A while ago, I received the following email from a reader in Kansas:"I have emailed you before about things I've seen, but I'd like to see if you know anything about something I read years ago.It was about the Dogon tribe in Africa, and their "history sticks". I saved the link on an old computer, but it is not functioning at the moment. I started out on some site about conspiracy theorists, but ran across the article about the Dogons. One of those "you can't stop reading" type things. Was about 10am when I started...in May...and next thing I knew the sun was going down.Anyway, long story short, they were told by "the alien fish people" about 2 stars near Sirius (that have been confirmed by science about 5000 years after the history sticks that have the info), which the fish people were from a planet near them, and they were returning. Anyway, this isn't something to really post, but it was an amazing read, and if you've never heard of it, you might try and find it." KI've received other inquiries related to the Dogon, so I am presenting an updated version including links:The Dogon people are a reclusive tribe of cave and hillside-dwelling farming people inhabiting a sparse, rocky plateau in southeastern Mali, West Africa. They live in the Homburi Mountains near Timbuktu. Isolated topographically and culturally from the outside world for countless centuries, they may well appear at first sight to be exceedingly unlikely receptacles of highly advanced astronomical knowledge ­ which only goes to show just how easily we can be deceived by outward appearances.They are believed to be of Egyptian descent. After living in Libya for a time, they settled in Mali, West Africa, bringing with them astronomy legends dating from before 3200 BCE.At the center of their religious teachings is knowledge about a star that is invisible to the eye and so difficult to observe (even through a telescope) that no photographs were taken of it until 1970. The Dogon say they received their knowledge by visitors to the earth from another star system.The star they describe is Sirius B. Its existence was first suspected by Western astronomers in 1844 when irregularities were detected in the movement of Sirius. It was supposed that Sirius must be affected by a second star, and in 1862 a faint companion star was finally detected. Sirius B is a white dwarf that, although small and faint, is extremely dense and heavy enough to exert an influence on Sirius A.The Dogon name for Sirius B (Po Tolo) consists of the word for star (tolo) and "po," the name of the smallest seed known to them. By this name they describe the star's smallness...it is, they say, "the smallest thing there is." They also claim that it is "the heaviest star," and white. The Dogon thus attributes to Sirius B its three principal properties as a white dwarf: small, heavy, and white.They go on to say that it has an is elliptical orbit, with Sirius A at one foci of the ellipse (as it is), that the orbital period is 50 years (the actual figure is 50.04 +/- 0.09 years), and that the star rotates on its own axis (it does). The Dogon also describes a third star in the Sirius system, called "Emme Ya" ("Sorghum Female"). In orbit around this star, they say, is a single satellite. To date, Emme Ya has not been identified by astronomers.In addition to their knowledge of Sirius B, the Dogon mythology includes Saturn's rings and Jupiter's four major moons. They have four calendars, for the Sun, Moon, Sirius, and Venus, and have long known that planets orbit the sun.The Dogon say their astronomical knowledge was given to them by the Nommos, amphibious beings sent to Earth from Sirius for the benefit of mankind. The name comes from a Dogon word meaning "to make one drink," and the Nommos are also called Masters of the Water, the Monitors, and the Teachers.The Nommos were more fishlike than humans and had to live in water. They were saviors and spiritual guardians: "The Nommo divided his body among men to feed them; that is why it is also said that as the universe "had drunk of his body," the Nommo also made men drink. He gave all his life principles to human beings."The Nommo was crucified and resurrected and in the future will again visit the earth, this time in human form. Later he will assume his amphibious form and will rule the world from the waters.Dogon mythology is known only by a number of their priests and is a complex system of knowledge. Such carefully guarded secrets would not be divulged to friendly strangers very easily. If the star Emme Ya is eventually discovered in the Sirius system, this would give considerable weight to the Dogons' story.The first Western scientists to visit and study the Dogon people were French anthropologists Drs Marcel Griaule and Germaine Dieterlen, who initially made contact with them in 1931, and continued to research them for the next three decades, culminating in a detailed study conducted between 1946-1950. During their work, these anthropologists documented the traditional mythology and sacred beliefs of the Dogon."Several specialists now claim they have found the long-sought "final evidence" of visits made to earth by ancient astronauts. The myths of the Dogon tribesmen of Mall, West Africa, contain astronomical knowledge that the native people could have neither learned by themselves nor guessed. Obviously, the researchers say, some more advanced civilization told them. These fascinating Dogon legends speak of Jupiter's four moons and Saturn's rings, which were not seen by human beings until the invention of the telescope. They speak of the star Sirius and of a pair of invisible companions. One of them circles Sirius every fifty years, the legends declare and is made of a metal that is the heaviest thing in the universe. Astronomers have discovered that such an object (called "Sirius-B") does exist but only the most sophisticated and sensitive instruments...unavailable, of course, to the Dogons -- can detect it." - 'The Sirius Mystery' - Robert