EXCLUSIVE: Chinese ‘Cyber Police’ Agent Runs Online Network Helping Illegal Immigrants Flood Into US

News Enemy Mine Star Trek: Picard’s Terry Matalas Will Go in a New Alien Direction with a Remake of Enemy Mine Will they be on an alien planet or in the desert someplace? By Molly Templeton | Published on June 17, 2024 Screenshot: 20th Century Fox Comment 0 Share New Share Screenshot: 20th Century Fox Did you have Enemy Mine on your Movies That Must Be About to Get Remade bingo card? I certainly didn’t. The future-set 1985 film—which was directed by Wolfgang Petersen (Das Boot)—starred Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett Jr. as a human and an alien forced to deal with their long-standing prejudices against one another. The original Enemy Mine was based on the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning novella by Barry B. Longyear. The story follows human fighter pilot Willis Davidge (Quaid, in the film) and Drac fighter pilot Jeriba Shigan (Gossett), who get into a space dogfight and crash onto an alien planet, where they slowly learn to coexist—after insulting each other’s philosophers and pop culture idols. Roger Ebert was underwhelmed by the ’80s adaptation, asking a question familiar to many a science fiction fan: Why couldn’t the aliens be more alien? “It doesn’t dare enough,” he wrote. How daring the new version might be remains to be seen. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Star Trek: Picard’s Terry Matalas is on board to write the new adaptation, but it doesn’t yet have a director or stars. Matalas seems pretty busy—he did just get tapped to run Marvel’s new Vision series—but with Star Trek: Legacy looking less and less likely, maybe he’s got some room on his plate.[end-mark] The post <i>Star Trek: Picard</i>’s Terry Matalas Will Go in a New Alien Direction with a Remake of <i>Enemy Mine</i> appeared first on Reactor.

Column SFF Bestiary The One and Only Official State Demon: The Jersey Devil What other state can boast its own official demon? By Judith Tarr | Published on June 17, 2024 Comment 0 Share New Share Every US state has an assortment of official somethings. State tree, state flower, state bird. Only New Jersey has a state demon: the Jersey Devil, also known as the Leeds Devil. It says so right up there at nj.gov. Unlike Bigfoot, which fits more into the zoological niche—large primate unknown to traditional science—or Mothman, which is more of a paranormal entity, the Jersey Devil has its roots in history. Accounts vary, but the most common story is that in 1735, in the Pinelands of New Jersey, poor Mother Leeds was pregnant for the thirteenth time. She was so completely over it that she laid a curse on the child. It was born a normal baby but quickly transformed into a hooved biped with a long body, a large horse-like head with antlers like a stag, short arms and clawed hands, batlike wings, and a forked tail. It may or may not have slaughtered its parents and most or all of its siblings before it shrieked and flew up the chimney. After its strange and no doubt traumatic birth, it took up residence in the piny wetlands. Through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it was seen off and on by travelers and locals. Celebrity witnesses included Stephen Decatur and Napoleon’s brother Joseph Bonaparte. Then in January of 1909, a rash of sightings over the course of a week caused a panic throughout the region, not just in New Jersey but in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. Up to that point the creature had been called the Leeds Devil, but now it was the Jersey Devil. Schools closed; adults stayed home from work. Posses formed to hunt the beast down. Then, as suddenly as it appeared, it vanished, and the panic died down. But its legend endured. The Devil doesn’t appear to have done anything too terrible despite the panic, except for allegedly attacking a trolley. There had been tales of attacks on livestock back in the 1800s, and there was the question of whether it murdered its family shortly after its birth, but for the most part it was just a scary thing to come across in the pine woods at night. Thirty years after the week of terror, the state of New Jersey named the Devil its state demon. It’s been sighted off and on before and since. Belief in it is as strong as belief in, say, Bigfoot. So what is it? Folklore and folk legend have created and fed its story, but people are seeing something out among the pines. One theory is that it’s a sandhill crane blown out of its usual habitat. These birds are big, grey, and have a somewhat prehistoric look, and their cry is a “loud, rolling, trumpeting sound.” Or it could be based on actual history, twisted and mythologized into a mythical beast. According to this theory, in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries a Quaker named Daniel Leeds published almanacs so full of esoterical and alchemical extremism that the community cast him out. He retaliated by becoming a rabid anti-Quaker. He was blasted for his beliefs, called a pagan and accused of doing the Devil’s bidding. His son and successor, Titan, carried on in the same vein. It was Titan who set the family crest on the masthead of the almanac. Prominent on the crest is a heraldic beast, a wyvern: a dragonlike creature, bipedal, with wings and a forked tail. Add a set of antlers and you have something pretty close to the Jersey Devil. Whatever it is, it’s still out there. People are still telling stories about it, and still claiming to have seen it. New Jersey takes pride in it. After all, what other state can boast its own state demon?[end-mark] The post The One and Only Official State Demon: The Jersey Devil appeared first on Reactor.

