Free Republic

As tea was being dumped in Boston Harbor, momentous changes were taking place across the continent, defining America's future. The year 1776 stands as the most celebrated date on the American calendar, and for good reason. Embraced by those scant 12 months is not only the signing of the Declaration of Independence but also the Redcoats' retreat from Boston, the Continentals' narrow escape from New York, and George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River to snatch a desperately needed victory at Trenton. Those storied episodes unfolded within 50 miles of the Atlantic Coast. In his perceptive and original "West of...

Wally Collins of Phoenix triumphed over 130 other entrants, including his son Matt Collins, late Saturday night at Sloppy Joe's Bar. The bar was a favorite of Ernest Hemingway during the 1930s.A white-bearded Arizona restaurateur has won Key West's annual "Papa" Hemingway Look-Alike Contest on his sixth attempt. Wally Collins of Phoenix triumphed over 130 other entrants, including his son Matt Collins, late Saturday night at Sloppy Joe's Bar. The bar was a favorite of Ernest Hemingway during the 1930s. Related: Hemingway Look-Alikes "Run With the Bulls" in Key West Competitors in sportsman's attire paraded before a judging panel of...

Review: Divorcing a Real Witch: For Pagans and the People That Used to Love Them by Diane Rajchel This is a book I asked to review not because I have been through the pain and process of divorce myself, but because it offers another perspective in the raft of pagan lifestyle books that are currently appearing. I have to admit though that as the child of divorced parents, and as an author interested in the lives of children, I didn’t come to this title without investment and interest. It is sad that within the wider Pagan community, divorce and separation...

JULY 19, 2014 A Thor Subject The comics industry grapples with attracting women readers. By Jim Geraghty The surprises came in a trio: First, Marvel Comics announced that the character of Thor, based upon the Norse God of Thunder, would become a woman. The second surprise was the venue in which the switch was announced — ABC’s feminine-minded daytime talk show The View — but perhaps that was predictable, considering that Marvel and ABC Television are both owned by Disney. But the third, and biggest, surprise is that anyone thought this was a good idea. “This is not She-Thor,” senior...

In the first paragraph of the prologue to his new book, The Baby Boom: How It Got That Way... And It Wasn't My Fault... And I'll Never Do It Again, political humor writer P.J. O'Rourke declares in no uncertain terms that he is "full of crap." Similarly, in the introduction to his upcoming book You Can Date Boys When You're Forty, humor columnist Dave Barry explains that his book, despite its subtitle "Parenting and Other Topics He Knows Very Little About," is not about parenting. It's easy to imagine that when these two bestselling authors and longtime pals get together,...

Stephen Leeds, AKA “Legion,” is a man whose unique mental condition allows him to generate a multitude of personae: hallucinatory entities with a wide variety of personal characteristics and a vast array of highly specialized skills. As the story begins, Leeds and his “aspects” are drawn into the search for the missing Balubal Razon, inventor of a camera whose astonishing properties could alter our understanding of human history and change the very structure of society. I thought you Freepers might like this book, I found the storyline good and the characters interesting, and I found the "aspect" J.C. fun. The...

30 Writers Other Writers Loved To Hate

In honor of the 60th Anniversary of 'Lord of the Rings' book by J.R.R. Tolkien (first published July 29, 1954), Air New Zealand is introducing a special, 11-night, all-inclusive, self-guided package with Air New Zealand highlighting the movie's filming locations and best of New Zealand. The 60th anniversary 'Lord of the Rings' package by Air New Zealand includes major New Zealand attractions and breathtaking landscapes, which inspired Peter Jackson to film the 'Lord of the Rings' film trilogy in New Zealand.

Contrary to what those who defend the right to own high-powered assault rifles believe, not all guns are created equal. Due to a combination of availability, portability and criminal usage the following five types of guns are the country's most dangerous. Using firearm trace data from the ATF, as well as FBI homicide records, we determined the types of guns most often recovered from crime scenes and/or used in murders. The numbers are stark: According to the FBI's 2012 Crime in the US data, nearly 70 percent of homicides for which the FBI received weapons data involved the use of...

