'There’s no flags being flown for the straight people'

Movies & TV Dune: Prophecy Dune: Prophecy Finally Finds Those Flashbacks in “Sisterhood Above All” There’s so much flashback… and yet not very much history By Emmet Asher-Perrin | Published on December 2, 2024 Image: HBO Comment 0 Share New Share Image: HBO What do you think fur whale tastes like? Recap Image: HBO Valya and Theodosia exit the palace; Vayla tells the acolyte that this is not the first time an enemy sought to remove her and failed. We move into a flashback on Lankiveil where a younger Valya brings back the fur whale meat for a family meal. At dinner, her brother Griffin (Earl Cave) reveals that he’s going to the Landsraad to make a petition for a better trade deal. When Valya learns that Vorian Atreides will be there, she insists that Griffin confront him and get him to rescind the lies he told about their family and led to their exile. Her mother (Polly Walker) is mortified at Valya’s “entitlement and greed” leading Valya to storm off. Griffin follows Vayla and tells her that he doesn’t agree with their mother; Vayla saved his life once as a child when he was about to drown by using the voice on him to get him to swim against the frozen water. He will do as Vayla recommends, believing in his sister’s heart and guidance. But Griffin returns home murdered for following her advice. Vayla is being sent away to Wallach IX to study with the Sisterhood, and is furious that her family won’t avenge her brother’s death. She tells Tula (Emma Canning) to get out of this place. In the present the sisters on Sesula Secudus meet and ask Mother Superior how to proceed. She tells them to shore up their support among the houses to prevent further mistrust, then gets word from Mikaela about what happened to Lila and what Raquella spoke through her. She is certain that the one “born once in blood, once in spice” is Desmond Hart, and decides it’s time to return “home.” On Wallach IX, Sister Avila confronts Tula about refusing to take Lila off life support. Tula insists that she will do what needs to be done in her own time and dismisses her. In flashback, we find Tula intertwined with an Orry Atreides (Milo Callaghan), who is gathering with the whole family for their yearly traditional hunt of the bull. Tula is afraid that his family will not accept her, but he isn’t worried. Tula shows his younger family member Albert (Archie Barnes) how to create an animal lure for the bull, noting the poisonous innards that must be handled with care. Orry’s horse is fatally injured and Tula rushes to retrieve that poison in order to put down the horse more humanely. On Wallach IX, Valya and the acolytes are getting Truthsaying lessons from Dorotea, but Valya is questioning everything, insisting truth is a tool to be used. Dorotea insists that Valya is afraid because she belongs to no one and nothing and is totally alone. Valya learns that Dorotea became like this after being sent to the Butlerians to make inroads—she returned as a “true believer” and this change has led to rumors that Raquella no longer wants her to guide the Sisterhood once she’s gone. The acolytes are taken to a cliffside and Dorotea asks them if they are willing to put their loyalty to the Sisterhood above all, even their families. Once they have, they may go inside. Otherwise they must meditate on whether they truly belong there. The acolytes slowly leave one by one and it begins to storm. Soon, Vayla is the only one left, and Dorotea tells her that they both know she’ll always only be a Harkonnnen. She leaves Vayla alone on the cliff in the rain. Mother Raquella lands, finds Valya there and invites her inside. As the Atreides celebrate their hunt, Tula talks to Orry inside their cabin. Orry asks her to marry him, and the two sleep together. In the morning, Tula finally admits to Orry who she truly is. Orry doesn’t care that she is a Harkonnen; he wants to move beyond their families’ hatred and create a new future for themselves. Tula tells him that some things cannot be changed, and Orry realizes how quiet it is outside. Tula has murdered the entire family with her poison and kills Orry last, in tears. She sees that Albert avoided the poisoning and tells him to go. On Wallach IX, as Dorotea evangelizes to her acolytes, Raquella brings Vayla underground to see the computers and breeding index. Raquella calls Dorotea and Valya together; she wants to end their rivalry to keep the Sisterhood strong. To help them “find a way forward,” she asks them to go through the Agony to become Reverend Mothers. Valya flees the test while Dorotea undergoes it. Raquella calls Valya to her office later with news from Tula, clearly written in code. Raquella knows that Valya has unfinished business with her family and tells her to settle it now; she gives her the poison and tells her to return a Reverend Mother or not at all. Vayla goes home to Lankiveil to congratulate her sister on avenging Griffin. The rest of the family is mortified by what they believe Valya manipulated her sister into doing. Valya uses the Voice on her mother and nearly gets her to take her own life. Her uncle Evgeny (Mark Addy) calls her a sorceress and Valya walks out into the snow, taking the poison. Tula finds her unconscious and asks her to come back; Valya hears her voice and wakes. Tula tells her that she’s accompanying her to Wallach IX, unwilling to lose her sister after Griffin, but asking for her promise that this will be a fresh start. Valya tells her that they have a new purpose. In the present, Tula gathers the acolytes to say goodbye to Lila. Sisters Emeline and Jen argue over whether this should have happened, but Avila tells them that being part of the Sisterhood means sacrifice. They say goodbye to Lila and leave Tula alone. On Salusa Secundus, Valya takes Theodosia to the Harkonnen family home to meet her nephew Harrow (Edward Davis) and uncle, who are both shocked at her presence. Tula goes underground into the Sisterhood’s computers where she is secretly holding Lila’s body, keeping her alive with spice. Commentary Image: HBO So we’ve moved from an entire episode of setup to an entire episode of flashback. Sure. Why not. We need to go over the bananas choice to have Tula kill… all? …the Atreides? Except for one? In the book she only kills Orry, which makes sense in terms of revenge, but killing an entire family with a blood feud against your family and only keeping one (now traumatized) kid alive seems a very obvious, very bad move. Again, extremely Hollywood choice. And of course it had to take place during the Atreides family bull hunt, because what else could the Atreides family possibly be doing but the thing that killed Leto’s father. Because everything needs to be shown and, again, the family traditions have barely changed at all in ten thousand years. There’s a lot of that going on, including this weird dramatic choice to have Valya’s brother die because she insists on his confronting Vorian Atreides, and him going along with it because… the first time she ever used the Voice was to rescue him from drowning? And that means he trusts her opinion over everyone else’s implicitly. Uh-huh. It’s also a wild choice to have Valya talk about the schism between Vorian Atreides and Abulurd Harkonnen—the fact that their family’s exile is due to Vorian inaccurately depicting Abulurd’s actions during the Battle of Corbin as cowardly when he was working to prevent a genocide—but never confirm if it’s true within the show. (It is, by the way.) Refusing to iterate the history in these fights Valya has with her family prevents the viewer from fully comprehending her rage. It’s also difficult to believe her when the only person fully on her side is her brother Griffin… but his loyalty is entirely down to her magically saving his life (again, this is a tacky Hollywood choice) and said loyalty immediately gets him killed. Valya’s family isn’t just dismissive of her or disappointed in her—they are actively abhorrent of her demeanor, beliefs, and emotions. And there’s nothing in these scenes to indicate that their feelings are unreasonable. We don’t know enough about the Harkonnens at this point in time to know if we should trust their vantage point, particularly when Valya’s desires, out of context, indicate nothing but blind ambition and hatred for anyone who won’t adhere to her dogma. This would be fine as a character construct if the history was rendered clearer; moral ambiguity is great in central characters, but textual and factual ambiguity are not. They are selling both Valya and Tula short in refusing to build this background more carefully. Tula’s actions further that issue: We have no idea how she came to be with Orry, how long it’s been since Griffin’s death, or why Valya assigned her this task of revenge. We’re just dropped into this scenario with a new boyfriend and big family reunion without preface. And we need that context to help us comprehend