Free Republic

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis may be months away from publicly declaring his presidential intentions, but his potential rivals aren’t holding back. No fewer than a half dozen Republicans eyeing the White House have begun actively courting top political operatives in states like New Hampshire and Iowa, which traditionally host the opening presidential primary contests. At the same time, former President Donald Trump, the only announced candidate in the race, is launching regular attacks against DeSantis — and others — while locking down key staff and endorsements in early voting South Carolina. For now, DeSantis is...

Florida librarians are now required to take an annual training on which books and instructional materials, specifically ones containing pornography and Critical Race Theory (CRT), are allowed within schools, according to the Florida Department of Education. The Florida Department of Education approved a rule Wednesday that mandates librarians be trained to keep material that is sexually explicit and “harmful to minors” out of schools. The training requires librarians to include parents in “all aspects” of choosing materials that enter the school libraries.

The Biden Administration’s Department of Education (ED) has launched an investigation into a school district in Texas after the school banned several sexually explicit books. As reported by Breitbart, the investigation is being led by the ED’s Office for Civil Rights, which claims that such a ban amounts to a failure to provide representation for “LGBTQ” characters, which the ED says can be considered discrimination. The investigation into Granbury Independent School District comes after the far-left American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) complained about the district’s book bans over the summer. The district banned at least 130 books from its school...

The Kyūjō incident (宮城事件, Kyūjō Jiken) was an attempted military coup d'état in the Empire of Japan at the end of the Second World War. It happened on the night of 14–15 August 1945, just before the announcement of Japan's surrender to the Allies. The coup was attempted by the Staff Office of the Ministry of War of Japan and many from the Imperial Guard to stop the move to surrender.

It’s not often than a CEO of a large, publicly traded company speaks bluntly in public about politics and political power. So, both “surprising” and “refreshing” describe energy executive Nick Deiuliis’s new book, Precipice: The Left’s Campaign to Destroy America (Republic Book Publishers). Deiuliis, a chemical engineer and attorney by training, is director and chief executive officer of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based CNX Resources Corporation, one of the largest natural gas exploration, development, and production companies. n addition to penning Precipice, Deiuliis is a prolific writer on topics ranging from the American Civil War to professional sports to the Federal Reserve to...

If you were stranded on a desert island and could have only three books, what would they be?

The term intermittent fasting covers several approaches. The "Eat Stop Eat" method: Alternate days of normal eating and fasting, including two non-consecutive fasting days in a week. The 5:2 method: This alternates between five days of normal eating and two days (which can be consecutive) of 70-75% calorie reduction during the week. Time-restricted eating: This consists of narrowing the food intake window to between 6 and 10 hours per day, fasting between 14 and 18 hours during the day. With the "Eat Stop Eat" and 5:2 approaches, the data has shown they can effectively help us lose weight and improve...

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is a non-political respite. No matter what, you won’t be flamed, and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis just on Tuesday was talking about the media spreading “false narratives” to divide people. During that press conference in Jacksonville, the Republican governor also noted how he willingly fights back to set and keep the record straight.

She has won the good opinion of countless readers with her sparklingly witty prose. And now – in something of a snub to the Bard – Jane Austen has been voted the greatest British author of all time. The Georgian-era novelist beat Shakespeare to take top spot, with 44 per cent of the vote.

I believe this was actually announced a while back, but I really don't keep up on some things very well.I thought I'd share. From the Baen website: It is with a heavy heart that we share the news that Eric Flint has passed away. We were proud to publish Eric’s first novel, Mother of Demons, in 1997, and to continue publishing his many worlds, including the best-selling Ring of Fire series that started with 1632. There are several of Eric’s works already delivered and on the schedule. Eric was a tireless collaborator, and readers can also expect more of his...

Alberto Gullaba Jr. was the type of author that publishers dream of having in their catalogs. A first-generation college grad, a child of working-class immigrants, and the recent recipient of a Master of Fine Arts degree from the prestigious University of California, Irvine, program, Gullaba was a debut novelist with a gift for visceral and vivid prose. His first book, University Thugs, had all the makings of a smash hit. A work of character-driven literary fiction steeped in immersive vernacular, it tells the story of a young black man named Titus who is trying to make his way at an...

Ursula Le Guin, Isaac Asimov and Cixin Liu (Composite image by James T. Keane) Do you cringe when you’re watching “Star Wars” and Han Solo says the Millennium Falcon did the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs, because a parsec is a unit of distance, not time? Are you offended that Chekov and Khan recognize each other in “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan,” because by Star Trek canon they’ve never met? Do you think “John Carter” is the worst movie ever for the way it bastardized the vision of Edgar Rice Burroughs? You just may be a...

Wow. Somebody done raised this boy right. Watching this, I learned about HB1775, which was signed into law in 2021, made it illegal to teach Oklahoma students that “one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex,” that “an individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously,” and other concepts broadly associated with Critical Race Theory.

Lindsey Barr is a mother of three children who attend Bryan County Schools in Georgia. For 10 years, Lindsey served as a full-time teacher with Bryan County Schools, where she received excellent reviews, earning a rating of exemplary on almost all performance criteria. ... At the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year, Lindsey learned of a book that was going to be read to every class as a part of a new read-aloud program at the school’s library. This book was called All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold. The publisher’s website describes the book as, “A bright and uplifting celebration...

The youngest witness to George Floyd's death in 2020 published a children's book detailing her perspective and the weeks to follow. Judea Reynolds, 11, released her book "A Walk to the Store" on Friday, the day Floyd would have celebrated his 49th birthday. Floyd was killed on Memorial Day 2020, when former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin held his knee to Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes. Reynolds was nine years old when she witnessed Floyd's death after walking to a store to buy snacks with her then 17-year-old cousin, Darnella Frazier, who had recorded Chauvin and Floyd.

Voters overwhelmingly oppose sexually explicit books in public school libraries, and believe schools have an obligation to inform parents what their children are being taught. A new national telephone and online survey by Rasmussen Reports and the Capitol Resource Institute finds that 89% of Likely U.S. voters think it is important that public schools fully inform parents about what is being taught to their children in classrooms, including 70% who say it is Very Important.

RADIO’S GREATEST OF ALL TIME – RUSH LIMBAUGHWe are excited to announce the release of RADIO’S GREATEST OF ALL TIME — Rush Limbaugh with Kathryn and David Limbaugh! This collection of some of Rush’s favorite moments on and off the air was put together for you, his loyal audience, in honor of your unwavering support over thirty-two incredible years. We hope you enjoy looking back at these highlights of Rush’s exceptional life as an American patriot and the greatest voice for conservatism the world has ever known! Proceeds from Radio’s Greatest of All Time will be donated to the families...

Devoted Donald Trump ally Kash Patel is pushing his children’s book about “King Donald” by featuring an autograph — and a handwritten QAnon salutation. This is the same book, “The Plot Against the King” (a fractured fairy tale about Trump), that the former president has said he wants in “every school in America” — presumably without Patel’s QAnon greeting. “Kash is signing books today, and he’s got a special message in 10 books for some lucky patriots,” Patel’s “Plot” Truth Social account gushed Saturday. (He also “retruthed” the message on his personal account.) The “special message,” enthusiastically underlined several times,...

As has been well documented, the pandemic had many unexpected consequences over the past few years, not the least of which was a boom in trade book sales in both 2020 and 2021. But while the trade segment fared well in 2020, the other major publishing segments did not, and total industry sales had only a 0.2% gain that year over 2019. In 2021, trade sales jumped again, but so did sales in the other segments, resulting in a 12.3% increase in total sales, to $29.33 billion, according to the Association of American Publishers’ final statistics for the year. The...