K. G. TempleCarl Sagan concluded that the Dogon could not have acquired their knowledge without contact with an advanced technological civilization. He suggests, however, that that civilization was terrestrial rather than extraterrestrial. Western Africa has had many visitors from technological societies located on planet Earth. The Dogon have a traditional interest in the sky and astronomical phenomena. As Sagan noted, if a European had visited the Dogon in the 1920s and 1930s, the conversation would likely have turned to astronomical matters, including Sirius, the brightest star in the sky and the center of Dogon mythology.In 1966, Robert Temple, a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and the author of several books, happened to read some of the Griaule material on Dogon Cosmology, and in 1968 he obtained an English translation of Le Renard Pale. He became interested in the question of how the isolated Dogon could have known for hundreds of years that Sirius, one of the brightest stars in the sky, has an invisible companion, Sirius B. Sirius B, a type of star called a white dwarf, is so small that it cannot be seen without a telescope. It was completely unknown to astronomers until 1862 when the American astronomer Alvan Clark managed to see it for the first time. Sirius B, like all white dwarf stars, is composed of densely packed matter that, if it is not the heaviest matter in the universe, is very close to it. It was not discovered until around 1926 that white dwarves are so heavy that a cubic meter of one may weigh as much as 20,000 tons. It was also discovered that Sirius B orbits Sirius A in an elliptical orbit that takes 50 years to complete. Sirius B was finally photographed in 1970.How did the Dogon know about Sirius B, when they had no telescopes? How, for that matter, did they know that Saturn has rings, that the moon is dry and barren, and that Jupiter has four large moons? These four moons of Jupiter are called Galilean because Galileo was the first to see them when he pointed his telescope at Jupiter. The moons of Jupiter and Saturn's rings are only visible through a telescope.As Temple read Graiule's material on the Dogon, he found that their mythology traced their origins back to the Nommo, the human-fish creatures from their creation myths. Temple related these creatures to Oannes of Sumerian mythology who was also a half-fish, half-human creature who brought civilization to an ancient people. Further, Temple found links with Egyptian and Greek mythology. He wrote a book about his interpretation of the Dogon beliefs, called The Sirius Mystery which was published in the 1970s. In the book, Temple contends that the Nommo were extraterrestrials who came to Earth from a planet in the Sirius system. They visited the Dogon, the Babylonians, and possibly the Egyptians, and the astronomical knowledge of the Dogon came from this contact. - bibliotecapleyades.neSources:The Sirius Mystery: New Scientific Evidence of Alien Contact 5,000 Years Agobibliotecapleyades.netBenest, Daniel and Duvent, J.L. - "Is Sirius a Triple Star?" ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS. (Volume 299, 1995) pp. 621-628ufoevidence.orgThe Science of the Dogon: Decoding the African Mystery Traditionnews.nationalgeographic.comdogon1114121351.tribe.nethalexandria.orgsacredsites.com/africaSacred Symbols of the Dogon: The Key to Advanced Science in the Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphsbbc.co.ukThe Rise and Fall of the Nephilim: The Untold Story of Fallen Angels, Giants on the Earth, and Their Extraterrestrial Origins**********PHANTOMS & MONSTERS VIDEO LIBRARYPOLL: WHAT DO YOU THINK? Vote & comment on paranormal, cryptid & unexplained mysteries!VAMPIRES! BEYOND THE LEGENDS - PERSONAL ENCOUNTERS! | LIVE CHAT | Q & A (REAL EXPERIENCER REPORTS)LISTEN TO NARRATIONS OF PHANTOMS & MONSTERS REPORTS & CASES - PLEASE SUBSCRIBE, LIKE & SHAREPHANTOMS & MONSTERS RADIO Podcasts on SpotifyPHANTOMS & MONSTERS READING LISTCHICAGO MOTHMAN / O'HARE BATMAN YouTube PlaylistHave you had a sighting or encounter?Contact me by email or call the hotline at 410-241-5974Thanks. LonOUR SOCIAL MEDIA LINKSBigfoot and Other Cryptid Videos on YouTubeLYCANS! - PENNSYLVANIA'S CRYPTID CANINES UPDATE'KILLER BIGFOOT' HUNTED BY U.S. SPECIAL FORCES / GLIMMER MAN / MANTIS HUMANOIDSCRAWLER HUMANOIDS - GRUESOME INVADERS! (REAL EYEWITNESS ENCOUNTERS!)WEREWOLVES: DO THEY EXIST?'DOGMAN IN OUR YARD!' - AN OHIO FAMILY'S 12-YEAR SAGA WITH CRYPTID CANINESHey, folks. Thanks for the congrats on 'The Mothman Revisited' episode on Unsolved Mysteries. As a result, we are receiving more sighting reports and are very excited and grateful for the new information!I sincerely thank the Unsolved Mysteries team and Netflix for allowing us to tell the world about this phenomenon.If you have information about this or any other cryptid or unexplained sighting or encounter, please feel free to contact me by email or at 410-241-5974. Thanks again! LonCHICAGO MOTHMAN / O'HARE BATMAN YouTube PlaylistChicago / Lake Michigan Winged Humanoid Regional Interactive MapHey, folks. Please feel free to share your thoughts & comments on the recently uploaded video of the CHICAGO MOTHMAN. I'm interested in what you have to say. Thanks. LonEXCLUSIVE VIDEO of CHICAGO MOTHMAN RECORDED----------Become a Phantoms & Monsters Radio member - just $2.99 monthly, and receive these perks. Thanks for your support!-Members-only live chats-Exclusive members-only videos-Priority reply to members' commentsHave perks suggestions? LMK-----YOUR SUPPORT IS APPRECIATED! THANKS