the sacrifice Tula is making for her family and her sister in that moment, to connect with her grief. It should be grief that communicates across the episode’s timeline shifts with her grief for Lila, but we’re only getting the emotion from one side. Which is unfortunate because if those connections had been better served, there would be more to feel at the realization that Tula is refusing to let Lila die. But one can assume that the bit they want us more focused on is the idea that if Lila survives (and she surely must, or they wouldn’t bother with all this), she will have been reborn… in spice. Right. Right? On the positive end, getting more depth on the fight between Dorotea and Valya is one of the episode’s better written parts. And the reason is because Dorotea is so accurately rendered in her religious fervor and righteousness. What Dorotea wants on paper are good things—a Sisterhood built on humility and service to all humankind. But she’s so grotesquely smug about it. You can feel the superiority radiating off her, and the inherent cruelty that breeds deep within. Morally, Valya is not the better person here, but it’s hard not to root for her when you listen to Dorotea’s evangelism. And now poor Valya has to do the thing she never believed she would have to do… return home for a Harkonnen reunion. Next week should be interesting for sure. Truthsaying and Visions Image: HBO Absolutely loved the bit where Valya used the Voice on her buddies to have one slap the other, and they were both immediately like “that was so cool when can we learn it,” the most realistic young woman behavior, 5000% accurate. I’m really glad we don’t get more details on the bull hunt because Tula’s insistence that they’re shy creatures makes me very concerned over what the actual rite is, and I’m sure I wouldn’t like it. The bull getting spared that year was definitely the best thing to come out of that whole affair. The idea that the Sisterhood learns you might bring someone back from the brink of death during the Agony ceremony by letting someone they love speak to them all because Tula and Valya did it first… that’s gorgeous. Next week: presumably we’ll be back in the present![end-mark] The post <i>Dune: Prophecy</i> Finally Finds Those Flashbacks in “Sisterhood Above All” appeared first on Reactor.

Israeli-American hostage Omer Neutra is dead. The Israeli military reported Monday morning that the 21-year-old tank platoon commander died nearly 14 months ago, stating that “we can confirm, based on intelligence, that he was killed in battle on Oct. 7 [2023] and his body has been held hostage in Gaza since.” “May his memory be a blessing,” the Israel Defense Forces added of Neutra. The terrorist organization Hamas, which killed 1,200 in the Oct. 7 attacks in southern Israel, rules the adjacent Gaza Strip where Hamas took Neutra’s body. Omer Neutra, a 21-year-old American-Israeli, served as a platoon commander in the Armored Corps. Today we can confirm, based on intelligence, that he was killed in battle on Oct. 7 and his body has been held hostage in Gaza since.May his memory be a blessing. pic.twitter.com/gfQvXsuEbO— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) December 2, 2024 Neutra was born in New York City in 2001. After high school, he took a gap year and participated in a leadership program in Israel.  After a year there, Neutra decided to join the Israel Defense Forces and became a tank platoon commander. On Oct. 7, he was serving close to Israel’s border with Gaza. Neutra’s tank was found empty shortly after the terrorist attacks and he was believed to have been taken hostage.   Aviva Klompas, CEO of the pro-Israel educational organization Boundless, wrote on X that the IDF determined Neutra’s death occurred the day of the terrorist attacks “based on findings and new intelligence information.”   For over a year, Neutra’s parents have traveled the U.S. and the world pressing for their son’s release.   “Imagine, over nine months [of] not knowing whether your son is alive. Waking up every morning, praying that he too is still waking up every morning,” mother Orna Neutra said in July from the stage of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.  “Bring them home,” her husband, Ronen, chanted with the crowd.   "Where is the outrage? Where is it? This was not merely an attack on Israel. This was and remains an attack on Americans."Orna and Ronen Neutra, parents of murdered Israeli-American hostage Omer Neutra, speaking at the RNC in just in July this year. pic.twitter.com/tEMZ0dy4wb— Arsen Ostrovsky ?? (@Ostrov_A) December 2, 2024 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reacting to the news Monday, praised Neutra’s service to his country and wrote in a translated post on X: “Omer was a man of values, blessed with talents and a Zionist in every inch of his limbs. He immigrated to Israel to enlist in the IDF, chose a combat path and was chosen to command and lead. This is what he did at the outbreak of the war on October 2023, when he fought fiercely at the head of his soldiers to defend the settlements surrounding Gaza, until he fell.”  Netanyahu pledged to “not rest or be quiet until we return [Neutra] home to the grave of Israel, and we will continue to act resolutely and tirelessly until we return all of our hostages.”  ?????? ??? ???? ?????? ?? ???????? ????? ??? ?????? ???????? ?? ??? ???? ?????? ???, ???? ?????? ????? ????, ?? ?????? ???? ???? ?????? ????? ????????.???? ??? ??? ????, ???? ??????? ?????? ??? ???? ??????. ??? ??? ???? ??? ??????? ?????, ??? ?????? ???? ????? ???? ???????.??… pic.twitter.com/JYgGjOf2eQ— Benjamin Netanyahu – ?????? ?????? (@netanyahu) December 2, 2024 Three other Americans taken hostage by Hamas—Edan Alexander, Sagui Dekel-Chen, and Keith Siegel—are believed to be alive in Gaza.   Terrorists released a hostage video of Alexander on Saturday, which the White House called “a cruel reminder of Hamas’ terror against citizens of multiple countries, including our own.”   The video was captioned “Time is running out.” It was shared on the Telegram channel of Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, NBC News reported.   Alexander, weeping in the propaganda video, tells Netanyahu, “You have neglected us.” Speaking to President-elect Donald Trump, Alexander asks him to use his authority “to negotiate for our freedom.”  Adi Alexander, the hostage’s father, told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that seeing his son in the video was “very emotional and disturbing, but we were happy to see him after a year that we didn’t see our son.”   At least 60 living hostages are believed to be held in Gaza; the bodies of another 35 or so also are believed to be there. The post American-Israeli Hostage Confirmed Dead appeared first on The Daily Signal.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The Australian Government Digital ID System (AGDIS) is about to be expanded with legislation that came into force on December 1, building in three more phases on the existing digital ID base, the myID app. By the end of 2026, this process, started with myID which currently includes close to 200 government services, should be complete. As of now, participation is voluntary, and the second phase that starts next month will let state digital ID providers join AGDIS if approved by the regulator. In the next two phases, slated to start by December 2026, the private sector will be able to join as well, and some of those as banks and telecommunications companies. Lastly, accredited private sector, attribute, and exchange providers will have the same opportunity, the Australian government has announced, and explained that the accreditation process will span all four phases. Some of those who already enjoy this status are Mastercard and Australia Post. All these applications will go to the digital ID regulator, and as of December 1, the main one will be the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) will be in charge of issues related to privacy in the context of digital ID. The Australian government promises that the scheme will benefit all of the country’s economy – while also improving not only governance but also privacy. And, those developing digital government services will now have to comply with the second version of the Digital Service Standard, consisting of ten criteria (the first version featured 13). These standards are a part of the Digital Experience Policy. The key ones boil down to interoperability, inclusivity, and monitoring the service they developed, while user experience is expected to be “intuitive.” Some, if not most of the criteria, as listed in the government announcement, are exceptionally vague: for example, “do no harm,” “(don’t) reinvent the wheel,” and “keep it relevant.” But, for some clarity, standards developers are given “guidance” and pointed in the direction of laws that might clarify the requirements. The other seven criteria are: have clear intent, know your user, leave no one behind, connect services, build trust in design, innovate with purpose, and monitor your service. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Australia Expands Digital ID Ambitions with New Legislation appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Guilty Until Proven Innocent: How Financial Institutions Quietly Put You Under the Microscope appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

