Free Republic

A critically acclaimed young adult author has been “canceled” and dropped by her agent after vociferously defending classic books in a Twitter-fueled rage. Jessica Cluess, the author of the popular “Kingdom of Fire” series (among others) picked a fight with an anti-racist and anti-bias educator Lorena Germán who founded the #DisruptTexts movement which aims to get more works by people of color into schools and to look critically at works by famous white “classic” authors. “Did y’all know that many of the ‘classics’ were written before the 50s? Think of US society before then & the values that shaped this...

A Justice Department division will no longer refer to people released from prison as “felons” or “convicts” because of the stigmatizing effects of the terms, an agency official announced in a Washington Post editorial Wednesday. ADVERTISEMENT Instead, Assistant Attorney General Karol Mason said the “disparaging labels” will be replaced by “person who committed a crime” or “individual who was incarcerated.” The new lexicon is set to be utilized in “speeches, solicitations, website content and social media posts” emanating from the Office of Justice Programs. “I have come to believe that we have a responsibility to reduce not only the physical...

A mom forced her daughter to wear a T-shirt detailing her crime.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee says he wasn't criticizing Academy Award-winning actress Natalie Portman when he suggested her pregnancy was glamorizing the idea of having children outside of marriage. Huckabee on Friday accused "the Hollywood media" of distorting comments he made about Portman in a radio interview Monday.

NEW YORK – The head of activist group ACORN says the group has been left with a "scarlet letter" from controversies that caused it to shed most of its funding and employees. Bertha Lewis, chief executive officer for the group, spoke to The Associated Press outside a federal appeals court hearing Tuesday in New York. A government lawyer had asked the court to block a judge's ruling that found that Congress unconstitutionally blocked ACORN's funding. The court did not immediately rule.

PORTLAND, Maine — Voters on Tuesday repealed the state’s same sex marriage law after an emotionally charged campaign that drew large numbers to the polls and focused national attention on Maine. In a defiant speech to several hundred lingering supporters, No on 1 campaign manager Jesse Connolly pledged that his side “will not quit until we know where every single one of these votes lives.”

The House of Representatives has fast-tracked new legislation to "improve" the National Instant Criminal Background Check System by allowing doctors to now decide who can own firearms.

CINCINNATI (AP) - Customers at some suburban pizza parlors are getting something extra with their pepperoni and mushrooms - wanted posters for parents accused of failing to pay child support. The idea came to Cynthia Brown, executive director of the Butler County Child Enforcement Agency, while she was ordering pizza. "It suddenly dawned on me that most people running from the law don't eat out, they order pizza," said Brown, whose county is north of Cincinnati. Enforcement agencies across the country use a variety of methods to locate support scofflaws and collect past-due payments. Virginia has issued subpoenas to cellular...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Information on sex offenders will be available on a new Internet site run by the federal government. Participation by states is voluntary. The Justice Department said it hoped to have the site up and running within two months. The announcement Friday by Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales coincided with National Missing Children's Day. The site will not provide any information not already made available on the Internet by 49 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. But it will be designed to allow someone to do a national search online to determine whether a person who has...

U-WIRE) CHICAGO – A bill before the Illinois General Assembly would establish a new class of eye-catching license plates on the highway to identify drivers convicted of driving under the influence. The bill, proposed by Southwest Side Rep. Susana Mendoza (D-Chicago), would require Illinois drivers convicted of driving under the influence three or more times to display brightly-colored license plates. “Some judges are granting leniency to drivers convicted a third time of driving under the influence and letting them continue to drive. Other drivers should know that that person has a habit of not following the law,” Mendoza said. Despite...