The Solar subclass is perfect for Guardians who want to see their foes explode while staying safe with Radiance. You’re spoiled for choice, so here are the 9 best Solar builds in Destiny 2 for Warlock, Hunter, and Titan. The best Solar Builds in Destiny 2 The Final Shape You’ll find a build to suit any Solar playstyle in this guide, but here’s a summary of what to expect: Warlock Speaker’s Sight build Phoenix Protocol build Sunbreaker build Hunter Celestial Nighthawk build Blade Barrage build Golden Gun build Titan Precious Scars build Synthoceps build Pyrogale Gauntlets build 3 Best Warlock Solar builds in Destiny 2 Screenshot: PC Invasion Our selection of Warlock builds are in no particular order but fulfill a broad range of playstyles from heavy offense to support roles. No other Class in the game fills that support niche like a Warlock, so let’s start with an exciting build enabled by a Final Shape E...

Let’s face it, you’ll spend hours just trying to make your main character in this Pathfinder game. Here’s our Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous guide to help you with the best races to choose from when you create your character. The best races to choose from in Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous Here are my recommendations for the best races to choose for your main character in Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. I’ve also added details regarding the new races added in this sequel. However, some options won’t be included here as they’re underwhelming or I wasn’t too keen on trying them out. Humans Screenshot: PC Invasion I believe humans are one of the best races in Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. No, it’s not just because of favoritism since we’re all humans after all. Rather, it’s due to several important factors: +2 to an ability score at character creation +1 skill point each level up Bonus fe...

An illegal alien from El Salvador has been arrested on charges of raping and murdering a Maryland mother of five.  Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, 23, crossed the U.S. southern border illegally in February 2023, according to Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler. Six months later, in August 2023, Hernandez is suspected of attacking, raping, and killing Rachel Morin while she exercised on the MA & PA Heritage Trail in Bel Air, Maryland, about 30 miles northeast of Baltimore.  “We are 1,800 miles away from the southern border and the American citizens are not safe because of failed immigration policies,” Gahler said during a press conference Saturday, directing this remark specifically to “1600 Pennsylvania Ave and to every member of both chambers of Congress.”  “This is the second time, in just two years, that an innocent Harford County woman has lost her life to a criminal in our country illegally,” the sheriff said.  On Aug. 5 last year, Morin’s boyfriend reported her missing after she did not return home from a walk. Her body was found off the trail in a culvert on Aug. 6.  (Photo: Harford County Sheriff’s Office) An investigation was launched, which gained national attention, and involved local, state, and federal authorities. A breakthrough came in the case about three weeks ago, on what would have been Morin’s 38th birthday, when DNA evidence led to the identification of Hernandez in the case.  In March of last year, Hernandez is also suspected of attacking a “9-year-old girl and her mother during a home invasion … in Los Angeles,” Gahler said during the press conference. The El Salvadorian has ties to “known gangs,” according to the sheriff, and is also wanted in his home county for a woman’s murder. “Victor Hernandez did not come here to make a better life for himself, or for his family, he came here to escape a crime he committed in El Salvador. He came here and murdered Rachel, and God willing, no one else.”  Authorities arrested Hernandez in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Friday night.  (Photo: Tulsa Police Department) “Rachel’s murderer is no longer a free man and, hopefully, he will never have the opportunity to walk free again,” Gahler said, later noting that the extradition process from Tulsa to Harford County is underway but could take several weeks.  Morin’s five children are “without their mother because Joe Biden refuses to secure the border and keep this murderer the hell out of our country,” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said in a post on X Saturday. These kids are without their mother because Joe Biden refuses to secure the border and keep this murderer the hell out of our country. https://t.co/nzDmzZIuPy— Rick Scott (@SenRickScott) June 16, 2024 “The Biden Administration owes justice to Rachel Morin’s family and to so many families across our country for allowing violent migrant crime to run rampant in our communities,” Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., said on X Saturday night. Patricia Morin, Morin’s mother, delivered brief remarks during the press conference, thanking the authorities who tracked down and arrested the suspect in her daughter’s murder.  “I am so grateful that they have brought us to this place,” Patricia Morin said, “because at some of the points during this, I didn’t think that we were ever going to have an end,” she said, before turning and applauding the officers. Gahler said Hernandez will not be deported before answering for his suspected crimes in the U.S., adding, “he’s going to spend, God willing, the rest of his days behind bars.”  The post Illegal Alien Arrested in Rape, Murder of Maryland Mother appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Biden Administration Loses in Supreme Court over Deportation Law

