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WATCH: Man ‘Tied Up & Tortured’ on Facebook Live in Chicago Published 6:40 pm EST, January 4, 2017 Updated 8:11 pm EST, January 4, 2017 7 Comments By Tom Cleary 6.3k

The American Library Association has revealed that the Bible is among the books most often challenged and called to be banned in libraries. "You have people who feel that if a school library buys a copy of the Bible, it's a violation of church and state," said James LaRue, who directs the Office for Intellectual Freedom for the American Library Association, according to The Associated Press. "And sometimes there's a retaliatory action, where a religious group has objected to a book and a parent might respond by objecting to the Bible." Guidelines for the Office for Intellectual Freedom have clarified...

SACRAMENTO - Every Californian with a vehicle will pay $12 more a year to register it, and millions of property owners who live outside cities will pay $150 annually for state fire protection under two new fees imposed by lawmakers as part of the budget passed late Tuesday. However, the moves could face legal challenges from opponents who argue the fees are taxes in disguise. Democrats who control the Legislature approved the fees without Republican support. By law, the Legislature cannot pass new taxes without a two-thirds vote, which requires approval from at least some Republican lawmakers. But Democrats believe...

A death row inmate convicted of the 1985 torture and murder of a pizza deliveryman in Glendale asked a court Monday to strike down the state's newly revised execution procedures as illegal and likely to inflict excruciating pain if used on any of California's 700-plus condemned prisoners. The lawsuit filed by Mitchell Sims, 50, alleges that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation rushed through revisions of the lethal injection procedures and deliberately sought to shut the public out of the process. Corrections officials approved the changes one day before a May 1 deadline and sent them to the Office...

Courant.com will live stream a 2 p.m. press conference by Richard Blumenthal to address questions about his military record during the Vietnam War. Republican candidate Rob Simmons, who is a Vietnam veteran, said that Blumenthal owes the public an explanation. "As someone who served, I respect Dick for wearing the uniform, but I am deeply troubled by allegations that he has misrepresented his service," Simmons said in a statement. "Too many have sacrificed too much to have their valor stolen in this way. I hope Mr. Blumenthal steps forward and forthrightly addresses the questions that have arisen about this matter."

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Robert Rubin, the former financial superstar once lionized for his global crisis-fighting prowess, was scolded Thursday over the mortgage-securities disaster at Citigroup Inc. when he was a top executive there. His claim he didn't know of the risks piling up drew a sharp retort. "You can't have it both ways: You either were pulling the levers or asleep at the switch," the head of the panel investigating the roots of the financial crisis told Rubin at a hearing. Rubin expressed regret. Yet he insisted he didn't know until late in the game, when the subprime mortgage crisis...

In the (Examiner), Charles Hurt reports that the Democrats are losing no time awarding themselves perks, now that they are in the Congressional majority: Congress is keeping Andrews Air Force base plenty busy this year ferrying lawmakers all over the globe at taxpayers’ expense. Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi took his wife, nine Democrats and two Republicans - Reps. Dan Lungren of California and Mike Rogers of Alabama - on a whirlwind tour of the Caribbean last week. After stops in Honduras and Mexico, they stopped in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where the delegation stayed at the five-star Caneel Bay...

Pelosi: 'Permitting Indefinite Detention Under Conditions that Cannot be Challenged in Court is Contrary to Our History and Values'Wed Sep 27, 3:45 PM ET To: National Desk Contact: Brendan Daly or Jennifer Crider, 202-226-7616, both for House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi WASHINGTON, Sept. 27 /U.S. Newswire/ -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi spoke on the House floor this afternoon in strong opposition to H.R. 6054 -- Military Commissions Act. Three major amendments offered by Democratic Members were rejected by the Rules Committee. Below are Pelosi's remarks: "It's been five years since 9/11, yet not one person who has been directly...

