Ex-Professor Who Wrote Pro-Intifada Kids’ Book Says ‘Christmas Is a Palestinian Festival’

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A former Pace University history professor has come under fire for writing a children’s book that claims “Christmas is a Palestinian festival” and that Jesus was an Abrahamic prophet born in a Palestinian city.

Golbarg Bashi’s book “P is for Palestine” has been labeled an “incitement for terrorism” and “anti-Semitic propaganda.” But the author told Fox News it’s “a fun diverse children’s rhyme book” that “tells a social justice story about Palestinian history and culture through each letter of the English alphabet.”

Bashi, a “kids’ author committed to BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israel) and empowering, diversifying kids media,” was heavily criticized for writing “I is for intifada” and calling intifada a “peaceful resistance.”

But B for Bethlehem, C for Christmas, and J for Jesus also raised some flags – for another reason.

“As I have said repeatedly, I believe it is very important for American, Mexican, Canadian, Central and South American, British, Swedish and children from any region and nation whose most important holiday is Christmas to know that Christmas is a Palestinian festival, celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, an Abrahamic Prophet who was born in Bethlehem, a Palestinian City,” wrote Bashi. (Read more from “Ex-Professor Who Wrote Pro-Intifada Kids’ Book Says ‘Christmas Is a Palestinian Festival'” HERE)

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New Film Sheds Fresh Light on Ted Kennedy Chappaquiddick Scandal

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A trailer released Wednesday has people across the country talking once again about the 1969 scandal involving the late Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy.

On July 18 of that year, Kennedy drove back from a party on Chappaquiddick Island — near Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts — with 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne. But Kennedy accidentally drove off a bridge into a pond and was unable to get Kopechne, who died in the car, out of the water.

After the accident, it took him about 10 hours to report the crash to police. In the aftermath of the incident, many believed that the married Kennedy was having an affair with Kopechne and attempted to cover up his involvement in the accident before telling police what had happened.

There has also been controversy over whether Kopechne’s life could have been saved if Kennedy had immediately reported the incident. Kennedy claimed that he and several friends attempted to save Kopechne’s life, though some have wondered why he did not simply go to the police.

Moreover, though Kennedy said he was driving Kopechne back to where she was staying, it was later revealed that she left her purse and room key at the party, according to the History Channel.

Almost five decades later, a new movie, titled “Chappaquiddick,” is set to tell the story of what happened on that night and how the scandal transpired in the days that followed.

The John Curran-directed film stars Jason Clarke as Ted Kennedy and Kate Mara as Kopechne. Bruce Dern, meanwhile, plays Joe Kennedy, the patriarch of the famous family and Ted’s father.

“Chappaquiddick” is set to be released on April 6 of 2018, according to People magazine. But the trailer, released Wednesday, gives potential viewers an idea of what to expect.

“Oh my God, what have I done,” Kennedy can be heard saying in the trailer, while adding in another scene, “It was an accident.”

The full trailer can be seen below:

As noted by Townhall, “if the trailer is any indication, the filmmakers did not go easy on Ted Kennedy at all, and it appears to brutally skewer the members of the Kennedy family.”

Kennedy eventually pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident. His driver’s license was suspended for a year and he also got a two-month suspended prison sentence.

But though he did not receive any serious legal punishment for the incident, questions remained regarding what really happened that night.

As a result, Kennedy, who had once been considered a future contender for the presidency, spent the remainder of his career in the Senate.

“Chappaquiddick” has received mixed reviews from those who have seen it, as the film currently holds a 64 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Writing for Variety, Owen Gleiberman called the movie “meticulous docudrama” that “achieves what too few American political dramas do: a reckoning.”

But Hollywood Reporter reviewer Todd McCarthy was less impressed, noting that the film is “a detailed but less than gripping account of a dicey Kennedy family incident.” (For more from the author of “New Film Sheds Fresh Light on Ted Kennedy Chappaquiddick Scandal” please click HERE)

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Here’s the Truth Behind How Santa Claus Came to America

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Santa Claus may be a figure of myth, but the origins of his legend, stretching back from shopping malls to 3rd century Turkey, are very real.