The Sea Monk was a sea monster found off the coast of Denmark, most notably in 1546. It was said to be a "fish" that looked superficially like a monk (Historian William M. Johnson has noted that the sea monk bears a striking resemblance to Saint Francis of Assisi).According to Conrad Gesner, a sea monk was caught off Norway in a troubled sea, and one was found in the Firth of Fourth. In Stow's 'Annales', he describes the capture of one such creature: "A.D. 1187. Neere unto Orforde in Suffolke, certaine Fishers of the sea tooke in their nettes a Fish having the shape of a man in all pointes, which Fish was kept by Barlemew de Glanville, Custos of the castle of Orforde, in the same castle, by the space of six monthes, and more, for a wonder: He spake not a word. All manner of meates he gladly did eate, but more greedilie raw fishe, after he had crushed out all the moisture. Oftentimes he was brought to the Church where he showed no tokens of adoration. At length, when he was not well looked to, he stale away to the sea and never after appeared."Two naturalists, Rondelet and Pierre Belon, produced descriptions of animals they termed the Sea Monk, or monk-fish. Centuries later, a very talented naturalist, Japetus Steenstrup, gave a presentation in which he compared Rondelet's illustration and Belon's illustration to the likeness of a squid captured in 1853. He also took into consideration a 16th-century description of the sea monk by Conrad Gesner. Steenstrup made an amazing deduction: "Could we, given these bits of information of how the Monk was conceived at that time, come so near to it that we could recognize to which of nature's creatures it should most probably be assigned? The Sea Monk is firstly a cephalopod." - www.strangescience.netRondelet's illustration (on the left) and Belon's illustration (on the right)In his epic poem 'La Sepmaine; ou, Creation du monde', the poet Guillaume du Bartas referenced the 16th-century sea monk sightings as part of a poetic observation that all things on land and in the air had an equivalent in the sea:"Seas have (as well as skies) Sun, Moon, and Stars;(As well as ayre) Swallows, and Rooks, and Stares;(As well as earth) Vines, Roses, Nettles, Millions,Pinks, Gilliflowers, Mushrooms, and many millionsof other Plants lants (more rare and strange than these)As very fishes living in the Seas.And also Rams, Calfs, Horses, Hares, and Hogs,Wolves, Lions, Urchins, Elephants and Dogs,Yea, Men and Mayds; and (which I more admire)The mytred Bishop and the cowled Fryer;Whereof, examples, (but a few years since)Were shew'n the Norways, and Polonian Prince."Sometime during the period 1545–1550, the Danish king, Christian III, sent to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (then in Spain) drawings of a strange animal that had been caught in the Øresund, the strait between the island of Sjælland (Denmark) and Sweden. Described as a sea monk, this strange creature aroused the interest of the whole of Europe. Indeed such was its appeal to the Emperor that one chronicler claimed “as a result...King Christian was included in an alliance formed in the year 1550 between the Emperor and the Scots”.Architeuthis dux, Giant SquidThe animal had “a human head and face, resembling in appearance the men with shorn heads, whom we call monks because of their solitary life; but the appearance of its lower parts, bearing a coating of scales, barely indicated the torn and severed limbs and joints of the human body. At the order of the king, this abominable creature was immediately buried in the ground, so that it should not, as the new and unusual generally does, provide a fertile subject for offensive talk.”The Sea Bishop or bishop-fish was another type of sea monster reported in the 16th century. According to legend, it was taken to the King of Poland, who wished to keep it. It was also shown to a group of Catholic bishops, to whom the bishop-fish gestured, appealing to be released. They granted its wish, at which point it made the sign of the cross and disappeared into the sea. It was also described and pictured in Conrad Gesner's 'Historiae animalium'.In 1855, Steenstrup, who had previously described the stranding of giant squid along the shores of the northern Atlantic, suggested the Øresund sea monk was a giant squid. So convinced was he of his argument, that he gave his unknown squid the binomial name Architeuthis monachus. The validity of this species designation is however open to question as a giant squid was never formally described under this name.Steenstrup’s arguments for Architeuthis as the sea monk were as follows:1. The general body form of the sea monk was similar to a squid with the rear of the mantle as the head, the fins representing the chasuble, the entrance to the mantle cavity representing the lower edge of the vestment, and the circle of arms representing the tail fin of the sea monk. The arms of the monk are the tentacles of the squid wrapped underneath the body with just the clubs visible in just the right position to be taken as human arms.2. The black coloration of the head was caused by the presence of ink sacs underneath the skin.3. The monkfish had red and black spots as does a squid.4. The animal was scaleless (although this in fact contradicts at least two of the written accounts and all of the illustrations). The scales were, in Steenstrup’s view, misinterpretations of the coloration of the animal. The basis for this argument was Rondelet’s contention that the animal was scaleless. Most squid (including Architeuthis) are scaleless although one family Lepidoteuthidae is scaled.5. The sea monk lived for three days. Steenstrup felt this was perfectly in keeping with squid which on “a moist beach or in moist air...could well live outside the water for such a period”.6. The monk produced no sounds except deep expirations or sighs.Thus the sea monk was explained as a giant squid, an explanation that has been generally accepted. That Steenstrup was right to believe giant squid was the explanation for certain monsters that were washed up on the coast of Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries cannot be doubted, but he may have been a little overenthusiastic in implicating Architeuthis as the prime suspect for the sea monk.Large North Sea MonkfishThe giant squid theory was popularized by writer Richard Ellis in 'The Search for the Giant Squid'. Cryptozoologist