Our Rotten POTATUS and His Cracked Chip Off the Old Spud

Impossible! That's what Toyota North America COO Jack Hollis calls the demand by California and 16 other states that 35% of 2026 model year vehicles be zero-emission or electric. California also added a tax of 68 cents per gallon that is going into effect at the first of the year. The state is making gas and hybrid vehicles unaffordable. Said Hollis, “I have not seen a forecast by anyone … government or private, anywhere, that has told us that that number is achievable. At this point, it looks impossible.” He continued, “Demand isn’t there. It’s going to limit a customer’s choice of the vehicles they want.” Welcome to the party. This is what we've been saying for years. Automaker Stellantis — which owns Jeep — no doubt agrees. Stellantis made gasoline-powered non-hybrid Jeeps available only as a special-order vehicle in California and other states that have adopted California Air Resources Board Standards. This has hurt Stellantis, which last week announced it would lay off 1,100 UAW-represented employees at the automaker’s Toledo South Assembly Plant in Ohio. This is where the company built the Jeep Gladiator. Under California’s Advanced Clean Cars mandate, automakers must either sell enough cars or buy enough credits for the equivalent of 35% of their vehicles sold in California to qualify as zero-emission vehicles. What's more, only 20% of these can be plug-in hybrids; the other 15% must be all-electric. Automakers will pay a $20,000 fine per ZEV credit they are short, meaning carmakers will have to either buy credits from other automakers with excess credits or sell fewer non-ZE vehicles. Which means cars will get more expensive. The Advanced Clean Cars mandate applies to Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington for model year 2026 and Colorado, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Washington, D.C., for model year 2027. As we often point out, no carmaker will make cars for one state, so expect prices to rise in all 50. And why isn't demand there? One strike against EVs in California is the high cost of electricity. Energy prices in California are so high that the California Air Resources Board says the state is near the point at which it’s cheaper to propel a car on gasoline than it is on electricity. Last week, the CARB voted to create a $105 billion credit for EV charger operators, to be paid for with rising carbon emissions fees on the petroleum refineries that produce gasoline and diesel. The CARB estimates the measure will create a 47 cent-per-gallon pass-through cost for gasoline in 2025. California also added a tax of 68 cents per gallon that is going into effect at the first of the year. The state is making gas and hybrid vehicles unaffordable. The state believes that by raising the price of gasoline and subsidizing electric vehicle charging, the CARB’s new Low Carbon Fuel Standard can incentivize more Californians to get out of gasoline-powered cars and either acquire electric vehicles or take public transportation. What it will accomplish in reality is to infuriate California drivers. I expect it to go about as well in any other state foolish enough to try it. California is able to pass its own emissions standards via a waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency, first granted to deal with Los Angeles' smog problem in the latter half of the 20th century. The Obama administration ordered an expansion of California’s waiver beyond just pollution to include emissions as well. In 2019, the Trump administration revoked California’s EPA waiver, a move that was held up in courts until the Biden administration put the waiver back into place in 2021. It’s likely that the second Trump administration could revoke California’s EPA waiver once it takes office in January, which would — if upheld in court — invalidate many of the emissions programs created by California and the other states that follow. We will be watching and reporting as this develops.

