Free Republic

The five therapists, who were arrested over a year ago, are finally facing trial for charges of sedition for a series of books about a village of sheep and a village of wolves. The books very clearly differentiate the two towns as good and bad, with the wolves' society bearing a striking resemblance to mainland China. The books depict the society of wolves — monitored by CCTV cameras — plotting an infiltration of the sheep village after their shepherd has left. "[The books'] combined effect was to influence or educate readers to neither be Chinese nor have a sense of...

The Trump administration is taking retaliatory action against Canada over a trade dispute, moving to impose a 20% tariff on softwood lumber that is typically used to build single-family homes. In an interview Monday, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the tariff will be applied retroactively and imposed on Canadian exports to the U.S. of about $5 billion a year. He said the dispute centers on Canadian provinces that have been allegedly allowing loggers to cut down trees at reduced rates and sell them at low prices. The determination that Canada improperly subsidizes its exports is preliminary, and the Commerce Department...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- Brown University’s library boasts an unusual anatomy book. Tanned and polished to a smooth golden brown, its cover looks and feels no different from any other fine leather. But here’s its secret: the book is bound in human skin. A number of prestigious libraries—including Harvard University’s—have such books in their collections. While the idea of making leather from human skin seems bizarre and cruel today, it was not uncommon in centuries past, said Laura Hartman, a rare book cataloger at the National Library of Medicine in Maryland and author of a paper on the subject. An...