Free Republic

The Biloxi School District got complaints about the wording in “To Kill A Mockingbird” — an American classic being taught in 8th grade English Language Arts classes — and pulled it from the curriculum. It was an administrative and department decision, a member of the school board said, and not something that the school board voted on. It happened Wednesday or Thursday. Kenny Holloway, vice president of the Biloxi School Board said, “There were complaints about it. There is some language in the book that makes people uncomfortable, and we can teach the same lesson with other books. “It’s still...

In a virtue signaling display common on the left, the Washington Post published an article critical of a church for raffling two rifles for charity.  Amy B. Wang, a writer for the post, made a national story of the dislike of a leftist for the raffle of two AR-15 type rifles.Image from oxfordeagle.comFrom jacksonville.com: “I had a kid approach me: ‘Would you like to join a raffle? We’ve got two AR-15s.’ And I’m like, whoa,” Belden-Adams said. Just the Sunday before, a gunman had opened fire on a country music festival in Las Vegas, killing 58 people and wounding...

Prosecutors charged a top congressional staffer Wednesday with filing a false security clearance form nearly a year after he pled guilty to failing to pay taxes, officials said. The Justice Department alleges that Isaac Lanier Avant, chief of staff to Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Democratic staff director for the Homeland Security Committee, “willfully made a false statement” on security clearance forms in 2008 and 2013, officials said in a news release.

Bannon will back primary challenges against EVERY Republican running for Senate re-election next year except Cruz - as Trump's former strategist hatches plan to boot McConnell from majority leader job Ex-White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon is planning a political assault on six Republican Senate incumbents, running for re-election next year Previously, Bannon had looked to oust Sens. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., Dean Heller, R-Nev., and Roger Wicker, R-Miss Now he's expanded that list to take on every Republican running in 2018, except Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas With Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., retiring, Bannon is already looking at Tea Party favorite,...

Hurricane Nate is lashing the Gulf Coast, leaving in its wake life-threatening storm surges and flooding. The northern eyewall of Hurricane Nate moved onshore at the Mississippi coast Saturday night after its first landfall near the mouth of the Mississippi River Saturday night, according to the National Hurricane Center. At landfall, the storm was a Category 1 with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph. NHC said the storm surge along the Mississippi coast could reach 11 feet, with 9 feet along the Alabama coast, including Mobile Bay.

After Alabama Sen. Luther Strange's defeat last week in a Republican primary runoff, the national spotlight turned west and onto incumbents in Nevada and Arizona already facing intra-party challenges next year. Yet just over the nearest border, a Mississippi state senator with something of a vendetta against the party’s establishment was feeling empowered to mount another insurrection. Chris McDaniel came close to defeating U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran in 2014, and is now weighing a bid against Republican Sen. Roger Wicker. McDaniel monitored the Alabama runoff up close, appearing there in support of eventual victor Roy Moore and getting face time...

Tropical Storm Nate is emerging from Honduras into the Western Caribbean. Forecast models are in agreement that Nate will continue into the Gulf of Mexico. Oil companies have begun evacuations of offshore platforms. Nate is forecast to reach the northern Gulf Coast this weekend as a hurricane, and the threat of direct impacts from wind, storm surge, and heavy rainfall is increasing from Louisiana through the western Florida Panhandle. Hurricane and tropical storm watches, as well as a storm surge watch, have been issued for a portion of the northern Gulf Coast, and residents in these areas should monitor the...

Tropical Storm Nate has formed in the western Caribbean Sea and is increasingly likely to pose a threat to parts of the U.S. Gulf Coast as a strong tropical storm or a low-end hurricane this weekend, after tracking over Nicaragua and Honduras today. It is now likely that Nate will make landfall along the northern Gulf Coast, somewhere between Louisiana and Florida, Sunday. It remains too soon to tell where exactly this landfall will occur. The uncertainty in Nate's forecast track is higher than normal. Most guidance also suggests this landfall will most likely be as a low-end hurricane. However,...

After a brief pause in tropical activity, another system formed Wednesday in the Caribbean and will likely become Tropical Storm Nate, according to the National Hurricane Center. Tropical Depression 16 is located about 210 miles south-southeast of Cabo Gracias a Dios on the border of Nicaragua and Honduras, the weather service said in its 11 a.m. ET advisory. The system has sustained winds of about 35 mph, moving northwest at 7 mph, and "is expected to become a tropical storm later today or tonight." Meteorologist Adam Klotz has more Video NOAA predicts most active hurricane season since 2010 "On the...