My thoughts exactly: @allahpundit did not know jughead was gay.— Bruce Wolf (@BruceWolfChi) July 14, 2014 We should have known. There’s campy, there’s John Waters campy, and then there’s wearing a crown to school every day.No, actually, the gay friend here is Kevin Keller, whom they introduced back in 2010 and then married off in 2012 in the first “Archie� gay wedding. Having re-written the “boy torn between two girls� storyline eight thousand times in the past 75 years, the writers wanted something more “impactful,� to borrow an atrocious word favored by the company’s CEO. That’s understandable, but …...

Archie Andrews will die taking a bullet for his gay best friend. The famous freckle-faced comic book icon is meeting his demise in Wednesday’s installment of “Life with Archie” when he intervenes in an assassination attempt on Kevin Keller, Archie Comics’ first openly gay character. Andrews’ death, which was first announced in April, will mark the conclusion of the series that focuses on grown-up renditions of Andrews and his Riverdale pals. […] “We wanted to do something that was impactful that would really resonate with the world and bring home just how important Archie is to everyone,” said [Jon] Goldwater,...

I just saw Yoko Ono's latest Advice Tweet; "Count All The Words In The Book Without Reading Them, Count All The Objects In The Room Without Classifying Them." My first impluse was to roll my eyes, shrug and say, There she goes again. I still have that reaction to some degree, but it's not as simplistic and vacuous as may first appear. What may appear as an unfettered indulgence of somewhat with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, could also be seen an a cerebral exercise of the imagination. A 'jumping off point' for conventional, linear logic, if you will. Then again, she...

The future of puzzling is as fluid as the English language itself.While the world warns of an impending print collapse, it might take down an innocent bystander with it—those little black and white squares that have long inhabited the back pages of newspapers and made themselves the primary Sunday-afternoon obsession of crossword nerds, for whom completing a puzzle is a bragworthy accomplishment. Yes, the meager crossword, its unnerving simplicity belying a capability to wrench you mad with clues that speak of everything and nothing at once, is moving toward becoming a relic of the past. Binghamton University English professor Michael...

In response to why Hillary's book was not taken off the shelf...here is the reply: Dear XXXX, The decision to keep her book in stock in our locations is purely sales based as well. The books that are currently stocked in our stores have met our sales threshold, and so we continue to carry them. I might suggest visiting Costco.com for further information from our CEO regarding this matter. Thank you, Sarah S. Member Service Center Costco Wholesale Corporation I do know that there hare many copies of her books in the local Costco - habe neen since published....does not...

Jim Brosnan, who achieved modest baseball success as a relief pitcher but gained greater fame and consequence in the game by writing about it, died on June 29 in Park Ridge, Ill. He was 84. The cause was an infection he developed while recovering from a stroke, his son, Timothy, said. In 1959, Brosnan, who played nine years in the major leagues, kept a diary of his experience as a pitcher, first with the St. Louis Cardinals and later, after a trade, with the Cincinnati Reds. Published the next year as "The Long Season," it was a new kind of...

Any thoughts why?

Dear XXXX, We appreciate you taking the time to email Costco Wholesale. Costco is not influenced by political considerations in selecting product for sale in our warehouses or on Costco.com. This includes our selection of books. Our book buyers are solely interested in book sales, and do not favor any political persuasion over another. Recently, after deciding to sell the book "America: Imagine the World Without Her", beginning on June 1, a decision was made to pull the book from sale on July 1. This decision was based solely on the number of copies sold during that month, and had...

