Town of Bethlehem Bans ‘Merry Christmas’ Signs

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The town named after the birthplace of Jesus Christ has banned signs celebrating the holidays at an intersection in the town that has become a local battleground for the War on Christmas.

Officials from Bethlehem, New York had a “Happy Hanukkah” sign and a “Merry Christmas” sign removed from a busy intersection and have refused to put up any new holiday signs out of fear the signs would be breaking the law, The Albany-Times Union reports. The town’s lawyer reportedly said Christmas trees and other symbols were acceptable, but written signs would not be allowed, a decision that has caused an uproar in the local community.

The town’s decision has drawn criticism from residents and outsiders. A small group of protesters met Wednesday night at the location where the signs were. One resident, Elena Marcelle, bought two Christmas signs for the area but was told they would not be allowed. She corresponded with the town’s lawyer via email.

“Moreover, there is limited space at the Four Corners, and adding signage could potentially be visually distracting to motorists,” the town’s attorney James Potter said in a Dec. 14 email to Marcelle, the woman who offered to buy the sign. “The town cannot endorse one religion over another, so the town must either allow signs for all groups participating in the holiday display, or prohibit signs altogether.”

The Christian legal group, The Alliance Defending Freedom, has weighed in to let the town know they should not be afraid.

(Read more from “Town of Bethlehem Bans ‘Merry Christmas’ Signs” HERE)

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Christians in China Feel Full Force of Authorities’ Repression

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Pastor Su Tianfu slides into the back seat and tells the driver to hit it . . .

It is days before Christmas, but instead of working on his sermon, Su is giving his tail the slip.

The slight and soft-spoken Protestant preacher is no stranger to surveillance. Su has worked for years in China’s unregistered “house churches,” and he said he has been interrogated more times than he can count.

But even Su is surprised by what has happened in Guiyang this month: a crackdown that has led to the shuttering of the thriving Living Stone Church, the detention of a pastor on charges of “possessing state secrets” and the shadowing of dozens of churchgoers by police.

A local government directive leaked to China Aid, a Texas-based Christian group, and reviewed by The Washington Post advises local Communist Party cadres that shutting down the church is necessary to “maintain social stability”— a catchall phrase often used to justify sweeping clampdowns. (Read more from “Christians in China Feel Full Force of Authorities’ Repression” HERE)

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Miracle Baby Comes Back from the Dead 30 Minutes After Life Support Is Switched Off

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Eighteen-month-old Bella Moore-Williams’ parents could only watch helplessly as their sedated daughter took what they thought was her last breath.

Mother Francesca, 41, and father Lee, 44, wept and took one last photograph with her brother Bobby, five, before her ventilator was switched off.

They had also made prints of her hands and feet as a memento and invited family members to the hospital to say farewell.

Doctors had told them three times that it was unlikely she would survive after they diagnosed a genetic disease.

But 30 minutes later, she began kicking and screaming. (Read more from “Miracle Baby Comes Back from the Dead 30 Minutes After Life Support Is Switched Off” HERE)

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Christmas Eve Danger: Troops Attacked as Tourists Flock to Bethlehem

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Four Palestinians were killed on Thursday, among them three who Israel said were carrying out attacks on soldiers in the West Bank, as tourists and Christian faithful were gathering in Bethlehem for Christmas celebrations.

Bethlehem has been a focal point for clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian protesters during the three month-long wave of violence that has gripped the region. While the annual festivities in the city’s Manger Square were set to go on, other celebrations in the city were cancelled or toned down because of the violence.

“We’re in Bethlehem celebrating Christmas, celebrating the birthday of our lord Jesus Christ. This is the birthplace of the king of peace so what we want is peace,” said Rula Maayah, the Palestinian Tourism Minister.

Israeli authorities said that three Palestinians were killed after they carried out or attempted to carry out attacks against Israelis across the West Bank. A fourth Palestinian was killed in clashes with Israeli troops, according to a Palestinian hospital official.

In the first incident, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the attacker approached the entrance to an industrial zone in the Ariel settlement and stabbed two security guards, wounding them moderately, before they shot and killed him. Two other Palestinians were killed in two other incidents, including an attack by a motorist on Israeli troops, with one soldier lightly wounded. (Read more from “Christmas Eve Danger: Troops Attacked as Tourists Flock to Bethlehem” HERE)

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Draconian New Transgender Guidelines for NY City

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Welcome to your future, America. If New York City is at the forefront of trendsetting social science experiments – and it often is – you are in trouble unless you bow to political correctness and refer to transgendered people using the proper pronoun.

That’s right. You can now be charged with discrimination under New York City law if you refer to a female transgender as “him” or “Mr.”

Reuters:

New York City has warned landlords, employers and businesses they could be running afoul of the law by purposely calling a transgender woman “him” or “Mr.” when she prefers a female title and pronoun, or by barring her from using a women’s restroom.

New guidelines detail the legal protections of transgender and gender-nonconforming New Yorkers and what constitutes discrimination under the city’s Human Rights Law, the New York City Commission on Human Rights said on Monday.