Astronomers have found a pair of quasars in the process of merging during the final periods of Cosmic Dawn, around 900 million years after the Big Bang. This is the most distant (and so, earliest) pair of interacting quasars yet found, and it is also the first one that comes from Cosmic Dawn.Cosmic Dawn is a period that stretches from 50 million to 1 billion years after the Big Bang. Nestled between these dates, there’s the Epoch of Reionization, when the birth of the first stars and galaxies ionized the neutral hydrogen that stretched across the universe. This is a truly mysterious epoch, and finding merging quasars – the active state of a supermassive black hole – here is incredible.“The existence of merging quasars in the Epoch of Reionization has been anticipated for a long time. It has now been confirmed for the first time,” lead author Yoshiki Matsuoka, an astronomer at Ehime University in Japan, said in a statement.Using the Subaru and the Gemini North telescopes, the team was able to learn quite a bit about this record-breaking pair. Some of the light from the objects comes from significant star formation in the galaxies. The bulk of it is from the active supermassive black holes, both of them roughly 100 million times heavier than the Sun – so over 20 times heavier than Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy.The team found evidence of a bridge of gas stretching between the two quasars, indicating that their interaction is mirrored at the larger scale of their host galaxies. The pair of galaxies is undergoing a major merger as well. All these findings provide insights into wider questions related to this period of the cosmos.“The statistical properties of quasars in the Epoch of Reionization tell us many things, such as the progress and origin of the reionization, the formation of supermassive black holes during Cosmic Dawn, and the earliest evolution of the quasar host galaxies,” said Matsuoka.Image of the merging quasar pair taken with the Hyper Suprime-Cam on the Subaru Telescope. Follow-up analysis with the Gemini North telescope was needed to confirm that these are indeed quasars.Image credit: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab), D. de Martin (NSF NOIRLab) & M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab)The team describes the discovery as "serendipitous". In the Subaru images, the two red dots – suspected quasars – appeared very similar, extremely red, and extremely close. It took follow-up work with both Subaru and Gemini to confirm their nature, and their distance, and then to begin to unravel their incredible properties.A study with more details of the finding is published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. An upcoming companion paper has been submitted for publication to American Astronomical Society Journals and is available on the arXiv. 

