Free Republic

First planeload expected to land in Toronto Thursday night as Canada plans to absorb 25,000 refugees Hours before the first planeload of Syrian refugees is expected to touch down at Toronto's Pearson International Airport, a video of schoolchildren welcoming their new neighbors went viral. In a heartwarming video released by World Vision, over a dozen school children welcome the refugees with a loud "Welcome to Canada!" Hugh Brewster, the national manager for Canadian programs at World Vision told the Toronto Star that the children, who spoke in French, Arabic, Spanish, felt that they needed to make their new friends "feel...

Sarah Palin, who waded into a New York political fight by endorsing Ann Marie Buerkle in NY-25, is drifting into a decidedly higher-charged battle: The fray over a planned mosque near Ground Zero. "Peace-seeking Muslims, pls understand, Ground Zero mosque is UNNECESSARY provocation; it stabs hearts. Pls reject it in interest of healing," she tweeted Sunday. The building’s planners, the American Society for Muslim Advancement and the Cordoba Initiative, have said it’s modeled on religious and community centers such as the YMCA, and that the 13-story, $100 million building would also include an arts center, gym and a swimming pool,...