'The media should care'

'Fight for California families'

On a sunny day in South Miami, a group of children toss feed to pecking chickens while another group tends to a hydroponic garden. This isn’t a family farm or a commune; these children are here to learn about sustainable farming techniques—while also growing food for their own school cafeteria! The Centner Academy Farm is […]

A post shared on social media purports that football team the Minnesota Vikings “denounced” Governor Tim Walz. (Screenshot from Facebook) Verdict: False The claim stems from a satirical outlet. Fact Check: A debate between Walz and Republican VP candidate J.D. Vance will be held in New York City, CBS News reported. The Vice Presidential Debate is set for Oct. […]

“Tucked away” in a home attic in Maine alongside a “collection of heirlooms and antiques” art appraisers found a lost Rembrandt portrait. Depicting a teenage woman in 17th-century Dutch attire, it recently sold at auction for $1.4 million, delighting the handlers who know it will be preserved and shared with the art world in a […] The post Lost Rembrandt Found Tucked Away Inside an Attic in Maine Sells for $1.4 Million in Bidding War appeared first on Good News Network.

Blog female friendships Five Horror Books Built Around Female Friendships Whether fending off vampires, demons, or the undead, survival is a little easier with a best friend (or a worthy frenemy) by your side… By Lorna Wallace | Published on September 11, 2024 Art by Hugh Fleming Comment 0 Share New Share Art by Hugh Fleming I love it when friendship takes center stage in horror books. The traumatic events that characters typically encounter in horror stories are not only slightly less terrifying when faced with a friend, but can also serve to solidify a budding friendship in a trial-by-fire kind of way.  My favorite book of all time, Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962), leans into the theme of friendship, but Jim Nightshade and Will Halloway will be sitting this list out because I’m going to focus specifically on female friendships. Whether you’re looking for teenage or adult characters, frenemies or BFFs, a pair or a group—I’ve got a recommendation, so slip on that friendship bracelet and let’s get to the books! Dread Nation (2018) by Justina Ireland Does a story about Black teenage best friends killing zombies in post-Civil War America sound good to you? If so, Dread Nation is the book for you. In this alternative history tale, the Civil War ended when the slain soldiers on the Gettysburg battlefield started getting up to attack the living. Main character Jane—born just two days before the dead began to rise—is on the cusp of graduating from Miss Preston’s School of Combat, where for the past few years she’s been training to protect wealthy white people from the shamblers. While Jane’s strict teachers can be irritating, the real thorn in her side is fellow trainee Katherine—a prim and proper girl who can pass as white. But Jane and Katherine are suddenly thrown together when they get caught up in a conspiracy. The enemies-to-friends arc that Jane and Katherine experience is the emotional center of the story for me. Their friendship makes them both better people, forcing them to confront their own prejudices. Plus, they’re both badasses who are experts with scythes, sickles, and rifles—which, as well as being necessary for survival in this zombie-plagued America, is just straight-up cool. My Best Friend’s Exorcism (2016) by Grady Hendrix If you want to read about a teenage friend duo in a classic high school setting, then My Best Friend’s Exorcism is the way to go. Set during the 1980s, Abby and Gretchen have been BFFs ever since they bonded at Abby’s E.T.-themed 10th birthday party. They’re now sophomores in high school and one night they decide to try LSD, but then Gretchen goes missing in the woods. When she comes back the next morning she seems… different. While many would chalk Gretchen’s new mean girl attitude and weird behavior up to a bad trip and raging teenage hormones, Abby knows better—she knows that her friend has actually been possessed by a demon. But not even an entity from hell can get between two teenage girls who love and trust one each other. There is definitely horror in My Best Friend’s Exorcism—it features a a demon, after all—but it’s all told with a hilariously campy tone that adds levity to even the most the