Free Republic

There was a noticeably quieter atmosphere along the length of Tel Aviv’s Rothschild Boulevard on Monday evening, as Tisha Be’av came in after sunset. Trance parties and impromptu jazz parties were replaced by a series of lectures and a number of campsites where readings of the Book of Lamentations were held. At busier spots throughout the boulevard, such as the Student Union headquarters and the main kitchen at the corner of Rothschild and Marmorek, signs were posted calling on people to respect the fast, and notifying passersby that there would be no music parties, performances or entertainment scheduled for the...

Israel observed the annual two-minute silence in honor of the victims of the Nazis as a siren wailed across the country at 10 am Monday morning. Memorial services for the Holocaust will take place all day long in Israel and there will be a special service in honor of the Jewish volunteers who died fighting in World War II at Israel's National Military Cemetery at Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem.

WASHINGTON, July 24, 2006 – President Bush participated in the naturalization ceremony for three soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center here today. The three men are recovering from wounds suffered in combat in Iraq. "Through the generations, our nation has remained strong and free because men and women put on our uniform and defend this country, and defend our beliefs," Bush said before the swearing-in. "The three men we honor today have brought honor to America. Like those who have come before, each of these men chose to protect our country because they love what America stands for." Army...

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo., Dec. 22, 2005 – The North American Aerospace Defense Command is observing its 50th anniversary of tracking Santa Claus on his annual rounds, NORAD officials said here. The tradition of tracking Santa began in 1955, when a local Sears, Roebuck and Co. store ran a newspaper ad urging children to make a phone call on Christmas Eve and talk to Santa Claus. As fate would have it, the phone number was misprinted and, instead of reaching Santa, youngsters found themselves talking with Air Force Col. Harry Shoup of the Continental Air Defense Command at Cheyenne...