Free Republic

A parent at Bob Graham Educational Center in Miami Lakes objected to five titles in the school's library, including Amanda Gorman's famous poem, "The Hill We Climb"... Book bans undermine the power of literature to foster understanding, empathy, and critical thinking," said UTD.... ...UTD also said they "proudly support" Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava's invitation for Amanda Gorman to share her poem in Miami-Dade County.

As President Donald Trump prepares to deport millions of immigrants in the country illegally, a new national study shows undocumented workers pump billions of dollars into Connecticut’s economy each year. The New American Economy, a coalition of mayors and business leaders who support “sensible” immigration reform, found that the nearly 130,000 undocumented Connecticut residents pay $397 million in annual federal, state and local taxes, account for $3.1 billion in household income and represent $2.7 billion in spending power. “This research proves what we’ve known for years: Immigrants are a boom to our local economy and in every community in America,”...

This July 4, let's not mince words: American independence in 1776 was a monumental mistake. We should be mourning the fact that we left the United Kingdom, not cheering it. Of course, evaluating the wisdom of the American Revolution means dealing with counterfactuals. As any historian would tell you, this is a messy business. We obviously can't be entirely sure how America would have fared if it had stayed in the British Empire longer, perhaps gaining independence a century or so later, along with Canada. But I'm reasonably confident a world in which the revolution never happened would be better...

Violence and protests are features of Donald Trump’s 2016 Republican presidential primary campaign. His rally in San Jose, California, on Thursday did not deviate from this script. As reported by the Associated Press, protesters clashed with Donald Trump supporters outside of the San Jose Convention Center. Eggs were thrown at several of Trump’s foot soldiers by protesters. There were also reports of physical altercations between the two camps. Right-wing websites such as Fox News, Breitbart and others are sounding cries of alarm and panic over the San Jose protests. Such shrill voices will only become louder and more hysterical as...

It must be pretty sweet to be a white swing voter. Political campaigns blow millions of dollars catering to your every whim. Politicians ask what you think before they step out on a major policy program, despite the fact that your views aren’t representative of the majority of Americans. The changing demographics of this country mean it’s well past time to stop obsessing over a shrinking population that’s out of sync with the right direction for this country. Continuing to cater to those voters can have dire consequences, in politics and more importantly in policies that deeply impact people’s lives....

Last year, the University of Northern Colorado hung 680 #languagematters posters around campus, warning students against words and phrases deemed offensive. “Words are connected to a long and often forgotten history of oppression and people,” one poster said. “Language matters because, whether it is intentional or not, the impact of words can reinforce oppression and feelings of discomfort, fear and shame,” another said.

Those “social justice warriors”….. I see that phrase a lot, the quotations implying we aren’t legitimate, aren’t to be taken seriously. I saw that again this week and thought, that’s right, I am a Social Justice Warrior, and look out world, because I am raising my kids to be warriors as well. I mean, aren’t there some things worth fighting against and fighting for? So, here is a list of things that I want for my little Social Justice Warriors: Understand the systems that oppress people. Know the role the world will give you based on your race and class....

Parents, community leaders share a joint responsibility in steering youth away from robotic commitment, to a life of meaningful choices Kathryn Joyce Published: 10.11.06, 12:02 “This is war,” declared Ron Luce, author of the evangelical youth manifesto Battle Cry for a Generation and founder of the Teen Mania movement. He was speaking to a stadium audience of young Christian activists who’d gathered for one of Luce’s high-gloss faith events, held across the country: Part rock concert, part altar-call confession and part anti-gay marriage rally - topped off with a large and unsettling militant call to arms. “Jesus invites us to...

One of the Democratic party's leading voices on Iraq warns the strife-torn country is on the verge of civil war. His remarks tonight came during a foreign policy address at Brown University. The senator said the conflict in Iraq is more a political and economic battle than a military one. He faulted the Bush administration for failing to better develop Iraq's infrastructure, economy and government institutions.

Think local officials are less to blame for deaths in New Orleans than federal officials? In the most jaw-dropping story of the week, UPI has the police chief of Gretna, Louisiana, admitting that he closed off one of the major arteries out of New Orleans on Monday, before the storm hit: "We shut down the bridge," Arthur Lawson, chief of the City of Gretna Police Department, confirmed to United Press International, adding that his jurisdiction had been "a closed and secure location" since before the storm hit. "All our people had evacuated and we locked the city down," he said....

GEORGE W Bush snorted cocaine at Camp David, a new book claims. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/tm_objectid=14609301&method=full&siteid=50143&headline=bush--took-cocaine-at-camp-david--name_page.html His wife Laura also allegedly tried cannabis in her youth. Author Kitty Kelley says in her biography The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty, that the US President first used coke at university in the mid-1960s.