Former U.S. president George W. Bush recently opened the doors to his gorgeous Texas ranch to reveal rooms where he once hosted world leaders and where he now bides his time painting them. Bush gave a tour of the Crawford home he completed just after becoming the nation's 43rd president in 2001 to Architectural Digest for the magazine's August cover story. It's a rare glimpse at the sprawling property where Vladimir Putin once rode shotgun in Bush's pickup and where the younger of W.'s twins, Jenna, held her intimate 2008 wedding. George and Laura Bush have retired to Dallas, Texas...

I just spent the last nine hours reading Brad Thor's latest thriller- Act of War. It will definitely go down as one of his best. Five stars - Highly recommended.

#1

Amazon description: There is little in this world that a family cannot endure, if endure they must. For we all have it within us to lose everything, absolutely everything, and still find strength in the most simple, beautiful things. Pat and Mandy Retzlaff lived a hard but satisfying farming life in Zimbabwe. Working all hours of the day on their sprawling ranch and raising three boisterous children, they savored the beauty of the veld and the diverse wildlife that grazed the meadows outside their dining room window. After their children, the couple's true pride and joy were their horses. But...

#54

Author, editor, and pulp magazine scholar Frank M. Robinson, 87, died June 30, 2014. Robinson lived in San Francisco and had suffered from health problems in recent years... His first novel, The Power (1956, filmed in 1967), was an extremely successful SF thriller — one of the first of that genre. In the ’70s and ’80s, he co-wrote a number of technothrillers (most with SFnal elements) with Thomas N. Scortia: The Glass Inferno (1974, filmed as The Towering Inferno) ...

The Clintons have been in the news for a different reason every day since Hillary's book blitz began in late May Much of the coverage about the former first family has not been favorable as both Bill and Hillary have stumbled over questions about Hillary's health and their wealth Now, Americans are getting what Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus calls 'Hillary fatigue' In hypothetical match-ups against other prospective 2016 presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton would beat Republican contenders, but by an increasing smaller margin Hillary Clinton's presidential popularity has dropped significantly since she launched a media blitz to promote her...

American reality TV star Kim Kardashian has called her trip to Vienna to attend the Opera Ball “a true nightmare,” adding that “it was so racist”. Scenes from the trip were shown on Sunday night's episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, and Kim told her sister that “it's like we're honestly in a time warp. Racial insensitivity, everything from this trip, has just been a true nightmare.”

Who says only cats get nine lives? With the help of his feline friend, James Bowen has been given a few extra chances of his own. Just a few years ago Bowen was down and out, selling copies of The Big Issue, a magazine sold by homeless people, on rainy London streets, when his fortune changed forever. He met a stray orange kitten with an outgoing demeanor that he named Bob. The cat had an abscess on his leg, and Bowen cobbled together money for antibiotics and nursed the little kitty back to health. “When his treatments were done and...

The ultimate historical traveler's guide to the American Revolution Nearly 150 chronologically arranged entries on everything from meeting halls to battlefields Includes contemporary accounts and the writings of leading historians, offering site-by-site details and an overview of the Revolution Written for the vast and ever-growing crowd of history tourists In 1996, Congress commissioned the National Park Service to compile a list of sites and landmarks connected with the American Revolution that it deemed vital to preserve for future generations. Some of these sites are well known--Bunker Hill, Valley Forge, Fort Ticonderoga--and in no danger of being lost; others less so--...

What are you reading? There used to be a quarterly "What are you reading?" thread, but I haven't seen it for a long time. I got a lot of good book suggestions that way, and I miss it. So here's a thread! If you're reading something interesting you think others would like, or something boring you'd recommend we all avoid, jump in! If you have a ping list of FReepers who might be interested, ping them!

I am working on a project to collect as many books as possible for a new library that opened on May 21 in Tuttle, Oklahoma. Tuttle is a tiny town of about 6,000 people west of OKC. This library is operated and funded by volunteers. To my knowledge, they receive no public funding.The volunteers have worked incredibly hard to raise money for their location, books, and services. If you're an author, or know of one, this would be a great way to get your book(s) on library shelves. Tuttle Public Library 305 W Main Street Tuttle, OK 73089 http://www.tuttlelibrary.org/ I...

