Crumbl Cookies made a viral splash years ago, and in no time, there were locations everywhere. Now, it seems that the tables have turned for the sweets company.

According to scant details issued by officials, two traffic police officers began investigating a "suspicious individual" near a police car on the city's Yeletskaya Street. The officers approached the suspect, intending to detain him, but when they got close an explosive device was detonated.

from Redacted News: TRUTH LIVES on at https://sgtreport.tv/

The Christmas celebration is one of joy and excitement. No matter your age there is always something special about Christmas morning and the days that follow. We know that we are a part of something unique and everlasting. Truly, Christmas reveals so much about life, faith and family. First, Christmas shows what life is about and what life’s goal is. These days are meant to invoke a sense of deep wonder. The Christian claim is that the God of the universe, who made the billions of stars and billions of galaxies—the God who knows everything about you—became man and was born of a woman. It is one thing to claim that God is real. “About nine-in-ten U.S. adults believe in God or another higher power,” according to the Pew Research Center. However, it is a totally different thing to claim that this God is personal, cares about you and became man to save you. While the culture does generally tend to be less interested in God there are signs of hope.  Recent studies from Pew also note that religious stability in America has remained steady since 2020, while highlighting that 70% of Americans are affiliated with a religion and 46% say they pray daily. The Christian claim is amazing because it is a truth claim. Followers of Jesus hold that he was God (as proven through his miracles and resurrection). That he was born at a real time and in a real place. That he fulfilled the well-over 300 prophecies of who the Messiah would be that are found written in the Hebrew Scriptures (which are written over thousands of years by dozens of people who did not know each other). If the Christian claim that Jesus is God and that he was born among us is true, then our lives are meant to revolve around him. It means that our God does not wait on the sidelines of existence but is involved in our lives. It also means that you can have a true relationship with God because He is always with you. This is the second critical reminder that Christmas reveals to us: faith is a relationship. For this reason, Pope Benedict XVI wrote in his encyclical Deus Caritas Est (God is Love) that “being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.” Christmas means that God has a face. However, that also means that the God who became one of us can be ignored. The baby placed in the manger is tiny, seemingly insignificant. He is easily overlooked and ignored by the majority of those in Bethlehem that night. Christmas is an amazing celebration but it is also a challenge to humanity: God came so close to us that we can choose to be indifferent to Him. The invitation of this season, and the Christian faith, is to accept his call to make Him the center of our lives because then we enter into the love story of Christianity. Finally, Christmas reveals critical characteristics for what makes a family healthy and fully alive. God is born among us, into a family. This is something we share with Jesus Christ and every single person to ever live. We enter this world and we are a part of a family. Even if our family has immense brokenness and challenges, we belong to a mother and father. Christmas ought to remind us that families who pray together, stay together. A report from Open Public Health Journal shows that faith affects the health of marriages and the family unit as a whole. “Religious practices (prayer, rituals) also help couples better manage anger and take more responsibility during conflicts.” We see this in the lives of Mary and Joseph who had no place for the King of Kings to be born but whose trust in God allowed them to trust in each other rather than become bitter about their circumstances. Their faith united them and allowed them to see that God was with them (literally) in their challenges. A study published by Sutherland Institute reports on the impact of faith on the family as a whole: “Parents who attend church often promote positive outcomes for their children. Religious fathers tend to be more involved with their children, and religiously involved mothers report higher quality parent-child relationships.” Religious families center the family on a focus bigger than themselves. When we live in the knowledge that we are loved and cared for by God, we become more willing to sacrifice for those that we love the most. So, this Christmas let us remember that being faithful is not an ambiguous task; it is a relationship that allows us to become fully alive. Celebrating Christmas from the perspective of one’s relationship with God only makes us more willing to see this baby born in Bethlehem in his true identity and be transformed along the way. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post The Groundbreaking Impact of Christmas appeared first on The Daily Signal.

First Lady Melania Trump seems to do everything right. See, for instance, the White House Christmas display, unveiled earlier this month. In a series of photos posted on the social media platform X -- photos easily overlooked amid the initial enthusiasm for Melania's decorations -- there appears a remarkable portrait...