In the whale world, a few species get all the glory; the blue whale is the world's largest, and then there are humpbacks, leaping out of the ocean to the delight of film crews and tourists. Beluga whales might be famous for their unusual appearance and killer whales for sinking yachts (and not actually being whales at all), but what about some of the lesser-known species? Have you ever heard of the sei whale?Appearance, population, and ecologySei whales (Balaenoptera borealis) weigh about 20 tons (18,144 kilograms) and measure 13.7 to 20 meters (45 to 66 feet) in total length, making them the third largest whale species after blue and fin whales. The name “sei” comes from the Norwegian word for pollock, "seje", as the two species are often found together. The ecology of these whales is poorly understood and as a result, the species has been referred to as the “forgotten whale” due to this lack of information. However, it is thought to be found in most of the planet's oceans, bar polar and tropical regions. There are thought to be three “stocks” of sei whales, with separate populations in the North Atlantic, North Pacific, and Southern Oceans. They also have a broad dietary range, eating plankton, krill, small fish, and squid. The whales feed on these creatures by skimming them from the water and filtering through their baleen plates.Social behavior and migrationTypically, sei whales are found alone or in small groups of around five individuals, though larger aggregations of whales can be found in areas of high prey density.Sei whales also have highly extensive seasonal migrations, spending summer at higher latitudes and while it is somewhat understudied, it is thought that the whales return to lower latitudes as the calves are born in the winter. Gestation is between 10 and 13 months, according to the Mammal Society. Recently, 93 sei whale sightings were made off the coast of New England, thought to be the highest number of observations ever made in a single survey flight. HistorySei whales are thought to have no natural predators, but were historically hunted for their meat and oil. As many as 300,000 are estimated to have been killed for this reason, with over 110,000 of these deaths thought to have occurred between 1960 and 1970. The hunt turned to sei whales after the blue and fin whale populations began to decline. At the moment the IUCN lists sei whales as endangered and estimates a global population of 50,000. While hunting sei whales and other whale species is banned, Japan continues to hunt them in the North Pacific. Other modern-day threats include entanglement with fishing nets and disturbance from boat traffic.

Archaeologists believe they have found the site of a notorious Assyrian military camp, reports the Daily Mail . Archaeologists have found an ancient military base that may partially confirm the story from the Bible about God’s angels who repelled an attack on Jerusalem. One biblical story says that about 2,700 years ago, God sent a messenger angel to confront an army of Assyrian warriors who came with the intention of conquering the Holy Land. According to legend, the angel of the Lord brought down his wrath on the Assyrian army and killed 185 thousand soldiers in one night. Until recently, there was no archaeological evidence that such a battle could actually occur, supernatural elements aside. Now, archaeologist Stephen Compton, armed with modern mapping methods, has discovered evidence that some kind of epic battle did take place. The Assyrian Empire existed from 1365 to 609 BC. e., that is, hundreds of years before the time of Christ. The invasion of Jerusalem was launched by the Assyrian king Sennacherib. He was eager to assert his political and economic dominance over all routes through the Syrian Desert leading to the Mediterranean Sea. Previously, scientists found a scene that was carved on the stone walls of the palace of King Sennacherib. It was dedicated to the conquest of Lachish, a city south of Israel. The carvings also identified a military base, allowing scientists to compare it with photographs of the area taken in the 1910s. Photo of the area in the 1910s. Photo: Wikimedia Commons Compton saw an area that was the same size and shape as the paintings on the walls of the palace. Ruins were found in this area – the remains of a perimeter wall, as well as fragments of ceramics. Further archaeological exploration of the site revealed that it was abandoned after Sennacherib’s invasion and remained so for 2,600 years. The first discovery allowed researchers to continue searching for other military installations in the area. Eventually Compton did find the former location of Sennacherib’s military camps. “Each was a circular site located close to the old city walls, and each camp had the same Arabic name, or so it says on one of the early maps,” says Compton. The name of the camps also suggested that it was in this place that Sennacherib’s forces planned their attack. Three biblical passages detail how Assyrian soldiers were massacred the night before the attack on Jerusalem. In all three cases, the Israelite deity Yahweh sent an angel who entered the enemy camp and killed all the soldiers while they slept. The Lord’s messenger was sent to protect Jerusalem as an answer to the prayers of its ruler, Hezekiah. Another variation of this legend says that a plague killed the Assyrian army, and the Greek version claimed that the army was defeated because mice sneaked into the camp at night and gnawed the strings on their bows and the straps on their shields. The post Biblical story of 185,000 soldiers’ deaths partially confirmed appeared first on Anomalien.com.