dire situations. Hendrix’s The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires (2020) similarly focuses on female friendship, but this time the story follows a group of Southern suburban moms. I mean, who else could you trust to slay a vampire with you? American Ghoul (2024) by Michelle McGill-Vargas American Ghoul is part buddy comedy and part vampire horror. Set during the Reconstruction era in America, narrator Lavinia has recently broken free from the bonds of slavery, but now she’s in jail for the murder of a white woman called Simone. She maintains that she “can’t kill somebody who’s already dead” and tells her jailer the story of how she got mixed up with Simone, who happens to be a vampire (hence Lavinia’s “already dead” defense). Lavinia and Simone were never a natural fit as friends, but are thrown together due to their precarious situations and shared desire to get out of the South. They become traveling companions, but Lavinia is also essentially forced to become Simone’s familiar—a tough task, considering Simone’s lack of restraint when it comes to her blood lust and Lavinia’s desire to hold onto some semblance of morality. Lavinia and Simone often border on being frenemies. They both have strong personalities, which leads to frequent clashing—but they’re also all the other has, which cements their bond early on. Survivor Song (2020) by Paul Tremblay Survivor Song starts with a rabies-like disease spreading in Massachusetts. Infected people become violent and bite-y in just a few hours, essentially turning them into zombies. Eight-months-pregnant Natalie and her husband Paul are discussing whether to try and flee the state when they’re attacked by an infected neighbor. Paul is killed in the ensuing struggle and Natalie is bitten, leaving her desperate to get a vaccine before succumbing to the symptoms. She turns to her best friend, Ramola—a cool, calm, and collected pediatrician—for help, and the two of them try to get to a hospital while chaos consumes the state. Survivor Song doesn’t really offer gory zombie-killing action in the style of The Walking Dead (or Dread Nation, as mentioned above!). Instead, it’s more of a character study—albeit a very tense one—focused on Ramola and Natalie and the deep friendship they share. The narrative feels far more grounded than it does in most zombie stories, but I think that only serves to make it scary in a horribly realistic way. Teenage friendships can feel incredibly intense, but also kind of fragile; by contrast, the bond that 30-something Ramola and Natalie have developed over the years is unwaveringly solid and dependable. House of Hunger (2022) by Alexis Henderson Gothic sapphic vampires have been popular ever since J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla hit the scene in 1872, and Alexis Henderson’s House of Hunger is a worthy addition to the subgenre, despite not actually containing any actual vampires. Marion is barely an adult and barely getting by. She’s trying to support both herself and her drug-addicted brother on a meager salary when she sees an advert to become a bloodmaid at the wealthy House of Hunger. She jumps at the chance to escape. All she has to do is bleed a little—well, sometimes a lot—for Countess Lisavet Bathory, who technically isn’t a vampire, but sure drinks enough blood to count as an honorary one. The rest of the time Marion gets to live a life of luxury—hedonistic parties, fancy dresses, rich food—but this is a horror novel, so of course there’s a hidden dark side to the gig. Marion doesn’t initially get along with the other bloodmaids, which is no wonder when there’s stiff competition to be the favored First Bloodmaid, a position currently occupied by Cecilia. But the other girls—Irene, twins Evie and Elize, and young ward Mae (who isn’t yet old enough to give blood)—eventually warm to her. The closed world of the House of Hunger is certainly opulent, but it’s also ruthless, and the bloodmaids eventually realize that they’re better off treating each other with compassion, rather than fiercely competing against one another. Feel free to gush about your own favorite friendships between women in horror in the comments below, as there are plenty that I didn’t have a chance to mention here. And if you’re looking for female friendships in SFF, check out this list![end-mark] The post Five Horror Books Built Around Female Friendships appeared first on Reactor.