Bernard Heuvelmans believed the report was based on the discovery of an errant walrus. More recently, it has been suggested that it was an angel shark Squatina squatina, which is commonly called monkfish in English or Munk in Norwegian. Other suggested suspects for the sea monk include a grey seal, a hooded seal, or a monk seal.Squatina squatina, Angel SharkSources:www.strangescience.netEllis, Richard - 'The Search for the Giant Squid' - 1998www.eaudrey.comwww.unexplained-mysteries.comwww.creem.st-and.ac.ukPaxton, C.G.M. & Holland, R. - 'Was Steenstrup right? A new interpretation of the 16th century sea monk of the Øresund' - 2005www.zmuc.dkmarinebio.orgEllis, R. - 'The Search for the Giant Squid' - 1998**********PHANTOMS & MONSTERS VIDEO LIBRARYPOLL: WHAT DO YOU THINK? Vote & comment on paranormal, cryptid & unexplained mysteries!VAMPIRES! BEYOND THE LEGENDS - PERSONAL ENCOUNTERS! | LIVE CHAT | Q & A (REAL EXPERIENCER REPORTS)LISTEN TO NARRATIONS OF PHANTOMS & MONSTERS REPORTS & CASES - PLEASE SUBSCRIBE, LIKE & SHAREPHANTOMS & MONSTERS RADIO Podcasts on SpotifyPHANTOMS & MONSTERS READING LISTCHICAGO MOTHMAN / O'HARE BATMAN YouTube PlaylistHave you had a sighting or encounter?Contact me by email or call the hotline at 410-241-5974Thanks. LonOUR SOCIAL MEDIA LINKSBigfoot and Other Cryptid Videos on YouTubeLYCANS! - PENNSYLVANIA'S CRYPTID CANINES UPDATE'KILLER BIGFOOT' HUNTED BY U.S. SPECIAL FORCES / GLIMMER MAN / MANTIS HUMANOIDSCRAWLER HUMANOIDS - GRUESOME INVADERS! (REAL EYEWITNESS ENCOUNTERS!)WEREWOLVES: DO THEY EXIST?'DOGMAN IN OUR YARD!' - AN OHIO FAMILY'S 12-YEAR SAGA WITH CRYPTID CANINESHey, folks. Thanks for the congrats on 'The Mothman Revisited' episode on Unsolved Mysteries. As a result, we are receiving more sighting reports and are very excited and grateful for the new information!I sincerely thank the Unsolved Mysteries team and Netflix for allowing us to tell the world about this phenomenon.If you have information about this or any other cryptid or unexplained sighting or encounter, please feel free to contact me by email or at 410-241-5974. Thanks again! LonCHICAGO MOTHMAN / O'HARE BATMAN YouTube PlaylistChicago / Lake Michigan Winged Humanoid Regional Interactive MapHey, folks. Please feel free to share your thoughts & comments on the recently uploaded video of the CHICAGO MOTHMAN. I'm interested in what you have to say. Thanks. LonEXCLUSIVE VIDEO of CHICAGO MOTHMAN RECORDED----------Become a Phantoms & Monsters Radio member - just $2.99 monthly, and receive these perks. Thanks for your support!-Members-only live chats-Exclusive members-only videos-Priority reply to members' commentsHave perks suggestions? LMK-----YOUR SUPPORT IS APPRECIATED! THANKS

I received the following email from JBC in Mesa, Arizona. They describe an unknown winged creature that was perched at their home. Tell us what you think this cryptid may be."Hello, Lon and all. I enjoy reading your blog, though I am not the type who sees a UFO or spiritual entity every time there is a shadow or flash, I am open-minded and respectful of others. I have had my share of strange experiences, and hardships, but now I am a happily "normal" wife and mother just about to turn 30.The experience I'd like to share with you happened in the summer of 2002. I was 20, still living at home in a rental in east Mesa, Arizona with my 18-year-old brother and my mother. As you may know, Arizona has a typically 6-month long scorching, dry summer climate, and being a transplant from beautiful Northern Cali it was hard for us to adapt.Anyhow, it was a hot summer night in late May or early June. My brother had just graduated high school and I was working full-time during the day. We spent our evening talking and laughing and playing music, it really was a memorably enjoyable night. At about 10:30 I noticed that the front porch light had again burned out, as it had been doing for about 18 months before that. In fact, both of the lights over the driveway and 3 lights in our backyard were continually ceasing to function and it seemed I was always buying bulbs and expensive strobe light bulbs. I don't know if this is somehow connected to what happened next.First I must add that our front door was set back into the house with the garage protruding. Our front yard was much deeper than the backyard and was overshadowed by 3 velvet mesquite a china berry tree, and various species of cholla cacti. So the street light did little to penetrate the den of darkness.I turned the lamp light to my bedroom which was really an office nook right next to the front door, which had a large latticed picture window with run-of-the-mill blinds. I opened the blinds and the light flooded the wall of the garage. What I saw made my skin crawl. There on the stucco wall was some "thing". It was only about 10 to 12 feet from where I was standing. The only way to describe it was that it looked like a giant headless moth. I called my brother over excitedly. I clearly remember our conversation."What do you suppose that is?""I have no idea! It must be a bat of some sort.""But we only have micro bats here in Arizona. And I have always heard that bats hang upside down.""I guess it could be a giant moth. We do live in the desert.""I thought moths were attracted to light. The lights are all burnt out again".We talked for a moment and stood next to the glass panes adjacent to the front door, the bedroom light illuminating all the while, and the "thing" did not stir or move. We decided it was about 18 inches to 2 feet long from blunt top to winged bottom. It was very clear yet very dark, almost black, with no antennae visible. It hung on the wall like a moth but was about the size of a medium-sized fruit bat, which I believe only exists in Asia? It was about five or six feet off the ground. My mother came and had a look and shuddered and refused to stand near the door. We were both young and curious and my brother said "Let's go have a look at it then." We swung the door and security screen open and he