Free Republic

"By writing black female protagonists into science fiction, and bringing her acute appraisal of real-world power structures to bear on the imaginary worlds she created, Butler became an early pillar of the subgenre and aesthetic known as Afrofuturism. (Kara Walker cites her as an inspiration; and, as Hilton Als has pointed out, Butler is the “dominant artistic force” in Beyoncé’s visual album “Lemonade.”) In the ongoing contest over which dystopian classic is most applicable to our time, Kellyanne Conway made a strong case for George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four” when she used the phrase “alternative facts” and sent the novel to...

TEL AVIV – CNN's senior Middle East affairs editor is leaving the media company after it was reported she professed her "respect" for an anti-American Islamic extremist who was an ideological guide to the Hezbollah terror group and who was accused of masterminding a 1983 attack on U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 Americans. "Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah ... one of Hezbollah's giants I respect a lot," CNN senior editor for Middle East affairs Octavia Nasr wrote on her personal Twitter page earlier this week. Now Mediate.com obtained an internal CNN...

As a result of their arena exploits, Pullo and Vorenus have become heroes to the Roman rank and file, causing Caesar to reward those he normally would punish. Pullo's unexpected return to Vorenus' household is not appreciated by his former slave Eirene. Caesar decides to overhaul the Senate by adding some unexpected new faces, to the chagrin of the old guard. And Servilia hurdles the final obstacle in her ambitious revenge scenario, at Niobe's expense.

Octavia Johnson pulled off an election night surprise in Roanoke, beating incumbent Sheriff George McMillan in a close race and becoming the first Republican to win a city constitutional office in 16 years. A political novice just four years ago, Johnson will become the first woman and first minority sheriff in the Roanoke Valley. Johnson, a retired city sheriff's deputy who ran against McMillan four years ago and lost, was so excited and out of breath when she learned of her victory Tuesday night that she appeared close to hyperventilating as she entered a Wyndham Hotel ballroom to chants of...