Free Republic

But if you want to turn yuletide tradition on its head, you could start by flipping your tree upside down. Improbable as it may sound, topsy-turvy trees are all the rage for 2017. The curious practice dates back to 12th-century Central and Eastern Europe, when the inverted triangular shape was believed to signify the Holy Trinity. Devout people argue that the tip of the tree ought to point towards heaven, but the fashion has gradually taken hold and last year made its way to the UK, when London's Tate Britain gallery copied the style for its seasonal centrepiece.

The video

In keeping with my new Christmas tradition, I’m taking Sunday off. So here’s some inspirational music, in case you are planning to put your tree up today. Or wrap presents to put under it, assuming you can afford any.Or if you just wish to spend a little time reflecting on Christmases past, how about these shots of our Christmas trees from past eras? Note how lovely our FLOTUSes are, in various shades of red, white, blue…and purple gowns. Or, if you need even more help getting into the spirit of the season, you could always “sign” along with Thamsanqa Jantjie....

...The third rail has been losing its juice for years. Bush came out in favor of individual accounts during his race in 2000. And, in the 2002 congressional elections, in every race where Social Security was a major issue, candidates favoring reform won. In fact, those results are simply a reflection of the strong and continued public support for reforming Social Security. A recent poll for the Annenberg Public Policy Center found that 56 percent favor letting workers invest some of their Social Security contributions in the stock market, compared to only 36 percent opposed. Another survey by Rasmussen Reports...

SC demonRATS are paying to have her preacher call and tell you to vote for her. Funny how a conservative can't do that, but it's ok for the libs to do it.

Almost half the public – 47%, believe Prime Minister Ariel Sharon knew Shimon Cohen was Tennenbaum’s father in law, despite the premier’s vociferous denials. 42% think Sharon should quit, a poll conducted by Maariv on Wednesday shows. Only 26% believe Sharon is telling the truth when he says he did not know of the connection between his former business partner, Cohen, and Tennenbaum when he pressed for the POW exchange deal. 27% of those polled said they do not know, or refused to answer the question. The poll also shows that 42% of Israelis think Sharon’s connections with Tennenbaum’s family...

JERUSALEM (AFP) - An Israeli businessman freed by Hezbollah admitted he went to Dubai to conduct a drug deal when he was kidnapped in the Gulf Arab emirate by Lebanon's radical Shiite militia, newspapers reported. During interrogation by Israeli security services, Elhanan Tannenbaum confessed to having travelled to Dubai for a deal set up by his former business partner Qais Obeid, an Arab Israeli who has taken refuge in Lebanon and is thought to be a Hezbollah agent, the Haaretz and Maariv dailies said. After arriving in Dubai in October 2000, Tannenbaum, a reservist colonel in the Israeli army, was...

Shin Bet say Tannenbaum's story does not make senseIsrael would not have agreed to the prisoner swap that freed a hostage had the true circumstances of his capture been known, according to media reports. Elhanan Tannenbaum was the only living captive given to Israel last month in exchange for about 400 Palestinians and 59 dead fighters, mostly of Hezbollah. But Channel One said he was not fully co-operating with interrogators who doubted his story about his capture. Israeli media reported earlier that Mr Tannenbaum failed lie-detector tests. Israeli lawmakers also expressed concerns that Mr Tannenbaum - a businessman and a...

An Israeli Arab with intimate ties to Hizbullah allegedly "sold" Elhanan Tannenbaum to the group in October 2000 for as little as $150,000, sources told The Jerusalem Post. On Monday, the Supreme Court stayed the lifting of the gag order on the full discloser of the events surrounding Tannenbaum's abduction and those directly implicated in the kidnapping, pending an appeal by the family. However, attention is now being focused on Kais Obeid, 30, of Taiba, the grandson of Diab Obeid, who served as a Labor MK from 1961 to 1973. Obeid anchored Hizbullah's financial connections in the territories and headed...

Oct. 2, 2003 Exchange rates Sometime soon, some number of Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners now held in Israeli jails - it's not yet know if it's in the hundreds or over one thousand - are likely to be released in a prisoner exchange. In return, Israel hopes to retrieve one living Israeli, the corpses of three dead Israelis, and information regarding a fourth Israeli, who is not known to be living or dead. The question now widely discussed is whether this is a worthwhile exchange. In this issue of Up Front, Bar-Ilan University's Gerald Steinberg explores the strategic dilemmas posed...

Abducted Israeli business man Elhanan Tannenbaum, accused by his Hizballah captors of being a Mossad agent, is near death following intense torture at the hands of the Lebanese terror group, according to reports in the Hebrew press Thursday. A German mediator was recently allowed to visit Tannenbaum, and said Hizballah terrorists had ripped out his fingernails, pulled all of his teeth and severely damaged his internal organs during torture sessions.