took a step over the door jam. I was suddenly struck with an unreal, unearthly fear and grabbed his shoulder. He looked back at me and later said I had the most wholly terrified look on my face that he had ever seen. I am afraid and tingly even writing this. Without a word, he stepped back inside and we locked both doors closed the blinds, and camped out in the living room, only going to sleep after several thoughtful conversations.The very next morning at sunrise I went out to the wall with a tape measure and my brother and mom stood at the door and directed me as to where, how high, and how long this thing had been planted. There was no trace of anything, the dust on the stucco looked the same all around, with no residue or anything. When they were both satisfied with the positioning I read the tape measure: 28 inches. My mother walked back into the house and has absolutely refused to speak of it since.My brother and I are both keenly interested in animal/insect/plant life via books, and media, and I have taken an MCC course in Southwest biology, and neither of us has ever seen or heard of anything matching its description. My husband was raised here and said the only thing he could think of that size was an owl, but this was no owl. What was it? Perhaps it is a real animal we could not identify. Has someone had a similar experience or know what it could be? We are not exaggerating people, we are level-headed and analytical. Thank you for your time.Best wishes,JBC, Mesa, Arizona"NOTE: OK folks, any idea what this was? Possibly a young Thunderbird or other cryptid? Described as headless, possibly a juvenile Mothman? Tell me what you think. Lon**********PHANTOMS & MONSTERS VIDEO LIBRARYPOLL: WHAT DO YOU THINK? Vote & comment on paranormal, cryptid & unexplained mysteries!VAMPIRES! BEYOND THE LEGENDS - PERSONAL ENCOUNTERS! | LIVE CHAT | Q & A (REAL EXPERIENCER REPORTS)LISTEN TO NARRATIONS OF PHANTOMS & MONSTERS REPORTS & CASES - PLEASE SUBSCRIBE, LIKE & SHAREPHANTOMS & MONSTERS RADIO Podcasts on SpotifyPHANTOMS & MONSTERS READING LISTCHICAGO MOTHMAN / O'HARE BATMAN YouTube PlaylistHave you had a sighting or encounter?Contact me by email or call the hotline at 410-241-5974Thanks. LonOUR SOCIAL MEDIA LINKSBigfoot and Other Cryptid Videos on YouTubeLYCANS! - PENNSYLVANIA'S CRYPTID CANINES UPDATE'KILLER BIGFOOT' HUNTED BY U.S. SPECIAL FORCES / GLIMMER MAN / MANTIS HUMANOIDSCRAWLER HUMANOIDS - GRUESOME INVADERS! (REAL EYEWITNESS ENCOUNTERS!)WEREWOLVES: DO THEY EXIST?'DOGMAN IN OUR YARD!' - AN OHIO FAMILY'S 12-YEAR SAGA WITH CRYPTID CANINESHey, folks. Thanks for the congrats on 'The Mothman Revisited' episode on Unsolved Mysteries. As a result, we are receiving more sighting reports and are very excited and grateful for the new information!I sincerely thank the Unsolved Mysteries team and Netflix for allowing us to tell the world about this phenomenon.If you have information about this or any other cryptid or unexplained sighting or encounter, please feel free to contact me by email or at 410-241-5974. Thanks again! LonCHICAGO MOTHMAN / O'HARE BATMAN YouTube PlaylistChicago / Lake Michigan Winged Humanoid Regional Interactive MapHey, folks. Please feel free to share your thoughts & comments on the recently uploaded video of the CHICAGO MOTHMAN. I'm interested in what you have to say. Thanks. LonEXCLUSIVE VIDEO of CHICAGO MOTHMAN RECORDED----------Become a Phantoms & Monsters Radio member - just $2.99 monthly, and receive these perks. Thanks for your support!-Members-only live chats-Exclusive members-only videos-Priority reply to members' commentsHave perks suggestions? LMK-----YOUR SUPPORT IS APPRECIATED! THANKS

The Penguin, of course, has characters we’ve already met in Matt Reeves’ The Batman. The eight-episode limited series, however, is also introducing new characters to Reeves’ “Batman Epic Crime Saga” universe. One of them is Cristin Milioti, who plays Sofia “the Hangman” Falcone, a former Arkham Asylum inmate and daughter of the recently slain Carmine Falcone. “There’s so much that happens to her. She goes on such a journey,” Milioti said in a press conference that Reactor attended. “And I’m also a very lifelong Batman fan, so I’ve been dreaming of this since I was very little. And so, on a personal level, it was extremely surreal. And then as an actor, I was like, ‘Oh my God!’ I would read each script, and I would pinch myself when I would realize what I was going to get to do.” Without getting into spoilers, let’s just say that Sofia gets put through the wringer, which gave Milioti some meaty scenes. The actor said that she would “start salivating, because I couldn’t believe that I was going to get a chance to do this.” Credit: HBO Milioti’s excitement is understandable, especially when she said later on in the press conference that she was drawn to certain villains in her childhood: I watched Batman Forever a lot as a kid. I know that’s not one of the more beloved ones, but I really loved it. And when I would play in my backyard, I would pretend to be the Riddler, because the woman in that is a psychologist who walks around in lingerie and is like, “Wow, nice nipples, Batman.” I remember watching that as a kid, and I was like, ‘Alright…’ But then like, “What about the guy who gets to explode everything? And Two-Face hanging from the helicopter and flipping a coin?” Milioti is far from the only kid who pretended to be the villains when they were young. She’s excited for everyone to meet her villainous character as well. “I really care about this character in a really vulnerable way,” she said. “I really love her… I know it’s a very actory thing to say, but it’s been an enormous honor to play someone like this, and I’m very protective of her, and I want people to love her as much as I do.” We’ll get to see Sofia Falcone in action when The Penguin premieres on HBO and Max on September 19, 2024. [end-mark] The post <i>The Penguin</i>’s Cristin Milioti Wanted to Be the Riddler as a Kid appeared first on Reactor.