Some 25,000 transgender and gender non-conforming people live in New York City, where discrimination based on gender identity and expression has been illegal since 2002.

(Read more from “Draconian New Transgender Guidelines for NY City” HERE)

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Christmas Miracle: Dog Found in Metro Detroit 3 Years After Going Missing in Ohio

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A dog who was missing for three years has been reunited with his family just in time for Christmas after being found almost 200 miles away from home.

Earlier this month, Donna Wreford found a small Yorkshire Terrier wandering around her Romulus home. After asking around the neighborhood, Wreford took the dog to the Romulus Animal Shelter.

Workers at the shelter used an electronic wand to scan the dog and determined he had a microchip implant that had owner information on file with the American Kennel Club. Workers contacted the AKC, who confirmed that the dog was reported missing by a family located in Columbus, Ohio more than three years ago.

The AKC contacted the owners, Ta-Shina and Darrin Green — who were still currently living in Columbus — and advised them to contact the Romulus Animal Shelter for some good news regarding their lost dog.

The Green family immediately contacted the shelter and finally heard the news they had been waiting so long for — that after three years of being missing, their long-lost dog “Rexxn” was found in Romulus, around 200 miles north of his home. (Read more from “Christmas Miracle: Dog Found in Metro Detroit 3 Years After Going Missing in Ohio” HERE)

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The Spit Test That Can Predict How Long You Will Live

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A saliva test could predict how long we have got left to live.

Researchers found that levels of a particular antibody falls the nearer a person gets to death.

To reach their conclusion, took samples from 639 adults in 1995 and tracked them over 19 years.

They found that the levels of secretory immunoglobin A (IgA) fell the nearer the person got to death.

Antibodies are used by the body to fight infection and are secreted by white blood cells. (Read more from “The Spit Test That Can Predict How Long You Will Live” HERE)

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Austrian Radio Jockey Punished for Playing ‘Last Christmas’ 24 Times

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An Austrian radio station has punished one of its moderators after he locked himself in the studio only to play the song ‘Last Christmas’, a cult hit from the 1980s by British band Wham!, 24 times in a row.

Only once the moderator’s daughter called the studio to beg her father to stop because the song made everyone “mad” did he finish his one-song marathon, according to a video on Youtube.

(Read more from “Austrian Radio Jockey Punished for Playing ‘Last Christmas’ 24 Times” HERE)

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Fox News Just Announced a GOP Debate Rule Tweak That Could Be a Total Game Changer

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The next prime-time Republican presidential debate could include only six candidates, based upon the rules the Fox Business Network has established for the Jan. 14 event.

Based upon the rules Fox Business released Tuesday, assuming no major changes in the current polls, the main debate would be limited to Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Ben Carson; Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.; N.J. Gov. Chris Christie and former Fla. Gov. Jeb Bush.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., Ohio Gov. John Kasich, and Carly Fiorina would move from the main stage to the “undercard.”

To qualify for the prime-time debate, Fox Business said candidates must do one of three things:

Place in the top six nationally, based on an average of the five most recent national polls recognized by Fox News.

Place in the top five in Iowa, based on an average of the five most recent polls recognized by Fox News.

Place in the top five in New Hampshire based on an average of the five most recent polls recognized by Fox News . . .

“It’s long past time that those who’ve failed to do something with these opportunities did the honorable thing and, if not quit the race entirely, at least exit the debate stage so that the actual contenders aren’t left begging for time amid Kasich’s karate-chop laden explainers or Paul’s dogged attempts to reshape the GOP base in his image,” wrote Jason Linkins. (Read more from “Fox News Just Announced a GOP Debate Rule Tweak That Could Be a Total Game Changer” HERE)

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#NotMiAbuela: Clinton Compares Herself to Latina Grandmas, Twitter Responds with Outrage

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A GIF-filled campaign post aimed at winning over Latino voters has backfired and instead is drawing the ire of many social media users for purportedly playing up ethnic stereotypes.

The campaign’s “7 ways Hillary Clinton is just like your abuela” (the Spanish word for grandmother), which came on the same day Clinton’s daughter Chelsea announced she is pregnant with what will be Clinton’s second grandchild, was quickly derided by many online users as using vague stereotypes, basic Spanish vocabulary and even a photo of the candidate with singer Marc Anthony to show she is in touch with a younger generation.

“It’s no secret that Hillary is loving her role as grandma,” the campaign post says. “And she was thrilled to learn that next summer, her granddaughter Charlotte will have a sibling to play with.”

The post then goes on to make numerous uses of the word respeto (Spanish for respect) paired with numerous GIFs, including one where she goes after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump by saying she had one word for him: “Basta! Enough!” The post ends with “Everybody loves abuela—even this guy,” which shows a picture of Clinton alongside Anthony.

The post was quickly met with derision. Twitter users expressed their outrage using the hashtag #NotMiAbuela or #NotMyAbuela. (Read more from “#NotMiAbuela: Clinton Compares Herself to Latina Grandmas, Twitter Responds with Outrage” HERE)

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