this have, therefore, previously mostly concentrated on celestial events in the years 7-5 BC, based on the assumption of Herod’s death in 4 BC. Historians...

“The Word: Tabernacled and Received” (John 1:1-18) On this great festival of the Nativity of Our Lord, Christmas Day, the Holy Gospel every year is St. John’s profound prologue that opens his gospel. And today, as we look at this text, I want to zero in on three portions of this prologue, under the theme, “The Word: Tabernacled and Received.” First, the Word. And that literally is the first thing John writes about in his gospel, namely, the Word. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the...

Many have called the Holy Land the “fifth Gospel” because there you can experience all of the principal events of the liturgical year in a little over a week. There are special Masses to be celebrated at each of the holy sites that take precedence over whatever else is in the liturgical calendar. In the empty tomb, you celebrate Easter Sunday every day of the year; on Calvary, the Triumph of the Cross; in Nazareth, the Annunciation; on Mount Tabor, the Transfiguration; and in Bethlehem, Christmas. It’s unforgettable to celebrate Christmas in May, June and September and Easter in December,...

Do you get this message on your home screen as well? What the heck, nobody leaves you, or me, alone anymore?

REIMS, France — The Church in France is under pressure, according to the president of the French Catholic bishops’ conference. But for Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort, that is no cause for despair. “The Church in France is being jostled in many ways; it is reacting, which proves that it is alive,” he told CNA in an email interview. The archbishop of Reims, in northeastern France’s Grand Est region, has had a busy past few months. In October, he was among the bishops offering comfort to Catholics after an attacker shouting “Allahu Akbar” stabbed three people to death at the Basilica...