Evacuees in area schools being held back at high ratesOne in four Houston Independent School District students displaced by Hurricane Katrina failed to make enough academic progress to be promoted to the next grade this school year — a far higher rate than their classmates and an indicator of the massive challenges still facing area schools. About 700 of the 2,900 Katrina students returning to HISD this year were held back, including 41 percent of high school sophomores and 52 percent of juniors. That 24 percent retention rate was among the highest in the area, according to retention rates released...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - He was a man for whom the term muckraker was coined, a crusading journalist and novelist who never hesitated to expose scandal at the highest levels of government and business. But now the integrity of Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Upton Sinclair is being questioned 38 years after his death because of the discovery of a letter he wrote in 1929. Quotes from the letter in recent news reports make it seem that the man who exposed the horrors of the meat-packing industry in the 1906 book "The Jungle" covered up a confession from a defense lawyer that...

I was sorry the headline didn't say "Beaten to Death."

Attorneys for Republican Dino Rossi yesterday released the names of more than 1,000 people who allegedly cast illegal votes in November's disputed gubernatorial election. The list of alleged felons, people who voted twice and dead people recorded as voting is at the heart of a lawsuit Republicans filed to overturn the November election of Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire. Rossi spokeswoman Mary Lane said the list — given to Democratic attorneys late yesterday in response to a subpoena and released to the media — is based on extensive research. While she said Rossi and his attorneys are confident in the "overall...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Three environmental groups sued the federal government Monday to block logging along a river in the northwestern corner of California. The suit was filed in federal court to block logging of 744 acres of old forest along the Salmon River. The suit alleges the latest proposed logging would add to damage already done by three other recent projects in the Salmon River's watershed. Those timber harvests were the targets of environmental lawsuits and tree-sitters two years ago. Forest Service spokeswoman Janice Gauthier said she could not comment on pending litigation, nor had the service had time...

Tax-Exempt Hospitals' Practices Challenged46 Lawsuits Allege That Uninsured Pay the Most TUPELO, Miss. -- When Tim Gardner was born at the hospital here 53 years ago, it was just "one little building on the hill" in a town best known as Elvis Presley's birthplace. From those humble beginnings, North Mississippi Medical Center has grown into the largest non-metropolitan hospital in the country, a booming enterprise with a complex of glass and marble buildings and 40 satellite clinics stretching into Alabama and Tennessee. The company, incorporated in Delaware, has nearly $300 million in the bank and "exceptional profitability," according to one...

Presidential Vote Certification Faces ObjectionWASHINGTON — When the joint session of Congress meets Thursday to certify the Electoral College votes that gave President Bush his second term, several Democratic House members are expected to contest the results.They may also find support from Sen. Barbara Boxer (search), D-Calif., whose participation under congressional rules would then require senators and representatives to recess to their respective chambers to debate certification.The action would be the first of its kind in 36 years, but most likely won't add up to more than a procedural delay of the inevitable.According to the choreography of the certification, after the...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

UNITED NATIONS -- The Palestinians challenged Israel on Monday to accept the world court's ruling and destroy the barrier it is building to seal off the West Bank, warning that failure to do so will lead to "practical measures" against its construction.

I received the installation CD today for Microsoft Office Powerpoint 2003. Of course, it comes with no written instructions, and I'm rather stumped as to how to proceed further. Example; I try and import a 'folder' with several pics and I get either none, or just one - during my little test runs. Any tips from fellow FReepers?...My goal is to be able to take a series of digital pics and snaz them up a bit, and look like a wizard. I'm failing tonight in the wizard department! It appears I've installed correctly, but now I'm stalled.

US child bombing account challenged The US sent in an A-10 "Warthog" after receiving intelligence Local villagers in Afghanistan have contradicted US reports that the target of an air strike that killed nine children also died in the raid. The attack was carried out on Saturday in the village of Hutala, in a remote area of southern Ghazni province. US officials said they were acting on extensive intelligence and had killed a former Taleban militant, Mullah Wazir. But local Afghans told the BBC's Crispin Thurold the intended target had left the village 10 days earlier. President Hamid Karzai has expressed...

Hillary's Marital Fidelity Claim Challenged Former Arkansas State Trooper L.D. Brown has challenged U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton's claim yesterday that she has always remained faithful to her husband, ex-president Bill Clinton. The senator was pressed on her own record of marital fidelity during a book signing at a Manhattan Barnes & Noble. At first she declined to answer the question, but then insisted, "Yes." However, three years ago, Brown, a now-retired lawman who guarded Mrs. Clinton in the 1980s, revealed in his own book, "Crossfire: Witness in the Clinton Investigation," that she once tried to proposition him. "I have struggled...