For as long as she can remember, Jazz says she felt different. The 13-year-old was born a boy, but loved all things mermaid, pink and princesses. "I felt like a girl and I felt uncomfortable in my body," Jazz said. Jazz, who goes only by her first name out of fear of threats, told her parents the moment she first could speak that she was not a boy. Ft. Lauderdale Backs Marriage Equality After Last-Minute Lobbying "After getting some professional support, diagnosis, they said, you know, she's transgender,” said Jeanette, Jazz’s mother. “Something difficult to come to terms with, because...

A considerable documentary about the great horror writer available for free on YT. An impressive guest list too, Guillermo Del Toro, John Carpenter, Neil Gaiman and others.

It seems everyone loves the hit HBO series “Game of Thrones,” – even real-life royalty. Britain’s Queen Elizabeth toured the show’s sets during a three-day trip to Belfast, Ireland. The 88-year-old monarch met many of the show’s stars on Tuesday, including Lena Headey, Kit Harington, Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams, beside the show’s sword-covered seat of power, the Iron Throne. No word on how it compared to the one at her house.

A new exposé book reveals the great hatred that exists between US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle on one side, and former President Bill Clinton and his wife, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on the other. […] According to the book, Michelle would often sit with her adviser Valerie Jarrett while drinking Chardonnay during Hillary’s stint as secretary of state, and referred to Hillary as “Hildebeest”. Clinton for his part had harsh words for Obama, responding after Hillary’s loss to Obama in the 2008 Democratic nomination to allegations made by Obama that Bill was racist. “I...

Feeling down? Cheer yourself instantly by heading to www.amazon.com and looking at the reviews of Hillary's book. Not only will it lift your mood to read the reviews, you will be filled with hope for the future of the USA.

Thomas Sowell has studied and taught economics, intellectual history, and social policy at institutions that include Cornell University, UCLA, and Amherst College. Now a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Sowell has published more than a dozen books, the latest of which is Dismantling America.

One character, his torso already relieved of arms and legs, is tossed onto the barbecue. Another’s hands and tongue are severed to keep her from reporting a crime. (She’s then stabbed to death anyway.) Two more characters are beheaded; one behanded; one hanged. For those who like their violence more ironic, there’s this happy couple: the man left buried up to his neck to starve, the woman fed a pie made from the minced remains of her sons. The meal may give her heartburn, but it’s the subsequent stabbing that kills her. A Game of Thrones episode? No, it’s Titus...

Not much is certain in life, but here are two things you can take to the bank. If you want a child to learn to read, phonics is the way that works. Second, you can be sure that our Education Establishment will try to keep phonics at a minimum and force children to memorize the English language one sight-word at a time. Where reading is concerned, the nonsense never stops. In his famous 1955 book Why Johnny Can’t Read, Rudolf Flesch said he looked at all the research. There were 11 studies from 1913 to 1948; in all of them,...

Daily Surge’s Jason Mattera is being hailed a hero Thursday for his “beautiful ambush journalism.” He caught up with Hillary Clinton and politely asked her to sign a copy of her new book “Hard Choices.” When asked who she should make it out to, he replied, “To Christopher Stevens. I think you knew him.” When she refused, he followed up with, “What difference does it make?”

Crowds flocked to Glide Memorial Church to memorialize poet and activist Maya Angelou, who died May 28 at the age of 86. Around here, Angelou was remembered for being San Francisco's first African American streetcar conductor, a title she earned at the age of 16. Unsurprisingly, Mayor Ed Lee trotted out that historical tidbit on Sunday, while addressing the congregation. It led him to a strange, rather un-funny joke that later made the rounds on social media. "If she was still around, I would probably ask her to drive a Muni," Mayor Ed Lee said. One could see how this...

