Free-for-All Friday

FREE-FOR-ALL

"Retail worker institutionalized after hearing one too many Christmas songs" --Babylon Bee, 12/24

"Pictures of Santa coming down the chimney in blackface surface" --ditto

"Crop duster spreads 100 gallons of holy water on Louisiana town" . --Drudge Report 12/24

"STUDY:  Dogs process numbers, count their treats" --ditto

CRIMINAL MINDS

• "Dad angry over son's haircut shoots barber"  --Drudge Report 12/24
• "Merry Christmas bank robber throws cash @ passers by" --Drudge 12/25

CNN

"Watching CNN try to push an obvious political agenda while retaining sufficient space for plausible deniability is akin to watching a two-year-old child try to steal a much-coveted chocolate bar without getting caught by his parents; one can only shake one’s head and laugh at the incompetence." --Charles Cooke, National Review Online 12/23

BETHLEHEM

"Christianity is on the verge of extinction in Bethlehem. According to international lawyer Justus Reid Weiner, "The systematic persecution of Christian Arabs living in Palestinian areas is being met with nearly total silence by the international community, human rights activists, the media and NGOs... In a society where Arab Christians have no voice and no protection it is no surprise that they are leaving." --Jonathan Feldstein ditto

POLITICS & CULTURE

"But there is a difference between politics and culture, between partisan battles in Congress and family values. And, for the months ahead, as America gets more and more divided over President Trump and the 2020 elections, pastors and Christian leaders need to keep their focus on the gospel.

"Politics will tear us apart and rob us of hope and peace. The gospel will transform us and unite and give us infinite hope and perfect peace.

"Politics is always weighed down with the flesh, with human beings being very human, bringing out the worst in us

"The gospel is grounded in the person and work of Jesus, the very one who liberates us from the flesh and brings out the best in us. 

"What a difference there is between the political system and the kingdom of God! --Michael Brown, Townhall 12/23

THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE . . . CALIFORNIA

In recent months, California recorded its lowest level of population growth in over a century, according to data from the state’s Department of Finance.

The data showed a 0.35% growth rate in the state’s population from July 1, 2018 through July 1, 2019. That rate is even lower than the 0.57% growth rate recorded for the same period from 2017 to 2018, the two lowest growth rates in the state since 1900.

Moreover, while growth from birth rates and legal immigration continue to swell the population, citizens are leaving the state in large numbers for other parts of the U.S.

“This [is] the first time since the 2010 Census that California had more people leaving the state than moving in from abroad or other states,” the report read. Negative domestic migration and lower birthrates together contributed to the slow population growth." --Zachary Evans, National Review Online 12/24

WHO'S TO BLAME?

Nearly every politician wants to claim to be a rebel taking on the system on behalf of the righteous victims who voted them into office; few want to take responsibility for the system itself. --Jonah Goldberg, NRO 12/27