December 25, 2025 — Today's Conservative Cartoon

Editor’s note: this piece was originally published last December. We’re rerunning it now in the hopes that it inspires you to view this classic Christmas film with new eyes — or for the first time. Merry Christmas! *** After 70 years, it’s time to start taking “White Christmas” seriously. Few will deny that the 1954 musical is a classic Christmas movie, but no one would call it a “classic” in the same vein as “It’s A Wonderful Life.” Frank Capra’s meditations on morality lend themselves to serious thoughts; Bing Crosby crooning his way through Irving Berlin ballads and Danny Kaye pratfalling all over the Technicolor sets, not so much. But beneath all the schmaltz and snowfall, “White Christmas” is a realistic depiction of a country and people struggling to return to normalcy after years of war and conflict. Its willingness to confront that transition — as well as the social and commercial adjustments it requires — make it not only a true classic, but the perfect Christmas movie for the present. “White Christmas” is the story of Bob Wallace and Phil Davis, World War II veterans turned successful entertainers who find themselves spending Christmas at a struggling Vermont inn owned by their former commanding officer, General Tom Waverly. With ample song and dance, Wallace and Davis manage to save the inn, romance a pair of singing sisters, and put on a spectacular Christmas show that ends with the titular song, just as the first snow of the season begins to fall. Photo by Movie Poster Image Art/Getty Images Yes, it’s fluffy. But beneath that fluff is a story of transitions. Career soldier Waverly can’t make peace with peacetime, and tries to trade his pipe and slippers for a new commission. Wallace has done a better job adjusting to postwar life, but only because he’s thrown himself into work, much to the chagrin of Davis, who urges his partner to settle down and start a family. This is really what “White Christmas” is all about. Think of it this way: the film only has one song about Christmas, but two songs about how hard it is for soldiers to adjust to civilian life. That fact alone is enough to make us consider that “White Christmas” is about more than seasonal merriment — especially considering the film’s director. Michael Curtiz is best known for “Casablanca,” an epic tale of love and loyalty at the height of World War II. While the two films don’t seem to have a lot in common, “White Christmas” actually serves as a quasi-sequel to “Casablanca.” So, in order to understand what’s really going on with Wallace and Davis, we have to look back to Rick and Ilsa. (Photo by LMPC via Getty Images) Like “White Christmas,” “Casablanca” is set in the same year it was released. So, contemporary audiences would have seen each film as a commentary on their lives. With “Casablanca,” that commentary was a call to arms. The film is famously stirring, so much so that the U.S. Office of War Information prevented troops stationed in North Africa from seeing it out of fear it would incite violence against Vichy supporters in the area. And the Bureau of Motion Pictures determined that “Casablanca” would help the Allies win the war by effectively showing “that personal desire must be subordinated to the task of defeating fascism.” “Casablanca” isn’t just another war movie. It’s the ultimate war move, in that it drummed up support for the same war it depicted. Similarly, “White Christmas” is more than just a “feel-good” movie. It’s a peacetime movie, one that eased its audience back into normalcy by offering them a step-by-step guide to that end, and showing how happy their cinematic contemporaries were made by following that guide. Early on in the film, Wallace begrudgingly admits his debt to Davis for convincing him to get into show business after leaving the army, snapping, “We did great, and I’m grateful!” Later on, the film reaches its emotional climax with Bing Crosby’s famous rendition of “Count Your Blessings (Instead Of Sheep).” You’d be hard pressed to find a better metaphor for prosperity than an abundance of blessings so large, you can toss them off as you’re nodding off. But nowhere is this point better made than at the end of the film, when Wallace and Davis have reunited the members of the 151st Division to surprise General Waverly on Christmas. Everyone’s happy. Most brought their families. Those whose careers we hear about are wildly successful. And at least one soldier has gotten so pleasantly plump that he can’t fit into his uniform, which gives the whole squad a good chuckle. This is the point of “White Christmas.” That it’s okay be okay, to be successful and happy, even — especially! — shortly after a period of national tumult. Captain Wallace’s patriotism is not minimized by the fact that he became a successful entertainer, nor is his professional success minimized by his ultimate decision to settle down. He earned both turns, as did everyone else we meet in the film. (Photo by FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty Images) Once we understand the central message of “White Christmas” — that you can and should embrace the comfort and normalcy that follows strife — we can appreciate what a serious film it is. First and foremost, it’s Curtiz’s answer to “Casablanca,” a balm for the people whose wartime passions he had only recently inflamed. It’s also an ideal Christmas movie in the truest sense. Though it’s surprisingly light on the holiday’s commercial trappings, “White Christmas” is about the promise of a new start for humanity. The soldiers become singers, the singers become fathers. The wolf shall live with the lamb, and all that. This was an essential message for postwar America. But it’s equally important today. Now as then, our country stands on a precipice. We’ve been fighting for years — about politics, culture, education, and more. For a time it seemed like we would never again return to normal. But now, the opportunity to get back to normal is here. Yes, our country may be divided, and there are certainly many important fights worth having. But with a monumental election behind us, we now have an opportunity to turn away from the fray and focus on the things that matter. “White Christmas” reminds us what those things are, and urges us to pursue and celebrate them. The summer brought two presidential assassination attempts and as many Democratic presidential candidates. Let’s let the winter bring comfort and joy, promise and rebirth, and so many blessings you just can’t help but sing about them.