There’s no escaping our rapidly advancing technology, especially considering how powerful and excited the “tech bros” are about advancing it — but can we escape the slavery that might accompany it? “God love them, the tech bros out there who are just adamant that like, ‘No, this is really it, you guys, we are going to escape our humanity, we are going to transcend, it’s going to be a new age, we’re going to leave all of this nonsense behind,’” James Poulos of “Zero Hour” comments, adding, “Some of the smartest people are the easiest to deceive.” Michael Cernovich, independent filmmaker and author of “Gorilla Mindset,” sees the issue with this as well, but explains that these “tech bros” who are obsessed with technological progress are just like “freshmen in college.” “You’re not actually advanced; you’re early post-Christ gnostics with a mind-body dualism,” he says. “And you think that you can just unplug your consciousness and put it into a cyborg, and you think that’s smart.” “Now, they are creating a new consciousness,” he continues, noting it’s with “algorithms and artificial intelligence.” This is where Poulos gets even more concerned, citing Nikola Tesla’s statement that “you may live to see man-made horrors beyond your comprehension.” However, Poulos notes that even worse is that we “may live to be man-made horrors beyond our comprehension.” Cernovich believes Poulos is being “too polemical.” “I have a certain apprehension about the direction AI is headed,” he explains, “but then I go, ‘You know, they probably, when the first radio [came] out, people were probably saying that was demons talking to them through the radio.’” “Maybe that’s all AI is,” he adds. Want more from James Poulos?To enjoy more of James's visionary commentary on politics, tech, ideas, and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

A group of nurses have drafted guidance for the National Health Service that would prevent men who believe they are women from entering women's dressing rooms.The policy guidance was requested by the health secretary for the United Kingdom, Wes Streeting.The nurses said they were forced to share a dressing room with a male staff member who allegedly identifies as a woman. When the nurses raised concerns to their human resources department, the women were told they needed to be "re-educated" on the topic, they alleged.The group of women have since taken their employers to a tribunal over sexual discrimination and sexual harassment.Calling the proposed changes "common sense," the nurses assert there should be no "hierarchy" in regard to equality laws, and therefore the rights of men who believe they are women should not be prioritized over actual women.Bethany Hutchinson, one of the proposal's authors, said she hoped to "set a precedent for all public services and workplaces in the U.K.""We believe that as frontline NHS nurses directly impacted by these issues, we are well-placed to help politicians understand what is happening and what must change urgently," Hutchison added, according to GB News.Conservative Party member Claire Coutinho told the Telegraph that "women should not be patronized, belittled, or ignored" when raising concerns about not wanting to change with men."[This] shocking case shows what can happen when institutions prioritize their commitment to an ideology above safety. Their fight for fairness has my full support," Coutinho decried.'We should simply not be forced to get undressed in front of a man.'"Discrimination or harassment related to one characteristic may never be justified by the need to protect another characteristic," the document, delivered to the government in November, reportedly stated.The nurses further wrote that legal requirements relating to sex and gender "must take priority" and the term "sex" must refer to "biological" sex.While the nurses wrote sympathetically about treating transgender people with "respect and sensitivity," they declared that women's spaces are not "communal spaces" whose functions should include transgender people.The document reinforced that the issue at hand is "protecting women's spaces.""'Gender identity' is not a protected characteristic, and we should simply not be forced to get undressed in front of a man. We continue to be astonished at how our rights on this issue continue to be breached and discriminated against," the women continued."We are not transphobic," the women declared. The nurses added that their new policies would give "transexuals" a private space to change without impacting the rights of women.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre talked in circles after being asked about President Joe Biden pardoning his son Hunter for crimes that may have been committed within a 10-year period after insisting during the election that he would not do so. Jean-Pierre, accompanying Biden on a trip to Africa, was asked on Air Force One if Biden had previously lied to the American people about the pardon. “First of all, one of the things that the president always believes is to be truthful to the American people. That is something that he always truly believes. And if you see the end of his — I assume that you’ve read his statement — and you look at the end of that statement, and he actually says that in the first line in the last paragraph, and — and respects the thinking and how the American people will actually see this and his decision-making, and I would encourage everyone to read it full, the president’s statement," Jean-Pierre said.'This wasn’t a politically-motivated prosecution.'"He came to this decision this weekend. So let’s be very clear about that," she continued. "He says it himself. It’s in his voice. He said he came to this decision this weekend. And he said he wrestled with this and — because he believes in the justice system, but he also believes that the war politics infected the process and led to a miscarriage of justice." — (@) While both Biden and Jean-Pierre insist that Biden decided during this recent holiday weekend to issue the pardon, the decision was expected long before this December, especially in the event that Donald Trump won the presidency. While Biden's pardon has been met with heavy criticism from Republicans, who point out the lie was told by the White House for months, some Democrats have also voiced their dismay."I respect President Biden, but I think he got this one wrong. This wasn’t a politically-motivated prosecution. Hunter committed felonies, and was convicted by a jury of his peers," Rep. Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.) said on X.As for the rest of the first family, first lady Jill Biden told reporters at a White House holiday event with National Guard families, "Of course I support the pardon of my son."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!