Free Republic

It's Thanksgiving week in a country whose warring political tribes are not much inclined to give thanks. But any American with a reasonable historic perspective can easily find reasons to do so. For one thing, it's clear that we are a much fairer nation than we were in the past. Women, black Americans, immigrants and minorities of any perceptible kind are treated more fairly and in a more friendly manner than was the case within the memory of many of us now living. Evidence of this comes from the strained attempts of those who criticize the country and desperately insist...

On Thanksgiving, radio stations around the country will play Arlo Guthrie's 1967 "Alice's Restaurant." But why is this 18-minute song about littering and Vietnam considered a Thanksgiving song? KUNC's Colorado Edition put that question to Margot, music host from our sister station 105.5 The Colorado Sound. Erin O'Toole: For those who aren't familiar with the song, could you describe it? Margot: "Alice's Restaurant" is based on a true story of something that happened to Arlo Guthrie and his friend Rick Robbins, who is also a musician. They were home for Thanksgiving, and they were hanging out with their friend Alice...

The truth of the first Thanksgiving

**SNIP** Tien, 27, has been on hunger strike for 11 days. He and hundreds of others of Extinction Rebellion climate activists worldwide began fasting on November 17. Most people have stopped, but Tien is still not eating. “I desperately want to eat, but I would rather have a future,” he wrote in the Guardian. So far, he’s lost 12 pounds. Last week, Tien and other U.S. Extinction Rebellion hunger strikers occupied House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s outer office on the Capitol, demanding a meeting about Congress’ plans for environmental action. She barely acknowledged them—granted, she was likely consumed by last week’s...

We have so much to be thankful for — today and every day. Happy Thanksgiving to those serving overseas who can’t be home with family, and to Americans in every corner of the country. We hope your day is filled with family and friends, laughter, and gratitude. pic.twitter.com/Sp0NGh1aaC— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) November 28, 2019

I'm full {almost} to the point of pain. But I'm feeling good. Just me and my adult daughter and son and two dogs. The dogs did scrap patrol, and were very successful. The wine was good, the turkey perfect, and we had squash, sweet and mashed taters, a real good dressing and plenty of gravy. Also rolls, and cranberry sauce. Now I'm full. Can I lay down, or will I risk anything by sleeping on a full stomach?

The self-described “last Republican on the Upper West Side” will join family for Thanksgiving dinner and arrive fully armored. “Well, I hope to have a good time,” Suzanne Pederson said of the annual family celebration, “but I probably won’t.” This will be the nation’s fourth Thanksgiving since Donald Trump was elected president and the first since the Democrats’ perpetually simmering effort to impeach him fanned into flame. That development has some professionals cautioning that even a perfectly cooked turkey and stuffing can be ruined by a political fight at the table. Knowing few Manhattan lairs are welcome to President Trump’s...

The day after teasing its world premiere on Twitter, Kanye West dropped the music video for "Closed on Sunday," the fourth track from his latest gospel-rap album, Jesus Is King, on Thursday. The song includes multiple references to famous fast food outlet Chick-fil-A, which is traditionally closed Sundays to observe founder Truett Cathy's Christian faith. The timing of the video release falls on Thanksgiving, a day that the chicken restaurant is also closed in observance of the holiday. "Closed on Sunday" includes the lyrics "Closed on Sunday, you're my Chick-fil-A/ Hold the Selfies, put the 'Gram away/ Get your family,...

...O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave? On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes, What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep, As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses? Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam, In full glory reflected now shines in the stream, ’Tis the star-spangled banner - O long may it wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave! And...

President Donald Trump arrived in Afghanistan on Thanksgiving to rally U.S. troops involved in the nearly two-decade-old war effort. Trump secretly left his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida Wednesday night and set out across the globe to offer holiday greetings to the service members stationed overseas. It marks Trump’s second trip to a combat zone, following last year’s Christmas trip to Iraq.