The figure of Santa Claus has, in various forms, become ubiquitous throughout the world during the Christmas season and is, in fact, almost as old as the concept of celebrating Christmas. While his legend has taken on increasingly fantastical elements throughout the ages, from flying reindeer to to nearly divine omniscience, the truth about the man who began the legend and his example of generosity and care has also endured.

Here is how the saintly acts of a 3rd century bishop gave rise to the legend of Santa we know today.

The origin of the story of Santa Claus began with the 3rd Century bishop of Myra, a Greek town in what is now Turkey, who is venerated by the church as St. Nicholas. Not only do written records tell of his existence, but researchers at Oxford University recently discovered that the church may have truly preserved the remains of St. Nicholas of to this day.

Tales of Nicholas’s generosity and of the miracles he performed on behalf of children and sailors gave rise to traditions that would form the basis for the story of Santa Claus later on. The stories spread initially when, according to legend, Nicholas’s generosity saved the three daughters of a single father from enduring lives of prostitution or slavery, according to History.

The legend says that the father of the three sisters could not afford to pay a dowry for them to be married which, in the 3rd or 4th centuries, would resign them to a fate of begging, slavery or prostitution. Upon hearing of their plight, Nicholas went to their house and threw gold through an open window. Some traditions say that he dropped it through the house’s chimney.

The gold landed in either boots or stockings placed by the fireside to dry. The sisters’ father, after discovering gold enough for a dowry had seemingly appeared in miraculous fashion twice in a stocking or boot, stayed by the fire both night and day to try and catch the anonymous do-gooder in the act. He caught Nicholas throwing gold through the window for the third dowry, and though Nicholas begged him not to tell a soul, legend spread throughout the region of his generosity.

Christians in the area from then on often attributed unexpected gifts to St. Nicholas, according to the St. Nicholas Center.

The church venerated Nicholas as the patron saint of children and sailors for his generosity and for tales of his miraculous acts. His veneration in the church lasted through the centuries and even endured the Protestant reformation, despite Protestants’ rejection of the Catholic concept of saints. The legend of St. Nicholas took root especially in the Netherlands, according to History.

The Dutch name for Saint Nicholas was Sint Nikolaas, which was shortened to Sinterklaas. The legend of Sinterklaas developed in the Netherlands in large part because of the influence of the Spanish.

Nicholas’s remains were transported to the Italian town of Bari in 1087, which became part of the Spanish kingdom of Naples. The Dutch people also associated gifts of mandarin oranges, which came from Spain, with Sinterklaas. Thus, the Dutch tradition of Sinterklaas held that he sailed to the Netherlands from Spain.

The Dutch celebrated Sinterklaas, or St. Nicholas, on Dec. 6, the feast day of the saint. According to Dutch tradition, Sinterklaas relied on his black servant, Black Pete, to listen in chimneys and find out whether children had been good or bad

Originally, the Dutch said Sinterklaas would stuff badly behaved children in a sack and take them back to Spain with him. Otherwise, Sinterklaas would visit the houses of good children and leave a sack of gifts on their doorstep.

The Dutch originally took part in these festivities to honor the legacy of St. Nicholas, but the traditions took on a life of their own especially after their arrival in America.

The Dutch are credited with bringing Sinterklaas to New York in the early 17th century, according to History. Newspapers from 1773 and 1774 reported that Dutch families gathered in New York to commemorate the death of St. Nicholas. The author Washington Irving, who popularized Christmas celebrations in America with his book The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent, also popularized Sinterklaas in America with his book The History of New York. Irving’s work depicted Sinterklaas as the patron saint of New York.

Christmas celebrations and the tradition of Santa Claus, an English form of the name Sinterklaas, spread through America in the mid 19th century, especially via newspaper ads related to Christmas gift-giving.

Shopping mall Santas first appeared in America as early as 1841 as part of merchandisers’ efforts to capitalize on the rush to buy gifts during the Christmas season.

The shopping mall Santa also gave rise to the Salvation Army Santa. The Salvation Army dressed jobless men as Santa in the 1890s and unleashed them in the streets to gather donations for the organization.

The modern image of Santa as a jolly, rotund man dressed in red who flies to children’s houses in a sleigh drawn by reindeer also arose during that time, thanks to the Episcopal minister Clement Clarke Moore. Moore wrote a the poem “A Visit From St. Nicholas,” more commonly known as “The Night Before Christmas,” in 1822.

