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Mother Shamed for Mentioning ‘Father Christmas,’ Told Santa Is Now Gender-Neutral

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A mother from Plymouth, England, says she was scolded online for daring to mention “Father Christmas,” and informed that Santa Claus “is now seen as gender-neutral.”

The Plymouth Herald reported on the alleged incident last week, and quoted the unnamed mother as telling them, “I’ve just been shamed [on a Facebook group] for using the name ‘Father Christmas’ and [told] that ‘Santa’ is now seen as gender neutral. I was only referring to the book below [‘Father Christmas’ by Raymond Briggs] but it’s left me a little confused/on edge about what we are aloud [sic] to say.”

The mother added, “I have a small child and don’t really want to raise him saying ‘Father Christmas’ if it’s hurtful to some.”

The original message stream on Facebook has not been disclosed, but as other media outlets have picked up the story, debate over the incident has gained momentum online.

Fox News reported that one user reacted by saying of Santa, “Seriously! He’s a guy, quite clearly a guy. I would have bitten back by calling him St. Nicholas to be honest. The clue’s in the name, Nicholas not Nicola.” (Read more from “Mother Shamed for Mentioning ‘Father Christmas,’ Told Santa Is Now Gender-Neutral” HERE)

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Manchester Explosion: UK Has Been Targeted by Terrorists ‘Time and Time Again’

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At least 19 people were killed and at least 50 injured in a suspected suicide bomb explosion Monday night at an arena in Manchester, England, where U.S. pop singer Ariana Grande was performing a concert.

Police said they were treating the explosion just outside the arena as a terror incident until they “know otherwise.”

Robin Simcox, a terrorism and national security expert at The Heritage Foundation, said the United Kingdom has been a target of Islamist terrorists “time and time again.”

“While the perpetrator of this attack is not yet clear, the U.K. has been targeted by Islamist terrorists time and again,” Simcox told The Daily Signal. “Manchester itself was targeted by Islamist terrorists on multiple occasions in the past, including by al-Qaeda.”

“Even though the U.K. has world class security services,” Simcox added, “this is a numbers game—and the amount of terror suspects in the U.K. is so high that it is impossible for authorities to be able to keep track of everyone that is of concern.”

The explosion occurred about 10:35 p.m. local time outside the Manchester Arena as people were exiting after the concert. The arena has the capacity to seat 21,000 people.

Videos shared online shows concertgoers, many of them children, adolescents, or teens, frantically fleeing a chaotic scene.

Some used Twitter to desperately search for loved ones who had attended the concert.

Andy James, an eyewitness who attended the 23-year-old singer’s concert in Manchester, told CNN the boom felt like it “rattled in my chest.” After the explosion, he said, there was “a stampede of people.”

Chris Pawley, another eyewitness, told Fox News the explosion occurred in an area just outside the arena where parents were waiting to pick up their “young children and teenagers.”

European Parliament member Nigel Farage said that if the explosion is confirmed as an act of terror, it will be a “new low” for terrorists.

“The direct attack on children … marks a new low in all forms of terrorism,” Farage said on Fox News.

A publicist for Ariana Grande told The New York Times during the initial confusion that the American singer and actress was “OK.”

TMZ later reported Grande to be “in hysterics” over the carnage, and Sky News reported her world tour had been suspended. Grande tweeted:

Her “Dangerous Woman” tour, which kicked off Feb. 3 in Phoneix, had been scheduled to take the singer to London for concerts Thursday and Friday, followed by cities in Belgium, Poland, and Germany.

The explosion coincided with President Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East, where on Sunday in Saudi Arabia he urged Arab leaders to step up the fight to “drive out” Islamist terrorists and extremists. Trump was briefed on the explosion in Manchester, according to NBC News.

(For more from the author of “Manchester Explosion: UK Has Been Targeted by Terrorists ‘Time and Time Again'” please click HERE)

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Boy’s ’50 Shades of Grey’ Costume Sends Chills Through School During World Book Day

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An 11-year-old boy in Manchester, England, caused a controversy when he showed up to his school’s World Book Day celebration dressed as Christian Grey from the hit book and movie “50 Shades of Grey.”

At the Sale High School World Book Day Thursday, students were encouraged to dress up as a character from their favorite book, but Liam Scholes’ “50 Shades of Grey” costume had to be “modified” before he could participate, according to a statement from the school.

Nicola Scholes posted a photo of her son’s outfit on Facebook, showing the boy dressed in a suit and carrying a mask and small cable ties.

Her son’s costume “was lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek,” Scholes told ABC News today.

She wrote earlier on Facebook, “It was that inappropriate that they told him to change his character and wouldn’t include him on any photos.” (Read more from “Boy’s ’50 Shades of Grey’ Costume Sends Chills Through School During World Book Day” HERE)

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Tax Warning: Will Barack Obama Do to America What Leftists Already Have Done to Illinois…and England…and…?

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Now that the debt-limit fight is basically over (the Senate will join the House in approving it later today), we need to immediately prepare for the next stage in the fight to stop big government and restore economic liberty.

President Obama and other leftists clearly have signaled that they want the new “super committee” – which will recommend $1.5 trillion of deficit reduction before Thanksgiving – to be a vehicle for “balance” and “shared sacrifice.” But if you look in a Statism-to-English dictionary, you learn that “balance” is a code word for higher taxes and “shared sacrifice” means class-warfare taxation.

I’ve already explained that a truly balanced approach requires nothing but spending restraint. And I’ve explained why Obama’s class-warfare taxation is misguided.

Today, let’s look at three real-world examples. We’ll start with the President’s home state. Early this year, using sneaky maneuvering, Illinois politicians raised the state’s income tax rate. I warned that this would drive jobs and businesses out of the state. That was an easy prediction, of course, and we’re already seeing results.Here’s a blurb from a Chicago Sun-Times story.

It’s becoming a habit around here — another day, another stalwart of financial services in Chicago threatening to leave town. On Thursday, it was the Chicago Board Options Exchange suggesting that higher corporate taxes in Illinois could cause it to take jobs out of state. The CBOE’s warning came a day after CME Group Inc. said the same thing. CME owns the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade. The options market, with its headquarters and trading floor at 400 S. La Salle, employs about 580 people, not including traders who use its facilities. A CBOE spokesman said in a statement that “economic realities” could force a move.

Because the CME and CBOE are so high profile, I suspect Illinois politicians will provide some sort of one-off tax holiday or back-door subsidy to prevent this from happening. That won’t solve the problem, of course, which is that high tax rates inexorably will undermine the state’s competitiveness and that ordinary people will pay the highest price.

Read More by Dan Mitchell