Crispin wants to reclaim the legendary Lightning Blade. His sister Rose wants to host a nice picnic. Whose plan will win out?   In the swashbuckling romp that is “Crispin’s Rainy Day“, Crispin charges off into a grand adventure, in which he leads his pirate crew on a daring quest. To his annoyance, his sister Rose follows him into his imaginary world. Rejected by Crispin, she finds the pirate ship to be in poor shape for a picnic and sets to work cleaning and preparing a cake. But when the adventure really takes a dark turn, Crispin learns what his sister really brings to the table.   The book is written in well-crafted and witty rhyme, but the standout star here is the artwork. Forrest Dickison’s watercolor style, reminiscent of Japanese animation, gives the story its vibrant life. The use of light, color, and dramatic framing bring the heaving ocean of Crispin’s world into almost cinematic focus.   Some corners of the internet are shocked that a picture book would depict a young girl seeing value in baking, hosting, and caring for others. Indeed, even her brothers and his friends are dismissive at first. But the story’s lesson is that these are good and noble pursuits in and of themselves. We denigrate them at our peril. Good for Rose.  Not that Canon Press, a Christian publisher located in Moscow, Idaho, shies away from the transgressive. In business since 1988, it was founded as an outgrowth of Doug Wilson’s Christ Church and is now a private company. Wilson remains a co-owner of Canon Press and his Reformed theology still forms the keystone of the organization’s ethos. All of Christ for all of life!   The company’s ‘About Us’ page reads: The Christian life should include theology in the car, hard work in the classroom, stories with uproarious laughter and goose pimply danger, sore muscles on the construction site, and the joyful destruction of idols in our hearts and on the internet.   For children, Canon Press features a number of other children’s books, including N.D. Wilson’s “Blah Blah Black Sheep” and Rachel Jankovic’s “Sir Bad-a-lot and the Cranky Danky Dragon,” both illustrated by Forrest Dickison.   The offerings for adults are designed to challenge norms about parenting, architecture, masculinity, government, and cannabis. Among many others.   The press also produces a classical homeschool curriculum, under the title of Logos Press, that includes courses in logic, rhetoric, literature, and many others. For folks with an aversion to paper between their fingers, you can also download Canon+, an app stocked with shows, movies, audiobooks, and other content.    “Crispin’s Rainy Day” is written for children age 3-6. This review is part of a series highlighting emerging young adult and children’s literature for conservative families. If you have a work or publisher to recommend, please contact the author at mark.guiney@heritage.org.  The post Idaho’s Pluckiest Christian Publisher Offers a Colorful Storybook Romp  appeared first on The Daily Signal.

A chilling new FBI assessment has revealed that some Venezuelan government officials are likely facilitating the migration of Tren de Aragua gang members into the United States, aiming to undermine public safety as a means of destabilization. The report, shared exclusively with Fox News, underscores a disturbing foreign interference plot...

A Southern California mayor sparked controversy for comments about his city’s homeless population. Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris, a Republican, said he wants to “give them free fentanyl.” “What I want to do is give them free fentanyl. That’s what I want to do,” Parris said. “I want to give them all the fentanyl they want. That’s what I want to do,” he emphasized. Southern California mayor says he wants to ‘purge’ homeless population by giving them ‘all the fentanyl they want’ https://t.co/jShAtQp49e pic.twitter.com/IiQrMO0ZoC — New York Post (@nypost) April 21, 2025 Per KABC: A video of that exchange at the meeting has been circulating online, stirring massive controversy. “I mean, I thought people were intelligent enough to understand that it was a metaphor,” Parris said in an interview with Eyewitness News. “But I don’t regret saying it. It’s brought attention to the problem. Hard-working families cannot be safe as long as California continues to empty their prisons and make these people homeless.” The mayor clarified that his frustration with the homeless does not include the mentally ill or honest people who fall on hard times and end up on the street. “I do think that people who fall on hard times need help, and we should provide that help, and I certainly believe that no one should be required to go hungry,” Parris said. Parris says the City of Lancaster has devoted a lot of resources to helping the homeless. However, he adds that his controversial comments were pointed toward those who are let out of prisons — becoming homeless and committing crimes. WATCH: NEW: California mayor says he wants give homeless people “all the fentanyl they want,” doubles down on his comments after facing backlash. Woman: “It sounds like you want to kind of enclose all these homeless people in one territory.” Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris: “What I want… pic.twitter.com/mOBRW6k2tl — Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 21, 2025 This is the statement put out on Facebook by the Mayor of Lancaster, CA regarding his recent statements about giving the homeless fentanyl that went viral. pic.twitter.com/aYd4crgviq — Carissa (@Carissa1177) April 24, 2025 Read Parris’ full statement on Facebook: Daily Mail reports: The mayor of a California city who sparked fury over a wild assertion that homeless criminals and addicts should have ‘all the fentanyl they want’ – to eradicate them from streets – revealed he’s been bombarded with death threats. And in an exclusive interview, R. Rex Parris doubled down on his war on crime by saying he wishes to have remote drones armed with weapons circling over the city of Lancaster to combat lawlessness. He told Daily Mail his shocking comments about fentanyl, a cheap and deadly opioid corroding communities and killing users, weren’t meant to be taken seriously – but that urgent ‘triage’ is indeed necessary to quash problems related to drugs and homelessness. ‘It was a metaphor. You’d have to be an idiot to think I was serious. I obviously was not serious about giving people fentanyl,’ Parris said. ‘I tend to say provocative things. Why not? I’m a trial lawyer. But it accomplished what I wanted. People are talking.’ Lancaster, 60 miles north of Los Angeles, was incorporated in 1977 and consists of 96 square miles. It’s motto: ‘Creating a better tomorrow. Together.’ Parris, 73, a staunch Republican, is clearly ‘frustrated’ by homeless criminals in his city and the unceasing homeless crisis in the Golden State – despite huge amounts being spent on the problem.

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A 19-year-old man from Ocean Township, New Jersey, has been charged with arson after being accused of igniting the recent New Jersey wildfire-- torching 15,000 acres in the Garden State.

Sanctuary cities that harbor criminals and terrorists from foreign lands no longer have to worry about defunding. A judge has blocked President Trump’s executive order that would have blocked funding for sanctuary cities. Apparently, it would be limiting [illegal] immigration cooperation. The Story U.S. District Judge William Orrick issued the injunction sought by San Francisco […] The post Another Obama-Democrat Judge Protects Sanctuary Cities appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.