That depiction of Santa Claus has remained popular in America ever since.

Other variations of Santa Claus figures exist throughout the world, such as the Swiss and German Kris Kringle or “Christ Child,” or the Scandinavian elf Jultomten, each bearing unique influences from the cultures in which they developed.

All of them, however, trace back in some way to legend of the 3rd century St. Nicholas, whose example of Christ-like generosity and piety continue to inspire Christian faithful to this day. (For more from the author of “Here’s the Truth Behind How Santa Claus Came to America” please click HERE)

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With the Stroke of a Pen, Trump Claims Victory in the Decades-Long Battle Over Alaskan Oil

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President Donald Trump signed tax reform legislation that also ends the battle over oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that has divided lawmakers for decades.

Trump not only signed tax cuts into law on Friday, he also delivered Alaska lawmakers, Republicans and conservative groups a major political win in a political battle that’s raged since the 1980s.

It’s been “an unnecessarily long and contentious battle,” Tom Pyle, president of the free market Institute for Energy Research, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “It’s a huge win for Alaskans. It’s a huge win for Americans.”

The Republican tax bill finally gives congressional authorization to open the 1.5 million acre 1002 area along Alaska’s Arctic coastline to drilling.

The so-called coastal plain is just 8 percent of ANWR’s total area, but environmentalists and Democrats have fought tooth and nail to keep it off limits to drilling.

Pyle, who headed Trump’s Energy Department transition team, said the historic decision will finally allow companies to do modern assessments of ANWR’s oil and gas resources. The last survey was conducted in 1998, estimating ANWR held as much as 10 billion barrels of oil.

“We’ve come close a few times, but until now we never got over the finish line,” Pyle said.

Previously, Republicans had never gotten approval to open ANWR out of Congress. In 2005, Senate Republicans got ANWR language in the 2006 budget bill, but it was stripped out by House Democrats.

Alaska lawmakers from both parties have long pushed to ANWR’s coastal plain area for drilling. They’ve faced stiff resistance from environmental groups and most Democrats who worry drilling could harm caribou and exacerbate global warming.

Now, with majorities in both chambers, Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski pushed through a reconciliation bill to raise $1 billion over 10 years through opening the 1002 area to oil and gas drilling.

A 2012 Congressional Budget Office report projected that opening the 1002 area to drilling would generate $5 billion in revenue over 10 years. Oil prices have come down since then, so in reality, revenues may not end up being that high.

Environmentalists still plan on doing everything possible to keep oil and gas exploration out of ANWR, including suing the Interior Department to throw up hurdles to future lease sales in the area.

“Opening the door for oil companies to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will devastate Alaska’s wildlife and push us farther down the road of climate disaster,” Brett Hartl, government affairs director for the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.

“And doing it to fund tax cuts for billionaires is a sick joke,” Hartl said.

The League of Conservation Voters made a last-ditch attempt to rally support against the ANWR provision, arguing the “provision would do irreparable damage to one of America’s most magnificent and wildest landscapes.”

ANWR is the country’s largest wildlife refuge, spanning more than 19 million acres in northeastern Alaska. Few people live there and few ever travel to the region, which environmentalists say is a delicate ecosystem worthy of protection.

President Dwight Eisenhower first protected the area in 1960 at the urging of environmentalists, and the area became a wildlife refuge in 1980 under legislation signed by President Jimmy Carter. That 1980 law also set aside the 1002 area specifically for potential oil and gas development.

It’s been a political battle ever since.

Oil and gas companies say they’d only need a 2,000-acre space in the 1002 area for drilling operations — that footprint could be even smaller due to technological advances.

Environmentalists argued for years caribou, polar bears and other animals could be harmed by drilling operations — despite decades of drilling in nearby Prudhoe Bay not degrading the environment.

“Now, ANWR opponents have adopted a new set of talking points, claiming that we shouldn’t drill in ANWR because the price of oil is too low,” Will Yeatman, a senior fellow at the free market Competitive Enterprise Institute, said in an emailed statement.

“This suggests that if the price was right, they would support drilling,” Yeatman said. “Out of the other side of their mouths, environmentalists claim that any drilling is unacceptable, because it would contribute to supposedly catastrophic climate change.”