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCDAT1+shtml/041441.shtml 000 WTNT41 KNHC 041441 TCDAT1 Tropical Depression Sixteen Discussion Number 1 NWS National Hurricane Center Miami FL AL162017 1100 AM EDT Wed Oct 04 2017 Satellite images indicate that the area of low pressure in the southwestern Caribbean Sea has become better organized since yesterday and is now a tropical depression. GOES-16 one-minute visible data suggest the center is in between two large curved bands of deep convection, not too far from San Andres Island. The initial wind speed is set to 30 kt, somewhat above the TAFB satellite classification, given recent microwave data. An Air Force Reserve Hurricane...

State Sen. Chris McDaniel is inching closer to a 2018 bid against U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, spurred on in part by meetings this week with former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon. “I’m still undecided, but that victory (by Roy Moore in Alabama) last night makes the 2018 race much more compelling,” McDaniel told Mississippi Today.

If it’s fall in Mississippi, it’s football season. That means it’s time to tailgate: an opportunity to grill food, drink beer and spend time with friends before the big game. And apparently an opportunity to increase racial tensions too, according to a University of Mississippi student. In an op-ed published in The Daily Mississippian, Ole Miss senior Francisco Hernandez bemoans that tailgates at his university are perpetuating racial oppression because of the presence of the Mississippi state flag.

This weekend, leaders from Ole Miss Greek life convened upon Camp Hopewell in Lafayette County for a three-day retreat designed to build leaders and bring campus closer together. The retreat was cut short Saturday night, however, after three black students found a banana peel in a tree in front of one of the camp’s cabins. The students shared what they found with National Pan-Hellenic Council leaders, sparking a day’s worth of camp-wide conversation surrounding symbolism, intended or not. In the midst of the open and sometimes heated discussion, senior accounting major Ryan Swanson said he put the banana peel in...

A Greek life retreat scheduled to take place at the University of Mississippi was cut short last weekend after a banana peel was found hanging in a tree on campus. Student Ryan Swanson admitted to tossing his banana peel into a nearby tree after he was unable to locate a garbage can. Shortly after he disposed of the peel, it was spotted by Alpha Kappa Alpha President Makala McNeil, a leader of one of the school’s historically black sororities. Despite Swanson’s explanation, a report from the student newspaper claims that students left the retreat in tears after finding out that...

RUSH: Are you ready for this? I’m gonna read you a headline. This is at Ole Miss University. University of Mississippi. Eli Manning went there; Archie Manning went there. A lot of people went there. It’s still a thriving place. “Greek Life Retreat Cancelled After Banana Peel Found in Tree.” This comes from our old buddies at Campus Reform. “A Greek Life retreat at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) was promptly cancelled this weekend after a banana peel was found hanging in a tree. “A student said he threw the peel because he could not find a garbage can,...

A Mississippi teen has been charged after he allegedly stabbed an elderly woman and cut her ear off. Corey Smith, 13, was charged in connection with an attack that left a 61-year-old Jackson resident in critical condition and without an ear, KMBC reported. The unidentified woman was reportedly attacked at her home late Tuesday night. A family member told KMBC that after she parked her car and walked toward her house, a man ran over to her, cut her ear off and stabbed her multiple times. The man then reportedly stole the elderly woman’s purse and car keys before driving...

JACKSON, Miss. — Jackson police have made two arrests in connection with the shooting death of Chelsie Lynn Kirschten. Kirschten, 23, was shot and killed Aug. 17 as she sat in her car waiting on a red light at Fortification and State streets, according to police. The gunman said nothing when he walked up to the driver’s side closed window of Kirschten’s white Pontiac G6 and shot her in the back, police said. A passenger in Kirschten’s car told police that the gunman, who was wearing dark clothing, didn’t take anything after the shooting and walked away, investigators said.

JACKSON, Miss. — The U.S. Supreme Court is asking attorneys for Mississippi's governor to file arguments defending the Confederate battle emblem on the state flag. The court on Tuesday set a Sept. 28 deadline for the filing. Mississippi has the last state flag featuring the Confederate battle emblem. Critics say the symbol is racist, and supporters say it represents history. Carlos Moore, an African-American attorney in Mississippi, filed suit in 2016 seeking to have the flag declared an unconstitutional relic of slavery.

The Mississippi Second Amendment Weekend is underway, which means residents can buy guns and ammunition at retail without sales tax. The state of Mississippi nixes the sales tax on guns, ammunition, and specific hunting supplies each year during the last full weekend of August. According to the state’s Department of Revenue, the tax-free holiday began Friday, August 25, at 12:01 a.m. and ends at midnight on Sunday, August 27. Items eligible for tax-free purchase include bullets, shotgun shells, bows and bow accessories, bow parts, bow sights, crossbows, firearm parts, holsters, scopes, pistols, revolvers, rifles, shotguns, and suppressors, among other things....