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Penguin Random House fixes its PR blunder. The company announced on Feb. 24 that it will publish the original versions of Roald Dahl’s children’s books alongside the new “woke” editions.
The newer sanitized version will remove words currently deemed offensive to some and rewrite some of the language.
It drops the word “fat,” changes “old hag” to “old crow” and cuts references to gender and mental health.
Salman Rushdie, author of "The Satanic Verses,” trashed the PRH's Puffin Books imprint for carrying out “absurd censorship.”
Francesca Dow, managing director of children’s books at PRH, told the Financial Times that her company listened to the debate over the past week that “reaffirmed the extraordinary power of Roald Dahl’s books and the very real questions around how stories from another era can be kept relevant for each new generation.”
Parents and readers are now free to choose the version of the Dahl stories they prefer.
PRH deserves credit for its quick action.
Watch out, Joe. Spiritual author Marianne Williamson on March 4 will officially launch her campaign for the Democratic nomination for president.
Unlike Nikki Haley, who made a lighter-than-air video to launch her run for the Republican nomination, Williamson came out swinging.
She told Medill News Service that she is running because the “country is in the midst of a threat of authoritarianism, where corporate oligarchs, fossil fuel companies, gun manufacturers, and the military industrial complex 'suck the juice' out of democracy.”
Run, Marianne, Run.
One out of every 12 Russians knows someone who was killed in Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Arkady Ostrovsky, Russia editor at The Economist, said Feb. 24 during a webinar to mark the one-year anniversary of the war.
There have been 175K to 200K Russian casualties, which includes 60K soldiers and Wagner mercenaries killed in action.
Ostrovsky said only 25 percent of Russians support Putin’s “special military operation” but 40 percent of the people don’t believe his line about things are going according to plan.
Putin launched the war to combat the “modernization” and liberalization of Russia, especially among young people who are attracted to the values of the West.
He is determined to fight on as a matter of keeping his regime in power. It's all about Putin's survival.
Ostrovsky, who has interviewed Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky twice, said he is more confident and resolute today than ever before.
Zelensky believes there will be a political solution to end the conflict, according to Ostrovsky.
The Ukrainian leader also believes there will be a way to negotiate the return of Crimea, which was seized by Putin in 2014, once the Russian strongman is out of office.
Ostovsky said Putin is “obsessed with Crimea.” The Ukrainian military will march to the border of Crimea to cut off Russian supply lines and wait Putin out.
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