“By stark contrast to the reasoning of ANWR opposition, drilling is supported overwhelmingly by citizens of the state — 78 percent in fact, as well as by the governor, state legislature and the entire congressional delegation,” Yeatman said. (For more from the author of “With the Stroke of a Pen, Trump Claims Victory in the Decades-Long Battle Over Alaskan Oil” please click HERE)

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Wife Claims Husband Is Behind ‘Russiagate’

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There’s an FBI special counsel, Robert Mueller, investigating the Trump campaign’s so-called “collusion” with “Russia.”

But there also are developing congressional investigations into how those claims were created, from where they came, and who first made them.

Because, as a report in TabletMag suggests, it would be precedent-setting for what President Trump has described as a swamp in Washington to actually have used government channels and resources to make up allegations about a presidential candidate, and then a president-elect.

“To date the investigation into the Fusion GPS-manufactured collusion scandal has focused largely on the firm itself, its allies in the press, as well as contacts in the Department of Justice and FBI,” TabletMag said. “However, if a sitting president used the instruments of state, including the intelligence community, to disseminate and legitimize a piece of paid opposition research in order to first obtain warrants to spy on the other party’s campaign, and then to de-legitimize the results of an election once the other party’s candidate won, we’re looking at a scandal that dwarfs Watergate – a story not about a bad man in the White House, but about the subversion of key security institutions that are charged with protecting core elements of our democratic process while operating largely in the shadows.”

In support of that idea, TabletMag now has reported that Mary Jacoby, the wife of GPS founder Glenn Simpson, boasted “on Facebook about how ‘Russiagate’ would not exist if it weren’t for her husband.” (Read more from “Wife Claims Husband Is Behind ‘Russiagate'” HERE)

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Democrats’ Real Plan to Impeach Trump in 2019

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. . .But Democrats, many of whom still are unable to accept that he was elected over their nominee, the scandal-plagued Hillary Clinton, are quietly planning to remove him from office.

A recent move in Congress indicates they will push for impeachment if they win a majority in Congress in 2018.

U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., is replacing disgraced Democrat John Conyers on the House Judiciary Committee.

Nadler boasts experience as a ranking member on the panel’s Constitution committee and the courts subcommittee and was praised by Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., as someone who will “handle it” if “the president messes around with the Constitution.” . . .

Signs of the Democrats’ strategy are already emerging. As former assistant U.S. attorney Andrew McCarthy noted at National Review, Robert Mueller’s ever-expanding investigation into Trump has failed to find any evidence of collusion, and that phase of the investigation is “over.” (Read more from “Democrats’ Real Plan to Impeach Trump in 2019” HERE)

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Celebrity to Paul Ryan: ‘You Will Go Straight to Hell’

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No one’s unfamiliar with the Christmas stress from the rude brother-in-law, the opinionated mother-in-law or someone like that.

This holiday season, however, one celebrity started there, and with a greeting to House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., went straight over the edge of the cliff.

“Paul ryan – don’t talk about Jesus after what u just did to our nation – u will go straight to hell u screwed up fake altar boy #JUDASmuch,” said Rosie O’Donnell.

The Washington Examiner reported on the “harsh Christmas tweet.”

The report continued, “The comedian’s pointed attack was in response to a brief Christmas message Ryan delivered in a Twitter video: ‘At the end of each year, no matter how short — or long — it may feel, there is always Christmas. Waiting for us is that sense of wonder the shepherds felt when the angels appeared in the night sky to herald the birth of a Savior.’”

(Read more from “Celebrity to Paul Ryan: ‘You Will Go Straight to Hell'” HERE)

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China to Overtake US Economy by 2032

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The growing importance of Asia’s major economies will continue in 2018 and beyond, according to a league table that sees the region dominating in terms of size in just over a decade.

The report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research in London sees India leapfrogging the U.K. and France next year to become the world’s fifth-biggest economy in dollar terms. It will advance to third place by 2027, moving ahead of Germany.

In 2032, three of the four largest economies will be Asian — China, India and Japan — and, by that time, China will also have overtaken the U.S. to hold the No. 1 spot. (Read more from “China to Overtake US Economy by 2032” HERE)

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FBI Says Las Vegas Shooter’s Motive May Take Nearly a Year to Release

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It may be a long time until the public knows exactly what led to the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.