While many economic pundits point to cooling inflation, The Heritage Foundation’s new Personal Inflation Calculator showcases the cumulative effect of inflation on the average American.   Since the Biden-Harris administration took office in January 2021, Americans have felt the pain of rising prices. The federal government’s excessive spending and borrowing habits led to record-high inflation. Prices increased for everyone, and Americans are unable to afford the same lifestyle they enjoyed just four short years ago. Take, for example, the fictitious Rachel in a financial vignette: Rachel is a 25-year-old marketing professional who works at the headquarters of Urban Outfitters in Philadelphia. Rachel finds that, despite modest salary increases, she can’t enjoy the standard of living she did before inflation caused the purchasing power of her paychecks to shrink so rapidly. Let’s assume Rachel began working in 2021 with an entry salary of $50,000 per year. By 2024, her annual salary has increased by 10% to $55,000. However, despite this pay increase, someone like Rachel still would feel financially squeezed. The largest pain in Rachel’s budget is her rent. Like so many other recent graduates and young professionals, Rachel has a small apartment an hour away from the city where rent is significantly cheaper. Her housing costs have risen from $1,060 to $1,300 a month, a staggering 23% increase, which makes other expenses such as student loan payments more burdensome. Despite driving a sensible 2017 Honda Civic, gas prices nearing $4 a gallon have made Rachel’s commute increasingly expensive. She now spends $250 per month on gas, 33% more than in 2021, because of her long commute. However, the largest percentage increase in Rachel’s transportation budget has been her car insurance, which surged by over 54% from 2021 to 2024. Essential utilities such as electricity are now more burdensome—Rachel’s electric bill went up by 38%. Rachel has had to skip out on meals with friends more often as restaurant costs jumped almost 20%. She now pays 23% more for groceries, an increase from $375 to $450 per month, for staples such as eggs, bread, chicken, and fresh vegetables. In total, Rachel now spends nearly $700 more per month for the same goods and services as she did in January 2021, when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris became president and vice president. Though her wages increased by 10%, real cumulative inflation for Rachel rose 24% in three and a half years—and millions of Americans face a similar reality. Housing, transportation, energy, and food prices all have gone up significantly because the Biden-Harris administration is unwilling to curb the government’s excessive spending and borrowing habits. Why should anyone—Rachel, you, or your family—be forced to sacrifice essentials while the government maxes out a credit card in your name? How much have you lost from the inflation tax? Use this Personal Inflation Calculator from The Heritage Foundation to find out how much inflation has cost you and your family. The post Calculate This: How Much Have You Lost From Biden-Harris Admin’s Inflation Tax? appeared first on The Daily Signal.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The UK has a new/old chair of the parliament’s Culture, Media and Sports Committee – and she is yet another champion of (obliging) Big Tech, and a veteran in the “war on disinformation,” but also attempts to demonetize “disfavored” public figures. Caroline Dinenage keeps failing upwards: she has just been reelected to this role, after last year embarrassing herself by trying to pressure X and Rumble, and other platforms and media to demonetize actor Russell Brand because of anonymous allegations against him. The Committee that scrutinizes the activities of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (BBC included), has a Sub-Committee specifically focused on what are considered online harms and disinformation, as well as UK’s sweeping censorship law, Online Safety Act. It is from this position that Dinenage last fall decided it was a good idea to turn to X with the demand to cut Brand off from his revenue on the platform because of the (to this day unproven) accusations. X refused. And the company explained why to the British MP in a letter that underscored commitment not only to free speech, but also X’s own terms of service. “We do not take action on accounts where they have not violated our own rules or local laws (Brand was not at the time, and is still not charged with any crime). This is essential to protect free expression on the service,” the letter read, adding that all, including monetized content, is subject to X’s rules and user agreement. X wasn’t the only platform Dinenage went to in a bid to swiftly deprive Brand of money: YouTube was one of them, and lo and behold, this one went along, demonetizing Brand in October 2023. All this happened before the alleged victims and the alleged perpetrator had undergone any due process. And for a British MP to pressure platforms to punish someone essentially based on hearsay at that point is what famed journalist Glenn Greenwald called “preposterous.” Rumble was another platform Dinenage urged to demonetize Brand last year. That would be a no, ma’am – was the essence of the free speech video platform’s response to Dinenage. “We regard it as deeply inappropriate and dangerous that the UK Parliament would attempt to control who is allowed to speak on our platform or to earn a living from doing so,” Rumble’s letter said, among other things. But now, Dinenage – once a recipient of a non-monetary grant from Google – shared that she is “delighted” to continue where she left off with the previous parliament’s Culture, Media and Sports Committee. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Caroline Dinenage, Known for Pressuring Platforms on Censorship, Re-elected Chair of UK’s Culture, Media, and Sports Committee appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

Americans remember 9/11 attack, first-responders’ bravery in memorial ceremonies across US

Debate Post-Mortem: Trump Was Trump, Harris Held Up, And Moderators Played Partisan Tricks