News Sweetpea Sweetpea Trailer: Sometimes You’ve Got to Kill Just to Feel Alive By Vanessa Armstrong | Published on September 19, 2024 Credit: Starz Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: Starz Ella Purnell stars in Sweetpea as Rhiannon Lewis, a wallflower with murderous tendencies. How murderous, you ask? Based on the trailer just released, it looks like more than one person will end up dead by her hand, though it’s her childhood bully that she has in her crosshairs. Rhiannon gets a thrill when she kills, apparently, and while the body count is high, the show, according to the marketing material, is about “a woman finally finding her voice, told through a uniquely dark and comedic lens.” In addition to Purnell, the show stars Nicôle Lecky (Sense8) as Julia, Jon Pointing (Smothered) as Craig, Calam Lynch (Bridgerton) as AJ, Leah Harvey (Foundation) as Marina, Jeremy Swift (Ted Lasso) as Norman, and Dustin Demri-Burns (Slow Horses) as Jeff. It’s adapted from  C.J. Skuse’s eponymous novel by showrunner Kirstie Swain as well as Krissie Ducker (Killing Eve), Laura Jayne Tunbridge, and Selina Lim (Sex Education, Hanna). Sweetpea will be available on the Starz app at midnight, October 10, 2024. It will also air on the Starz channel at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT that day. Moving forward, new episodes will come out on Fridays, releasing on the app at midnight and airing on Starz at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT, because it’s fun to be confusing. While we wait and try to parse the details of the six-part series’ release schedule, check out the latest trailer below. [end-mark] The post <i>Sweetpea</i> Trailer: Sometimes You’ve Got to Kill Just to Feel Alive appeared first on Reactor.

DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—The Teamsters union has declined to make an endorsement in the 2024 presidential election just hours after releasing internal polling data showing that workers it represents strongly favor former President Donald Trump. Among rank-and-file members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 59.6% surveyed said they believe the Teamsters should endorse Trump, compared to 31% voicing support for Vice President Kamala Harris. That more than 25-point gap remained more or less unchanged after the union ordered a subsequent survey following the Sept. 10 presidential debate between Trump and Harris. Despite the poll results, the Teamsters refused to make an endorsement, saying there was “no majority support” for Harris and a lack of “universal support” for Trump, the union revealed Wednesday. A Teamsters spokesperson didn’t immediately clarify why the union had different standards for the two candidates.  “The Teamsters thank all candidates for meeting with members face-to-face during our unprecedented roundtables,” Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien said. “Unfortunately, neither major candidate was able to make serious commitments to our union to ensure the interests of working people are always put before big business,” O’Brien said. “We sought commitments from both Trump and Harris not to interfere in critical union campaigns or core Teamsters industries—and to honor our members’ right to strike—but were unable to secure those pledges.” The Teamsters cited Trump’s refusal to commit to vetoing right-to-work legislation as part of its reasoning for not issuing an endorsement. The Teamsters, which historically have supported Democrats and often donate to left-of-center causes, made an effort to court Republicans this election cycle. The union made a donation to the Republican National Committee, met with Trump, and O’Brien accepted an invitation to speak at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. Some on the Right have resisted the union’s attempt to ingratiate itself among conservatives. The Center for Union Facts put up billboards outside the Republican National Convention calling the Teamsters “two-faced” over its history of liberal spending. Although Republicans were generally open to the Teamsters, the Democratic National Convention snubbed O’Brien by not allowing him to speak at the Chicago event last month, according to The Associated Press. Harris is considerably less popular among rank-and-file Teamsters than President Joe Biden, who trailed Trump by only about 8 points in a survey ordered by the union prior to Biden’s July 21 withdrawal from the race. Union leadership met with Harris for a roundtable discussion Monday, The Hill reported. “We represent everybody from airline pilots to zookeepers, and we don’t just represent registered Democrats,” O’Brien told reporters. The Teamsters’ endorsement would have had a significant impact if it went to either candidate given the concentration of union members in the swing states of Michigan, Nevada, and Pennsylvania, according to Reuters. Originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation The post Teamsters Decline to Endorse for President Despite Members’ Overwhelming Support for Trump appeared first on The Daily Signal.