The FBI have revealed it will not release its report on Stephen Paddock’s shooting onto a crowd of Las Vegas concert goers any time soon.

During an interview, the chief of the FBI’s Las Vegas office revealed that the agency probably would not brief the public until the report is released sometime in October — a full year year after Paddock gunned down 58 people.

“Now that’s a long time for some people, but speaking for the FBI, that’s light speed, all right?” Special Agent in Charge Aaron Rouse said, according to Fox News.

On the night of Oct. 1, Paddock opened fire from his Mandalay Bay hotel room onto a crowd of around 22,000 people attending a country music concert in Las Vegas.

Moments before shooting at the crowd outside, Paddock had fired at a security guard through the door of his hotel room. The security guard had incidentally been on the 31st floor to check on an alarm when he was shot.

Paddock ultimately killed 58 people and injured 527 others during his brief, but devastating rampage, according to Axios.

A SWAT team finally charged into Paddock’s room and found him dead from a self-inflicted gun shot wound.

Over two months have passed since the massacre and there is still no clear motive for his actions.

“As I sit here today, I believe that we are learning as much as we possibly can about why the subject did what they did,” Rouse stated.

Other agencies investigating the event will be releasing their reports at different times. However, Rouse says the FBI’s report is “focusing a large part on the why” which is “what everybody wants to know.”

Rouse said that evidence suggests Paddock acted alone in the attack and he has not been linked to any radical organizations or ideologies.

He added that FBI investigators have about 250,000 photos and 22,000 hours of surveillance and cellphone footage to examine — a colossal amount of data that may shed more light on what happened.

“We didn’t leave anything uncovered,” Rouse said in an interview. “And again, the casinos, with their support, let us track down a lot of information of who may have had contact with that person. And it was very helpful to us.”

The Islamic State group originally claimed responsibility for the massacre, suggesting Paddock had acted on their orders to attack Western countries, but these claims were quickly ruled out by the FBI.

Paddock’s girlfriend, Marilou Danley, informed investigators that he would lie in bed screaming, an indication that he may have been in “physical or mental anguish.”

Over the years, Paddock made a substantial money from video gambling, and investigators have suggested that his recent gambling losses may have played a role.

Several times, Paddock had gambled over $10,000 in a single day, and in some instances more than than $20,000 and $30,000 in one day, at casinos in Las Vegas, according to NBC News. (For more from the author of “FBI Says Las Vegas Shooter’s Motive May Take Nearly a Year to Release” please click HERE)

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Trump: ‘People Are Proud to Be Saying Merry Christmas Again’

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By Fox News. When he ran for the White House in 2016, Donald Trump promised to make America great again.

Late Sunday night, on what appeared to be a busy Christmas Eve at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, the president took a bow for what he views as his successful role in making Christmas merry again.

“People are proud to be saying Merry Christmas again,” the president tweeted shortly before 10 p.m. EST. “I am proud to have led the charge against the assault of our cherished and beautiful phrase. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!”

Sunday’s tweet seemed as if the president were claiming “mission accomplished” following some comments he made in October at the Family Research Council’s Values Voter Summit in Washington.

“We’re getting near that beautiful Christmas season that people don’t talk about anymore. They don’t use the word Christmas because it’s not politically correct,” the president said to cheers. “You go to department stores and they’ll say ‘Happy New Year,’ or they’ll say other things and it’ll be red, they’ll have it painted.”

(Read more from “Trump: ‘People Are Proud to Be Saying Merry Christmas Again'” HERE)

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Franklin Graham: ‘I’m Excited’ That Trump Knows ‘Christmas Is All About Christ’

By Fox News Insider. Rev. Franklin Graham reacted to President Trump’s emphasis on the importance of mentioning Christmas during the holiday season.

“The only thing missing are the words ‘Merry Christmas’,” Trump said in a speech on December 8. “They’re using those words again.”

Graham said it is important that Trump and others spread the word that “Christmas is really about the birth of Jesus Christ, and that’s what we’re all celebrating.”

“Christmas is all about Christ,” Graham said. “I’m so excited that the president isn’t afraid to mention the name of Jesus Christ.” (Read more from “Franklin Graham: ‘I’m Excited’ That Trump Knows ‘Christmas Is All About Christ’ HERE)

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