Thousands of demonstrators in Hong Kong staged a “Thanksgiving” rally on Thursday evening in response to President Donald Trump signing two bills in support of the city’s pro-democracy movement. Demonstrators took to the streets shortly after the president signed the legislation. Some draped themselves in U.S. flags and expressed gratitude for the administration’s support. “The rationale for us having this rally is to show our gratitude and thank the U.S Congress and also President Trump for passing the bill,” student Sunny Cheung, 23, told Reuters. “We are really grateful about that and we really appreciate the effort made by Americans...

Do you have a bizarre desire to both bore and annoy your fellow Thanksgiving dinner guests? Well, good news! CNN's Zachary B. Wolf on Wednesday provided a handy dandy guide on how to easily accomplish this task with "Get smart on impeachment before Thanksgiving dinner." Wolf somehow assumes that hearing the mainstream media hype impeachment (which is now losing steam) 24/7 is not enough for the public. His fantasy is that the public will not only have its fill of turkey and stuffing but will have room left over for a discussion about impeachment that the media is so obsessed about.

Former first lady Michelle Obama took to social media to wish Americans a “Happy Thanksgiving” on Wednesday. “From our family to yours, #HappyThanksgiving!” she tweeted. The post also featured a sunny photo of her along with her husband and children. Former President Obama also tweeted a message to his 110 million followers earlier on Wednesday ahead of the holiday. “Before arguing with friends or family around the Thanksgiving table, take a look at the science behind arguing better,” he tweeted. “And it'll never hurt to try this: ‘Listen to people, get them to think about their own experience, and...

Just days before our national Thanksgiving holiday, a report explained that Millennial students in their wisdom say, "It's not okay to celebrate Thanksgiving." What would we do without these young people correcting the rest of us, the fossil generations?! According to The College Fix, college students think Thanksgiving represents "oppression" because it is "based off of the genocide of indigenous people." They see Thanksgiving in terms of the "themes of oppression and colonization." More to the point, with the focus on eating a "bunch of food," Thanksgiving is "just a bunch of capitalist b-------." Some of the students "believe most...

Calls for prayers for military, law enforcement and first responders President Trump placed a strong emphasis on God, faith and prayer in his annual Thanksgiving Day proclamation, calling for prayers for service members, law enforcement and first responders — and their families as well. “On Thanksgiving Day, we remember with reverence and gratitude the bountiful blessings afforded to us by our Creator, and we recommit to sharing in a spirit of thanksgiving and generosity with our friends, neighbors, and families,” Mr. Trump said, citing multiple references from American history. “This Thanksgiving, we pause and acknowledge those who will have empty...

Actress Jamie Lee Curtis is using the Thanksgiving holiday to remind voters to choose female candidates as way to transform America’s “misogynist society.” In an editorial for NBC News, the Knives Out star described the United States as a fundamentally sexist country characterized by a pervasive hatred of women. “Unfortunately, right now, we live in a misogynist society and a lot of men hate women,” Jamie Lee Curtis said. “They just do. I think that seeing a strong woman articulate her points, argue for her position, and even get angry about the disparities she faces — whatever they are —...

This is the time that Americans from coast to coast cease their workaday activities and gather with friends and loved ones for Thanksgiving. It is a time-honored ritual, observed by the overwhelming majority of the American population. What are the origins of this celebration, and what meaning should it have for Americans today? Thanksgiving is a combination of two longstanding traditions in Anglo-American civilization—the joyous harvest festival and the more somber declaration of a day of prayer or thanksgiving in the midst of some national crisis.The origin of the present American Thanksgiving, spiritually and emotionally, harkens back to the 1621...

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to "recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:" Now, therefore, I do...

Governor Bradford of Massachusetts made this first Thanksgiving Proclamation three years after the Pilgrims settled at Plymouth: "Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, peas, beans, squashes, and garden vegetables, and has made the forests to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as He has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience. "In everything give thanks; for this is the will...