It’s genuinely amazing how quickly one’s whole life can change.Seven years ago, I was in my 14th year as chief of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. I’d worked with many dedicated colleagues to build a strong and respected program. My prior three annual evaluations featured perfect marks, and I’d been blessed with many warm accolades from my students and fellow physicians. Dr. Allan M. Josephson (Photo courtesy of Alliance Defending Freedom) That fall, I spoke at an event sponsored by The Heritage Foundation focusing on a straightforward and timely question: How best to treat children diagnosed with gender dysphoria (i.e., boys who wonder whether they’re girls, and girls who wonder whether they’re boys).As a medical professional who cares about my patients, my answer was simple, obvious, and innocuous. We must start by finding out the cause of the child’s confusion and resolving any emotional problems before considering more invasive, risky treatments.It seemed a reasonable enough response. According to the scientific method, every study begins with questions. One of the first is: “Why?” If a patient complains of chest pain, a heart doctor tries to determine what’s causing the pain, exploring several possibilities before confirming a diagnosis and commencing treatment. That is, and always has been, Medicine 101.But in the days following my remarks, no one asked whether my suggestion made sense or about my experience and observations in dealing with children who suffer dysphoria. Instead, people leapt to conclusions.Quickly, red flags went up on campus. Officials at the LGBT Center initiated a campaign to have me punished. Some colleagues became upset. People suddenly noticed that I had served as an expert witness in cases where school officials were opening showers, restrooms, and locker rooms to students based on their professed gender identity, rather than their biological sex. Professionally speaking, I had strong reservations about such policies and said so. More red flags: Some faculty demanded that I apologize for my views—but they didn’t say to whom. Others remained silent, knowing which way the cultural winds were blowing. I was stunned to realize I was actually being punished for doing what I was paid to do; namely, think and speak.But unfortunately, many professors have found themselves in similar predicaments over the years. The University of Illinois fired Kenneth Howell for sharing the Catholic Church’s teachings on same-sex marriage—in a class on Catholicism. The University of North Carolina at Wilmington denied Mike Adams a promotion for writing conservative political columns on his own time. Shawnee State University punished Nicholas Meriwether for not referring to a male student as a woman, with feminine titles and pronouns.Tolerance—a word these universities frequently profess—must, by definition, be a two-way street. But in modern academia, those who won’t conform to left-wing politics are mostly being run off the road.Just weeks after I spoke at The Heritage Foundation, I was demoted from my role as division chief. After that, I was ostracized, stripped of my teaching duties, and subjected to other forms of hostility. And about a year later, the university refused to renew my contract—in effect, firing me. That was after 14 successful years rebuilding and leading the division, three years with perfect reviews, no disruptions in the division’s work, and no problems recruiting new faculty.I wasn’t fired for poor management, teaching, or unprofessional conduct. The university ended my career because I elected not to surf the current wave of social activism, because I expressed views—supported by scientific literature and clinical experience—that the university found politically incorrect, and because, in my case, activism trumped academic thought, the search for the truth, and the well-being of patients.Worse still, by what it did to me, our university communicated to students and faculty things that should be unthinkable in higher education: “Don’t ask questions or listen to anyone with a different point of view.” Those are about the worst possible lessons we can impress upon those who will one day lead our communities or care for vulnerable patients.The good news is a growing number of courts and experts are recognizing the truth of what I said seven years ago. Recent studies in the United Kingdom have raised serious questions about how doctors and psychologists are treating children with gender dysphoria, and American courts have affirmed the school privacy policies I defended. Happily, the courts are also recognizing how unjustly I was treated. Last year, in a case I filed against University of Louisville officials through my attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom over the violation of my constitutional rights and seeking reinstatement of my position with back pay, a federal district court ruled a jury should hear my claims. And on Sept. 10, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit agreed. The court wrote: “Josephson has shown that he engaged in protected speech when he spoke as part of the Heritage Foundation panel. Defendants should have known that Josephson’s speech was protected and that retaliating against Josephson for his speech would violate his First Amendment rights.”The 6th Circuit recognized what the University of Louisville does not; namely, that under our Constitution, all of us—professors or not—should be free to speak our professional and personal views without fear of punishment or retaliation.We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post What a Federal Appeals Court Gets—but the University of Louisville Doesn’t appeared first on The Daily Signal.