In an email this evening, a veteran publishing source calls the latest Hillary Clinton book...a "bomb." "They sold 60,000 hard covers first week and 24,000 ebooks." The publishing house was "hoping and praying for 150,000 print first week." "The 60k represents a less than 10% sell thru based on what they shipped,"

Rush discussing the fact that despite $50 million in FREE marketing from the drive-by media, Hillary's book can't get above #4 on Amazon. When Patriot's History of the United States first came out, it got to #35 and stayed there for a while despite virtually no national publicity---and before Glenn Beck discovered it six years later. All it took was some mentions by Beck to take it all the way to #1, not just on Amazon, but on the NYTimes list, but my subsequent book "Seven Events that Made America" made the NYTimes list without much fanfare from Beck. Rush's...

With Hillary Clinton’s new book, Hard Choices, on the shelves, it would behoove her to stay far away from reading the Amazon comments readers left for her. Although she has 142 five stars, she has 205 one star ratings and some of them are, well, not so flattering.

Eric Hill, whose effort to entertain his young son with a simple drawing of a mischievous dog named Spot blossomed into a popular series of children's books that have sold more than 60 million copies, has died at his home in central California. He was 86.

June 7, 2014 The West's Last Stand -- a Review of The Camp of the Saints By Robert Klein Engler All those engaged in the debate over illegal immigration should find Jean Raispail’s The Camp of the Saints a challenging summer read. Otto Scott calls it "one of the most famous of the underground books." Lionel Shriver believes it is a "novel both prescient and appalling." The book became so notorious that the December 1994 issue of the Atlantic Monthly investigated many of the questions it raised. The Camp of the Saints was published first in 1973 in France as...

Last week, the engineering arm of the European Space Agency confirmed that it has been commissioned to test the space-hardiness of the capsule that would contain the Torah, the Post reported. The capsule must be designed to protect the sacred text from the moon’s harsh radiation and temperature changes for at least 10,000 years. The moon lacks an atmosphere to trap heat, and the surface temperatures can rocket to a daytime high of about 253 degrees and plunge to 279 degrees below zero at night.

As sparring partners go, a Hollywood actress and an evolutionary biologist would not appear to be a natural fit. However, Oscar-winner Angelina Jolie, 39, and controversial scientist Professor Richard Dawkins, 73, have found themselves inadvertently at loggerheads over whether children should be allowed to read fairytales. Miss Jolie, who plays an evil fairy godmother in her latest film Maleficent – a spin on the classic story of Sleeping Beauty – said fairytales play an important role in how she raises her six children, using ‘a little magic’ to impart important moral lessons. The other day, one of the kids lost...

Maureen Dowd travelled to Colorado in January, ate a bit too much of a marijuana-laced chocolate bar and proceeded to have a Valley-of-the-Dolls-style meltdown in her hotel room. Here's how she describes the experience in her Wednesday New York Times column: "I felt a scary shudder go through my body and brain. I barely made it from the desk to the bed, where I lay curled up in a hallucinatory state for the next eight hours. I was thirsty but couldn't move to get water. Or even turn off the lights. I was panting and paranoid, sure that when the...

The father of one of the girls accused of brutally stabbing a school friend to pay homage to an eerie horror story character, apparently encouraged his daughter's sick obsession by proudly posting a sketch the 12-year-old drew of the scary figure on Instagram. Morgan Geyser, 12, drew the sinister stickman, inspired by an online ghost story about a ghoulish child killer called Slender Man, on a napkin and left it in the family home while she was out with her parents were out for dinner. But far from being alarmed by the disturbing sketch, Morgan's father Matt seemed to find...

Author and columnist Amity Shlaes responds to viewers' questions and comments on such topics as Depression era presidents and current fiscal policies. She’s the author of four non-fiction books, including The Forgotten Man and Coolidge.

You probably SparkNoted these books before, but now's your chance to read them.