House Republicans are standing up to what they call a push by the United Nations and its World Health Organization to extinguish U.S. sovereignty and free speech. Reps. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., and Bob Good, R-Va., led a press conference with fellow GOP congressmen on the first day of Constitution Week to oppose ongoing initiatives of the U.N. and the WHO, one of its component organizations. Good said the Biden-Harris administration wants America to be subordinated to and governed by the U.N. World Health Assembly and the World Health Organization. “They seek to facilitate the evolution of the U.N. from an international cooperative body to an international governing body,” Good said at the Tuesday press conference. Good said he is shocked by the lack of attention to the issue in the news media. “This is the most important issue [but it’s] getting the least amount of attention relative to its importance and its impact on our country and on the American people,” the Virginia Republican said. This weekend, the United Nations will host a conference called “Summit of the Future” to discuss three proposed international agreements: the Pact for the Future, the Declaration on Future Generations, and the Global Digital Compact. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres produced a report in 2021 called “Our Common Agenda,” which used COVID-19 as justification for increasing the U.N.’s power to address world crises because it wasn’t feasible to rely on member nations to do the right thing. The Pact for the Future includes an “emergency platform” that would give Guterres the power as U.N. chief to address what the agreement calls “global shocks.” These global shocks, the agreement says, include large-scale climatic or environmental events that cause major socioeconomic disruptions and/or environmental degradation; future pandemics with cascading secondary impacts; high-impact events involving a biological agent (deliberate or accidental); events leading to disruptions to global flows of goods, people or finance; large-scale destructive and/or disruptive activity in cyberspace or disruptions to global digital connectivity; a major event in outer space that causes severe disruptions to one or several critical systems on Earth; [and] unforeseen risks (‘black swan’ events). “That’s enough examples and enough reasons for them to get involved pretty much whenever and wherever they want to,” Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., told reporters Tuesday. “I hope that this body and the Senate continues to reject, push back, and stop this agreement and this push by this administration to sell our sovereignty to globalists,” Crane said. The U.N.’s Declaration on Future Generations advocates a future free of inequality. The document says a prosperous future can be guaranteed “by eliminating the intergenerational transmission of poverty and hunger, inequality and injustice.” The Global Digital Compact declares the U.N.’s power to regulate technology, use AI to advance “social justice,” stop misinformation and disinformation, and create standards to which everyone must adhere. According to its Common Agenda document, the U.N. will introduce “accountability criteria for discrimination and misleading content” and promote “regulation of artificial intelligence,” or AI. The global organization’s document states that with the internet comes the “ability to cause large-scale disinformation and undermine scientifically established facts [that] is an existential risk to humanity.” In bold text, the U.N. document says that in defending the right to freedom of expression, societies must develop a “consensus on the public good of facts, science and knowledge.” It isn’t clear how such a consensus would be reached without Americans handing over free speech rights to the U.N., the Republican lawmakers said. In 2005, the 194 member nations of the WHO, the U.S. included, adopted International Health Regulations. In 2022, after the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services proposed amendments to enable WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to declare an “intermediate public health alert” in any member nation. This became known as the “pandemic agreement.” For several years now, the WHO—and Tedros in particular—has been criticized for not pressing China on its role in creating the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Since the WHO’s proposed pandemic agreement isn’t a formal treaty, the Biden-Harris administration’s ambassador to the world body, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, could vote to approve it without the pact’s first going through the U.S. Senate. Last week, however, the House passed a bill (HR 1425) that would require “any convention, agreement, or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response reached by the World Health Assembly to be subject to Senate ratification.” The bill still has to pass the Senate. Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, speaks about U.N. policies at GOP lawmakers’ Tuesday press conference. (Christina Lewis/The Daily Signal) Kristen Ullman, president of the conservative group Eagle Forum, said she is grateful for House Republicans who are doing their constitutional duty to decide what laws Americans will live under. “The United Nations and the WHO want to become the lawmaking body to tell us what to do,” Ullman said. America’s sovereignty is at stake, Norman told The Daily Signal. “It’s time for America to stand up for America and not cede our power that we rightfully have,” the South Carolina Republican said. “We’re the number one democracy in the world today, and we’ve got to protect our interests.” Ken McIntyre contributed to this report. The post UN Policies Would Surrender America’s Sovereignty to World Government, GOP Lawmakers Warn appeared first on The Daily Signal.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Five Republican US lawmakers from both the House and the Senate have written to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, a Democrat, arguing in favor of new rules that would deny, or revoke existing visas to foreign officials considered to be acting against free speech principles. The letter’s signatories have Brazil’s current authorities, and specifically, justice of the Supreme Federal Court (STF) Alexandre de Moraes in mind – as well as other members of this court considered as complicit in the anti-free speech behavior. We obtained a copy of the letter for you here. Alexandre de Moraes, the letter spells it out, is “acting as a totalitarian dictator.” Strong words, to say the least – yet the group of US lawmakers describe Moraes as having a history of curbing free speech – not least at home, in what the letter says are Brazil’s conservative figures and groups, including opposition politicians and journalists. But this is also yet another chapter in the Moraes vs. X saga. The letter states that X has been “unjustly targeted” when Moraes recently ordered it blocked in Brazil on what the US lawmakers see as questionable legal grounds. The letter makes a point of the global significance of Brazil – arguably Latin America’s most impactful country, and, “one of the world’s largest democracies.” Such actions, the letter’s authors argue, are ultimately a threat to the US national security, in terms of making sure that visitors (at least, high profile ones, it seems) to the US “do not actively seek to undermine democratic processes or institutions.” Such actions, they continue, have the effect of creating a dangerous precedent for the West as a whole. By introducing measures like visa denial and revoking against those believed to be compromising the democratic status of Brazil, the US lawmakers hope to “keep it that way.” One of the letter’s signatories, Congresswoman and Western Hemisphere Subcommittee Chairwoman Maria Elvira Salazar, just this week, along with Congressman Darrell Issa, introduced legislation that would prevent foreign officials whose policies and actions are found to be violating the First Amendment from entering the US. We obtained a copy of the bill for you here. Once again, Moraes is given as an example of why such measures (“No Censors on our Shores Act”) are necessary. “Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes is the vanguard of an international assault on freedom of speech against American citizens like Elon Musk,” Salazar stated on her website. Still – writing to the current White House, while introducing legislation called, “No Censors on our Shores” – may, at this point, look quite naive. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post US Lawmakers Call Out Brazil’s Free Speech Crackdown, Propose Denying VISAs to Free Speech Antagonists appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

Alaskan Man Charged for Threats to Assassinate Supreme Court Justices (Update: He Wanted Trump Dead Too)